October CupboardScape

Witchcraft

Potions

Black Magic

Oh My!

Incantations

Enchantment

Hexes

Oh My!

Spell Books

Brews

Alchemy

Oh My!

Concoctions

Herbs

Boots

Oh My!

Acid

Glycerin

Tonics

Oh My!

Witch House

Tallowberries

Witch Hazel

Oh My!

Drieds

Hocus Pocus

Halloween

Oh My!

Bear Claws

Spectacles

Salem

Oh My!

After watching my all time

Halloween movie

Hocus Pocus

I wanted to create a CupboardScape

all that is witchy with a few fun things added in.

Like my bear claw quilt piece.

The colors are great for Halloween!

Am so looking forward 

to passing out candy soon.

Love seeing all of the kiddos dressed up.

We pass out candy at our store as we

do not have any kiddos in our neighborhood.

Do you pass out candy where you live?

Witchy October Blessings To All!

Janice

Old World Quail

Hello to All!
Autumn sure has approached 
us here in the North.
The trees are in full bloom.
The wild Turkeys are foraging for food more. 
 Squirrels are gathering black walnuts and acorns.
The Deer are getting their dark brown winter coats. 
 Crows and Bluejays are squawking.
The Blackbirds are coming together
for their migration South,
along with the Canadian Geese.
Like our birds that migrate South for warmth,
we humans up here are nesting inside more.
Furnace is on and all is well. 

Back in early Spring I decided that my
Christmas theme this year would be a
"Colonial Christmas"


This Summer the ladies of the historical society
 had asked us to be on this year's holiday tour.
  I don't want to jinx myself,
because the final houses have not yet been revealed.
The route for the house tour is determined by
the houses that are willing to do this.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.  

Since we might be on the tour,
I started back in September to decorate
for Christmas starting with our bedroom,
so not as much Autumn decor was put out.

Let me begin by saying that even though
 I wanted to do a Colonial Christmas,
 this is just my version.
The Colonists did not celebrate
 Christmas as we do today;
 even though Colonial Williamsburg
would like you to believe they did.
My upcoming  Colonial Christmas version
 will not be from the 1700's either.
Just my own interpretation of it.

Today I would like to talk about my colonial
partridge in the pear tree.

Now mind you the first Christmas tree did not
appear until the 1850's.
Again this Christmas theme I have chosen
will be my interpretation
of a colonial one.

However the song the 12 Days of Christmas
was written in 1790.
A verse from that song was
"my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear tree"

This gave me the idea for my first colonial christmas tree.  

I printed a page of colonial writing on brown 

cardstock {first pic} and with a quail pattern

that I drew out,

cut out 6 quails for my tree.

Old World Quails back in the 1700's

were called partridges. They were brought over

from England and are smaller than our present

New World Partridges which are found out West.

These partridges are now called

 the Common Quail, 

and are found throughout the East.

They nest on the ground and their diet

consists of seeds and small insects. 

The Old World Quails are smaller and plumper

than their cousins the New World ones.

Originally there were 6 species of these quails

across the world, however two are now extinct.

The New Zealand and Canary Island quails.

My last picture gave you a sneak peak

of my Partridge in a Pear tree.

Hope you stay tuned as I show you more

in the upcoming months

of my version of a 

"Colonial Christmas"

and the research I uncovered.

Old World Quail Blessings To All!

Janice

Ring Tail Pheasant

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

We had a chill in the air all weekend...

thus the furnace did get turned on.

Plus last night we had our first freeze.

Last week driving home I was privy

to a sight I have not seen in a long while.

There were two female pheasants

 on the side of the road.

It has been over 10 years since I had

a glimpse of a male pheasant...

and over 30 years since seeing a female one.

As a teen and young adult,

my dad enjoyed pheasant hunting

and always brought many home to eat.

Without a bird dog.

That was a time where they were very plentiful.

So much land has been cleared for subdivisions 

that the poor animals including the pheasants

have disappeared.

What a shame it is.

Even as a kid I loved hearing 

both the pheasant call and that of the bobwhite.

Needless to say I have heard neither since a teen.

There are a few farms that breed pheasants

here in Michigan and release them

to be hunted for those willing to pay the price.

I so enjoyed creating this display

as pheasants do like a ripe apple in their diet.

I added this feather boa just for fun!

Bob created this Primitive sign for me eons ago.

Do you have pheasants or even bobwhites

in your neck of the woods?

Pheasant Blessings To All!

Janice

Through The Screen Door

Happy Happy Weekend to all!

Growing up on my grandparents farms

there was always a screen door you had to open

before opening the real door as I call it.

