Morning has spoken

An early morning jaunt with just me and the pup found this majestic beauty perched high above one of our fir trees.  A reminder that we live in such a beautiful part of the world!  After snapping up a few shots, he/she grew weary of my paparazzi style of stalking and flew on.  Maybe the thought of this hairy creature near me was just too much to choke down...

I'm off to sew up more hats for my fall shows, and who knows, maybe this little guy will return.  With the neighbor's cats now moved, we need as many mouse hunters as possible.  Hope you find a nice surprize in your day!

From a Child's Voice

There are a lot of times when the start of a conversation with a child can turn into a time to teach one of life's valuable lessons.  Yesterday proved to be one of those between Nic and me.  She began with the exciting news of being amongst a team of 3 kids that were named as having the most spirit in a school competition.  Participating in her team was a classmate who has been repeatedly shunned by the other students, as kids will unfortunately do when they don't understand another individual's learning difficulties.  Especially with autism, since it can facilitate so many different characteristics from one child to another.

I certainly don't know enough to become the teacher in this area, but yesterday I found out that I was really more of the student.  Nic expressed her amazement at the artistic aptitude of this child and was very put off by the other students behavior toward him..."he's a great artist, Mom; why can't they see that?"  We talked about taking the stance, being the one voice that can maybe get the other students to consider that we are all different, but we all deserve respect.  Then, we spoke about how standing up for someone doesn't always make you the popular kid; sometimes others with turn away.  Sometimes you will lose friendships over these types of issues, but then, maybe they weren't really your true friend.

Then it happened.  Call it the light bulb burning brightly, but Nic just amazed me with her determination to put together an award honoring this student for the next assembly.  She sat down and wrote out a very passionate tribute to all students in compassion, understanding and overall, respect.  She is utilizing her last days as Student Body President to attach a message of hope to everyone; after all, as she points out, "you voted me as your president because I truely care about our students."

Eleven years old, and I couldn't be prouder.

Prim Up That Modern Home

Do you have a modern, contemporary home and a love for primitive style decor?  The two sometimes clash like oil and water, but they can also work together quite well.  Today I thought I'd share how I decorated a few areas of my home with a bit of a primitive touch.

This corner counter is in my kitchen, a thoroughly modern design, with clear maple cabinets, granite tiles and stainless appliances.  Not too much old style here!  I took a red/gold/ cream round penny rug that I made and layered up a wooden paddle (found at a thrift store) filled with rosehips and orange peels.  Three small styrofoam balls have a variety of seed pods from the farm store thoroughly glued in place (plus a brushed on coating of glue to seal them).  The seeds are deep purple, yellow gold and dark red, which brings together my rather modern attachment to the color purple (which I've blogged here before).  The three chicks are resin pieces I picked up a few years ago, along with a tin gold star.  The rusty scale adorns a pip berry and star candle ring along with a gorgeous local handcrafted candle with dried fruit imbedded in the wax.  Remember these important guidelines as you create your centerpiece:  use odd numbers of items when grouping like things together; layer up the height to bring the eyes to the focal point; and be sure that the colors work together (watch to make sure that your bright colors don't put everything else off); and offset your design...if it's too symmetrically perfect, it won't look primitive.

Next is something I love to decorate with...candle rings!  I have a formal six light chandelier in my dining room which is brushed nickel.  Not exactly primitive or country!  So I purchased multi colored pip berry candle rings (enough for each light), removed the light's cover and bulb, and threaded the candle ring to rest just below the frosted glass shade.  These stay up until fall, at which time I change them out for fall covered candle rings, and then again at Christmas for some bright red berry candle rings.  It adds a bit of texture and color to an otherwise ordinary place.  And I really like being able to change up the look quickly and easily.

And, though I didn't plan to photograph this, behind the light you can just make out a very high window sill that we have in a couple of rooms.  The windows are a good eight feet wide by only two feet tall.  Impossible to decorate with a window covering, so I gave up and just decorate the sill itself!  I have small bird houses, prim candlesticks, even some old books up there!  The look is cozy, yet not cluttered, since the pieces are way above eye level.  Plus it frees up more space at the lower levels to make and buy (!) new prim pieces.  And who doesn't love that!

Happy Mother's Day

I remember my first Mother's Day.  Nic was barely 3 months old, and I was unfortunately dealing with the medications and side effects of a blood clot, post pardom depression, and lack of ability to produce breast milk thanks to the steroids I had to take.

But through it all, the very precious life that Matt and I brought into this world bonded together with me so readily.   Nic was the ultimate gift even when the situation seemed less than a happy time.  Even though those days are a part of me, the wonderful child that we're raising is proof that life is always moving along to another chapter full of experiences and reflections.  In other words, a chapter in one's life simply does not tell their whole story.

