Merry Christmas

       Merry Christmas, bless you all!

LUCKY ME!

Hi, everyone.
It seems I've done it again and gone and won a blog giveaway!
This win is from Brenda of The Rusty Thimble, and here's
what I won:

Isn't he cute? We're putting our tree up very soon, as soon as the mister is home long enough to bring out the boxes. He's so busy, and he's having such a hard time with his ruptured disc. I don't know
how he does it, really I don't.
The tree will be covered with Rusty Thimble ornies this year.
I'm not writing too much tonight. I've been having a hard time myself with the back pain. I canceled my last appointment because of the compounding companies meningitis outbreak in the corticosteroid shots. That's all I need. I think 23 people have died from it. Until I'm certain that the Pain Center is completely clear (they assured us they are) I won't be getting any shots.
I worked on Polly Daggett some yesterday. It was slow going getting back in the swing of cross stitching on tiny threads of linen.
I love the sampler though. It's really a work of "heart" for some lucky winner someday soon!
Good nite, everyone, and take care of yourselves.
Susan      

Happy Thanksgiving To All

Thank you Graphics Fairy

I wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone; to those of you visiting family and friends, safe travels
to you all.
I'm thankful for every day spent with the man who
loves me, and for my family. I'm thankful for blogging and for all of you wonderful readers and friends.       God Bless You all.

Susan

SUNDAY NIGHT

Good Evening, everyone,

Sunday night and it's sooo quiet tonight. I love Sundays, not only because it's church day for 
most people, there's always been something so
special about Sunday for me since I was little.
The mister is home for the day finally. It was a
long day for him at the job site. The doctor wants
so many awesome things done to the house, it
never seems to end for Mr. Glen Oaks. He doesn't
have time anymore to make furniture for me here
at home; I really miss that. My wish list has cob-
webs it's been so long.
I did a little of this and a little of that today. Some
sewing, some clay work and some enlarging and
tracing of patterns. I forgot all about my enlarging
machine. Mr. Glen Oaks came home and saw me
working with the one square to one inch enlarging
and he asked me why I wasn't using the machine.
Duh, I don't know, I had completely forgotten about
it. Do you girls/guys ever do that, have soo much
stuff you don't remember some of it?
The new survey on Patternmart is out. The free
pattern is a snowman called "Long John" by Michelle Allen of Raggedy Pants pattern design.
It's cute. I downloaded mine. I have about 3 years'
worth of free downloads that I've never touched!
That's ok, good to have variety, right?
It's still not very cold here yet. I suppose that's a
good thing. Saving oil and all. The first snow  is
always exciting, though. My mother and sister are
still wearing shorts! It gets cold in the part of
South Carolina where they are, but I don't believe it ever snows.
I bought some more paint and fabric at JoAnn's on
Friday for my Izannah Walker project. I'm making one for Sis, too, so I wanted to have a lot of choices of small prints. Don't forget, there's a sale going on
there, Christmas prints 50% off. I bought muslin and tiny calicos from the quilting fabrics.
I love the ones I bought from Brenda Gervais at
With Thy Needle and Thread off of her website.
They are the teeniest little prints, so sweet. They are from Windham Fabrics and some are from 
The Coverlet Collection, 1820-1850.  So Sweet!
I just started using Fray Check on all of my cut ends of fabric and cross stitch linens. What a huge
helper it is.
On Saturday, I found the tiniest, old crochet lace and it's going to be perfect for the Izannah dresses.
I'm trying to use old fabrics as much as I can. The
dress material, unfortunately, will be new but I
can't find any old dress fabrics. My antiquing gel
from Gail Wilson will do the trick making it look
very vintage. She has a marvelous supply of all
things for your doll making. Especially if you like to make old looking dollies.
I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday nite and I hope you also have a wonderful week.
Take care of yourselves,
Susan

Note To Self: Do Not Paint Around A Cat

Hi, Primmies,
I have started a Christmas project tonight. I am making a Santa Sculpture from paper clay and papermache. It stands on a little teensie papermache
round box and is so darn cute I can't stand it!
I started painting the little box (another note to self: don't do this again at
Twelve-thirty in the morning) and learned the hard way to dust and vacuum the craft room before painting, and put away all kitties.
Of course I dropped the little box and when I picked it up, yep, kitty hair all over the wet paint. Ugh, just wiped it off and started over.
Here's the little guy all finished from the Better Homes and Gardens website:

Photo Copyright Meredith Corp.,bhg.com

This will be my first paper clay project. I want to get warmed up before  I make an Izannah Walker doll. They aren't as easy as they look to be to sculpt the little faces. 

