I am not a slug

I have been busy, just not busy blogging.
I bought this little beauty on the day after Thanksgiving from the comfort of my recliner. I just opened it up yesterday and have been playing with it a little.
I am super excited about trying some vinyl, but couldn't find any locally and had to order it
online.

I went out shopping on my own for the first time since the accident (Walmart and Michael's) and think I over did it just a little. It is very frustrating to not be as mobile as I would like.
I am better, it is just taking forever.

I have been decorating very slowly and will have some pics soon. We also got a new cast iron wood stove. Our only source of heat before now has been an electric furnace and we are very excited about the power savings , the beauty of the stove, and the ambiance of a fire on a chilly day. I will have the stove and my beautiful mantle ready soon.


O K so this post is going to be rambling and a little disjointed. Stick with me. This is the new sleeve for my laptop as well as a drawstring bag for my mouse and power cord. I love it. I made it out of and old sweatshirt. Basically I laid the sweatshirt out flat, put my laptop on top and drew a line about 1/2 inch out. I made the "open" back end extra long so that it could be folded in. I sewed up three sides, folded over the open end top stitched, and voila a fabulous lap top sleeve.
My draw string bag is the sleeve turned side ways, with the bottom sewed shut. The top of the bag has and extra wide hem with a small hole on the inside to accommodate the drawstring from the hood .

Finally I have been doing some embroidery. I can also do that from the comfort of my recliner.

I'm off to lunch with my co-workers today. It will be fun to have some girl time and touch base with these wonderful women. ( I work in a Tax office January to April 15). I am also determined to do some decorating. Have a great Thursday and I promise to post again soon.

Pam

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to All. My family has much to be thankful for this year. We have had a few hardships and continue to have them. My father fell off a ladder yesterday and broke his ankle in four places. He has surgery this morning and is doing well. As I well know he will have a long recovery but should be fine. Mom and I are beginning to feel just a little jinxed.

Even with all the medical hardships we have so much to be thankful for. We have a wonderful extended family and many great friends, and we live in the greatest country in the world, where we are free to celebrate Thanksgiving in anyway we want. I will celebrate with my family today, feasting and thanking God for my many blessings. I hope that you all can do the same.

Coffee Sleeve Bonanza

Look what I did yesterday! I was very busy. I am a bad Aunt and always wait til Thanksgiving to deliver my niece's birthday presents.(Their Birthdays are in September and November) I had so much fun that I made one for my daughter my sister-in-law and one for me.

This is a shot of the fronts, then the backs. I use a cardboard sleeve as a pattern adding about 1/4 inch around for a seam allowance. I add some fusible batting in between the layers of fabric.

I use buttons from my stash to hold the ends together.

They are all reversible with embroidery or applique on one side and decorative buttons or charms on the other.

I sew the two sets of buttons on at the same time.

I think they all turned out great and I can't wait to give them to the girls with gift cards from their favorite coffee shop. I also can't wait to use mine.

Have a great weekend.

Pam

Fall Decor

The roses are blooming on in the yard and I picked a few, added some rosemary, and a few fallen leaves and mums. Lovely!








I have been admiring this tree for years and finally decided to capture it in a picture. It is so beautiful in the fall colors.








Mom has done some lovely counted cross-stitch pictures and we like to change them with the seasons. This one with the foxes has a story that goes with it. I started this picture about 25 years ago... finished about a third of it, and put it away, thinking I would get back to it. Mom found it recently, and decided to finish it for me. So it was a joint effort, and only took many years to complete. I love it! The colors are perfect for the dining room.



The second picture depicts fall scenes, and always makes me smile, thinking of everything that goes on in just a few months. The time flies by so quickly; it's good to savor every minute. I'm thankful for so many blessings.

Vintage Purse

I got this beautiful Vintage Leon of California bag at a local thrift store. Isn't it gorgeous, but something was missing.
Bling is what it needed. I have had these filigree leaves forever. I attempted to sew them on, but the fabric was too tough, so I settled on E6000 and glued those puppies on.

So here it is now my upcycled vintage bag with just a little bling for Fall.

Have a great day and I will be posting my Christmas purse soon.

Thanksgiving Decor

I usually decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Fall, but this year things have been different. I couldn't get my decorations out of the garage storage room this year on my crutches, and really wasn't up to putting things up anyway, but lately I have been feeling better. I had a few things stored in the linen closet and was feeling inspired by all the other great blogs out there.
Craftily Ever After has this great Keep Calm printable that I printed out and framed in my 40% off Michael's frame.

