Happy Birthday To Me

I know, I was singing the Twelve Days of Christmas yesterday and now Happy Birthday. Actually, yesterday was my birthday and I had such a fun day. Let me tell you what I did...

After taking care of some fun business, I picked up my friend, Alyce, and she treated me to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We both had yummy crab cake sandwiches and fries and were too full for any dessert. Then we headed to Thimble Pleasures, a really great quilt shop. I hadn't been there since before Christmas and was really excited to go back. They have so many fabrics, patterns and books and everything else in this small and quaint space that they've decided to move to a bigger location. BTW - they now offer on-line ordering.

I tend to get overwhelmed when I go into a place that has so many beautiful things to chose from so I took a little list of fabrics that I was looking for. I wanted some pretty tea related fabrics but they had sold all of them and were waiting for the new order to come in. But another item on my list was fun fabrics, and I found plenty of those to chose from. The very first one that I saw, I knew I had to have...so many fun possibilities and I can't wait to work with this one:
This is a coordinate for the bathing suits

These were so fresh and happy and I love most anything with birds or feathers on them


And this one I got specifically to make one of Diane's art quilts with - sorry the pic is a little fuzzy...


And this one caught my eye because it has tiny cherries on it...I don't know why I'm attracted to cherries right now.
After we left the fabric store, we stopped at a cool garden-related home interior shop and I got this; it fits in my home perfectly.


It was late afternoon and we were both ready to go home, so I dropped Alyce off and headed back to meet my daughter, Laura, and Alissa. They had a surprise for me! I love surprises :) Look at the beautiful earrings they gave me:
And last but certainly not least, my older daughter and her hubbie sent me this. Oh boy can I have some fun!

There is a beautiful carousel inside this mall and of course Alissa had to have a ride; she had the whole thing to herself.



After my big day out, I was tired and happy. It was the best birthday I've had in a long time :)

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me

Two turtle doves....this is what I came home to today. I'll write all about my big day tomorrow.

Baby Dove #1 Arrived!

I'm so excited! Here I am on the computer paying bills when I hear lots of fluttering in the next room. I new right away one of the cats was terrifying the doves so ran in to chase the culprit out. Then I saw this and thought - oh no, Sarah pecked one of the eggs and threw it out of the nest; she only wants one baby!
Then I thought - wait a minute...check the nest to be sure. Look! Momma is being very protective. Don't worry Sarah, I wouldn't hurt your baby.
Here is proud daddy (Alex) being introduced to baby #1. One minute later, Alex is sitting on the nest giving Sarah a break. How sweet!

Baby doves are quite ugly but in two weeks, this one will be as gorgeous as it's parents! Geez - now what do I do????

Vintage Retail Therapy

Hi again - twice in one day :)

I haven't had the best week - just a little down in the dumps trying to figure out what direction to take finding a job. Well, I've been wanting to look around in some local antique and thrift shops and today I went out in the rain and did just that. No, I shouldn't be spending money on unnecessary items right now, but I did on a few things that have brought me little crumbs of happiness, so I guess it was money well spent.

I saw so many things in this antique shop from my childhood and they made me smile. There was a vase in there just like one that my grandmother had but it was red and white, and the one she had was blue and white. If it had been blue and white, I would have bought it. These are the things I came home with. None are terribly old by any means, but I liked them.

This one is my absolute favorite; I could use him for so many things but for now he is just setting on my little spice rack. It's a small open box and the front of it is a Scottie dog.
I bought the whiskey decanter because I love Canada Geese so much, and thought this was very pretty. The little dog was just cute
and the tin will bring some fresh color to the top of my kitchen cabinets
When I went on a road trip with my friend Gail last Thursday, I picked up a spice rack for $5. I'm going to paint it but just stuck in on the wall as is for now. Originally, I was going to put some sewing related items on it but changed my mind.

While I'm going down memory lane, do any of you remember either of these little toys? I remember getting the little black chalkware baby for 10 cents at Woolworths when I was very, very little. They were all just piled together in a glass bin; her arms and legs are connected with string.
I got this little mouse toy for a birthday when I was maybe about 9 or 10 years old (just guessing). He comes apart and each section of him is a top. His name was Mr. ...something..that's the part I can't remember. I've always loved both of these little toys and am surprised they've survived all the moves in my life.

Shamrock Quilt Complete - Almost

Yeh! My little shamrock table topper is finished...well, all except the binding. I'll get it done by this afternoon, as I'm anxious to get those Appalachian quilts together and in the mail.

