Pink Saturday and Discovering Blog Land

Happy Saturday to you all!

I was wondering yesterday what in the world I could post for Pink Saturday. I dabble in all kinds of things, but have been spending a lot of time with fabric lately and loving it. I did sew a small flower pocket for my friend, Gail, but it wasn't pink, and I had made it so late Thursday evening that I didn't even think to take a picture of it. I've been working with wood the last few days and don't have pictures of my projects to share yet.

Well, I decided to post a picture of the bench I made last September. I was searching for yard art - you know, the trash to treasure type? I moved to what used to be a farm field and have been toiling away for 8 years planting trees and making flower beds. Because the space is so large, I need big structural things and certainly can't afford to buy all those beautiful arbors and such that I see at Lowes. And since I'm a major dumpster diver anyway, trash to treasure was the way to go. So while doing a search on Google for yard art, I discovered sites with all kinds of things made from "junk" - just my style of fun! I noticed that they were all "blogs" and kept clicking away on different links and the rest is history. I was addicted.

I'm pretty sure I found the idea here. As soon as I saw all these cool things made from other people's throw aways, I went right out to find myself a headboard. I went to the local flea market and came across a headboard from a youth bed. It wasn't even priced and when I asked, the man sold it to me for $5. I went to Lowes and bought $11 worth of lumber to add to scraps I already had from other things. Here is my $16 bench; I am very happy with it. The very next weekend I found a full sized wood headboard somebody through in the trash and promptly brought it home. It's in my garage waiting to be turned into a big bench for another part of the yard.



The project I'm working on now is a wall shelf unit to hold some of my art supplies in. It's almost finished and I'll post pictures later. Right now, I'm not happy with it though. You can't stretch wood like you can fabric when you cut it too short!

ttfn,
Phyllis

I've Been Tagged!

Oh how fun! Diane of Diane Knott's Musings has tagged me. This is the kind of fun stuff I wanted to participate in so am very happy about it!

If I understand the rules correctly, I'm supposed to list 7 things about myself and invite 7 other bloggers to join in. Hmmm - where do I start?

1. I've been an animal lover and art dabbler since I was a little girl; one of my favorite things to play with was crayons and a coloring book.
2. I love to bake but only cook because I have to.
3. I moved from a nice and almost paid for house eight years ago to a new house in the country that I'll never pay for so that I could foster dogs for a rescue group.
4. I love to paint anything, whether it's walls in a room or an actual painting and love the smell of paint (and dirt). I really need to start painting pet portraits again!
5. I learned when I was very young to admit when I messed up and accept the consequences.
6. If more than a day or two goes by and I haven't played with fabric, paint or worked in the yard, I get very grouchy!
7. I talk to myself - out loud - way more than is normal, I'm sure!

Since discovering blog land, I've become such an addict. While it was never a problem for me to find inspiration in all sorts of places to start yet another new project, I must say that the blogs I have discovered have really kept me motivated and actually helped me be more productive! Dawn of The Feathered Nest and nutty Nikki at Blah, Blah, Blah Blog both encouraged me to start a blog of my own and I'm so happy I did. This is like the new age of pen pals (I know - I'm showing my age). It's just so wonderful how sharing and generous the women I've met in blog land are!

There are so many blogs I visit and these aren't in any particular order; I'd just like to get to know them better, and maybe introduce you to each other. The lucky gals I'm tagging are:
Chris
Jennifer
Heidi Ann
Lynn
Tam
Cat
Natalie

After spending all morning taking care of appointments for myself and a couple of my dogs, I haven't gotten a thing done around here (and yes, my kitchen is STILL waiting to be cleaned)! I started another new project.... :)

A Beautiful CQ Web Site

Good Morning, everybody!

I love crazy quilting but am a little intimidated by it, so I just keep saving articles and books about how to do it. :( While having my morning coffee and going through some of my favorite blogs, I followed the trail of comments to this incredibly gorgeous web site Pat Winter Gatherings. OMGosh - what an incredible place this is!!!