Paper clay and Modge Podge are so expensive so I've found lots of websites with home made recipes to make them both. I'm trying a paper clay recipe later today (I need Mr. Carpenter's linseed oil and it's at the job site). I can't wait to see if they come out the same as the store bought.

There are basically two different ways to make the paper clay, with and without tissue paper soaked and squeezed out, and some other things I can't quite remember right now. But I've bookmarked the sites and if anyone is interested I'll look for them and give you the links.

I have a package of paper clay from the store and I'm trying that first, and want to keep some to compare with my home made stuff.

See, if I stuck to ONE thing at a time, these things wouldn't happen to me,

like a furball in my wet paint!

Take care of yourselves,

Susan

Greetings

Hello, everyone. I'm sending an early greeting in case our power goes out tomorrow. I'm not anticipating anything major from the hurricane but we are supposed to have high winds that they say may cause some damage, power outages and downed trees. This storm is one year to the exact day of last year's storm when we lost our roof and car. I think all of the questionable trees have fallen on the house already so we should be o.k. tonight! Gotta joke about it, what else can you do? Hubba is home today so I'm not scared!?!
Out in the craft room I've uncovered my Izannah Walker patterns from Gail Wilson and Dixie Redmond's Izannah Walker E-Book on how to make an Izzy. I've got my paperclay, my fabrics (Civil War reproductions), paints and all the other goodies. I'm planning on following Izannah's patented method of how she made her dolls using the pressed fabric and glue in a mold that I made. The first Izzy is going to my big Sis (shhhh!she doesn't know).
I'm so excited! I'm also very happy about the fact that
I managed to decorate for the Autumn/Thanksgiving season since I'm feeling so much better after the latest procedure on my back.
They can use radio frequency waves to "deaden" the nerves that cause pain in the back and the legs. It's called "nerve ablation" and they did 5 sensory nerves to my left leg. It worked! I felt the pain disappear immediately. The procedure is no joke, though. Fifteen needle holes, they go in the same as for the injections. The spine is on a magnified computer screen and they can see where the needle is going. The doctor zapped the certain affected nerves about 3 times, of course I asked for sedation. I'm no fool. You are in and out in a couple of hours, just wake up from a nice nap!
It was tough to recuperate from, but they give you extra pain medicine. It really didn't help so I stopped taking it, ice bags were doing more good. The pain from the site (and my left cheek for some reason) went away 3 weeks from the date of procedure. It was well worth the discomfort. My sister says it sounds awful and she won't have it done. Sis doesn't like to think about needles.
So, the house looks cheery inside and out, my bittersweet crop came in so much better this year. It's gorgeous and I think the cold snaps we had did it. It also made the leaves fall off of our trees early this year, so that's good in case we get an early snow fall.
I'm easing my way around blog land. I still have a lot of pain in my back; until the next nerve ablation I'll still be going slowly on the computer and sewing time. I was able to browse for quite a while and noticed that a lot of bloggers seem to be taking a "break".
I'll be slowly reading, commenting and writing more very soon, I hope. I miss everyone so much, and I want to thank the ladies who have been emailing me to check on me and say "hello". It's always nice to have people who care. The healing power it brings is enormous.
I hope everyone who was and is in the path of the hurricane is safe and well. Take care of yourselves.
Susan

Stitchin’ a little Halloween mischief « Create & Decorate: The Blog

Stitchin’ a little Halloween mischief « Create & Decorate: The Blog:

'via Blog this'

How Are You Spending Your Monday?

