old man winter is blowing in..

It's been a while. I sure hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or holiday.

We sure did! We had my daughter from another mother, her partner and our granddaughter come from Virginia for 3 days, Sherry, Jerry and Carrie (say that quickly after a couple of eggnogs).

We hadn't seen them for a couple of years so it was very special and it did make up for Joe and Ruth not being able to make it.
I stopped sewing two weeks before Christmas and started getting ready, cleaning and organizing spare bedroom, decorating and baking. I shopped online on black friday and for the first time in years I had gifts wrapped the week before. It was a wonderful time and David came home for the day too. Very relaxed and fun. Christmas night we watched 'The Help', the perfect end to a very lovely day.

They weather was perfect 30's and 40's and clear skies. Our company left on Monday and old man winter rolled in. He sure is huffing and puffing today and I don't like it one bit!

I am off downstairs to do some more work on a baby quilt for a customer.

ooroo for now..

Blessings to All

I have so many things to be thankful for and you all are included. Even though I don't get to spend much time at all in blogger lately! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and leave your lovely comments. They really do mean so much. And thank you for sharing your life with me! Many, many thanks to those wonderful bloggers who put so much time and effort into making tutorials to share with us. And to those generous people who have giveaways, thank you! Most of all, thank you for your friendship and inspiration!

last years bird - my best yet!

My son from another mother is here with his son. So I have three John's in the house and it is confusing at times. They arrived from Las Vegas on Monday evening and are here to hunt until Saturday. I love to see the three generations of these lovely boys together, they are so alike and yet have their own little traits and quirks too. Tomorrow we will cook up a big fat turkey and a ham and our friends Bonnie and Harry will come and eat with us and also my brother in law David. So there will be 7 of us. Perfect! Today I will make Apple Pie and Lemon Meringue Pie from scratch. Bonnie will make home made rolls in the morning and I am going to have a go at making cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries.

Beau

My (aussie) grandson, Beau, is currently in California for a three week school boys soccer tournament. He is 16 and quite the player and hoping to get scouted for a college scholarship. Good luck Beau!



It is raining here now and the temp is just above freezing. I hope the roads aren't icy for John's commute into Albany this morning. Well it's almost 4am now and time for my first coffee.

Blessings for a happy and safe Thanksgiving to all! ooroo for now. x

Bureaucracy sucks!

My son's girlfriend, Ruth, has been denied a visa by the US embassy in Monrovia. We are all devastated. They will not be coming for Christmas.
The powers that be did not even look at her paperwork which included a sponsor letter from us. They only wanted to visit us for 2 weeks. It is disgusting. There is a window of opportunity for them to try again, but not in time for Christmas. Meanwhile Monrovia is a hostile environment right now with election riots. Some lives have been lost. Joe assures me that they are safe and staying out of the danger zones.
I am sorry this is such a depressing blog. I just wanted you all to know why I haven't been around much. I am in a funk!

On a brighter note, please check out the Promo Frenzy Team stores that are partaking in the November Treasurehunt promotion! Sales galore!
Read more about it here.

A LIST OF PARTICIPATING SHOPS

1. Trinkets N Whatnots – www.galla15.etsy.com
Handmade Button, Crystal and Pearl Jewelry

2. Sewinggranny – www.etsy.com/shop/sewinggranny
Sewn items – baby, kitchen, home decor, holiday

3. CalliopeAZCreations – www.calliopeazcreations.etsy.com
Handmade Jewelry, Medicine Stones, Decorated Feathers

4. jQ jewelry designs – www.jQjewelrydesigns.etsy.com
Gemstone Jewelry that is Classic … with an Edge

5. KrystalsJewelry – www.krystalsjewelry.etsy.com
Intricate Handmade Jewelry of all styles for all tastes

6. Rooee – www.rooee.etsy.com
Quilts & quilted things, cloth dolls, fabric postcards

7. Painted Memories By Ros - PaintedMemoriesByRos.etsy.com
Fine Art Note Cards and Prints

8. Peelirohini – Peelirohini.etsy.com
Colorful and Unique Sterling silver , Gold fill Jewelry with Genuine Gemstones and/or Polymer Clay

9. Sunny Crystals - www.etsy.com/shop/SunnyCrystals
Crystal Tumblestones, Natural Gemtone Jewellery & Decoupage Cards plus a bit of Vintage Jewellery

10. Symbolic Imports – www.SymbolicImports.etsy.com
Handmade Bath & Body – Lip balms, Sugar Scrubs, Handmade Soaps, Perfumes & more!

