~ Stir Crazy and STUFF ~

....or shall I name this posting:

"Stitch Crazy"?

because that's more like what I am lately...

I haven't been out of the house, 

{{ off the compound so-to-speak }}

for 10 days!

no trips to the store, no post office drop-offs.

{by me anyways - my dear hubby has been handling all of that for us} 

since I have been looking like ~ Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I am at day #10 of treatment and cannot believe how sore my nose is!

a blowtorch would have been a quicker way to do this, me thinks {just kidding of course}.

Anyhoo ~

those that follow me see that I create every day.

Every. Single. Day.

and as I have said numerous times before;

 my needle, thread and hoop are soothing therapy for me...

10 days at home gets me into lots of places in my head where I want to be,

 and some I can't get away from ~ so I try to keep to my Sewing Room

and root through my overflowing baskets. boxes & totes of STUFF

like a wild, red-nosed truffle-pig looking for some elusive treasure that I didn't know I needed.

I never know what I will find in my vast collections of thread, fabric, textiles & trims!

S.T.U.F.F. :

• Something Unidentifiable Filed away for the Future

• Scraps and Trims saved for Uncanny Flights of creative Fancy

• Several Totally Useless Fibers and Fripperies

• Save That Until Feeling creatively Fabulous

• Shove Tug & Unravel all of that Fantastic Fiber

• Some Totally Useless stuff Forever Flowing

{yes, I made all of those up ~ remember the Stir Crazy bit?}

So my sewing room is on it's ...um...ear.

and I don't care one snippet.

 I find it very freeing to be messy {creatively} in this, 

... MY room.

I can leave it, or tidy it up ~ it is my space...

today I have no shame in my game!

 ha!

no guilty thoughts about it.

 

when choosing an area rug for my room,

I knew it should be bold and colorful...

oh, and floral!

but most importantly, 

it should hide well, any thread tails or wool scrap ~

while morphing these into itself to become a whole new type of carpet to tickle my toes upon.

so 

Dust Bunny's ~ do your thing...

Wool Worms, you may procreate & multiply with glee and abandon!

Threads and Fluff & Fabric; you have permission to creep out of your containers.

~ I will not interrupt your process of creating ~

 

Then...soon and

 once again, I will clean it up and begin the whole routine over again ~ 

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Peaceful Sunday Musings ~

 Good Morning Friends & Folk!

Is it really July 8th?

you would never know it by the temperatures outside today...

feels more like my beloved Autumn ~ and I will take it!

After my farm chores,

I think I'll grab my camera and head out to the big field 

and woods for some much-needed nature walking ~

good fresh air after all of the humidity these last weeks!

Speaking of farm chores, or rather farmHOUSE chores....

my sewing room/studio needs a major clean up ~

I kinda left it in it's messy glory while I was in CT last week,

but now need to tidy it up...

{not as messy as it has been before, and undoubtedly will be again}

Iggy doesn't mind though.

as long as I don't pile anything up on my  his chair ~

all will be well.

 

my beautiful blood lily is in bloom!

{aka fire lily}

 

and the bumblers are enjoying the bee balm...

so am I.

 

Hoping your Sunday is a beautifully-peace-full one!

 

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ A Beautiful Mess ~

what a mess....

a beautiful mess.

a mess I don't mind making!

 in the throes of creativeness and making-things

I also tend to leave a trail behind me...

 

 my sewing room looks like a tornado hit it!

but it's ok...

Good Things are coming from all of this creative chaos.

❤

 

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Blessings from the Farm

 ~ Lori

~ Early Morning Farmhouse ~

I love waking earlier than Peter...going downstairs to a quiet kitchen

 {read: before Peaches, our parrot hears me and begins yelling "Morning! Morning!"} 

I quietly get the tea kettle from the woodstove, 

pour myself a piping cup and head back upstairs to my sewing room

to peruse my favorite blogs, FB and of course, Pinterest...

I love the way the morning light slants into our old wavy glass windows...

casting beautiful plays of shadow and sunlight onto my cozy stitching nest ~

this room is where all of my dreaming, creating and designing begins 

so I fill it with inspiration pieces that speak to my vintage/primitive and needlework-loving heart.

pretty things, old things,

 odd things that no one else may want 

but that I find beautiful in the simplicity or wear in and of them ~

tattered lace, yellowed and stiff with age

mingles with beloved jewels made by dear fiends and some by myself as well.

small pieces of memories that keep my mind full of inspiration for future things to create...

