The Olde Stone House

Project updates

2012-02-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

I am moving ahead on my rug hooking. It's a slow go for me. I looked at the pictures of my progress and I'm going back and change a few things.
I got the outline done all around what will be the actual rug.

I finished another star.

But the two blues in the stars aren't working for me. So that will get pulled out and redone. It's amazing what a camrea shot shows. I use it in quilting as well to see what I want something to look like.

I finished my short term baby quilt. Well, finished the top anyways. Will quilt it later.

Finished a table runner made from antique blocks. I love the prints from the late
1800's. I added the reproduction borders. I felt like it deserved hand quilting. I think it looks great,

Happy Monday

Rhonda

Liquid Gold.

2012-02-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Well I spent my day off trying a new recipe. A recipe for liquid laundry soap that is. My SIL gave it to me last week and I couldn't wait to try it. It only takes 4 ingredients including the water.

Fels Naptha Soap,Mule team Borax, and Arm and Hammer Washing soda. I found all 3 ingredients at Trader Horn. Not sure who else carries them but I'm told they are pretty easy to find.

As you can see you will need a grater,measuring cups,a pot to mix in and a container to store the finished gel in. I used an old kitty litter bucket to store it in because it fits perfectly under the sink in the laundry room and has a lid.

I wanted to show you the pan I got at the Thrift Store because I think it emulates the frugality I am starting to notice more and more.

Do you see it?? Notice the handles on the pot. Yep one is not like the other. One is wooden and brown. The other it the original and black. Now add the lid. Not the correct lid either but it does fit. Wonder who fixed the handle and how long did they use it after that.

I just love this picture of the grated Fels Naptha.
It has so much texture and color. Not really a yellow fan but I'll call it gold and it'll work.
Liquid gold it is. Made a 2 gallon batch for guess...........
Ready $1.88 Can you believe it. Now that's not including water but you could figure that in if you'd like.

I write all the figures all over the box so I can keep track of the cost.
Can you tell how excited I was to discover this economical way for making laundry soap??
My SIL said she's used it for awhile and it cleans well. I did some research on the Internet and anyone who I found that uses it loves it. For a fraction of the cost I'll try it. I should get 64 loads(at a half cup per load) out of the 2 gallons so that makes it ummmmmmm
about 3 cents a load.
If you want more information Google Laundry Soap Recipe and you'll be amazed at what comes up. (there is a powder version also).

My next adventure..and I use the word lightly.. is bar soap. Can't wait to try it but that must be done on a kid free distraction free day.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Happy washing.
Rhonda

Updating projects

2012-01-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Still working on the millennium quilt.

I found an owner when it is finished.

I have one niece born in 2000. So it's hers.

I did work on it last evening for awhile.

I am adding the sashing between the rows.

It's a tedious process. You have to mark where the previous columns lie on the strip so the next strip matches up.

Somewhat of a boring process but a necessity.

I'll be glad when this part is done then I can do a creative step before adding borders.

I'll share more as I go.
This is 4 of the 8 rows so at half way I gave myself a little break.

I worked on finishing some block for a baby quilt my youngest started and never finished.

It was some quick piecing.

It helps to clean up a spot in the UFO pile.

Of course it's not done yet but at least it's a start.

I'm trying to finish at least one project before I start another.

We'll see how that works out.
It needs some sashing as well..... GROAN.

I love to take pictures of my quilts while laying them out. I can see how I might want to change them.

This one will need some help before its all said and done.

Back to work.
Rhonda

Snowman Swap

2012-01-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

Wow I have the pleasure of sharing my swap goodies with you.

I did a Snowman Swap with Julie from Country Girl at Heart.

And what a heart she has.

The saying on the wall hanging is

"Happiness is making friends"

is that not approiate since this is our first (hopefully not last) swap.

She sent me a gratitude journal as well. I have heard about these and wanted to start one so this is the perfect chance now that my special blogger friend did all the work for me.

She did a spectacular job.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

In the package was a little snowman pillow that was too cute for words.

I put him on my window sill and every time I see him he makes me smile.
And I can always use notecards.

There's nothing like receiving a hand written note in the mail.

Thank you Julie for all your beautiful work.

Yours is on its way.

Thanks for being understanding.

Rhonda

Millennium Blocks

2012-01-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

On the shelf in my sewing studio the lived a stack of Millineium fabric. It had grown accustomed to living there for the last 11 years. Fortunately I found a star pattern I thought would be perfect for the fabric. Seems there was enough for a whole quilt. Even the backing.

I am lovin it coming together.

The star points are made using half square triangles. I trimmed down the squares to use creatively somewhere else in the quilt.
The scraps will be used to fill small pillows or something. This is the about 1/3 of them. Some were used already.

Time for a break.
Rhonda

A new Header and More

2012-01-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

I just love the colors in this post card. Don't you just love the ducks.
That's what it feels like around here in SW PA. The rain seems like it's never ending.

I know I'm the minority but I want some snow. I really love the snow.

Or is it I romance the idea of fires and cuddling under a handmade quilt and working on one of many hand projects.

Speaking of hand projects I want to post the progress of a rug I'm hooking from a kit I purchased from Hungry Hook Primitives.

My hope is that if I post my progress here I might get it finished.

I think it's coming along nicely considering I started working on it a few days ago.

I saw a 10 min hooker button on a blog and thought I might try that. At least it's worth a shot.

I also finished an embroidery project I began before Christmas. So technically I'm early for Christmas 2012.

This pattern is from Jenny Hoffman at Country Rustic Primitives I have several of her patterns and love them all.

I also participated in a snow man swap with Julie from Country Girl at Heart blog. I have followed her blog for awhile.She's a sweet gal. here's a sneak peak at the project. The finished one goes out today. After she receives her package I'll post the finished piece.

Sneak peak.

And last but certainly not least but MIL passed away today. She unfortunately left us some years ago but physically left to be with The Lord today. Keep my hubby and his family in your prayers.

Blessings for all,
Rhonda

Giving Thanks

2011-11-29T03:00:00.000-08:00

We returned home from Texas yesterday. Tori and I drove down to visit family for the holiday. She was a most excellent co pilot. it is a 22 hour drive from PA.I am so enjoying having a teenager. She shared in the driving and that was a big help.
This is a picture of Tori and my SIL Theresa. Theresa was diagnosed in March of 2009 and she is still with us. We are celebrating just having her still with us.

This is part of my Texas family. My brother Ron, SIL Theresa me and my sister Renee. Yep we are all "Rs". Gets a little confusing at times.

It was a great visit but glad to be home.

Finished a project too. In my "glass half full" attitude I am early for next fall.

Time to clean the house so I can begin decorating.

Blessings,Rhonda

Secret Sister

2011-10-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to send out a big thank you to my secret sister for a wonderful Halloween doll.

See her big green eyes. Aren't they just the cutest!!

Hope to have lots of pictures when I come home.

Rhonda

Finishes

2011-10-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love the look of produce all canned and ready for the canning cupboard.

There's something about the colors that just put a smile on my face.

Here's the hot banana peppers-

that the stink bugs didn't get-

all "put up" and ready for the winter.

I also finished a couple of things for my secret sister.

The cross stitch was done on a coffee dyed piece of Aida.

It turned into a cute pillow tuck.

This pattern is from Jenny at Country Rustic Prims.

Take a peek at her patterns....love them.

I prefer general fall/harvest things to just Halloween because I don't have to move them around too much.

You know put up and take down then put up and take down.

Too much like work for me.

Although I am getting a few Halloween patterns for pillow tucks.

Hope they come soon. If not I guess I'll be making them up for next year.

So then I will be really early NOT too late.

Like how that logic works.

Here's the mug mat I also finished for my SS.

It was a tutorial over at Stash Manicure (one of my favorite quilting blogs) .

I read it in the morning and whipped it out in no time to get in the box .

Not my best photo but I was in a hurry.
Time to go. Happy Harvest.

Rhonda

Quilting retreat

2011-09-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

I sure am a lucky girl. I get to attend a quilting retreat in September,October and November this year. The following are pictures from the September one. One of my friends said she was going for a walk "where the sound of music was filmed". It was such an appropriate description of of the hills surrounding the area.

i was wandering the grounds and playing with my camera. Hope you enjoy them.

The pinwheel quilt is from my summer challenge. We do a block a day from May until August. I love the challenge because I get a whole top done in 3 months. But I must admit I don't do one every day I do a bunch a couple days. Of course I do more than the total that the one a day would be too. I love to piece big quilts but HATE to make backs for them. Something I'll have to work on. The story for this one is that I wanted to use up the 30"s feedsack repos I had . There is a pinwheel of every print I have. 101 to be exact. The remaining 2 leftover from the front are pieced in the back. I will write on one of them for the label.

Some finished projects from my friends.

This is this gals first quilt top. made from her grandmas fabrics for her granddaughter. Super duper special!!!!!

And quilting friends ..........helping with pictures.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Magazines and my Secret Sis

2011-09-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in thanking my secret sister. She had a run in with the postal service last month. For some reason they crushed my box and then sent it back to her. Nice guys !!! But it reached me at last... with no interference this time.

It was full of "goodies" just for little o me. She sent me wonderful magazines.I am a magazineaholic.
The candles smell wonderful and will get put to good use now that it's getting towards fall and we're starting to be inside more.

This was my "double dip". She sent both months in one box.
More magazines which I will be with me today as I leave for a weekend quilting retreat. I can pass them around the girls there also. They will enjoy that.
My girls of course scarfed up the frozen slushie bars. I almost didn't get them frozen!

While out antiquing with a friend I came across a few magazines in a prim shop. Can you believe I bought more magazines. Two of them were reduced because they were old issues but I loved them just the same.

.
The fall issues of Mercantile gatherings are 2010 and 2011. I enjoyed them as well as the current edition of A Primitive Place and Country Journal

But the find of the day had to be a reduced copy of Primitive Quilts and Projects. I was going to order this on pay day and to my surprise I found one in her reduced basket. It is full of wonderful prim projects I can't wait to try.

I should be going. I need to finish packing for my retreat. My camera is already in my quilting basket so I'll be sure and take pictures. This bunch of ladies is really talented. Can't wait to "Show and Tell" here when I return.

Thanks again SS. I have lots to read and share thanks to you.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Fun in the Sun

2011-09-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

Projects and more projects. I'm trying to finish up some things before I start anything new. I'm going to try to post finished items so I have some motivation to finish more.

Here is a table runner I finished for my secret sister. The theme was "fun in the Sun" it isn't very primitive but is is fun.

We are preparing for school to start soon. My girls are getting bored. I hemmed a few pairs of pants for my daughter and my niece. My new plan is to finish one thing I have to do then on to something I want to do. Wish me luck.

blessings,
Rhonda

16 and Pinwheels

2011-08-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Oh to be 16 and just getting my license again. My oldest daughter got her drivers license last week. We had to buy a new car for various reasons so she has been "given" the use of my faithful Caravan. Now I say it is because she isn't allowed to drive the new car which is considerably smaller (by the way). My real reasoning is that it has lots more car around her should-God forbid- anything ever happen to her. Call it what you want I feel safer....

What a magical time she is having with this new found freedom. Last evening she wanted a burger so off she went. She wanted to go to the mall so off she went... Get the picture. It really is a lot of fun watching her grow through this latest stage. She's even cleaning out the car right now. Washing the outside as well as the inside and vacuuming. Can you beat that!!

Here is a picture of her on her mission trip this summer. Not sure how much paint was on the building.

She's a good girl and really fun to have around.

Haven't finished too much in the line of projects lately. I belong to a summer quilting group designed to get you to sew one block a day. We started as an off shoot of Crazy Mom Quilts blog except we do a different block every year. This year we did a pinwheel block. I had 102 blocks completed in the allotted time. It was not sewn into a top however. Now it is in strips and ready to go to my Sept quilt retreat to be completed.

It's made from my collection of reproduction feedsacks. There's not one repeat block in the quilt. I thought I would be using up so much fabric and I didn't even make a dent in it. So I will be pulling out more patterns to use it up.

i will close with some pictures of other quilts in various stages theta were brought to our show and tell picnic at the end of the summer. Enjoy.
All of us ....preparing for show and tell.

My favorite. 2" 4" and 8" blocks.

Can't have an event without a Pittsburgh Black 'n Gold quilt. This one is a Penguins quilt to be raffled of at this quilters church.

We are a Yahoo group so anyone can participate. Think about it for next year.

Blessings,
Rhonda

I am a Lucky Girl

2011-07-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

Saying a big huge thank you to my Secret Sister.

I have been participating in a monthly swap over at Char's The Pickled Pepper Patch.

My SS is the best. She knows just what I like.

My magazine has already been read cover to cover. I love the dish towel. It is so bright and colorful.

But definitely the piece de la resistance is my crow in a watermelon slice.

I love handmade.

Thanks again SS.

I made some pinwheels to use for centerpieces at a friends shower.

She is going with a Mexican Fiesta theme (so NOT me). They turned out nice though.

But I couldn't stop there. I made some for my SS and some for myself.

Ours were red white and blue for the holiday though.