It was a cold and rainy day and perfect for staying inside. I decided that I wanted my shamrock stems pointing away from the center so changed mine slightly from the original pattern that Kim supplied. I also wanted to add a little dimension to it so I put a button on each clover. I had lots of company, as you can see. My two dogs, Princess (right) and Zoe (left), are in the front with Chance, my foster foxhound in the back. And if you see a dark lump to the left, that's Topaz, the sweetest kitty I've ever had.
Of course, Smudge is keeping to himself:
oops - sorry buddy; I didn't mean to wake you :)
And here it is; I'm going to use the background fabric to bind it.

I love the feeling I get that actually completing something gives me, don't you? Even though this was a very small project, I feel like I've accomplished something this week.

It's another cold and rainy day - perfect for staying inside and sewing and painting.

I hope you have a nice day, whatever you do with it.

My First Art Quilt

I wanted to post pictures of two things I made a few years ago, but I can't find one of them. I know it's in my computer somewhere, because I've seen it, but darned if I can find it tonight.

It was a few years ago that I discovered the world of art quilts and was in Barnes and Nobles one day at lunch, looking through the magazine racks. Well, my eyes fell upon an issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and I about flipped. I'd never even heard of the magazine before but snatched up a copy that had a beautiful art quilt on the front of it. The article was about how to paint faces on fabric. I bought myself a copy and took it home and almost immediately started figuring out how I could adapt the picture to make it for my younger daughter, Laura, who has always loved fairies.

While the inspiration quilt is of an actual person, I changed it to be a fairy sitting in the woods. I found a batik fabric that looked like light was flickering through tree branches and knew it was perfect for what I wanted.

I bought some fibers at Michael's and sewed them on top of the rock to make it look mossy. I hand stitched some cotton swab pieces for the pussy willows and hand painted the foxgloves after cutting the shapes out of a soft pink fabric. I added some beads here and there and attempted to free motion quilt with metallic thread randomly. I learned a lot when I made this and want to make more but just haven't. I seem to like to make one thing and then move on.

Her face doesn't show up in the picture but I wanted it to be more of an idea of a face, not really detailed. I was pretty happy with this when I finished it.

I'll keep looking for the other picture that I can't find right now. It's an entirely different kind of fabric art.

Finally ...

I'm back at my sewing machine. Ever since I discovered Kim's St. Patrick's Day table topper, I've been dying to make it. After doing some other work, I decided to get my act together and get this little project started. I haven't gotten very far, but at least I'm working on it. These are the greens I'm using for the shamrocks:

And these are the pieces for the shamrocks. I've since sewed them together but haven't gotten far enough along to take any pictures to share.
Let's see now, that makes my black and white box, my tin lamp, the Appalachian project and the table topper started...ummm...I thought those first two projects were my "focus" projects.

Oh well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm somewhat of a spaz.

On another note, the UPS man stopped by today for a delivery. I was just starting to get excited, thinking somebody sent me something as a surprise! What was it? Parts for my lawn tractor servicing this coming Friday. Bummer.

Spring is Springing - Yippee!

I know it's still technically winter but the plants and birds aren't waiting any longer. Yesterday it was a whopping 83 degrees here (I wish it wouldn't get any hotter in the summer) and today it was 69 degrees. In a couple of days we'll be back down to the 50's but that's ok with me.

All the birds are singing and staking out their territory for nest building and the tree frogs are singing all night now. I love sleeping with the windows open and hearing them, even if they do wake me up. I don't care - it's not like I'm on any schedule these days.

I spent the afternoon planting a Redbud Forrest Pansy in honor of my new little granddaughter, Ginny. It's just opposite from the Little Gem Magnolia I planted for Alissa when she was born six years ago. After I got the special tree planted, I finally planted two crepe myrtles that I bought last summer. I couldn't figure out where to put them. Not because I don't have room, but because I have too much room. My front yard is getting kind of hodge-podgey and I really don't know what to do with it.

Enough gab - here are a few pictures:
This is my male dove, Alex, giving Sarah a little break from nest duty. He is so good to her. I sure don't want to raise doves but they wanted to nest so I put a basket in their cage for them and they are now taking care of two delicate white eggs. I'll be building a medium sized aviary outside for them before too much longer.

The established Redbuds are bursting with buds

The pussywillow is too

and the cherry trees!

My forsythia is almost in full bloom and won't be lasting long; they've just popped open within the last couple of days:
The daylillies have been coming up for a little while but the deer munch them down immediately. I sprayed them with vinegar this afternoon; that will deter them for a while.
My periwinkle is just beginning to bloom as is my evergreen clematis. This clematis has white flowers that almost smell like gardenias but not nearly as strong and with a hint of lemon. I love this vine, but the flowers don't last very long :(
My red stemmed hosta is growing; I've babied this expensive little plant for years. I don't dare put it in the ground!
And last but not least, my newest daffodils that I planted a few months ago
Before much longer, all the trees and flowers will be in full bloom, and with it the pollen, but it's so worth the sneezing and runny nose!
Yikes - I didn't realize it's so late. I haven't even had my dinner yet!
TTFN

Look What I Got!