I got this great plate at the goodwill months ago and it looks great with this vintage turkey printed on card stock. (Sorry about the smudged glass )

I stitched this from a coloring page that I got off the Internet on a linen napkin. It turned out great, and I love it. Im sorry I don't know where it came from. Coloring pages can make great pattern for embroidery.

It looks great on top of the TV with a pumpkin candle and an Owl.

I also whipped out this Give Thanks Banner from At Second Street.

Thank you all you wonderful bloggers out there and have a wonderful Sunday evening .

Pam

Beautiful Fall Drive

Yesterday was my 21st wedding anniversary, as well as Veteran's Day. John and I have always been proud to share this day with the many brave soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors that have kept our country safe.



With both John and I (but especially me) moving slower than usual we decided to go on a drive and spend the day together. We headed out of town towards Tulelake Wildlife Refuge and the Lava Beds National Park. It turned into a beautiful sunny day. I took my new camera to play with and thought I would share some of the better shots with you.

Mount Shasta


Big Buck in the grasslands near Tulelake. On the other side of the road are alfalfa fields that keep him and his herd of lovelies well fed.


I think the rock formations are so interesting and beautiful.


Hope you all had a good Veteran's Day. I have been doing a couple of Thanksgiving projects and I will share soon

Making Progress

As you can see I am getting well enough to start being creative again (Scruffy doesn't leave my side for long these days). I will be stuck in this boot til the end of the month but I am getting around a lot better. All of our friends and neighbors as well as my Mom, Dad and Grandmother have been terrific. Mom stayed with us for a month and never had to cook dinner, the meals began coming in the day I came home from the hospital. Our neighbors and good friends the Bair family took over our farming operation the day after John went into the hospital. We are blessed in so many ways and this very difficult time has been a real chance to thank God for all that we have and all the wonderful people he has put in our lives. John continues to get stronger all the time and has turned into a fabulous chef, and is taking wonderful care of me. My kids are getting tired of taking care of Mom and Dad and want to once again be the center of attention, but they have been great. I know that many of you were praying for me and my family and you can be sure that those prayers were heard. We will be well and whole in no time, and I can not wait to return to my old boring life where I am the caretaker.

We're Back!

I am home again, after four and a half weeks with Pam & John, they are now on their own and doing great. John has no more restrictions, and is building his strength. Pam is still on crutches, but is mending, and getting around a little better. Between the two of them, and with the help of their kids, they are a good team. I went back for the day, and may do that again just to catch them up on chores. It is great to see them more independent and to be in my own home again.
Our cousin, Steve is getting married this weekend, so Pam and I joined forces to gift him and his bride Jennifer with some hand-crafted things.
A pretty package went off day before yesterday, so they should have it before the big day.
Pam embroidered some dishtowels, and I knit some dishcloths, and added a couple of bottles of liquid hand soap.

The close ups are of Pam's beautiful embroidery.






Did you notice the new look Pam has given us? Those are her ducks at the farm.

It is good to be back to crafting and thinking about other things. We are all so grateful for family and friends, and for all the prayers and blessings that have happened along the way. Even the weather cooperated and I didn't have to brave the snow and ice on the mountain roads between here and there.

The roses are still blooming here... and the fall colors are so beautiful. Thoughts turn to Thanksgiving and all the things we have to be thankful for. When I was walking O'Reilly this morning, two different formations of geese flew over us. They were very low, and you could hear the air rushing through their wings, and their honking calls. I love autumn.

Challenging Times

I wanted to post just a brief update from Pam and Sherry. About a week and a half after Pam's husband John had his heart surgery, she was in a serious car accident.
Multiple broken bones are making it a challenge for Pam to recover. I have been here for about 3 1/2 weeks, and they are both making wonderful progress. It just takes time.
We all feel so many blessings are present, along with the difficulties. John's wonderful friends and fellow farmers took over his operation the day he went into the hospital, and have harvested his crops. I haven't had to cook a dinner since I came... friends and neighbors have stepped in and it has been awesome to see the love and concern expressed by all.
We hope to soon be back in operation and blogging again. Thank you for your patience.