I put them in a blue jar with a very old lid that has a hole already in the lid.

I received some special gifts for making the pinwheels and banner for the shower.

The bride's mom -my friend Patti- gave me a old jug that fits perfectly in my home.

Isn't it wonderful!!!

My good friend Beth actually got me drafted into the job of the pinwheels so she gave me a token of her appreciation...........

Can you believe it??

I can't.

It's so perfect.

Can you believe she bought it at a yard sale??

When she showed it to me she was so excited to have gotten a good deal then days later turned around and gave it to me.

What a special feeling that is.

Friends are the best!!!!

What a lucky girl I am. First my SS then my friends. They all picked such perfect fitting gifts for me.

Oh and like my new header picture?? It's A flower from my garden . I want to eventually raise bees so it when I saw all the bees on my flowers I couldn't grab my camera fast enogh to capture them.

Have a good Wednesday. It's hump day.
Rhonda

Beachcomber bags

2011-07-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

I found this wonderful tutorial for beach bags on 2 little hooligans blog. She has some of the best tutorials. She gives me so much inspiration.
My daughter was leaving for the beach with 3 other teenage girls so I made 4 bags( of course). I did modify her pattern to be a pocket along the sides instead of elastic but they turned out really great. You can find her tutorial here for The Beach Comber Bag.

Emily's Bag

They Really went pretty fast after I got the pattern down. Nice summer patterns and colors Emily picked out.

I received my Secret sister package and need to take pictures tomorrow. Thanks SS you always know what to send to brighten my day. Pictures coming!!!

Have a great day.
Rhonda

Garage Sale Finds

2011-07-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

I love to spend Saturday mornings going to local garage sales. This past Saturday was no exception. It was a productive morning.

I have always LOVED cake stands. I couldn't believe my luck finding this one. It was a pleasure to rescue this and add it to my collection. Although not typical of my prim decor I do use them with desserts. They add so much to anything that is served on them.

I also collect Fiesta Ware. This bowl has some rim chips but I couldn't pass it up just because of those. For $3.00 I don't mind using it and enjoying it. Everything looks better in Fiesta Ware.

I must give recognition to my daughter Emily for taking the pictures of my "finds". She surprised me at her "eye" when capturing these pictures.
Thanks Em.

Have a restful Sunday.
Rhonda

Thank You Secret Sister

2011-06-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you Secret Sister!!!!!!!!!!
Look at all the goodies I received last week. Yes sorry I didn't get this posted faster but I was sick the end of the week. So now I'm back to work today but wanted to be sure and let everyone know how wonderful my SS is.

I love the prim flag pillow that she made and grungied..is that a word?? ...for me
Every package she sends me a quilting magazine and I can't get enough of them. First I love magazines,but each has so many projects that I can't begin to get them all made. This one was no exception. There's the watermelon tablerunner on the cover
I'm dying to try
It's really hard to post anything I've been working on lately because most of it has gone to my SS. Last month the theme was "picnic" boy I had to think outside the box for that one!!! One of the prior magazines my SS sent me had a casserole carrier in it and I took that idea and adapted it. I can't show you hers ( You can go here to see it on her blog) since I have no picture of it. I made myself one too.
.
They fit a 13x9 dish and they are insulated for either hot or cold. I just googled casserole carrier and combined a few things from what I read on there with some things from the magazine and viola!!

These will be my SIL gifts fro Christmas this year too. The pattern is basic so I can make each one different.

Leaving you with a picture of our faithful companion. He is loving this weather.

Blessings,
Rhonda

April Secret Sister Package

2011-05-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

I received a wonderful package from my secret sister exchanged hosted by Char at The Pickled Pepper Patch. We are exchanging a package a month till the end of the year.

I received a quilting magazine which I have of course read from cover to cover already. I love quilting in any form. Picked a couple projects already.

The notepads she sent are so appreciated. I never have enough of those.
There was a small flag for my garden. can't wait to use it.

You should see the tulips she made for me. They are so prim perfect. I love them. Can't wait to get out to the potting shed and find the perfect pot to put them in.

They are so beautiful and creative and I appreciate all the time she put into them.
There's nothing more special than a gift created from the heart by one's own hands. you can feel the love. Thank you secret sister. You are a keeper.
Enjoy your day.

Rhonda

crooked

2011-05-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house

I started this post a few days ago with pictures of completed projects. then it turned into a joke about everything being out of sinc and "crooked". You be the judge.
These are punch needle birds on vintage miniature oil cans. I had so much fun with these. The pattern calls for a punch needle front and a cotton fabric back. I wanted a punch needle pattern on both sides. But...........I forgot to reverse the pattern on the cloth before I punched it so I ended up with 2 birds. They really aren't crooked just the photos.

This is a cross stitch freebie from Primitive Betty's blog. I love this little saying and I added a special vintage key to finish it off. The house is not really crooked but I think it is because I stuffed it with little strips of fabric I had left over from other projects.

But by far the funniest and last "crooked" house is the one my 16 year old with her permit caused. Yep she got a little too close with the van mirror. Kinda was my fault but it was a good lesson for her. she was getting a little too over confident. No harm done. It was our mailbox and just got paint on the mirror.

But today was the last straw. The end of the "crookeds" hopefully. Some lady hit our truck and made the whole front end "crooked.

No one got hurt and it's only a vehicle. Things could be much worse. But enough "crooked" for me........

Blessings,
Rhonda

Quilting retreat

2011-04-07T03:00:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun with the gals at my Quilting Retreat this past weekend. I finished the Christmas Tree quilt top I have been working on forever(only seems like forever).

I really love this quilt, Didn't much like all the waste with it or the bad directions but in the end I really can say I love this quilt. It is made from green Civil War reproduction fabrics and "double pink" repos.

However I did notice when I was taking pictures that the lightest greem blends in with the background more than I would have liked. But it won't deter me from loving it.

I do have to give a plug for the Retreat Center where we stayed. The couple that owns/runs it are super friendly and very accomidating. The B and B was designed to house eihter scrapboking or quilting retreats. The lighting and layout are exactly what everyquilter requires. It's all on one floor too. Rooms are right around the corner when night has fallen. Of course I'm a night owl so I got little sleep either night.

This picture was taken in the foyer of the B and B. Perfect spot to showcase my treasure.
Notice one of the owners quilts in the background. She owns the local quilt shop too. Her quilt shop is Sew Special and the B and B is Seams Like Home
Be sure and check them out.

This is a quilt top my friend patti finished in 1/2 a day. Can you believe it????
She has such a great eye for color.

Hope you have a great day.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Thanks Secret Sister

2011-04-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Secret Sister.

You went above and beyond. I am participating in Char's Secret Sister Swap

and.......

this is what was waiting for me when I got home from work.

Inside was the prettiest wrapped surprises.

It was like Christmas.

My SS sent such a thoughtful gifts.

There were some nice "spring" notecards which had flowers on them and brightened my day since it was grey and cold here. She made me a "chocolate" fabric rabbit. How special. She even included a quilting magazine which I have already read from cover to cover. It has a couple projects I want to do.

And of course my gummy bears. (I love soft chewy candy). Thanks again SS.

You're wonderful!!!!!!!!!!! Blessings, Rhonda

Feedsack Collection

2011-03-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

I got to be a guest blogger over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure. Take a look at the article. Here are some of the more collectible conversation prints.

Be sure and check out the whole article.

Blessings,
Rhonda

A Christmas Quilt and a Ziploc Bag Project

2011-02-27T03:01:00.000-08:00

Did you ever find a project that just keeps popping up until you actually make it?? There was a Christmas quilt I saw in an older addition of Fons and Porter's mag. I didn't actually have the mag so I called their store and they sent me a copy..$5.00 because they had no more of that edition. Fast forward years....I found said mag in a flea market type sale that we have at our quilt retreats for 25 cents. Plus I finally decided on the perfect reproduction fabrics.

Starting with many many strips being cut.

Then sew the the strips back together.
Cut them at 45 degree angles.

Sew the angled strips together into diamonds.

20 done 4 more to go. This has been a lot of work. Sewing the angled strips requires marking the 1/4 inch. It's time consuming.

Then cut the big diamonds into 2 "tree tops".

While I am working on "big" projects I keep smaller projects in Zip;oc bags to be grabbed at a moments notice. Never know when I'll need one.

Finished a Penny Rug. Seems like Christmas is the theme.

Love that feeling of accomplishment...........

Rhonda

More Tablerunners

2011-02-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

We had a computer crash so I am limping along with a picture software I am not familiar with. But I finished a few things and wanted to get them posted. So I tried the software that came with my camera. It's not too bad just more time consuming than I'm used to. But I am always excited when I teach myself something new on the computer since I can be electronically challenged.
Pictures in the snow:

Another strip pieced Valentines Table runner...............

My favorite Laurel Birch fabric
A Christmas Stripe

I'm glad I found a use for it. I can enjoy it instead of looking at it on my shelf.

In keeping with my gift strategy here's the second one for the gift box.

With the left over 60 degree triangles...
FRONT

BACK

I read somewhere that the best pictures are in natural light outside so out side I went. I love the snow so what better place to photograph. This was so much fun.
Hope you enjoyed them.

Blessings
Rhonda

2011-01-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is my Secret Sister and I at Breakfast on Sunday when we revealed who we were.
She was absolutely the best SS anyone could ask for. She gushed over all her gifts. She was so appreciative it was soooooooo worth all the planning and sewing.

I think she loved her pillowcase the best. When she arrived at her table Friday morning I had a bouquet of flowers for her. She kept telling everyone she was no longer a princess she had arrived to Queen.

We had so much fun!!!!!!

This is the view as you drive into camp. I feel myself relax as I pass this tree farm.

Isn't the sky gorgeous.

Leaving camp on Sunday. (sad face)

A few projects from my friends.

What an interesting tutorial this was. What a great use of scraps.

It was a productive weekend for all. I will post pics of my finished projects tomorrow. This post is picture heavy already

Blessings,
Rhonda

Secret Sister gifts

2011-01-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

I have been working on secret sister gifts my quilting retreat this weekend. We have a $15.00 limit so I had to get creative. In my mind if I make it from stuff I have here that's 0 cost....right??

The first thing I made was a "snap" bag. It's made to snap closed. The snapping is from the metal measuring tape that you cut up and sew in the top opening. Of course I had to embroider her initial on it for that special touch.

I promptly filled it with hand sanitizer and tic tacs. So far free. Had everything here at home. The polka dot bag will match Emily's carry on bag I made previously.

Next I made my favorite wallet. Include a $5 Panera Card and we have gift #2.

Following my strategy to fill my gift box. I made 2.

Next I embroidered a pillowcase for her.
My secret sister is truly a special gal. I have known her for years and there isn't a sweeter person to quilt with. It was easy to create for her. The green I used for the body of the pillowcase reminded me of the forest where I will be staying. It's a camp. It's snowy here so I'm going to have lots of pictures from the weekend to share.

I had quilt notecards that were a fund raiser for a friend so I'm sharing some of those. I did purchase some hand dyed fabrics as a gift. She had those on her "likes" list. She is also A diabetic so I tried to stay away from candy and sweets. So upon arrival I have a bouquet all ready to go.

For the Sunday morning reveal yourself I made a sewing wallet combining a cross stitch wool and regular fabric. I'm putting the finishing touches on it there so I'll get a picture before I wrap it.

Have a great weekend. I know I will.
Blessings,
Rhonda

Table runners

2011-01-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

I have a new best friend and it's fusible batting. Where's this stuff been and how come no one told ME about it. I bought a bolt of it before Christmas with my 40% off at JoAnns and will keep it as a staple in my studio. It's great for anything you don't want the back to shift while you're working on the top. I have been using it with my new favorite table runner pattern. It is such a basic pattern it can be adjusted for any fabric or size. I LOVE basic patterns I can add my own spin to.

I made several for Christmas presents and this is the only one left here. (I had to finish it after Christmas.) Sorry Cindy.

I made it long enough to fit her table with all the leaves in it. She loves snowmen. This way she can leave it out longer than just Christmas.

Detail of the end.

We didn't go out on New Years Eve. I spent my night sewing. I was in heaven. Not so much DH. He watched all his John Wayne movies on CD waiting for the call to pick up one of our girls.

I made a side table matt in snow man style.

Then I decided to start on Valentines Day. One of my goals for this year is to use up what I have and be more diligent about being ready for holidays instead of lagging behind........I'll let you know how that works out for me**sarcastic** because I'm really bad at that part. I'm the person putting a binding on something on the way to the house it's supposed to be a gift for. I finish and wrap in the car..(DH hates this about me.)

Pay no attention to that batting sticking out on the end. It's almost finished. hehehe.

Then I made a side table matt to replace the snow one in February.

Detail of runner

I found another pattern I wanted to try and that was the perfect night to try it out ....No MOM to be heard for hours..
This pattern uses fabric in a repeat stripe and a 60 degree triangle. You cut and place the stripe pattern in a mirror setting and add the triangles at the end. It is going on the basic pattern list also. I'll never look at a repeat stripe pattern the same way again.

