Hooking at my house

Thursday evening a few hooking buddies came over for food, drinks and some hooking too!

For the drinks we had Appletinis! Here's the recipe:

3 parts Absolute Vodka

1 part Sour Apple Pucker Schnapps

A splash of Rose's lime juice

Shake with ice in a coctail shaker until it frosts then strain and serve. (I keep the vodka in the freezer)

The food was a Tuna Salad that I remember my mom and I making when I was young.

I had to wing it with the recipe, but this was good!

3 cans white Albacore tuna

Miracle Whip (I use fat free)

Cheddar Cheese cut into 1/2 inch cubes

red grapes (cut in half)

apples (cut into small pieces)

pecan pieces

You'll notice there aren't any amounts in this recipe. Just make it like you're making regular tuna salad as far as the miracle whip and add the fruit "til you think there's enough!!!

Then for dessert, the now infamous Chocolate sheet cake. I found this recipe on thepioneerwoman.com/cooking. Just type in The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake, Ever. That's the name of it and it's true! We stood over the pan and kept cutting pieces with a knife and eating them~that's After we ate it on a plate!!

This is Renee's rug she is working on. (It's a window scene!) I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of Renee'.

And Tammy is cutting wool for a new rug for a friend's baby. The baby is due in a week! She thinks she can get it finished if she works Hard!!!

Dulcy is working hard on her beautiful piece. She drew it and is hooking it in a #4 cut. She took this to Searsport for the camp with Jane Green. She specializes in pictorials. I think Dulcy is doing a Great job on this one!!!

You'll notice there's not a picture of what I'm working on. That's because I'm not really doing anything. I drew a pattern for a gift for my mother-in-law, but don't have enough done to show. And I don't want her to see it either!

It's too hot to go outside here so I worked on photographing wool all day. It's so hard to get the actual colors to show up with a point and shoot camera. Maybe someday I'll get a digital SLR camera. But until then, I have to depend on Photoshop to try to make the colors right!

Hope the rest of your weekend is great!

Peace,

Sheri

Shabby Sheep is officially OPEN for business ~ again!

I started listing wool yesterday and I've already had a sale!!! Yippee! Back in the saddle. You can find me at www.shabbysheepwool.etsy.com.

As a result of my now being a breast cancer Survivor, I am donating a percentage of my sales to the American Cancer Society via the Etsy charity Team EPE.

Etsy Project Embrace. You can read more about it here.

Please help us make a difference in the knowledge and research of cancer of all types.

Thank you and

Peace,

Sheri

Almost ready to Re-open Shabby Sheep Wool!

Mickey has been on to me every day for working so hard.  But once I get out all of the dyeing stuff, I might as well dye LOTS of wool!  Especially when I'm trying to get my Etsy shop opened again. http://www.shabbysheepwool.etsy.com

 

Solids...

Spot dyed...

 

and Textures...

Tomorrow I'll be doing the photography for the shop and hopefully by the end of the week I'll be OPEN for BUSINESS!!!

I'm Back!!!

I know in my heart I couldn't have done this without your prayers and well wishes.  Thank you again.

Peace,

Sheri

p.s. On shabbysheepwool I'll be donating a percentage of my sales to the American Cancer Society by the way of the Etsy group TeamEPE, Etsy Project Embrace.  Please see http://team.etsy.com/viewteam.php?id=685 to learn more about the group.

More of my home tour

I barely remembered I promised you more of the tour today!  I just got home from the monthly hook in at the library.  We had a great time, but called it an early evening (8:00) 'cause we were all hungry.

So on with the tour!  This is the kitchen with it's fresh new coat of taupe paint.  Remember it was red?  I hadn't planned on painting the kitchen until one day I was sitting on the couch and looked into the red kitchen walls.  They seemed jarring.  Not at all fitting into the Zen like feeling I was aiming for.

This cabinet is made out of old doors.  I found it at a garage sale and knew immediately it would become my new "pantry". ($50.00) The little curtains are garage sale tablecloths hung on tension rods.

This armoire has been all over the house.  A few houses, actually.  It has been in the bedroom for sweaters, the living room for TV and stereo and now in the kitchen for a small TV and all of my wool dyeing supplies and baking pans.  It's the oldest piece of furniture I own.  I had a man make it for me probably 20 years ago.  It was a pretty stained pine.  Of course I painted it white.  And that was probably 10 years ago. 

