~ Friendsheep ~

♥ ❤ ♥ ❤ ♥ ❤ ♥

 what would we do without our friends?

 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑

"Friendsheep"

 a cross stitch pattern from Notforgotten Farm™

model stitched on 30 count mystery linen,

using DMC threads ~ 2 over 2

stitch count: 61w x 46h

now listed in my Etsy shop for your stitching amusement....

click HERE for PDF/Download

click HERE for MAILED/Paper pattern

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori

~ Crafty Saturday and so much more! ~

~ Hello Friends and Folk ~

... Happy Sunday to you all!

We enjoyed a fun day here in the Studio yesterday ~
I can't tell you how much I enjoy this group of girls ♥ when we get together,
... we just never know what will happen!

Janice and Anita have been knitting and crocheting.
I have mentioned how many times before that I cannot knit but I can crochet {a little}?
well Janice took me under her wing yesterday and showed me how to crochet...
but we'll get to that in a little bit ~

Here is my sweet Janice working on the cutest little crocheted trees:

she brought along with her some extra yarn and hooks for me to try...

and knowing how much I want to make a granny square afghan, 

she also brought this book for me to look through :)

here she is showing her knitting skills below ~

wow!!

my dear Anita worked her needles too...

these two sisters have such talent ~

when this Tribe of creative women gathers together, 

they bring with them more than their bags and baskets of works-in-progress...

the always bring with them cheerfulness, friendship and positiveness ~

and I love them for that.

...way to go Anita!

our talented and funny friend Sharon can do so many types of crafting...

beading, needlework, and...

~ knitting and crocheting too!
{I can't knit with two straight needles, let alone two needles attached to each other!}

just look at the beautiful hats she is knitting for a very lucky recipient ~

again, here are more of their bags and baskets full of supplies, 

and projects for show 'n tell....

we don't travel lightly!

Miss Joan was working on a 'secret' project that she kindly declined to share, 

but you will all see it soon enough.

in the meantime, 

she brought along a few of her own antique needlework for us to drool over ~

I just love the old motto samplers...

Joan loves to hunt for needlework treasures {don't we all?}

and came upon this set of 4 needlepointed coasters ~

we never know what our wonderful friend Nancy will bring along with her...

but we can expect nothing but stitchy-goodness of some kind!

here is her applique from Rebeka L. Smith's newest book:

Nancy loves her horses and this project resembles

 her gorgeous Frisian-girl "Vrome"

see those wrap bracelets? yep. Nancy made them...

our entire tribe is addicted to beading now too ~ we love everything! 

I worked on making necklaces from some older embroidery bits & bobs

that I have had stored away for a couple of years ~

see? I can crochet! I crocheted the necklace portion for all 3 of these!

{ok, so it's just chain stitch crochet, but I added BEADS to that one! LOL

here is the results of my 'class' with Janice yesterday ~
my very. first. EVER....granny square!
made with beautiful worsted yarn and a larger hook...
{and I just realized it is the color of a granny smith apple hahaha!}

with Janice's guidance and patience
{I can be very trying as I am not a good student lol}
I got the hang of it... 



so I decided to try another one while she was by my side ~
I doubled some Valdani size 8 pearl cotton,
grabbed my smaller hook and made another granny square!
YAY for me!!!!!

while us 'girls' were in the Studio "playing"
my dearest was in the Shop "working" ~
here he is packaging the remainder of club kits that will ship out on Tuesday ~
{thank you Peter}

as I mentioned, we never know what a day together will bring ~

Nancy showed us how to make Elderberry Syrup on the woodstove !