Notice how the pattern completes (makes an oval) around the runner. Follow the checkerboard around. Remember all the photos can be clicked on to enlarge.

Blow up of the triangle end

My brain was in overload with possibilities.

My goal is to finish up projects and start a box of "gifts" so that when I need something for a special occasion I have some things already made. The birdhouses are not my style so I figured add some embroidered napkins and the set will be a great gift.

As I look back at the pictures I must add that I didn't have time to press these before pictures as I was trying to catch some natural light in my dining room. They look all wavy and bumpy but really aren't. Nothing a good steam press can't fix. Off to call my "quilter" she has a quilt ready for me to pick up. Like Christmas for me.

Blessings,
Rhonda

December

2010-12-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

I took this week off to get something done for Christmas. It of course hasn't worked out as I had planned but I have managed to finish a few thing.

Here's the carry on bags for our trip. I finished mine (the one without the monogram) back in Sept for my trip to Texas. The other 3 are for my 2 girls and my niece. I am proud of myself thought that not only are they done in time but I mastered monograms on my embroidery machine. I bought the machine used and have had to teach myself to use it.

I am hoping to post my daily progress but we will see what happens. My favorite saying is "I make plans...God laughs." It sort of puts things in perspective for me. Keeps me from overwhelming myself. I am following some of my favorite blogs and wanting to try some of the wonderful projects I'm seeing.

Back to the sewing machine for me. I am working on table runners for my SILs.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Not bad for a Quarter

2010-11-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yep paid 25 cents for the kit which included all the fabric to make the top. We have a "store" of gently used or cast offs at our quilting retreat. It was originally marked $9.25 and it's all Thimbleberries fabric. I had a small piece of batting and backing already here. Done!!!

Another Fall project finished.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Quilt Retreat

2010-11-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had the great fortune to be included in a quilter's retreat. My good fortune was unfortunately at the misfortune of another who could not attend. But I had a really great time. I find it amazing that you can enter a room with 11 other quilters (knowing only one of them) and leave knowing like you've been friends forever.

The setting was spectacular.

This is where we ate our meals. Which were prepared by a chef and were out of this world.

This is where we slept. For those of us who went to bed.

The sewing area was in a building next to the dorm. we each had a 6 foot table to ourselves ........Plenty of room to work.

This was a quilt that one of the girls brought for show and tell. These pictures don't do it justice.

This was a finished quilt from the weekend. All the blocks were already made and 2 of the rows were put together when she came but she had a finished top to go home.

That's what these weekends are for me. I finish up my projects. I made 2 backs so I could take the tops to my machine quilter. One was my Halloween quilt which she is basting for me and I will hand quilt. The other was Tori's Flip Flop quilt. So I can cross those off my list.

I will take pictures of my other finished project and post them tomorrow.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Another Finish

2010-09-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

I finished another banner while I was visiting in Texas last week. The first banner I made was out of fabric and I gave it to a friend to use in her classroom. This one is made from various papers in a style I saw on Creative Breathing. I used images from my and my SIL"s childhood. I went looking for these favorite images and found out that they were originally manufactured in Pittsburgh,PA. Imagine that!!!! Wish I lived here then. Maybe I could have had some originals. a friend did bring me some decorations that her mom still has so I could scan them for the image. Most of the other images came from various sources. They are reproducing these images but I'm not sure if they are still made in Pittsburgh. I am still researching this.

I remember my teachers having them as classroom decorations. My mom owned a few too. Of course the more research I did I found the astronomical prices they are going for on sites like Ebay. I guess there's a whole sector of "my" age group wanting to enjoy them.

I warn you this post is picture heavy. But this was a labor of love for me. My SIL loves Halloween.

The "o" was my favorite and it was the unclearest picture. It was more vibrant than it shows. See "pride goeth before the fall". Shouldn't have been so "proud" of my O

The researching for images has been so much fun. I learned a lot in the process too. I tell my girls " a day without learning anything new is a wasted day. There is so much out there to learn."

Blessings,
Rhonda

Finishes

2010-09-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

I found the most wonderful blog a couple of weeks ago, Creative Breathing. She is definetly not prim but her creativity is outstanding. She had made a fall banner and was hosting a Halloween banner swap with some of her friends. I looked at it and thought of all the Halloween prints I had left over from making my Halloween quilt. It got the old creative juices flowing.

It is definetly not prim but I was really happy with it. It will go to a friend of mine. She will use it in her classroom then at home. She will really like it.

Here are the close ups.

I was doubly proud of this banner because I purchased nothing new for it. I had all the Halloween fabrics and I used only what I had. The ribbon I had purchased some time ago at a garage sale so for practically nothing I have a cute finished project.

I am flying to Texas to visit my brother and sister and their families next week and am taking supplies to make paper banners. Wait till you see the images I've printed to use on them. I will be spending time with my SIL while my brother is at work. It will be the perfect creative time. This is a total R&R break for me. I am going alone. Just to sit and visit with Theresa. Of course Ron has a project or 2 lined up for us as well.

You must check out Elizabeth's blog and see her completed banners and tags. Her writing is also wonderful. It took me 2 weeks of reading but I started at her first post and worked forward. Her writing style is so interesting. And the stories she tells. It's a must read. One of the most important things I took away from her was it's OK to be creative and enjoying it. I needed to hear that and start working again.

I finished a table runner for me. I have a similar one in Christmas fabrics I love so I tried this one in Reproduction Civil War prints. I love how it turned out.

The sun has made it appear more pastel but it really has more rich coloring. I hadn't machine quilted in awhile so this was a nice refresher.

It is starting to cool off so I will be returning to projects. One a day finished would be nice but that would require doing nothing for hubby or the girls. Fat chance of that.

So no matter what you medium just keep on creating (and sharing of course) we in blogland love to see what others are doing.

Blessings,
Rhonda

R & R

2010-07-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hard to imagine what just 24 hours away from your "normal" life can do for ones attitude. DH and I went to Berlin for an impromptu overnight. We stayed here.
That's just the beginning. We (DH really) built us a fire

and

roasted us some corn

and

Tbones over the open flame.

How's that for a little R&R?????

Happy Friday. Be back with a couple treasures I found while antiquing with DH the next day.
He's a keeper. Knows just what a girl needs.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Dyeing Hydrangeas

2010-07-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

What a productive Saturday I had. Getting something done and posted however is another story.
I dug out my Hydrangeas that I dried from last year.

They were from a friends tree. They dried nicely hanging in the rafters of the Olde Stone House. I leave a long stem on them to hang them.

I wanted Royal Blue Hydrangeas.

This is where the experimenting began. I boiled water and mixed in a box of Rit dye. The directions on the Internet didn't give specifics for ratios of dye to water so I made up my own.

The really long stems came in handy. Some I laid in the bucket for a long time and others I just dipped till they took on color. I wanted varying shades of blue.

I wound rubber bands around the stems and hung them to dry. My old Amish drying rack came in handy. Too bad someone broke a dowel rod with their football......Jason.
But it worked. They didn't take long to dry either. Now they are ready to use in a wreath or arrangement.

Next I have Scarlet Red for the other bag of blooms.

A couple of things I learned.

1. Less water or more dye.

2. It was really fun and they turned out very pretty for not much effort.

3. Don't go for your pedicure after dyeing Royal Blue Hydrangeas in your bare feet. You might not have gotten all the blue spots off your legs and feet before you went.

Here's pool silliness.

How many floats does one teenager need??????????

And of course...............

ABU.......6 months. Notice he has his own quilt already. Spoiled.....Not??????

Enjoy your summer.
Blessings,
Rhonda

New addition

2010-07-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that I've been gone from here for more than 2 months. Shortly after my last post we got a new addition to our house. We got a new puppy.
Here he is at his foster moms.

A friend of ours fosters for the Humane Society here in Pittsburgh. She called and said she had the perfect dog for us. She couldn't have been more correct. He is amazing (even if I do say so myself). We had never had a dog before and he certainly is a great first dog. No one can believe what a good personality he has. He's part Black lab and we think Chow cause he has blue on his tongue.

This one is from the babysitter while we were away at a wedding.

I can't believe it's like having a 2 yr old again.

Have to constantly watching where he's going.

Potty training.

Sleepless nights.
Just really needing constant attention right now. But it is a constant learning experience for all of us.
The girls love him except when he needs to be up in the mornings.

You know teenagers..... sleeping till noon.........
We named him Abu,the monkey from Aladdin.

Em found a site with the names of every Disney character form every movie. Didn't know every one of the 101 Dalmatians has a name!!! Wow we weeded through that to about 4 and chose from there. It suits him.

He is a welcome addition to our home. And now that he's settling in it's time to return to my other past times. Be back with more projects.

Blessings,
Rhonda

2010-05-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

These are always a sure sign that spring is here.

My MIL knows a riddle about the bleeding heart she used to tell my girls as she opened it and took them apart. The only part I remember is the slipper at the end. Sadly dementia has robbed us of her. If anyone knows this riddle I would love to have it.

This was last weeks' project. I had started them last summer when I was in Texas. I put them away when I got home and they have sat in a box on my dryer (don't ask me why there..... IDK). It was time to get them out and finished. I love how they turned out. They are firecracker bowl fillers form a tutorial form Char.

They will look great in my "redo" bowl.

I have a hard time working with blue. I always imagine it a certain shade of blue and it never works out that way. This time it worked. I wish I had a before pic. This was a wooden salad bowl with ball feet and flowers on the inside. Love how it turned out. Won't pass on another one of this type again.

This is how we spend spring at our house. Girls fast pitch softball. Tori's been in softball for about 9 years now.

Notice the number Uncle Ron??????? It's a traditional number for my brothers when they played sports.

Have a great Wednesday.
Blessings,

Rhonda

Treasures

2010-04-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

I went to my first garage sales of the 2010 season. It was freezing this past Sat but I braved the weather looking for that elusive treasure.I did find a couple of treasures (at least I think they are)

Here's for you Lisa

I found a yard of plaid wool for 50 cents that will felt up nicely. It's blue and cream and I already can see something patriotic in a penny rug for summer.

The thread is a find because I always prefer to use old for a couple reasons.....First it's Made in the USA, second the colors and quality are better,and when making reproductions I think the older looking the better.

The little red book has great patina but I will probably recover it in fabric and prim it up. It's the perfect size for the shelf in my living room.

Do you have traditions that can't be broken?? My youngest daughter Emily is a stickler for tradition. I love that memories we built while they were little stay with her. For instance i didn't have the time or the energy to decorate for Easter this year. I got the Easter bin down and she did it all by herself. She wanted it decorated for our company.

These are the traditional napkin rings I made years ago. Not very prim are they?? But she loves them and insisted we use them. They are made from a piece of miniature fence I cut apart and just wired to the size I wanted. I then hot glued on miniature Easter characters. They were so quick and so fun.

Of course we have 2 traditional tablecloths I made also. We use the larger egg one for everyday and the jelly bean one for Easter Sunday. No real rhyme or reason except that we have 12 purple napkins that look better with the jelly bean tablecloth.

I know the Easter pictures are a little late but I was fixing some of the miniatures tonight to finish packing it away for next year and I couldn't resist sharing them. It was neat for me to think about all Emily did to get ready for Easter this year and reflect on the person my "little" girl is becoming. Tradition will always play a big part in her life I'm sure. I will treasure these times.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Primitive Candle Holder

2010-04-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

This tutorial was posted by Kris the Project Coordinator on " A Primitive Place" Prim forum. I started it a few weeks ago and finally finished them today. Her instructions were very user friendly. I couldn't decide which color I wanted to make so I made two. The first one is a mustard over black.

The second one is barn red over black.

It was one of my first projects in wood. I can't wait to do some more. There is something rewarding about conquering power tools. Or maybe it's just the feeling of working with "power" tools... LOL.

I have lots of pictures to post of some new things around The Olde Stone House. One is in the pictures above underneath the tray of fruit. It is an honest to goodness antique Penny Rug. My friend Lisa and I went to an antique show a few weekends ago and found it. We made instant friends with the dealers and the rest is history. They were both great to deal with. I gave the rug owner all the cash I had with me and he gave me the rug with the understanding I would send the rest "within a week or 2". We couldn't believe it. I have become used to the feel and look of vintage penny rugs. The old wool feels different than the felted wool of today. This one is backed in burlap too which is also traditional. It is on a foundation piece of a muslin like fabric. i just love it!!!!

Isn't it wonderful. Even though I love to make my own I consider myself lucky to have an antique one.

On Saturday the girls and I went to a wedding shower for a close family friend. We had a wonderful time reconnecting with family and friends. I hated to leave. But we'll see everyone again at the wedding next month. I had picked my mom up for the shower and when we returned to her house she told me to take the "old crock" sitting on the patio if I wanted. "If I wanted??" I couldn't get it in the car fat enough. I wanted a big one for a garbage can in the kitchen. Can't wait to find someone to make me a lid for it. And for FREE no less.

Better go finish some "chores" now. It can't be all fun.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Shopping in Lancaster

2010-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have returned from a much needed R&R with my DH. It was our anniversary so we ditched the kids and ran for Lancaster. Yep!! Lancaster Pa. DH and I have been going there since before we were married. We are never at a loss for things to do there.

