Happy New Year Everyone

Just a quick hello to wish you all a wonderful New Year. All the best. I'll be back with regular posts next week :)

Taking a Break

I'm taking a little break from my blog. It will be late September when I come back.

I will be looking forward to more Tea on Tuesday with everyone over at Kimmies :)

The Dress

Well, this is the green, Winnie the Pooh dress, finished :)

The pattern is so easy to do and turns out so cute. The dress has elastic to gather the fabric, then is sewn to the crocheted piece. Any bits of fabric can be made up using this idea! If the weather was cooler, you could add a long sleeved top and tights.










At first my gorgeous little Granddaughter didn't want her picture taken, so we got a picture of her back.


















But then, she did!


Isn't that soooo like a two year old :)








I still don't have a picture of the red topped one, using the same fabric. It is longer--half way between knees and ankles and has a pretty crocheted flower on the bodice as well as a little red ruffle on the bottom.

Wildlife

When driving home, we go through a field and the other day my Husband got some photos of a beautiful buck that casually ate around the field that borders our subdivision. Although we are in city limits, we have fields on two sides as well as a river which brings a lot of deer. They wander through our yard every evening during winter.

We also have a bear that enjoys the wild berries too. One lady told me he was a resident of the area! This photo was taken last year and maybe we'll get another one when the berries and apples are ready :) There are houses to the left and right of him and lots of buildings on top of the hill.

Tea on Tuesday........

......And it's a lovely cold drink :)

Nothing special to report today, I'm back from my visit to Vancouver Island which was just too wonderful. I will post some pics when I go over some of them.

However, I'm working on another crochet piece to sew on to a piece of Winnie the Pooh fabric, thereby making a cute little top for my Granddaughter :)


I made a red topped, longer version for a dress, but sent it home with her before I got a photo!

Join us for tea at http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Cool Cloudy Day Around The Yard

flower bed gone wild--next on the list :)

a few tomatoes, lots of plant

Smokey the cat

mock orange in the heart garden

new fence

very fragrant rose

Tea on Tuesday with Friends and Friendship Loaf

Here I am for tea :) today it is just the Vanilla Nut Cream, a black tea by Stash that I quite like.


I'm using my Mother's tea pot with the cozy she made too :) It seems to taste better when it's done in a teapot--or is that just my imagination? I'm not one for clear cups either--but then today I took this one out.


It's been a busy day going places and doing things. Getting ready for my trip to Vancouver Island!! I won't be home for tea next Tuesday, but I'll try to take some pictures and post by the next weekend.





Here are the two loaves made from my Friendship 'starter' . There are four bags left to start the cycle again. I've given all four away and will collect one from a friend when ready.


I added chopped dates, raisons, craisons, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds and a small handful of chocolate chips.





I have to say it is very yummy!!


If you would like to join us regulars for tea, check out http://wordsonpaperscraps.blogspot.com/


Leave a comment to lead us to your tea-time :)

The Rest of My Puzzle Pieces

The other seven peices to the puzzle.......


Starting at the top left and to the best my memory allows:


Bad Girls, as in the movie. I it sprayed with Glimmer Mists, added lace, which is cut in the front and laced up with embroidery silk, to look like a bodice top. Then I tucked a key into the top and put little pearls across the corner (neckline) to complete the look.


The dove piece is sprayed with Glimmer Mist, has a piece of gyproc tape on it that was pressed into the copper ink pad, then I added the leaf design using a brass template and copper embossing paste. The dove is a charm and the brad in the bottom right is hammered to look like a screw.


The little garden angel piece is stamped, clear empossed, then sponged. I crocheted a piece to put at the top that has beads and the little angel charm.


The pink one on the left was stamped, clear embossed and sponged with pink ink. I cut out the ladies, a branch, and a couple of birds from some vintage papers, adhered them to the puzzle then put crackle accents on them. When dry, I put lace over all, then added the beads and pearls.

The 'framed' piece was coloured with alcohol inks then stamped. Again, lace was added along with the corner accents to make a frame for the lady. The pearls 'hold' the lace on her hat. I wove fibres, on one side, through holes punched in the puzzle.

The second piece down on the right side has the faux silk technique, then I stamped a vintage Christmas scene, sponged and did a bit of colouring. The 'snow' accents were added with a white gel pen and three, diamond stars shine in the sky.

The bottom piece is sponged and it has copper embossing paste using the leaf template again. I used clear packing tape to take an image of a lady from a book and adhered it with modgepodge. Some little stones go across the bottom.

The last two pieces are for my puzzle, but the rest are for the ladies I'm swaping with--sure hope you like them :)

Growing Potatoes

Look what I found growing in my cupboard :) I cut the the other two thirds off and decided I'd better cook it up before I lost the whole potato!