And the bookcase is full of pretties like old rhinestone pins, old jewelry pieces, just trinkets I guess, stuff for mosaic making and altered art stuff.  I love to go through the jars every now and then and look at all the cool things.  When one of my friends comes over she always wants to see if there's anything new to see!

This is the plate rack I made when we remodeled the kitchen.  It used to be the cabinet where the exhaust fan was for the stovetop that was inset in the countertop.  It was black

until this past Saturday!  I thought it was too stark looking too.  The bottom of the island is still black painted bead board though.  

When we were at Renee's hooking the other night I commented that I liked this key holder she has hanging in her hooking room.  She said, "wait right there!"  And out she came with another one for me!!!  I just love it.

Next we'll go to the bathroom.  Well, not GO to the bathroom.   You know what I mean.  We'll Look At the bathroom.  The only things I changed in here were the shower curtain (this one was .50 at a g.sale) and a new rug.

A tray full of girly things on the back of the toilet.

On to the bedroom and one of the biggest bargains I got.  The new quilt was only $2.00!!!  You guessed it, garage sale.  I love the soothing colors.   And of course, more drop cloth draperies.  The chandelier was also gold when I got it.  I sprayed painted it too.  And the little "drips" of wax on the candles were made using my hot glue gun and running beads down them before I painted it.  The little chest I finished with unmatched drawer pulls.  Love it too!

Another garden rake.  The other one is in the kitchen with wine glasses hanging from the tines (above the plate rack)

This shot shows a better view of the walls.  I painted them to look like boards!  

Once again I've redone my hooking studio too.  (Bedroom #2)

Finally hung some rugs I've made and now I can sit in the wingback with my daylight floor lamp and hook all night.  The wingback chair was $2.00 at a sale and I recovered it myself.  I think I have $60.00 in fabric.  The curtains on the closet are actually a huge Ralph Lauren sheet.  Really heavy material~g.sale $1.00. 

You can see in the very top of the picture above, part of the yellow, green and blue chandelier.  It was brass too when I got it.  I painted the dots with my fingerprints!

I painted the little lampshade on the desk too! 

On to Mickey's "boy room"  This is really his dressing room and get away place. (Bedroom #3)

This is the rug I hooked of him fishing in the river.  I made it for him for Christmas a few years ago.

He's a fishing fanatic.  So he can never complain of me having too much wool with all the tackle he has!!

You notice I still have LOTS of color in my room.  I LOVE color.  But I think that laying in this house all winter, being sick and staring at the same old walls and same old stuff I really just wanted a fresh new beginning.  The neutral colors are very calming and Lord knows I need that. Too bad I'll Never be able to show the basement.  Where do you think all the STUFF went? 

I'm feeling great.  The house is calm.  Everything feels right.

I'm even gearing up to reopen my Etsy shop!  Shabby Sheep Wool.  Bought 25 yards of wool to dye today.  Will let you know the minute I get it open!

Thanks for going on our little bungalow tour.  Hope you enjoyed yourself.  If you're close by stop in and say hello!

Peace,

Sheri

Whole house re-do pictures

I didn't publish the pictures the next day like I said I would, but here they are.

I ended up doing Something in every room of the house, with Lots of major stuff for a total price of $1850.00! I could have spent that on a sofa alone, but I'm too much of a tight wad to do that!!!

I'll start in the living room.

This is just inside the front door. There is no "entry" in this little bungalow. You just enter right into the living room. A garage sale mirror I painted white, an old armoire door~I put burlap in where there used to be a wooden panel and I painted some silver "bling" inside the little niche.

The new sofa. Remember I said I was going to order it in red? Well I ended up with my original white and then a few weeks later I ordered another slipcover~Red~ that I'll use in the winter. The bird pics are new and a bargain for $25 a pair. And of course, the drop cloth draperies~$12.00 a panel from Lowe's.

This is a wingback chair I had that had birdhouse upholstery on it. I ordered this ready-made slipcover from Penney's~$70.00. I made the little pillow on it from burlap and velvet. The little Duncan Phyfe table was my parents and I spray painted it silver. (I thought my dad might shit when he saw it, but he just laughed!!!) And see the little saint statue on the mantle? That's part of my new found love of all things Catholic!?!? I asked the lady in the store if she happened to know what saint he was and she said he's Saint Thomas. Mickey's name is Thomas Michael!!! And you all know what a saint he has been for me during my cancer battle. Couldn't have been a better day! Mickey calls him Saint Big Head.