Of course a trip to Lancaster wouldn't be complete without shopping. Fabric shopping that is. I love to shop there because their prices are at least $3.00 a yard cheaper than other shops.( I do frequent the local shops as well but what DH doesn't know won't hurt him.)

So be prepared this is a photo intensive fabric post. I am working on a Civil War reproduction quilt so it MUST be scrappy. So here goes...................

I have so much trouble with backgrounds for reproductions. These are called "shirt prints" and will work great. I always buy these up whenever I find them.

Always a need for creams

Patriotics.......great for placemats and napkins for our July Civil War dinner

Greens,browns,reds and purples..notice the "cheddar"????

Starting a collection of blues for an all blue and white quilt.

And lastly a shamrock piece for a new smock top and placemats for next St Patty's day.

So I'd better get off the computer for now and get this stuff put away.

Really disappointed that I found no wool anywhere though.

Had a wonderful time away but unfortunately it's back to reality.

Dishes meals kids......................

Happy Monday.
Blessings,Rhonda

Wool

2010-03-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've had so much fun the last few days.

I have been trying my hand at dyeing some wool.

I tried some new wool and Cushings dye.

And the results were.........

Buttercup Yellow in 3 shades ..........

Copenhagen Blue

And Bronze Green

Not done yet.
I tried Kool Aid dyeing.

And you thought Kool Aid was just for drinking.

Look at these colors. What fun this was and it only took about 10 min each color.

now I'm not sure how long the color stays. It says not to put them in direct sunlight. I was thinking Easter eggs and spring flowers as I was looking at them.
They are not the colors I normally work in for my Penny Rugs but they are cute and I loved the technique and learning something new.

This is the project my SIL and I are working on.

It ran in Quiltmaker Magazine starting in Jan 2005 for 6 issues.

It is all in wool.

My SIL is recovering from Bypass surgery so she's looking for something to work on when she feels up to it.
Not sure these colors go for this project either but we'll see.

Happy St Patty's Day.

I'm off to get my corned beef in the oven and frost my cake.

Rhonda

The mailman cometh

2010-03-09T04:41:00.000-08:00

I was so excited yesterday when I got home. This was in my mailbox

And this is who it was from.

I placed an order on Friday morning and I got it yesterday.
What great service!!!
This is what was inside........2 yards of luscious soft wool and 6 new colors to try. Thanks for the suggestions Cathy.

I was so excited to get these.
Friday is my day off so I will be bringing out the dye pots. Most of the fun is in the experimenting.

I just never know what I'll come up with.

Some wool I already have I will over dye with new colors. Others I will try from scratch.

I must remember to write down my recipes this time.

Yes recipes with measurements of amounts used. So in case I need more for a project later on I can reproduce it. (Nothing worse than starting a project and running out of a color. )

Thinking new penny rugs.

Copenhagen blue, doesn't that sound rich... Olive green for a background penny..... Buttercup yellow toned down with some black or tan for mustard.....

the projects are swirling .

I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it.

What a way to get those creative juices flowing. Just the winter break I needed.

Enjoy your day.
Blessings,
Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wed

2010-02-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to use up and clear out. This week it's old quilt blocks.

There is a warning though. I got a little carried away with the bags. I think my OCD kicked in a little. I started out just trying to cover up the writing on the bags I use for groceries.

The bag before I did anything to them.

This is the same bag back and front with a stray quilt block attached to cover up the writing.

Then I talked to a friend (HI Cheryl) and she suggested making pockets out of the quilt blocks.

These old quilt blocks are some that people give me. They really aren't square and can't be used for much but I like them just the same. They were hidden in a box on the shelf so This to me is a better way to enjoy them and give my shopping excursion a boost.

Plus it gives me extra pockets. And who can't use those???

And........the more boxes I get rid of the more wool I can bring in. I have been having such a good time making penny rugs.
I call this one Cheerios. It reminds me of the cereal now that it's done.

I have always liked miniatures and this is no exception. The pennies were small to work with. The army blanket wool I used is one of my favorite prim colors. I dyed some green wool too and it turned out good for my first try at dyeing.

The colors are more accurate in the first picture under the candle. This one is washed out. For some reason I can't see to get good pictures with nice color of my rugs.

My next rug will be a cream and tan one. I noticed that everything up until now is pretty dark in coloring. I need something a little lighter for some of my darker furniture.

Many more projects..........
so little time.
Until the next ones are finished......

Be sure and visit My Country Home for more Projects.

Blessings,
Rhonda

New and Old projects

2010-02-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

Even though it's technically after Valentines Day I wanted to post my tree. I am trying to get ornaments made for each month to change the tree. It sits in my bay window in the family room. It's great to be able to enjoy it after I put so much work into make the ornaments to hang. I try every month to get them made and up in enough time to enjoy them the whole month but that doesn't always happen. I have stopped condemning myself for not getting them done and up in a more timely manner. I just tell myself I'm ahead for next year. LOL.
Here's the heart tree.

I moved it here to take a picture because the light was too bright coming in the window...See

Another in the bay where it actually resides. It has 36 wire branches.

Emily had a report to do for school. It was a journal from the French and Indian War era. I am definitely keeping this project it is a perfect prim journal. We had fun working on it and she got a good grade.

It's snowing here again so it's time for some laundry and some sewing. Lucky for me my sewing machine is in the basement with the laundry room. It looks like I'm really doing something not just sewing.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Snowstorm and Projects

2010-02-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well the weatherman was right for a change. We got our predicted 20" of snow here in SW PA. I was at work. (I work at a local hospital) and had to have DH come and get me at 1 AM when I finally gave in and declared I couldn't get my car out of the parking lot. I grew up in NW PA so loads of snow is nothing new to me. So I was giving it the old college try and driving home. They had plowed all of us in our parking spaces in an attempt to keep the ER entrances open. I could get so far and then the van (Dodge Caravan) sat on top of the snow and could not go. Lucky for me my replacement showed up and I could leave. Others were not so lucky and were mandated to stay-not that they could have gone anyways. But DH came and got me and here I sit working on projects all day. (Happy face)
Here are some of the photos I took today. This is our backyard from my bedroom window. You don't think I was going out do you????????

DH shoveling.

The side of our driveway.

This is a big thing here. They don't get snow like this often. Most things were shut down last night and this morning. We went and dug my van out this afternoon. DH is so nice he dug out other hospital personnel while we were there.
Of course we needed a new picture of the stone house in the snow. That rod iron fence in the front is a 3 ft fence.

Here's another on going project that I'm loving how it is coming out.

The bottom penny is 1 1/4" the middle penny is 1/2" and the center is 1/4". It's small to work with but I'm lovin it. I finished cutting out some more pennys last night at work SHHHHHHHHH don't tell. But I hate to sit and do nothing if there's no patients so I always have something to work on. I took 2 tan wool skirts to take apart to felt. They are all ready for the washer.

The snow is beautiful. I'm just glad I don't have to go out in it. I'm settling in for a rather cold night with my new "make do" flannel quilt to finish reading some blogs.........Nice and toasty warm. I'm very thankful tonight for my family being safe, DH and his helpfulness and thoughtfulness for others and God's provisions for our family.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Whatca Working on Wednesday and Where's Waldo

2010-02-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

I finished my "make do" Flannel quilt. I made a significant dent in my flannel stash. I wanted to just do something fun with it and not worry too much about color placement. I achieved my goal. It is random all right. The size of the squares vary throughout the quilt but it came together nicely since I used a basic 2" start. Everything had to be in increments of 2. It sure is warm and everyone enjoys using it in this weather.(If they can get it away from me that is.)Eventually I think Tori will claim it. DH and daughter #2 already have a flannel...of course DD#2 says hers is getting too small.

Some time ago I started a quilt I absolutely loved when I saw the pattern. It's from the Nickel Quilts book by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.
When I saw this coverI knew I had to make it in Civil War Repro fabric. Everything in the book is made from 5" squares. But I wanted it really scrappy. I didn't want to go buy all that fabric for a couple of 5" squares so I went looking and found a Nickel Quilt group. First I exchanged a couple times for finished blocks then a couple of times for just squares. I found this too time consuming for me though. So I resorted to buying a little at a time and since I love this fabric anyway I know I will use it in other projects. SHHHHH I even have more projects picked already. DH doesn't understand this type of thinking.

Here's the 67 blocks I have completed already. I ONLY have 100 more to go for a queen size. I will probably make it bigger though since it's for our bed and I want it to be a generous size.

I always lay the quilt out and watch it through the day for different patterns I might see. It also helps to take a picture of it or look at it through the camera lens or a peep hole for a door to get a perceptive look at the pattern.
So here's the Where's Waldo .........I laid this out to photograph it and found a mistake in the piecing of one of the blocks when I saved the picture for posting. Can you find the block????????

I need to get a few things done around here before I go to work. Be sure and check out other Wednesday projects at Leslie's.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

2010-01-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

I had the good fortune to be able to attend another quilting retreat this past weekend. It was so nice to just be away. This pattern is called a watercolor wreath. A few years ago I gave my SIL one that I had made.So I needed a new one. A friend of mine gave up quilting and she handed over all her stuff. In there was this one partially finished. What better way to replace mine.

I couldn't resist finishing it. I need to do something with the outside border but I'll hang it up for now and just keep looking at it till I decide. It looks a little choppy in the picture but once it is quilted it blends really well.

We were given a favor at one meal that was a kit for a cell phone case. I had been thinking about making one so whipped this one up to see what it looked like finished. It's not really my colors but I did like how quickly it went together. Now I can make several in my colors.

Here is a finished top of Michelle's (one of my quilting buddies). And me ...of course.

These are my Kon-O-Kwee quilting buddies. Kim,Michelle and Karen. They are sisters besides. Didn't get pictures of the rest of my quilting friends but I'll get them next time.

I did get some much needed instructions on my Designer 1 embroidery machine. I hope to get practicing on it soon.

Be sure and check out Leslie's blog to see what others are working on.

Blessings,Rhonda

Whatca Working on Wed

2010-01-13T04:50:00.000-08:00

I am finishing the binding on this quilt today. My annual Jan quilting retreat is this weekend and I want it on my bed. For such a simple pattern I love how it turned out.
It was a challenge on a blog last May. We were supposed to make a block a day for 70 days. Of course I couldn't be happy with that. I made 2 blocks a day in the reverse of each other. These same fabrics are in the quilt I made for my SIL in Texas last year. This one is supposed to be for my brother. I just liked it so much when it was done that it's hard to part with. The gold tied it all together so nicely and made it look old. So of course I loved it.
This is the back. My friend quilted it for me in an all over meandering star pattern. It just finishes off the quilt nicely.

My DH got me 4 yes I said 4 of the Judy Condon books for Christmas. I had 3 already so that brings me up to date I think. I actually have 2 of Country on a Shoestring so I may regift one of those. He didn't see it on the shelf when he was looking to see what I had.
Be sure and visit Leslie's blog to see what others are working on.

Blessings
Rhonda

Projects for 2010

2010-01-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that my last post was Nov. I was so busy with the holidays and finishing up DH's present that I lost all track of anything else. I did read all my favorite blogs and saw everyone had wonderful holidays. My Header is the one thing I finished for me this year. I am leaving it there for awhile so I can enjoy it. Of course now it's drooping a little and has some snow sitting on it. But to me it's still beautiful. Now to find a place to store it............

I had made 12 flannel pillowcases for the nieces and nephews for Christmas. The scraps from those plus ones from rag quilts past got me jump started on this project.

Next year I hope to have mastered my embroidering machine and then I will be able to put names on the cuffs. But that's another story for another day....

Here is my latest project. Seems like I always start Jan deciding to complete projects and use up supplies I have on hand. This is a flannel rag quilt that I'm making out of scraps. Yep everything is from something I've made in the past. No newly purchased flannel.

Here is the box it all started from.

It's about 1/2 empty here. Forgot to take a before picture........ again.

I made 10" cut squares from the bigger pieces of fabric first. Then I made 8" squares and decreased sizes based on the size of the fabric that was left.

I wasn't so concerned about patterns or color for this one. Just a throw quilt for the girls to use on the couch. These are sooooooooo warm..... there is essentially 3 layers of flannel.

I'm about half finished with it now. I will continue to add until there are no more usable squares of fabric. I'll show how fun it can be once it's finished.
My goal is to work on something every day. We'll see how that goes. LOL.
My favorite saying is "I make plans.....God laughs." Try not to sweat the little things.

This is the shelf that used to be stuffed with flannel before it moved to the box. I can't show you the rest of the shelves... Yet. They contain future use up the fabric projects and I'm embarrassed to say they are not the most organized. But that's why I call it my studio where all the creating takes place.Creative people don't have to be terribly organozed .....Do they??? That's my excuse anyhow.

