It's done, stick a fork in it, DONE!!  My husband will be so happy to hear those words.  My new tool shed is finally done, complete with me spending three hours this morning digging up all the grass that was around it and getting new soil down and a few things planted.  I wanted to surprise my husband when he got home this evening to see that it was finished!!!  I love it and know that it will be very useful for me to have all my gardening things in one place. 

I have had the two children's shovels for years and found them in my husband's big shed and decided to hang them on my little shed. 

My good friend Lou gave me this little "tricycle" thinking my grandson might ride it.  I told her heck no, it was going in my garden.  It is adorable.  Lou is moving so I will always think of her when I see the little trike.   

Took a few random pictures around the garden.....things are starting to grow and bloom..... 

I grow yarrow really well!!  Like it just takes over!!!  Sure it has nothing to do with me and my skills. 

Oops, here it is again.....couldn't resist one more picture.  I love it and I think I have gotten my husband in trouble with some of the other husbands whose wives now want a "shed".  Oh well.................. 

Joshua checking out my flowers.   

This is my new favorite picture of Joshua.  I told him to say cheese and he struck this little pose all on his own.  So adorable!  And of course, a popsicle in hand....what do they say.....always have popcicles at Grandma's house.

Hope your day is delightful and maybe make a little time for some stitching!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there in blog land!!  Especially Happy Father's Day to my sweet, sweet husband..................

and my son Paul who is Daddy to our three grandchildren and.........

my wonderful father-in-law who has been like a father to me for many, many years.  Wish we could be with you!! 

and last, but not least.............

our son Eric who is Daddy to two very sweet, adorable doggies, Bailey and Molly. 

So to all you Dads out there, have a super special Father's Day, rest, relax, spend time with your families and take advantage of a little "down" time!

Round Robin

A group of ladies met yesterday to work on their Round Robin mats.  We had previously met to create the bases (18" x 18") and finally got to the fun part of adding some applique designs.  After passing around the table once, we decided to call it a day and meet again in a few weeks, after some of the stitching was complete.  I think they're turning out great and will be beautiful when completed.

Love the squirrel with his big fluffy tail!

Tomorrow a larger group meets to create their bases.  I'm hoping these pictures will give them inspiration and something to look forward to.

It's a rainy, rainy stormy day here in Raleigh.  Lots of tornado watches and warnings, so we're keeping an ear close to the TV for any updates.

Luckily, my husband got the paint on my little tool shed so the wood is protected from all the rain!!!  Maybe one day I'll get to go out and do a little housekeeping.

Hope you find a little time for some stitching!

Pinterest is very dangerous........

so says my husband!!  He cringes everytime he sees me with the iPad that he and my sons gifted me with for Mother's Day.  He thinks I just started doing Pinterest when they gave me the iPad.  I told him, unfortunately, it was long before that!!!  I have actually battled the Pinterest excitement for a couple of years now until a couple of months ago someone sent me something to look at and of course, I had to oblige.  That's where the trouble started!!!  I have found so many interesting things and great ideas on Pinterest. 

My most recent "conquest" was a garden shed that was made out of old doors.  I have been wanting a shed for just garden tools and pots.  They seem to end up all over the place and I can never find them when I need them.  Some nice person shared a tool shed they had made on Pinterest and I asked my husband if we could do the same thing since I knew we had taken several doors down in the house over the years.  He tried to tell me we only had two doors, but alas I can count where they were missing from.  I didn't say anything more.  The next day he came to me and said we actually had four doors.  Well, that's just the number we needed!!!   My husband started drawing his plans for building the shed since there was only a photograph on Pinterest and after a $250 trip to Lowe's for wood and supplies, he started the shed.  I thought we would just hinge the doors together, slap on a roof and be done with it!!!  Well, he said if we did that it would blow over in one of our thunderstorms.  I decided the best course of action to take was to just let him do it his way since he was the one building the shed and I really wanted it done. 

We used three of our old doors and Pam from the Rusty Bucket gifted us with the "front door" which has panes of glass to let in a little light.  Also helps it not to look like an outhouse!

My husband works all day and then umpires softball almost every evening so he doesn't have much free time.  But somehow he has managed, within a two week period, to get the shed up and as I type this, he's out there putting on the roof.  The last thing to do will be to paint the three side doors and do a little decorating!!  And maybe some planting..........

I had two pieces from an old red drop leaf table that we used inside for shelves.  I can't wait to start gathering all my tools and pots and give them a new home in the "tool shed". 

