The Country Mill ~ Book Signing

Hi Folks!

Well, the end of our time here in CT is coming to an end ~

a bittersweet time for us...

hate to leave my our hometown and family....

but

the anticipation of going home is always the sweet part.

Here are a few snaps that Hannah took for me when we were at The Country Mill on Friday last ~

Linda Manna's picture-perfect shop

the porch of my dreams

Old Glory

a beautiful welcome to Linda's shop through her beloved little garden

ok ~ so compared to Linda, I am a giant. I have to bend down to give here a squeeze,
but a hug from my sweet friend is well worth the effort!!

Linda prepared a wonderful spread for us with teas, lemonades ~ fruit salad and sweet treats :)

here I am!

Linda carries many primitive/colonial/country decor items in her shop,
and she has always been true to her beloved community by sharing local artisans wares ~

I could have moved into this cubby/pantry filled with needful things ~

be still my heart ~

candles, lamps, textiles...pillows soaps and all kinds of good things!

Linda behind her shop's front counter ~

signing one of my books for a friend ~ notice that Linda also carries beautiful jewelry too!!

I am fortunate to have Linda as a true friend ~

her hospitality and personality are beyond sweet & I cherish her friendship.

If you get a chance to visit her in beautiful, historic Newton/Sandy Hook Connecticut,

please do ~ and tell her I sent ya!

pardon the knobby knees please ;)

Hannah & I will be leaving CT on Tuesday ~

heading back home to Virginia where my true love waits for me...

and my kittens. and puppy....

donkeys, chickens.

sheep, peacock ~ guinea hens.

* Blessed be * 

Lori

Guilford, Connecticut

Hannah & I are enjoying our time here in Guilford, CT today ~

visiting family and places that we hold in our memories of living in this quintessential

New England town ~

We come to this graveyard every time we are here...

not only to visit the site of where Peter's mom is lated to rest,

but to take in the tranquility and serenity of this old old place....

this is one of the oldest graveyards in CT ~ 

 the towns of Guilford (Peter's home town)

and Stratford (my home town) 

~ are presently celebrating their 375th year anniversary.

a befitting way to honor the foundling families we thought,

to visit their graves....

headstone carvings are what initially inspired my love of folk art when I was very young...

very well-known family here in Guilford ~

Hannah reading the headstones...

beautiful carvings

the soapstone or slate headstones are my very favorite ~

unbelievably-precise hand carving

old stones line the wall surrounding the graveyard...

early homes in the background of this photo below ~

once inhabited by the folks now in this graveyard a crossed the street from them...

Please come out & visit with me TOMORROW!!!!

I will be at the Country Mill in Newtown from 11:00 ~ 2:00

signing copies of my new book:

Summer at Notforgotten Farm

(link above on right sidebar)

see you tomorrow!

* Blessed be *

 Lori

Oh Connecticut ~

Hello Folks!

Oh what a feeling it is to be back 'home'

{home is where your heart is}

Hannah & I arrived on Sunday evening

 ~ after a pleasant drive up from CT...

We are enjoying the beautiful sunny & cooler weather,

although this evening (tuesday) it will become more humid.

We went to the beach last night, 

...ate lobster rolls for supper and collected sea glass from the shoreline...

This morning, 

we woke up at my Mom's house to another beautiful day 

and thought I would share her clematis vine with you:

pretty purple

these grow in the back yard of mom's house

...and you might remember from my postings last year,

how Mom feeds the squirrels in her neighborhood?

yep...they love her ~

~ we love them :)

here is another little white squirrel that plays in her backyard 

~ near the stone walls where I grew up...

h e l l o!

 too cute ~

eating a beech nut he found....

bottle-brush tail :)

 I guess he wore himself out playing & eating,

because the scampered over to the deck in the back and layer flat-out in the sunshine!

he stretched, he yawned ~

... his little eyelids became heavy...

tiny-toes

 we threw some pizza crusts out for him after a bit, 

he gathered them up and off he went ~

see you later!!!!!

We'll be heading up to Guilford, CT on Thursday to visit Peter's side of the family ~

Don't forget to come and visit with me at my book signing on friday!!!