Wood screen doors with metal screens. 

I always loved it in the Summer 

when both my gramma's

would open the real door and just

the screen doors would be seen during the day.

It was fun racing out the door

and hearing the screen door slam

against the house.

When Bob and I found this black wood 

screen door, I immediately knew

that I wanted to hang it here.

Between our kitchen and back room. 

I so loved the gingerbread work on this beauty.

{sorry for the flash}

The fretwork all across the middle of this door,

is just amazing!

They sure do not make them like this anymore.

Although I don't often slam this one,

it reminds me of the ones on the farms.

We keep always keep it open so that the kitties

can roam the house freely.

It's also fun to add seasonal wreaths from it.

Today after taking FIL grocery shopping

I will be hooking a bit.

It will feel good to get out my yummy worms

to create another house.

What will the weekend find you doing?

Through The Screen Door Blessings To All!

Janice

Pillow Talk

Well I did it folks.
Put the flannel sheets on our bed.
No more Summer around here.
Temp was 46 yesterday morning, 
so darn glad I did.
Have not turned on the furnace yet though. 
Bob calls me the heat miser. LOL

I hooked a few pillows for our past show.

I so loved the colors of this one!

Yummy yellows and oranges

for contrast.

Just the happiest face
don't you think?

Created into a pillow.

Then I felt wicked good.

Therefore had to hook this one.

All the colors of Halloween in one pillow.

Finally this adorable kitty with

a pumpkin on his back.

All sold except for the Wicked Good one.

This is still available.

Kindly asking $52 plus shipping.

I do not remember the exact dimensions,

but believe it is somewhere around 

11 x 7.

If interested

email me at 

primsbythewater@yahoo.com

and I can go measure it at the store.

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Tomorrow night we are heading to our

friends down the road for their annual

bonfire and bagpipe music.

Fun will be had by all!

Do you have any annual Autumn rituals?

Pillow Talk Blessings To All!

Janice

Sister Witches

Happy Sunday Friends!
Well this morning is starting
out a rainy one again.

I wanted to show you 
the couple of witches I made this year.

I named this one Cora Hemlock.
She was hand stitched.

With her bling around her neck.
Both her good luck key
and pumpkin necklace.

The second with I just called 

#1 Hag.

She was also hand stitched.

This year I decided I wanted to create

everything by hand for our show.

It took me longer instead of using my

sewing machine,

but I enjoyed doing it!

I only made one each so they were

OOAK (one of a kind)

Both have already been adopted

when we had our show.

Today I will be working on turkeys again.

Each leg takes me an hour to hand sew.

I am only making 4 and all of the legs

are done now.

Hand stitching the bodies currently.

Dinner later on will be tacos and 

street taco sized cheese nachos.

What will you be doing this day

and what will your dinner be?

Sister Witch Blessings To All!

Janice

Mom's Day

Mom's day it was!
We had a surprise birthday party towards

the end of September for my mom.

Her actual birthday was September 30th,

and she is now 85 years young.

She had a great time!

We invited 52 friends and family.

48 were able to attend.
Those that did not attend were
 my kids and the grands.
My kids had to work and the grands were sick,
otherwise I would have taken them.

My mom (left) and my dad's sister (right).
 They are the same age.

My mom's friends.

The family.

On the left my mom's brother and sister.

My aunt on the right. 
Bob father down.

She is the wife of my mom's late brother who passed. 
Behind my aunt on the right my brother
 Tom in blue and his wife. 
The rest are a few cousins
with my sister Teresa standing at the end
talking to my Aunt Marie (dad's sister).

My mom's neighbors, and nuns from the church.

My mom's priest at the end.

She does a lot for her church.

Runs the bazaar. 

Cooks for the funeral luncheons.

Handles the kitchen for Monday movie night.

Plants and weeds the church flower gardens.

Helps out with the bake sales.

This is why she is still so young looking.

She never sits down for long.

More of our family.

The restaurant in her town was where 

we had her party.

They provided the balloons.

We had a menu made up which consisted of

your choice of one of the following.

Rib Basket (cole slaw & fries)

Walleye (fish) Basket (cole slaw & fries)

Chicken Salad Croissant (fries)

Chicken Club Wrap (fries)

Hamburger with your choice of toppings (fries)

Caesar Salad with Chicken

Chicken Tenders (fries)

We also provided drinks except alcohol.

The printed menu had no prices on it,

so no one would feel bad about ordering.

Everyone loved their meal.

We also had yellow and chocolate cakes

for dessert.

We hope we can do this again for her 90th.

Happy Birthday Mom.

You are the best!

Happy Birthday Blessings To All!

Janice