I have the best husband ever!!!!  And yes, I'm still troving Pinterest for ideas..........

Porch Sale

Hey everybody!!  It's Porch Sale time and I'm trying to be ready for 9am tomorrow, Saturday, June 1.  It got here really quickly but my schedule has been really busy so the time went by so fast.  I just snapped a few pictures of what I have out so far and I'm still pricing stuff.  So there will be more added as I go along this evening.  There are lots of retired Liberty Rose pieces as well as handcrafted items.  There are also a few antique pieces, fabric from the reorganization of my fabric shelves, dolls, mohair teddy bears that I am parting with sadly, vintage samplers, framed and unframed, a few small furniture pieces, and who knows what else.  I hope you have a little time to stop by and say hey, grab a cold bottle of water and take home a treasure or two!!

No, the potting bench is not for sale before you ask!!!!  But the stuff on it is for sale!!

Not a great picture, bright sun was coming in!

If I don't see you, I hope you have a super great weekend and stay cool and in the shade!  And of course, find a little time to stitch.

Now, back to work for me!!

Well......almost another month......

As much as I love my little blog, I just can't seem to get to it on a regular basis these days.  Life is just busy and when I finally think ok, now I can do the blog, more life happens.   But life is good, just super busy.  I have taken a few pictures along the way and will share a few of those with you.

We have a wall of shame that runs up the front stairs.  All black and white pictures of our kids, family members and grandchildren.  Well, this is a picture of Raleigh when she was probably around 2 years old.  My husband came and got me one evening to look at the picture which looked like it had a halo around Raleigh's head.  From somewhere in the dark hallway there was a small beam of light that hit that picture just right.  I ran, of course, and grabbed the camera to take a picture of the picture!  And we all know that Raleigh is absolutely a little angel!!!

Jeannie showing off her beautiful quilt from her beginning quilt class.  Great job and onto other projects!!! 

Pat and her sweet husband Jim showing off her finished bee skep flowery piece.  Pat had quite a time with this piece, but she perservered and got it done.  And Jim built the frame for her.  Good job to both of you!!!  It will look gorgeous in her living room!!! 

My husband apparently slipped and took a picture of me working on a new recipe card.  I don't even remember him taking this but oh well, there I am in all my glory!  Hmmmmmm.............. good thing I've started Weight Watchers!!!!!!!

I recently visited with the Capital Quilt Guild in Raleigh to do a lecture and a couple of classes.  This is the only picture I took of my "booth" so to speak.  I took quite a few patterns and models to share with the guild, who were mostly new to wool. 

I also took pictures from the stage of all the women waiting on me to talk.  I think they thought I was a nut up on stage taking their pictures!  I told them I had to take pictures because I had never talked in front of so many people. 

One of the classes the ladies did was a scrappy penny mat.  Once they got their instructions, the ladies were ready to dive into the wool piles.  I brought three crates of scraps for them to work with and enough wool to fill two tables.  Plenty to choose from! 

Sometimes there can be too much to choose from! 

All those circles need to be cut out before you can start having fun................. 

and ta-da......now the fun begins. 

A couple of the pennies laid out, planning in progress. 

I kept saying that someone just needed to sit in all that wool and have a good time.  They kept telling me I needed to sit in the wool.  Now we know that wasn't going to happen!  I might not get up!!  Well, Carla finally dove in and played in the wool.  I think she loves wool now!!! 

Wait until you husband sees this picture Carla!! 

Hmmmmmm........I think I like it! 

This is really starting to come together now.  Sometimes it's hard to envision something until

you can actually start putting the pieces together. 

And a new stitch to learn..........the blanket stitch. 

 

Actually, lots of blanket stitches to do now........homework! 

As you look at the pictures, you can see how different each lady created her mat.  That's the fun of using scraps for a project like this, it can be planned or it can be very random or also very color coordinated.  They're all beautiful!

Look at all those wool scraps in the background!!  Someone has to pick those up!

The second day was a muffin tin pincushion class with a smaller group of ladies.  I think they all had a good time as well and got their tins finished in class.  I didn't remember to take pictures until after a couple had left, so Ginger and Abbie are shairng their tins with you.  Good job ladies! 

And of course, what fun would a blog post be unless I included a couple Joshua photos!!  He's in one of my flower gardens actually posing for the first time that I can remember.  Usually I have to catch him on the go so this was very unusual. 

Oh Mina, I'm tired of this posing stuff......plop on the ground.  Done with that!!  And so is this post.

Find some time to do a little stitching!!