Our Latest Visitor!!!

This sweet little bird has been visiting us at the farm for a few days.  She even kept Hubby company in the pole barn yesterday.  So he had to chase her out when he came in for the day.  She came to the deck and stayed.

 

Isn't she beautiful?

Today she hung out on the deck all day eating bird seed and looking at me through the window.  So I decided to make her a shelter until I knew what I should do.

Her soulful eyes melted my heart!

 
The County Sheriff posted a winter advisory for -25 tonight so I decided to ask my friends and their friends on Facebook for help.  I messaged my neighbor first and then posted on both my Farmgirls Country Sale page and my personal page.  

My attempt at a shelter for her...bleak.

 
I received a nice post for a shelter I could make out of a tote and insulated cooler.  So I went to the couch, finished a crocheted hat and checked back on Facebook.  In a message from my neighbor, she said two of her boys would be excited to come and get my Little Princess White Feather.  Yay!!!

Here she is under the farthest end of the deck!

The guys under the deck with their long handled net!

Success!  A bird in his hand...

And now in the cage...whew!

 I'm so glad they were successful in their rescue.  The temperatures tonight would have had me throwing blankets and all else under the deck to try and protect her! 

I love my neighbors!!!  Thank you for saving the littlest of creatures...you're the best, Will and Max!

Isn't that picture perfect - a Christmas tree on the van!

 
I'll post of picture of her in her new home when I receive one to share!!!

Take care,

Bonnie

 

A Day We Celebrate...

Today, Hubby and I celebrate our 20th anniversary!!!  To mark this special day, we went out for lunch to a local restaurant where the waitress convinced the cook/chef to make Hubby's favorite - spaghetti and meatballs - (which is normally only served after 5 p.m.) in honor of our anniversary!  It was amazing - fresh sauce and wonderful meatballs and the salad was so good that Hubby commented on that too!  

Tomorrow, we take a road trip to WI where we will search the garage sales there and end up eating lunch at a wonderful place recommended by a friend...as you can tell, eating and eating out is one of our special treats we give to ourselves...mostly for me!!!  I love not using the kitchen for its intended purpose...as is evident by the glitter and E6000 and baby shoes and book pages, etc. that inhabit all the flat places (counters)!!!

So glad I trusted my instincts those 20 years ago after I had been independent for 7 years.  I

married my best friend.  We have worked most of the kinks out of our relationship and so we continue on our journey - together! 

Now he's in his workshop and I'm going to continue reading my 1389 page book - I'm on page 784!!!  A work of fiction but filled with true crimes that have not been solved from the 1960's - unspeakable crimes committed by home grown terrorists, some who are dead now and some who are not.  Why these cases have not been pursued is yet another mystery.  I highly recommend Natchez Burning by Greg Iles....if I didn't have to try to sleep and paint furniture, I would not stop reading it.  So off to the couch after this long post....a great day and more to come!

Pictures for my Friend....

These pictures are for my partner in crime....she doesn't have Facebook anymore.  Lucky you - you get to see my new stuff twice if you follow me on FB.

We both love transferware...and red is our favorite.  But we really like all transferware colors but not when there are multiple colors.  Friends are like that.  

She lives on a real farm and I live on a wannabe farm...we have many common things in our lives but are still different.  

I am so glad to have her in my life.

Take care,

Bonnie

A Collection of My Crowns...

 I think the above crown was the first chicken wire crown I made.  Working with chicken wire is masochistic.  But they are fun once you work through the pain of being constantly pierced.

I'm glad I walked back through history to review my creations....I think I need to go back to these kooky, crazy creations.

  
Using phrases keeps the crowns grounded....in silliness!  I like that.

Recently I've made them out of lace and stiffener.  I do have some new vintage wide lace that I'm going to try next.  So I guess I'm still in the crown business.
 

 My newest crown...

Remember to always wear "your" crown - sometimes they are invisible you know.

Take care,

Bonnie

So I Changed My Mind...Again!

I'm glad I changed my mind and stained the woodwork around my French doors.  My original idea was to paint the doors and the woodwork off white.  Then I looked at all the windows in the doors and thought - maybe not.

So it took me a while to actually get to the project but I found the Colonial Maple stain and within a couple of hours the deed was done.  I knew I wouldn't be able to match the doors or the other woodwork but we do have different colors of wood in the room.  It will be just fine.

Now I have to figure out how to add a closet in our bedroom to house my clothes that are scattered throughout a couple of closets and rooms.  Ugh!

Now I see that I need to add additional coats of stain...looks better in person but this is still a work in progress.  Maybe add a little red oak to the maple...we'll see.  Dang!  Never done!


Take care,
Bonnie

Mother Nature Has Gone Bonkers!!!

I don't want to spend my winter months in the South - I don't mind winter in a normal year.  However, Mother Nature is frazzling my nerves now.  We had about 10 inches of snow since yesterday and now the winds are blowing at about 30+ mph.  

So My Hero had blown a path for us and our dog, Annie, that allowed us to get to the pole barn where our vehicles are parked so if we wanted to venture out we could.  Not so much anymore.  Annie was able to run for a short time...not anymore until tomorrow maybe.  She loves to run...

With the fierce winds, we're back to square one and the terrain has changed once again.  It's drifting in different areas now with drifts at 3 feet deep and more!

I'm just saying if its still windy in the morning, I'll just hunker down here for the duration and mosey on out in the spring.

Oh yes - the snow plow hasn't ventured down our road yet and it started this craziness at about 10 a.m. yesterday!!!

Hubby making his way through the snow with Annie trying to follow.

Annie did not want to come in even if she couldn't move in the drifts!!!

