Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Saying Goodbye is never easy ~

My Sweet Tippy...
the big, beautiful girl that helped to heal my heart 16 yrs ago
crossed over the Rainbow Bridge into the Summerland yesterday...
....my heart is broken again.
Tippy & baby Iggy


Always ready to snuggle or take a nap in her antique cradle in my sewing room ~
her loud purr was so comforting to hear.




I could always see love in her big owl-like eyes
Always in our hearts, we'll see you again my gentle kitty


we will forever miss you!!
please give our love to Samson, Buster, Marmalade
....and our other beloved friends there with you for us!
Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Changing Gears a bit....

Hi Folks!
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Hoping you are all enjoying your families, friends and  picnic food :)
We'll be celebrating quietly, no fireworks or parades....just nice & peaceful here at the farm!

I've been working on so many Hallowen-related items for the Ghoultisde show lately, that I needed to switch to something else for a bit ~!

So I dug out my cotton fabrics, favorite wools...
grabbed my needle, scissors and thread and started on this applique project..




the picture above shows the colors truer...but they are browns, khaki... blacks, blues white & beiges.
the cotton fabrics are Civil War era reproductions (fitting for Memorial Day) and the wools are from Rebecca Erb (as-is) and hand dyed wools from Mary Henck (Mary's Wool Garden, here in VA)





I don't use pins to hold my pieces in place, instead I use my trusty stapler!
...I'm still playing with the arrangement, but you get the gist of the design...
I will back this with stained osnaburg, plain & simple...
then stitch an indigo blue repro calico on for a nice, skinny binding.




This will be a pattern available soon...

NOW here's the fun part that I want YOU to share in :
I haven't come up with a name for this pattern yet...
So, I'm asking you all for your input...help me name this pattern!
Just leave me a comment on this post, with your best name(s) for this design...
leave as many names as you can come up with ~
I will pick from the pattern names submitted, and the one I love best will be the name of the Pattern!
AND, the winner will receive a copy of the pattern as a token of my thanks :)

So, put your creative thinking-caps on and play along!

Thanks my sweet Friends!!


Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Friday, May 25, 2012

only a mother could love...or perhaps a prim lover??


auction is ending tonight, in about 1/2 an hour...
what a hoot she is!!! and she is SO excited! she just told me that she will even hoe the garden for her new keepers! WOW! I think I might keep here here!

thanks for your bids!!!
( I cannot WAIT for you to see the next doll)
...here's a hint:
What has four legs, a long tail and eats (well, plays with) mice???
watch my auction this Sunday to find out!
(of course I'll preview him here first)

 




Blessings from the Farm! Lori

Fore & Aft ~

Here's out little bathroom before I got the urge to paint a mural above the wainscoting ~

BEFORE




BEFORE





BEFORE




and here is how it looks now ~

AFTER




AFTER




AFTER





of course I had to incorporate little white farmhouses, curly willow trees, folk art bushes and rolling hills into my work :)


not finished *tweaking* yet, and then I still have to make the shade & curtains...

do you like the mural? tell me what you think!!
(somehow, the room feels bigger to me now!)

TGIF!!!

Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Thursday, May 24, 2012

A Fabric Finish & What's on my Frame ~ and other stuff...

Thought I would share a fantastic finish with you...
I received an email from sweet Pat ~ she said in her email, how pleased she was with my new fabric that she ordered from Spoonflower ~

she also sent along these snaps of a project she stitched up,
...backing her work with my "Sew Primitive' fabric...
here's the front with her wonderful stitching ~


&
here is the back showing my fabric ~
I'm so happy to know that my fabric is being used!
how cute is this????




Many thanks, Pat ~ for sharing with me and for your kindest words....
it makes me feel so good to know so many of you out there love the same things I do!

AND
I received a fat 1/4 of my new Sepia Faktur Bird fabric from Spoonflower today!!!!
I LOVE L O V E Love it!!!!

I think I'll be using this to back some of my pinkeeps as well....
what do you think?


Iggy says he likes it...
(although, he is thee least pickiest cat who's ever owned me)

comfy Ig???


...checking it out a little more....


and here's what's STILL on my frame...
remember this??

I would have generally had something this size (approx. 7" x 7") finished by now,
but
I was detoured into revamping our bathroom...
(ya know how ya just sit there...lookin' around???...TMI?? LOL)
so I decided to paint colonial murals onto my upper walls...

I took 'before' snaps, and will share the whole SHEBANG with you in a couple of days...
not only am I doing that, but I bought some AWESOME vintage embroidered fabric from etsy to make a roll-up shade and new curtains from...

I can't wait for the mail-lady to deliver the goods!!!