Good Morning, Everybody!
     How are you spending your day today?  The Mister is doing some custom work on location today for a customer and I'm doing

laundry : ) Yay... it's going to be hot today so I don't mind being in the cool of the basement. My sweetheart had the air conditioners installed in May for me and I'm still having the hot flashes from jolly Ms. Menopause.  I'm hoping they stop in the next year or two. My sister went through the same thing and hers lasted for quite a few years so I figure it's genetic. Another un-enthusiastic 'Yay'....
    I want to say a huge "Thank You" to all of the new followers that have joined the blog in the past few weeks, and to my long-time buddies that have stuck with me during my absence.
I'm really happy that you're following along and I hope that you enjoy reading along with me.
    I picked up the Polly Daggett sampler and did some work this morning because I couldn't sleep. I also started playing with my rug hook and the box of woolie worms I won from Lauren of Rugs and Pugs. I really like hooking! When I get the hang of it I'll work a real pattern for a ruglet. But, that's after the sampler is finished.
    I got my new copy of Create and Decorate and there's another great prim rag doll; the last issue had one, too.  It's the same artist that designed the prim Rabbit that I made for my Giveaway that Sheila of Seasons of Thy Heart won.  Her dolls are really large and easy to make and very primitive.
    I received my order from Brenda of With Thy Needle and Thread. Oooh, the fabrics are gorgeous. And, they are tiny prints just perfect for some lucky doll's dresses and to back a pin keep, pillow tucks and huswif needlebooks.
And, I have some vintage seam tape in a beautiful oyster shade, and the teeniest rusty jingle bells, smaller than a pea! They'll make a cute necklace or teeny eyes or buttons for snow people.
    I never seem to start early enough for the coming seasons. I know that most crafters have already started making Fall and Christmas goodies. I told myself last year that I would get started in the summer for Christmas items and so far I'm still on Spring!
Oh, well. I move at a snail's pace and I'm okay with that. No choice, really!
    I've got lots of birds visiting the water fountain for their daily drinks. I love looking out of the kitchen windows when I'm at the sink and watching them all flutter in and out of the trees and land at the water and peek in the windows at me. They are very curious to see what I'm doing, too.
The kitties love it, especially when the squirrels drop by. They have a never ending supply of acorns to munch from all of our oak trees and I'm glad for that.
    I'll leave you with this sweet picture of our mouser Biggie passed out after a busy night of hunting in workshop:

Ahh, geeze...turn the light out, will you?

Hugs,
Susan

HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE

Image From Barefoot Primitives

Happy Monday Morning

Hello, Primmies,
     I'm writing a short post since I'm feeling a little bit better each day, and I'm getting stronger.
The warm weather has reached Massachusetts and
we're enjoying 80's and low 90's temps with some
wonderful breezes in the afternoon.
The birds are enjoying their birdbaths and supplies 
of fresh drinking water. People always put out
feeders, but lots of times they forget that the little
birdies need lots of fresh water supplies, too.
     My poor sister had a stroke 2 weeks ago! It was
quite a shock to everyone. Luckily, she received
superb medical attention right away and she just
has some minor damage to her vision with respect
to the peripheral vision. She's still recovering so
we've been worried about her and hoping she'll
make a complete recovery. She's very tired and has
a very bad migraine headache tonight and we don't
like the fact that she's been getting them almost
every other day. The hospital has to put her back
on a drip of medication because of the stroke; she can't take her regular medicine anymore. And, she doesn't want to go back. She's stubborn, but I'm sure my brother-in-law Dan is going to win out on this score.
     The Mister has been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and is being measured for the machine that
you wear at night to breath. They need to set the
pressure and then come out to the house with the
unit. He's stayed overnight at the Sleep Center and
that's how they found it, and did the measuring for
the pressure of the air flow last night. I don't know how it all works exactly. I'm just relieved that he'll have it.
     My typing is getting a little easier and less painful so I hope to start posting again. Mr. Glen Oaks Junior will be here next week to spend some of the summer with us. We're looking forward to seeing him. He seemed to get so big and grown up all of a sudden. He's in Junior High School already!  If we could just get my m-i-l to come up and stay for a few days that would be a lot of fun. She's so upbeat all the time and she really makes us so happy when she's here, and I know she could use the time to get away from it all.
     My kitties are sleeping and so is my bubba so I guess that's a hint for me to be doing the same!
And I haven't forgotten about the sampler giveaway
I promise...

