Sunday Starts

 

Plus two mini finishes.

Any ideas who this fella is?

Or this little gal?

I finished Parade Sam

from Notforgotten Farm.

One of the many "Littles"

Ain't he adorable.

I did change the color of his coat though.

More red than rust.

I also added some red into his firecracker.

Then I finished Betsy,

also from Notforgotten Farm.

I did change her shoes to red.

They were suppose to be the same rust

as her hair was.

She does have a sweet face,

but I wish I had stitched some pink cheeks

like Uncle Sam had.

It was not in the pattern...but now I think

that I should have.

Now for my focus piece through July 4th.

I purchased this pattern to celebrate

our Semi Quincentennial.

America's 250 birthday.

For our important birthday,

I have chosen an important pattern.

America Two Hundred and Fifty 

by Plum Street Samplers.

Here I almost finished page 1 of 10.

4 days of stitching this.

In this pattern there are 5 flags

with stars that represented America

 from the beginning when we were under

British rule to after the

Revolutionary War.

One star will also represent 

the crown for King George III.

Am looking forward to stitching

all of them and everything in this pattern.

I love history and there will be many

historical motifs in this. 

The blue star to the left is the 

Grand Old Union Flag.

The red one on the right is the 

Union Jack.

This next flag is the

American Flag.

The one over one initials of TJ

stand for Thomas Jefferson.

There will be 5 initials of those men

who were tasked to the writing of our

Declaration of Independence.

These gentlemen were all part of 

the Second Continental Congress.

They worked tirelessly from

June 11th to July 4. 1776,

and our declaration was published

on July 5th, 1776.

Page Two is now completely stitched.

This page took me 9 days.

Now onto page 3 of 10. 

Not sure if this will be finished in time

for July 4th...oh well.

There is always next year.

In other news,

All of the much needed weeding, planting

and bags of mulch have been completed.

Thursday I decided to make my favorite

Spring pie which was a strawberry rhubarb one.

We had a warm piece with vanilla ice cream.

After two weeks of sunny days, we finally

had some rain early Saturday morning.

Sitting outside now most every afternoon,

I have now had chipmunks, squirrels and even

a baby bunny come real close to me.

We hope not to have any more sightings

of the Garter snake that was

in our one shrub one day though

Tundra kept barking at it.

 Am hoping his barking made it leave for good.

Tomorrow my brother and I are headed

to my mom's once again.

We have to decide what to do now with 

the stuff we wanted my sister to look at

before we decided on it.

She went there Saturday and was still

overwhelmed and would not look at it.

We are getting tired of her attitude

quite frankly.

We told her we have a drop dead date

of June 12th and then nothing

else can be taken out of the house.

She is overwhelmed... yet everything

is on tables and even priced for her to see now.

We left one area for her to go through and look at.

My brother and I were the ones overwhelmed

all the months we have been cleaning

out mom's house.

No excuse for her to be overwhelmed.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying

the rest of the weekend.

Cannot believe how fast the days are going now

since retiring.

First Sunday Of June Blessings To All!

Janice 

 

 

Whippy Wednesday

Hello friends! 

Today I bring you my monthly progress

on my stitchy work.

Let's start with Elizabeth Manners where

 I left off from last month.

Now you may notice Elizabeth was misspelled.

That is how the pattern went.

Also did the big floral motif

in the upper right, small bird,

bird on tree and part of the fruit bowl.

I do enjoy stitching on this one.

Here is where I finished for May.

April's progress of Floral Motif.

For May I accomplished the peach flowers

on the left, the white flower,

then everything below those. 

This one I also enjoy working on.

Next up is Faith 1831.

You know I am not a fan of 1 over 1 stitching.

I am plugging away though.

Only have one more row to go now.

Also stitched the angel on the right too.

Final progress for May on this one.

Finally Jeny Brimer.

 Where I left in April.

So in the pattern it calls for a peacock.

It also called for 4 deer on the right side.

Since my grandfather's were both farmers,

I changed the peacock to a horse.

The 4 deer to 4 cows.

Where I ended this one in May.

I don't really like the color scheme of this one...

however since it is a tribute stitch

for my grandfather's the colors 

are more manly to me...so it works.

In other news,

my brother and I went back to my mom's 

house on Monday.

We found  more money hidden in the garage.

$2100.00.

I hope you are all sitting down.

We have found over $15,000 thus far.

We still have  coinage to roll...

so that number will rise.

Lots of coins to roll.