It's cold and snowy here so I'm taking my glass of wine and settling in to read blogs and relax.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.
Rhonda

Marrying wool

2009-11-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's Wednesday already. I started this post earlier this week but it'll fit for today's WWW. I am a quilter at heart but I have started working with wool and I just love it. This is a long post so grab a cup of your favorite drink and enjoy the pictures.
I wanted to try my hand at dying some wool but I didn't have much cream colored wool to start the process. So I researched my options and decided to "marry" some. I started with a green tweed wool blazer,a dark hunter green skirt, and a couple of pieces of an old army blanket. Marrying wool is the process of using the dye that bleeds from one piece of fabric to another. It causes the wool to all be in the same color family so it is "married".

I had picked up some crochet thread this summer at a garage sale so I thought I would try to dye some of it also.
Here is my attempt at making shanks of the thread. I was home alone so I used the chair.

You must wet your wool before putting it in the pot to steep. I filled the sink with cold water and still could see the color starting to come out of the skirt mostly.

Then into the pot for boiling. I couldn't get a good picture of this stage cause there was too much steam but you get the idea.

The thread didn't take the color very well so I scrapped that for now but the wool is fabulous.
This the green tweed after. Compare to the small square of the before.

The army blanket was a gold/green before dying. Now it is a nice soft olivey (is that a word) green.

This is the hunter green skirt before and after. This is the wool that changed the most. It lent sooooo much color to the rest of the wool.

I can't wait to make a large penny rug with these greens they turned out really well for a first time and not knowing what I was doing.

I also tried over dyeing a piece of the green tweed with a bright red. The tweed turned a wonderful cranberry color. The red didn't change at all. I believe that was because the green didn't lose any dye and the red did.

I did buy a package of Brown Cushing's Dye at a sale and decided since I had the dye pots out I would try it. I dyed a couple pieces of cream and I think it turned out great. It will even blend with the greens.
Isn't it a luscious soft brown???
I'll close with a few pictures of penny rugs I've been working on.

My all purple penny rug. The smallest penny is a purple plaid.

The back picture is a little bright. It really is a nice prim looking rug.
Aren't these the cutest things??? They are penny rug mug mats. Of course you could use them under anything.....jar candles, candlesticks etc. I saw them on Penny Rugs and More.
Colleen does a fantastic job. Check out her blog for Penny rug inspiration.

I'll try and get a truer color picture. They are from the over dyed red and tweed in the center and the background is the olivey. They show too turquoise here.

I guess it's time to start working on Christmas. I guess I'll get some done for next week.Be sure and check out Leslie's blog and see what everyone is working on.

Rhonda
Happy Wednesday

Crafting and sewing

2009-10-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of attending a weekend long quilting retreat with some of my friends. We had such a good time. I got a few things finished and for me that was worth going. Since I went back to work full time I just don't have as much time as I would like to work on my "fun" projects. So "finishing" was my theme for the weekend. Finishing in order to start more as DH would remind me.
First I finished a denim shirt I had started a few years ago and was just hanging there. It is from Home from the Harvest book by Nancy Smith and Linda Milligan. I have made so many things from this book that it was worth the cost. Nothing I hate more than buying a book for only one project.

Thanks Karen for modeling for me.
My daughter Tori picked out the pattern and fabrics for this quilt. It still needs the borders but it already is 72"x92" without borders. I had all but 3 of the blocks machine appliqued so most of the weekend work was sashing and cornerstones. It is so vibrant and fun. I just love it. The pictures don't even begin to show how bright it is.

I have been on a pillowcase kick. They are so fun and easy to make. There is some cute fabrics out there too. I made Christmas one for my DD and now am working on some for the other seasons. It's an easy way to change up a bedroom. I can't find the pictures of those but I'll keep looking for another post.

I started a table runner for a Christmas gift so I'll show that when it's done. All in all I got accomplished what I was hoping for so that to me was a "good thing".

Here's a pin cushion my friend received from her secret sister. It was so fun I had to take a picture. It is knitted.

These next pictures are of some pumpkins I have been working on for the last couple of weeks.I love how they turned out. Although I don't think I would grubby up the white one as much next time. It probably would stand on it's own without it.

I really love using the branches for stems and adding the bittersweet.

Have a great Autumn day
Blessings,
Rhonda

Whatca Working on Wednesday

2009-10-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am really late posting this. I have had this metal tree for some time and have been looking for ornaments to hang on it for every season. I found these cute pumpkins on aprimitivegathering's blog. If you want to make your own she has all the instructions there.

Aren't they just the cutest? And you cn use so much of your own creativity after the basic recipe.

Fabric pumpkins are all over my crafting table. It is amazing to me the process of sewing,staining,and baking takes. A friend of mine(Hi Lisa) and I went to the Apple Festival in Franklin PA a couple of weeks ago. At one booth we were talking to the owner and an artist for the shop. One lady picked up a make do and wanted to know the price. She turned up her nose at the price. The owner said she wouldn't sell it to her anyway (after she had left) since she didn't appreciate all the work that went into making it. So of course we then had a conversation about how much time things actually takes to make a make-do. No pun intended. But we determined when you are good at what you do it really does look easy.

Here's my make do. I love it. It is sort of a mix of several I've seen.

Have a nice evening. Check out Leslie's blog for more WWW projects.

Rhonda

penny rugs

2009-09-29T19:16:00.001-07:00

These are two of my fall penny rugs I completed last week while I was off. At least I can say I got something done.
The first one the pumpkins in the pattern were Jack o Lanterns but I left the faces off so I could get more use out of them.

It is a "Little Bits" pattern from Homespun Charm.

I love this penny rug too. It is so bright and colorful-definitely not too prim but I love the pattern. It does go so well with my other prim stuff though.

This pattern is from Lily Anna Stitches, There's a watermelon slice pattern too. I'll make that one for summer sometime over the winter. As soon as I find the right color pink for the melon.

It's been a cold rainy day in Pa today. It's starting to be the perfect weather for curling up with all my hand work. The gardens are being put to rest for the winter so I have more time for inside things.

Blessings,
Rhonda

WWW ......Dining room reno and bittersweet

2009-09-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

These are the pictures of the ongoing dining room reno that began with the start of my vacation.
This is a before picture. I had removed the baseboards and painted the walls a soft olivey green.

Next DH put up 6" wide pine wainscoting about 1/2 way up the walls.

All this was done prior to my vacation. Now day 1 was priming all the wainscoting and the chair rail,corner moldings and base boards.

Day 2 Today I added the color. It is a putty color about the color of Pella doors in Putty. It's my new favorite color.

DH finished the second coat of the putty. Now all we have to do is put on the chair rail,baseboards and corner moldings. But I'm changing my mind. I painted all the wood work the same putty color. Now I'm thinking the chair rail need to be something else. I'm not liking the green anymore either. He's not going to be happy but I don't want to do it again anytime soon. The wall is so easily changed since it's only 1/2 the wall. I'm going shopping at some prim stores today so I have the day off. When I get home tonight I'll ponder some more about color.
I want to stencil in this room too and I'm afraid it'll get lost on the green even though it's a subtle color. .......................Big sigh ..........................too many decisions.

I learned a lesson about bittersweet this week. I found some in our church parking lot while the girls were at youth group last week. I cut it and put it in my car. I forgot about it till I was parking the car at work the next day. Never do it. It must have been the heat that caused it all to open. I was so disappointed. I can still use it but it lost all of the yellow seed coverings as I was taking the leaves off.
It was harder to work with this way too.I couldn't get it to bend the way it usually does. It was probaly dried out. I'll look for more this week and try it again. I did get some on the chandlier in the dining room. You can see it hanging in the top of some of the pictures.

Be sure and check out Leslie's blog for others and their Wed projects

Off to shop.
Rhonda

Catching up

2009-09-19T19:35:00.001-07:00

Since I am on vacation this coming week I will be catching up on many things. One of them is my blog. This post should have been done 2 weeks ago but alas time has slipped away again.

We had the pleasure of spending the day at Kennywood with 2 of my nephews we don't see as often as I'd like. My girls are the same ages as the boys. By the look of their faces in the pictures I'd say they had a good time.

I am blessed to have a close family. These are 2 of my brothers' 5 boys. They live 1 1/2 hours from us but we really only see them for holidays since their parents are divorced. We all had a good time that day. It was a new experience for me to drop them off by themselves for a few hours and return after my DH got home from work. I'm not sure I'm liking this letting go thing much.
Here are my 2 clowning for the camera.

Since they were little we've taken their pictures on the merry go round and I change them in the frame each summer. It's a neat progression of time.
Here's this years.
Tori 14

Emily 13

My how time does fly.

I'll post again tomorrow with some finished projects and some buys from summer.

Rhonda

Colonial Williamsburg

2009-08-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday we were on our way home from vacation. I wanted to post these pictures right away but "life happens".. And of course I didn't get all the pictures I wanted because My camera was acting up. This is a kitchen. I loved this one because we got to participate. Well the kids did but it was good for them it kept them interested. They had to fetch this wood and deliver the food that was prepared to the house. The kitchens were outside as to not heat up the house in the summer.

Cellar for storage

Some garden pictures

You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge. As I was looking at my pictures I realized I took more of objects that I wanted to reproduce here at home than I did of scenery or buildings. I have some shutter and fencing pictures as well as colors I liked. Oh well...... guess I had a mission and didn't know it. I'll post pictures of what I bought while I was there and some projects I finished on the ride tomorrow.

Vacation

2009-08-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Yep we are packing for vacation. We leave in the morning for...............

One of a prim lover's favorite places...................................

We are going to Colonial Williamsburg!!!!!! Of course I will have to bear with the water park, Busch gardens and the beach just to see what I want. But the girls are getting older now so it'll be easier to do different things hopefully. We are taking along our niece and nephew too. It is forecasting 90's and 100's and if any of you know me know that I hate to be hot. But all will be well as I am with my family whom I love dearly. Say a prayer for me and the heat though. Will take lots of pictures. Maybe even get a piece of pewter or 2.

Rhonda

Supper anyone

2009-08-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

I spent my day not as I had originally planned but worth while none the less.

I picked fresh veggies from my garden and decided I had to do something with them.

I planned stuffed peppers for dinner and figured while I was at it I made up 12 more for the freezer.

What else to do with green peppers?????????

I cut some up and put them in the freezer for use over the winter.

But what else??

I chopped some up and made spaghetti sauce. We'll have lasagna some time this week and the rest I'll put in the freezer.

I moved on to hot peppers next. I stuffed those with a sausage stuffing and par baked them to go into the freezer. When I get them out to eat later I just add sauce to warm them. DH and I like those as a side dish with spaghetti.
Sorry no pics. I got busy.

I've got some zucchini and squash baking right now in the oven. It was a recipe my SIL made we loved it so I'm trying it tonight to use up some more zucchini. Tori wants to make some bread tomorrow so it'll use up the rest of the zucchini that's been shredded.

The jalapeno peppers are already for stuffing too. Salsa was on the menu but none of my tomatoes are ripening because of the lousy summer we are having here in PA. So stuff them I will.

I try to use the bounty that God provides to me. I love taking things out of the freezer through the winter and knowing they came from our garden.

Anyone hungry???

Now for the big reveal. I finished painting the chimney cupboard...........

Not too bad even if I do say so myself. I'm not sure is I would take more off next time. I think I'll look for a piece at the TS to see if I can tweak my technique a bit.

Now it's off to sew. What I really wanted to relax and spend my day doing.

Rhonda

Textile swap

2009-07-31T18:44:00.001-07:00

This was my first time participating in a swap. Char sponsored a textile swap this time. My swap partner was Kim over at up on a hill blog. I was thrilled with all my goodies.
She and her hubby made me the blue wooden scoop and she filled it with several ragball she made. They are homespun with felt stars on them. Isn't the flag pillow she made just perfect.

I couldn't believe the work she put into this heart sewing kit. I simply love the attention to detail and it's so prim. Lovin it.

open needle case

This little stitchery touched my heart beyond words. It is a personalized saying that includes "Cavaliere's" our last name. It is a special piece.

Kim had read my blog post about my salts and she sent along some beautiful heart pillows she made from old embroidered pillowcases and a crocheted doily. I have a shelf in my china closet(that isn't very prim......know anyone who wants to buy a curved glass Victorian china cupboard) where I have a display of my DH and I as children with a wedding picture and the glasses,knife and cake topper from our wedding. They all fit so well on this shelf and it is just what it needed.

Thank you again Kim for all my special goodies. You are truly a special person to put all the attention to detail that you did into my swap with you.

I went shopping with a frien of mine today to 4 yes count them 4 prim shops and 3 antique shops. I am in overload. I did take some pictures but my camera was losing battery power so I only have 1 or 2. Iwill post tomorrow with those pictures. I will be posting the finished chimney cupboard tomorrow also.
The girls get home tonight so it's back to sharing the computer.

Rhonda

Vintage Thingy Thursday

2009-07-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well it's been awhile since I joined in the fun so........... today's the day.
I love my blue canning jars.

I have several and I keep them on a shelf in my kitchen. I enjoy the old tin lids with the porcelain on the inside from the older canning methods. The older jars have wire harnesses that keep a glass lid in place. I have one that has a home repair job (a make-do job) with a thin piece of wire substituted for the normal one. It makes me smile to look at it and know someone fixed it themselves and didn't spend any money to do it.

