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Thursday, February 9, 2017

Winter Blue Cold Winter Nights


Good evening sweet friends.
Well Bob and I are off this weekend for 
much needed time off.
Going to spend some time visiting our
favorite haunts (antique stores)
in the Thumb area of Michigan.
Plan on eating the famous chicken dinner
which put Frankenmuth, MI on the map.
Finally ending up at my mom's to spend
an evening with her and take her out for
an Valentine's Day dinner.
Getting away from the Winter blues.


While I thought of the name of this post,
it reminded me of cold Winter's nights
spent at gramma H's farmhouse.
After dinner she would make everyone
homemade hot chocolate. 


We would then gather around the table
and drink away...while warming up.
My mom and dad, sister, brother, gramma and I.
Hot cocoa was always sweeter when gramma made it!


Afterwards, our tradition would be playing Canasta.
Canasta is a card game.
The partners were always my mom and dad,
and gramma and I.
My sister and brother would go off and play
with their toys and watch tv. 


Gramma and I were always partners
in this card game. She was a sly partner at that.
Sneaky was more like it.
She would hold all of her cards and when she
knew she could win the game, she would
lick her thumb, make a fist and knock on the table.
Then show her cards out like a poker hand.


It was always amusing how she did it.
Sometimes she really got into the game and would
shout out a bad 4 letter word, cover her mouth
and say "Pardon my French" 
She was of French and German descent.
It was funny hearing my gramma swear.
We would play cards until bedtime. 


Bedtime had its own routine.
My sister and I would traipse upstairs,
get our jammies on while gramma got ready 
in the upstairs bathroom. 
She would come out in her flannel nightie.
Her hair would be in corn rollers and would
 be wrapped inside her nightcap.
She would first tuck us in under the quilts,
then she would open the window and have a cigarette.
(gramma took up smoking after grandpa passed)
Once she was finished with her smoke,
she would go to her dresser and grab the Vasoline.



A finger full of Vasoline always went into her mouth.
She told us that eating it helped not to get a cold.
Y U C K 
D O U B L E   Y U C K

She then turned off the light and joined
 us in bed for the night.
My sister and I always slept with gramma 
after grandpa passed until she sold her farmhouse.
Cold Winter nights were always warmer
at gramma H's.

How do you get over the Winter blues?

Cold Winter Night Memories To All!
Janice



Monday, February 6, 2017

Hearts Abound

In our February store window display.

Good evening sweet friends!
Another Monday of work under my belt.

Saturday night I brought dinner
aka sloppy joes and potato chips
to the store so that Bob and I could work on our
February store window display.


We spent 3 hours on Saturday night
and another 3 hours on Sunday morning...
after breakfast of course.
I think we did too good of a job though.
An hour after I left on Sunday,
Bob called to say that the dresser was sold.
(pictured above) 


I made a paper heart garland.


The conversation hearts in the window.
I made these using my computer and scrap book paper. 


I did every color except a light orange...
I could not find that color.
We kept our snowflakes up in between....
since it still is Winter.


Table display.



Cabinet display.


Basket on floor with a linsey woolsey blanket.


Settee with another linsey woolsey blanket.


Penny heart pillow I made.


Child's chair with bowl and rug piece.
This would look good as a table cover.


Early child's rocker with flowered bowl.


Big clock, candy jar on the left,
 with a cake plate & bowl on the right.


This a pale pink bow tie cutter quilt.



Another prim lady I made.

So I went back to the store after work today;
to redo the display since the dresser sold yesterday.
Bob had replaced it with curio cabinet.
Now the curio cabinet sold today....
The buyer is going to pick it up on Saturday.
I just fluffed up our window area a bit, and will 
have to redo it again on Saturday.
Not that I am complaining....its just really hard
work putting these displays together.
Just thought it would last more than a day.
LOL

Hope you liked our display for this month.
Starting to work on Easter goodies
 for our shows in March.
 Of course I will show you what I am working on.

What are your plans for the week?

Hearts Abound Blessings To All!
Janice



Friday, February 3, 2017

What A Crock

Happy TGIF everyone!
WOOHOO for the Weekend!
It will be a busy one for me,
so I figured I would get this post out to you now
before Bob brings home our pizza for dinner.


Wanted to show you these crocks
and ginger beer bottles.
They will be off to our show at the
Holly, Michigan prim show soon.


I simply love how wonky looking this one is.



You can really see this one was hand turned.
A nice one for sure.


2 Gallon crock.


3 Gallon one is the wonky one.


I already have a solid ovoid like this one.
I use mine for different faux flowers 
throughout the seasons.


Ginger Ale use to come in these crocks
before the invention of the glass bottle.


I have a small collection of these myself.


Made a small display until these go off to the show.
Will enjoy for a little bit. :-)

I was wondering if anyone would like me to write
a few posts on how I learned how to create displays.
I have been thinking about it lately, and wanted
to run it by all of you to see if you would be interested.

Well, off to eat my yummy pizza.
Have a great weekend my friends!!!
Weekend Blessings To All!
Janice

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Wrapped In Love


Good evening sweet friends.
I am both humbled and blessed
by everyone's comments on my last post.
As I read each comment to Bob,
my heart was filled with joy that so many
of you took the time to comment,
 and even liked our kitchen.
(Bob was smiling too)
It is your kind words that keep me going.
So many of my blogging friends have
disappeared and it means a lot that you all
still follow and comment.
Unfortunately I am not able to email
 some of you back.
Not sure what has happened with blogger,
but many of you come in as a no reply blogger,
so it's not that I do not appreciate your thoughts;
I am just unable to reply.

