Hope You're having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend

Don't forget to say Thank you to a Veteran. Where would we be as a country without them? I can't even begin to imagine.



And I’m proud to be an American where as least I know I’m free.

And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.

And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.

‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the U.S.A.



~Lee Greenwood

Auntie's Sewing Machine

I finally had the chance to open the machine and really get a look at it. It's amazing! As you can see in the pictures the way you change the stitches to fancy stitches is by changing the dics in the top of the machine. Under that flip lid on the top. There are many different discs for all types of fancy stitches. Perfect to use in making the Crazy Quilts. It's going to be such fun to experiment with these different discs.

Aunties Sewing Machine

We're having a party for my husbands birthday today so I'm leaving you with a picture of what I did yesterday. Altho I knew how to sew and had made many things for my girls when they were small, I had never made a quilt before. My aunt is a wonderfully talented quilt maker and I asked her to help me make one. I wanted to eventually make one for each of my 3 girls and my grandchildren. So she did so graciously. And I am forever indebted for her teaching me some tricks of the trade. I absolutely love quilting and have taken right off with it! And my aunt knows this. So one day last week she called and told me that she's downsizing in the house, comtemplating moving to something smaller and said she had a sewing machine for me if I'd like it. Well come to find out it's one she bought when she first graduated from nursing school. I didn't ask exactly but I'm guessing around 45 - 46 years ago. She bought it with her first paycheck from the nursing job she had gotten at the hospital here. I am so honored to have this. And I'm going to use it to make my 3rd grandchilds quilt on it. And he's almost a year old so I really need to get a move on! As soon as I read the book and figure this baby out....ANNNNNDDDDDD HERE SHE IS>>>>>>>>>

Tomorrow I'll take a picture of her opened and set up! She's an old gal but quite the beauty!

On the right you'll see a stack and whack quilt I've made but I'm still handquilting it. Paying to have someone machine quilt my quilts  really doesn't fit into my budget, but maybe someday I'll have one done that way. The designs you can have quilted on them are simply gorgeous. But in the meantime I just do mine by hand. Sometimes it takes me a whole winter to finish quilting one, but I enjoy sewing in the evenings with the quilt draped across my lap. A nice way to stay warm at the same time!

And if you're wondering what that furry thing on the left is....that's a lamb footstool. My BIL and SIL raise sheep as a little side venture along with their cattle. She brought that down at Christmastime for the grandchildren to use. It's so sweet!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Mothers Day Flowers

Below is a picture of a hanging petunia plant that my middle daughter gave me for Mothers Day. It looks so nice hanging on the front porch. I also recieved a kit for hanging strawberries and tomatoes from oldest daughter which I've started and we're now waiting to see some growth in those. And youngest daughter gave me some Blue Fragrant Lavender to put in the lawn garden behind the garage. I can't wait to be smelling that and hope that we'll see sufficient growth this year! Guess they all know I like flowers!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Wicker Hats

I'm on a busy run today with a list of things I need to do. So I'm just leaving you a quick picture of some wicker hats I made for the ladies in my miniature group a couple of months ago. Don't forget to poke the picture twice to get a real close-up. HA...better than you can see them in real life considering they're really only about 2" wide and on my computer each one blows up to be about 6" wide! They look huge when I poke them twice! HA!

And keep watch for a little drawing perhaps. Just because I'm so excited about this nice weather we're having. 79 degrees yesterday...the same today. I might actually be able to start thinking about planting some annuals in the gardens!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Planters completely finished

I just thought I'd share a picture. These are finally finished they're wrapped in bubble wrap and will soon be off to their new homes. Plants are always a challenge to me so for the sake of saving a bit of time I only made one of the plants in the planter....the leafy plant on the left in most of the planters. I used wire and masking tape to make those. If anyone is interested in a tutorial for those let me know and I'll post a quick one here to show how I did those.

Don't forget to poke the picture once or twice to make it larger so you can see the pictures better.

So check these off the list.....now I 'm going to try my hand at making woven wicker picture frames as a special request from a friend. She's making a beach cottage and has some pictures she's been looking to frame in wicker.  I've never done those before either so those should be a fun challenge. I'll be putting the chaise on hold for just a bit while I work on the frames.....or maybe do both at the same tiime. Aren't miniaturists suppose to have half a dozen projects going at the same time? I mean we have to work on something while the glue or paint is drying....right? Which, if you could see my workroom you'd know I have at LEAST a half dozen projects going already.....And yes I will have that picture for you soon too.....it's so embarressing!

