Pumpkins & Patriots

The Prim and Whimsy Girls are having another Gallery Hop!

Click on the banner below to see all the wonderful offerings:

For this gallery hop, I have painted Perfectly Poised Pumpkins, based on a photo of the cloth pumpkins that I make each year. Click on the photo below to be taken directly to my gallery hop page:

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I've been busy with the garden. I canned 6 quarts of bread and butter pickles last night, and sent a big bag of cucumbers, squash, and cabbage to a neighbor this morning. I still have 4 more heads of cabbage in the refrigerator to can or freeze. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have things caught up so that I can enjoy the 4th of July this weekend.

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Thanks so much for stopping by!

Poppets and Portraits

Good Sunday morning everyone! Suzanne of Pear Tree Primitives and I have updated Poppets, Portraits, & Playthings of the Past with our summertime offerings. She has painted some beautiful portraits of little girls with their dolls and I have made a couple of 19th century style dolls to accompany them. Come on over for a visit if you'd like to see more...

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I missed it!

I just now realized that I missed the first day of summer! How could I? As long as I can remember, I loved that day. As a child at home, I knew on that day I'd have even longer to play outdoors down in the woods at the creek or lying in the grass reading a book, and later in the evening ~ running around in the fields catching lightening bugs, playing blind man's bluff (but very carefully, because there really were bluffs in the woods behind our home), listening to the whip-poor-wills calling, the hoot owls hooting, and the nearby creek rushing across the rocks and around all the nooks and crannies that it had carved out over the centuries. Mama and Daddy usually had company several evenings a week, year round, but especially in the summertime (if we weren't out visiting somewhere) and everyone would be sitting outside on lawn chairs or on flipped over 5 gallon buckets. They would be playing an instrument, singing, humming, or tapping their toes. You'd hear old time gospel music and ballads of the mountains. I miss that immensely. I didn't realize just how much until I started writing this post. So, not only did I miss the first day of summer this year, I miss the neighborly gatherings, the informal music and singing, the laughter ringing out across the holler... Maybe that's why I feel so strongly about taking next month off. I will still blog a few times, make a few things to sell, but for the most part, I will be here at home, doing this and that for my family and my home.

Remains of the day

The title refers to the silk ribbon pillows I have leftover from the Lavender Festival (which was yesterday), but it could very well describe me! Friday night I packed everything in my car and finally went to bed at midnight; got back up at 4:25 am, left at 5 am, drove an hour to get there, unpacked everything and set it up, and by the time I was ready for the show to start, I might as well have not even taken a shower or applied make-up! The temp for the day was in the mid 90s with a heat index of 102. It was HOT and extremely humid! Even with the hot weather, the crowd was amazing! People started pouring in much sooner than in previous years and did not let up until past time for the show to end! In previous years the crowds came in waves, but not so this year. It was busy all day long. I was worried how the economy would affect our sales, but yesterday's show was very successful for me.

Thank you to all who came by and purchased or just stopped to say hello. I say it each year: I am so happy to see past customers and meet new ones, visit with old friends and make new acquaintances. One sweet lady who is a regular stopped to say hello, left for a while (she went home to cool off and to get something), and then came back with a lovely little green swirl dish she had made (she's a potter by trade) and said she wanted me to have it. It will be perfect to hold my business cards at future shows. A lady here in blogland that several of you may know also stopped by, the lovely Donna (& her sweet husband Jim) of Cottage Days & Journeys. Please visit her blog and send well wishes and prayers. She'll be having knee surgery soon.

I think that just about covers everything this morning. I am still so very tired. I think the work and the humidity completely drained me yesterday (gasp ~ could I be getting old???). This morning it was thundering and lightening, and my husband got up at 4am and left at 4:30 to go unload 2 wagons of hay. Thank goodness the barn has lights so he could work in the dark. I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't, so I got up, drank a cup of coffee.... then I got sleepy again, went to bed at 6, woke back up at 8. Needless to say, I will feel "draggy" all day long, as my Mama used to say.

Oh ~ I nearly forgot! If you are interested in the Remains of the Day (silk ribbon embroidered pillows), just visit the needlework page of my website.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

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Ahhh ~ The Joys of Gardening...

I say that with a thankful heart, and with a bit of wincing and moaning and "why now?" in my heart as well.

My husband enjoys putting out a garden each year, working it, seeing it grow, and for the most part, I do enjoy putting it up for the fall and winter. Both of us were raised in families that always had large gardens, canning and freezing more than enough for our own as well as supplying many friends and neighbors with fresh vegetables.

However, besides hoeing and pulling weeds, the part I'm not fond of is when things are ready to be picked and processed at a time when I am not ready to pick and process. I have 5 days left to get things finished up for the Lavender Festival and I have cabbages to can and freeze. Roger picked several cabbage heads this morning before he left for work, and I've been cutting up cabbage for kraut all morning ~ with an old hand held chopper, not a food chopper processor thing. I don't even own one of those, but I see where it would come in handy now! You wouldn't believe just how much kraut and / or slaw that 8 bowling ball size cabbages make! I'll also be making fresh slaw for our supper this evening, and if the rest of the cabbage can wait just one more week, I'll be making lots and lots of freezer slaw next week. Relish will be on the list too, since we also have cucumbers, peppers, and squash already ripe.

So, today I am working on cabbages, instead of cabbage roses and other silk ribbon flowers...

One week to go...

~* Lavender Festival *~

11th annual Herb Fair
in Historic Jackson Square
Oak Ridge, TN

Saturday, June 20, 2009
8am ~ 3pm (eastern)

art, craft, & herbal product vendors,
music, food, fun, herb & floral plant sales,
farmer’s market & bakery, aromatherapy, gardening,
cooking demonstrations & informative presentations.

Call The Ferrell Shop for more information: 1~865~483~0961

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Lavender Festival in the news:

http://www.oakridger.com/entertainment/x726818253/Lavender-Festival-returns-to-Jackson-Square-June-20

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20090604/LIFE/306049997

http://secretcityfestival.com/

I made it!

Well, I didn't make it, but my wreath made it to etsy's front page this morning! Thank you to the etsy seller, BrambleandVine, who put together such a lovely collection!