Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Meeting a blogging buddy

This past Saturday was a wonderful day as I got to meet a blogging friend!!! Shirlee and I have been following each other  along on our  blogs for two years or more.We only live an hour and a half away from one another,so it was not a long travel time.I will let you in on a little secret....nervous does not begin to describe my feelings early Saturday morning. It was so silly of me, but you see I am a homebody and most of my friends are you folks online,so I just knew I would make a goober out of myself.Thanks Shirlee,hope you don't mind me borrowing your  word.LOL! It was all useless worrying on my part! Shirlee is a beautiful, dear person!She is as sweet and kind in person as she seems online.I have gotten to know her through her blog and private emails that we have exchanged over the last couple years.She has encouraged me so much spiritually as well as creatively. I am truly blessed to call her friend.

Shirlee's home is jaw dropping gorgeous!We are going to have to badger her to share more of it with everyone.She is an amazing cross stitcher and has helped me so many times with my questions,always being very patient .Even if it takes me several questions to understand things with my thick brain.LOL! Needle punching is something that Shirlee had tried before and gave up but I knew it would be easy for her to master it.She is a perfectionist in every since of the word,and that is why she was having trouble.As any of you that punch know when you start a  project it does not look like much of anything but the more you punch the better it looks.So even with my poor teaching skills Shirlee has indeed learned to punch.Be sure to check out her blog post to see her wonderful sheep.
Here is a pic of Shirlee working on her punch needle design..
You go girl! I think we have created a punch needle monster and I am loving it!
Shirlee and her husband are planning on listing their home for sale so she sent me home with so many beautiful and thoughtful gifts!I can not share all of it because that would take a month of blog posts.She is decluttering and reorganizing her things and I am so blessed that she shared the things she no longer needed or had room for.Yep, I am still doing a happy dance!!! Get ready to be blown away...

Love this old Sunshine Krispy cracker metal box!! And here is how I displayed it...
See that beautiful old walking wheel (from a spinning wheel) and that gorgeous butt basket,well those are from her as well!
I have wanted one of these huge jar lamps for a long while now,but had trouble finding one .

This little black doll was another gift..
This awesome grater light ...
This wonderful old oak sewing rocker!!!Yes you read that right...
Friends this is only a small part of the goodies I came home with on Saturday. She blessed me with so many wonderful things from crafting things to wonderful prim goods.The most wonderful gift though is the gift of her friendship!! If I had came home with nothing but memories of our day it would have been enough.She is a  wonderful Christian woman  ,a generous,& loving friend! Thank you dear friend for my many goodies but thank you most of all for that friendship!!

Here is a pic of Shirlee and I standing outsides.Pardon our windswept hair.LOL! It was already a bad hair day for me so the wind only made it worse.LOL!
I am off to hopefully check out your blogs.My computer has been behaving stupidly (could not be the operator.)so I will try it.Thanks again for a wonderful time Shirlee! Blessings,Jen

Monday, April 28, 2014

Mail goodies and my heartfelt thanks!

Hello friends,yes it has been a bit since I did a post.My apologies,Spring has sprung and I have been trying to get things caught up.I promised myself that the computer would be off limits till I had met some of my goals.Once I start reading all of your wonderful blogs I find it hard to stop.LOL!
I am shouting with joy as I share my mail goodies with you.Almost 10 days ago I received a surprise package in the mail!Again I humbly apologize for the delay in posting. It came at the perfect time to because things have been a tad rough lately.Some wonderful, amazing person had ordered me one of Lecia's gorgeous bonnets! The card stated that it was from my friend in Christ.It brought tears streaming down.I can not express how touched I am by this person's generosity!!! Lecia's bonnets have always been beautiful in pics but in person it will blow you away.Such a talented lady.Thank you Lecia as well for the part you played in my surprise.Be sure to check out Lecia's blog.Here is a pic of my bonnet.




Isn't it beautiful and doesn't it look great on my old trencher.Thanks Shirlee! ( I stole the idea from her.Wink)
Love and am so very thankful for it.The bonnet is beautiful and so is the friendship and thought behind it.!!!

My second mail goodie came a few days after my bonnet.I was the blessed person to win a giveaway hosted by Willa
I urge you to check out Willa's blog!!She is a super lady and oh my gosh is she talented.As some of you know I used to paint but Willa blows my stuff out of the water.I am in awe of her painting skills. Her piece will always hold a place in my home and heart.Thank you so much Willa for the lovely piece! Here let me show you what I won...