Just A Small Hello

Hello Primitive Pals,


I have been sadly neglecting this blog and my stitching, so I gave myself a kick in the butt and
turned on this darn laptop.


I really don't have anything good to write about,
I have been housebound and on bedrest. It's pretty
boring and that's all I'll say about that!


Tomorrow is another round of spinal injections.
I am calling it quits after tomorrow if these don't
work.  I'm hoping to talk to the doc tomorrow about the spinal cord stimulator implant since
they assured me that it works miracles for people.


As I said, I haven't stitched but that doesn't mean I forgot about my sampler giveaway. Polly Daggett
sampler is in my stitching bag and it's waiting for
me to pick it up where I left off.


Well, there was a tremendous crack of thunder just now. The light company called and said that we are having severe weather tonight, with the likelihood
of the power going out. I'm really scared because
you know about the trees, it's terribly windy  and
the ground is already very soggy. I couldn't stand
another tree falling on the house. I'm still jumpy from the ones in October. I find myself still having
a bad dream here and there, waking at 4:30 in the
morning and jumping up straight in bed (that's when the trees hit before).


I'm going to close now because I don't want to be using any computers in case they get zapped. I want to make these guys last for a long time.


I miss you all very much. A few of you have written me and left comments asking about me.
The friends that have done that I appreciate you
so much. I know how busy you are and to take
the time to think of little me is extremely sweet.


Tomorrow promises to be an extremely long day.
I won't be home until around 7 p.m. and I leave
here at 10 a.m. I probably won't write tomorrow
so until I do, be safe and happy doing what you love doing.


Susan

Just A Quick Hello

Clementine Crate Doll Bed

Dear Primmies:


I know most of you are talented enough to make doll furniture from fine woods, but I thought this was cute and it's also very inexpensive. You could do this project with an older child, but still young enough that she loves her dollies still.
You can just click on the link below the photo. It will take you to Martha Stewart and the page that this project is on.
I'm sorry to say that the shots didn't work out as well as they did the last time. I have leg pain that is pretty extreme, maybe they hit a nerve.   I'm just so grateful that God put this doctor in my path and that he put the Pain Center in my path. I am genuinely fortunate to have the procedures available to me, too. If you don't see any posts from me, I'm just resting and taking it easy again.
It's sunny but chilly today. Mr. Glen Oaks has a job he's been working on for a few days, the sketching part and materials amounts, etc. He'll be going to the doctor's home to be doing this custom laundry room, the doctor was the one that did my EMG last week. He saw the book John was reading and the conversation went from there. He doesn't advertise and has no blog or website. I keep telling him he needs to do all of that.
He's hurting so badly, too, and he's determined to do this project because jobs are so hard to come by around this area. I'm so proud of him, I couldn't do this heavy physical work if it was me. I have trouble just sewing  dolls!
Speaking of sewing, I APOLOGIZE big time for not having the sampler finished yet. This is why I am sorry I started blogging about it until I was finished. But, I had the rabbit giveaway for that reason. 
So we're buzzing here at the homestead with excitement about both of our projects. I can't wait for the post about being finished with the sampler, and starting the giveaway. I should just plan on saying it will be in May now!!
Ashley and Timmy are set up at a flea market every Sunday. It's their "new" thing. I get to see their stash before they bring it, did I tell you about the awesome green antique chair they gave me? I still have to clean it up to take a picture of it and find a home for it in the house. I love it. More seating for the dollies.


I hope you all have a great weekend and I'm wishing for sunny, warm weather for all of you, in case I don't talk to you again before the weekend.