* Blessed be * 

Lori

Happy Summer!

to all of you ~

Happy Summer, Solstice, Midsummer, or Litha ~ 

...whichever you prefer to celebrate :)

~ a Midsummer Night's Dream ~

 ~ tonight at sunset, Peter & I will light a bonfire and the torches ~ 

we will watch the fireflies float up to the stars and listen to the symphony of our woods…

we will enjoy the blessings that we have together here, 

….where we love it most.

…..wishing you all brightest blessings on this first day of Summer!!

* Blessed be * 

Lori

And the WINNER is ~…..

…with a wave of my Magic Wand ~

{ok, Cyber Random Number Generator}

the winner of my little Good Witch Sampler is:

Patricia ~ Simple Pleasure

{Patricia, I will email you}

Congratulations to you Patricia!!!

me, in my nightgown ~ …again, just kidding ;)

And THANK YOU everyone for playing along, 

becoming a new follower and/or posting about my little giveaway on your blog ~

Your friendship(s) mean so much to me!!!

* Blessed be *

 Lori

Don't Forget ~

Tonight at 6:00 pm EST...

I will ask the magical

 Number Generator 

to choose who will be the lucky recipient of my 

~ Good Witch Sampler Giveaway ~

you can click on the link above this ^

 and leave your comment on the ORIGINAL post to be in the running ~

Good Luck to ALL!!!

my baby picture….just kidding ;)

IN OTHER NEWS>>>>>

I will be leaving VA and heading for CT 

on Sunday the 22nd of June

and I will return to VA on July 2 or 3rd (not sure yet)

!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

THIS MEANS:

starting today ~ If you place an order with me via phone, email, Etsy or Facebook

your order will not ship until my return...

If you aren't comfortable with this,

... you can always wait until I return home to place your order :)

I am processing the rest of this week's orders today and will get them out for you today.

After the events we had in May {jury/trial, the loss of Buddy…}

and just plain being tuckered out,

I NEED a vacation!

it will be SOOOOo good to see my Mom, Sisters and Family.

some much-needed quiet time will be spent in CT, walking the shore, visiting the graveyards, 

and designing new wonderful things for you!

~AND~

please don't forget to come by Linda's shop on the 27th so I can meet you in person!

{see my event's links on my sidebar for more info}

I'll be back tonight with the giveaway winners name!!!!!

* Blessed be *

 Lori

Needful Things ~

As a Needlewoman,

I like to show my love of handwork 

by wearing jewelry that reflects my interests ~

problem is, it's sometimes hard to find things that are 'me'…

so I make them instead.

for me AND you!

{ain't I sweet? ;)}

here are a few finished items that I've been working on

 in-between processing orders and designing ~

...these needful little things will accompany me to CT next week,

where they will be available EXCLUSIVELY at my book signing at 

The Country Mill

located at 5 Glen Road, Sandy Hook, CT ~

on Friday, June 27th from 11:00 ~ 2:00

these are my

 'Sewing Reliquaries' 

below ~

3" tall glass bottles filled with antique shell & bone baby-buttons, rusty pins, vintage hook & eyes, bits of thread….

 each Reliquary holds memories of days long ago ~

I have hand-picked the contents for each one from my collections of sewing tidbits.

silver capped w/matching bottoms

I've added tiny silver charms to each one ~

small thread spools, needle-charms, teeny strawberries and little bumbler-bees…

all things I love dearly!

I added a length of waxed flax cord so you can wear yours from your neck ~

 Here are those tiny little houses I've been stitching!

…now turned into pendants to show your love of cross stitch ~

2" square, stitched onto my hand dyed cupboard cloth & backed with hand dyed velvets ~

I had so much fun making these…

I think you'll love them!

I added antique brass thimbles to the bottom, then added brass charms...

...they make a sweet 'tinkling' sound when you move :)

these also have waxed flax cord to wear around your neck...

teeny brass skeleton key & scissor charms

~AND~

remember these?

remember I found a bunch of 

vintage crocheted window-shade pulls

 a couple of weeks ago?

well this is what they have become ~

fobs for your scissors!!

miniature skeleton keys stitch 1 over 1 on my hand dyed 40ct Old Farmhouse Linen….