So my breakfast consisted of sauted yam and a couple of eggs thrown in. I added a few spices and herbs--cinnamon included, it's one of my favourite spices right now, gets added to everything!

While I'm in the food mode, here is what else is growing on my kitchen table. My Daughter-in-law gave it to me--Amish Friendship Loaf. Saturday is time to bake a couple of loaves.

Makes me want to start some sour dough bread :)

Today we have sunshine and I get to enjoy it with my tea :)

This is a lovely tea given to me by my dear friend Diane aka Cameldiva. It has a pleasant, light, flavour. Very nice, wish you were here Diane to share a cuppa :)




Here is my pincushion, but the 'doily' part is not sewn onto the pink satin. I am not pleased with the way the crocheted part is up off the table. So, I'm going to make another cushion or maybe I can just remove some stuffing. I want the tips of the doily to rest on the table.


I tried lilac and pink satin and chose pink because it just seemed to look better for this one. There are little pearls all around on three of the rows, I hope you can see them.

You can find other tea drinkers at Kimmies place, http://wordsonpaperscraps.blogspot.com/

Tea on Tuesday

Oh my, I'm the one who is late today! Such a busy day for me. Mostly family stuff that was good to do, but I almost didn't get to my tea :)

It was a little gloomy here, late today, even a little sprinkle. However, I did get to go outside to drink my tea. This is a Holiday Chai, black tea, so I just had to put it into my Christmas mug! AND I am having a coconut bar--that is fast becoming my favourite :)

I have started a new project, not normal unless I have ten things on the go at once :)

Can you guess what this is? I made some of these a few years back and seeing that I'm trying to use up some of my many balls of crochet thread, thought I'd do a couple more. It's a top for a pincushion. I've also been inspired by seeing some very interesting pincushions on Ooglebloops' blog and some other blogs lately. This one is almost done, then I have to sew a satin, or some other fabric to make the pillow for it.

Please check out http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/ for the other regular tea drinkers and please leave a comment and join us :)

The Treasure of Friendship by Hallmark

A dear friend picked up this little book for me at a garage sale :)

She, who never goes to garage sales, was on holidays and 'just happened' to stop.

"As soon as I saw this" she said, "I thought of you". Isn't that just like a true friend :)






I had to show you the inside and how it is written.

All the little write-ups are by separate authors.

All the pages are framed just like this.

A precious gift that I treasure from my friend.

Tea on Tuesday

I'm out on the deck for my tea, but it is kind of cloudy now and we could get a shower soon.

That's my Christmas mug, it just is one of the nice ones to hang onto :)

with my favourite tea.

The stone is one collected from the river for painting. The scene is of the Matthew River leaving Ghost Lake. It's a lovely trip through Wells Grey Park. If you look on my website, there are some more photos of the area.

It is almost half done :) The photo below is what I'm using.

Join us for tea, on Kims blog, www.artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

and: www.artfullyooglebloops.blogspot.com/

Altered Puzzle Pieces

I thought I'd share some puzzle pieces I'm working on.

All of the pieces were sponged with ink or sprayed with glimmer mist, or both.

The one with the clock is covered with a piece of printed vellum and kind of distressed on the edges.

On the pink one with the shell bits and pearls, I used the faux silk technique. Then added a vintage sticker that comes right from Hawaii.

The green piece has been stamped with versamark and clear ep used before sponging. I used very narrow tape and micro beads on the straight edges, then added gems around the mask. The Mona Lisa eyes were set in where the mask eye was. I added the words from the Guess Who Song 'These Eyes'.

The burgundy and blue piece has vintage cowgirls. I used a piece of packing tape over a picture from a magazine, then rubbed the paper off (using water) leaving a transparent image. Then I added, with modge podge, a dried iris petal from my garden. The reddish stone was added just because I like stones :)

The top orange coloured piece was sponged, then I used a piece of lace like a stamp , dipped in versamark, pressed onto the puzzle and clear embossed.

I added some woven strips of stamped paper and some fibers. The button is from my Mothers' button box of many years gone by :) Then I added some cut out birds from Paper~Ya, an asian stamp, a rock, and bit of gold ep, at the bottom, that I impressed an asian coin.

I'll be adding some more in a few days--when they are finished :)

Tea on Tuesday and Plants to Plant

I'm having a lovely cup of my favourite licorice spice tea, out on my new front deck on a little bench by the new flowers :)

Below is a picture of the work that I'm going to do after my tea. I have some pots for the back deck that all these things are going into. Two will hang on hangers over the back of one pond. A couple small ones around the ponds and the tomatoes and some flowers in the big pots on the main deck part. Oh, and that would be Cassie, one of my helpers. Don't look too close, I shaved her and it's not perfect!

