Saturday, March 31, 2012

Word Verification

I am so sorry.  I was sure I had it turned off.  Then I visited another blog that thought the same and had to change hers back.  Is that why I am not getting many comments.  I have missed you all, please come back to visit.  Let me know if that irritating word verification shows back up and I will chase it away with a stick!
Brenda

Friday, March 30, 2012

Farmgirl Friday and What I Have Been Up To

I know I have been missing in action all week not posting anything since my Sunday Praise post.  So tonight is mostly just a some catch up time.  Last week was one of my good friends birthday and I made another sewing/work apron to gift her.  
I am making these aprons for all my sewing friend's birthdays this year.  Last year it was afghans for all the grands birthdays.  This year it is aprons for all the women in my life.
This pretty lady is my mom-in-love.  Can you believe that she turned a young 68 this week?!!  Isn't she beautiful and her heart is just as beautiful as she is.  I made the apron and tea cozy for her birthday.  Mom-in-love is calling it a granny apron.

I did get a little more organization done in the work room.  I already had some plastic drawer stacking organizers that fit just perfect under my sewing counter.  Decided I need to continue using them so I gussied them up a bit.  I saw this idea somewhere in Blogland but I am sorry I do not remember where it was or if the originator used paper or fabric.

I just cut scrap booking paper, that I already had, to fit the fronts and used double stick tape to attach to the inside of the drawers.  What a difference, no one can see all the little odds and ends that I keep close at hand when I sew but I do not use often enough to keep on the counter top.

I think aprons are very Farm Girly but so this post is really Farmgirl worthy, I thought I would share some very Farmgirl worthy reading material.
And because I have had these books and the MaryJanesFarm publication is my favorite, and I follow all the Farmgirl blogs,  I thought it was time to sign up to become part of the Farmgirl Sisterhood. I do not have my sisterhood number yet because I just signed up today.  I expect I will able to share that with you next week.  

Many Blessings from our home in the woods!

Linking up with:
  

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Sunday Praise

Happy Sunday morning!  Wishing you many happy hours and blessings throughout your day.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Re-purposing and Using What I Have

Happy Friday!  I have a couple of things to share with you this evening.  I am still in the process of putting my sewing/craft area back together and I thought I would share with you some of the things that I am using for storage this time around.  A couple of years ago my Father in Law gave the hubs an old gun cabinet to keep the hunting rifles in.  He had bought it at a garage sale for five dollars.  Hubs used it for a couple of years but this past year he built himself some beautiful wall mounted gun cases so this cabinet was just sitting around.
The pictures above and below are the before pictures.  Well you knew that didn't you?
The above picture includes the first shelf hubs cut to fit inside.  If you sew or quilt, think fat 1/4's.
Hubs even sanded and put the primer on for me.  The inside is a very light green.  I was hoping to be able to get a picture so you could see the groves in the back of the piece.  But my area is downstairs and has florescent lights that I have yet to figure out how to take a good picture under.  And I could not figure out how to take a picture without my reflection showing up in the glass.
The knobs are from Hobby Lobby, not that you can really see how cute they are.
Top Shelf
As you can see I still have a lot of room.  I have sorted my fabric in groups.  My favorite 30's reproductions on the top shelf.  The next shelf holds the civil war fabrics I am collecting for a quilt and the rest are sorted by color or collections.
As you can see the bottom is not really a drawer.  Since I took this picture I replaced this basket with two smaller ones because the front would not close properly.  I have smaller quilting templates stored in the baskets.

I also painted an old dresser with the same black paint.  I know when I got the dresser I took a before picture but it has been a couple of years and I cannot find it.  Hubs had to do a lot of work on it.  He had to replace a couple of drawer bottoms and also a couple of the drawer runners.  But it was free, free, free!  Again the hubs gave it a good sanding for me and primed it.  These things have needed done for a while so after the floor was down he decided he needed to give me a jump start.  Again the lighting does not make for a great picture. This is also the same green behind the other piece. 
The next is a close up of the knobs that I got at Hobby Lobby.
I used Valspar Satin paint.  I have not tried the chalk paint that everyone seems to be using. This dresser holds larger pieces of fabric and some Block of the Month kits.   I still have some organizing and some wall decor that needs done.  I will try to figure out what setting on my camera I need to use for some clearer pictures of the dresser in the future.  Looking forward to my weekend and plan on visiting the Friday night link ups below.  Blessings from our house in the woods!
vif187

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A Good Book

Read a good book lately?  I picked this one up at the library a couple of weeks ago.  The story takes place in the U.P., Michigan's upper peninsula.  Hubs and I love to vacation along Lake Superior so the title got my attention.  After I read the back flap about the author I knew we had ate at the diner that she runs, which has become one of our favorite stops when we are north.  If you live in Michigan and love to read, this is a must.  And if you do not live in Michigan and want a good read, this is a must for you also.  If you have read a good book lately, please share.  Have a great evening!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Organizing