I hope everyone is enjoying your Hump Day. 



As promised here is my finished Valentine creation.

As a kid I went to a private school where
uniforms were mandatory. Insert the word
< Y U C K >
There were however a few occasions where 
we were allowed to wear a dress.
(yes I did say a dress)  Insert the word.
< Y I P E E >



I was so thrilled beyond thrilled,
that one of those days was
St. Valentine's Day.
Mom made all of my dresses back then,
and besides my Christmas dress,
I especially loved the Valentine ones
 she sewed for me.



It was always a surprise.
Some were red, others pink.
Some had lace, ribbons or hand made hearts attached.
Once I even had feathers at the collar,
the bottom and the end of the sleeves.
That one was my favorite!
It was a pale pink with white feathers.
I thought I was a movie star at the time.
I remember even wearing that one with a pink bonnet
and white little gloves at Easter.
Aahhh the love my mom poured into my dresses.



This Valentine's reminded me of those 
long ago dresses...
and how mom use to wrap me up in her love.
It is where I thought of my stitchery.
Wrapped In Love.


(Notice the Conversation Hearts?)
Am making these for our February
 window at the store. 
Will show you once done.

Do you have one particular story in which you
felt wrapped in love?

On another note:
please keep my cousin and her husband
who live in Georgia in your thoughts. 
I just found out last night that those horrible
tornadoes took their house.
My aunt's house and farm is directly to the North
of my cousins and her's was spared...
except for those gorgeous 
Southern Oaks with the Spanish Moss on them.
My cousin is alright, but they did lose a pet,
and fear the other one will not make it.
I am so thankful they are alright, and hope
their other dog makes it.

Wrapped In Love Blessings To All!
Janice

Monday, January 30, 2017

Kitchen Getting Fresh

Good evening sweet friends.
Well its seems I jinxed myself 
with my CupboardScape.
 It snowed yesterday and tonight we are suppose to get more.
Hope everyone is doing good this last Monday of the month.
Can you believe February is this week?
Closer to Spring though!

A few of you requested me to show pics of the kitchen.
Bob repainted the cabinets white.




He did a great job, don't you think?



We don't have a fancy kitchen my no means.
Heck, I don't even have a dishwasher...
someday we are going to bump out the house,
and have a real kitchen.
For now I am happy just to have the cabinets re-painted.


My dipper valance.
The rod is an antique wheat flail.
It was used for threshing the grain
from the husks. In essence it would crack it open.
A time consuming process before the threshing
machines were invented.


Now usually this white apothecary cabinet
is on top of our refrigerator, but I wanted
to show you what a prim kitchen could look like.
Our microwave and Keurig is gone for now.
Put back after I took these pics.
(We are not totally primitive) 


That brown thing hanging is a seed sorter.
The wheat flail on the left of it.


Pie peels and towels.
The little wood box holds my dish rags.


The muffins under the shoo fly screen are wax ones.


I use vintage glass coffee jars to hold sugar,
brown sugar, coffee and flour.
They sell repros of these at Hobby Lobby.
Now I know why ours at the store sold out.
They were cheaper.


A part of the wall between the cabinets and the fridge.

Well I hope you liked our kitchen update.
Bob is the best installer as he calls himself!

Hope everyone enjoys their evening!
Nachos for dinner tonight,

Kitchen Re-fresh Blessings To All!
Janice

Saturday, January 28, 2017

January CupboardScape

Good morning friends.
Happy Saturday to you all!
Hope all is well.
This month's CupboardScape has a bit of snow in it.
Here in our part of Michigan we are suppose to have had
 at least 40 inches by now. 
Although we did get a dusting overnight,
we are at about 13 inches right now...
and before this morning there was no snow to be seen.



Although I am not a huge fan of snow,
it does seem a bit odd to see grass this time of year.
Is this part of global warming?
I am not sure, so I decided to make snow inside. :-)


This is how I imagine myself as a child
on gramma B's farm.
Making snowmen in the yard, 
and walking in the woods in and around
all of her pine trees. 
Green spruce, red pine and blue spruce.



I loved playing in the snow with my red mittens.
It was a magical time.
Seeing at all of the different animal tracks in the snow.
The cows, horses, chickens, deer, and bunnies.
Watching the horses romp and play in it.
Watching the chickens scratch in it.
Occasionally seeing a deer in between the cows
eating their food together.
Oh and the birds.
The cackle of the Blue jays, the caws of the Crows,
Chickadees, Cardinals and Northern Mockingbirds.


This particular snowman was built by my dad.
I will treasure him forever!


For my friends who also find themselves with no snow,
I hope this brings a bit of joy to you today.

What are your plans for the weekend?


Mine will be finishing up my Valentine piece.


Sticthing sewn to background,
with another strip of red on each side.


Leaves all pinned and ready to go.



Starting to add the stems.


Bunny approved!

Hope your weekend is full of whatever your hearts desire!

Snowy End Of January Blessings To All!
Janice