Today I found myself face to face with another new mom.  It was just such a beautiful sight to see this soon-to-be new momma deer peering up at me from the pasture.  She moved slowly, with deliberate attempt to evade my presence, but there was no leaping away from my picture snapping frenzy by this doe.  Ah yes, those uncomfortable last few days.  I wonder if that little one will arrive before the day we celebrate our Moms.  A new life; a new chapter; a new day.

Happy Mother's Day!

A Lace-y Dilemma

Look at this lovely stash of lace that I just received from a friend who is in the process of doing some spring purging!  There's eyelets, trims, sheers and even a very unusually large panel of lace depicting a holiday scene.

Wow, what shall I create?  I don't work with lace a whole lot and have really only used it to embellish a dress (for a doll, of course...since I can't stitch a garment for the life of me!).


I did use a pretty eyelet trim on the top border of this shabby chic quilt, and it turned out real cute.  So, that got me to thinking...

Some of the larger pieces would look great overlaying a dark solid tone quilt block and then made into a pretty tote bag.  That would sure show of the delicate design in the lace's pattern!

Since lace is so easy to dye, why not color a few lengths of the trim pieces and create flower pins by rolling up the trim and stitching together the ends and then fanning out the 'petals'.  These are always so popular to attach to jackets, purses, etc.

And what a cool texture lace would provide to a needle felted design on a small candle mat.  Hmmm...guess I'd better get busy!

If you have any great ideas that you'd like to share, I'm all ears!  Have a wonderful day!

X-ing off that UFO

You may be wondering why I haven't much of anything new to show off these days.  Well, I'll admit that each year, one of my goals is always to finish up as many partially done projects as I can stand to do before the desire wears out.  Usually that means finishing up an enormous stash of cross stitching.  And after completing several small ones, I attacked this one with full force and determination.  It's one of those kits I bought back when Nic was born or thereabouts, so it's at least a dozen years old!  Nothing like taking my time, huh?  I get so incredibly bored doing these, as there's no real feeling of accomplishment until you've finally got the whole piece completed.  And we're talking a good 1000 hours on this one for sure!

It's a nice piece that Nic wants me to frame, entitled Mother's Prayer Quilt.  It reads:  "I pray when this quilt you see, you will know my wishes and dreams for thee.  I pray these things I've taught you true, because my child I love you." Each 'block' is a traditional "quilt" block done in cross stitch with the written sentiment: faith, hope, charity, love; health, wealth, happiness, peace; unselfishness, courage, honesty, thankfulness; independence, knowledge, friendship, success.  Such a beautiful verse!

It's so nice to have this huge project completed!  The old eyes are glad for the break, and I'm already working on new sewing projects that can be whipped up quickly.  So much more satisfaction there!

Finding my sunny place

It helps a soul to heal through pain if you can talk about it.  So much so lately as I reflect upon a personal ache in my heart for my grandma as I see the changes evident from a desire to give up.  We spent the earlier part of spring break with a visit to see her, and now that she's about 4 hours closer, I hope it won't be the last.  You may have seen me blog about her before...Grandma with the Red Lips, as she's known now.  My daughter distinguishes her that way, since she has a wonderful multitude of grandmas to keep straight.

At just shy of her 89th birthday, she is now dealing more with a failing heart, and unfortunately, a feeling of the hourglass emptying.  It saddens me so to see her have no desire to get out of bed; she's definitely capable, just won't.  And so, she peers out the window of her room to any activity that captures her keen eyes.  Her mind is still pretty sharp, but her soul is slowly resting away.  There will be no more letters, written in her beautiful longhand to me about the steady family she grew so plentifully; no words of the flowers that bloom by her hand; no more conversations over hand stitching an heirloom embroidery piece together.

Thankfully, what is still there are lots of the wonderful stories she enjoys sharing about specific incidents with each of us from the past.  Some will stay with me forever.  Like the very first visit that my husband made over dinner at her house, nearly 30 years ago.  Fried chicken overflowed the platter, and my burly sweety placed a mere wing on his plate.  Grandma, the ever gracious host, turned the platter around and offered a more meaty selection to which Matt reached again for another wing.  She had thought he was afraid to take too much, when in fact, the wing is his absolute favorite piece.  And, of course, after devouring the wings, he did enjoy visiting that platter again and again.  We laughed again this week about that and many other simple stories that brought us together.  Her incredible meals are always a fun topic.