I am using things I have on hand and shopping at my favorite resale shops in search of things to organize my sewing/craft area with.  I picked this old mug holder up a couple of weeks ago for two dollars
.  I already had some spray primer and spray paints that I had bought when they were on clearance a year or so ago.  I picked out colors that I thought were pretty and I might use one day.
The top was missing a wooden button or finial of some sort so I dug through my vintage buttons, cut the shank off the back of one and glued it on.
I am using this pretty, pink painted mug holder for all my paper scissors.
I hope to have some more storage ideas to share with you later in the week.  I am just happy that I was able to upload some pictures without getting a prompt that I was out of picture space.  Thanks Cindy Bee and everyone from Cindy's site for the info on where to go for this.  I am saving the info for now,  I want to see if I can continue on without paying for the picture space.  Have a great evening!



sew many ways

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Sunday Praise

Good Morning!  Wishing you a beautiful Sunday and many blessings!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Here is the Problem

I have pictures saved ready to download and share with you.  I was going to link up to the Farmgirl Friday Party and Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Party.  I do not have any space left on the Picasa web albums. I tried to figure out how to delete pictures from it so I could add new pictures to it.  Not sure what I am suppose to do.  Do I have to buy more space?  I spent a lot of time that I am suppose to be using sewing because it is also the Friday Night Sew In.

Handmade by Heidi


I am going to use the rest of the evening to get sewing supplies together for a Saturday sew in at my best friends house.  I may get some sewing done tonight, but I do not expect there will be a lot done.  I was able to upload one picture.  These are the fabrics I was planning on sewing tonight.
I must get at it.  I have wasted way too much time trying to figure out this picture problem.  If anyone can give me guidance it would be appreciated.  Have a great evening!  Blessings from our home in the woods!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Sunday Praise



Have a blessed day!  Love from our home in the woods.

Friday, March 9, 2012

A Gift

Wanted to share the gift I received from daughter number two last weekend.
I have her resting in my china cabinet among the tea cups and saucers.  My daughter bought her for me because she said the face reminded her of a picture she had seen of me as a little girl.  I think it is the hair cut and blue eyes, certainly cannot be the fat cheeks.  Just saying.  Happy Friday, so glad it is finally here.  Blessings from our home in the woods.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Reading Challenge Book Two

Time to give a report on the second book I have read for the reading Challenge over at Beth Fish Reads.  The book I read this past week had a creepy crawly in the title so I could link up to that list.
Plan Bee is the third book in a series by Hannah Reed.  The main character in the book is Story Fisher, who got the nickname Story from telling so many stories as a child.  She is a bee keeper and a store owner in the small town of Moraine.  I fell in love with the characters in the first book Buzz Off and am still enjoying them in book three.  They are a delightful bunch of very often funny people, although they are serious about their endeavors in life.  I do not think I have read a chapter in these books that there is not a laugh to be had at the predicaments that half of the characters get themselves in. And if you cannot get a good picture of P.P. Patti (Pity Party Patti) Story's next door neighbor from the description in the book I would think your imagination could use a good boost.  If you are a mystery series lover as I am, I would recommend that you give these books a try.  
Hope you are all having a great week and I will try and be back soon.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sunday Praise

We all need to ask for more love inside ourselves.  Some days in the world it is hard to love everyone we come in contact with.  I quite often need to ask God for some patience and love to make through the day.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Putting Things Back Where They Belong

Oh yeah!! It is Friday!  I am so glad the weekend has hit.  I have been working on putting my work area (or as Cindy Bee likes to call it) my studio back together.  Hubs has finished laying the flooring and I love it!
I have decided to take my time putting everything back together and paint some items that I had just put to use quickly when I found them or bought them.  Hoping to do a better job at organizing things.
The green cupboard was out of an old office hubs and I use to work at.  It was once used by our oldest daughter to keep her collectible Barbies in as a teenager (she is 31 now).  When she moved out I used it in my sewing room at our previous house for storage and the color it is now is what I painted it then.  I am going to spruce it up a little while still keeping it this color.
This is the cutting table hubs built for me this past December for my birthday.  I had a couple pinned on one of my Pinterest boards that I showed him picture of and he went to town.  The inspiration pictures are here and here.  One of these ladies has the table top on cubes the other on store bought bookshelves.  I am short, 5 foot to be exact.  So instead of trying to buy bookshelves that were the right height, hubs built some.  He also decided to just build two instead of four bookshelves so there is some overhang in case I would want to sit at the table to do other projects.
He built the shelving on each side differently.
He also helped me to cover the top with some vinyl covered fabric.
This side holds all of my sewing, quilting books and magazines that are in some black magazine holders.  I have not filled the other side yet, still have to dig into everything that is piled in the grands playroom that is right next to my work area.
Hooking up with the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop over at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House.  Thought I would share with everyone where I do my quilting, apron making and other farmgirl crafts.
Have a great Friday and blessings from our home in the woods!