I also want to say "Thank You" again and  "Welcome" to the new followers I have. I seem to gain 1 or 2 every few days lately. I'm so THRILLED! I can't email some of you so I'll say it here. And my friends that write and see if I'm o.K., you are wonderful for thinking of me.


Hugs To You All,
Susan

SATURDAY EVE BEFORE EASTER

Hello Prim Pals:


I hope everyone is well. For those of you with little ones I know you must be excited about Easter tomorrow. I remember the joy of having old fashioned egg hunts when Ashley was a little girl. I think about when the day will come that we are
having egg hunts for grandchildren.


We're having a roast of beef for dinner. Timmy can't eat ham so like at Christmas we've altered the menu a bit from our traditional menu.


I'm happy to say that the last shots I received did relieve my pain up until this morning. I am so blessed to have had all the past days with almost no pain. The good news is that I'm going in for round two of the injections on April 11th. The bad news is that I don't sew and blog very much after I have them. I missed everyone so much the last couple of weeks. But if we can get these injections to 'stick'
I'm going to be out of pain for quite a while, and then I can get back to sewing like a madwoman and keep up with my blogging!! Wish me luck...


I wanted to remind you all that I changed my blog and put current giveaways on their own page. And I've added several new ones today on the page. There might be one or two there that you weren't aware of. So make sure you check periodically, when you can. I won a blog template set from
Danice of Homespun Hannah's Blog and also
Danice's Blog Templates. Danice actually has quite a few different blogs. If you have some time, you could visit her and she has a tab for all of her blogs at the top of each one. She's extremely knowledge-
able about the blog codes and html and her blog templates are all free. I'm going to be using the one that I got in the giveaway soon. It's so beautiful.


My head is spinning with Americana projects and even Halloween and Christmas ones. Yes, I'm going a little cuckoo with ideas bouncing around. I keep a 5x7 yellow lined tablet and pencil next to me on an end table in the family room so that if and when I get a spark of an idea I can quickly write it down and make some very pitiful sketch of it. I cannot draw but I try and I "get" my crazy doodles when I look back at them. I have some beautiful indigo blue Schulte mohair that I want to make a rabbit or  bear from and dress in a delightful outfit with reds, whites and blues. I keep my Americana things out all year. I love it when I see someone make an Americana Santa!


The Mister has been in the basement all day long! He's been banging and shutting off water and turn-
ing the power on and off. Lots of muttering and a few swear words here and there drifting up through the heating vents. I asked very early this afternoon what he was doing and I still am not sure what it is that he's doing. He said to just keep fresh coffee brewing and he'd fill me in later. All I know is that whatever he's doing is #4 on his To-Do List. Hmmm...


Did I tell you that he re-arranged our whole sun room and set me up with a wonderful work space? I love being out there. I just need him to put the desktop computer and printer/scanner/fax out there and my little television and I'll be in heaven.
The cats like to be out there and love laying on the sofa and watching the birds and squirrels. And I have a handy place to lay down and rest when I start to hurt and get tired. I love it when it's warm out and the windows are all open in the spring and summer and the breeze blows through. There are eight windows on three sides so it's a wonderful room to be in. I remember when we went to my Grandma's house in South Carolina that me, my sister and our cousins used to sleep out on the 3 season porch. It was all screened in and just about the only place you could find any relief from the heat during the summers. And there was a lake nearby that we used to go swimming in, too. We didn't go there very much because it was so far away but I started remembering while hubba was working on our porch. The screens are in so pretty soon we'll be enjoying the balmy weather out there. We can be together while I sew, too.


My stitching on the Polly Daggett sampler wasn't moving along for a while because the new medicine I'd been given had made me so awfully drowsy and I've been dozing all during the daytime. I had an
EMG at the Pain Center this past Wednesday and the nurse assured  me that I would be getting used to the medicine as soon as I completely switched over, I have to gradually go off of two medications while I'm taking the two new ones. So it will be about 3 weeks or so before I'm back to myself again. I've been sleeping during the night which is wonderful because I haven't been able to for years.
I was actually wide awake at 6am for a while there before I started the new stuff. It was such a great feeling to sleep and get up in the morning like normal people instead of being awake all night!


