Winter or Spring?

My decorating skills are confused. I still have winter on my mantel and am enjoying it very much. And goodness knows it's colder than a meat locker outside! My little white lights look so pretty at night.


I've jumped on the white candle bandwagon and wrapped mine in some sheet music I found at the Graphics Fairy. All I had to do to make the switch from Christmas to winter was trade out the red candles for white and add the music. I've left everything else the same.




I've been continuing to work on my kitchen re-do and it's coming along nicely. I painted my brass chandelier this week with a hammered bronze paint. What a mess that made! It needs a second coat but I doubt I'll ever get it done. Ditto for the white table.



Eventually, I'll paint my chairs and side table black and make some new chair cushions out of black and white fabric.

I have some burlap left from a project last year and I think I'm going to cover my little lamp shades with it, and maybe make a narrow table runner. I'm definitely going to cover my gold flower pot with a burlap wrap this week.

I painted my bakers rack last Sunday with the same hammered bronze paint I used on my chandelier. It was a beautiful day and the sun helped the paint dry quickly. I need to give the drawers a second coat of black, but that will wait till we have another warm day.

I put my teapots back a little differently and wanted to add some greenery, so borrowed a silk plant I used to have on top of my cabinets. That made it look a lot better. Then I made a little topiary from a tiny gold bucket I bought at Michaels last year. I sprayed it with white primer and covered a piece of foam with sheet moss. I just noticed that my marble eggs are in a straight line...will need to fix that!

But what I'm really happy with is the little mini hurricaine with moss and quail eggs! Last year I had three female quail and they layed a few eggs. The little birds died not long after they reached adulthood and I was sad about it. I'm happy that they gave me a few eggs before they passed though.





Early last week I made a couple of pretty white hearts, inspired by an issue of Somerset Home. Disregard the cat whisker on the large heart; I didn't see it till after I took the picture.


I've been helping my friend, Gail, the last three Saturdays to get an old house painted and ready to rent. Considering Sunday is the only day completely mine, I think I've accomplished a lot. I am determined to be super-productive this year and am off to a great start.

Wait till you see what I did today - you'll really like it :)

I'm In Love

with this blog I've just discovered today.

Being a country girl at heart and loving all sorts of animals, this blog is now one of my favorites. And it's located in Huntington, WV - not far from where I was born!

Go visit Verde Farm when you get a minute. They've got the cutest animals and I am so envious!!

Sewing Again and Pet Stories

Now that all the Christmas stuff is finally put away, I've been able to sit down at my sewing machine again.

Yesterday I couldn't go to work (again) because of an ice storm. It was just too dangerous for me to try to slip and slide my way across back roads for the few dollars I would have made (they didn't open till noon). So, I stayed in my jammies all day and organized my fabrics and made the biggest mess but had so much fun!

I put away all the patterns I was trying to work on and got my bird quilt out. I've joined Dawn's Sew It's Finished challenge and this item has high priority for me. I put it across my bed to see how much quilting needed to be done and you see what happened...Wendy...!


I finally got her off the bed and worked a few hours on my quilt. My goal is to have it completed by this Sunday. I wish I could have had this quilt professionally quilted. I wanted it to be so pretty, but I am making do with what I can do myself.

And speaking of the ice storm, unbeknownst to me, Big Rooster was tangled in some deer netting that had fallen in his pen and was trapped in the ice storm all night. It's dark when I get home from work and all the chickens are already in the barn by then. I usually do a quick head count but didn't Monday evening. I didn't discover him till about 8:30 a.m. yesterday and he was on the ground, unprotected and practially frozen. I ran to the garage and got my scissors and went back to cut the netting off his legs. I felt beyond horrible! If only he had clucked or something the night before when I was only a few feet away from him.

This poor rooster has been through more than any guy should have to deal with in his life! I put him in the barn with the heat lamp and left him there all day. I made him a bunch of scrambled eggs and made sure he had plenty of water to drink. He was limping but immediately started preening himself and I could see that under his wings was dry. If he had gotten soaked to the bones, he wouldn't have made it.

I made him some oatmeal this morning and shared it with the other chickens. They love cooked oatmeal! Big Rooster seems to be fine. I'm going to have to use chicken wire as their pen roof from now on.

I wanted to share a couple of cute pictures of Pumpkin. I noticed that she was sleeping in such an odd position. These are her BACK legs her head is laying between! So funny...and cute. She's an adorable lap kitty.