11. Beautifulswagstore – www.etsy.com/shop/beautifulswagstore
hair accessories, dog toys, baby gift sets, home decor, gift wrapping

12. Bijibijoux- www.etsy.com/shop/bijibijoux
Handmade jewelry/ beads/ supplies -

13. Newcreationz – www.etsy.com/shop/NewCreatioNZ
Fine art and photography craft

14. BountyOfBeads – www.etsy.com/shop/bountyofbeads
Handmade Bead Dangle Drop Charm Sets and Trinity Brass Findings
Jewelry Making Supplies

15. Fair Lady Boutique – www.etsy.com/shop/fairladyboutique
A Beading Boutique with vintage beads + components, Czech glass, gemstones, and custom made bead mixes

16. HollysFollyGlass – www.etsy.com/shop/HollysFollyGlass
Fine and fun Lampwork Glass Beads by artist Holly Dare.

17. Glitterbird Glass – www.etsy.com/shop/GlitterbirdGlass
Home decor and jewelry made from beautiful fused glass.

18. CrochetedbyCharlene – www.etsy.com/shop/CrochetedbyCharlene
Beautiful crocheted afghans, accessories, and much more.

19. Camillescloset- www.etsy.com/shop/Camillescloset
Handmade jewelery items.

20. Prittify – www.etsy.com/shop/Prittyfy
Handmade Jewelry, Modern, Altered Art, Steampunk

21. Crystalphotography – www.etsy.com/shop/crystalphotography
Fine Art Photography Prints and Greeting Cards

22. iaFlowerPower – www.etsy.com/shop/iaFlowerPower
Whimsical Crocheted and Knitted Baby Hats and more

23. Gabby’s Quilts – www.etsy.com/shop/GabbysQuilts
Handcrafted Quilts, Tablerunners, Wallhangings and Embroidered Gifts

24. CNJ Ceramics – www.etsy.com/shop/CNJCeramics
Contemporary Clay Jewelry and Home Decor

25. LostLemonade – www.etsy.com/shop/LostLemonade
Body Care Products made to cleanse, moisturize and soothe

26. RomanticThoughts – RomanticThoughts.etsy.com
Handcrafted Jewelry, PreMade Scrapbook Pages, Vintage Items and More

27. Ooh Leela! – isabelafelix.etsy.com
Handmade dish towels and trendy accessories

28. KatersAcres – katersacres.etsy.com
Polymer Clay Creations, Trinkets, & Treasures with a Whimsical Feel

29. Magda – magdamagdaFashion.etsy.com
custom clothing, accessories and supplies

30. Ugly Duckling Beads – www.etsy.com/shop/uglyducklingbeads
Handmade glass beads, digital collage sheets, tutorials, and jewelry

31. BellaTheBead – www.bellathebead.etsy.com
Handcrafted jewelry and supplies with vintage soul

32.IdeasBloom – www.ideasbloom.etsy.com
Handcrafted decorative wreaths

33. Greenhouse Glassworks – www.greenhouseglassworks.etsy.com
Fused Glass Jewelry, Stained Glass Home Decor, and Handmade Cards and Tags

34. Five Supplies – Five0101.etsy.com
All the supplies you need to create

35. TheMayFlower Fashions – themayflower.etsy.com
Fun & Stylish Fashion Designs for Women

36. Something Wyrd- www.SomethingWyrd.Etsy.com
Handcrafted jewelry and beaded charms

37. iluvmarin – iluvmarin.etsy.com
Greeting cards, scrapbooks, cupcake toppers, & festive banners

38. Lexilouflowers – www.etsy.com/shop/LexiLouFlowers?ref=si_shop
Hair Accessories, Feather headbands, and Hair ties

39. Mt Baldy Glassworks- www.mtbaldyglass.etsy.com
fused glass jewelry and home decore

40. LexiekinPrints – www.etsy.com/shop/LexiekinPrints
Personalized, customized and Printable Invitations, tags, cards and more!