I've been adding new followers for the past few weeks and I'm so thrilled. Thank you to all of the newbies and to my regular buddies. I still remember squealing last year when I had my first follower! It's anniversary time for a lot of you and I'll be blogging for one year in May.


I'm going to get a little time in stitching on the sampler and watch some movies with the hubba if he ever comes out of that basement. Boy is he going to be hurting.


I wish everyone a very HAPPY EASTER!


Hugs,
Susan

Graphics courtesy from Vintagerio.com

I FOUND A NEW BLOG FRIEND

Hello, Primmies :

Tonight while wandering through my Reading List I found a new blog, My Stitches To Treasure by Deb.

She's a terrific prim artist and she's celebrating one year

of blogging and online sales. She opened an Etsy shop, started her blog and a Facebook page. To celebrate with us she's offering us a chance to  win this adorable prim sheep:

My Stitches To Treasure Giveaway Ends April 12,2012

Isn't he awesome? Just click the link above to visit with Deb and get to know her, and to enter her giveaway.


Not much to report going on here at the homestead.
We're grilling some turkey breasts on the outside grill and we're slowing dismantling the upstairs rooms and finding places to store things down here. Mr. Glen Oaks did a fantastic job clearing out the sunroom so that I can get to my supplies. I couldn't believe the fabric and patterns I found this time around. I've spent the last few days and nights quietly sitting and cutting out patterns and organizing them. I have a lot mounted to heavy cardstock so that I have strong templates.
I'm taking it very easy this time and giving the shots a chance to work. They seem to be, keep your fingers and toes crossed for me that it's working! 
The new issue of Create and Decorate arrived here yesterday, and there's another great doll featured by Kim Grasso, the artist that designed Miss Peabody that I did as a giveaway. This one is called Miss Molly, do you see another giveaway coming your way?......
'Nite, all -

Susan

NEW GIVEAWAYS PAGE AND WHERE I'VE BEEN

Hi, Primmies ~ 


Here's another wonderful prim doll giveaway going on at
A Primitive Place. Tammy has a new handmade primitive doll 

carrying her own church baby with her. To enter for the giveaway click HERE to visit Tammy at her blog.


You may have noticed that the Giveaways no longer appear on my sidebar. I've created a page for them on my blog instead.
At the top of the page you can see Categories, "Home", 
"Giveaways" and "Items for Sale". These are new pages I've started. To see all of the giveaways I know about click
HERE to go to the Giveaways Page. I am adding as I learn about current giveaways so check the page periodically          after you read a post during your visits with me.


I hope you will all understand that for the past few days,
I have been reading blogs, just haven't been commenting as I usually do. I had another spinal injection a few days ago and I always hurt afterwards for a while. It went better this time,
I had the shot at the new pain center I'm a patient at and they put me to sleep this time. It was such a relief not to go through those needles being injected. I'm still sleepy from the anesthesia
and I have some pain medication now that they've prescribed.
I'm up for little bits of online time and doing plenty of resting so that the medicine in the spine can work. 
So I'll be catching up with all of you when I get back on a regular schedule which will be soon I hope. The medicine seems to have worked, the doctor injected it in the nerves to both of my legs, instead of the nerves in the back. My left leg hasn't been
hurting me with the terrible gnawing pains so I'm hoping that this will be where to inject the pain medicine from now on.
Oh, I'm so grateful for this relief. I must say it's about time that I found some relief!


I have worked in little spurts on the sampler and have been going through my patterns for more dollies and such to sew up for more giveaways. It felt so good to have a giveaway for all of you and I would like to do one as often as I can.


It was actually 82 degrees here on Thursday! I had the windows open Wednesday and Thursday and we've been leaving one open at night. I've slept so much better with the fresh air.
We're watching movies on Netflix and having pizza. Hubba just finished some yard work, now he's going to be suffering tonight. Poor man, I hope gets some relief soon.