I also use my canning jars. These ones have cinnamon sticks and sunflower seeds in them. I do have one in my cupboard with baking soda in it as well.

I took one of the tin lids and popped out the porcelain lid....poked a hole in the lid....inserted a soap pump and........made my own vintage soap dispenser. 50 cents for the jar $1.00 for 3 pumps and a tin lid 5 cents. I bought a bag of them at the thrift Store for $2.00. So instead of Gooseberry's it's Rhonda's. I did notice (while I was wiping it off to take a picture) that the soap that has collected on the inside rim if the lid in eating through the tin lid. Weird huh!!!!!!!! I'll just have to make sure I have a store of lids.

I prefer the blue jars but heavens knows I have enough clear jars too. I love to use them both in my kitchen for various tasks. They just look and feel so homey,

Enjoy your day. Be sure and check out The Colorado Lady for more links to more Vintage Thingy Thurs participants.

Rhonda

Finished Projects Monday

2009-07-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it 2 posts in one week. I usually can't even get one post a month anymore. This is a completed project from when I was in Texas with my brother. I saw this on a few different blogs but couldn't seem to find one to buy so the next best thing is make your own version. In this case......ask your wonderful wood worker brother to make one. He was all into showing me how to use the power tools though so it was a collaborative effort with most of the work being done by him. I did learn a few things about using old barn wood though. Thanks Ron.

It looks bigger in the picture than it is. But it's in a smaller room and I couldn't get a good angle.

Another project done. I want to get at least one a day done while the girls are away.

Project #2
Use up a zucchini before it's too late. Yep I picked them and had a hankerin for some Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. From this.......
to this.............
Wish you had smell a post........sounds kinda weird!!!!!!LOL but really I am sitting here smelling it as I type. I'll probably have to cut it before bed though. It smell divine. It's a little darker than I like but it'll be crusty this way. It's great toasted for breakfast too. I will be making more tomorrow. Just got home from working a 12 hour day so 1 batch is enough for today. Anyone want to come over for tea and bread??????

Enjoy your day.
Rhonda

flea market finds and a chimney cupboard

2009-07-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

My girls left for a summer camp this morning so I have soooo many projects to work on. Big plans for my week. I finished up my swap for the textile swap Char is hosting. I can't show you any of those pictures though until my partner receives her goodies. It was my first swap and I am my own worst critique so I hope she likes them.

I went to the flea market in Rogers Ohio on Friday with Emily and my nephew. We had a good time. They spent the day laughing at me. I was on a mission to find old wooden spoons for a prim spoon holder I want to make. I succeeded in finding 3. The best one I got for a quarter. It had a dollar on it. I asked the guy if he'd take 50cents he said if I'd take it I could have it for a quarter. The kids just laughed as I paid and ran. I was afraid he'd change his mind. Oh he didn't know what he had. LOL It is the oldest and the most worn. I love it.
It is the one closest to the front of the three.

I wanted to show you a before picture of the chimney cupboard my brother made me. I have it almost finished painting.

Finishing it is one of my priority projects for this week. It's my second painted piece so I'll need lots of suggestions for improvement. This is the base coat of black paint.

I worked in my garden today also. I have an abundance of cucumbers to say the least. I am planning on putting them in my front yard with a free sign tomorrow. Hope they are all gone when I get home from work. I picked green peppers too. I think I picked the last of my peas. It's been so mild they lasted longer than usual. My tomatoes aren't doing anything. Zucchini and squash are just about finished too. I only put in one plant of each since we don't eat much of them. I pass out veggies to all the neighbors too. I have taken some to work. I had grandiose plans of making pickles this year. What was I thinking???

Wish you all lived closer and we could share the produce.

Rhonda

Happy Birthday Ron

2009-07-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Today is my brother's birthday. It seemd a good day to recognize him in my small way.
I spent a week in June with he and his family in Texas. We had a wonderful time. I am so impressed with the man he has become. I can hardly believe he is 45 years old. It seems like yesterday he was tormenting me when we were young.

From child................

To getting married ................

To being a dad...............

To enjoying being a grandpa..............He and his 2 grandson's crashed in his recliner following a rousing game of football.

This is the family photo from my parent's 50th anniversary party in May 2008.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Ron (even though you can't see his face) because he is doing what he loves .....woodworking. It also happens that he is working on a prim piece for me.
I wish him a very happy day with his family. Wish I could be there to celebrate with all of you.

I love you Ron.
Rhonda

2009-07-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

I wish I had vintage 4th of July decorations. I am really into decorating with Americana for the summer. But things around here are pretty hard to find. Today for Vintage thingy Thursday I was in my dining room and the sparkle of my china closet caught my eye. I am a primitive lover at heart but sometimes I run across something at the thrift store I just can't pass up.
This is my collection of individual salts. They were used at the formal table so each person had their own.

I love the spoons as well They are made of glass. I have seen some in plastic but I believe them to be newer. I'm not really sure when plastic was manufactured.

The box sets I found at different times at the thrift store.

This is one of those items I pay little or nothing for. That is the thrill of the hunt for me. The goal is being to add to the collection when I find one for next to nothing.

At auction I did get the crystal knife rest for virtually nothing. I included it with the salts since I only had one and it fits in the same era as the salts. It holds the cake knife from our wedding in the china cupboard.

This is a late day post but I hope you enjoy my salts. I do.
Enjoy reading other posts about vintage things at The Colorado Lady.

Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

2009-06-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how time flies. I have had soooo many things go on in the last month I couldn't even find time to post. I did keep up reading though.
I am a Cat Scan tech and I need to take my boards. Let me begin by telling you I am over 45 and it was really hard to study. I think I forgot more than I remember. I refuse to admit it is because of my age so I'll just blame it on peri menopause. And what kind of word is that anyway?? Somebody in advanced stages of dementia came up with that one. I guess it means you are only getting "a little hot flash" and you are only sweating "a little bit". I'm new to all this so bear with me. I did pass though. I had a ceremonial book burning and yahooo celebration. I'll show you the pictures of what I treated myself too for passing. Something nice and prim of course.

I finally now have time to work on a couple of projects I wanted to get started.
First is a candle paddle from the pattern on Char's blog. I had my brother cut it out while we were in Texas. I put the hanging hole and the candle hole in when I got home. I added the stain today and I think I will prim it up some more.
Notice the picture background. That is a piece of furniture I brought back from Texas with me. I'll let you see that in another post.

Another project I have on the cutting table is am Americana Star quilt. A friend of mine found a blog www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com that has an on going summer project. She started in May and is making a 6 in 9 Patch to end in August. You make one block a day. Even I can handle that. A group of 40 of us are making them locally and getting together with our finished tops at the end of August for a pot luck. I thought it was a good way to get something done over the summer. And of course I can always use a chance to see friends.
I was trying to use up some fabric I have here. We had a sale at one of our quilting retreats from a lady in the group who had a stroke and could no longer quilt. She collected star fabric and I bought a ton. I love star fabric and thought once I made something out of it I would think of her when I used it.
This is my SIL Theresa's quilt made from some also. My brother Ron made the rack It's hanging on. I photographed it while in Texas. I'm not sure if you can see it or not but on the left side of the shelf is a make do bird I gave her for her birthday.
i will have mine quilted by the same gal. It has a meandering star pattern all over it. I love it.
The last and final project if you can bear with me is my drying rack. It was a yucky faded yellow color. First I tried stripping it and that didn't work. then i tried sanding it. That was changing the shape of the rungs to finally get off enough paint. So I went with painting it all black. I am putting it behind my bed with a quilt or 2 on it. We don't have a headboard and I thought it would be the perfect backdrop. It is utilitarian too since I can store my bed quilts on it in off seasons.

I think the black will bring out the colors in the quilts. I'm happy with it.

So nice to say "Hello" to all of you. Enjoy your summer. More about the Texas trip as time permits.
Be sure and visit Leslie's blog to see what others are working on.

Rhonda

Vintage Thingie Thursday

2009-05-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

To increase the use of feedsack prints in the household the Cotton Council in conjunction with Simplicity and McCalls printed booklets. These booklets carried the same fashions and household uses as regular patterns but included the yardage in number of sacks necessary instead of regular yardage. There was a section in the booklet to order the pattern as well.
I have 19 of these booklets and am always searching for ones I don't have. Ebay has been a great source for these. The obvious problem with them is that they are on paper and therefore are disintegrating.
In the past I have seen reproductions of these booklets surface. They are considerably cheaper than an original. I am so attached to all the American Textile history that shows in each booklet.
I truly can't pick a favorite. The older ones are in black and white with few pictures. The newer ones contain colored pictures. This is probably the oldest in my collection.

The cotton council also sponsored a contest where the winner could receive a new sewing machine and a trip to the world's fair. It was an important tool to increase the demand for the sacks. Remember at one time all our cotton was produced and milled here in the U.S. Enjoy looking at the graphics as well on these booklets.

I love the sepia tones the most. The paper also changed through the years. The later colored ones appeared on a glossy stiffer paper whereas the earlier ones are on a thin cream colored paper. Or they could have originally been white that has aged to the creamy color.

Enjoy more Vintage finds at The Colorado Lady.

Rhonda

Vintage Thingie Thursday

2009-05-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

I love thinking about what I might photograph for Thursdays. Today I was working in my sewing room and decided that I wanted to show some of my feed sacks and related stuff.

For those of you who may not know what a feed sack is ....

Feed sacks came about in the early 1900's as a off white colored onasburg sack for carrying dry goods such as seed,fruit,flour,sugar etc. As manufactures noticed the women who had access to these bags began reusing them for everything from towels to underwear (remember we were in the never waste anything era of time) they began to manufacture the bags in prints for use by homemakers. I started collecting them to use in quilting.

It was this quilt that got the whole thing started for me. In the process of collecting enough feed sack prints to make the 1600 leaves on this quilt I met the "feed sack lady " of the time and joined a club she ran for collectors.

This was a wining quilt from the 1930 Chicago Fair.
Yes in fact mine is in progress and has been for several years.

Well it just multiplied from there. I now house over 600 sacks and various related objects. This may be an ongoing vintage post.

As you can see they came in different color ways of the same print.

This is an example of how they would of come to use for a flour towel. remove the string that held the bag closed add a seam all the way around and you have a great cotton towel.

Here are a few from my collection of those with labels.This is an example from 1940's where a kitchen knife came inside with the product.

This is a example of two things. First the bag was pieced together. As the run of fabric was done they just added another on at that point and still made a bag out of it. It is also considered a novelty fabric as it has characters on it.

This is an example of a geometric. It also has the manufacture on the label. Chase was a major mill which manufactured bags.

I didn't realize how much time this would take just to get this much posted. There is so much more I want to show. Stayed tuned for next week and I will post more of the different types of prints available. Be sure and visit The Colorado Lady for more vintage finds.

Enjoy your day.

Rhonda

How I Spent My Day Off

2009-05-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Friday was my day off. I started the day off with the girls to get our teeth cleaned. We stopped at one garage sale on our way to drop them off at school. I found one frame there for a quarter. After dropping them off at school. I went to another garage sale where I found a couple of old rolling pins. I thought they would look great in a crock.

From there I went to an estate sale where I hit the mother load. I found two wool blankets I can use for penny rugs. The one is my favorite Army green. The other is a pale yellow I plan to over dye to a tan. I want to make a couple of Americana penny rugs and use it for the base.

I bought a crock for my rolling pins. It was only $15. When i priced these at antique shops over the weekend they were double that for the same size. The other crock I bought another day but I loved its shape.

This my load of frames I got at all the sales for a quarter a piece. Can't beat that.

I have been looking for a mold to do a large pantry cake for my peel I found last week. These were also a quarter a piece. I had found them for a lot more at antique shops but wouldn't pay what they wanted for them.

I have soooo much more to show you but I'll save some more for tomorrow. I just had the best weekend aside from working. Happy Mothers Day to me. Hope all of you had a great day too.

Rhonda

Vintage Thingy Thursday

2009-05-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

I have lots of treasures here in my home. I thought it would be fun to share. I found Suzanne over at The Colorado Lady who hosts a vintage day on Thursdays. It's fun to see what everyone collects.

Before I was married and had my own apartment I was just getting into antiques. I went for more Victorian antiques then. I started a collection of hat pins to go on my Eastlake Dresser with it's candle stands. Here are a few of my pins. It's crazy to think they kept hats on with these. But they are all unique and pretty.

I just love the holder for the hat pins. It's so dainty with the little rose bud on the front. I can just picture it on a lady's dresser.

Of course once I was married my DH wanted no parts of all the frills of Victorian so I moved on to country. Now I prefer as Primitive as I can get the rest of my family to cooperate with. It is funny to me how my tastes have evolved over the years of collecting.

Be sure and visit Suzanne and see all the others with Vintage Treasures to share.

Thanks for visiting
Rhonda

Time flies

2009-05-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been weeks since I posted. I have been reading all my favorite blogs but didn't seem to have time to post.

