Saturday, November 30, 2013

With my needle ~

...a small sampling 
of what my needle has been doing these past few days:



these will be made into spice sachet pillows for the open house
which, (unbelievably) is a week from today ~


leaping deer

glad tidings

woods-y home

So....what's in your sewing basket?

Support your local Small Businesses today!!!

* Blessed be *
 Lori

Friday, November 29, 2013

a little black friday shopping ~

I'll be doing a little black friday shopping today ~
need some supplies to finish up a couple of things for the 
Christmas Open House which is only almost a week away!

my first stop:
Fabric Shopping ~

If I can't find what I need in my overflowing boxes, bins and shelves of fabrics...
then I
 just. don't. need. it.

next stop ~
Magazines and Books:

every category you could possibly think of ~
 home decor, quilting, painting, drawing....this list is endless.

 I could use some sewing notions too...

threads, buttons, ribbons & rug hooks
all at my disposal!

 I need some stuffing too.
hmmm....lets see...

there are fabric scraps, old cotton batting from raggedy quilts,
and of course, baskets of sawdust.

 and lets not forget to hunt for some antiques ~
this section offers pin keeps, scissors and such ...




lots & lots of 'stuff' to be found here ~
where am I shopping today?
why, my own sewing room, if you haven't guessed by now....

no, I won't be supporting any big-name stores today.
no malls or crowds.
no having to spend my hard earned money 
on the ridiculous price of gasoline to burn it up waiting in traffic ~

I'll recycle yet again and feel so good about doing that...
I'll visit my fields and woods to gather finds, 
and will rely on my own farm for inspiration for creating gift for my friends & family.

Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do ~
or Do without.

...that's my black friday motto!

* Blessed be * 
Lori

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Taking a moment ~


...To offer my Thanks to all of you who have supported what I do 
and who I am in the past year ~

Wishing you ALL a most heartfelt wish for a Happy Thanksgiving !!!




To celebrate with my Family,
the shop here at the farm
 will be CLOSED this weekend and will reopen with our 
Christmas Open House
 on December 7th ~
...hoping to see you then!

* Blessed be *
 Lori

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Baby ~ it's C O L D outside


Needing to don a pair of these today!

red longjohns

it's freezing cold & rainy today ~
one of those days where my Mom says:
"it's a good day for chicken soup"...

I agree.
but
I'll wait until after the Big Bird is carved ~ 
...then the soup-making will commence!

Hoping you're all warm & toasty wherever you are :)

* Blessed be * 
Lori

Monday, November 25, 2013

Just Listed on Ebay ~


~ Holly Basket Sampler Box ~
from Notforgotten Farm©

6" round x 3" high

original ooak ~ signed and dated
kindly visit my AUCTION

* Blessed be * 
Lori

Sunday, November 24, 2013

A Wonderful Class!

A full house in the shop yesterday for Nancy's
 Burlap Wreath & Herbal Salve class!

Nancy, Heather, Jonette & Gail listening intently to Nancy's herbal expertise ~

 She talked about all of the herbs that we used in the healing salve, 
...and the history of the herbs as well ~

Nancy melted the base for the salve in the crockpot and as it melted, 
we then moved onto the wreath class...


great job Nancy!

 Nancy had prepared all of the supplies ahead of time for us
and brought her wreath model for us to see...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin, Jane & Pat
wrestling with their burlap...
I must confess it was a little tricky at first, 
but patient teacher Nancy assured us all we could do this!

"is this right?....how did she do it? halp!!!"

slowly, with many trials false-starts, 
...our wreaths came together....