  

I can easily get lost in here {and do!} for hours...

rummaging through my piles of fabrics, wools and linens ~

re-discovering threads in dark corners and half-finished projects that were meant to be perhaps a new design that somehow found it's way into a drawer, only to be brought back out in the light and reimagined now ~ to finally be resurrected.

As the sunlight strengthens and shines brighter, 

I hear my husband stirring in the bedroom and know that another busy day is ahead for us both...

there will be many cups of tea and coffee to fuel us, there will be much discussing and planning

and then our workday begins.

He, creating with his beloved wood ~

Me, plying those needles & thread in some way or another....

~ here are the most recent things to come from my punch needle:

'Santa Deer' and 'Peace Dove'

patterns coming soon, both paper & PDF

 

and of course I have another in my hoop ~

'Christmas Heart & Holly'

 

Our daughter Hannah will be coming home today ~

we will shop this eve for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow...

it's always so good when she comes home.

♥

Wishing for you a beautiful day filled with quiet times and creativity to fill your heart ~

Blessings from the Farm 

~ Lori

~ Sunshine & Productivity ~

 Happy Thursday Friends & Folk!

oh we are having beautiful, sunny 

& temps-in-the-60's days here at the farm!

I've been enjoying my walks again, thankfully now that my 'crud' has moved along....

Roxy has been sunbathing as much as she can, too ~

 that thick black coat of hers acts like a solar blanket on her :)

{not reeeeally happy that she's decided to lay on my oregano though...*sigh*}

The linen that has been on backorder has finally arrived, and these sunny days are giving me opportunity to dye them & hang on the clothesline to dry in the sun & breeze ~

 

I'll be re-listing our hand dyed 32ct  & 30ct 'Old Farmhouse Linen' 

back in our Etsy shop this evening ~ 

for those folks who have purchasedand have not received due to the backorder,

 we will be shipping tomorrow for you... yay!!

can you believe our daffodils are sprouting already?

this makes my heart SO HAPPY 

♡ 

I mean, how could it not do a soul good to see green again?

and as I was looking for more, 

I noticed our snowdrops coming up too ~

 can't wait to see/smell fresh spring flowers once again....

I think I'll head out to the market and pick up a few hyacinths for the kitchen ;)

 

 

My sewing room is a mess...

yeah, that's what I think I'll still refer to it as...

{{ the word 'studio' sounds too contrite for me }}

I am trying to organize the mountainous piles of fabrics & wools

 that I have seemingly ignored since before the holidays... 

Many totes are being filled with wools by color,

then will be put up on my industrial shelving safe from fading sunrays 

& any interloping crickets {lol} that may visit me again!

  while fabrics will be folded by color and set upon the white shelving {below}

so I can see it better... 

little by little

step by step

... progress is being made!!

hoping you all have a day filled with sunshine & contentment ~

Blessings from the Farm ~ 

Lori

~ Ch Ch Changes ~

It's here!

my big shiny new glass & chrome work-station/desk  ~ 

I feel like I'm on the Starship Enterprise 

as I sit in front of it!

 nope,

 it's not 'primitive' ~ but it is practical.

yes, it's huge ~ 

but it actually yakes up less space

 than all of my other smaller tables that I've been working on!

serious re-arranging going on in this room at the moment,

and since I am beginning to feel better after a week-long bout of a bad cold ~

this will be a much-needed, slow-going activity for me as I clean and organize.

more photos to come of the changes being made :)

since getting sick a week ago,

I've not had much energy to do a whole bunch of stuff ~ 

and boy do I still feel wiped out after I even walk across the room,

so progress on my 1 Year of Stitches project has been delayed a bit.

But, I did manage to add a small hand...

~ along with an even smaller teapot, teacup & teabag!

{reminders of what has been soothing me while recuperating}

I'm hoping to accomplish a lot more this coming week,

and am anxious to release our new designs & folk art-y things for the new year!

I'll leave you with another poignant quote from MLK:

"We may have all come on different ships...

but we're in the same boat now."

 love one another, 

be nice to yourself and one another.

Blessings from the Farm ~ 

 Lori

~ Monday Musings ~

 Hello Folks!

This evening would have marked our inaugural

 First Monday Needle Night

here in the Farm Shop....but,

I woke with a splitting headache/partial migraine 

... which I believe is caused by hormones and barometric changes.

so, I begrudgingly had to cancel.

