Blackbird

Today I received a voicemail from my friend saying I can't believe you won! I had to replay it for I never win anything and had forgotten I had entered a free drawing. I heard more and remembered that I had entered a drawing on http://blackbird-designs.blogspot.com/ . I had to go check it out for myself to see if could really be true, and it was, what a wonderful surprise. So now I need to tell you why I visit the Blackbird ladies, because I sure you all don't know.... they have awesome stuff, quilting, cross stitching, books of both with both and fabric too. They have something for everyone and every taste.

This sampler I spied at the Nashville market one year in the Blackbird booth, I had to have it, I was ready to quite buying right there and then to go home and start stitching it. Do you come across pieces that move you that way? Well I think that I just about drove Jean crazy because I was so in love with this piece every time that we went by the room I would drag her in to look at this sampler she just had to see. It got to be quite the joke because we both were so tired that any little thing would set us laughing and I think by the end of the day we had seen this sampler a hundred times. We even renamed it the Birds, and I'm sure anyone that saw us that day was ready for us to go to the birds.

I did make it home and stitch it and then I made the little needle felted pincushion to go with the "Birds" it is mounted in a small shaker box. The frame I had another friend make for me. She used siding that she had salvaged from her house when she was remolding, the color was perfect. I still love this piece.

A close up of the needle felted pincushion.

Here is another Blackbird piece I know many of you have seen and stitched. I modified it a bit to give to a friend that was going on a trip, Where do you ask, why Paris of course.






I made it in to a little memento book where she could put her keepsakes from the trip. I added some French phrases (I hope they are correct, I looked them up on the Internet).






I added pockets and put her initials and date of her trip so she will never forget!




This was one of those projects that start out small and then you keep having ideas until it grows into this.

So now to change the subject completely. I am always looking at blogs and find that they put up these picture of what they cooked so I don't want to be different here is the shortbread that I made last night

There are a few that know this well. It is nice when you are known for one small thing.

Now I have had a few people ask about my house. I must explain I love all of those prim houses that they feature in the magazines, but my house cannot fall into that category. My taste runs to wild and I end up with a hodgepodge of things that I then just put all together. You just never know what you will see. There are antiques mixed in with some new items. Items that I have salvaged from work and from the woods. There are things that Danny collected from the fields when he was little hunting for treasures, we have them all.
I will start with three photos today.

Here is a corner cupboard from a friend, I really don't think that she wanted to see it go, but I have promised to give it a good home and to fill it with treasures. This is found in the living room.

This is a built in cabinet in the kitchen. Many treasures here. Both Danny and I work in Agriculture industry so many of these items are work related. The large black box on the right is a wool standard grading box. It contains cards with samples of the different types and grades of wool so that it can be properly marked before it goes to market. The lower shelf contains many cameras of different types, so you just never know what you will find.

This is also found in the kitchen. I talked and talked about the dough bowl that I had seen at an antique store. I think to get me to be quite Danny got it for me for Christmas. He then had a welder make that rack so I could display it! Then last year I went to Notforgotten Farm Gathering in the fall and found the saw box on the top shelf
The small unfinished bowl sitting on the counter I had Danny make for me from a tree in our yard that we lost in the drought two years ago. Of course there is a sampler, and the picture of

"The Perfect Glass of Tea" a water color by Danny. If you look close you will see the yellow bull that my kids brought back from Spain.

So while I don't think the house will be in the magazines it is full of the things that make me smile and give me a place I look forward to come home to. I must say how lucky I feel that the water did not come flooding into my house this last weekend, and my heart goes out to all those that lost all of their treasures.