It seems that this time of year I lose so much time. I go outside to work in my gardens and I forget to stop. It just feeds my soul to work in the dirt.
This year I've had a little help getting the vegetable garden in shape. Emily had to do a project for school for Earth Day. She started plants and turned over the soil in our vegetable garden.

She has such a sweet spirit. I just try to nurture it. I think spending time with the plants helps. I hope she picks up my good habits since I know she's picked up the not so good. But they say more is caught than taught so I can hope.

My other time consumer in the spring is Fast pitch softball. Tori is playing for her school and will be starting her local team soon as well. I try to get to her games as often as I can. DH actually gets to more as his work schedule allows. She loves to play so we support her all we can.

This past weekend was a dance at school. I had 5 teenagers trying to get ready for the dance here at my house. Some things went well others did not. But in the end all were gorgeous. I really enjoyed watching my DH the most of all. The girls were demanding and laughing and carrying on. He was totally baffled by all the commotion. His job was to deliver Emily to her friends house for pictures and to drop off her things to stay over night. He waited patiently for awhile then started to get nervous she was going to be late. I can hardly wait until the girls are getting ready for a real dance. He'll go crazy.
Here's Tori and then Tori and her friends.

This is Emily and her friends. She's the one in the yellow. Unfortunately the picture of her alone didn't turn out. Gotta give hubby picture taking lessons.

I did get a few projects done but I was on nights for the last 2 weeks so I have all of them in various stages of completion. I'll show those and some new purchases soon.

Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

2009-04-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Eggstra....Eggstra Read all about it.
I'm not "working" on anything in particular so I thought I might share a few past projects today.
As I walked throughout my house and pulled out Easter Decorations it was a trip down memory lane for me. It was fun going through the bin and mixing them with the new.

1970's

I had learned to crochet and made the eggs. My mom made the basket for the girls when they were small so they could play with them. Sometime in the 1990's.

1970's into 1980's

My mom and I took ceramic classes together when I was in high school.
Just a few years ago she gave me the couple eggs she had done then.

My favorite thing I made in ceramics.

This is a candy dish and it has always been filled with MnMs. It's a tradition. It was a lot of work and I still love it even though it's not prim at all. It does look good on the firkin though.

My mom made this one and gave it to my grandma. When grandma died she gave it to me. It has mom's initials on the bottom so I love it.

1997

These are special to us. Our elderly neighbor bought these for the girls when they were small. Tori was 2 and Emily was 1. They are getting closer to prim.

2009
I was looking for a wool egg pattern and was having trouble finding one. My prayer partner found these on clearance and "knew" i could make them from just seeing these. I will treasure them always.

2009
I spent the day meeting and shopping with a blogging friend. I met Rondell and we had a super day shopping. We bought these gorgeous aqua eggs and the grass. Don't tell our hubby's we bought grass...they just wouldn't understand.

2009
These are by far some of the funnest(is that a word?)eggs I've done for awhile. I plan on making some more. I dug through my vintage feedsack scraps and these turned out great.

Tried to prim them up in a wooden bowl.

2009
I have had a good friend for many years...since our girls were small. She teaches Pisanki eggs and I made some in the past but they got crushed when we moved to the new house. She had a class this year and I finally got a chance to make another one. Hopefully I'll get time to get some more made. I thought they'd look great with quilt patterns on them.

Hope you enjoyed my trip through my eggstra special eggs. Maybe I'll have to do my carrots next.

Stop on over at Leslie's and read what others are working on this Wednesday before Easter.

Rhonda

A Simple Woman's Daybook Apri 6th Edition

2009-04-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

FOR TODAY

April 6th 2009

Outside my window...
I am watching the birds at the feeder. My hubby puts them up and maintains them. He has such a soft side sometimes. But don't tell him I told you that.

I am thinking...
about preparations for Easter. Not just the dinner and family. But the sacrifice of Jesus for my sins.

I am thankful for...
The ability we have in this country to worship freely. I am reminded sometimes of how others have to worship in secret and fear.

From the kitchen...
Leftovers. My hubby is in charge of dinner tonight because I have to work late. He didn't want anything made. He said he'd take care of it. Tori has a game after school and won't get home until later and Emily is "starved" when she gets home.

I am wearing...
My new scrub top and uniform pants. Why is it that it always feels good to put on something new???

I am creating...
I just finished another bunch of carrots. I love how they came out. Now it's on to a special project for my brother. Shhhhhhh don't tell.

I am going...
Only to work this week. Maybe to the Flea Market on Friday if it's nice out. We have snow predicted for tomorrow and Wed. When will it finally be over????

I am reading...
Shack. O.K. I know that all of you have probably read it already but I'm a late bloomer. And I started reading the passion in the Gospels this morning in honor of Easter week.

I am hoping...
To get and keep focused this week on preparing my heart for Easter.

I am hearing...
Bacon sizzling in the pan. I made the girls some for breakfast. I am always amazed at how long that smell lasts in the house.

Around the house...
Just picking up before I leave for work. I cleaned really well on Thursday since I was having company in from Canada on the weekend.

One of my favorite things...
Working outside. There's something magical about planting a seed and watching it grow.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Getting a few things for the girls' Easter Baskets. They don't want candy anymore so I usually get a summer outfit or something.

Her is my scripture thought...
John 10:14" I am the Good Shepard: I know my sheep and my sheep know me-"

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Be sure and visit The Simple Woman's Daybook blog for more entries.

Rhonda

Feedsacks for Sale

2009-04-03T07:55:00.001-07:00

It's a dreary wet day here in PA. Be sure and visit my other blog for Vintage Feedsack fabric. I am going out with some friends from my Feedsack Club for the day. I'll take lots of pictures and let you see all the stops today as we go searching. Just click on the For Sale Friday icon on the top of the page to see what's there.

Here's a sample of what is there.

Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

2009-04-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Good Wednesday Morning all. I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on MY fun stuff but I did manage to get a few things accomplished.

First I did get some bunnies cut out and sewn. Now I just need to Chocolate them up and work on a grouping for them. I had seen chocolate bunnies on both Leslie's and Rondell's blog and couldn't wait to try them. Here's my interpretation. Thanks gals for the inspiration.

I also didn't have enough carrots to compliment the bunnies. So I cut out some more. I just need to get to JoAnn's today as I'm all out of orange thread.

I saved the best for last. I found this pattern on Retro Mama's blog. I used some of my vintage feedsack fabric to make these eggs and fell in love with them. I can't wait to pull out some more scraps and make tons more. I have a couple of gals form my Feedsack Club coming in from Canada this week so I thought I'd have a small gift for them too.

My goal was to use up some things I have here and not purchase anything to make my "goodies". So far so good. I do have some orange thread in my jar in a previous post maybe I'll see if there's any orange in there. The bunnies were made with old feedsack ammunition bags. As you can see they are a cream colored with red lettering. The red lettering I turned to the inside. All the orange fabric was left over from a Halloween quilt top I made. I wish I could say that everything is "Made in the USA" but stuffing and some of the orange fabric is not. The bags and the old thread was certainly made here. Of but I digress to another topic.

Time for me to get painting. Yes unfortunately it has taken longer than expected. I am today changing the ceiling color. But once I paint the ceiling I can begin putting things back. We will be adding stenciling and wainscoting but I need to get this room back together for company coming. I'll post pictures once I get everything done.

It's pouring rain here so at least I can enjoy being in side and listening to my radio as I paint. I plan on getting out a little this afternoon though. I have some things to mail.

Be sure and check out Leslie's blog for more Whatca Workin on Wednesday projects.

Happy April Fool's Day
Rhonda

A Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-03-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

FOR TODAY
Monday March 30,2009

Outside my window
Dreary and wet. Not going to get anything done outside today.

I am Thinking...
of all the things I want to do this week.

I am thankful for
My hubby. We celebrated our anniversay Saturday. 17 years.

From the kitchen
I have chicken out to thaw. I was going to grill it but not today. Will have to come up with something else.

I am wearing
Sweats and a tee shirt. I just got back from the gym.I have the week off work so I plan on jump starting my diet and excersize by going in the morning every day.

I am creating
egs and bunnies. I have plans for a couple of woodworking projects for later in the week if I get the dining room painted today.

I am going
to paint my dining room and do laundry. We are multi taskers after all.

I am reading
The Shack while I walk on the treadmill and of course my study of I John for my ladies Bible Study.

I am hoping
to get lots done this wekk as I have a week off from work. I have friends coming in from Canada the end of the week so I hope to gets lots done early in the week.

I am hearing
Silence. It is so nice after the weekend of noise. I was home with my girls up until 9 months ago and I do so miss the quiet time during the day when they were at school. Now with working full time I come home and they are already here. No silence at all.

Around the house
I have to remove switch plates and finish taking down wall stuff in the dining romm to paint. It does look quite like Easter in my home. I do however have some little projects to finish up. I'll ge to those tonight. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

One of my favorite things
is cooking. When I have time to plan and execute recipes I love to make a nice meal for my family. That is one of the things I miss with working full time.

A few plans for the rest of the week
The list is endless. I want to paint at tleast the dining room. I have sewing projects to finish for Easter,laundry,clean the house,take one day to visit some of my favorite shops (sfter all it is a vacation), visit with my friends, and on and on.

Here is picture thought I am sharing..

My FIL made these crosses for all my husbands brothers and his sister. I love the simlpicity of it. And I cherish it because he made it for us.

Have a wonderful week. Don't forget to visit other Simple Woman's Daybook Entries at Peggy's.

Whatca Workin on Wednesday and Shopping

2009-03-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

I kept seeing all these carrots popping up on blogs and for sale but I could ever get my order in fast enough. They were all sold out. So I decided to do the next best thing. I tried making my own. Make do style of course. I took what ever orange fabric in my stash and sewed it together with greens for the tops. Next I stuffed and closed them. Lastly I grungied them all up. I do love them even if I do say so myself.
They look a little washed out in the lighting from the camera.

Now I just need to finish up some more to fill my bowl. These are more accurate colors.
Next I'm going to try a chocolate bunny to sit in the bowl in "carrot heaven". I also got some orange wool to try making carrots out of. We'll see what happens with that.

Last Wednesday I went shopping with a friend of mine from work.--- Hi Lisa----. She took me to all her favorite haunts. I was in sensory overload. I'll need to go back just to see what all I missed. Here are a few of my purchases.

At the first antique store I bought this firkin. It is a wonderful warm old yellow.

I purchased the glass jar to hold my wooden spools with the thread on them. I think they fit perfectly.

Another store had the candle holder. I have wanted a hog scraper candlestick for a long time but was afraid to buy one off the internet till I saw one up close. I love this one. The candle is one I made.

Last but not least I found these 2 fly screens and thought I could make them into the ones Char had on her blog. I'm having trouble getting the vine and flowers off though. They might just go into the summer cooking things and I'll try something else.

I bought this cupboard at the Country Store that I visited with Rondell. It was in the 50% off room. Well my DH finally got it up on the wall so I could get a picture of it. Now it just needs accessorized. But he wants me to wait as it is really heavy and he wants to get a different screw for in the wall so it doesn't fall. I think I'll wait so I don't loose anything that might be in or on it. I think I'll take his word for it.

Be sure and stop over at Leslie's to see what others are working on today.

Rhonda

Feedsacks for Sale

2009-03-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

I have some Feedsacks I posted on my selling blog. I will be posting different sewing related items on this blog every Friday until they are gone. That may take awhile as I used to buy estates of textiles. So stay tuned on Fridays for my offering.

This is just an example of what is there. Every feedsack is an original 1930's,40's or 50's sack. If you don't know the story of feedsacks I will be posting a small explanation on the other blog this weekend.

Happy Friday.

Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

2009-03-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to use up fabric in my studio and not buy any more till I do something with wht is already there. Here are a few of the tops I have in various stages. A little late for the St Patty's day one but I didn't work yesterday anyway. I can wear it pretty much all month anyway. The easter one will be nice and colorfull. The bandaid one I can wear anytime.

This is the before and after of the candle box I found at the thrift Store. Now it just needs a little distressing and I can fill it.

Before

After

Isn't it amazing what black paint can do.

I'm off to meet a friend to shop. I'll be sure and post if I find anything.

Happy over the hump day. Be sure and stop over at Leslie's blog to see other Watcha Workin on projects.

Rhonda

If You Give a Mouse A Cookie

2009-03-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

If any of you know the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" you'll get a glimpse into my day today. Since I was off today I promised myself I was going to get a couple of projects finished. The first one I finished was my Early Pincushion. It is a pattern from Sue Spargo Folk Art Quilts. I made one for Rondell and had to have one for myself. The hardest problem is the beading. Each small round flower is beaded. The vase has blue beads on it also. It is pretty good size...8 inches round. I ran out of emery so I cut open several of those generic tomato and strawberry pincushions I had lying around and used the wooden shavings out of them. But as I cut them open I made a mess all over my ironing board........ Off to get the sweeper...... After I finished the pincushion I had to sweep up all the spilt shavings.

Next I had been promising the girls lunch bags. I had seen one on the internet I liked and thought I could probably adjust the size and make a pattern for myself. I couldn't see buying the pattern......
My first mistake. Then I made it out of an old feedsack because I thought Emily would like the pattern since she's into Vera Bradley things. Wrong !!!She didn't like anything about it. Especially since it was out of "old" feedsacks.

