Friday Finishes

 

Hello friends.

As we approach the holiday season,

I wanted to share two Christmas pillows.

I took graph paper and created this,

and then stitched it up in a brown floss.

The back of the pillow.

Turned out pretty good if I say so myself.

Then I wanted to stitch up this Nativity

by Crocette A Gogo.

There are other patterns which I will stitch

at a later time.

As you can see from the photo below,

I used different colored floss

for everything.

I even gave the sheep a black face and ear.

I love how this turned out.

Then I am working on finishing up

all of my Prairie Schooler angels.

I have one half way complete.

On top of my pile of others,

along with the batting and foam board.

Hope to get these on my tree this year.

Fingers crossed.

In other news,

thank you to all for the kind comments

regarding my good news.

I am so thrilled.

The co-editor just emailed me again

on Monday saying she could not wait

until I received my copy.

I am excited myself.

I am almost complete with my

Christmas decor.

Am not doing our guest room

this year.

It is a complete mess still.

I have so many boxes to go through

yet of my mom's.

Every time I open one,

memories flood over me...

and I usually just cover it back up.

Sooner or later it will need to get done.

Later I am afraid for now.

Hosting Thanksgiving this year.

Have everything purchased except the turkey.

Look forward to having the aroma

of all the food cooking that day.

Will enjoy watching our Detroit parade,

and then hope our Detroit Lions

football team win the game that day.

Will you be hosting Thanksgiving,

or having your own dinner at home?

Well looks like we are back to reality.

It's a rain snow mix right now.

We are suppose to get 1-2 inches of snow.

Friday Blessings To All!

Janice

A Few Acquisitions

Hello again my friends.

Well you asked, so am delivering.

These first two items I purchased

from our antique store.

For those who do not know.

Bob and I own Back Porch Antiques

in Marine City, MI.

We have 31 dealers in our 5000

sq ft building.

The building was built in the 1800's,

and has all the quirks an old store would have...

except for an old wood floor.

Someone before us tiled it.

We have been here for 16 years now.

Trying to sell.

About a month ago we thought

we had sold it.

Working on the land contract

for a couple who was really interested.

However we stopped the process

when said buyer told Bob she could

not pay him the $20 she owed him

because she spent her last money on cigarettes.

I could see it now...

she would be behind 

on the payments in no time...

and I do not want that headache.

Oh well.

It is in God's hands...

and right now I believe he wants us to keep it.

 

Any hoot, I purchased these vintage 

silver ornaments.

Plus this blue vintage one.

Both for my trees this year.

Then I went on a small jaunt

and purchased this Santa print 

from a fellow antique dealer

who has her own store.

Plus I found this sweet lil red firkin.

It may look large, but it is small.

Perfect for the top of a stack,

if I had one.

It will be in a display for Christmas,

so you will see then how small it really is.

Well those were my latest acquisitions.

In other news,

the Christmas decorating for me

has begun.

Taking my time and this year

decided not to put most of my antiques away.

Will add in Christmas cheer within.

I hope everyone enjoys my upcoming tour.

Oh and one more thing...

I know I had some good news to share.

Some of you thought we sold the store.

It was not that.

I wanted to make sure it was real,

before I opened my BIG mouth. LOL

***Drum Roll***

The good news is that soon we will

 be featured in

a primitive magazine.

Once I receive my copy,

I will share the details of how

it all came to be.

Acquisition Blessings To All!

Janice 

 

The Soup Chain

 

Hello Friends.

I am joining in on Robin's

(The Cranky Crow)

Soup Chain.

She has resurrected an old blog tradition

of doing a blog chain.

This will be once a month.

So the second Sunday of each month,

which is today...

please share a soup or bread recipe you have.

If you cannot do one today...

yes I know it is short notice,

please do so when you can if you

would like to join in on the fun.

My soup recipe for this month is:

Tomato Soup With A Twist

Two cans of Progresso Tomato Basil Soup

1 40z green chilies

1 cup whipping cream

Imitation Crab

Place all ingredients into a medium,

to large pot.

Heat through.

Enjoy with your favorite bread.

Or if you are Bob, put crackers in it.

Enjoy.

An easy peasy soup recipe.

Please feel free to copy and share

the photo meme above and use it

when you post so people know

you are part of the chain.

I don't have a photo of my soup recipe,

so if you have one,

you can also share a photo of yours.

Look forward to seeing how

 many of my blog friends participate.

I love soup season, so will love

seeing those who make soup or bread.

Will love to add more soups

to my meal rotation.

2nd Sunday Soup Chain Blessings To All!

Janice

 

 

Harvest In The Kitchen

 Since we are in mid Fall now,

these are a few pics of

our harvest kitchen.

Starting with my table centerpiece.

The gourds and grass are real.

The flowers are faux.

Display is on top of a blue

striped feedsack.

The bowl rack was originally 

in the living room...

now resides here.

Another blue slip crock.

Rye basket on top with pears

I purchased from Hobby Lobby.

Butter churn and a wood bucket

with some sweet annie.

I added some dried okra and beans

to my wood spoon on the side of my cabinet.

An orange bumpy pumpkin

in my orange painted wood bowl.

Yellowware bowls with

 a crock butter churn & pitcher.

Large pie peel on the wall.

Market sign to the right.

Granite water pitcher,

drieds, granite coffee pot,

and some dried corn cobs.

In other news.

Well Bob got me out of retirement

once again to work the store yesterday.

He had a dentist appt and knew he would

be late getting to the store,

so I opened for him.

Not that I did much.

Just turned on all of the lights,

turned the open signs on...

and shopped my own store. LOL

I came home with 2 Christmas ornaments.

Two customers were in the store

 when Bob arrived, 

but no one else was there.

He was only 15 minutes late.

It was a rainy day, so I just

got  caught up on my

Hallmark Christmas movies...

and of course stitched a bit.

I am not going to talk about

the recent election results.

Will just say this.

The ayatollah of Iran

said after the elections~

"The collapse of America has accelerated". 

God Bless America.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I plan on decorating for Christmas.

Need to get ready for guests to come over.

I do plan on going a bit simpler though.

Stay tuned.

Harvest Blessings To All!

Janice

  

Sunday Starts

Happy Sunday to all my friends.

These are the projects I decided 

to work  on for month of November.

It's turkey time!

This is a new pattern by Lori from

Notgorgotten Farm,

and I wanted to start on this right away.

This is all I got accomplished before

I started not feeling so good from before.

Next I chose this pattern 

by The Wishing Thorn.

I watched a primitive Flosstube

called Daisy Kay Primitives.

In one episode, she showed a wall

 of all blackwork samplers.

Well I decided I wanted to at least do

a few blackwork samplers after seeing this.

This pattern is called

Sarah Horrocks Cocks

Sampler 1838.

This is how far I got in one day.

After the 6th letter I, I had to frog

out all of the others...

because I cannot count.

GRRR

The spacing went from tw0 in between each

 to three and I did not catch it.

Again GRRR.

Anyways, it is correct now.

Then for another Thanksgiving piece,

I just had to do Priscilla.

Another pattern by

Notforgotten Farm.

 

Isn't she just darling!

I did change her dress to brown.

It was more of a dark gray.

She will be finished in no time.

That's what I like about

Lori's "Little's".

 I also started Tommy.

Another little from Notforgotten Farm.

I just finished his head.

Another cutie.

I just changed him from gray 

to brown.

Am used to brown wild turkeys here.

Both the Littles are being stitched on

28ct Wren.

Finally I wanted to start something

for Christmas.

I chose this Crocette a gogo pattern.

Started at the bottom left.

Stitched in the sheep, 

the manger for baby Jesus.

Almost have both Jesus and Mary finished.

Am once again using floss colors

from my own stash....but these

are much easier than the witch. 

I found this old spool of Kreinik gold thread.

I will use this on the halos of baby Jesus,

 Mary and Joseph.

In other news,

last evening Bob and I

went out to dinner to treat ourselves.

We do this every Halloween.

This time we went to a local restaurant

just 2 miles down the road from us.

It been about a year and a half

since we have been there.

