What I'm Up to on Saturday

The day started out with going to get a hair trim and that always makes me feel better! Then I moseyed over to the quilt shop and looked around, wishing I could quilt.....LOL and drooling over all the new fabric and sewing machines they had there. I resisted a new Janome........


The kind lady at the quilt shop knows me by now and she said "honey, it's easy. Come here when we are having a beginners quilt class, which is soon, and I will show you how to get started." That's all she had to say to convince me that I absolutely need to get my table up downstairs and prepare for this quilt lesson! Now, who in the world will I give these projects too, I have no clue, but I will be learning hopefully and soon!


After that, I went over to several thrifts shops and then decided it was time to treat myself to a pedicure with a foot massage and reflexology. This is the best medicine you can buy! Promise! Take my word for it and get one this week. You simply must!

This week I added a little sign over my dining room area buffet and table. I absolutely love it! My pics are blurry but this gives you a general idea. Do you see the big picture on the right wall?


I thought I would show you this oil painting. We keep a light on it almost always as it has darkened a bit since........1882. Yes, this is a painting that we cherish alot from my hubby's Dutch family. His great, great aunt painted it. We always said that this was interesting because her initials are exactly like mine. The date is on it as well. There are some tiny flecks of paint that have come off over the years and we really need to have it restored a bit but haven't looked into that yet. When we bought our house, this spotlight was already in the corner and we knew right away that this was the perfect spot. We don't know the history of where she was when she painted this. Her name was Jentjkie Dalenberg, also called Jennie. We do know that Jennie never married and painted this in her younger years.

This is a closer view of the sign.

Oh, and I threw in a pic (although a bit yellowish) of my pink toes from my pedicure today!

Now look at this lovely treasure that came in the mail yesterday. Remember, back about 5 weeks ago I told you that I was getting Heart of America by Little House Needleworks? Although it took a while to get here, it's here finally and the colors are beautiful. 30 ct Creek Bed Brown linen and Crescent Colors threads.

The frame is so beautiful.

And not much stitching completed on Jonah here but last night at the stroke of midnight I got to here~~~~I will say that this is the stiffest linen I've ever stitched on. Seriously, I turned off the TV late last night and while I was stitching each thread, you could hear the needle squeek through the linen farely loud. It has alot of "drag" to me. I'm using a 26 John James needle so this should be adequate for 35 ct. But the linen is so stiff that I'm getting good tension even without a Qsnap.

I'm still playing with my fat quarters of oranges and tans. I'm imagining tonight what I will make with these. Not much pumpkin in my house but oh they are so early Fallish and pretty!

And as unhealthy as this is, couldn't resist these treats from Walmart today while grocery shopping..........got 3, and have 2 left......oops! Hubbie picked out the chocolate covered with sprinkles and I chose the chocolate covered with nuts.

Hope you had a great Saturday and found some fun things to do!

Wallie World visit tonight

Our after dinner entertainment tonight consisted of driving to the new Walmart. Even though it's a 15 mile round trip from our house, it seems like any other country mile, just really a hop and a skip, as they say.


I was already prepared for the sheer excitement. I've been to Walmart before, all kinds of Walmarts but this one is so close to us now, I just pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. Silly, I know, for city girls, but for about 8 years now, Walmart nearby was only a dream.
I'll have to say you could probably drive a car down the aisles they are so big and wide! Nice, very nice. There is a nice, large Subway in it as well. If anything, now it's the social center for our little town.


I didn't think they would have any sewing supplies or crafts but guess what??????? They do!!!!!! Now, they didn't have any bolted fabric but they actually had needles, basic ribbons, buttons, pins, and even a few fat quarters! And they had several jelly rolls (not the bakery kind), and after doing the happy dance in the aisle and making the Body Guard totally embarrassed amongst his 5 cop friends at the store, I picked up this small bundle because I immediately loved the colors.

Have you ever just been into a certain color for like.........a week or so? maybe a month? What is that about? Anyway, I'm drawn to the soft, orangy colors this week. Orange has been my least favorite color but these colors are muted and more of a pumpkin color. I have no idea what to do with these as quilting is foreign to me but I will try to do something with these cuties.