We shoved it all into boxes.

We have no clue why she hid so much money.

We found it in every room of her house,

except the bathrooms.

She had savings accounts & CD's in 

3 different banks so why so much money

hidden in her house?

We kept putting all of the money back into the one

savings account to help with her care.

After all it is her money...not ours.

Sunday morning we had a young buck (deer) visit us.

He was spotted again on Tuesday morning.

Not often do we have deer so close here.

Tuesday Bob and I spent the whole day

in our front yard.

Weeded, planted 5 shrubs, filled 3 pots with annuals.

Then Bob put up a new flag for us.

Today we are going to work more

 in our backyard.

Bob is also going to clearcoat (waterproof)

two items for me so I can keep outside. 

It will be a secret until I do an upcoming post.

One item he had right in our garage....

when I asked him I might want one....

he says I have one.

I kid you not he has more things he has pulled

out of our garage than Carter's has pills.

First Wednesday In June Blessings To All!

Janice

Oh What A Crock

Hello friends.

Today I wanted to share with you

my collection of 2 gallon crocks and jugs. 

I prefer the 2 gallon ones as they are easier

for me to move around.

I do have a few larger, but those dont 

get moved around so much.

I once had a 30 gallon one where

it held drawings and magazine articles

I ripped out. I sold it and cleaned up my act...er mess.

My favorites are the blue slip ones.

Each unique.

Some had wood lids while others had a crock one.

Back in the day they were very important

to any household.

Storing pickles or making sauerkraut.

Others for aging cheese or dairy products

such as milk or butter.

You might find salted meats in some

or even preserved eggs.

The jugs more often than not,

held whiskey of some sort.

This one is a favorite of mine...

because of its wonky shape at the top.

It is not an even one at all.

Am so glad it was not destroyed

after it was taken out of the kiln.

It has a beauty all to itself.

My grandmothers and even my mom

had many crocks.

They made sauerkraut and pickles.

It was a stinky mess while doing it,

but the results were wonderful...

health wise better with no preservatives

and tasted great.

In other news,

Today am picking my mom up early.

We have a funeral to attend.

My dear cousin lost her daughter at 41 years.

She had an aneurysm.

Bob decided to have 20 bags of mulch

 delivered to the house Thursday.

We will start mulching next week.

Planted a few annuals in one pot.

Next week will go and purchase more 

 as I do not like to overwhelm myself.

Will also replace the 5 Bluebeard plants

we lost over Winter and replace with

Double Play Doozie Spireas pictured above.

{photo taken from internet}

I am sad that my Bluebeards all died...

even my neighbor lost shrubs over

this Winter.

I believe it was due to the wet Winter we had,

with the colder than usual Spring.

Last night Bob grilled us up some smashburgers

and toasted pretzel buns.

I made a broccoli salad.

We ate outside and then had our first bonfire.

Made some Smore's and drank a couple beers.

Came inside went the skeeters came out.

What are your plans for the last weekend of May?

Oh What A Crock Blessings To All!

Janice

May CupboardScape

Hope everyone is doing well.

I have come to the conclusion that we

here in Michigan we are having a true Spring.

Something we have not been use to for many years.

Therefore we are complaining it is too cold,

rainy and warm and then repeat.

We have been spoiled with warm weather

these past years...which is not really Spring.

I had this same conversation with one of my neighbors,

and she agreed with me. 

 

Spring spending time on my grandparents farms,

meant Spring cleaning.

Both my gramma's would get out the

lye soap for scrubbing.

{pictured here is some faux violets that I made}

Since they are blooming currently...

decided to add them inside the apothecary jar

with some lye soap.  

Gramma H would get out her Argo and starch

her clothes after washing.

Gramma B used P & G Soap.

Both used Ivory soap as well.

Lye soap was a necessity.

Pioneer woman used mangles for scrubbing.

My grammas had their wringer washing machines.

However both grammas would 

beat their pillows outside.

Gramma B would also use her washing dolly.

This is not hers, but I bought one.

You would place this wooden dolly

inside a bucket and twist in the soapy water.

I actually did like beating the rugs with

a rug beater.

Both gramma's would hang their rugs

over a clothesline and I would 

beat the dust out of them.

This rag rug actually was my gramma B's.

I remember tearing strips of cloth

and putting the colors in different piles.

Then my gramma would take the rags

to a house which a lady would make 

the rugs for her and in turn gramma

would sew or mend clothes for her.