I am determined to learn how to do this kind of gorgeous needlework. I've wanted to for years but the time is NOW. Of course, I'm going to just have to buy Pat's new book she's mentioned. Look at some of her work:



Geez - here I go off on another impulsive project...and I wonder why my kitchen still hasn't been spring cleaned yet!

Pink Hearts, Carly Update and Annie

Hi everybody,

I thought I'd show you all what I did to make my bowl of hearts prettier. I cut out several felt hearts while watching my Saturday night British sitcoms and hung them from my old gumdrop tree, which I put right in the middle of the bowl. I think it turned out pretty cute, don't you? I wonder how long it will last with the cats - I now have four in the house and two of them are horrible at jumping onto everything!

Since the little felt hearts didn't take long, I embroidered this heart tea towel, which I think I will keep for myself. I found the free pattern at Bird Brain Designs . Since I free-handed mine, I had to add a heart to fill out the arrow. Here's my flour sack tea towel:

While reading my blogs last night, I came across this adorable give away from De at It's About Annie. I still have my original Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and this little one would be cute to keep them company. (Actually, I'd have to dig them out of the closet and dress them, as somewhere along the way they've lost their clothes!)

On another note - I've had a couple of emails about the status of Carly, the little dachsund who ate the toxic sugar free gum. I'm happy to report that little Carly is doing great. She has to stay on meds for a long time and get re-checked periodically, but she is one lucky little doggie! Thanks for asking about her. Just remember to keep anything containing Xylatol safely away from your pets!!

Half the day is gone and I haven't done anything productive, so I'm off to clean my computer room and put the last few Christmas decorations away...if I can make my way around all the animals on the floor, one of which you can't even see! They've been destroying their new toy while I've been blogging!

...and the instant I'm up - my chair is taken over!

Have a great day everybody!

Pink Saturday

Look at this cute little mouse pincushion! I got the directions here and it only took me about 45 minutes to make. I had some flexible wire to use for her tail. Another pattern shows a spool of thread on her tail but I don't think I'm going to do that. That pattern did have a good tip though - put a flat rock in the base before sewing the closing. This will help her stand in the right position.


And I made a whole bowl full of pink hearts out of those pretty fabrics I posted a while back. I'm happy with the hearts but not the display. It seems to be missing something...maybe some twigs or a little branch sticking out of the middle with some paper hearts dangling...?


Happy Saturday, everybody!

It's Been a Quiet Week

Hi everybody,

I've been home all week and have quite enjoyed it. I haven't really given much thought as to which direction I should take next, but today I finally feel like taking some sort of action about finding a job.

One good thing about being home all week is that I've straighted up some of the mess I had created with all my sewing stuff. I got all my fabrics put away that I had used for the baby shower items, and did some minor organizing of sewing supplies. I've decided I need a cute little shelf to put jars of buttons and other pretties on and have the perfect design - one I found at the Atlanta Market a couple of weeks ago. Once I get it made, I'll post a picture.

In the mean time, here are a few more pictures of our six inch snow. It was beautiful and the first accumulation we've had in five years. Most of it has melted and today is going to be relatively warm and very sunny so I think I'll work outside for a while (getting the gardening itch). Oh, and I actually pieced a quilt top this week that I had started in 2007. All that's left is to add the border and then I can get supplies to finish it. Even before the layoff last week, I had decided I was going to complete all the projects that I've started.

This is Hansel and Gretel - my two Grey Saddleback Pomeranium geese (about nine months old now).

Here's a picture of Princess (whippet mix), the love of my life. She'll be 11 years old this July - I can't believe that.

...and Harley, my 12+ Heinz 57 and the best old guy on earth...

There is always hope for brighter days...

The chickens are cozy in the barn.

Flora - my favorite hen

Smudge and Topaz curled up on the daybed. Smudge is the huge and very handsome gray and white kitty; Topaz is solid black.