Have a lovely day all!

JOIN ALICIA'S GIVE AWAY

Isn't this gorgous?

 You need to run right over to Alicia's blog  http://aliciaminiaturas.blogspot.com/   and congratulate her for reaching her 1st year anniversary and sign up for her give away! NOW  HURRY ALONG!!!!

HELP ME PLEASE, I CAN'T STOP

Thanks to Casey I've gotten nothing done the last week or two. I started making these planters and I'll admit, it took me a bit to get everything right. I had to buy a new "chuck" for my little darling dremel so I could drill the holes in the wood properly....I had to buy some new wire that was a little thicker, for the legs. I did find some at Walmart. And since that's about as close as I can get to a craft dept without driving over an hour I thought I was pretty darn lucky they had what I needed. They usually don't! And I'll tell you once I got on a roll I couldn't stop. It was that addicting. I was having so much fun I decided to make one for each of the ladies in my miniature group. Shhhhh don't tell them......it's a surprise! I've been working on them feverishly for 2 weeks now.

A picture next of my little work station. I picked up a bunch of these little trays at the Dollar Store. They remind me of the trays we used in school. They're so handy to use when I'm working on a project and want to keep it all together and move it from room to room. Depending on where I'm going to sit and work at something. I have 6 or 7 of them and I'll bet in my work room I have at least 4 of them filled with stuff I'm working on.

Maybe tomorrow I'll show you pictures of my workroom. It is an ABSOLUTE DISASTER right now. And I mean DISASTER. I don't know how it gets that way. But if I'm feeling brave I'll show you tomorrow what I mean. It's so embarressing!



Thanks Casey! Now I think I have enough weaving under my belt to try a chair.....wait..........I think I'm going to skip the chair and go straight to a chaise lounge.....wish me luck!


DON'T FORGET TO POKE THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM LARGER. AND SOMETHING ELSE I LEARNED...IF YOU POKE THE PICTURE ONCE RIGHT HERE ON MY BLOG AND THENAFTER IT COMES UP POKE IT AGAIN IT'LL BE EVEN LARGER. TRY IT!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I'm wishing that everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day today. If you weren't able to be with your children or your own mothers I hope you still were able to make something wonderful today or were able to get out and enjoy nice weather. We actually had snow if you can believe it. My poor lilacs were quite shocked I think. But I was able to spend the day with my grown children. 3 daughters. Unfortunately my mother and my mother-in-law have both passed away, but they were close to my heart today as they are every day.

Oh my poor bleeding heart below doesn't know what hit it. It's so dang cold. She says "what happened to the 80 degree weather we had a week or so ago that made me grow like crazy and produce all these beautiful flowers?"

All that white on the leaves of the lilac is snow. Isn't this a shame? I do think it's going to survive tho. It's the really hard frosts that deepfreeze the blossoms. This snow just makes her shiver!

I hope your  Mothers Day was a site warmer than mine! But it was oh so warm in my home and my heart!

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Miniature Show

I had a great time at the Syracuse Miniature Show and Sale this weekend. I purchased a few awesome miniatures, a couple from a fun seller that I've bought from each time I go. And a few treasures from some of the other sellers.

The above items were all from the same seller. Doesn't she create the most wonderful things?

Ha I put new batteries in my camera and didn't even notice that the date is stamped on them from 2006. I'll have to remember to go back in and change that.

The two little dolls went into my Little Girls Roombox. The decorated quilting chair is going into my quilt/craft room roombox. All the other items went into my Shabby Rose Boutique. You can see a picture of that roombox on this blog and also at the top of this page on the right hand side.

I purchased these 15 pairs of scissors in a little plastic case for $8. I think I'll have plenty of these to use in many little workbaskets! Aren't they wonderful?I just love these little dolls.

I was looking to purchase the Marcia Backstrom resin doll from Falcon, the old lady with her hair in curlers....I want to put her at a table in my basement roombox folding laundry. But the seller that planned to bring her for me said she didn't come in. So I'll have to wait and see what happens. If anyone has a picture of that doll to share with me I'd love to see it. I really need a doll for that roombox. For some reason it just screams out to have a doll in there doing something.

I forgot to take my camera with me so I didn't get any pictures of the exhibits at the show. There were some really nice ones this year.