Below this, is me at the local Nursery/Golf Course having tea with a friend, who kindly took my picture--thanks Susan :) yes, I know, now I need to go change my profile pic!

Susan's blog is on my list to the left, Nice, Not Nice. I hope she joins us for Tuesday Tea.

If you are reading this, check out Tea on Tuesday at Kims http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

New Deck

Well, we have a new front porch/deck. Turned out bigger than first planned, but is a little more serviceable.


This is the view from the road.





This is how it looks as I'm standing in our driveway, looking the length of the house.




We tore the original railing off the back deck a couple of years ago and quite like it without.


I still have to get more flowers placed around the pond and a couple of big planters on the deck. Maybe we'll put some tomatoes in the big pots along with a couple of herbs and flowers.

The arbor needs replacing, but that'll have to wait a bit.

I actually used the small rototiller on two of the flower gardens. I am in the process of moving some of the flowers around and turning two flower beds into lawn.

Tea on Tuesday

Well, it is early evening and I'm just having my tea now. Such a busy day in the garden. This lovely cup of tea is compliments of a dear friend, Diane. Twinings Russian Caravan Tea--'a fragrant blend of Keemun and other fine China teas producing a light liquor with a delicate flavour'--the words on the package. Very tasty!




Last weekend I went to a garage sale and found these items for six dollars they had a lot of vintage things, some very reasonable and some more expensive. I love the Royal Albert cup/mug and the little dishes I bought to put my tea bag on because I don't always use the pot :)

Please join us for tea :) visit Kim's Blog ,
http://www. artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Flowers Everywhere

Last weekend I took the bus to Edmonton--about 14 hours drive--and on the way, I crocheted flowers for the stamping/scrapping group I was meeting. Well, these little guys are kind of addicting to make, so I did some on the way back and last week made a few more.

Although my original plan was to use them on cards or in scrapbooking, the little flowers can be put on anything you like. They look especially pretty with silk or netting behind them and a few beads here and there.




I also did some scrunchies on hair elastics.

A Whole Week Gone By

I can't believe I have not blogged for a week! Getting ready to go to Edmonton for a weekend of stamping :)




Anyway, here I am at my desk having tea today. It is quite wet outside and some higher levels even got snow! WUWT, my poor Begonias are wishing they were back at the nursery. At least I get to look at a summer photo of the deck.


The tea today is Stash, Vanilla Nut Creme. I like it straight, but the package says it is like a creamy dessert-like drink if you add milk and a sweetner. My snack is a nut/fruit mix, awesome :) The cup was a gift, right from Scotland!

Join us for tea at Kim's, http://www.artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Finished Rock

Well, this is how it is going to stay, I just accentuated the lines that border the creek, rocks and trees. I don't want to add any more.

This rock is going outside on my table to help hold napkins down when we eat out there :)

I'm posting this photo to show you what inspired me. I hope the person in cyber space will forgive me for using it. It is not used for anything except my rock. If this photo belongs to you, please leave a comment so I can direct people to your blog :)

Tuesday Tea

I'm not very imaginative today--same tea :) Licorice! The pretty cup is a gift from a friend.

My snack is yummy and I took it outside on the deck. As you can see, my gardens have not been cleaned out! But it is barely Spring here--also quite visible by the lack of leaves :)

I did 28 rows on a little sweater for my Granddaughter and then it started to cloud over and got quite chilly.

Have a look at Kim's Tuesday Tea group at http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Zentangles

After seeing Kim's (artinredwagons) Zentangles and watching the video on her blog, I thought I would try doing one. I used a rather fine tip marker and before I knew it, I was doing a bit of a scene. My computers' wallpaper right now is a lovely picture of a little stream, bubbling over and around rocks, with a few trees hanging over it.

I don't know if this qualifies as a Zentangle, but I found it extremely relaxing. I am now filling in some of the spaces which will define the trees and rocks a bit. I'm going to spend a bit of time on it tomorrow and then post another picture.

Can you see the picture evolving?

Tuesday Tea Time

Kim at artinredwagons.blogspot.com is having tea every Tuesday, come and join us. Here I am, finally, with my tea. Been a busy day with lots of interuptions--so I had a very short tea break.


This is one of my most favourite teas right now. The aroma is wonderful if you like licorice. With most teas, I need a little honey, but not this one :)
I had to have a little goodie with mine today!



I'm reading the Blue Zones right now. I skipped to the chapter that tells where people in America are living longer, healthier lives. That place is Loma Linda--60 miles east of Los Angeles.