Grateful

As you can tell from Pam's brief posting, things have been a bit crazy. We are all very grateful that John is doing so well, and now it will just take some time for all to return to a semi-normal state.
It has been difficult to concentrate on anything else, but I did manage to take some pictures (I love photos) that I will share.

While John was in the hospital here, and Pam was with him, Erin and Daniel and the three dogs stayed here. It was lively and kept our minds off scary stuff. O'Reilly loved having all the company; but as you can see, Erin didn't get much rest.



Daniel is standing beside a gift from John's friends (their name sounds like "bear"). It was HUGE and fun.
O'Reilly was very curious about this bear.

I have been wanting to can fruit since July, but it hasn't happened. This week I took a leap of faith and purchased several boxes of peaches, pears, and tomatoes. It is such a satisfying feeling to see the jars with their beautiful bounty. Mom loves to eat the peaches & pears all winter, the tomatoes are great in chili and stews, and I like to make jam for gifts.

Roadblock

So as some of you know my husband John had open heart surgery last week, and that has shut down all regularly scheduled activities. He is home and doing terrific and I will resume blogging soon. I miss it. Meanwhile please be patient with me.

Have I Told You Lately I love Spray Paint

So I found these lovelies at the Dollar Store, and knew they had potential. Money is excruciatingly tight right now, so when I decided my decor needed a pick me up, I headed to the Goodwill (more on that tomorrow) and the Dollar Tree. Now you may not think that pink birds with reddish ugly glitter are fall decor, but you would be wrong. They are so much better now. The paint is called espresso and it was just a little drizzly when I sprayed them but I would not be stopped. Today was the first day of School and I felt the need for a creative outlet.

Now they are gorgeous and I love them. Once again Spray paint has turned an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

I am working on Falling up my nest right now and these beauties will now fit in perfectly.

The Harbor Bite

Sorry I have been absent so much this summer. We have been out of town more this summer than I can ever remember. My daughter Erin will be a senior this year and we have spent lots of time watching her play what will probably be her last year of summer softball, and her last year showing sheep at state fair. We just got back from State Fair and then a few nights at my brother's home in Seaside. Erin did well at State Fair, but was showing against the best of the best, and did not do as well as she had hoped.
After State Fair we drove to Seaside, Oregon and spent time with my brother Erik, his fabulous wife Elizabeth, and their great children Joslynn, Gabby and Zach. Erik and Liz opened their second restaurant in February. (They also have a wonderful Pizza Restaurant, Pizza Harbor)
Here is most of the family ready to enjoy lunch at The Harbor Bite. Gabby had a babysitting job and couldn't join us, and Erik was cooking our lunch.

Here are some interior shots of the restaurant. We had dinner here also on live music night. The food is great. I had one of the specialties the Mermaid's Purse, which is your choice of white fish or salmon with different spices and white rice steamed in parchment paper. I had the salmon with capers, and it was fabulous, they also have an Asian purse, a Caribbean purse, and sweet chili purse. We had appetizers at both meals, including our family recipe clam dip made with razor clams.

We ate at the booth to the right for dinner.

The restaurant has a funky, fun eclectic style that is welcoming to families as well as those looking for a romantic dinner. The live music was provided by the Salty Dogs and was acoustical folk and rock. Lots of fun.

This is the exterior of the restaurant and the patio where we had lunch.

A close up of the sign.
So that's my review of the Harbor Bite, I know I am biased but I do believe that Erik and Elizabeth have a lot to be proud of. I don't have any pictures of Pizza Harbor because it was pouring rain the whole time we were there. The only time the sun was out was when we had lunch on our way out of town. Pizza Harbor has some of the best pizza I have ever eaten and we always eat there at least once during a visit. So the next time you're in Seaside or even close, please stop by The Harbor Bite or Pizza Harbor and try their delicious food and welcoming attitude.

So I think that I am done traveling for awhile and I promise to blog more often now that fall is coming and the kids will be back in school. I am planning on doing some fall decorating and will have pictures soon.

Lindsay Clan Crest and Castles

I have been distracted... Mom has been ill and needing a lot of TLC, and my energy has been focused in that direction for the past three weeks or so. So it has been awhile since you've heard from me.