How cute is she?

Beautiful Words

When they ask to see your gods
your book of prayers
show them lines
drawn delicately with veins
on the underside of a bird’s wing
tell them you believe
in giant sycamores mottled
and stark against a winter sky
and in nights so frozen
stars crack open spilling
streams of molten ice to earth
and tell them how you drink
a holy wine of honeysuckle
on a warm spring day
and of the softness
of your mother who never taught you
death was life’s reward
but who believed in the earth
and the sun
and a million, million light years
of being"


- J.L. Stanley.

I saw this on Lynn's blog this morning and thought it was appropriate for my post today.

A Wonderful Give Away by Gum Tree Designers

Oh gosh, I sure hope I win the wonderful pattern kit that the Gum Tree Designers are giving away! If I do, I'll have to change my project list :)

Kitchen Pictures

Woo hoo! I'm getting closer to a completed kitchen re-do! I still have several things to do - paint the table white, paint the bakers rack and chandelier brushed bronze, and paint the side table black. But here are some pictures of what I've done so far. Still needs tweaking but I'm loving the new, more spare look!

The wall color is called Macedamia by Sherwin Williams. It's from the paint list of the model home I "worked" at last March. That house was gorgeous and is my inspiration for this particular re-do.

My kitchen window - didn't change much except I hung a string of white lights that I plug in at night. Such a happy glow at night! I made the stained glass piece years ago while taking a class (a very expensive hobby I haven't pursued).


Above the refrigerator wall; used to have a lot more prims and will continue to edit these into a more sparse and kind of PB/country french/prim Americana look.

I gave several items to my neighbor in my quest to reduce "stuff". One item in particular was worth $100 two years ago. Maybe that will payback for them helping me last week when my car broke down (again).

For now, I've just put most of my things back where they were. The bird tray and wire cloche are newly bought with Christmas money from my Mom. Thanks, Mom!



Above my stove - took a lot of stuff down and won't put back up.


The baker's rack/wall - edited. Can't wait to paint this and rearrange what is displayed!


The biggest change - my white wall cabinet. I loved the black and white but my stuff didn't show up well and I didn't want to take the fabric down. So last night I decided to put up some of my white plates and fell in love with it. I wanted to keep my little garden angels, so just interspersed them here and there.

And I love, love, love the top of the cabinet! My little white swan just never showed where I had it before. (It's a smaller version of the large one I have in the den.)


It's time to get busy. Work is closed today so I'm home (another day w/o pay). Blair and Zoe are outside and I'll have to keep the cats confined while painting my kitchen table or I'll have hair all over it - permanently!

TTFN - have a great day!

2011 Goals

Good morning all!

I am full of energy and enthusiasm about starting this year off right. I always have a continuous list of projects going (who doesn't), but I've decided to list some of the major things I want to accomplish this year on my blog.

Living alone with more than enough animals to care for certainly takes a lot of my time. If I'm not cleaning up after, repairing from or just feeding the animals, they take up a lot of my time. I've got the usual house chores and maintenance that comes from being a home owner. Add to that, I'm an obsessed gardner living on six acres of land. While I don't mow all of it, I mow at least three acres every week when the weeds and grass are growing. So, I don't have nearly as much time as I'd like to spend on my sewing, painting and other craft endeavors. Thank goodness I'm a fairly energetic person or I'd never get half the things accomplished that I somehow manage to get done. With that said, here is my partial listof goals I want to accomplish this year - not necessarily in order of priority, however.

First, I've joined Dawn's new Sew It's Finished challenge blog and am determined to get some rather large UFO projects completed with the help of this challenge. That will keep my sewing machine busy for a while.

2. Make some of those cute mug rugs I'm seeing all over the place.
3. Complete my concrete walkway in front of the house
4. Install inexpensive solar lights along completed walkway
5. Repair the barn (cover with tar paper and siding) and chicken pens
6. Install laminate flooring in my living room (dependant on budget constraints)
7. Paint master bedroom and bath
8. Read at least three books this year
9. Be more disciplined about keeping the dishes clean and put away, not
just putting them in the dishwasher!
10. Live by my old rule of putting things away where they belong so I can find them
the next time I need them!
11. Make time to paint again. I've thoroughly enjoyed making a few small paintings
as Christmas gifts this year.
12. Finish my kitchen makeover!