So she gave me a suggestion of what she was thinking of and I tried making that. When I ran into trouble with a seam I called a good friend and she drove over to help me out. (aren't friends great)

But this one is wayyyyy to small. It wouldn't even hold the small water bottle she takes in her lunch. Back to the drawing board again. At least I made progress though. She liked the print and the shape.

So if you've not read "if you give a Mouse a Cookie" before the story revolves around the snowball effect......one thing leads to another.

I'm off to try my 3rd lunch bag. Wish me luck. I'm beginning to think I should have just bought the Vera Bradley one!

Rhonda

The Rusty Angel

2009-03-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

It's great to have someone who shares your tastes to shop with.I am finally getting a few minutes on the computer to post a few things. At my house with 2 teenagers it's almost impossible to get computer time between homework and My Space and Facebook. I am looking at refurbishing a laptop I was given just so DH and I could have time on the computer.

Here are some of the things I purchased when I went shopping with Rondell.If they look familiar it's because she and I bought the identical things. SHHHHHHH don't tell Carl I bought a bag of grass. I'd never hear the end of it. I love my blue eggs. I need to find a bowl for them. I purchased yards of the fabric they are sitting on to make curtains. I ended going back and buying the ones I wanted a couple days later.

We both bought this candle holder and nubby candle. The cupboard it's hanging on my brother made me. Isn't it wonderful!!!The cupboard I mean.That will be another post. I'll show you all the stuff he's made for me.

Now here's the stuff I bought when I went back to buy the curtains. First here's the curtains. I hate the white windows and muttons but they'll have to do for now. I've toyed with the idea of making false inserts to cover them. We'll see. This room is still a work in progress. I also bought this rod iron candle holder. I figure if I buy 1 thing while I'm there I should be moving ahead on my decorating.I just love these nubby candles too.

Now here's a project I completed some time ago but I'm just getting around to posting and I do like how they turned out.

My SIL is very bad so I am praying for a miracle and will accept nothing less. I will covet your prayers. They both read my blog so I'm not going into detail here. We are remaining optimistic and not dwelling on the problem. But thank you to all who are praying.

I have lots of projects in the works and will post again when I can get the computer.

Rhonda

Please Pray

2009-02-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

I am asking for prayers for my brother Ron and his family. Actually my SIL Theresa especially. She had a brain tumor removed today and it was cancerous. We are not sure if it has metastisized from somewhere else or if it is a primary tumor. My brother is so dear to me as she is. I can't begin to express how sad this whole thing makes me. She will be 50 in May. They have 2 grown children and 5 grandchildren. Please remember her in your prayers as they start a new process. It's been a tough year for them. They both lost their jobs this year. They worked for the same plant in Texas that closed. My SIL had been there 36 years and my brother 20 some. They need to be going to school or actively pursuing jobs to qualify for their unemployment. My brother Ron is in college at 44 and so was she. (She passed out at school that's how they found the tumor). His school is 1 1/2 hours away from their home but he must continue or have no money coming in. So this is going to get more complicated than ever for all of them.

Just please pray for all of them. Here are the pictures of their sweet family. Their daughter, her hubby, their son and all the grandkids. As you can see they love each other so much.

Thanks

Rhonda

The Rusty Angel

2009-02-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

I finally received my camera from the gal at Rusty Angel in Greensburg. I left it on the counter I was in such a hurry to get my purchases out the door before she decided to take them back. LOL While I was there I did get a chance to photograph one of the rooms downstairs. I could stay there for hours just looking at all the things I want to buy. Here are the ones of the make do chair Rondell and I saw.
The next set are the interior of her store. This is just one room downstairs. There's another whole room and an upstairs. Rondell has some pictures from upstairs on her blog.

It truly was such a wonderful way to spend my day off. I love shopping and meeting new friends. The gal from the Rust Angel is now a friend too. She mailed me my camera so I didn't have to drive the hour and a half to pick it up. In some way it was too bad though. I'm sure I could have found more to purchase when I drove back.

I will post about the treasures that I did get in the next day or so.
Rhonda

Friends make the day brighter

2009-02-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

It's always wonderful to meet new people and share your obsessions. Did I say that I meant intrests. I finally had a chance to meet Rondell from Tomato Creek Prims. We had a wonderful day shopping and talking. We bought almost the exact same things. How strange is that!!

Actually it was amazing to be with someone who shares my love of prims. Most of my friends have no intrest. If I told them I saw a make-do chair they would look at me like I had a hole in my head. When Rondell saw the first one and said about it being a make-do chair I wanted to hug her. Finally someone with a lick of common sense. Well I guess prim sense is a better way to put it. We both could have walked out the door with the credit cards smokin. But we restrained ourselves.
The first stop was The Country store in Belle Vernon. We planned to meet there by our cars. You know the feeling you have meeting someone for the first time.Well it really wasn't there with Rondell. I felt like I already knew her from her blog. As we met on the sidewalk and continued inside we just talked and shopped. Of course we headed for the half price room in the back of the store. I had seen Rondell post about it which is what gave me the idea to meet sometime there. I bought homespun there to make curtains. Since we were already planning to go to The Rusty Angel and I knew Rondell hadn't been there before we were conservative with our spending here.
The Rusty Angel is a prim lover's heaven. If I could live here I would. It has all the things I would love to convert over to in time. I'm a prim wanna be right now. I am s-l-o-w-l-y converting from a more eclectic style to prim. I've always ahd the preference it's just finally having more of a direction.
I digress........As you approach The Rusty Angel you get a feel for the store immediately just by the style of the porch.
This candle is actually lit and smells great as you enter.

I left my camera at The Rusty Angel when I went back today to get the curtains I saw on Wednesday. I can't post any pictures of what I bought then or the new stuff I bought today until I get my camera back. Sop tune in next time for lots of eye candy.

Thanks for a great day Rondell. We'll do it again. I stopped to check on that green painted trunk we saw on the way and some guy was carrying it away. Sad face. I should have stopped sooner.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Rhonda

Baking

2009-02-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Emily had a special day at school today. They were having a Caribbean Festival as a reward. She was on the planning committee and has worked really hard for weeks decorating the halls at lunch time. She wanted to do a cake so we google imaged a "palm tree cake" and came up with a picture we thought we could reproduce.
Here she is decorating the cake.

It was a little crooked but she loved it and I loved that she did it herself. She has a hard time finding her niche. We are looking at Wilton classes at JoAnns to further her interest. I think it'll be fun. There are Teddy grahams in the pool on top and colored Goldfish along the sides. It really turned out cute.

I baked palm tree and angel fish cookies to go along with her cake. I was so glad when she said I could use colored sugars on them instead of frosting all them. She can be quite finicky when she has an idea about how something should look or be done.

I had already made and frosted heart cookies for dessert for Bible study and to send to Iraq for my nephew.
So it's off to the post office to get them mailed. It will be way past Valentines Day when he gets them but I doubt he'll care.

Rhonda

High Tea and the Thrift STore

2009-02-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

I so want to do the Simple Woman's Daybook but Monday mornings are so hard for me since I must write before I leave for work then wait until Peggy posts hers and then up load it if I can get on the computer at work.... and on and on and on............
I probably can come up with tons more excuses if I try. I'll just have to figure something out! Any suggestion?????????

I went to Tea with my SIL's on Saturday. My hubby is 1 of 7. He has 6 brothers and 1 sister. So there were 7 of us for Tea. We went to a local tea house and had lunch/tea. Can you guess which on I might be??

It was a treat from my SIL Cindy for Christmas for all of us. We exchange SIL gifts among the 7 of us. This was her gift to us. It was nice to get together with out the "boys" for a change. I am closer to some than to others. My hubby always says we are together by marriage and some of us wouldn't be friends if it weren't for that. There are a lot of personalities when we are together. But the food was spectacular and the teas were great. Conversation was excelent and a good time was had by all.

Here is my TS finds. I was really excited to find the yellowish candle bow. Can't wait to paint and distress it.Perfect for my grubby candles I made. It was only $1.99. I collect the red cookie cutters. I'm hoping to have a whole set for each of my girls when they get ready to move out on their own. They are no longer produced. The one duck in front has 1956 stamped on it. They were $.79 each. The little pewter sugar bowl with no lid was $.99. The little believe sign was $.99 also. I was not pleased with the made in China sticker since I have seen so many wooden signs created here in the U.S. by fellow bloggers but couldn't resist the price and it goes to a good cause plus it's reuse instead of waste. How's that for rationalizing??

A Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-02-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

Day 1

A Simple Woman's Daybook for Monday February 2nd
Outside my Window
I'm watching the birds try to get to the seed before the squirrels. It's been snowing here and it's a fight for the food.
I am Thankful for
My ladies bible study. We meet every other Monday night and I wasn't able to go last time and I'm really missing them. We've been together some of us for years. It's a bond in the Lord.
From the Kitchen
Lunches,lunches,lunches. I am making lunches for all 4 of us. We are all watching our weight so it's salads for most of us. My youngest has a committee meeting every day at lunch to set up for an upcoming event so she wants "something quick". I'm running out of ways to make lunches more palatable. I try to change them daily so we don't get sick of it and quit for faster easier (not so nutritional) options.
I Am Wearing
My scrubs for work. I dug out my Valentines scrubs to add some color to my day. I have scrubs for every month practically. I enjoy the change.
I am Creating
Hearts big and small. Some for gifts and some to fill up my various nooks and crannies around the house.
I am going
To work. I work at a local hospital. I really enjoy my job. I get to see lots of friendly faces where I am.
I am reading
Devotional Classics for Bible study tonight and James for our couples Bible study. I have been reading old Early American Life magazines as I try to do the treadmill. Gotta take off some pounds.
I am Hoping
that I get to finish cleaning up my sewing room. I won't get to finish tonight but maybe by next week I'll be able to say it's done.
I am Hearing
The girls getting ready for school. One is a morning person and one is not. It always makes for an interesting morning.
Around the house
I am picking up remnants of the Super Bowl game. Yea Steelers. It was a quiet one at our house but being over later everyone left behind some stuff. I don't like to go to work with stuff everywhere.
One of my favorite things
Is watching my girls interact with their dad. He's a super father. It fun to see them mature in their communication and it's as fun to watch them resort back to the "little girl".
A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week
Include finishing my sewing room clean up, finishing my hearts so I can send some off as a gift and working on a quilt Tori started and never finished.
Here's a picture thought I'm sharing
Tori's flip flop quilt. This is a picture of the pattern. Wait until you see how bright and cheerful it is. A perfect project to brighten winter days.

Be sure and check out Peggy's blog for other Daybooks

Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wed

2009-01-28T15:56:00.001-08:00

I am always late getting this posted. I guess I'll have to rough draft it on Tues and just up load it on Wed. I finished some projects that I was working on before my retreat.

This is a special candle mat. It was for a friend of mine for Christmas. Yep and she just got it last week. Most of my friends realize my short comings with deadlines and are forgiving. They always say the my gifts are worth the wait. My friend Cheryl got this gift because she will treasure it for a couple of reasons. First because it's handmade but also because I used my feedsacks to make it. The running stitch is done with the string that I pull out of the feedsacks. This is the before picture.

After I coffee stained it.

This is a flannel quilt I made for my niece. She's at college so I thought this would be a great to throw around quilt and still be comfy and warm.

Rondel was talking about a country store that had a room of 50% of merchandise. Well she live around me so I had to find it and visit. These are several of the things I bought. The stacking boxes are going to be for all the small electronics that lay around my house that don't boast prim. I'm not sure what I'll put in the long basket. Probably the hanging wheat on the end of the rack would be tall enough. And last but not least the homespun. It was only $3.00 a yard. I have a feeling I'll be going back for more.

It's been rain and freezing then snowing her today.They cancelled school and my girls have been home all day so I got little done. Maybe tomorrow before I go to work. I'd like to get some hearts made to go in my potpourri.

Be sure and visit Leslie at My Country Home to see what everyone else is working on and join in the fun and inspiration.

Until next time,
Rhonda

Quilting Retreat

2009-01-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

This post will be short but I wanted to get something posted. I finished quite a few projects at my retreat this weekend. Most were in various stages of completion already. I don't want anyone to think I started and completed everything in 3 days.

Here are a few pictures of the gorgeous snow scenes we experienced.

We drove through these trees entering and leaving the camp. It was beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice.
Thia was looking out our windows in the room where we sewed.

The next two pictures are of the "store" we set up. We bring in things we no longer want and someone else buys them at a reduced rate. Good for the buyer and the retreat.

We bring in almost anything. It doesn't have to be quilting related but most is. We have a ton of books brought in each year. This year my best purchases were.....drum roll please...

This book has 3 penny rugs in it. Can't wait to start them. I saw this book on an old post on Linda's blog. I was so excited to find it and pay only $1.00 for it.

The second was a cross stitch pattern of little samplers. It was neat. For a quarter I couldn't resist

So much for a short post. I will post my actual projects later.
Rhonda