What the Art Teacher Wore #24

Motivated Monday: Some days, I've just got it. Motivation, that is. Most days I'm a useless slug. But on this day, I was all about the laundry, the cleaning and the dying of this dress...which I'm still losing sleep over. Note to self: no dying, hemming or drastic-vintage-dress-decision-making whilst pms'ing. dress: vintage, thrifted, sweated thru then dyed then hemmed by me

 Hiya, friends. How are you? Is it just me or has this week been screwy as all get out? It's that middle-of-the-week-holiday thing that threw me off. Wednesday felt like Sunday which made Thursday feel like Monday and Friday just wasn't as cool as it usually is. But, whatevs, the fireworks were cool (oh, who am I kidding, this ole bag and her party animal hubs were both in bed by 9pm).

Apart from this week trippin' me out, it was a good one. I got to catch up with some friends, do some estate sale shopping and a wee bit of crafting. So I thought I'd share just a bit of that with you, along with what I wore, this week. This weekend and upcoming week is going to be an exciting one for me as I'm attending the Tennessee Arts Academy. So if I'm a little pokey on the posts, I do hope you'll understand. I'll be certain to fill you in on all of the awesomeness that is the Arts Academy soon. Until then, enjoy your weekend!

Uh huh, you thought I gave up hookin', didn't you? Because it's not a craft that travels well, it has been neglected of late. However, I'm excited to share with you the two squares on the right that have recently been finished.

Car-Jumpin' Tuesday: I went to visit my adorable and amazing former-student-teacher-now-middle-school-art-teacher Lauren on this day in her new school! You might remember her and her artsy looks from these outfit posts. Sadly, after our visit, I had to bother her kind vice principal for a car jump as my GPS decided to go rogue, fall off the windshield, bump my hazards which blinked for hours on end causing my battery to die. What kind of Terrible Tuesday Domino Effect is that, anyway?! same dress; sandals:  made by me with this DIY

This may sound silly to you...but every summer, I've always wanted to spend my Fridays estate/garage/yard saling. And every summer, I've neglected to do so because I hated the idea of goin' it alone. This summer I've got a couple buddies that love to go with me and I'm so excited about that and my great finds! I found this beautiful book and creepy letter opener on a recent saling trip.

Happy Fourth of July Wednesday: We celebrated our independence by shopping at Goodwill and running into this sweet girl and her hubs. dress: the first dress I ever made based off of a pillow sack dress idea, vintage fabric; flowers in my hair: one by me, the other by H & M; sandals: old, BC Footware

One of my favorite estate sale finds: vintage hankies. Antique stores now ask for almost $6 per hankie...I managed to score all of these for half that. I'm thinking of collecting more to create another one of these skirts.

Ladies that Lunch Thursday: Met up with an incredible art educator and professor for a delish lunch on this day. dress: Forever 21, old. I added the brown and mustard yellow bands of fabric at the bottom to add some length. My thighs just aren't up for that much air time; belt: made by me; sandals: You've seen me wear 'em to death, old ones from Target

Ashie's new favorite place to spend her afternoons is on bird duty in this chair overlooking the deck. During this nap she missed the two dozen bird party we happened to be hosting in our bird bath.

Early Morning Estate Saling/East Nashville Lunching/Car Tire Exploding/Tire Buying Fun Friday: Yeah, throw in a thunderstorm, a near wallet snatching and a 110 degree day and you've got yourself more fun that you can handle. Thankfully I had a good buddy to get me through it! dress: vintage, thrifted; coral floral pins: made by me

"Um, did somebody say Bird Bath Party?! Where??" Poor kitty, I swear she misses all the action.

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Weekend Adventure: Back and Forth

I love this turtle mosaic by the Tennessee artist Sherri Warner Hunter. This guy was featured with several large mosaic fish and a lizard bench at a rest stop on the way to Chattanooga.

This weekend, hubs and I took a road trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Now, if ya'll aren't from around these parts, Chattanooga is a sweet town most famous for it's Lookout Mountain. To access the mountain, you can take what's called the Incline Railway which is a sort of train car that halls you at a near 75 degree angle to the top. It is not for the faint of heart.

It's about a two hour drive to Chat from Nashville. On my lap was my latest embroidery project. I'm working from a vintage dictionary with the best illustrations. I can't wait to share with you the finished product...but it might be a while.