Nancy is a plethora of knowledge when it comes to organics, herbs, 

homeopathy and Natural healing ~

...simmering the berries and cinnamon ~ can you smell that? mmmmmmm

straining out the juice after cooling...

and voila! the best natural remedy to keep on hand
when one feels like they're getting sick...
Nancy says: 
"its high in Vit C and has antiviral properties that help fight cold, flu and URIs. 
Also helps with coughs and congestion as it is an expectorant. Take 1 to 2 teaspoons 3 times a day when you feel "something" coming on and during an illness...".

thank you Dear Friend ~

after a nice lunch of split pea and ham soup, 

crusty bread, salad, globe grapes cheese, crackers and bran muffins,

we got back to work...but not before checking in on Nicky, 

Nancy's little old corgi-girl who is deaf ~ she likes to sleep at our feet under our work table...

she is so sweet ~

here is Nicky's brother Jack ~ always looking for a treat!

sweet boy!!

I love this photo of my girls below!

Cannot wait till next weekend to be together again ~

xoxoxox

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ love notes ~

 it's the last day of January ~

and it is C O L D.

staying indoors, cooking hearty meals on our always-burning woodstove...

baking sweet treats for my beloved and keeping my hands busy

~ all help to ward off this deep-freeze we are in at the moment.

tomorrow marks the 1st day of a month of 

celebrating love & friendship, so I wanted to create a new set of blank

note/thank you cards using my original drawings...

I have always enjoyed the look of fine line illustration ~

using nothing more than an ink pen and tiny detail.

 

instead of printing directly onto the kraft-paper colored cardstock,

I thought it would be nice to print onto some of my hand-parched paper ~

 

then I stained the paper some more, 

and before adhering to the front of the cards,

I cut the edge of the drawings with pinking sheers...

 

while sitting in my keeping room, with old movies on the tv...

piping hot chocolate within reach and slowly cutting paper and gluing,

I was reminded how as a child growing up in Connecticut on frosty stay-at-home snow days,

always would I have my paper, scissors ~ pencils & pens scattered about me.

I guess some things never change ~ 

I'm blessed to be able to do what I love, and still channel that young girl

that drew hearts and flowers on everything she could....

 my sweet notecard sets w/envelopes will be available in my Etsy shop today, 

~ as well as here in our Shop at the farm

💌

wishing you all a day warmed by love and creativity!

 

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ We've got CLASS! ~

 Good Morning Friends & Folk ~

and a happy steamy Sunday to you all!

{and a very happy birthday to my sweet sister Sharon}

xoxoxoxox

Yesterday we had the pleasure once again to host a finishing class

taught by Beck Noland from Lucy Beam - Love in Stitches!

~ her project for class was this sweet as honey Tea Box ~

Becky always brings along a few of her beautiful models for us to drool over, 

and other needfuls for class...

{she also brought along AWESOME cupcakes from Frosting bakery in R'mond, VA}

 

here she is during the class ~

Becky is a wonderful teacher and we love to host her classes!

 

 

some of us brought along other forms of needlework, too ~

and they sure were fast at it, see those busy blurry hands?

;)

 

here the class students are wprking on covering their tea boxes...

they had previously cross stitched the top portion ~

Becky carefully chose pages from a vintage cookbook for class ~

charming!

 

after class,

a few gals shared some of their show 'n tell with us...

below is Debbie holding up her lovely quilt that she made, and taught a class for as well...

and here are a couple of Deb's stitched reproduction samplers 

from Susan Greening that she stitched:

our beloved friends Steve & Shari Kritikakos 

joined us for a much overdue visit!!

{you may also know them as Santa & Mrs. Claus}

here Shari is showing us a beautiful embroidery done by her grandmother... 

such perfect stitches and so fully embroidered!

treasured family heirlooms indeed.

My sweet friend Heather gifted me with this happy ORANGE coneflower!

I have never seen one this color, but she knows I love orange and thought of me...

this will be planted here in our kitchen garden to come back each year and remind us of how much we love our friends ~

 

Much thanks to Becky for another awesome class ~ 

and thanks to all who came out to the shop for the class, 

so good to see everyone's beautiful faces

as well as our shoppers who visited during class too!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori