Feels like a Monday

Monday on Tuesday…..
trying to get myself psyched to go back to work
after 10 days off…..

Happy 4th of July

Whether you’re on the road….

Or staying at home….

Whether it’s raining…..

Or shining….

Whether you’re with lots of people…..

Or on your own….

Whether you’re in the country…..

Or in the city….

Celebrate Freedom!

Stormy has a home!

YAY! This makes me smile!

I check every day on the dogs who are featured

on my blog sidebar…..I’ve been rooting for this girl,

since she looks so much like my Cleopatra!

 

Best wishes to you Stormy!

Carpet Tacking Strip

Ah, the carpet tacking strip question/statement…….

Yes, the archival framer and I talked about this quite a bit……

He was horrified to learn that this is such a common method of

hanging rugs….

The carpet tacking strips will play h*ll with your rugs over the long term…

The nails are not galvanized and will rust….

Plus the sharp nails and nail edges cut at the fibers of the rug…..

The wood is not sealed and the acids from the wood will also eat away at the wool fibers…..

Kind of reminds me of this……

 

Have I hung rugs using carpet tack strip…….yes

Do I have any rugs currently hung using carpet tack strip…..yes

Am I searching for a better method…..yes

So what started all of this experimentation?

I wanted a way to hang my rugs with just a few nails in the wall,

where I could take the rugs down and they would also be suitable

for hanging in gallery showings.

 

I’ve only done two showings and once the rugs are there it is a

nightmare to figure out how to hang the rugs.

Galleries don’t exactly want you nailing carpet tacking strips to their walls.

He (the framer) had me use the thicker wood strips to keep the rug from hanging flush

to the wall (I requested a method where the rugs would hang flush to the wall)…..when it

hangs flush, it easily traps moisture, which can also be damaging to the rug AND the wall….

in the form of moisture and mold.  When the rug is hung a bit away from the wall it lets air

circulate around the front and the back of the rug.

For most rugs, you would probably not need the wood along the bottom

of the rug as well, however, for these particular rugs…..they had lots of

embellishing which needed to be weighted at the bottom to have the rugs

hang correctly.

In the future we will also be experimenting with Velcro and perhaps an innovate

way to hang smaller rugs with galvanized or stainless steel wire…..I’ll let you know

how these come along as I work on them.

We put so much time and effort into our rugs….I think it’s time we start thinking more

about how we hang them as well.

Falling & Getting Up

Well, that’s a good thing in my case! 

As for the “sewing story”…….

I went to the fabric store, bought some black linen,

brought it home and got out all my “tools” to make pockets

for the back of my garden rugs, which would then house

this piece of wood…..one piece of wood on the top, one piece of

wood on the bottom, to weight the rug.

I measured, I measured again, I cut, I sewed, I swore, I sewed

some more.  I hand stitched the pocket onto the back of one

of the rugs….one irritating stitch at a time. I stitched, I stuck

myself, I bled, I persevered and I got the frickin’

pocket sewn onto the back of one of the garden rugs.

I threaded the piece of wood through the pocket and I hung it against

the wall to see how it was looking before I sewed on the

pocket on the bottom edge of the rug.

)(*#$)@(#Y$)@(#*$)@(*#$

The pocket with the wood in it, made the rug pucker and it just

looked BAD…..I tried not to cry over all the time I had spent

doing all of this…..I bit my lip…..perhaps if I just sew the piece of

wood directly onto the back of the rug on the bottom, I can save

myself a lot of time and see if this is going to look any better

once the rug is weighted at the bottom.

Piece of wood

Fishing line

Needle

Oh the stitching is going quite  quickly….this is good, I think to myself!

I get the bottom piece stitched on and hold the rug up to the wall…..

)(@*#$)(@#*@)#(*$

The top STILL puckers…even with the weight of the wood along the bottom.

I stop

I do some deep breathing

think

Tammy

think

Aha!

Sewing that piece of wood directly to the rug was

so easy……and I’ve been making this waaaay

too hard!

I got out my little scissors…..I snipped and snipped

and snipped some more…..ahhhh, the sheer pleasure

of pulling out all of those tiny irritating threads that

I had stitched so carefully one by one, to stitch on the

100% linen pocket……

gone

done

finito!

Now I was like a woman possessed!

I sewed and I sewed and I sewed….but this time it was

different……

Me, the needle and the fishing line were as one!

I had the piece of wood at the top stitched directly to the rug

.

.

.

I placed it against the wall……

.

.

.

it didn’t pucker!

(Insert singing of angels)

 

I hope to have these “installed” over the holiday

weekend!

