My Porch

These pictures of my porch were taken June 2009 just before my son's wedding .

You see we had the reception here in the yard , so the porch was another place for folks to sit and mingle and talk.

By the wedding the hollyhocks had bloomed and it looked lovely and inviting.
I spend alot of time in the summer at this end of the porch.
I sit here and read , or just watch the traffic go by, since it is a gravel dead end road there isn't much traffic.


This is the sunny end of the porch , I put the lattice up to try to make it bearable to sit there.

I love porches .

They speak of times gone by, of warm summer evenings,

and soft easy conversations with friends.

I'm linking to The Porch Club Monday at Gypsy Brocante .

Come sit on the porch with us.

Folk Dolls with Painted Faces

Meet Rosalie Brown and Posie DuPree,These dolls are made from a pattern I made up myself, taking ideas I liked from several different patterns , Then I decided to hand paint the faces so they had lots of personality.

Rosalie is kinda prissy , but she has no shoes, ( only because I couldn't find any little Maryjane's at the thrift stores today) She may get socks and shoes later.

Posie makes me think of a three year old , I think she is my favorite.

(Don't tell Rosalie .)

Sorry , didn't notice the fuzz on her face till after I posted the picture.

I really had fun with these two and will probably make more dolls with painted faces.

Do you like them ?


I am going to link with Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

White Makeover

Today I decided to do a couple of projects that have been sitting around for awhile.

This little step stool that my husband made five or six years ago, and this old frame that has been hanging in the garage since we moved here years ago.So , out came the white paint !

And WaLah !
Much better huh ?
Look at the little shells all over this frame.
I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet , but I'm sure I'll think of something.



The little stool will come in handy for lots of things.



Just putting them together for a vignette is fun , think I'll leave it there for awhile.

Linking up with all the White Wednesday wonderfulness .

Fabric Shoping and Thank You

Sis and I went fabric shopping the other day , not that I needed any fabric really, cause you see there is already this....And this....
And this....


And this.

There is one more cupboard full that I didn't photograph , way messier than these .

But I just needed something fresh , something to inspire , something for my new dollys to wear.
This is what I found, some sweet retro look fabrics.
Those dollys will look cute in these.


I got a pakage in the mail yesterday, It was this beautiful gift from Cindy at
Whimsical Musings for being the January "Miss Creative Spirit "
Isn't it precious ?
And look at that fabulous tag she sent along.
I love the little pink sign that says "create".



Look at the inside...

Sorry his picture didn't turn out better.

Thank you Cindy !

Your the best !

You deserve an award !

I'll see if I can't come up with one for you.

Linking to Beverly"s Pink Saturday.

Wow there is some pretty pink stuff over there !

Last Weeks Dollys

These two dolls are made with a Sweet Meadows Farm Pattern.

They are really a couple of sweet hearts.

This one I think I'll call Polly Annie !

But I don't have a name for this one yet .

Any ideas ?

She looks kinda sleepy with her droopy eyelids.
They were so much fun to make.
My two dolls for this weak are comming along , They have totally painted faces and I love them !!!!
I'll show you when I'm done.
Linking to Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.

What !?

Will you look at this plant ! What's going on ?

I had to stick a dow rod in it to hold it up.

I expected it to get about as tall as the top ribbon , but it surpassed my expectations.It is 36" from the table to the top of the plant. I had no idea it would get this tall.

Have you ever had one grow this much ?
It's been fun to watch it .
I just had to share it with you .
OK.... Now back to sewing dollys.

Thank You

Whoo Hoo !!

Look !!

Cindy Atkins Whimsical Musings has given me the Miss Creative Spirit award for her January Creative Spirit Challenge.Thank you Cindy !

And not only that , I won a beautiful heart box that she made.
Can't wait till it comes , everything she makes is beautiful, and I will be proud to own it.

Please go over to her blog and take a look at her beautiful things.

Treasured Keepsakes

After my mother passed away , my Sister and I went through the things she and my father had collected over the years , kept what we each wanted for remembrance sake and sold the rest. One thing I always knew I wanted was this chocolate set. My mother got it from a family friend who was my grandmothers best friend . My grandmother died when my mother was only six , so this lady was like a Godmother to my mom .

She let my mother choose some things she wanted from her many antiques , she said she wanted my mother to have them before she ( The Godmother ) died.

This was the first thing my mother chose. When I asked her why she chose it , she said she just always thought it was pretty, she didn't know how old it was or if it was worth anything , she just loved it.

I've always loved it because she did.

I always thought it was transfer ware but I'm not sure because there are some subtle differences in the pieces with the same scene on them.

Anyway I decided to show y'all and maybe you could give me your input on them.

The set includes a tray, four cups and saucers and the chocolate pot.

Two saucers have the same scene and the other two are different , makes me think there were a lot more at one time.


The four cups have two different scenes , if you look close you can see the subtle differences.

Aren't the shades of green beautiful ?

The cups and saucers have the same marks on them.

But the chocolate pot and tray are both different.

They all have Rheingold and Germany on them.

Can anyone tell me anything about them ?







That is Louis XIV on the tray. Sorry I could have gotten a little closer on that one.

I already know that it is priceless to me. But is it worth anything to someone else ?

Have any ideas how I can find out ?

Resolution

Last October at the end of our craft shows , my sister and I remarked about how low our rag doll population was. And we said at the time we really needed to get started earlier making them this year so we wouldn't be so swamped just before the shows. So our resolution was to start in January and make two dolls a week, it could be two of the same doll, that way by the time the first show in September rolled around we would have a substantial inventory. So on the first of January I started digging through some old patterns and came up with 4 or 5 that I thought I would like to make again. And glory be I am in the mood to sew ! I just didn't make two dolls this week , I made five.

I made three of this first doll all in different color dresses.

This is Dee Dee , she is a Chestnut Junction pattern.

Isn't she a cutie ?
And this is Ugly But Cuddly Annie , A Katie's Homespun Stitches pattern.
I don't think she's ugly...


Now is she ?



Here are the girls all lined up !

The only thing left to do to these is to spray a little tea stain on them to give them a little age.
I ran out of instant tea , I'll get some tomorrow.
Gotta go through those patterns again to see which one is gonna be next.
Gotta keep going while I'm in the mood to sew.
I'm like that with all my crafts and painting.
If I'm not in the mood nothing turns out right.
Are you like that ?

Hey , I'm already three dolls ahead !
( You can't see me , but I'm doing a little dance. )

I'm going to link this post with Cindy Adkins' Whimsical Musings Creative Challange.
Better late than never , I've added Pink Saturday.

So many cute things at these links !

Words

There are no pictures in this blog.

It's all about words

Several of you have talked about a word for the year.

Well I have come up with two.

the first one is -

" Imagine "

A pretty good word , John Lennon wrote a song about it.

And the second one is -

" Possibilities "

Together they open up a world of wonderful things.

Yep ! I want two words this year !

After Christmas Mantel

I'm really just showing off the pretty white vases that my niece sent me for Christmas , ( although I suspect she sent the money to my sister and she picked them out ). Either way it doesn't matter cause I think they are perfect for me.

I took some of the dried hydrangea that I had in my Christmas tree and put them in them for color.The next three pictures are me trying to be artistic with my camera and showing off the detail in the vases.

There you have it , a nice fresh clean after Christmas mantel

I'm linking up with Faded Charm for White Wednesday.