On that note, 

our First Saturday Stitch/Hook Day will be this Saturday from 10 - 4

and shop will be OPEN from 10 - 4 for regular Farm Shop hours ~

So if you're in the neighborhood, come on by!

ᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲᎲ

The photo below shows my sewing room/studio.

right now it's in it's New Year messy-stage, with paper, patterns, thread, 

fabric and wool strewn about as I finish up the soon-to-be released pattern designs.

I love this room, but ~ I need to lighten up.

my heavy wooden 'desk' {which is an old table} 

will soon be replaced with a new, modular glass and steel computer work station

 that will fit nicely into the corner where you see the cedar closet...

with it being glass, it will lighten up this room substantially.

{oh I can hear you saying glass? steel? that's not 'primitive'!!}

and no, it is not ~ but I am an eclectic-girl who likes many different things

and loves to mix things up.

... today Peter will be adding our new light fixtures, removing the white chandelier and replacing it with a more farmhouse-y and brighter pendant light {which will be better for my tired eyes too}

So,

stay tuned for more photos of this transformation!

out with the old, in with the new :)

Here is my progress of Day Two for the

1 Year of Stitching 2017 Project:

I added a small crescent moon early this morning while waiting for my headache to dissipate.

some of you have asked in the FB groups what the fabric I'm using is called...

it's plain old Osnaburg, which I call 'Cupboard cloth' ~  that I've stained with walnut dye.

it's great to stitch on!!

{we offer this in our Etsy shop, HERE}

 and I've used it many times for cross stitching and simple embroidery...

 

Do any of you have this book?

it's by Japanese designer Noriko Komurata and is entitled

"Teeny Tiny Menagerie"

in it are the sweetest little motifs for all kinds of animals,

from mice to owls & sheep

sharks, tiny birds and otters!!!!

 

I want to stitch them all!!!!

 Hoping the 2nd day of 2017 is a creative one for you all ~

Blessings from the Farm ~

 Peter & Lori

~ Happy Chaos ~

…and Happy Tuesday to you

Friends & Folk!

May is a month of happy chaos for me ~

my worktable is piled with projects for magazine deadlines, class model projects and

finished goods for upcoming shows…

I am finishing up the class project model for the June 25 class at

Ye Country Mercantile

420 Main Street

Sturbridge, MA

{{click HERE for more class details & registration}}

I am SO excited to meet Doreen in person, 

and visit her loverly shop and see all of my student-friends ~

as well as re-visit my old stomping grounds again!

I grew up not far from Sturbridge {well, CT ~ but not that far for me}

and have visited the town of Sturbridge, Old Sturbridge Village, 

and the surrounding area ~ many many times...

I'll be sharing the finished class model tomorrow here on this blog ~

Valdani threads will be used for the project

along with the finished Butter Paddle that Peter makes for us…

can't wait to show you!

I've also been charting new cross stitch designs 

~ that will be flying out to my able-handed stitcher today

choosing the right threads & linens

is as much for for me as

designing them for you to stitch!

orders need shipped {thank you kindly} ~

pattern directions need to be typed

and photos need to be taken

…today.

creative-clutter on my desk

but I know where everything is 

{sure i do…}

;)

the calmness of our farm & the quietness of my sewing room

keeps me inspired and focused on the tasks at hand.

just hoping the sun will visit with us again today…

our grounds are saturated and spongey

but good for the gardens I guess.

Hoping you all have a beautiful day

doing what you love to do!!

~ Blessings from the Farm ~ 

 Lori

yeah, so…..

here ya go….see what happens when you ask?

be very careful what you ask for….

~ Blessings from the Farm ~

 Lori

~ Snow-Day ~

it's pretty.

ya have to admit it…

although I am dreaming of daffodils & hyacinths

lilacs and lavender ~

… and even though it is mostly pure white out there ~ 

I am enjoying the color outside my window today

subtle shades of browns & blacks, creams & yellows

a little red…

giving my palette today a softer-side.

keeping our feeders filled today

will help to keep my feathered-friends happy

and will allow me to be inspired by them once again :)

 fat cardinals, tufted titmice, juncoes ~

 towhees, sparrows & wrens….

finch and nuthatch too

all getting along together famously

like Good Neighbors should.

it is a perfect day for some simple-stitching….

I am heading up to my sewing room to do just that.

it's always sunny in there!

Hoping you all enjoy a cozy, creative day my friends…

~ Blessings from the Farm ~ 

 Lori