Ashley and Tim have been finding all kinds of awesome primitives and some antiques from their jobs. They work for a property management company and also work on houses that are empty due to illness or the owner being deceased, when they have no families to empty the contents people like my daughter and SIL have to do it. I have some beautiful vintage photos to scan and put up on a page for you to use in your crafting. And I was presented with the most awesome prim chair with it's original green paint still clinging to it in large areas. I need to clean it and I'll post a picture of it soon.
Hubba is working on getting my craft room passable so that I can get to my supplies. I'm working in the dining room which is good because I can see and talk to him and watch the telly. 


Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Hugs,
Susan

Birthday Presents

Good Morning Prims,

We had a sweet little party for Ashley. My baby girl is 23 now. She loved her gifts. Here are some photos:

I made her a Raggedy Annie doll from a pattern by Michelle Allen - Raggedy Pants :

She loved the Raggedy Annie. We guessed wrong, she did love the Opie Dog stuffy but the doll she was more excited about.  Kids, go figure...

Have a wonderful Monday everyone.

Hugs,

Susan

St. Patrick's Day Cheer

Happy St. Paddy's Day Everyone!

Rabbit Giveaway

Hi, Primmies ~


Just a quick post, I haven't been to see Ashley yet and I have to finish frosting her cake.


Please visit Southern Belle Scentzs HERE to enter Samantha's giveaway for this adorable bunny:

I told it's adorable, didn't I? Click the link above to visit her new site and sign up for her rabbit.
She's got her soy tarts, you know. I burned the
Peanut Butter scent last night and it filled the whole house with scent! The wax lasts so long too. You must buy some of her soy tarts if you
love having fragrance in the house.


I'm off to Ashley's, she just called and she just got in from work. I'll take pictures!


Hugs,
Susan

Another Birthday Surprise & Polly Progress

Good Morning Primmies ~ First I want to thank everyone SO MUCH for all of the loving birthday wishes you sent to Ashley.
And I also want to thank the many new followers that joined
in February and the first week of March. And of course, my
long time followers, I adore all of you and you guys keep me going!

I sat in the house yesterday thinking of something I could add to the sampler for Ashley, and the first thing that came to mind was her dog, Opie. She loves that funny looking little guy. I love him to death, too. He just wants to cuddle and he loves everyone.
So I took a teddy bear pattern and tried to figure out how I could make it look like a dog. He has jowls like a French Bulldog and his head is sort of squarish. I'm not finished, so don't laugh, but this is how far I got and I'll finish him today and show you the finish. Here is the real Opie in case you don't remember:

Now, remember don't laugh, here's the stuffed version:

He will look better today. I'll have his arm and legs on, he'll have his collar on with a big rusty bell hanging from it. The collar is being made from some pieces of leather that were in the tack room at Prudence's family's farm in Connecticut. Prudence is the shop keeper where we found all of those awesome antiques right before Christmas, we were driving aimlessly and came across her shop after the Christmas tree farm. Anyway, she gave me a lot of it. So Mr. Glen Oaks is making me the metal buckle in his shop.

I think she may cry when she gets the Opie dog. She just would not be expecting something like this.

Don't you like to surprise people on their birthday? So many kids "tell" you what they want, and we go and buy those things that they want, and where's the surprise? She's not that way since she got married. She really stopped giving us "the lists" 5 years ago.

So, I'm at the sewing machine today, I have a Raggedy Annie cut out and she has the round baseball head and I hoping to finish her too. Mr. Glen Oaks will be in the shop, that's our day today.

How are you spending yours? What are you working on?

Let me know, I love hearing from you. 

Finally, some more progress on the Polly sampler. The hubba got me extra strength readers at Walmart, I got three pairs for $9~

Can't beat that, and I can see the linen!!

 It's looking pretty close to the original (on the right). 

I'm pleased and I told you earlier I think I have the perfect size frame for it from Prudence's stash (Yay Prudence again!).

Until tomorrow, be safe and enjoy your day.