Anyway, had to show you. Now isn't this pitiful to be so excited about a new Walmart? LOL

So, we came home and enjoyed our Key Lime Pie we got for a bedtime snack tonight. I'm a little hyper now from the sugar and hoping to settle down with some stitching before bedtime. That usually helps me a little. Crossing those threads are kinda like hypnosis by midnight! ;)

Have sweet dreams tonight and until next time~~~
Jennifer

Ren is content

Ren is content after his bacon-wrapped chicken for supper. He has taken a liking to his old pal here and is resting in for the evening!

Is it Friday yet?

This has been THE longest week and I feel like certainly this should be Friday by now!

Honestly, some days are just forever. And have you ever had one of those days when you just put your foot in your mouth over and over.........as my best friend Dot says....."oh, my lands!"

This is Dot's favorite comment on everything. Quite humerous.

She is a sweetie though.

Today was one of those days, so I have retracted myself back into my coccoon and hopefully will tactfully make it through the rest of the day.

Got done early from work today and when I got home there were the two most beautiful butterflies I've ever seen. Right when I needed it. Lifting my spirits, just flitting around in a harmonious way near our front porch, while Thomas and Raven just lay casually by and enjoyed the atmosphere of the mountainous cool breeze. And that just canceled out all the nuisances of the day. Butterflies always represent hope to me. My favorite are the pale yellow monarchs. I could literally hold them in my hand this afternoon and thought how fortunate I was to live in a quiet place with all this natural beauty. We have several huge butterfly bushes so that's the attraction for here.

Well, after visiting Tanya's blog and seeing that utterly divine bacon wrapped chicken she posted, I am trying it for dinner. I didn't have the nuggets so I wrapped lots of thin bacon around boneless chicken breasts and smell them baking right now. YUMMY!

Then, we will have fresh tomatoe slices and butterbeans cooking now on the stove.

Dessert is open right now. We will make our first trip to the new Walmart for groceries and I know I will find a cupcake or something yummy and fresh for a late night snack. Hope to do some more stitching on Jonah's Hornbook tonight.

So, enjoy your evening, stay safe.

Jennifer

One thing leads to another

Have you ever started to find one thing for a project and as you are digging through the mountains of patterns and fabrics and threads, you see something and its a small finish and say "I've got to do this one now"......totally diverted from your original intention to work on the present project?

Well , that's what happened, one thing led to another and before you know it I had found a frame that I had for about 10 years in a box, and in looking for another pattern, this freebie I got in an order one time from The Sampler Girl just fell out of the box. I then thought how a finish in this frame would make a great display with my angel collection. So I worked this on a scrap piece of 28 ct cashel linen, in Light Terra cotta, stitching 1 over 1 and it fit perfectly in my little frame and will perch on my angel collection shelf.

The colors are more true in the second pic. Almost a hint of late summer, hint of Fallish maybe with that Terra Cotta color.

In the eyes of a child

Here are some precious pictures from my kids. I have them stored away as reminders that their real hearts are loving. No matter how hard you try to raise kids, sometimes, it goes way by the wayside and I'm left not knowing if all the hard work and worry was really meaningful to them. All I have left is this. There are no words they can say that are hurtful enough to take away how much I love them. And if they are happy, I am happy. Bottom line.

Children will create pictures as you probably know as reflections of their hearts. And these pics remind me of what their hearts were like.

Both of the bottom pics are Brandons drawings. I have an entire plastic tub of drawings still in my basement and go through them regularly. That probably sounds silly. But anyway, that's the only way I know that being a mom was worth the while. Sometimes I think they really wish I never existed now. And that's a sad thing to carry around. But, when I look at these, I realize what their hearts were, and then I know that it was really alot of other circumstances and people that changed that.

