Hooks and Sticks..

This is what is on my crochet hook and knitting needles this week.

Taking some more knitting lessons this month and I am hoping to be able to read a pattern better..This little shrug will be for Claire and will be taking it down when I see her in June!

Preparing to go to the Farm Chicks Show with Cindy!

We are getting so excited!

Bread and Jam..

It is wonderful to have friends such as Christa and Cindy..

They make many things and share them with me..Cindy is an extra ordinary baker and when she comes for a visit...raspberry jam is just one of the lovely homemade gifts she brings..Christa bakes beautifully as well! I have been the grateful recipient of many of her goodies. Yesterday she baked some good looking bread..Check out her blog HERE

Color in the Garden

These are a few of the flowers blooming in the garden right now..we are so far behind as I am not sure that spring has gotten here yet!

Focus52....week 21

This week's prompt was "All lined up!". I have been working on crocheting a little banner to grace this wall that I have big plans for..Once the tails are all woven in and several more triangles are added on it will be a cheerful pop of color on this wall...stay tuned!

Books and Melamine...

Here is a look at a few things that spend their time in the new cubbies waiting to have a home in a vintage trailer perhaps?

This set of square Melamine dishes is called
" Talk of the Town"
by Harmony House in the USA.
I have had this set for many years..also has 2 soup bowls..
Love how Cindy's chair is a great place to prop things and take a photo!
Thanks again Cindy for painting this chair for me..You are a true friend!

Cindy and I were together at my little thrift store when we found these sweet little gals a few years ago.

They are called Stylized Dinnerware made

in Buckingham, Canada

I have always hoped to get a vintage travel trailer and fix it up with

vintage finds........hopefully Jim will be reading my blog today!.Could this be the start of another collection?

When Summer Gets Here......

I have the best summer time job in the Okanagan Valley. From mid April to the end of September,

I go once a week or so to our Signature Liquor Stores here in the Okanagan

and I talk

about Nelson Brewing Company.

We used to live in Nelson BC for about 15 years and I know some of the owners quite well!

{My Cindy's husband is one of them}

They only make Organic Beer and it is wildly popular. Around my display table I am surrounded by our organic beer.. I talk about the beer, about Nelson, and give them a

little taste of summer. The brewery crew is always busy brewing up a new delicious batch of beer for me to showcase and sell.

It is such a fun and interesting job.

I like to call it my "Farm Chicks/Thrift Shoppe Summer Fund"

Claire

Claire just hangin out with her Daddy in her jolly jumper! She is building up her legs and just loves to bounce around!

I think she looks a little like a young Dala Lama in her saffron bath towel...

to me she looks sweet and wise!

extra! extra!

This is a new app for my IPad call Phoster..you can make all kinds of posters, invites etc..I kinda like this..for $.99 I think it is my kind of app!

Color in my craft room

I love to surround my self with color... I find this palette the most pleasing and soothing in my craft room..practical and pretty..Some of these things I made..{like the little ceramic cup with the bee on it, when I had my kiln}...the others I have collected at thrift stores or been given as gifts..As I am editing re-arranging my collections from room to room I keep finding treasures that I want to see more often so I have moved them here into my craft room...maybe time for a garage sale?

GreenCraft magazine... 2nd submission

I needed something quick that would protect my table from the plants as well as look great for my dinner party.

I had 3 potted Primulas, a large empty clear plastic box that used to have salad greens it....some shredded paper..a ripped length of fabric...a bit of twine. Here is how I did it...

Clean out salad container
In that contIner, put in 3 potted plants (swap out with Mini Roses, African violtes..etc..the list is endless)
Push them to one side as you stuff the shredded paper along the sides...move pots to into the middle and stuff the ends and the last side with the shredded paper..let some it them stick up..I think it looks more charming that way.
Rip a length of fabric..fraying the selvage edges...attach around box with a bit it doubled tape or hot glue...tie a piece of bakers twine, ribbon or yarn around it..fluff the flowers up and it is worthy as a hostess gift, table centre, Mother's Day, or birthday gift. Just replace the shredded paper as needed or with shredded color tissue for Easter, Valentines Day.