However, I am pretty good at finding stress relievers, and one of the things I consider "therapy" is working on my photo greeting cards. I was thinking about my family history, and my brothers (I have two), and looking up some information on the internet. My father's side of our family is from Scotland. We are part of the Lindsay Clan in Scotland. It's fun to look at our history and where some of our ancestors came from and their stories. I have information about this part of our family going back to the 1700's and someday I hope to search further and find the connection from there back even further to the information I found recently on the internet. Meantime, I thought I might create some photo greeting cards using pictures of things connected to our clan. This is the Clan Crest. It consists of an "attacking" swan, indicating some descent from the Swan Knight, (highly coveted by the chivalry of all medieval Christendom).
"Endure Fort" means "suffer bravely" or "endure strongly".

The swan is rising from a ducal crown, indicating that, at one time, a Lindsay was a Duke. Sounds impressive, huh? According to history, each Clan Chief wore a unique badge on his helmet during battle so that his followers could recognize their leader. This badge is the Crest. The Crest is surrounded by a strap and buckle garter, which shows allegiance to the Chief of the clansman wearing it. So then I found quite a few Castles that have association with the Lindsays.

Awesome! Here are some cards I made for my brothers.
The first one shows the restored gardens for Edzell Castle, which is the ancestral home of the Lindsays. Very impressive.




The second picture is a part of that same restored Castle, showing the tower, which is the oldest part of the house and dates back to the early 1500's.

The third picture is Craigie Castle ruins. Craigie was originally built for the Lindsay Clan, in the 12th or 13th century, or earlier. Wow.

I was intrigued by all of this, and the histories connected with these castles.

My someday dream vacation will be to visit Scotland and see these castles, and hopefully find my connection with Lindsay families still living in Scotland.
I have lovely memories of visiting with my paternal grandfather, Dan Lindsay, who was born in the United States shortly after his family came here from Scotland. He used to sing some of the old songs to us, and he had the kilt and bagpipes. The Lindsay Tartan is quite beautiful.

You may hear more about the Lindsay Clan at another time. Any Lindsay's out there who want to contact me? I'd love to hear about connections!

Halloween Project

So here is a preview of my latest project. Its time to start those Halloween projects.
I have beaten the Chaos in my life down to an acceptable level and have moved on to more creative endeavors. I had a brain storm about a pillow collection for my home and the Etsy store, so I ran down to my local quilting store for some fabulous fabric.
I love decorating for Halloween. We don't really do any thing for Halloween. My kids are to old to Trick or Treat and my country location has never attracted any Trick or Treaters,(I do have plenty of candy on hand just in case) but I love the decorating. My tradition has been to put in the classic Bell, Book and Candle and fill my home with Fall and Halloween decor. Harvest decor also part of this farm family's traditions.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp weather, making soup,changing leaves and the end of a busy farm and summer season. Fall is my down time before I gear up for tax season. It is the time we take family vacations, do home improvement projects and the time that my husband and I have the most alone time.

So here I sit sweating at the sewing machine, remembering to enjoy the last busy days of summer and looking forward to Fall, Harvest and Halloween.

Peace in the Chaos

I live in Chaos, I know that I am not special in this state of busyness, messiness, fun, unpredictability and stress. One of the things I love about blogging is that I can post pictures of only what I want you to see.

County Fair was a blast, as I said I am a Swine leader, and I am so proud of all of my 4H kids as well as my own kids. We had so much fun, everyone was successful in their projects and all the kids, 4Th grade through Senior in High School were helpful and responsible. As a leader and parent I could not have asked for more. That said, it was also exhausting. I have spent several days recovering and trying to get caught up on the house and laundry.
So far I'm still in Chaos. I have so much to do, so much I want to to, so much I should do. I tell myself that I don't HAVE TO do anything, but somethings left undone have dire consequences. How do you keep up with the tedious, when you just want to play?
So to keep up the facade that I am always organized, and keep up with the dishes and mopping, I am showing you the front entry way of my home (Everyone uses the back door, so this area is usually untouched) I recently painted this dresser cream (sorry no before shot)the dresser was my Uncle John's and then mine as a child. I had been wanting to paint it forever. I love it cream. My walls are a light tan.( I can't afford a better camera yet so bear with me). The photo above the dresser is my Husband's Grandparents. I just love her hat. This was their wedding photo and the hat cost 10 dollars. I got the flower frog at least a month ago and today finally put this vintage image in it. (I believe the image is from Fairy Davis). Just this small act of doing something fun for my home has strengthened my resolve to get the tedious done, so I am off to work on the laundry and dishes. Hope you all are finding time for the fun and keeping up with the necessary.