41. Turtlexiii- www.turtlexiii.etsy.com
Sterling Silver Jewelry with Swarovski Crystals and Pearls, Gemstones & more.

42. IsabellesAttic- www.isabellesattic.etsy.com
aprons, accessories, baby items and more

43. AshlynDesign – www.ashlyndesign.etsy.com
Artisan handmade lampwork beads, metal charms, and finished jewelry

44. Eveyinorbitshop – www.eveyinorbitshop.etsy.com
Mixed media art, original aceo and zines.

45. Suzie Tenzer – www.susietenzer.etsy.com
Original fine art paintings and prints

46. LindaB – www.lindab142.etsy.com
Artisan crafted beaded and wire wrapped jewelry, Jewish jewelry and accessories, wire beaded kippot

47. DellCoveSpices – dellcovespices.etsy.com
hand mixed spices, magnetic spice kits, cocktail sugars & margarita salts, organic popcorn, popcorn toppings & other treats

48. OverTheMoonGifts – overthemoongifts.etsy.com
personalized gifts, accessories, and home decor

49. Craftycreations81 – www.etsy.com/shop/craftycreations81
Peacock feather items, wedding items and items for newborns/children

50. Nan gates designs – www.nangatesdesigns.etsy.com
Fabric handbags, totes and accessories

51. ProdigyCrafts – www.prodigycrafts.etsy.com
Crocheted Clothing, Accessories and Gifts

Have a great day. Ooroo for now.

Sale!

For the month of November my etsy team, Promotional Frenzy Team are having a TREASURE HUNT!
Check out the link for participating shops and then find their links on my side bar. Each shop will have their November special in their shop announcement.
I am offering a 20% discount off any sales order over $20. Look for the 'treasure chest ' discount coupon code in my 'Holiday Section'
Here are a few tastey morsels from some of my favorite shops that are offering the special!
Happy Shopping!!!

Wired Leaves and Beads Bracelet

Sculpted Moon Maiden

Printed Note Cards

Zippered Pouch

Pot Holders

Cupcake Toppers

Head Warmer

Rose Calender

Aceo Orginial

2 snow events in October and Happy Birthday John and Ruby!

It is hard to believe that it is November already! Today is my best friend's birthday and also our little girl's birthday. I am making him breakfast as I blog. A good southern breakfast of sausage, eggs, home fries and biscuits. Something I don't do often as I hate the smell of that sausage permeating the house for hours. John is 61 today and Ruby turns 5. Two of the brightest lights in my life.

Amazingly, we had 2 snow storms in October. One last Thursday and we got around 4 inches of snow and then on Saturday night we got another 7 inches. Now that last storm threatened to be a lot worse but we really lucked out and it was wonderful to wake on Sunday morning and find that we did not have the 15 inches forecast and we had our power! Others further south and east were not so lucky.

last Thursday evening feed time

and then the sun came out on Friday

I hope this isn't a sign of a rough winter. Have a great day!

Ooroo for now...

It's been a while

And here is my absentee note!

How can it be two weeks since I blogged or even visited my blogger friends? I could come up with all kinds of excuses and they would all be true but of course you are just as busy as I am, so there is no excuse really is there?
Anyway, I am here now and to sweeten everyone up I am going to share a very good recipe that I make quite often. It is from down under so I have added the equivalent measurements etc. I made it yesterday in fact!

Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Lemon Syrup

preheat oven to 180C or 350F

1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
grated zest of 2 lemons
3/4 cup of oil
mix all of this well with a fork and then add -
1 cup vanilla yoghurt
2 cups of SR flour or 2 cups of AP flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder
gently stir in till all mixed.
Spoon into a ring pan or bundt pan that has been well greased and floured. Bake in middle of over for 45 - 50 minutes. Test with a skewer.
Remove and turn out and poke holes all over. Slowly pour over the following syrup.
1/2 cup sugar
juice of 2 lemons
Zap in micro wave for a minute until dissolved
This cake is moist and yummy and can be a yummy dessert with custard as well.
I have finished lots of projects in these past couple of months including a couple of dolls. One for a swap partner and the other for a commission order. Here they both are.

