Spring And Summer Bedroom Reveal

Well friends,
this week we have had 4 more days of rain.
Our dock now is level with the river.
Some folks have electricity that 
runs along their docks for lights.
Now because of the water levels,
our officials are warning everyone not to go into
the water near docks that are electrified.
If you do, you may be electrocuted.
We do not have electricity on our dock....
but there are some up and down river from us.
So now we have to find out how far away
you have to be from those docks to swim.
YIKES

Hopefully with Summer now being
 the first day today the rains will go away.

As promised
our blue and white bedroom.
I have always loved the colors
of red and blue.
This Spring/ Summer I decided to pull in 
my blue and white items for 
this change up.
Mixed in with some wood.

I will let the pictures tell the story.

Hope you enjoyed our bedroom reveal.

Next post I will show more 

up close pics of the blues and whites.

Tonight we will be viewing some fireworks

across the river that our

Canadian friends put on for the

first day of Summer.

Have a marvelous weekend my friends!

I will have a hook in my hand this weekend...

and then change up with a needle.

Working on more hooked rug mats,

and another witch 

AKA

Helga Hag

Blue And White Blessings To All!

Janice

A Love Of Linen

 Gramma H. grew to love linen.

Her birth name was Ilda.

She was of German descent.

She married my paternal Grandpa in 1928.

Charles [Charlie] was of French descent.

Born in 1899 he was a farmer as was his father. 

With many sister in laws,

gramma began to love the French traditions.

One of them changing up her curtains

in Spring with airy white linen ones.

Lately I have been remembering more

of my Gramma's farmhouse traditions.

I had these large antique buttons.

Purchased this fabric for $20.33 with tax. 

Since this fabric is not very thick,

I left the frayed edges in tact.

I folded the fabric over 

then hand sewed the buttons on.

Five buttons for each curtain.

One completed and hanging in our bedroom.

White and airy.

Love how these curtains billow with the wind.

Red curtain on the right

 is what I previously had hanging.

The three curtains finished.
So for $20.33 it cost me about
$7.00 per curtain as the buttons were free.
Not a bad investment for these.

I think gramma would be proud.

It is nice having the windows open

at night with the breeze coming in.

 With the old curtains,

the breeze did not come in as much.

However more rain is coming in 
for the next three days.
Will it ever end?
The canals just up the road have risen
with the water coming over the streets.
Those folks are stranded now....
stranded between the canal and the big river 
we live by.

My next post will be of our Summer

blue and white bedroom.

Stay tuned.

White Curtain Blessings To All!

Janice

June CupboardScape

Happy Saturday my friends!

Well it will be a wet weekend for us.

For those new tomy blog, 

I spent my Summer months on both

set of grandparents dairy farms.

Both were quite unique.

Paternal grandparents had 350 acres.

Maternal grandparents had 80 acres.

I loved them both 

even though it was hard work at times.

Today's CupboardScape brings in 

items  that reminded me of each.

Daisies were abundant in the fields.

The milk skimmer was used to 

separate the curds/ whey from the milk.

Gramma B used sad irons right off the

wood stove. [pictured to the right]

Kerosene lanterns were everywhere....

until electricity came,

I remember drinking from the buckets with

our enamel ladles.

Feed sacks were in all of the barns.

Grampa B loved his Jack Daniels,

while Grampa H used his shaving mirror each day.

Gramma H loved her Blue Ribbon spices,

while Gramma B loved her yellowware.

Gramma H changed out the Winter quilts,

and placed the white Summer linens throughout.

She always wore a bonnet.

While both Gramma's had these small brooms

for quick cleanups.

Putting this CupboardScape together

reminded me of the simple life we had on

those farms.

TV was hardly ever on.

We listened to the radio more.

We had no weatherman to tell us

 what the day would bring.

The trees and animals predicted the weather.

The cloud patterns in the sky 

told us when rain was moving in.

I still know rain is coming in with that one

pattern of clouds.

Bob thinks I am crazy...but am always right.

I love the rural life.

Even though we do not live on a farm,

here along the river it is nice.

Because the State land is nearby,

the deer, turkeys, and fox come visit.

Birds are abundant.

The turtles lay their eggs in our grass...

and the occasional snake makes an appearance.

Then of course we have the freighters.

Which I keep a log of.

Yep, I love it here now....

but still have fond memories of the farm.

Well off to take FIL grocery shopping with me.

Then will be working on my own 

Summer curtains for our bedroom.

What will your weekend find you doing?

Spring Farm Life Blessings To All!

Janice

In Honor Of Old Glory

Our Grand Old Flag.

With Flag Day being June 14th,

I wanted to share some flags around the house.

My flag pillow made of strips of fabric on muslin.

Me thinks it looks good with some of my red quilts.

This flag in the lavender.

The eagle shade lamp is a great patriotic one too!

Flag banner underneath the fireplace mantle.

I will change this up for July 4th a bit.

Stay tuned on this one.

Although this pic is a bit dark. It is a paper bag 

with white hydrangeas and two flags on each side. 

Another flag pillow I made.

Finally at the front door is

this proud flag with tiny blue

faux hyacinths.

In other news,

the fish flies and mayflies have arrived in town.

Fish flies look similar to moths.

Mayflies look like gray butterflies 

with somewhat of a caterpillar body.

They come out of the lakes and river to mate,

lay eggs and die.

They are a bit of a nuisance though

as they come out in packs.

The mayflies go towards the light,

and because of this they end up in the road

and cars start to run over them.

So much that the roads can become slick.

Like driving on ice.

The fish flies swarm like gnats.

Also a headache if you are near them.

Even though they are a big nuisance,

having them in swarms means the river and lake

is clean...so we will welcome them...

maybe not with open arms, but they only stay

for a few weeks...

so we will tolerate them as we want clean water.

Today my mom arrives and I will

be taking her to her annual eye appt. tomorrow.

She has this degenerative eye disease,

and may need an eye transplant.

They like to check it yearly...

and so far so good....knock on wood.

Well my friends, its off to work I go.

Have a great Wednesday!

Pre Flag Day Blessings To All!

Janice

Its Alive

The garden that is.

These bellflowers usually bloom in May.

Me thinks because of all of the rain,

our Spring flowers bloomed late this year.

The kiwi vine is turning into its glorious

colors of green pink and white.

Honeysuckle is bursting out now,

and I saw my first hummingbird visit yesterday.

They love this vine!

I finally planted some flowers for Summer.

The orange lantana will bloom in shades

 of orange, pink and yellow.

Blue salvia in the middle.

While I added these osteospermum in the back.

These are white daisies with blue centers.

Planted 2 flats of these three flowers.

My birds nest spruce is turning its lovely

shade of green.

Our little corner of paradise.

The wrens make their nest 

in this small birdhouse each year.  

They trill all day long....

and I never get tired of it.

Our wagon decked out for Summer.

We ate dinner last night on our front porch.

This tree frog joined us.

After dinner I moved him to our tree

so he would be safer.

He is afterall a tree frog.

Today I will be finishing my laundry....

and either hooking or stitching.

Have not decided what to do yet.

What are your plans?

Garden Blessings To All!

Janice

Tis The Season

My favorite time of Spring.
Strawberry season is here.
WOOHOO!!!

When I was a child I would pick them off the vine.
Either at my parents or grandparents homes.
Gramma H, gramma B and my mom
all made strawberry jam.
We would eat them fresh,
with hand churned ice cream,
or jam on toast or even a pie.

When my kids were little we would visit

the strawberry farm.

We would get a hay ride out to the field,

and we always had fun picking our own.

I would freeze them and make pies.

We would also just eat them.

YUM!

Wish I could have taken my grandkids there.
The farmer sold out and now it was turned
into a subdivision called
Strawberry Knolls.

I do not have time for any kind of garden...

and so wish I could have me some fresh 

strawberries again.

The ones in the grocery store 

just don't have that home grown juiciness.

However I have to purchase them  

if I want them.

I add sugar and a bit of water.

Love my enamel colander.

It has seen its days...

but still holds my berries.

Do you like strawberries?

Do you hand pick strawberries?

How do you prepare them?

Strawberry Blessings To All!

Janice

Intricate Trunk

Well we had a doozy of a thunderstorm
on Saturday.

This wall cloud came in first.
Very eerie as the clouds above it
were going in an opposite direction.
My son Matt was outside and said it looked
like a tornado forming right above us. 
Major rain and the river near our store
crested just to the South of us.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!
Mine was spent working on the final
details of my witch.
Did not like the first dress I made,
so it was back to square one yesterday.
This new one is a keeper.
Now have to stain and dress her.
I did this one the old fashion way too.
All my hand...which takes longer.
Will show once complete.

Today I wanted to show you my
intricate trunk.

The entire front is metal,
with these punched diamonds.

The sides and top are wood.

It is big enough and sturdy enough
to have my crocks sit on top.
It is an early one on wooden wheels,
however I cannot date this one.
It has stumped me...so if any of you have any
ideas, would love to hear  them.

Of course I had to add a bunny.
The portrait for those new  to my blog
are my paternal gramma H's parents.
Effie and Robert Wagner.  

The entire display is on a small table
by our front door.

It will be a perfect addition 
for another patriotic display.

Intricate Trunk Blessings To All!
Janice