Heather, Sharon & Gail

Nita, Flea & Pat making their burlap wreaths ~
 talented hands...
always busy with something to do ~

Jane's beautiful hands ....
 of course we had to be fortified,
so there was plenty of food ~


Thank you girls, for the treats!!!
Nancy brought along some drieds from her gardens for us to adorn our wreaths with ~

beautiful basket!
 Sweet Jane posing with the finished wreath ~

Hi Jane!
 and equally-as-sweet Jonette with hers ~

Hi Jonette!
my Thanks to all of you for coming to this class, it is always so fun to be with you all ~
and special Thanks to dear friend Nancy...xoxoxo

the next class is on January 18th and is the Holly Vine Wool Applique mat class that I'll be teaching ~
you can see the project model and more info by clicking on my 'classes' link on my sidebar.

I am hoping to add another sampler to EBAY this evening, 
 ~ in the meantime the one that I have up now is ending soon :)

Enjoy this C O L D Sunday my friends,
and those in the path of the storms, my warm thoughts are with you all ~

* Blessed be *
 Lori

Friday, November 22, 2013

MORE little stitches ~


I'm So happy with the responses & emails 
that you all have sent me regarding my last post!
(and yes, Ginny C. I enjoy the process AND the outcome!)

so I thought I'd show a little more of how I do this...
(I'm working on a video tutorial too)

So as you can see, I have drawn a shape directly onto my Cupboard Cloth 
(our hand dyed osnaburg) and have begun stitching tiny little x's with one strand of DMC floss ~
working from left to right, making half stitches, then coming back right to left to cross back over...


sorry about the blur, but you can see the top row here where I've done my half stitches to the right
and am coming back to make the x's...

can you see that my x's are not even?
not counted, 
...just using my eye but trying to keep the x's and rows somewhat even...


I've switched the DMC floss colors here, to add interest to the finish ~

this will be a basket of holly when finished,
and will top a fabric covered paper mache box as a completed project.


a little more work to go ~

here is the finished (stitching only) cat pocket that I showed yesterday:


Old Friend

here is a good close up of my un-counted stitches!!
can you see my mistakes??
GOOD! ha!
that's the fun of this ~ there are mistakes!! 
(and I love them)


some of my x's don't even 'meet up' with their neighboring stitches ~ but that's ok...
 what a wonderful look this has ~
I am seriously addicted to this right now!

I used a darker thread to outline his eyes to make them a little more pronounced, 
and stitched him some whiskers too...

here kitty kitty....
I hope you're enjoying seeing this process
as much as I am enjoying sharing it with you!

I am working on more models and am hoping to release this line of simple patterns by December 1st ~
Thanks for all of your kind words and for allowing me to follow my muse :)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tomorrow is Nancy's Burlap Wreath & Herbal Salve class here in the shop ~
the class is FULL! (yay!)
I know we will have a ton of fun, and I'll take pics for you too...


Have a wonderful day my friends ~
* Blessed be * 
Lori

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Little Stitches ~


I'm working on more of my "freehand' cross stitch pieces ~
this is what I've finished thus far :


The Sparrow
I decided to make this one into a pocket ~
tucked in some of our guinea hen feathers and an early photo of a young girl...


sweet & simple

I backed and lined the pocket with civil-war ear reproduction cotton fabrics
added a strap of the same and attached two old buttons...


finished
 I'm almost done stitching the next one,
this time a cat motif taken from an early hooked rug that I'm sure you'll all recognize...


tiny little x's
 'Old Friend'

hundreds of freehand stitches
 I've found this way of stitching to be extremely relaxing.
very forgiving too,
 and it doesn't hurt the fact that I
 L O V E 
the primitive & naive look when I'm finished...

I simply pencil in a shape that I want, like the sparrow above, or this cat for example,
and then I just begin filling it in with cross stitches...
no they aren't counted.
no they aren't even.
no, they aren't even straight...
and then again:
yes, it is very crude looking, 
yes it is fun & easy to do!

it combines the look of an early cross stitch or schoolgirl sampler,
yet it isn't as difficult to do because there is absolutely no counting involved... 
you just 'eyeball' the size of your "X" ~ you just want to fill in the motif and/or letter with the x's...
that;s all!
Now I know this isn't for everybody, and it's not anything 'new' or 'improved' either...
it has been done for many years ~ 
...and I am smitten.