This visit also brought together my Dad and I in a way that we haven't been.  As he has taken the full responsibility of caring for Grandma, he visits her daily at her new assisted living home and tends to her every need.  All this along with that of his wife who is continually battling bone cancer and his own heart problems.  It's a daunting job, but one that he does with as much love and compassion as I've ever witnessed.  It is a side that, I guess I knew was there, but have never really been 'grown up' enough to understand.

And so I ask you to think today about those that you love and remember a memory of something that will make you smile.  The memories are there for all of that if you dig deep, and there is always one to reflect on that can lighten your load, at least for a moment.

Lost in Remodel Land, and A Great New Giveaway!

I know, it's been pretty quiet here at Happy Valley.  I've been working on so many projects here at home and sadly neglecting my blog.  We are now into the third month of a bathroom makeover, and it should be done this next week.  I hope!  From decisions on how much to remodel, what tile to pick out, who will do the work, and finally, YIKES,  how will we pay for all of this, it's been an interesting time.

This all began in December, when I noticed our flooring near the shower area starting to buckle from water damage.  We have learned an expensive lesson in that you should not caulk those 'weep' holes where the tiles hang over the shower pan area.  Doing so allows the water that does penetrate through the tiles to not have any way to drain out.

After tearing out the damage, we decided to put in a completely tiled shower floor rather than replacing the fiberglass pan and to tile the floor of the entire room too.  This room already had extensive tile in the shower, soaking tub, half way up the walls and the counter area, so I wasn't real keen on redoing the whole thing.  That would have ran the cost and time in this project way out of control, and none of these areas were damaged.  And so now, we're waiting on the new shower glass doors to arrive and be installed next week.  Whew, it will be sooo nice to take a shower here again!

On another note, my friend Kim, of Old Road Primitives, is having a spectacular cash giveaway on her blog!  Stop on over and enter for your chance to win $50!  http://oldroadprimitives.blogspot.com/

Spring on over for this Giveaway!

It's time for a great giveaway, and my friends at PAFA have a bounty of treasures to win!  There are 33 wonderful handmade creations, and 33 winners...so your odds are GREAT!  Head on over to their blog at:  http://primitiveandfolkartists.blogspot.com/2012/02/spring-forward-giveaway-loads-of-prizes.html, become a follower and leave a comment for your chance to win!

Light As A Feather...Klunk!

It's been a crazy week, but I think we're just about back to normal...only about 6 inches left after a whirlwind of snow.  We had a few visitors that I've not seen before this time, so I thought I'd share with you.

These are puffed up varied thrush so I'm told.  Very striking birds, especially with the white backdrop.  They feasted for days on my purple beauty berry bush.  More birds followed their lead soon after.  My feeders were plenty active too with the usual chickadees, marlots and other varieties of beautiful songbirds.  The birds were the only sound as the snow muffled out all distant noise.



Seeing his next meal at this bush was my unexpected visitor.  He greatly misjudged the flight path and slammed into my dining room window so hard that I thought it broke.  As we watched him in the snow, his head was actively moving, but he appeared to either not be able to move or was stuck in the deep snow.

So, I ventured out with really heavy gloves on, in case he needed some help.  Well, once I got within 2 feet of him, he lunged out of the snow and landed against the house.  I managed to get a few shots of him looking me over.  After a little research, I believe that this is a Coopers Hawk.

After just a few minutes to shake off the cobwebs, he flew towards me and then off high into a fir tree.  Whoosh!  I fell back into the snow and just marveled at how he began his wobbly flight and then soared away.  So magnificent to see one of these birds and also to know that he's okay after having his world turned upside down.  Wonder if he'll think twice before attempting to secure his next meal near our house?

Well, back to creating, now that school is open for Nic, and the house is once again lacking the turnstyle of kids through the front door.  I'm working on a few more patterns and projects and will share those soon!  Have a wonderful day!

Celebrate in a Heartfelt Way

Without sounding too gushy, I just love Valentine's Day!  It's that expression of love that my sweet hubby has down pat...for 25 straight years now!  Nothing like that special feeling from someone you care about so much.


So I had some fun creating a few hearts for this celebration with the OFG Team.  Hope you'll check out this beautiful collection (www.etsy.com type: stlc in your search bar), as there are a lot of new artists participating and nearly 90 heartfelt items.

'Cuz, after all, Love Dwells Here...especially at this time of year!

All "Fire'd" Up in Wool...My Textured Kindle Keeper

Welcome to my stop for the Nancy Zieman Tablet Keeper blog tour!  I'm so honored to be a part of this exciting opportunity to show different techniques and styles for the Clover Trace 'n Create Templates.  