I received the most wonderful gifts from Diane Knott this week. If you visited her blog last week, you would have noticed that she had a new banner with a teapot on it. Well, I flipped over it and contacted her to see if I could purchase a print of it. She was so kind that she offered to send me one as a thank you for the antique items I sent her last month. Well....when the print came, I thought the envelope felt awfully heavy and was very curious. When I opened the envelope, there was the gorgeous print, which she signed and dated. I was so happy to get it; it will go perfectly in my kitchen with my other two prints that I just posted about. I went right out yesterday and bought a frame for it so I can hang it up today.

Why did the envelope feel so heavy???? Look what else she sent me - I was covered in goosebumps and had to calm down a bit before I could absorb it all.

Look at the gorgeous cards - they are too beautiful to use as cards; I think I'll be framing them as gifts (one to keep for me of course):

The book has eight wall hangings to make, all of which are from her beautiful paintings. It was a collaboration with her daughter, Holly. She even inscribed the book to personalize it. All the directions are very clear and easy to understand and I can't wait to get started on my first one. I've taken a picture of two of the wall hangings that are inside the book; all of them are equally gorgeous!

If I had had her phone number, I would have called to thank her but she probably wouldn't have appreciated it very much as I was practically screaming with joy just sending her an e-mail of thanks. My dogs were running around looking to see what all the commotion was about! :)

Diane, thank you so much for these beautiful things which I will treasure always. I love your art work and didn't realize until recently the extent of your works. And here I thought you "just" designed fabrics. Shame on me for not reading people's profiles thoroughly.

Have a great day everybody; I hope you have some sunshine and warmer temperatures today like we have here.

T Is For...Tea!

Tea and everything that goes with it seems to be super popular right now. I've always liked the sound of having or attending a tea party. I have a small collection of tea pots, which I love. A couple of them belonged to my grandmother, but most were given to me over the years as gifts.

My beautiful tea set by Princess House purchased many years ago:

These prints hang to the left of the tea pot collection:


I bought this tea cup wall hanging pattern at a quilt show in Raleigh several years ago (still haven't made it!):

And a gorgeous panel of fabric I just purchased last week - still trying to decide what to turn it into:

This is the tea wallet I made for my oldest daughter a couple of weeks ago - she loved it:

I uncovered some beautiful tissue paper I bought at least 15 years ago and forgot that I even had. I'm going to have to think of a couple of perfect projects to use it to it's best advantage.....suggestions?

I made good progress yesterday on my two selected projects and will be able to post pictures of them by tomorrow. Today I'm taking a little road trip to JoAnns to buy things to finish those Appalachian Project quilts and meet a friend for lunch. I'm so excited - I've been in the house since last Friday!!

Have a great day everybody!

why does my page go blank after posting sometimes???

Another Post....a Sweet Give Away!

Hi again - in cruising around blogland, I've just seen Cynthia's sweet give away. Go over the her place for a visit and check out all the other pretties she has too!

now...on to my project....

New Day, New Week, New Month

We had a nice snow last night. Some areas got a ton but I think I only got about 2 inches. It's heavy and wet and beautiful; I'm glad I don't have to go out today. Wouldn't you know I just had my car washed Saturday and now there will be salt on the roads.

I've been very unfocused the last few days and haven't accomplished anything, which puts me in a very bad mood. I think because I'm home now due to unemployment, that I've been trying to make every single thing I've been wanting to for ages and consequently, have become a little overwhelmed. Now mind you, I jump from thing to thing all the time anyway (I know you all know what I'm talking about), but at least I actually finish some of my projects some of the time. I've got the quilt tops for the Appalachian Project to be worked on, the St. Patricks Day table topper I want to make, the painting I started a couple of weeks ago - untouched, supplies to repaint my totally destroyed laundry room (details in another post), an old tin lamp I'm giving a makover to, and probably 20 small sewing projects that I want to do right now. Oh, and of course, visiting friends in blogland isn't helping....seeing all the beautiful homes and decorating ideas. Yes, last night I found another pretty blog and of course, want to immediately paint something with black and white diamonds on it!

Usually I'm the one who is focused and helping others do the same, but I'm making myself crazy. I'm so torn between sewing and painting projects. I am going to pick one small thing and finish it today, and then move on. Baby steps. I can't do everything as fast as I'd like and I just need to refocus so I can start making progress again. Making and doing is what makes me happy.

In the mean time, here are just a few pictures I took of our snow. I wish I had bought more birdseed when I went to the store Saturday!

Oh, and one more thing....the previous post about using carpet as weed control....it is completely hidden once covered with mulch. Just in case you thought I'd actually leave it that way :)