It was their barter system.

In other news,

my brother and I went back to my mom's house

Monday morning.

Grabbed more things we wanted to bring back.

Then we went to visit my mom.

She had not eaten any of her lunch

when we arrived.

She lied and told us she did...so we made her eat.

She then ate everything except her hamburger.

She needs to eat more protein...but she wont listen.

My sister calls her while we were still there.

She tells my sister she had tuna for lunch.

I texted my sister and told her what she really ate.

Today I have to take her to 2 doctor appts,

then taking her to lunch and then taking her

to her ice cream float social.

I will be bringing a gallon of vanilla ice cream.

I know my mom will have one of those...

she wont say no to sweets.

Tomorrow Bob and I will be going to 

the rock quarry near us.

I want to create a new flower bed with

rocks around it.

We also have to get a few flowers for the house,

and need to get flowers for the flower pots

we have at the entrance to our store.

No rain in the forecast now so we will finally

have some nice weather 

to get out and clean flowers beds...

not today though.

Hope everyone is having a great week thus far.

End Of May Blessings To All!

Janice  

  

Friday Finds

 And one finish.

After months of cleaning my mom's house,

I finally found some precious items

that I really wanted to keep.

They came home with me on Wednesday. 

Everything I took my siblings did not want.

They dont like my style.

First was this chalkware Uncle Sam.

This was my maternal grandmother's at one point.

I already did purchase one...however

years ago my kitty Peepers knocked it over

when he jumped on my cabinet where mine was.

It broke into pieces.

At least now I have one to replace that one.

This lil cabinet I actually played with when

I was a kid.

It needs some scrubbing,

but then I will add it somewhere.

So many memories of me playing with

the metal dishes that I kept inside.

Not sure where those went, but I dont care.

At least I have the cabinet.

This old snowman was also from my

maternal grandmother.

He was made from old batting and construction paper.

His hat is ripped but I love his charm.

Then I found this old ABC Child of God book.

The pages are thick and I will need to do

some research as to its age.

There was no copyright date on any of the pages.

An electric tree top angel came home with me.

I dont even know if she still works yet.

The best find of all for me was to finally find

my mom's nativity set.

I literally screamed in delight once

I started moving the crinkled paper

around to see what was inside the box.

All of the pieces are there.

I just am not showing it right now.

It will come out at Christmas for sure.

Now I hope I can re-find the manger 

my dad made to go with it.

Now for my finish.

I purchased this pattern from

Primitive Betty in 2008.

Finally got around to stitching it.

Back in the day she had a blog

where she sold her patterns.

Now she has an Etsy shop and sells PDF patterns. 

I wont purchase PDF's.

I want a hard copy of any pattern.

It's just not for me...am so glad I purchased

a few of her patterns from before.

I stitched this on a piece of linen I had.

Grabbed some DMS floss. 

In other news,

the below picture was taken from the internet.

This is our Blue Water Bridge

which connects

Port Huron, Michigan to

Sarnia, Ontario Canada.

(I do not know the name of this 

reticulated tug...it is not a freighter)

In the background is the mighty 

Lake Huron.

In the foreground is our mighty

St Clair River.

The same river that is near me.

Two fun facts I wanted to share with you.

1. The flow of the river right here is

20,000 cubic feet per second.

Compared to the Niagara Falls

at 85,000 cubic feet per second.

2. The river here is 7 feet higher

than at my house.

Going home on Tuesday from my mom's

was a horrible drive.

Heading up looking at Lake Huron

I knew storms were a coming.

Riding and driving along this lake since

I was born, I know the changing colors.

It is hard to explain, but I knew 

I was in trouble that day.

Driving home I hit rainstorms and thunderstorms.

At one point the sky was ever so dark

that I knew it was a bad one.

I kept driving and got through before

the worst came through,

but I had my wipers on high and speed low.

My phone weather app kept telling me

the distance the lightning was from me.

It told me a severe thunderstorm was in the area.

It just kept going off most of my drive home.

My 1 1/2 drive took 2 1/2 hours that day.

Was glad though I made it home safe.

With this weekend being Memorial Day,

please take time to remember

all of our servicemen who lost their lives.

We should be celebrating all of them

 who died so we could be free.

This holiday is not about the BBQ's and picnics,

nor the start of the Summer season.  

It's a holiday to remember our brave

soldiers who lost their lives for us.

God Bless America,

God Bless our service men and women.

Friday Finds Blessings To All!

Janice