Ok, I'm off to the kitchen...
making home-made Chinese food for us tonight-
Sticky White Rice
Stir Fry Veggies w/Shrimp
and
Shrimp Rolls!!!

hoping you all have a pleasant eve ~
Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Mantle Redux

Good Wednesday Morning my Friends ~

...another soggy day here at the farm...
yesterday was a mixed bag of hot sun early on, then wonderful thunderstorms in the aft ~

The power went out for a short bit so I decided to change out my Keeping Room's mantle
(again)

remember a couple of posts ago ~ i changed the rugs and mentioned that I needed to 'tone-down' the blue paint on the mantle a bit?

(you can see the brightness of the blue in the photo below)


well I did & here is the result:





Here's what I did:

I took a small bottle of
Folk Art Antiquing Gel Medium (Dark Brown) and a sponge brush ~
watered down the medium just a tad, and then splotched (real professional word, huh?) it on all over the blue paint & wood...




then I took a damp paper towel and smeared the medium around into the nooks and crannies of the wood, architecture of the mantle and especially onto the blue paint...

I let it dry a bit, then took a dry paper towel
 (ok...many dry paper towels)
and wiped away the rest of the medium.



I let that dry for a couple of hours with the floor fan and then I took brown shoepolish and polished the entire thing...let that set up for a bit, then brushed the whole mantle with a shoe brush ~
bringing a mellow glow to the finished work.
(whew!)

Lots of elbow grease, but I love how it looks now ~
let me know what you think about it?

(the two larger black dolls are from The Burlap Owl, the white prairie doll I purchased at Millstone Mercantile...the printed rabbit is from the Fishersville Antiques show ~ and I made the rest)
((the hooked HOME SWEET HOME rug is from Sherry Kristoff))

Many thanks for the encouraging emails about my new fabric design!!!!

Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

New fabric design added to my Spoonflower shop ~

Hi Folks!
just a quick post to share a new fabric design in my Spoonflower shop ~
click HERE to see it


and, while you're there, please visit Robin's new Spoonflower shop too!!
click HERE.
Congrats to you Robin, on your first design...
it's sew sweet!

Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

New Plantings & Beautiful Handwork

Hello Friends!
and happy Monday to you ~

I took a drive out to a local nursery yesterday to pick up some new plants for
a little raised bed that Peter built for me next to the front porch :

chartreuse & cinnamon Coleus ~




chocolate mint, petunias & zinnias ~





their color combination makes me happy!!





no farmhouse proch would be complete without a huge boston fern
(mother's day gift from peter, hannah & skyler)






...or a pink geranium to tempt the hummingbirds :)






here's a shot of the porch-in-progress:
...notice the mud on the concrete?






this is why there is mud on the concrete!






~ so pretty & old fashioned ~





and,
speaking of old fashioned, look at this needleweaving!!




worked on homespun linen using cotton threads...
in tone-on-tone colors....




I can't remember where i got this from (Joan? Mom?)
but I've been studying it closely....





whomever's hands started this so very long ago were skilled beyond measure ~
each little stitch is perfect :)


I'll use this as a teaching tool to refine my handwork
... and hopefully one day I'll be able to create something like this for an heirloom piece ~


Hoping you all have a beautifully creative Monday my Friends...
Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Prudence needs a home....

Up for adoption:
Prudence the Pumpkin Head.

you can read more about her
HERE




Blessings from the Farm!
Lori

Simple Sunday Pleasures

Hello Friends!
hoping your Sunday is a quiet, peaceful & creative one ~
I've been digging in the dirt...


our potato patch is now yielding tender new potatoes ~
just perfect for a little butter, salt & pepper.
I did make German potato salad with these last night to bring to Bea's house for supper...





here are a few snapshots of Bea's humble little farm...




|isn't this clever?
she took a PVC pipe, some old farm implements and made a Sunflower
...and a place to grow her Hens & chicks!!!




here's a closer look:





here's Bea's HUGE rosemary bush,...so pretty!




I Love tractors!
(yes, I drive them and yes, they ARE sexy!!)
This one is Bea's fathers...his name is Albert and he is quite the gardener :)





here's just a small portion of ONE of his gardens...
not sure of how many he has, but he has thee greenest thumb !!





Nature is beautiful, isn't it?






and here are a few shots of inside her home...
Bea loves to decorate with found treasures ~

(the portraits are her ancestors & I love them)



 here's a corner cupboard in her kitchen, that displays her love for all things old...









This is Bea's kitty-girl, 'Binx' ~
she has been sleeping in one of her plants on the kitchen windowsill!!!!







a collection of ball jars on a shelf that Albert built for her kitchen...
SO prim!!!







another little shelf built by Bea's sweet father for her....






and yet another little rack built by his hands,
this one holds her rolling pins & wooden spoon collection ~

notice the hooked rug?

Bea is an accomplished primitive rug hooker and has many of them in her home...
this one is of a little Robin ~



Bea sells her rugs and primitive jar candles under her name,
"Glory Bea Primitives" on ebay.

Hoping you enjoyed today's post,
I'll be enjoying my Sunday by decorating my front porch!!!
(I'll share pictures of it with you tomorrow)


Blessings from the Farm!
Lori