I’d love to hear your questions and comments about

this process. I’ve worked tirelessly with a framer

who is quite knowledgeable about the archival process.

Many things were taken into consideration and I

hope to discuss some of those things in some of my

upcoming posts.

Update on Cleopatra and some scrap art

From Scrap to Art

This artist makes sculpture from scrap metal and

scrap utensils and such……intriguing!  Of course I loved

the hound dog!

Want to see more….go HERE

**************************************

For those of you who have been asking about Cleopatra,

she is doing fine.  She had a cyst removed and has several

staples and a drain. The drain comes out Saturday morning,

and the staples the week after that.  Her vet says she is one

of the best patients they have had.  She will let them do

anything to her that needs to be done without complaint.

They even let her come home without the “cone of shame”.

She occasionally licks at the drain and her incision, but she doesn’t

try to pull anything out.

My little patient resting comfortably….

Her staples and drain…..

Oh yeah, I still have to share about my sewing

escapades….will try to do that later today or

tomorrow.

Hot and Sweet

This week the temps here are going to be in the 90’s….
We’re entering the “dog days of summer” here in the
mid-west…..hot, humid, muggy….step out the door and you’re
drenched in sweat…..these are the days that I am SO HAPPY
that I have short hair!

(Please keep Cleopatra in your thoughts today….she is having a minor
surgery to remove a cyst from her hip…..she has LOTS of cysts
all over her body….they say that is quite common for basset hounds.
However, last Saturday one of them burst and I had to take her
in for that….it had infection so she has been taking antibiotics and
early this morning I took her in for the removal.  She will be back home
this evening.  Lonnie is a bit depressed without her here.)

Last night it wasn’t all that bad temperature wise, so I did a little
cooking inside.  I found this recipe for Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas
over at “Boy Cheese Sandwich”. Please visit the blog and
read how they came up with their blog name….too funny!


Hmmmm, honey-lime enchiladas?  That sounds interesting…
Well, it was interesting…..I think this is one of those dishes
that you would want to make again and again if you are a person
with a sweet tooth.
…
…
…
Me, not so much.
I found it curiously sweet….I ended up smothering mine, okay, maybe
not smothering, but I definitely added a lot of Sriracha sauce over the top of it.

I would have thrown on some pickled jalapenos too, if I would have had any
around.
That being said, I guess I’m more of a savory or hot and spicy eater,

so don’t count this recipe out….if you like sweet, give it a try….
I can totally see where some peeps would be totally addicted to
these enchiladas as they have a unique taste to them.
By the way, the sauce that this is covered with was excellent....green enchilada sauce
mixed with 1/2 and 1/2....how could it NOT be good! I'll definitely be using this sauce next
time I experiment with enchiladas!

You can click HERE to find the recipe.

I also whipped up some Bloody Mary Ketchup as well…..I
think we’re having hot dogs at some point during 4th of July
…. now THAT (the ketchup) to me is delish!

(picture from Nourished Kitchen)
Here’s the recipe for it as well.
Bloody Mary Ketchup
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup horseradish
2 tsp. hot sauce
1 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. Worstershire sauce
Just mix it all together
This is FABULOUS!
Oh yeah, do any of you know how much I like to sew?
NOT!

We’ll save this story for tomorrow!

So sweet

Baby robins in our front yard……

so delicate….they look like they are not “done”.

Nestled into the blue atlas cedar tree, hidden from view

unless you really look for them.

Such a beautiful and perfect nest.  Have you ever

really “looked” at nests….they are amazing.

 

Mama/papa robin was not happy with me being so close to her/his babies…..

I never could get a good picture of her/him “on” the nest.

Peach-Vanilla Cream Pops

Yesterday I took a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine and tweaked it just a bit to make some popsicles……popsicles have become my summer addiction.  I eat one every night!

For the original recipe go HERE.

My recipe is below, basically the same, but not quite.

Peach-Vanilla Cream Pops

makes 8-10

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
• 4 medium sliced peeled ripe peaches
• 1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup Greek-style yogurt
• 2 tablespoons Disaronno amaretto 

popsicle molds or Dixie cups and sticks

(my popsicle molds came from K-Mart)

Preparation

• Place sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Transfer syrup to a small bowl; chill. (I put my syrup in the freezer and let it chill while I did the next step)

• Discard vanilla bean.

• Purée syrup and peaches in a food processor until smooth.  Whisk in remaining ingredients. Divide among molds. Cover; insert ice-pop sticks. Freeze until firm. Dip bottoms of molds into hot water for 20-30 seconds to loosen pops.

• Remove pops from molds and serve.

 

Enjoy!