Also I got the peaked top window at a flea market and painted the lamp and frames white.

This is the settee I picked up at a garage sale for $60.00 and had our local slipcover genius, Carol Ussery do her magic on. And the finally finished "antique star" reproduction rug. I started this last year and just finished it the night before the dinner party. I also put together the hanging lamp from an old lampshade frame. I electrified it and hung crystal prisms on it. Quirky, huh?

I love the little ruffle Carol put on the bottom of the settee. And I forgot to add that the fabric was $90. and she charged $185 to make it.

Carol putting on the slipcover. I had her make one side of the cushion this wild red print to use when I have the red cover on the sofa. I made a couple of throw pillows in this print to put on the couch too! Love it!! And actually, I like the original blue and white check fabric too! Jimmie Dean had to be in the middle of her working. Luckily she likes dogs.

This is a close up of the niche I painted with a silver paint pen! See my collection of heart rocks? Mickey made the wire butterfly that's "flying" on the back. He is a supervisor of orthodontics at the dental lab where I also worked. He makes retainers all day out of wire, and he's also a talented artist!And my great-niece Zoie made the little basket for me at Vacation Bible School while they were home visiting last week.

And this is the chair pad for Jimmie Dean that Tammy showed on her blog~SkipToMyEwe. It looks Just Like Him!!! I took a picture of him and then drew it on paper and transferred it onto the linen to hook. I painted the little bench a few years ago.

I'll move on into the dining room tonight. Then I'll continue the tour tomorrow...Really!!! tomorrow!!!

The table I bought at the Salvation Army and was in pretty bad shape. I used wood filler on the top and painted it a glossy white with a nice oil paint.

My sis gave me two of the parsons chairs and I bought the other two at a consignment store for $125. for the pair. I was going to make linen slipcovers for them that draped to the floor, but after spending $25 for fabric for just one chair and Four Hours sewing and cussing, I ended up ordering these cute covers online for $15 a piece. No cussing and lots cheaper and easier!

And the chandelier was a garage sale find for $2.00. It was black and really scuffed up. Nothing a $4.00 can of spray paint won't fix.

I used rubber cement and put burlap on the back of these shelves.

These pictures are fabric. I purchased this fabric and covered six dining chairs with it! Then I found out the chairs looked too short with the table. The lady at the consignment shop wants me to put them there for sale. I hope they sell. Big boo boo. But at least I got these two little pictures! I stapled the fabric onto some old canvas I had in my craft room (to paint on some day)

Mickey surprised me with these great lamps on the last day of my radiation treatments!!! I was sleeping on the couch and he snuck them in and put them on the dining table. Isn't he great??? And this buffet was in our bedroom~but there's still no silverware in it. Still has panties and nightshirts in it!!! And the drop cloth draperies are in here too! They really do look like expensive linen drapes.

The dining room looking into the kitchen. I'll show you that tomorrow.

Hope you're enjoying the tour!

Peace,

Sheri

Finally finished the antique star rug!

The one I found a picture of on an online auction of antiques.  I had written 2009 on the bottom of the linen.  I'll make a label for the back and make it 2010!  I sure couldn't hook while getting chemo and the other treatments.  Sooo glad that's over.

I also put the finishing touches on the whole house makeover on Tuesday.  Just before (literally minutes before) my dinner party for my out of town guests!  My niece Angie, and her daughter Zoie are visiting from Indiana and my aunt Sonja and her daughter Melissa and kids, Max and Morgan are visiting from Florida.  I love an excuse for entertaining and what could be better than guests from two states?  

That's my mom, dad and sister (and Missy in the mirror.)

Angie and Zoie.  I taught Zoie to rug hook in about two minutes!!!  She drew a pattern and I'm going to make her a kit and mail it to her! 

Morgan is four. (We had spaghetti for dinner! I missed a spot on her mouth when I washed it~Not a mom!)

 

Max is seven and so involved in the family conversation!!! 

Their mommy Melissa.

My aunt Sonja on the left, me, and my aunt Naomi on the right.  My mom's sisters.  Do we look alike?

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the house redo.  I did it all on a Tight Budget.  But I think I did great by adding some garage sale "treasures".

Talk to you tomorrow

Peace,

Sheri