Fall Has Arrived!

It's fall in Minnesota!  It was summer forever with all the heat and no rain.  But now I bet the fall will fly by bringing in winter before we want it!

I took some pictures of the wonderful colors at the shop...

Looks lots different from all the white and burlap!

 

Orange burlap pumpkin embellished with a little bird's nest
and green Spanish moss and cute berries!

 

Love black pumpkins 'n doily

on top of a coiled orange bowl!

 

After some pickin' tomorrow, its cleaning time in the barn to get ready for our series of October Farmgirls Country Sales - Oct. 5, 6, 12, & 13th!

 

Time to clean the paint off myself after an evening of paintin'!

 

Take care,

 

Bonnie 

 

Satisfaction and Thankfulness

My life is meaningful when I have challenges or goals.  Some are little and some are gigantic.  I'm feeling satisfied today - another of my goals/challenges has been met.  Another successful Farmgirls Country Sale is complete. 



I usually work alone...I usually work best by myself.  But success breeds work and our occasional sales  - four sales instead of our usual two with three completed - would not have been possible without the help of family and friends.  They help us every year and this year all summer.  Some have rearranged trips, some have missed trips, some have been late to work, some have lost needed sleep and everyone worked in the stifling heat and humidity to the point of dehydration.  Thank you.

They need to know how much I appreciate their devotion.  I need to tell them to get back to their lives even though I will miss their companionship and expertise.  They are my team.

With deep appreciation,

Bonnie

Mirror, Mirror in my Hand!

Black and white photos intrigue me and these bathing beauties make me smile!  So I decided they needed to be preserved and viewed!  What better place to show them off but on a mirror???

Here's a couple pictures of other mirrors I've renewed/reloved with scrapbooking paper and Mod Podge:

Left - plastic mirror covered with tissue and Mod Podge
Center - lovely old silver mirror
Right - funky old wooden mirror

That's all for now folks!  See ya at our Farmgirls Country Sale Aug. 5 & 6th!

Bonnie

A Day on Our Farm

I'm not sure that there is ever a typical day on our farm so today was no different.  I began the day in our Fixin' It pole barn, cleaning a couple windows so I could complete an order for a decorated window and getting another ready for our Farmgirls Country Sale that's coming so fast on August 5 & 6th!

Shantel has been coming once a week to help me organize and organize and today she was weeding and mulching!!!  Her son Jordan helped too!  Yay!

So here she is working on her creative endeavor!!!

Lots of weeds on both sides of my new sidewalk!!!

She asked for stepping stones and these were the only ones I could find!!!

Love the rabbits playing in my Alyssum!
Look no weeds in the Bee Balm!

Ok - so while she was glowing in the sun for 5 hours...I was decorating windows. What can I say??? They were dirty so I washed them, then I had to soak the grapevine, attach it and find a birdhouse and nests. Walking around between pole barn and barn and upstairs in the house and then finding the birdhouses back at the barn. I did get my exercise and cleared my head of lots of frustrations in the form of plenty of unspoken censored verbage!!!

Things that sell immediately at one sale are duplicated quickly for the next sale!

So much accomplished today with help!  Last time serious weeding got done was at our first sale in June when laughter could be heard across the yard while my youngest and a neighbor helped me with my gardens.  I am so grateful for the extra help - seems I don't get as much done lately.

I'm as happy as my pig in mulch!

Take care and when you need help, ask for it!

Bonnie

Some Sewing Tips from Other Places

I've been kicking around the idea of creating another blog solely devoted to my sewing and crafting creations.  Trouble is - I can hardly keep creating posts on this blog.

The Baltimore Orioles are back and compete with the many Cat Birds
 we have at the grape jelly bowl right outside my window!

For right now I'm going to just keep keeping on here.  My thought is to not be concerned about the people who read my blog, but to be concerned about me, me and me!  Now when I say that me business, it doesn't sound like what I really mean.  I'm not that good at navel gazing so I'm going to forget about analyzing why or what and just write about my days and my creating.

I've made a couple of projects lately that needed to be "gathered" with little success.  It dawned on me afterwards that because I mainly quilt, I am using cotton thread because usually I'm sewing on cotton fabric.  I'm here to tell you that cotton thread is weaker than polyester blend thread...at least in my world.  So that has helped but when I saw this blog on the process of gathering, I wanted to share it with you.

My Craft Discovery has a great tutorial on making ruffles by couching over your gathering threads.  Check it out...such a smart idea!  This will save lots of time and the gathers will be very even.  I will work up a project to show you how great it works.

I found this great denim remake over at Art Threads.  It is a great, sturdy bib apron.  I have stacks of hubby's old jeans - can't wait to make this one!

In the 1970's I owned and operated a craft store.  One of the crafts that I taught and revived in our little town was called "Chicken Scratch".  It consists of embroidering on gingham.  I followed a link from Facebook today that lead me to another version of this craft.  Craft Gossip featured Karen Barbe's Blog from Chile.  She uses this technique on her graphic window pane tea towels and are sold in her Etsy shop.  Old technique used in a new way.  Makes me want to get my floss out and find some new graphic towels!

Spending more time in my sewing room - here's something I made for our June 3 Farmgirls Country Sale.

Take care,

Bonnie

Occasional Sales in the Country!

Our occasional sales will begin the first Friday and Saturday of June through September.  Hubby and I love our little business.  We are junkers in the true sense of the word.  Our happiest day of the year is the first garage sale in the spring and if it has furniture that needs to be repaired and/or painted, we can hardly breathe from excitement...well, that might be me not able to breathe - Hubby is pretty quiet - usually he's breathing.  He would be the one doing most repairs so he might be holding his breathe if the repairs are too extensive.  But I have lots of faith that he can fix anything so I usually buy it and suffer the consequences when we get home!  You know husbands...eventually when its their idea, its a good idea.  He does love shopping now too!

This life suits me to a "T".  I can buy stuff - lots of stuff.  I buy stuff all year.  I buy stuff for the sales.  I buy stuff for my girls.  I buy stuff for me and if I don't end up liking it...I sell it at one of our sales.  Yay!  This allows me to buy any kind of chair or whatever - modern, vintage, Traditional - you get the idea.  It is so satisfying for me and my soul!

Even if it rains we have lots of space inside and protected!

This year we will be joining with four other sales to create the Mora Meander.  There are two sales in the country (the best sales!) and three sales in town at retail businesses.

Great wood furniture

We have lots of chairs!  It's my greatest vice!

The kitchen area

It's very easy to find home accessories
 no matter what style you have!

I've created a Facebook page at Farmgirls Country Sales if you want to check our progress moving forward to our first sale June 3.  I will be posting some of our projects.  If you are in MN or surrounding areas, please come and visit us! 

The Potatoe Wagon will be at our farm serving breakfast baked potatoes, taco taters, broccoli taters, etc.  That is the way she spells it and I don't have to cook for two days - yay!

We have so much fun
 and expect lots of laughter too!

What's more fun than shopping in the country where prices are reasonable, the scenery is great and you can smell the potatoes baking!!!

Bonnie

P.S.  These are pictures from our 2010 sales - lots of new things for 2011!