Our budget does not afford going

here all of the time.

The waitstaff were all dressed up,

which was pretty cool.

One waiter was the grim reaper,

while another one was a smallpox victim.

The waitresses were a black cat,

pirate and leopard.

Even the hostess dressed up as

a pink crayon.

We had calamari for an appetizer.

Then we both had fried frog legs/ baked potato.

Bob had french onion soup,

I had a simple salad with raspberry

 viniagrette dressing.

We also had a loaf of artisan bread

with dried cherry butter.

All was delish.

Again, probably not everyone's cup of tea.

Cannot believe it is November 1st already.

Where has this year gone?

We are still having mild days with

no hard frost yet.

My petunias and morning glory

are both still blooming.

Tundra is loving the cooler weather though.

Afterall he is dog who loves Winter.

Once it snows, we wont be able to get

him inside. LOL

I hope everyone enjoys the rest

of your weekend.

November Month Blessings To All!

Janice

Whippy Wednesday

Well it's that time of the month,

where I show my progress

on items I am working on. 

A Hallowe'en Birthday

by Kathy Barrick.

I actually started this one in 2024.

This is where I left off last year.

It has been a very slow stitch for me.

The first problem was the called for

floss colors were nothing like the cover pic.

I purchased the pattern because

the colors intrigued me.

So I went to my floss stash and started

matching my own colors as best

as I could.

It is not perfect, but will do.

The second problem I am having,

is because there is so much confetti

in her dress...and my own

color conversion...

this has been difficult for me.

Like the Dierks Bentley song...

WHAT WAS I THINKIN?

This is where I am now.

Finished the confetti grass at the bottom.

Came up and did 

the left side of the dress.

Added in the green grass to 

the left of the pumpkin,

while also adding in the pumpkin.

The broomstick is finished.

Now working back on the dress.

I still have a long way to go on this.

Once the dress is completed,

it will be smooth sailing just a bit.

Just a bit because I still have to

go back and forth from the chart color

to my color conversion.

Also will stitch all that black for the sky.

This is where I left off with

Faith 1831 last month.

Stitched two more flowers

on the bottom.

Finished the deer.

Then started on the tree.

This is closer to getting to the finish line.

Next up is Floral Motif Sampler.

This was my progress last month.

Finished this large orange floral motif. 

Added in this small flower.

Then finished with this red flower.

This is where I ended this month.

For AB 1816 Quaker sampler,

I finished the alphabet.

Moved the right border down,

then added in the small flower,

plus the bigger one.

 This one will be a tribute to

my paternal grandmother.

(sorry this pic does not do this sampler justice)

In other news,

yesterday we went out to dinner with

my daughter and grands.

Mikayla is home for a few days.

She got a job now on campus so she 

is happy about that.

We went to an all you can eat

 Sushi restaurant.

OMG

We had crab rangoon,

tartar tuna, fried avocado tuna balls,

edamame, chicken wings, bang bang chicken

and miso soup....

that was just the appetizers.

Then a wood boat was brought out

for all of the sushi we ordered.

OMG everything was so yummy.

I took my ice cream to go.

I know for some of you Sushi is not your 

cup of tea.

Both my sister and brother hate it.

Working at the bank all those years,

I had to eat at all kinds of restaurants

with clients.

The city I originally worked in,

before transferring there were 

a multitude of restaurants.

From Thai, Polish, Italian, German,

Indian, Mexican, Japanese (hibachi and sushi),

Lebanese and Chinese.

To steakhouses, fondues and seafood.

Each restaurant had to be unique

in both decor and menu to survive.

Am so glad I am not a picky eater,

and willing to try different foods.

[NOTE: not a fan of Indian]

{too spicy for me}

(spicier than Thai)

Bob worked in and adjacent town

from me at the time we met...

so he went to most of the restaurants

that I went to as well.

He also likes different foods.

He even took me to some I had not

went too....there were that many around.

Before I go...

I have some really good news

that I will share soon.

I have to keep it under wraps 

for a few more weeks,

but I am so excited to tell you all.

So please stay tuned.

Secret Blessings To All!

Janice