I have really enjoyed making dolls over the years but my fingers are not liking it so much any more. Stuffing those tiny limbs really is a painful experience now days. My doll making days are sadly drawing to a close. I have an order for a Welsh fairy doll and my daughter's birthday doll to finish and after that I might just say - enough! Sniff sniff.

Ok so they are saying the 'S' word for tomorrow along with the 'A' word. I am not ready to give up Fall yet. Where did this year go to? Spring was non existent, Summer came and went too fast and now Fall is leaving in a hurry. And you know what? Winter will be here to stay for the long haul. What is with that?

I will be back in the next day or so, I have some fabulous photos of a local quilt exhibition to share with you all.

Ooroo for now x

friends

As most of my blog friends know I moved country when I was past middle age. 48 years old in fact! The first 5 1/2 years were spent living in Virginia. I had one really nice friend who I met at a quilt guild there and we still keep in touch via email and phone. She was the only good friend I made, I found it very hard to make new friends at my age. Back home in Australia, friends were made in school and then at work and then through my own children. It was harder here, I had no family, no old friends.
We moved to the mountains of upstate NY in August 2009. I have made more friends here than I made in Virginia and funny thing is, people in the south told me that it would be hard to get to know people in the north. I found that not to be true. I am off track now but wanted to write about my friend Renee who is also my neighbour. Renee and her husband and 3 little girls knocked on our door the weekend we were moving in. They welcomed us to the 'road' with a jar of peach jelly and warm hearts.
Renee is in her mid thirties and she has 3 little girls under the age of nine and now a baby on the way. We have become very close despite our age difference. She is like a surrogate daughter and more. We both love to cook and garden and during the long winters we drink tea and coffee and drool over seed catalogues and plan spring gardens,swap recipes, talk about our latest books and sometimes do needlework.
Today I am making her lunch for her birthday. She asked for my salmon patties and salad. Easy. I asked her what cake she would like and she asked for my Lemon Drizzle cake. Easy again. One day when her babies are grown and all at school and she has freeer days, I will teach her to quilt. Friends don't have to be the same age as you. Renee and I have a twenty year age difference.

I love this photo of Renee and two of the girls last winter. Off back home after a visit.

BNR Time!!!!!! starting at 3pm Eastern!

✿º°¨¨¨°º✿✿º°¨¨¨°º✿✿º°¨¨¨°º¨¨¨ BNR ✿ BNR ✿ BNR ¨¨¨º°¨¨¨°º✿✿º°¨¨¨°º✿✿º°¨¨¨°º✿


• This Tuesday is BNR time! - from 3:00 to 11 pm Etsy time. I will come back and post the link at 3 pm!

✿ What does BNR mean, and how does it typically work?

• BNR means Buy and Replace. Basically, you buy one of the items in the BNR treasury. That item is replaced with one of yours. There is usually a minimum amount that has to be spent, and sometimes you can tell the curator which of your items you want in the treasury.

BNRs are a great way to get exposure and pump up your sales. Both Sellers & Buyers-only participate.

Don't forget to check my blog after 3pm Eastern/Etsy time for the link to the BNR! There will be discounts offered by individual sellers too!!

raindrops on roses and..

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite things from the very creative Promotional Frenzy Team on etsy, a team that I am a member of! You can see more by visiting etsy, choosing 'handmade' from the dropdown menu and then searching - promofrenzyteam. You will find a varied assortment of beautiful handmade treasures at affordable prices. Who doesn't like a handmade gift?

vintage pendant

giraffe hat

chillin'n

halloween soap

pillow covers

bath salts

cuff bracelet

my F.R.I.E.N.D.S. package arrived!

I wanted to stop on the way home from the Post Office. The anticipation was killing me. But I made it home, package intact.
Brewed myself a nice cup of chai and sat down at the kitchen table and RIPPED that post bag open! Inside were 7 packages wrapped in bright blue paper and adourned with pretty letter stickers.
I was spoiled rotten and my lovely FRIEND Sue really was a very good detective and I think I hit the swap jackpot when I was given Sue as my partner. This is what I got! Minus one Freddo frog that I ate immediately before he hopped away!