Cost:$1.95 x 3 for primula's
Time 15 mins.
Result...priceless

GreenCraft Magazine submission

This is my submission to GreenCraft magazine as one day I hope to get published.

This quick little project all starts out with 2 crocheted doiles
either made by yourself..but in this case they were from my local
thrift store at 25 cents a piece. I traced a circle from a thrift
store white skirt I had, hand sewed it and stuffed it with some lint
from the dryer as well as a bit of polyfil...Next I pinned the top and
bottom pieces overtop the little cushion I made, then just did a very
simple crochet stitch...sc.hdc,dc,hdc,sc into each loop. I also found
the crochet thread at our thrift store..why buy anywhere else?

In the picutres below, I placed some little flowers I make on the top
of the pin cushion so you can see you can make it even more special as
a little house warming gift..perhaps with some scissors. needles,
floss embroidery or crochet thread. You could also add some tea and a
vintage tea cup and wrap it all up together.

Alexander on Mother's Day

I have been experimenting with various ways to send my photos off my IPad or computer to the blog..I was so excited when I found out that I could send these photos on IPad directly to my blog via blogger.com. They aren't sized as big as I want them but it speeds things up greatly...same for Picasa..I googled how to upload. from email to web album..You can find out
HERE
These photos are from Alexander's blog and taken and created by his Dad!
Good work Shane!

A sneak peek....

Jim finished building the cubbies on the nearly last bare wall in my craft room..as usual..he did a marvelous job..These shelves are just a bit longer and less deep..perfect for my stash off treasures..I wanted the shelves to look like a "stylin" prop room..you never know...Martha might be looking for something special she needs to use for a magazine shot and I might just have it! :)
Here is how it looks so far....

UBe's letter to her Mom

No need to worry Mom..I am having a good vacation here..hope you are having a good time as well..my foster momma Dagmar gives me good back and belly rubs when I follow her into the bathroom..I sit right at her feet so she has to know I need a good scratch..the big guy lets me sit in his lap or puts my bed on his desk when he is working so I can see out side..but mostly, I have been eating, sleeping, pooping, going for 2 walks into the back40, sunning myself and just generally a hanging out with these cool dudes that have taken me in.

Hope you and Dad and Matt are enjoying your time in Croatia..hear it is beautiful..I will try and send you a few more photos of what we are up to for the weekend but we are kind of busy doing stuff...I try really hard to sit in Momma Dagmar's lap all the time but she is kind of busy..so I squeeze right in next to her ( good thing I am so small and she lost that weight :)
I am pretty quiet most of the time..except when I need to tell her something really important...like..don't you know I hate those darn eyedrops and what is the Vitamin E stuff for my nose..and are you sure it isn't 5o clock somewhere..I am HUNGRY..but other than that..it is pretty good here.
Gotta go now..Momma Dagmar says it's time for my walk..guess I will try faking sleep for a little while longer.

Oh by the way, I do miss you and I am being as good as I can be..
love you..
your good girl,
UBe
xoxo
special shade umbrella so I wouldn't get too hot...

"P"is for Pillows...

I have a fairly substantial collection of vintage crochet pieces...I am just so enamored with them. As I am just learning to crochet, I realize the time and effort it takes to make these beautiful pieces. That I find them for a couple of dollars or much less at thrift stores amazes me..I wanted to use some of them to showcase how lovely the hand work of these pieces are.
I decided to add them on to 3 of my plain silk pillows..It was a beautiful day out side to do some hand sewing...I tried many different combination and these are the ones that made the cut.



This is one of the Japanese flowers I did myself..to add my own handmade touch to the center of the pillow..I like the layered look!



The large one on the outside table was on of my thrifty finds..for $2.99...I found several more at Value Village with my good luck thrifting charm,...."Cindy." I was so sad to see about 50 so of these lovely pieces there..some ones life work...they should of been in a museum they were so exquisite..

focus 52/20..little bird

This weeks prompt was "shoot what you want"......This sweet gift is what Cindy brought me back from Seattle...Perfect to perch on the window sill with a couple of blooms to herald the long May weekend!
Thanks Cindy... :}

Pastel and Interesting...

When I picked up this cushion, my first thought was...I wonder how I would make this...I think I saw a tutorial on how this is done...does anyone know out there know?