I will hold onto these forever because really that's all I have to hold onto. Brandon wrote alot of comments in pencil and the camera wouldn't focus too much so that you could read it. Basically he wrote that our house sounded like baby's crying. Another comment he put was that the house was going to fall down when his daddy walked through it. That was probably putting it mildly to say the least and sometimes I wonder how much difference it would have made if I removed ourselves from this environment even earlier. But, all in all, I don't really in retrospect think it would have made alot of difference. All I know is that I have to remember those things that made the "sound of babies crying" in our house and not one person in the world can understand how that felt at the time. I was fortunate at the time, to have some very, very understanding professional folks who helped me out of a situation that was at the very least toxic. I can't tell you how much appreciative I am for people who probably went one step past professional to help us. I would not be where I am today if it were not for them. Some people, including family, want to forget this part of my life, they even want to forget me. And I so much want to as well. But there are days like today when I reflect back and know that I am a lucky person to have survived as much as I did and now safe in a place where I am loved. I hope my kids can say the same thing today even as they block out me with their past. They will understand in their own time, hopefully, not under the same circumstances. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

If you have small kids, save all you can. You never know when they will just stop loving you one day. Even though you think it would never happen to you, it can. Hold on to the part of their life when there was innocence and honesty. These qualities are not always promised forever.

Creativity, a gift

Browsing through an old book of mine called Seasons of the Heart, I noticed several passages that have remained meaningful to me. This one includes:





Creative activity immerses us fully in the here and now, and at the same time it frees us.



We become one with the activity and are nourished by it. We grow as the activity grows. We



learn who we are in the very process of not thinking about who we are.


by Karen Casey





I just love this passage. It really explains how I feel about stitching. It's a grounding point for me. And in this day and time of so many life stressors, I need this grounding point! And through this creativity, I have made so many friends who share this same sense of creativity~~~~very, very talented folks.




I feel it is a sheer honor to be able to read and visualize the creativity of so many people. The internet has opened that access to tap into the creativity atmosphere. Sometimes I don't know if its the texture of the linen, the colors of the threads, or the sense of accomplishment that stitching brings each day, but I do know its the one constant that is a positive in my life.

In My Stitching Basket Today

Well, here is my start of Jonah's Hornbook by The Sampler Girl. I'm using the DMC floss that is called for in the pattern and the 35 ct linen.

I'm trying to get this one done before the Little House Needleworks Heart of America comes in the mail. I just remembered today that the linen called for is Creek Bed Brown for this one and I don't have it in my stash, so will be on my list of things to get soon. I need to speed up the needle a little this week!

Oh, I wanted to take a pic of our items we got at auction this weekend but after putting in a corner of the basement all together, they are kinda jumbled on top of each other literally right now.

Of course, this adds to the "honey-do" list, to help move all this stuff around. He did clean them out before moving in. I try not to add too much to the "honey -do" list at one time ;)

Today was a very busy Monday. We went for our usual walk and the long hills were especially tiresome after a busy day but........it just does the body good.......like the milk commercial.

I know everyone will laugh at this but I'm getting absolutely and totally giddy over Walmart coming to our area! I can tell this will be a love-hate relationship, our Walmart, as I do love Walmart but at the same time, the commute will probably be longer to work now with the traffic due to location. I may be taking a little longer way to work now just to avoid it. On the other hand, I will be excited to have a local place to shop for groceries besides Ingles. And if they have a craft/sewing center, I will probably jump up and down right in the front of the store and embarrass the Body Guard to tears! No, just kidding here.........but then again..........

Until next time....

Jennifer

What I learned about Elderberries today

When I look out my bedroom window, I see this bush in the woods nearby. Found out this is Elderberries. So, in my haste of reading about elderberries, I found this in Wikipedia about the folklore. My hubbie was going to cut it down today.

The Elder Tree was supposed to ward off evil influence and give protection from witches, a popular belief held in some cultures. If an elder tree was cut down, a spirit known as the Elder Mother would be released and take her revenge. The tree could only safely be cut while chanting a rhyme to the Elder Mother....... from Wikipedia

So, this is warding off bad spirits! LOL

But, on the medicinal side here~~~~~

In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, Elderberry was shown to be effective for treating Influenza B. People using the Elderberry extract recovered much faster than those only on a placebo. This is partially due to the fact that Elderberry inhibits neuraminidase, the enzyme used by the virus to spread infection to host cells.....from Wikipedia

So, we may have a little chanting while we cut this down today.....or on the other hand, keep it around to make wine for the antiinflammatory effects and flu treatment this Winter.