My creation was constructed entirely from wool fabrics with a hand needle felting design on the cover, and I couldn't resist some bead bling sprinkled in.  Using wool does give the overall piece a bit more bulk; however it also provides a little added protection for my Kindle Fire. 

I began by creating a paper pattern of a randomly flowing floral and vine design.  The template helped me to determine placement of those areas that I wanted to really show off without being obscured by the strap.  After cutting out the pattern, the design was chalked onto the black wool base.  

I needle felted the design, blending the tones to achieve gradual shading.  Then it was time to sew on lots of colorful seed beads to the larger flower centers and finally finish the cover with some beautiful square black beads scattered about.  Even though this step took some time, the result was just what I was looking to achieve.  

The interior was created with scraps of hand dyed wool fabrics fused to the interfacing in a crazy patch style, and then I feather stitched the edges with heavy black thread (perle #3) for more impact. Once the fusible interfacing is applied to the cover and lining, the wool fabric won't stretch out of shape, making it just as easy to work with as cotton for this project.  Using wool fabric inside also helps to wick away dust from the e-reader...another plus!

The wool strap was embellished with purple eyelash yarn and matching beads.  I used the perforation markings from the Clover Create a Strap to keep my yarn's spacing even without even having to get out my tape measure!

The binding was also done with wool, although I did cut it at only 2" wide and sewed it as a single fold binding to further keep the bulk down.


And one last tip...To make the Kindle Fire fit a little better, I moved the elastic in further, just past the template's markings.  This proved to be an easier work around, rather than altering the keeper's overall size.  I'm very pleased with the end result!

There are limitless ways to personalize these...think about the timeless beauty of hand embroidery and applique on wool as other ideas if you're not a needle felter.  As you can see, quilter's cotton doesn't have to be your only fabric choice...be creative and it will turn out beautiful!

Thank you for stopping by today to see my creation!  For more ideas and inspiration, I invite you to become a follower of my blog.  A big Thank You to Clover for providing the templates, shapers and hardware to construct this project!  And don't forget to enter HERE for Nancy's drawing to win these great products from Clover:

Creative Evolution

A creative soul can find all sorts of ways to express their artistic style, and every year I find that there are more and more techniques out there to learn.  I grew up in the era of construction paper, glue and sequins...then there was the phase of tri-chem paints, stamped cross stitching, and felt applique.  Today, there is an amazing array of mixed media outlets to learn incredible new ways with paper clay, creating your own fabric designs, and who would have thought that bottle caps and Scrabble tiles could be so beautiful.  And since the ideas keep coming, the wheels of creativity will never end!

Lately, I'll confess to being hooked to the how-to videos from Joggles.com.  I began to watch these weekly tutorials, each describing a technique or product I was unfamiliar with.  Lots of tedious detail, and I find that to be helpful in determining my interest.  This week, the focus was in creating bead edging and fringe.  Beautiful in design, the hand beading is so exquisite...just look at this purse by Barbara of Joggles.  Wow...  Now I'm inspired to add a beaded edge to one of my next table mats!


As far as creating my own fringe, well, I'm still set on buying that by the yard for my scarf embellishments as I've found some of the most gorgeous trims over the years for my scarves.  This one is my favorite right now, hanging nearly 4" long...it's really show-stopping.

However, I am intrigued by creating my own beaded fringe on an elaborate purse like this one someday...as soon as I can figure out a good staging method for those teeny tiny beads.  'Cuz, with kids and a dog, sigh...can you see the bead showers in my forecast?

A Patriotic Pattern Release!

What was once considered a distant dream is quickly becoming a very enjoyable reality!  I've been busy writing, editing and brainstorming creative patterns and have just released my latest...a needle felted star over a whimsical flag on this cute (and easy to sew) lined tote bag!

This idea began as a commissioned project, and swiftly became one of my daughter's favorite pieces, so I created one for her too.  These are so easy to make up; I could see creating a different embellished bag for just about any occasion!  And because the outer shell is made in wool felt, this project is very affordable and has a minimal supply list to complete.  It combines easy sewing construction with one of my favorite creative expressions...needle felting!

Never being one to stay only in one artistic venue, I have another epattern about ready to release (a very quick and simple sewing project), and several more in the works, so I hope you'll check back for more inspiration soon!

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year filled with good health and happy memories in the making!  My family and I are hosting some very special friends for an evening of laughter and laid back fun.  Hopefully we'll all make it to midnight...

The OFG Team's January White Sale is about to begin!  If you're looking for beautiful primitive items to grace your home, this is your chance to grab them at a discount.  I have several items marked down, and will be adding more for this once a year event!