F - a beautifully embroidered felt heart with my horses, trees, flowers and bunnies.....just lovely! and a freddo frog of course!
R - a tube of Rolos, yum!! 2 very pretty red and cream fatquarters and red ribbon!
I - (inches) a 4 inch square ruler and a tiny 4 inch square cutting mat!
E - embroidery floss, 4 skeins of my favourite greens and pinks!
N - a lovely handmade pink and green needle case and needles! oh and nougat!
D - Dreena a delightful dancing doll!
S - and last but not least, Socksie, the cutest little felt cat who helps me to not lose the tiniest and sharpest pair of scissors you ever did see!

Sue thank you so much, I am absolutely thrilled to bits!!! xxx
and of course thank you to Khris for sponsoring this swap.

I think I will have another Rolo!!!

Ooroo for now :)

a baby is on the way and so are two exchange packages!!

My youngest son Zac (Isaac) and his girlfriend Attika are expecting a baby in April. He lives and works in Beagle Bay which is an aboriginal mission on the coast of the Dampier Penninsula, north of Broome in Western Australia. Attika lives and works in Broome she has a 5 yearold little girl named Ella, a ready made grandchild? I guess you can say that their's is a long distance relationship! Something has to change now!

This is a photo of Zac when he was in the USA visiting for Christmas in 2008. we were having a meal in an amish restaurant in Intercourse PA. Yes a quilt trip!!

and this is Miss Attika and her lovely little girl Ella, my bonus grand daughter!

It has been a long time between grand babies for me. My other grandchild, Beau, is now 16! So you can imagine my excitement! This little baby will be isolated from me and our side of the family. We are all scattered now. East coast of Australia, Africa, USA and New Zealand! This is going to be hard! Congratulations Zac and Attika. I am very excited to meet the newest member of our clan!

I am off to the post office this morning to do two mailings for my exchanges. What a fun time I had getting these bits and pieces together. Ohhh the anticipation is killing me!!

second round of santa sack swap2 goodies for Donna in Florida..

and these are Sue in Western Australia's 'friends' exchange gifts..

It is a rainy day here today, a soft drizzle which highlights the beautiful colour of the leaves. I have to leave this splendour and spend the next 4 or 5 days in the basement if I am to get back on schedule with my projects and customer jobs!

Ooroo for now!

this, that and the other..

Why am I back to my old routine of getting up at 4am! For the most of Summer I had been able to sleep until 5.30 but for the past 10 or so days I am back to being wide awake at 4 or before! And it is so darn dark now till like 6.30! The good thing is, I have time to do a blog!

I went to the city yesterday and besides a quick ride to Joann Fabrics and Target, I spent the afternoon sitting in my John's office doing some hand sewing. I sometimes do this on Saturdays, just so I can run errands or just explore the city. We are pretty limited as far as shopping goes out where we live. I do love to go to the book shops and grab a special coffee too! He loves me to ride in with him. It is an hour commute one way and as he leaves each day at 7 and gets home at 8 so I don't get to see a whole lot of him. So it is nice to spend some extra time with him on Saturdays occasionally. I did snap a couple of photos as we drove down our road yesterday morning. Fall does come early up here on the mountain and as you can see, even at 11am it is still a little foggy.

I have a lot of projects going at the moment. Dolls in the making, one for my daughters b'day and one for an order. 2 exchanges that I am in, almost done with those! I have a friendship quilt that I am putting together for a sick friend, the blocks for this were done by people all over the country and some from Canada and Australia as well! I have 2 customer quilts to do and I have to put a flimsy together for guild for October. Besides all the sewing stuff, I want to paint the living room before Christmas, and yes I will have to do that myself! It still has patched walls from when we bought this house in August 2009 - yikes!!