...and this is my Hollyhocks quilt top (it's lap size). There is one block I don't like but it's staying!


I hope you all have a great day today, no matter what your circumstances!

A Wonderful Day for All of Us!

Here I am in my cozy home while it's so cold and snowy outside...happy. I'm happy because even though I lost my job last Friday and have no idea what I'll do next, I feel hopeful and confident that this exceptional man will get our great country back on track. Things will be better for us all.

God Bless America and God Bless President Barack H. Obama and his family.

As Promised...

I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the pictures from the Market. I took lots more but am saving them for other posts. Since my friend was mainly ordering for next Christmas, we spent most of our time looking at Christmas merchandise. I got lots of ideas for decorating and making pretty things for gifts next year.

Remember my post about the baby shower gifts for my oldest daughter? Well, I can now share a picture of the snuggle blanket I made for her, which she loved. I made some baby bibs but they aren't anything special. I wanted to embroider some cute things on them but just ran out of time. I also made her a nice nursing cover with detailed instructions I found on the web. Those things sell for $40 and it only took one yard of fabric ($10). I'm happy with the little snuggle blanket though. The pictures aren't very good; the color doesn't show properly. I made it from very soft chenille, which is a lime green color. It looks very washed out in the photos, but you can get an idea of what it looked like. The back is a soft beige satin and I put a layer of soft and natural quilt batting between the layers. To keep the batting in place, I did a little hand stitching around the appliques. I made my own appliques from some free images I found on the internet - don't you love free?!?




And after visiting some of my favorite sewing/quilting blogs, I decided I should post a picture of the quilt I made for myself last summer. I've made several quilts but this is the first one I've completed for myself. I named it Summer Sherbert.


Today it's still cold, but not as cold as yesterday! I think I'll spend my day organizing my craft and sewing rooms. They've gotten slightly (cough cough) out of hand over the last several weeks.

I hope you all have a great day and stay warm...and don't forget to help the animals that others don't take care of.
ttfn

Atlanta Market Part II

Hey everybody,

As promised, I'm sharing more pictures I took at the Market in Atlanta last weekend. I was most attracted to the displays that included garden related items. And since I went with a nursery owner, that's what I got to see a lot of! We both liked a lot of the same things and I just snapped away with my camera as soon as I was given permission.

I saw a lot of glass cloches, and all sizes of wood ladders used for displaying things on. Years ago I made a cute table out of a small wood ladder and put a round glass top on it. I still enjoy it and that's probably why I was so interested in how bigger ladders were used.

Enough gab....enjoy these pictures. I hope they remind you that even though it's bitter cold in most of the nation, spring isn't far away! Have a great day!

Atlanta Market

Hi everybody! A friend took me to the Atlanta Market and what a trip! I've never experienced anything like this and it was quite overwhelming. I took tons of pictures of displays, with the permission of the exhibitors of course, and wanted to share some with you right away.

And before I forget to tell you - guess who I met live and in person? - Anna Griffin of Anna Griffin, Inc!!! She was so nice and very gracious about me being so bold as to introduce myself to her...like I'm anybody! I just had to tell her that I loved her beautiful products and was so happy for her that she had made such a success for herself doing something she loves.

OK, now for some yummy pictures. The first few are of a wonderful exhibitor Peacock Park Designs - they had an absolutely gorgeous display! I'm a long time gardener and am drawn to almost anything related to it. Check out this sweet little garden shed, which is available for purchase...




And check this out - it's nothing more than a torn piece of cardboard that has been stenciled with their name. How cute is this?!?


And I'm definitely liking these wire cloches, which several exhibitors had. I didn't realize that I took pictures of every one I saw. I can't remember which exhibitors these are from, but I did ask their permission before taking any pics.




I have lots more beautiful pictures to share but will save them for the next posts.

I hope you all have a great day and appreciate being in your own home as much as I do!