Love it so much!!!! It is hanging just as you enter my dining room!
Just look at this little painted fabric heart!Gorgeous!
And a close up of her rooster.Did I say I love it? LOL!

Thank you Willa and to my secret bonnet giver! I am so blessed even on the days when I don't realize it.I have met so many super ladies on the net and I am thankful for each one of you! In  my next post I will share about a special day that I had where I was able to meet one of my good blogging buddies.


As I bring this post to a close I would like to ask for prayers for all those dealing with the harsh storms that happened overnight.It is so sad to see the destruction and loss of life.My thoughts and prayers will continue to be with them. Have a wonderful day my friends.Blessings,Jen

 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Say it isn't so!

This is what I saw when I peeked out my window this morning! My jaw dropped because I just could not believe it.We have had some beautiful weather lately.The temps were in the 80's over the weekend,now they are in the 30's.Yesterday I wore capri pants  and short sleeves,my windows were open the house was being cooled by a nice breeze.There are only two good things about this: one is I know it is going to be short lived and the other is it made Shirlee smile.




 My poor irises and daylilies look so sad,especially since their tree was taken out.

The apple trees are full of blossoms that are now snow covered.

A closer shot of them.

My maple trees are leaving out,the snow must be a shock to them.

This is a shrub that came from my late Grandmother,it is usually white with blossoms not snow.

I will stop my griping now because it doesn't matter that I am unhappy.LOL! Just gotta remember that snow is still a gift from God.He knows what is best but if I could put in a request it will be for warmer weather.Giggle

Have a blessed day friends!Hugs,Jen




Monday, April 7, 2014

March finishes

Good morning all,hope that your Monday has started off in a positive way.It is kind of dreary here this morning with rain but as the saying goes April showers bring May flowers.It has been a busy couple of weeks with things at Momma's house going bad.Last week her well pump burned out so hubby and I drove a  40 mile round trip to pick up a new one.It was raining to hard to be able to change it out till the next morning but when we opened the box we found that it was used.Apparently someone had returned it after using  it for a new one.Irritating! We returned the pump to the store to find out that they didn't have another one so we had to drive 45 minutes one way to find the proper pump.Good news is that Momma now has running water.LOL! The week before her breaker panel went bad so that was a major headache as a wall had to be torn out in order to get the old one out but it too is fixed.Mom really did not need the stress as she has been dealing with some worrisome health issues.

I had promised to share a few of my finishes forMarch with you all,better late than never I guess.There are not to many ,I promise. I haven't got anything started for April.My hands are missing holding my needle and I could start having strong withdrawl symptoms soon.I do have plans for a new large design with a primitive looking whale and some other goodies.There have been a lot of nautical designs floating around and they have my brain moving.So look for that to come about in the near future.On to my March finishes...
 1. A simple pillow that I made for my sister's birthday.

2.A few woolie strawberries....

This one is made of cotton fabric and it was gifted to my sis.

A couple different sizes.I actually made three of these,one for mom,my  other sis and my niece.They are from a wool jacket the my mom wore a lot ,so they have sentimental value .
3. A pin keep made from wool and velvet.

4. A needle punched pillow...
The color is much more prim in life.
5. A paper mache box with a needle punched design..

Comb painted the box.
6.To go with my robin box is a little robin....


7.What is Spring without the buzzing of bees busy at work? So I made another paper mache box with a bee punched design.This box I used paper to cover the box.

Front view
Top of box
Inside the box
8. A simple penny rug..


There you go, the last of my March projects.All of projects  are my own designs.I hope that you enjoyed seeing them,and just maybe there will be a few to share for April.
   Friday and Saturday we spent shopping around.I have decided that I hate shopping for two particular items.One, a new bra( nope  not shopping for that) two... a new mattress,yes that is the one that had our attention .My word, we spent most of Saturday running from store to store testing mattresses out and I am now more confused than before we started. If our mattress wasn't in such sorry shape I'd throw the towel in and quit.But seriously my mattress  could be used for make do spring projects,just slip the covers and sheet off and go to work.Think I have put it off as long as I can. Yesterday after church hubby and I worked in the yard ,we had a couple large trees that had to be cut.It always breaks my heart to see a tree taken down but in this case we had no choice as they were damaging the foundation of our home.Today I will be working in the craft room cleaning up my huge mess and doing laundry.Well my friends I guess that just about wraps up March and some of April too.I will be trying to get around to your blogs so I can  catch up with what has been going on with you all.Spring blessings,Jen