I have so many other projects that pertain to the house or garden maintenance, but there's no need in listing all of them. I never get everything taken care of but do try to stay on top of the important things.

But before I can start on my project list, I must take down and put away my Christmas decorations. That will take a good portion of today. Then I'm going to paint my kitchen table white. I'm really excited about this one!!

Well friends, the chickens are waiting to be let out of the barn so I've got to get started on the daily animal chores before I can move on to anything else.

I hope you have a great day!

Sew It's Finished UFO Challenge

Dawn has a great challenge for all of us with a basket (or in my case, a storage container) of unfinished projects.

I've joined Dawn with the Sew It's Finished Challenge to complete my projects this year. There will still be time to start others as well, but this fits nicely with my organizing quest! I'll post my list next time.

I feel excited already!!

2010 In Review

First, I want to thank all of you who have visited with me and helped me get through this year. While I don't get many comments on my little blog, I appreciate those of you who take the time to stop by and wish me well. I've met some of the nicest women since I started this blog, and while I haven't met any of you in person, I feel like I know some of you well.

The last two years have been rough, but I made it through and so did you. I'm looking forward to getting my life back on track in 2011.

Overall, I managed to get a few things accomplished around here. I've painted my spare bathroom, painted my front porch, started a front walkway, and painted my kitchen.

I've rescued one starving dog that was chained to a tree, taken in and vetted one kitten and one cat, and rescued five abandoned bantam chickens. I've seen Princess through surgery for thyroid cancer and Blair through her treatment for heartworms.

I've made skirts and robes for my little granddaughters, a jacket for my mother, and gifts for friends and family.

And last but certainly not least, I landed a good job!

The year has gone by quickly and I have lots of projects I hope to complete in the coming year. I can't wait to see all the new projects you come up with. It's so much fun visiting all the lovely blogs and getting completely overloaded on eye candy and inspiration!

I hope each and every one of you have a happy and healthy new year!

See you in 2011!!

Our Big Snow

I know a lot of you are snowed in right now with the latest blizzard that hit the eastern part of the U.S. I'm not sure what our total was, but it's at least six inches - which is a pretty big deal for us. It is so beautiful and I took pictures of my pooches running and playing in it yesterday.

I took a chance and let Blair loose with Princess and Zoe. I was pretty sure she'd be good and she didn't disappoint me at all. Zoe, on the other hand, disappeared twice and wouldn't come back when I called her. We stayed out for about an hour, which was enough for my old girl, Princess. Bless her heart.






Hansel and Gretel are so pretty. The cold doesn't seem to bother them at all but I'm still going to build them their own shelter before too long.




The chickens said 'no way' to going outside.



Here's my little old girl in her custom made coat I ordered for her about 11 years ago.


Feeling frisky and running like a younger girl!

Precious Princess playing with Zoe



Blair and dingbat Zoe in the back yard...


Blair loose in the field for the first time!


She was so happy. This time last year, she had heartworms and couldn't run. Now look at her!

Where did Zoe go? I can't see her!

Did she go this way?

Mom, maybe she's over there...

Give it up, Blair. She'll come back when she's ready. (and she did)

Up and Running Again :)

My internet is back up - hooray!

So, did you all have a nice Christmas?

Mine was low key but nice. I went up to Laura's and Alissa' for a few hours. Of course, Alissa had already opened all her gifts by the time I got there, but I did get to watch her open the things I gave her.

She had asked if I would make her a poncho and "decorate" it a while back. I knew I'd make her one for Christmas and it was fun to watch her open it. Her reaction was just what I needed to put me in the Christmas mood. Her jaw dropped and she said "I love it; it's just what I wanted"!! Made me SO happy!!

I found some sparkly little butterfly beads, which were perfect to add around the lapel area. Alissa likes her some bling :)


On one of my recent trips to WalMart I happened to discover some kids' watches. Low and behold there was a little pink watch with a little butterfly as the second hand. You KNOW I had to get that for my Rosebud. She hadn't asked for a watch and nobody had even mentioned one, but I knew it would make a great little gift for her.


Mother and daughter...

Alissa asked Santa for a scooter and he found a little pink one. She was so excited!



Here's a picture of one of the gift tags I painted.

I forgot to take pics of any of the little paintings I made. Plus, I made two little mug rugs - my first - and forgot to take pictures of them before I took them to the post office. I was in such a hurry to get things out of here :( I managed to paint four cards - each unique. Yep, forgot to take pics of them as well!!