Have a blessed Sunday everyone and I will leave you with some photos of September customer quilts. I have been busy!

horses in the mist

This morning wasn't as crisp as it has been for the past week and the warm air created fog. At 6.15 we went out to give the horses their breakfast and replenish their water, it wasn't quite light. What a lovely sight. Horses in the mist. Soon enough it will be horses in the snow. I so enjoy starting my day this way and spending time with John and the animals (our family) before he heads off to the city for his long work day. In the evenings I do the horses, dogs and cat myself as he is seldom home before 8pm.

Yesterday I had so much fun with my new etsy team, Promotional Frenzy Team. I enjoyed helping to promote team members treasuries and I learned so much along the way. Our team had sooooo many treasuries on page 1 of the treasury page, awesome effort! In between doing that, I finished quilting a large customer quilt. I really loved doing this one, it was smooth sailing all the way. I need to hang it outside to get a photo and the fog has made it too wet to do that yet. Maybe later today. I also put out a few fall decorations, a wreath and some sunflowers in a vase. Do I need to make a new fall table runner? Maybe!

I still have to finish off gifts for the two swaps I am in and get those in the mail. Hope to find the time to get to those this week and next. Is it Wednesday already?

Breakfast time here. Ooroo for now.

Is it fall already?

Oh my how fast this year has gone! Seems like the snow melted in April, I blinked and here it is September. We had a strange summer here in the north east which included an earthquake and a devastating hurricane. These past couple of months I have been very busy with customer quilts. Now that's a good thing and I am not complaining - helps to pay the bills! Between quilting, the garden and the animals, my days have been full, and sometimes my evenings too. I have had little time for blogging and my etsy shop.
The good news is, the cooler months will give me more time for both!
I have joined a really cool etsy team called Promotional Frenzy Team and you can see the other members on the list to the right>>. Check out their stores for some really lovely items.

I wanted to share with you all a quilt story. When I first came to the USA 8 years ago. I lived in the city of Richmond Va, with my husband John. I had no friends there at all and I could not work until I became a permanent resident so I sewed all day. I made many quilts as you can imagine. Still I was lonely. So I joined a chat group on Yahoo, a bunch of ladies who quilted, sewed, crocheted, knitted etc. And a fine bunch too! In 2005 we all decided it would be nice to do a block exchange. Some of the ladies did not quilt so we made it an easy 9 patch block exchange. There were around 20 or so of us. Sadly 2 of the ladies are in heaven now and a couple of others are not doing so well. One of the ladies did her blocks with her good friend who is now an angel. The blocks were still sitting in a bag untouched. She gave me the job of putting them together and quilting and binding the quilt for her as she is not well herself. The friend who passed had cut the sashings and borders and written the layout instructions. Her chat name was Luci and I felt her with me the whole time I worked on the quilt. I hope you are happy with the results Luci. :) The quilt is now back with it's owner and I think she is happy.
Here is a pic of the quilt and the label. I also have a pic of the quilt that I made from the same exchange. I only completed mine last year!

my own quilt..

Happy Sunday everyone!

hurricane Irene left her wrath on our county!

Thank the lord that we bought a house on a mountain and that our house perches way up high on our property. Losing phone, internet and power was nothing compared to what others lost. And some poor folks in other parts lost their lives. This event has touched me greatly to the point that on Tuesday I wanted to just run away and not face any more images or messages. Thankfully yesterday I was ok again and made a trip to the local shelter with some food and other donations. It was heart warming to see everyone helping out in any way that they could, be it donating food, clothing or their time. We have people staying there who have lost everything and we also have 60 National Guard camped at the school. Bless their hearts.
I hope everyone out there in blogland is high and dry.

I have been madly busy with customer quilts and that part of my life was disrupted with power outages here and there but I managed to get some hand sewing finished up and LOTS or reorganizing of my studio that we have moved to the basement! Thank goodness that the basement stayed dry throughout Irene! phew!

Here are some photos of our raging creek during Irene. At one point it was 70 feet wide. These photos were taken when the rain had stopped and the water had already receded and I had ventured out with my camera. Another photo showing how high up our house is on our property.
The horses stayed in their shelter for 2 days! They are NOT silly!

creek before Irene!

house up high and dry..

I hope to catch up with everyone's blogs in the next day or two!

Ooroo for now. :)