So that was my haul from this years show. I also bought some supplies for making little scenes. I got some bargain basement furniture to fix up and create some scenes with to sell on ebay. A good haul I have to say!

Later I'll show you what I have been busy working on using my dremel. I did get the chuck that I needed so I could use all those tiny little drill bits. I'm so excited to be able to finally use my dremel for what I've always wanted to use it for! Jeez! I don't know why I took so long to get myself in gear and take care of this issue. Guess it was Casey's tute on the wicker plant stands and having to use my husbands huge black and decker drill to make the holes in the wooden forms. That was a disaster! Now I can drill those tiny holes nice and neat and quick! And holes I have been drilling! Woohoo! Update on all that later!

Have a great day everyone. It's dreary and rainy here in New York today. I hope you're all having sunshine!

Dremel

Last year for my birthday my husband bought me a mini cordless dremel. I bought some teeny tiny drill bits from Harbor Freight to use in it. But I couldn't! The reason why you ask? Because my collet was too big! Hummmm. So what to do? Buy smaller collets at $3 or $4 a piece? Or buy a chuck that you can use for different size drills? So after doing some research last night on the internet I found the dremel site. It told me that I could find this chuck at Lowes. And since we have one about 15 minutes from here I called them to see if they had any in stock. They do and it's $10. So today I go there to buy one and see if it works for the teeny tiny drills I bought at HF. I'll give you an update once I see how it works.

When I made the plant stand from Casey's how to, I had to use my husbands big orange drill to drill all those holes....oh my....it killed my arm. And it made it so that my hand shook, (oh my is that a word? sounds weird) and I couldn't get very close to the edge of the wood. I'm hoping that I can get this to work with my dremel so I can make another and make my job a little easier! Easy is always better. Why would I want to do everything the hard way?!!!!!!

Here's a picture of the dremel I have with her battery sitting next to her. In front of her are all the drill bits I have. I put a toothpick in there too so you can see just how tiny some of them are! Can't imagine why I would want to drill a hole that tiny....only a thread could pass thru them....but hey, someday I may want to make a hole in something to pass a thread thru....so I'll have them. Nothing worse than not having exactly what you need and having to make do with something that doesn't work as well.

Tomorrow is the Syracuse Miniature Enthusists Dollhouse Show and Sale. I'm like a 9 year old little girl on Christmas Eve day. I can't wait for tomorrow. ( But I'm at the age where I hate to wish my life away) It's the only show I get to go to and it's a little less than a 2 hour drive North from here. I'll be going again, like last year, by myself. I hate making the drive home alone because I'm usually tired and that's a long drive for me. But really it's worth it I suppose. No one is there behind me saying....Are you ready to go yet? Didn't you already go around once, Are you ready to go yet, Didn't you already look at that? Are you ready? My husband went with me the first two times and he really enjoyed it the first time. The second time he wasn't as thrilled I suppose and he tried to be patient. ( I mean he kinda had to...how many hunting shows and sales have I been to with him?) He would take my purchases out to the car so I didn't have to keep carrying them around. That was awesome...He sat in the car and read a book he brought...he went for a walk around the area....then he was ready to go! LOL! So if I go by myself I can stay as long as I like. With no one chattering in my ear. Once I know he's ready to roll I can't really relax!

And altho it's a small show...it is wonderful. So many nice people that work so hard to bring this to us. This will be the 4th year I've gone.

 It's wonderful to see all of the miniatures in person, since most miniature shopping I do is on the internet and I don't really get to see it until it arrives. Not that I'm usually disappointed but it's just so nice to stand right there up close and personal and see them in real life!

 I'll give you an update in the next day or two and show you the treasures I've bought. I'm hoping to find an old haggard lady for my basement roombox. I want her in there folding all the laundry that needs folding! (Actually I don't mind doing the washing, drying and folding myself...I just hate to put it away. My kids always had to get their clothes out of baskets when they were in high school. Hey I worked fulltime....with a house, a husband and 3 kids....they're lucky it was folded and not just in a pile someplace getting all wrinkled! )  I'm hoping to check out the one from Marcia Backstrom that Falcon puts out made in resin.....my pocketbook doesn't allow for an original sculpture of hers but I sure wish it did! I can do resin and be happy with that! Her dolls are just awesome aren't they? I love the haggard ladies with the cigerettes sticking out of their mouths! HA! A little bit raunchy!

So until tomorrow, after the show......I'll be back. With a treasure or two I hope!

Have a great weekend everyone.