Having done the Incline before, we passed on it. Besides we had other things on our agenda. Me, I was all about the vintage, antique and thrift shops. Hubs? Well, if you must know, it was the donut shop. Seriously. We drove two hours for donuts.

Not just any donuts, mind you, Julie Darling Donuts. They were pretty fab. We sampled the red velvet, blueberry and the glazed. None of them were your traditional donut: the glazed was amazing with a bread like texture; the blueberry was crispy on the outside like it had been deep fried and the red velvet had an incredible cream cheese frosting. They also had a bacon donut and an Oreo covered number that looked pretty interesting.

Chattanooga is a pretty arsty town with sculptures and paintings along their river front. I took piano lessons for years, but those of you that know me, know the real piano story. Those of you that don't know this infamous tale, let's just say it involves an Amish piano-tuning dude, my mother and something you'd never thought you'd find inside a piano.

After devouring our donuts, we walked along the riverfront venturing into shops. I managed to do a little damage at one antique store before we hit Lupi's Pizza.

One of my finds: I picked up this sweet little bird tray at The Knitting Mill Antiques. I loved it's unique diamond shape. Perfect for holding my wool snippets and my hook. The little snippets can be felted and made into things like this sweet pin cushion.

Our intent was to stay over in Chat...but to be honest, we felt like we'd done what we came to do: eat deliciously naughty food and buy other people's junk. To Do, Ta Done.

Getting home early allowed me to finish another square in my rug hooking! The flower took a lot longer than the geometric design but I'm really excited with the result.

The variegated yellow wool and the maroon wool that are outlining the flower are both from recycled clothing. I cannot wait to start on my next square. But I have entirely too many other things on my Shoulda-Gotten-Done-Five-Days-Ago list to even think about that.

Okay, the real reason we drove all the way to Chattanooga and back again? This sweet face.

Not only that, but someone has staked her claim in my wool storage! And, lemme tell you, if you even attempt to pull out a strand of wool on her watch, she'll shred you to bits with those claws. So, until she moves on, looks like I'll working on that embroidery!

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DIY: Stripping and Hooking

Look at that sweet face, poised and ready to get her hookin' on. Photos from a 1951 Rug Hooking Bee. What I wouldn't give to travel back in time, dress spectacularly and join the fun.

My mother-in-law is a stripper. And a hooker.

It's not a secret or anything, we're all cool with it. To each his own, we say. It's good to have a hobby.

It was just a little something she started doing on the side a couple of years ago. We didn't think much of it. She got her sister interested in it and now, me.

That's right. I'm a hooker. 

A rug hooker, that is. Why, is there any other kind?

Now, lemme clarify. Because when my MIL first began speaking of rug hooking, I immediately had a flash back of the rug hooking I did in elementary school. I remember sitting on my babysitter's couch every afternoon hooking an image of a mushroom with short little strips of yarn. My dad even made one of these types of rugs, a large red number featuring a running tiger. Very 1970's chic. But that's not what I'm talking about. That's latch rug hooking.

The rug hooking I'm talking about involves strips of wool, not yarn. And, if you'll notice in above photo, the surface that is hooked upon is a fabric called Monk's Cloth. Not the holey grid-like fabric used in latch hooking.

My mother-in-law with one of her many hooked designs. The barn she is hooking is from a drawing my hubs did in junior high school.

And an adorable rug hooking she made for me. Notice the turquoise and orange variegated wool near the border? It came from an old wool jacket of mine. And the brown wool on the inside border is from a jacket of hubs. This hooking will one day be made into a pillow or to cover of a footstool.

So, to try your hand at rug hooking, the first thing you'd have to do is strip some wool. Wool fabric, which can be purchased or recycled from wool clothing, is stripped through a device that leaves it looking like colorful linguine. A rug hook, best seen in the hand of the freckly little girl, is inserted into the Monk's Cloth with one hand while your other hand works underneath looping the wool over the hook.

Once the wool is looped over the hook, it is then pulled to the surface of the Monk's Cloth. With your other hand still underneath the fabric, it pulls the excess strip down to make the wool loops even with the others.

Once a couple of rows are completed, the loops should look like little rows of soldiers standing in a row, not crowded but straight and even.

My wee little finished section! My hope is to create a decent sized rug for my kitchen. I just had to share this little square (it's about 8" x 8") with you as I was just so excited by the result. Who knew I'd love hooking so much?

Er, I dunno if I'll ever like it that much. Ahem.

As always, thanks for dropping by! I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got important hooking to do.

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