Le Jardin

I am in garden mode this week, after all spring is bound to arrive eventually...This first is a collection I did with antique French seed labels on tins that I painted sage and cream, ooooh la la! Later this afternoon, I should have the photos done for American country garden, I've been putting off listing them because I have enjoyed seeing them on my shelf this week! Now if I can just find the fabric I want for some "garden" brooms I'm doing, I'll be good.

Churning Butter

Gloomy gloomy outside, so have to make my own sunshine, mixed up a butter yellow milk paint and covered everything I could get my hands on!

A Busy Weekend

I have certainly done my part to stimulate the economy this weekend. I think my checkbook may be smoking...Saturday was Grace's birthday. Many people seem a bit taken aback that I don't do birthday parties for my kids, I really follow my mom's way, which was to make us a bit of a queen for a day. I grew up in a family of 8 children and no money, so gifts and parties were not an option. Still, from the time I opened my eyes on my birthday, Mom made sure it was the best day ever, starting with bunny shaped pancakes, picking out the flavor of cake I wanted and getting to help bake and decorate it, getting to choose the dinner menu and not having to do dishes! To this day, birthdays have never measured up to how special she made all us kids feel. Of course, I am not as energetic as my mom, but the girls get to choose what they want to do for the day and pick their own cakes and dinner menus. Grace had a load of Christmas and birthday money from Grandma, so it was off to the mall and a day of shopping, ice cream cake and ending with dinner at the Tuscan Moon, a pretty good day for all of us! Grace proclaimed it best birthday ever, so mission accomplished.

Sunday was the Anamosa Antique Show, almost unable to go because of freezing rain, but we headed out and the roads were ok, so we made it. What a great show! So much smaller than the Collector's Eye, but all my favorite dealers were there and I filled the car with bread boards and bowls. I so have my work cut out for me now!

Fun With Feedsacks

I decided to do shapes with the feedsacks, a few lent themselves to circles, others hearts, and one star. The star was an idea from a customer, love it when I get suggestions! It turned out really good, but can't stand up like a pillow because the bottom points get all squishy. Looks pretty good on the old seive, though (the sieve is one of those "mine all mine" pieces, it has original blue paint, I just love it).

Brrrr, Hoping the Spring Lamb Time is on the Way~

Our warm winter turned normal last week and the snow is here! Windy and cold it is, but I do like my snowy photos. Here are some hearts and a lamb that makes me think of March going out like said creature.

Rearranging

Well, Santas are packed away, always a bit sad, but fun to rearrange all my shelves. My biggest decorating dilemna is that I love so many styles, the romantic whites and china in Shabby Chic, the clean lines and spacious feel of Shaker style, the cozy dark cabin primitives of the early prairie and I can even appreciate a severe modern city style. One good thing about having a shop, I can play with all the styles and never have to settle on one! I cleaned off my bookcases of all the samplers and Santas and put out blue bowls and pitchers, blue does make me happy. I switched some of the piesafe toppers, put an early dough bowl of stone fruit by the Madonna and put the pretty blue pitcher on the stair landing. That pitcher would be worth a mint, except that the spout was broken and glued back on, I spent all of $25 for it, a lot of beauty for just a few dollars. The breadboard used to be plain jane, I added the blue milk paint, of course. The little headless cherub is from a day when my dad was digging up the front flower bed and unearthed her, and started to throw her away, I immediately laid claim and she's been my kitchen angel for the past 20 years!

I Kept Thinking I Wasn't Accomplishing Anything

I've spent this week flitting from project to project, feeling like I wasn't getting anything done....until I started taking pictures. Holy cats, do I have a lot of stuff to list! You can see from the different styles, the craft ADD was in full force...