We got several inches of snow last night, so I've enjoyed a quiet day at home. I'm exhausted from painting my kitchen (another post). I finally got a small batch of Christmas cookies made today. I was busy in the kitchen all morning making potato sald and stuff I can eat without electricity in anticipation of a power outage. Then I took Princess, Zoe and Blair outside to play in the snow for about an hour. I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow...I wonder if I'll be able to get in to work - or if they'll even be open!?!? It's still snowing and at the very least, I bet things will be on a delayed schedule. Yikes - another day without any pay? Sure hope not.

Sleep well tonight. I know I will!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everbody! I hope you are having a wonderful day with your family.

My internet is down at home, so am posting a Christmas wish from my daughter's home. Hopefully, I'll be able to blog tomorrow after I put a call in to Windstream!

Have a blessed day!!

A Miscellaneous Post

Did you think I vanished?

Nope - I'm right here, just busy like all of you. Now that I'm a working girl again, I only have about three hours each evening (if I'm lucky) to get all my chores taken care of and work on my gifts and cards.

Well, I've made and mailed four cards - that's it! I decided at the last minute to make little paintings instead of using the cute and new winter/Christmas stamps I bought a few weeks ago. I also painted each of my gift tags and sprinkled them with diamond dust. They turned out very pretty.

I've made three small paintings, which have been mailed. I'm working on one for myself and then I have a couple to do for others. If I don't make one for me now, it won't happen. You know how that goes. And did I take pictures of any of the things I painted? No :(

I was determined to wrap my gifts so they were pretty this year. Usually I just throw gift wrap around them and slap on a cheap, pre-made bow out of a bag. This year, I used very pretty paper and used some satin ribbon instead of the gift kind. I tucked in a sprig of cyprus from my property and with my hand painted, glittered tag, the presentation was beautiful - if I do say so myself. I'll post a picture of one as soon as I get another one wrapped.

Here are a few pictures I just snapped so I would have something to make this post a little more interesting.

What's this - a partridge in a pear tree? No, it's Alex, Patches and Sarah on a branch. I let them hatch out an egg a few weeks ago so I'd have another bird to keep Coco company. She's all by herself in another cage since her sister flew the coop last summer.


Here is little Pumpkin, getting braver every week.


Here is a tiny tree I have in the living room. I never did get a proper tree this year, but I'm enjoying this one.


Check out this gorgeous poinsettia that I won at our Christmas party last Friday.

My beautiful swan with a wreath around her neck.

A stack of pretty boxes tied with ribbon

And finally, a santa wall hanging I paper pieced several years ago.


Now I've got to go make a small gift for my new manager so I can give it to her tomorrow. We're off Thursday and Friday so tomorrow is my last chance to give it to her. Two days off sounds nice, but I won't get paid for it, so I'd rather be working. But, at least I've got a job now!

Gotta run - have a good evening!

What I've Been Working On

Finally, I've completed the gift I've been working on for my mom. What a labor of love this turned out to be. I'm very proud of the way it turned out though.

This is the pattern I purchased when my sister and I went to the National Quilt Show in Williamsburg this past spring.

Here is the completed jacket.


The entire jacket calls for lining, but it made the sleeves so bulky that the jacket was very uncomfortable. I had to make new sleeves for mom's jacket and left the lining out. It shows in the pictures, which I'm not happy about but darned if I'm touching this project again except to mail it!

I used my pretty copper metallic thread to quilt some swirls on the back and front, but other than that just used tan thread for straight line quilting on it like the pattern had.


I couldn't find any nice closures that suited me, so opted to use one giant button. I found the perfect one yesterday at JoAnn's. Then I couldn't decide on the placement and was driving myself crazy over it so called my DS and asked her advice. She suggested putting the button near the breast bone and cover the loop I made with an inchie. I loved that idea but ended up making the closure loop wider and since it had more presence, just left it alone.


(pardon the shadow from me taking the picture)

I bought a more contemporary pattern for myself, plus a gorgeous batick fabric kit. I'll be doing things differently on mine from what the pattern calls for.

Now that this gift is completed, I'm frantically working on things for the rest of my family!

I hope you have a great day. I'm off to work on my other projects, take care of the chickens, haul trash to the dump, buy food.......on and on!

TTFN!