Today....

...it's cold, grey and overcast but the tulips are in bloom and brightening up the day.

Our washing machine has just about bit the dust....

...the other day when I was doing laundry it started making a loud noise and when I went to check on it....it was smoking!!!!

We've had a new belt put on and they said it might last until Thursday....so now we're washing machine shopping!!!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Did you know....

....Gomer Pyle was a rug hooker?!

Rain

We just keep getting more! And to boot, it's cold today....38 degrees at 10am here. Kenny had to go out and wrap up a few of his tropical plants last night.

You might take a look over at the right at my carousel that I created this morning of things I'd wear today if I had them. I love the bright floral umbrella....I think it's my favorite of all the things I picked out.....kind of fun...I'll try to change that as the days go on.

Today, I think I'll stay inside and hook more (not so sure about the stripes in the tulip...they might come out, but for now I'll leave them in to "hold a place").I'm also going to try to list more of my salt and pepper shaker collection on eBay and Etsy. With the kitchen remodeling going on, I've decided to send some of my treasures on to new homes. You can tell which ones are my favorites because they have higher prices than the other ones. I need to find them new homes, but as I take them out and photograph them it brings back all of the great memories of going to auctions and flea markets with Kenny and the fun of the "hunt"....I've decided to limit my collection to shakers that are dogs in houses....a manageable collection.

If you have any shakers that you are looking for or a subject/character/etc. that you are looking for just ask me....I have LOTS more to list and even more that are up in the attic....YIKES....could I bit a bit obsessive-compulsive...me thinks so....if one is good then 100 is better!!!

Here is a great set that is headed to my eBay store later today.

All right...better get with it and get out of my fuzzy pink robe and get productive!!!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Breaking for lunch

It continues....

Now I'm this far along..... and listening to this.....

I've hooked this...

and now I'm listening to this.....

What I'm listening to...

...while I hook

In progress...

I'm feeling more visual than oral today. Here is what I've been up to.

STARTED
ALMOST FINISHEDCOLOR SCHEME FOR PROJECT I WANT TO START NEXT Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

One word.....

....WINDY!

What a great night!

One of the best things about hooking with an ever-growing group is that almost every week someone in the group has finished a project....pretty amazing and soooo inspiring!

The rug that was finished this week was Rita DeWitt's "Uncle Sam" from Emma Lou's Primitives.

I love the background on this rug! Rita is a wizard with primitive rugs and their coloring! Whenever someone is unsure about what color to use in a primitive rug I always ask opinions from Rita and Kelly....the primitive gurus in our group.

She can also do wonders with the detail work as well. Look at this face!

....and I love the colors in the pedestal that he is standing on...even the border...look at all of the different shades of blues, blacks, ecrus and grays.Another rug that is close to completion is this "Flint Hills Sheep" rug from Rustic Rugs that Marsha Johnson hooked. This is really Marsha's first good size rug since she hooked a beginner mat a year or so ago....I think it's wonderful!!! She was able to use some of her left-over worms from her crow and pumpkin rug that she did as a beginner....there is a really dark purple in the sheeps face that was also in the crow from her first mat.

How to sew on the binding was a big topic of discussion last night and I think, as a group effort, Marsha is well on her way of trying something new that none of us have done before.

Marsha's colors were inspired by the rugs of Edyth O'Neill's Red Cape Rugs.

Of course, like most rug hookers Marsha has already started on her next rug, "French Urn"....a pattern from Need'l Love that she got from one of their books, "French Market Threads", and traced onto red dot and then onto the linen....another milestone for a beginning hooker.

Sandy has taken a break from her floral rug that she's been working on and jumped in on another large piece called "Rain, Rain Go Away" from Spruce Ridge Rug Hooking. She's using wools and yarns on this one....so fun!!! There were other rugs being worked last night, but I didn't get a chance to get pictures of them all.......no worries....there will be MORE pictures after our group meets next week!!!