I'm thinking of offering some of these as patterns to folks who would like to try it ~ 
super simple, easy to read instructions and directions...



almost finished ~

I have a couple more rough drafts to do, and some more models to make before I offer them ~
I'm thinking I'll offer pockets like these, some smaller & differently shaped pockets, some hanging ornies and of course pin pillows ~

let me know what you think about this, I'd love to hear what you have to say!

* Blessed be *
 Lori

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

A Birthday Wish ~

To a devoted Dad ~

Peter & Hannah 

... to the loving caretaker to All or our fur & feathered Friends ~

Nocchi, Daisy, Buddy & Lazy with Pete

 ~ to thee most hard-working Man I've ever known,,,

my woodsman ~

to my best friend & partner for life...
 the person who holds it all together for us ~
my Hero,
my husband...

Peter, Hannah & me
Wishing you a VERY Happy Birthday ~

all my love,
all my life.


* Blessed be * 
Lori

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Sweet Treats ~

it's that time of year ~
time again to start preparing for Thanksgiving Day & Christmas 
and
everything that goes along with...
...including the baking ~

I usually start dreaming of my mom's peanut butter fudge, or her molasses cookies 
when the weather hints of changing her summer cottons to her winter woolies...
actually, I dream about them all through the year.


little baking table

I've mentioned before that my mom's heritage is Pennsylvania German, or PA Dutch...
she was born in Harrisburg PA and grew up on the outskirts close to Lancaster.

she & her family moved to Bridgeport CT,
and that's where I was born.

all the ingredients ready...

 I remember how my aunts, Mim & Dot, 
...along with my mom would drive to PA to visit their relatives when I was young
and how I hated when she left because I missed her so very much.
but
I also knew that upon her return
she would bring me back candy.
not any candy, but PA Dutch candy!

watermelon slices, clear-candy pops, all sorts & licorice...
and of course, hands-down-thee-best,
C H O C O L A T E


some of my early molds & cutters...
 she would also bring home fresh-baked goodies too ~
wet-bottom shoo-fly pie, peanut butter cookies, whoopie pies 
and fried apple-cakes that were small & tiny and just the perfect size for my little hand....


a dusting of freshly fallen flour...
 I love reminiscing about those days now...
although mom still makes us peanut butter fudge and molasses cookies each year...
still using the same old water-glass to cut out the circles of cookie dough.


~ my small wooden woodsman springerle cookie mold, tin star, flower & tree cutters ~
 when I gather all of my ingredients together for a morning of baking,
I choose carefully...
I want to keep that feeling of homemade alive within me & my family.

...so I use old my egg beaters, butter paddles & wooden rolling pins.
I use our fresh chicken eggs and whole spices ~

beautiful star anise on one of my old butter paddles
 I want to make memories for Hannah & Peter
and for the many friends we have,
I want them to have a happy memory of being here...
being ~
H O M E

colored sugar & sprinkles for a festive touch ~
 I turn to my OLD favorite recipes...
the ones found in a yellowed book that I've had since childhood ~
one that shares secrets of my family's baking history...
recipes with intriguing names like
Christmas Biscuits
Moravian White Christmas Cookies
and
Gutmusser's Apple Cake


my favorite little cookbook
 actually,
I have three of these little cookbooks ~
each one a little different than the next
but
all three dear to me ~

 ~ baking memories ~
 I'm sure that each of you reading this has their own special recipes ~
some old, some new...
and here is a very simple one from me to you:

Graham Cracker Cherry Chip Blondies
1 box graham cracker crumbs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup maraschino cherries, chopped

mix cracker crumbs and condensed milk
stir in chocolate chips & cherries
pour into a greased glass baking dish and bake at 350* for 35 min.
check with a toothpick for doneness and then dust with a little powdered sugar.


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enjoy!

* Blessed be * 
Lori