Anniversary and Tucker

Today is my one year anniversary of this blog. Congratulations to me! It has been a surprisingly joyful ride and I have made some wonderful new friends. Laughing Dog Arts. I began this blog with a dog photo post so I shall make this anniversary post with more dog photos.

My friend Larry was dog sitting his daughter's Great Dane. She had recommended that he bring the big boy out here for a visit because she fondly remembered coming here herself when she was little and thought Tucker would enjoy it. We all enjoyed it. Rocky thought Tucker was a wonderful new friend, Sadie wasn't so sure but she put up with him. Once we got them outside for a walk she discovered that she and Tucker shared a love of chasing the ball. Luckily we had two balls so there was no competition. Tucker really enjoyed being able to be off leash.

I haven't been around such a huge dog in many years. He was such a gentle mellow dog, but let loose when it was appropriate, on the walk. I could have kept him, even if he did practically fill my little house. His back was level with my counter tops. We joked that we could just fill the sink up with water for him to drink out of, but it was true, we could have. It was a fun visit for all of us.

I want to thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to stop by my blog and spend a few moments checking out whatever I had to post about. It has been a joyful journey and I look forward to another year of it. I wish you all a blessed new year and hope you receive all the best that life has to offer.

Be well and remember,

ENJOY LIFE NOW -

IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!

Tacky Christmas decorations

Greetings!  I hope you all have experienced a good holiday season so far.  It has been pretty good here and now I am laying low.  Sorry I haven't been visiting your blogs, I'm barely answering my email, just kinda hibernating.  I like this time of year for that reason.  Also I have company, I'm trying not to ignore them by hanging out on the computer.

Today I thought I'd just say hello and show you a picture of one of the tackiest Christmas decorations I have ever seen.  It is made from a beverage can and I believe it came from a box of stuff I bought at a garage sale.  I'm not sure why I held on to it instead of just tossing it into the recycle bin, but now I admit I have become rather fond of this tacky little Christmas caroler.  It is kind of cute, in a weird way.

I will try to get back to more interesting blog posts soon, with something less kitchy. Until then,
Be well.

Heartfelt

I finished another beaded heart today.  I went back to the more traditional shaped heart as you can see.  I am finding that I enjoy making these better when I am making them specifically for someone.

Here is a close up of the charm I used, I shall call this the Goddess Heart.

Also I am continuing to make these fabric hearts, which I intend to give as Christmas gifts.  I'm getting a little faster at them, these are #2 and #3, Love and Cherish.  They are rather like a combination of my beaded hearts and my dooleybobbers.  I am still experimenting with the heart shape, but I'm liking the shape of Love.

On "Cherish" I used old lace, some vintage fabric, sequins and beads, with hand embroidery.  There is a little angelina fiber too. When the light catches this one just right, it looks like it has tiny electric lights on it, due to the sequins.

"Love" is using more lace and vintage fabric, a velvet heart with a shell-like green heart on top, beads and hand stitching.  Oh yeah, and a tag from a tea bag, that says something on it.  Maybe you can read it if you click on it.  Okay, I'll tell you, it says "When God made time, He made enough of it."  Celtic saying.

I hope you all are staying safe and warm.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for taking time to read some of my posts and to follow along with my artful musings. I appreciate that you do, and especially when you have time to leave a comment.  I wish you all of the best that this season has to offer; generosity, kindness and love.

Be well.

 

Good Mail day!

Susan at Art of Mine recently sent me this wonderful package of hand made gifts.  Okay, she didn't make the Dove chocolates, but she did make the envelopes out of pretty magazine pages, and she made the necklace with the little bird picture on it.

This little fabric book was the most wonderful thing!  She chose the fabric with me in mind, knowing that I am involved with harvesting hay during the summer. 

See that print?  It is so cool.  Luckily that isn't the way I harvest hay, but it makes for a nice picture.

She created the yo yo and embellished it with beads and golden paint. I love the Inspire charm.

The bird pendant is lovely, so shiny and sweet.  I haven't taken it off since it arrived.  She told me how she made it and I wrote down the product but I have forgotten the name.  Good thing I wrote it down.

I love this tag that she made.  The photo doesn't do it justice, it is very subtly shiny and so pretty.  The whole fabric book was full of tags like these, she said it was a Christmas tag book.

See this beautiful coat?  She also gave it to me.  She bought it years ago but it no longer fit her and she thought it would fit me and it does!  What lovely colors!  It was purchased in England from a place that raised the sheep that were sheared to make the yarn and wholly created right there!

The generosity was rather overwhelming and much appreciated.  Susan has a lovely blog, Art of Mine, and shows some of the beautifully crafted things she creates.  What is amazing to me is that I know she has problems with her eye sight, and yet she can make these lovely items that require her to endure the discomfort of eye strain, but she is dedicated enough that she works around that problem as best she can.  Thank you so much, Susan!  I am honored to receive these gifts from your heart and hands.

Here on the farm we are making sure that the animals are all on high ground due to the flood watch we are currently on.  It has been raining and very warm, we call this type of storm the Pineapple Express, it comes over from Hawaii way rather than the storms that come down from Alaska bringing snow and cold.  It is 53 degrees Fahrenheit outside now at 7:30pm.  That's about what it was last summer here.  There is water running everywhere, bubbling up out of the ground, dripping off every twig and branch.  I hope you all are staying safe and warm, I know there are bad blizzards in the midwest part of the country.

Be well.

 

Finished projects

Yay!  I finished the queen size quilt!   My back is protesting a bit but at least I have that project off my table.  Now I have to package it up and mail it off.  I'm pretty sure my sister doesn't read my blog so I am safe to post this photo of it.  She originally said she wanted it to be yellow, brown and green and maybe some cactus designs on it.  I added some purple to the mix and stitched a cactus shape in the border.She likes Southwest themes.

This latest beaded heart is rather a Southwest theme color wise and with the little lizard charm.  I tried a new heart shape but I think I like the fatter more traditional shaped heart better.  What do you think?

And here is the latest Dooleybobber #10 finished.  This one is less abstract than past ones.  I thank Mary for giving me the idea to put the heron into this one.  It needed a bit of a focal point once I finished the rest of the embellishment.

It looks a bit dinosaurish, do you agree?

v

I've been trying to get this posted for days but kept getting distracted.  Sorry for the disjointed post.  I know everyone is getting so busy with Christmas coming up and I am no exception.  Trying to get some gifts made and I still need to do cards!  Hope you all are staying sane!  Keep warm.

Be well.