Hugs,

Susan

ANOTHER SAMPLER FOR A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GIRL

Hi, Primmies ~

Friday the 16th is my Ashley's birthday. She will be 23. Now, I have a funny, maybe unbelievable to you but true, story about this sampler:

This is the sampler stitched by a little girl that I believe lived in Michigan and was born in 1807. She stitched a sampler at the age of 13. It lists the names of her siblings and the year that her father,
Ebenezar died in 1811. I don't know about her mother, she could be the Polly Ager after Ebenezar.

So here's the funny/unbelievable part of this post's story. I started this sampler in August, 1989. I just

finished it. It was always intended for my daughter who was 5 months old when I started stitching this during a family gathering  on our terrace in the backyard. I intended to give it to her when she made her first home. It was her father's birthday, I believe, that would make it August 20th that I was stitching. I had 4 rows maybe, finished. My eyesight was excellent back then, I was just turning 33 the next  month.

Well, somehow motherhood got the best of me, I loved it and I loved being with her every day. She was a living doll. Well, then those of you who know me a little better know that the car accident came the following September 29, 1990 and I was never the same after that. Oh, I had 2 surgeries and my sister encouraged me that I could craft again, but this sampler was stored away in my needlework bag for the next 22 years. Somehow I forgot all about the cross stitch bag and it was put into a box probably by my mom since I always had trouble with my neck and hands.

We moved into this house 2 years ago and just a few months ago, I discovered the bag at the bottom of a storage box. It had been packed in there since sometime in 1990 and went with us each time we moved to a new house.

So, there's the story of the "lost" sampler. Just in time for Friday, Ashley will have the sampler that was meant for her years ago. I hope she likes it,

I know she will; especially when she hears the story. I hope she won't read my blog until Friday or after so that I don't spoil the surprise. She's really busy this week so I don't think she will.

Lot's of work has been done on the giveaway sampler Polly Daggett. I'm in the fun part with the urns and trees, pretty blues, creams and golds.

I'll post an update on this blog tomorrow with a picture of my progress. I've also stitched a little pin keep or pillow tuck, whichever you make it, as a second place giveaway surprise. Oops, it's not a surprise anymore!

Hugs,

Susan

Courtesy antiqueimages.com
Free Images

THE MAIL LADY CAUGHT ME AGAIN AND ANOTHER GIVEAWAY

Hi, Primmies ~
Well, she caught me in my jammers again. I had
won the PAFA Spring Giveaway from Patsy at
Lollipop Express. It's a bunny lounging on a
watermelon slice. It's painted wood and it's painted in the folk art style that I absolutely love.

Patsy, thank you so much. I love it. It's my first painted piece that I have and I treasure it.

We're granddog sitting again. This time it's for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. WooHoo! Ashley is getting an early birthday present from Tim, they are going to the White Mountains.
Timmy moved the huge kennel to the back sun room door so that I don't have to worry about leashes and them running on me. I can just open the door and let them out. Toki is huge and I can't handle him on a leash. They are good but they are starting to run too close to the road. They have a huge front yard but I'd feel better with them on leashes. Mr. Glen Oaks does the potty runs but he has to be here Saturday  to meet someone for our dryer that they bought.
And he has to go home more often this time to feed our kitties. So thanks, Tim. I feel a lot better now about letting the dogs out.


I don't know if I'll be bringing my laptop. We're making more Woofins this visit, they love them so much. I think it will be the Cheese Woofins this time, they seemed to love them. Peanut Butter and Honey Woofins next time.


It was very mild yesterday, in the seventies! The news said sixties but it was warmer than that. It's nice, I don't know what happened to winter, it seems strange...


I want to thank everyone that participated in the giveaway. It was my very first and there was a big response. Lots and lots of sweet comments and compliments. Don't forget, the sampler is STILL going to be a giveaway, I didn't think I'd do Miss Peabody that quickly. So I'll be giving you all a heads up when the sampler is coming up for giveaway. I don't have much stitching left.
I got new glasses and I can really see quite well now.


Well, I have to make dinner. We're eating late, we had a huge lunch. Take care and stay prim.
Hugs,


Susan


(Vintage image from Antique Images blog)