 …backed with hand dyed velvets, too…

I am working on more at the moment as well,

stitching tiny spools of thread and miniature scissors for the remaining pulls :)

I will shorten the cords then attach them to my small primitive scissors ~
I may even add a few charms to these also ~

Oh I hope you can join me

 at The Country Mill!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I wanted to also say

WOW!!!!

to the response I'm getting for my little witch giveaway!!

I love sharing things with you all SO much…

...you are the reason I love to do what I do !

* Blessed be *

 Lori

A WITCHY Giveaway ~

Since I am in the throes of designing for Harvest/Hallowe'en, 

I thought I might offer a small token to you, my readers and followers ~

I've been blessed to be able to do what I love to do as a profession,

and it's because of all of you who support my work :)

SO

I am having a giveaway of my little

'Good Witch' sampler…

she was stitched onto my 28ct Old Farmhouse Linen 

using cotton threads that I over dyed myself…

i included a crescent moon & sprinkling of stars, a pumpkin by her tiny feet

and of course she holds her beloved besom (broom)

the words 'good witch' float on either side of her…

good little witch

 I chose to frame her in a beautiful, simple antique frame ~ ca. late 1800's.

this frame has a wonderful lemon-gilt paint with black accents ~

the glass was cut to fit the frame by Peter, 

and is early wavy glass that was one of the original windows here in our old farmhouse…

good luck!

outer frame measurements are approx. 6" x 8"

and the back is covered with brown paper and has a sawtooth hanger.

signed by me too ~

To enter for this giveaway, you can:

1 ~ leave me a comment here on this post 

2 ~ become a follower of my blog

3 ~ post about this giveaway on your blog

4 ~ or do all three steps above!

On friday, June 20th at 6:00 pm,

using the random number generator, 

~ I will announce the winner of my little good witch ~

Good Luck to you and Best Witches!

* Blessed be * 

Lori

Flag Day ~

Today is not just about the World Cup.

Today is 

~ Flag Day ~

click above

Fly it proudly today…

and everyday.

"I am whatever you make me, nothing more.

I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what people may become…

I am the clutch of an idea ~

and the reasoned purpose of resolution.

I am no more than you believe me to be and

I am all that you believe I can be.

I am whatever you make me, nothing more…"

~ Franklin Knight Lane 

* Blessed be *

 Lori

The Rose Moon ~

Good Morning Friends & Folk ~

thanks for all of the comments and emails regarding yesterdays' posting ~ 

and the one from 2009…

my appt. went well ~ 

just need a stronger prescription to see what I'm doing ~ is all….

the Good Doctor and I have come to terms and now we seem to have a strange friendship.

{I've come to realize he & I share the same weird sense of humor…how scary.}

Today is Friday the 13th.

and a Full Moon.

a very special day indeed, as these two occurrences don't usually come together that often.

another strange friendship-of-sorts I guess…

Last night's partial-full moon was beautiful ~

a soft, rose-hued glow from above

accompanied by the murmur of cricket-song and dance of the fireflies….

just coming up...

through the trees ~

 the Colonial AMericans called this, the full moon in June, the Rose Moon ~

as this month most all of the roses are in full bloom.

...tonight is a perfect time to make some rosewater for your bath ;)

above the barn

we also had lightening last evening, 

sometimes the sky was bright, and then pitch black…

our farmhouse

the light above the farmhouse that looks like chimney-smoke
... is actually a lightening strike I caught with my camera ~

 This morning we woke to a foggy view of our home-place ~

everything was covered in dew,

...it looks as thought the garden spiders were very busy…

there are tiny webs everywhere:

billowing in the morning breeze

triangular shaped web

only about 3" across

silken threads

the shop garden is in it's wild and wonderful glory ~

being free to produce volunteers and left un-weeded while the shop is closed…

trying to allow my winter-traumatized herbs to regain strength ~ 

...did you lose any lavender or rosemary from the harsh winter we had??

gone wild

 Lazy & Roxy were out chasing rabbits this morning ~

{{they only chase them}}

and they came back sopping wet with dew and exhausted.

good friends

 here are just a couple random snaps for you ~

angel & daylillies

my swing and tree-friend

donkeys grazing

I am still stitching a bunch of tiny little houses on Cupboard Cloth ~

but am having a little difficulty seeing...

My new glasses should be ready next week ~

I'll share snaps of them then.

Enjoy the moon tonight my friends!!

* Blessed be *

 Lori