Hubby making his way inch by inch when the drifts were higher than the blower!

Success!  A path!  But not so much any more...

So tomorrow is another day with more snow blowing and it will be colder - like only 18 degrees or less. 

We know spring will come but she definitely is not in a hurry this year!!!

Take care and think positive thoughts for us up north!

Bonnie

 

Finally Addy's Barbie Quilt Is Complete...

Why you ask would it take me so long to complete a relatively small quilt?  

1.  The quilt didn't actually take that long to piece.
2.  The tying/quilting took forever because I used velour as the backing.

First, I tried to tie the quilt - I couldn't pull the yarn through the quilt sandwich.  My hands aren't as strong as they used to be and pulling yarn through the top, the batting and then the velour back apparently isn't easy!!!

Then I maneuvered the quilt in a small space where sometimes the quilt ended up over my head as I repositioned it and stitched in the ditch and echo quilted.  A video would have been a priceless comedy!

So here she is with her matching pillow.  The quilting is primitive because I'm a piecer not a quilter.  I love the piecing of the blocks but not the quilting of the layers together.  Not enough patience is my diagnosis!

I hope Addy likes it...and that she still likes Barbies!

Take care,
Bonnie

 

Stitchin' Chicks Quilt Camp Jan. 2014

View from the back...

Back seat view...

And the front seat!!!

Ready to leave and go to camp - when hubby packs it looks better but his back was hurting so I did it all by myself!!!

Three sets of coasters...

One clothesline red bowl...

One spring wreath...

One typewriter vinyl bag...

Frenchie pillow and table mat...

Two Mary Engelbreit table mats...

Embroidered pillows for John and Addy...

And I sold a couple of things at camp and now I'm home and ready to set my machine back up to embroider and sew some more!!!  Tomorrow is another day!

Take care,

Bonnie

Finishing Up a Few Projects

I hoped to get a bunch of stuff done over the holidays.  Not so much new was created but I did get the bindings completed on three quilts.  Whew!  Sometimes that final step takes forever!!!

So here are the long, lost quilts:

This quilt is a sampler quilt of blocks made in a swap with friends!

This is my new nap quilt that it took me a year to finish!!!

A simple design but I love the colors!

My friend Pam quilted this for me...

I love using checks for binding!

So this is part of what I accomplished on my Christmas vacation.  Yay!

Take care,

Bonnie

Crafting and Recycling Almost All the Time!

It seems that my kitchen table is always full of projects.  (The two of us always eat in the living room in front of the TV - bad right?  The marriage is almost 20 years old so it works for us!) 

Anyway - I was just realizing how much I reuse/recycle...as we speak I cut a plastic cover to fit an old metal spring project I'm working on.  The jute wrapped tree is made on an empty thread cone and of course the spring is from a chair I guess.

In the dish drainer is a Pringle's can drying so I can Mod Podge scrapbooking paper on for a treat can for a Christmas present.  I thought I'd finish it so you could see...

I just finished using a sheet of music from an old music book and parts of an old doily to decorate an old ice skate that will hang on someone's door or wall or lamp post.

A choir of salt and pepper shaker snowmen are sitting on a mantel or a table.  Each year I whine about making more but once I start rolling the clay, sprinkling the glitter and otherwise decorate their cute selves - I feel joy in their faces gazing to the heavens!!!

And yes, I do keep toilet paper and paper towel rolls, too!  I have some ideas...

Take care,

Bonnie

It has been 50 years...

My tears fall every time I see the films of the events of November 22, 1963.  It's been 50 years today that our President was murdered.  I weep for what could have been.

I was a senior in high school - I was in Art class.  It was an awful day and the days after were spent in front of the TV.  I didn't think I could shed another tear but every part of those ensuing days brought more tears and sadness.

Every one was in disbelief...President Kennedy was so young - he was our hope for the future.  Our first President that was regularly in our homes on our TV's.  His beautiful wife and precious young children were familiar to us.  The pictures of our first family in the White House and his kids under his desk in the Oval office  - we felt like we knew them.

Fast forward 50 years...the sadness is still there and the tears still fall for our loss.  He never saw us get to the moon...his challenge was met but he wasn't here to see them take that first step on the moon for the USA.  And then again, we can hope that he did see what went on after he left this earth too soon.

We remember him today and remember the risks and threats our President faces each day.  Even with his loss 50 years ago, we can't protect our leaders 24-7.  I am thankful each day for our President and his ideals that are so hard won.

Take care,

Bonnie

Kicking It Into Gear Again!

Picture taken when it was almost dark out and misty!

Time to gear up again...just picked up a load of auction winnings and pickings at an occasional sale in the town I used to live in.

We met my old friends for breakfast - funny how you just pick up where you left off years ago.  Fun to ask how this friend or that friend is doing.  So much to talk about that we interrupted each other...

Since we moved to our farm in 2000, we have met many new friends.  Some I met while quilting and some at church and some at exercise.  I can't believe how easy it was to slip into this community and settle down here knowing no one!  Good times with old and new friends.

We just had out last sale in our little red barn - it was a difficult decision but seems to take too much energy now to have sales here.  We still have an outlet for our stuff so we will continue to make our repurposed and recycled things.  The stress level will be more level - the pressure more evenly distributed through the year instead of a heaping load of it when we have all the responsibility of our sale at our farm.

Fun things a-brewing in our barn now that she's retired from sales!

So now its time to get working again - the supplies keep coming in with the UPS and FedEx trucks so I better be creating stuff right and left!!!  After all, the Holiday Open House is only 5 weeks away!  Yikes!

A great day of fall colors and old friends and new treasures!

Took this picture way past dusk...

Take care, 

Bonnie