Go forth and be creative,
Tammy

Sheep Dreams

I'm sure you are all wondering if I am still hooking....yes, I am.

I've hooked this "Sheep Dreams" pillow for Cheryl in Australia. The pattern is from Angela at Breezy Ridge Rugs.

Cheryl is the proud mother of this little guy, Enoch.

Enoch has little britches to wear so he can come in the house

as well as ride in the car!Cheryl says he likes to sleep with the dogs too!Looks like he's growing up to be quite a nice fellow! You might notice that his tail has not been docked and Cheryl has also spared him from mulesing.Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Need a hooking fix?

If you need a rug hooking fix please visit my friend Dulcy's blog to see what the gals in our group are up to.

Dulcy's Doorstep

The writing on the wall

For those of you who are interested.....the kitchen remodeling continues.

Thursday and Friday I had the electrician here.

We now have lots of new wiring run, more switches on our electrical box, more outlets (YAY! Our older kitchen only had like 3 outlets) and new overhead lighting....will be recessed lighting when it's complete.

Needless to say, with all of the DE-construction that's been going on there is a lot of DUST around here.....even with the plastic sheeting they've put over all of the doorways, it still sneeks through......Yeah, here is what they use to haul things out of here....a HUMONGOUS shovel!!

Hey, it's getting a LITTLE closer to being complete.....look, they even have writing on the wall so we/they can see where things are going to be located.

This is for refrigerator #1Yes, we're having 2....one is a freezer and one is a fridge....they butt up next to each other to look like a built in....high end look without the high end price.

Here is the writing on the wall for the double ovens....one is convection and the other is regular.

This is a picture of the real thing here.

Once they get the cabinets in, the electrician will still have to come back to run more wiring through the cabinets for the under cabinet lighting and all kinds of other stuff.

Today, my husband, Kenny, and his friend, David are going to be pulling up the old flooring to make room for the new floor......we still haven't decided exactly what the new floor will be. As soon as we figure it out I'll let you know.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

How wonderful is this?!

I got an e-mail last night from one of my Etsy customers, Sido.

Don't you just love that name?!

And if that isn't good enough already, here is her Etsy name, "itfollowedmehome",....I love that!!!!

Anyway, a lot of my Etsy customers do unique things with the wool that they purchase from me.

Sido made this great hat out of my Espresso Plaid wool.....how awesome is that?!

I've also looked around her gallery a bit and found out that she is multi-talented. Here are more examples of her work.

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Really?

That Betty is so sweet!! I got this "You Make My Day" award from her.

And along with that I'm supposed to tell you 5 things about me that you may not know & might be a little odd.

1. My thumbs don't match. One is short and stubby and looks like it's been hit by a hammer...the other one is pretty normal.

2. When I'm concentrating really hard I tend to bite or chew on my tongue.

3. It drives me crazy when a person has a name like "Teresa" but pronounces it "Ter-ess-a"....we have a running joke at work and people call me "Tam-em-i"...it just cracks me up!

4. I hate and detest cell phones....I have one because my husband bought me one.......HANG UP AND DRIVE!!!

5. I don't have any children....if you sat a baby and a puppy in front of me I'd for sure go for the puppy. Don't get me wrong...I like kids....they are just such a HUGE responsibility.

Now I'm passing this on to 3 more people who "Make My Day"

Kelley from With Hook & Needle

Maria from Star Rug Company

Joshua from Brown Egg Quilts

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

More remodeling

Wow! What a difference a few days make.....here is our kitchen now!

Yep, everything is gone!!! If you want to see more pictures just click HERE

Needless to say there won't be any cooking or dyeing going on for a few weeks in this house!

Right now I'm trying to find places to put everything. I have drinking glasses in the medicine cabinet and all of our boxed food on a table in my rug hooking room, as well as all of the pictures and mirrors that I had to take down off the walls.

Things, they are a changing!!!

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy