Sunday Morning

"...for I have learned, in whatever state I am,

to be content."

Philippians 4:11

The verse I'm sharing today was probably the very first verse with which I felt a deep connection.  Paul is, of course, talking about his circumstances here.  However, for me the word "state" had a literal meaning.  

We had been living very happily in Helena, Montana when my husband, for reasons that aren't really necessary to go into here, accepted a job offer in Nashville, Tennessee.  Within an hour after getting in the car & heading out of the state we had second thoughts but we didn't act on them.  The minute we arrived in Nashville we hated it.  It was among the worst experiences of our lives.  John worked in Nashville for 5 years & during all those 5 years he tried to get transferred back to Montana but the office there had not been happy that he left & therefore punished him but not allowing him to return.  We then decided that if we could not get back to Montana, getting as close as we could to Montana would do.  John started keeping close watch on the job postings & finally one was posted for a job in North Dakota.  He applied.  Meanwhile I had been trying to deal with my unhappiness in Nashville.  There were a lot of things to be unhappy about with regard to living there.  The school system had to have been the worst in the nation.  It seemed like every night you heard on the news about a murder or rape or burglary or drug bust that occurred in the area.  I couldn't let the kids walk by themselves across the street to visit their friends because there were so many cases of child abduction.  John & I always had to walk with them & then go get them when they were ready to come home.  The cost of living was extremely high.  I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten but those are enough in themselves.  We weren't living in a bad part of town either ... we were in a nice area in the suburbs.  I hated living there so much that I used to tell our kids a little story that went like this ...

"One day a very, very, very bad man died & stood before God.  This man had been so bad that God said to him "Hell is too good for you!  You are going to spend eternity in NASHVILLE!"

Anyway, one day during my Bible reading I came across this verse & it touched me.  We had originally lived in Pennsylvania, then moved to Florida, then to Montana, & now we were living in Tennessee.  The word "state" jumped out at me so I read the verse as if it was telling me that no matter which state I was living in, I should be content.  I started looking for things to be content about & tried to focus on whatever positive things I could come up with.  What I came up with was that if nothing else, Tennessee was a great place to sell crafts.  I began to plan to make various crafts to sell in the local tourist shops, at craft fairs, etc.  I began to tell myself that if God wanted us to stay in Nashville, that is what we'd do.  

Then John got the job in North Dakota ... lol!

I still view this verse very fondly although now I read it with Paul's intended meaning.  The Message Bible probably says it best.

"Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally.

I've learned by now to be quite content with whatever my circumstances.

I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little.

I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry,

hands full or hands empty."

If we can all get to this point in our lives, we've done well.  I'm not saying I'm totally there yet, but I think I'm at least on my way   : )

Giveaway at Sweet Home Stitchery

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!  Dani, stitchtress extroidinaire at Sweet Home Stitchery, is having a Christmas in July giveaway of 3 fabric Christmas tags!

Be still my heart!  Have I mentioned before that my stitching leaves more than something to be desired?  I have in the past envisioned myself sitting in my comfortable chair, a lamp at my side, a Mona Lisa type smile on my lips, & an aura of calmness about me as I create beautiful prim stitcheries like Dani does.  Alas, my stitcheries always look as though I did them while in a drunken stupor.  In the dark.  With my feet.  

Not only is Dani giving away these gorgeously stitched tags.  If she gets 100 followers, she will add a second drawing which will be for these snowman tags!

Dani is amazingly talented & amazingly generous!  So ... if you'd like a chance to win a set of these tags, visit her blog, Sweet Home Stitchery (there ... I've even linked it twice for you!) & sign up for the giveaway.  And if you aren't a follower already, well good grief woman!  What are you waiting for!  Get on over there & follow!

Friday Morning in the Farmhouse

Good morning!  I got up this morning, did my usual grooming routine, then came out to the kitchen like I usually do to make tea.  Hot Cinnamon Sunset for me, Orange & Spice for John.  As I was putting on the kettle & getting the cups ready, I noticed I was singing a little song in my head ...

This is the day,

This is the day that the Lord has made,

That the Lord has made.

I will rejoice,

I will rejoice & be glad in it,

& be glad in it ...

That took me a bit by surprise!  Must mean it's going to be a good day   : )

We always used to sing that little song at the beginning of the Sunday morning church service in a church I attended back when we lived in Florida.  I can remember the congregation singing a stanza & then the pastor sometimes stopping us & pointing out that some of us were just standing there expressionless or looking like we were anything but glad & joyful & he'd do a little impression of what he was talking about & we'd all laugh & then we'd sing the song again   : )

The landscapers worked hard yesterday but are only about half way finished.  I am kind of disappointed that we aren't getting some of the plants we wanted.  We were supposed to get these beautiful dark green grasses that produce large pink plumes but the owner, Bob, tried to get some & couldn't so he brought us some pampas grasses instead & he's going to plant these smaller grasses that bloom pink in front of them & then there will be boxwoods in between.  I'm thinking "blah" but John said to let it go ... maybe it will turn out to look really nice & if it doesn't we can always dig them up & plant some other kind of grass there next year.  We also were supposed to be getting these gorgeous silvery butterfly bushes to plant along the side of the house.  Bob had a bunch of them at the nursery that were spoken for but said he could get more.  He couldn't & brought purple ones instead.  They are pretty too but not what we were counting on   : (   He didn't have enough of them so 3 will go in front of the a/c units & then on each side will be some kind of viburnum bushes that have large white fragrant flowers.  There was a bit of extra space on one corner so he transplanted a sweetspire from the front yard because he said it really should be in a more shady area.  Finally we expected 2 huge hydrangeas we had shown him for the back.  He brought 2 small ones ... said the 2 huge ones we picked out needed full sun but these smaller ones would do well in part shade.  I guess it will all look okay.  It will definitely look better than it has been looking ... lol!

Here is a photo of the trencher bowl I referred to yesterday.    

            

I took this photo after I brought it home in January.  As I'm looking at it here all I can see is that sticky crud on it from the vegetable oil & it just makes my skin crawl   : (   After I scrubbed & scrubbed & scrubbed it yesterday it still felt yucky in places but my arms just couldn't scrub anymore.  I took it outside & let it sit in the hot sun to dry out.  When I went to bring it in it actually felt pretty nice ... not sticky at all except on the 2 ends where I missed scrubbing.  I will work on those ends today, put it back in the sun, & then bring it in & oil it down with the mineral oil.  

I'm pretty excited ... I used my blower this morning for the first time!  Not a blow dryer ... a blower for outside!  Bought it for myself a couple weeks ago & finally decided to use it since John got grass clippings all over the back porch, walkway & garden areas next to the house yesterday when he went around mowing the landscaping area.  The blower works really well!  I've told him I don't want him to mow back there anymore.  He mows with the guard removed from the mower so the clipping fly up into the air & go everywhere.  

The landscapers are on their way.  The treadmill guy was supposed to be here this afternoon but he got his days mixed up & he's coming tomorrow instead.  Later John is going to dig me a space by the fence to plant my gourd seeds.  Life is good   : )        

Vegetable Oil & Wood Don't Mix

I know I already made one lengthy post this morning but I just have to make another one.

Back in January on one of those online yard sale sites on Facebook someone posted that they had a large old trencher bowl for sale in perfect condition.  She was offering it at a good price.  She did not post a photo but said you could see the bowl if you looked at her Facebook photos.  I went through all her Facebook photos & saw only 1 picture of 1 trencher bowl & it was breathtaking.  The wood was a rich brown color & it shone like the sun.  I saw no cracks, no chips, etc.  I immediately wrote to her & said I was interested in it.  I also asked her what I thought was probably a dumb questions ... is the trencher you are selling the one you have pictured in the photo with the green trunk?  When she responded she didn't answer my question so I figured she thought it was dumb too since again that's the only photo she had in her albums of a trencher.  

Apparently I was the first person who actually said "I want the trencher" & so it was mine.  The thing is, she was living in the mountains of West Virginia & I was living here in central Kentucky.  I checked on Mapquest & found it would be about a 6 hour drive from here to her house.  In January.  Through the mountains.  And back again.  I thought "no problem" ... especially since she mentioned that she was downsizing & getting rid of a lot of other primitive things.  I was giddy fantasizing about the van load of wonderful prims I would be bringing home.

John insisted on coming with me & driving which of course was fine.  We got up early & drove the 6 hours to her home which was way back in the country & rather difficult to get to but we made it on time.  I knocked at the door.  No answer.  Cars were in the driveway & I could hear voices inside.  I knocked again ... no answer.  I then tried the door which was unlocked.  I opened it a crack & called out "hello?"  Then a little girl came to the door to let me in.

As I walked from the entryway through the kitchen & into the dining/family room I was in awe of all the wonderful prims this woman had & wondering just which ones she wanted to part with!  She came to greet me & we talked for a while & then she said "Here's your trencher!"  I looked at it & my heart sank.  I thought "that's not the trencher I saw in the picture."  It was not a rich brown color at all.  It did not shine like the sun.  It was, in fact, pretty beat up.  However, I didn't make waves.  I figured (1) if I walk out of this house without a trencher after driving all the way here & back to get it John won't be happy, & (2) she has all these other wonderful prims that she won't sell to me if I make a fuss.  Turns out she didn't have much to sell at all.  All the wonderful things I saw she was keeping.  What she was parting with was a few old jars (nothing special), some old candy tins (not prim), a couple old kitchen utensils, & a broken trunk.  She acted as though they were special treasures.  Talk about disappointment.  

She was going on & on about how she could've sold 10 of these trenchers if she had them.  She told me to take good care of it by rubbing it down with vegetable oil every couple months.

I decided I was happy to have the trencher anyway, beat up or not.  I posted a photo of it on the Country Sampler forum & mentioned her instructions to wipe it down with vegetable oil.  I immediately got a comment to my post saying no-no-no!  Don't use vegetable oil!  It builds up on the wood & isn't good for it at all.  This person told me to scrub the trencher with a good dish soap (like Dawn) to remove as much of the vegetable oil as possible, put the trencher in the sun to dry thoroughly, & then rub it down with mineral oil.

Here it is, 5 months later, & today I decided (while the landscapers are here) to scrub the trencher.  I literally scrubbed it over & over & over again with rough sponges, hot water & Dawn.  I even used an old hairbrush to scrub away at it.  The sponges were turning black time & time again.  The hairbrush was chipping away at the oil build up.  It was disgusting.  I scrubbed away for 2 hours & just couldn't scrub anymore even though my sponges & drying rags were still turning black in some places.  I will go at it again another day.  It reminded me of scrubbing the kitchen cabinets when we moved into this house.  The woman who lived here literally did not clean anything for the entire 2-1/2 years she lived here.  I ended up having to use a single edge razor blade to scrape the grease off all the cabinets in order to wash them down.  Can't do that with the trencher   : (

So the moral of the story is (1) Don't buy something if it's not what you were led to believe it was ... even if you drive 6 hours there to get it & 6 hours back home again, & (2) Never, ever, ever wipe down wood with vegetable oil.

Lots of Photos of Monday's Goodies

As promised, here are photos of the goodies I brought home on Monday.  Please forgive my photography ... sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't   : (

The first store I visited was the big junk shop over in the next town.  I didn't find anything I hoped to find there but I did find some things of interest.  These first 3 photos show an old oak chair I bought to use with my treadle sewing machine.  I had been using a dining table chair so the table looked rather odd without it   : )   Please take a look at the second & third photos & tell me if you've ever seen a chair with this type of metalwork.  There were 2 of these chairs at the store & both had this same metalwork.  It wasn't added afterward to shore up the chair because as you see in the third photo the outer corners of the legs have one of these metal pieces coming through it from the bottom of the chair, corner to corner, & then it's sort of bent down to follow the lines of the corner.  The big screw in the center of the metalwork looks as if it was used to tighten & pull this corner metalwork in toward the center.  ???    

These are the other goodies I bought at the junk store ... a grey graniteware pan, an old sifter which I am planning to use in a crafting project, & an old child's snow shovel.  The cobalt glass canisters are a birthday gift for my favorite aunt   : )

Next I went to the local peddlers mall.  I found quite a few things there.  I don't know why but I thought this little crate with bird houses in it would look cute hanging on the porch someplace.    

I really liked this little prim fence & thought it would look nice maybe somewhere in the foundation garden or even in my butterfly garden.

I've been looking for a nice big enamel wash basin to hang in my bathroom.  This one would've been perfect except the bottom side is really in bad shape.  I decided to get it anyway to use outside as a planter.  There's another old sifter for an intended craft project, a nice little crock, a cookie cutter, 2 small gray graniteware bowls for craft projects, & hooray!  A watering can!  Someone (sorry, I can't remember who) just posted a bunch of photos the other day of all her watering cans & I jokingly commented that I have been looking for them & haven't found any & now I know why ... she's bought them all!  Well, she didn't get this one ... lol!

I really thought this picture was nice.  It reads "Happy moments ... priase God.  Difficult moments ... seek God.  Quiet moments ... worship God.  Painful moments ... trust God.  Every moment ... thank God."  I thought it was such a nice picture & such a beautiful sentiment.  The print is by Donna Atkins.  Just what I needed ... another picture.  You'll see why in a bit   : )

This little stitchery picture will be a Christmas gift for Ruthie ... my best friend from high school.  She & I have kept in touch all these years.  

And this following photo is a bit of a break to explain why I stated above that the Donna Atkins print was just what I needed ... another picture.  This is a corner in my bedroom.  I have at least 2 dozen pictures there (& a calender holder) ... some of which have been there since we moved in & others that have been added to it.  It's not like we don't have the wall space.  We do.  It's just that we haven't settled in.  Some of them are seasonal though.  I'll cut myself some slack on those   : )    

My last stop was one of our local primitive shops, Muddy Creek.  Actually I'd say it is the local primitive shop.  The others are actually more country than prim.  I'm sorry about the blurriness of this first photo but as you can see I bought yes, another picture ... lol!     

These items were really neat.  The stitchery on the left reads "Remember me" on the top but it got cut off in the photo.  Next is an old child's metal cake pan with a blackened beeswax "cake" inside.  I fell in love with the old scoop made out to be like a little shelf with the prim black cat & mini gourd on it.  The pipberry ring I bought to put around the candle I showed you all the other day.  Unfortunately it hides about half the candle ... lol!  If I use it for that purpose I'll have to put something under the candle to raise it a bit   : )

I'm really a sucker for trees.  I walked in the door & saw this primitive patriotic tree & asked "is this for sale?"   Becky, the owner, said "you want the whole tree?" & I said "yes" so she gave me a good price   : )   Unfortunately on the way home it got a bit roughed up so I took it all apart & re-did it.  I'll leave it up for the rest of the summer.  Now I'm thinking I'll have to make or find me a fall tree   : )

I was really excited to see this old push mower!!!  The Americana banner was hanging on it & I figured I'd take that too ... something to decorate the mower for the season   : )

    

And that's it!  I hope you enjoyed the pictures & don't think I was "bragging."  Someone posted a while back that they had someone email them or comment on one of their posts saying something like how this person posts photos of their home & their things expecting people to give their approval or something like that.  I never look at someone sharing photos like that!  We are all excited when someone goes on a shopping trip & gets some goodies, right?  It's fun to see the goodies others have found.  I hope you agree   : )

Weight Loss Update #6

Before I post anything else, I want to thank everyone who made such kind comments about my quilts.  I really appreciate them   : )

I'm barely making this post under the wire!  Seems one Wednesday passes & another one is here before I know it.  I can't believe I've been starving myself eating a healthy diet (with very limited choices) for 6 weeks already!  I dropped 3-1/2 pounds this past week.  I must admit that once in a while I feel kind of tired of eating the same stuff all the time.  I don't really crave anything in particular but I sure wish I could eat some of my favorite things.  Nothing "crazy" like chips or cakes or pies or candy or ice cream ... just wonderfully delicious things like cheese, rice, Italian food,  perogies, meatloaf, a sandwich, etc.  I tell myself to be patient ... it's not like I can never eat these things again but sometimes the end of this diet seems awfully far away.

On Monday I mentioned maybe going to this huge junk place over in the next town.  I did.  John really didn't feel like going out so I was on my own.  I decided to not only go there but to check out the local peddlers mall & my favorite prim shop as well.  First I went & picked up my revised bifocals.  As soon as I put them on I told the owner of the shop that I couldn't see very well at all.  Once again I'm having that bowing effect when I look at the computer or try to read a book.  I can't really see much of anything clearly out of them.  I feel like I'm looking through someone else's glasses.  They are worse than the first pair I had!  The owner said to wear them for a week ... I should get used to them by then.  I've tried  wearing them for 2 days now but something has got to be terribly wrong here.  I mean, I should see something clearly, shouldn't I?  She's telling me I'll probably have to bend my head at different angles to look at different things or move my glasses up & down my nose to find good angles when I view different things. I told her I would wear them for a week but if I didn't see an improvement I was bringing them back to exchange them for a pair of readers.  She said that she would give me readers if I couldn't wear them after a week.  Anyway, I did go to those shops & found some goodies!  I'll post some photos tomorrow.  I also found out at the last shop I visited that there were several other shops I could've checked out near the first one I had visited so I'm planning to make a trip to those in the not-too-distant future   : )

John & I had to go to Louisville today & when we came home there was a message on the answering machine from the landscaper saying he & his guys will be here tomorrow morning to edge, plant, put down some mulch, & then they'll have to come back with more mulch at another time.  I asked what happened to pretreating the soil like he had mentioned doing & he said that it would take too long to do that.  He was also supposed to replace our bad dirt with some good topsoil.  From the way it sounds they're going to come here, edge the beds, then dig holes & plant things amongst the grass & weeds & then pack mulch around everything.  When he mulched around our trees & bushes he said that he didn't have to remove the grass & weeds around them because covering it with the mulch would make it die.  I wonder what I've gotten myself into here.  I'm also wondering what he's planning to plant!  I know we talked about certain bushes for out front but in back there's going to be a perennial garden & we have no idea which perennials we want to plant.  Hopefully he isn't just bringing a bunch from his nursery to put there.  Tomorrow should be an interesting day.

Tuesday's Display Chain - Quilts - Anything Quilts

Misi's display chain today focuses on quilts ... anything quilts.

My love affair with quilts began when I was a child.  No one in my family made quilts & I am guessing that my love for them came from seeing them in picture books.  To me a quilt represents love, comfort, & home.

I made my first quilt in 1990 when we were living in Tennessee.  I went to a quilt shop in a small town & saw that they were offering a beginners quilting class.  I immediately signed up & picked my fabrics ... a horrid 90's color palate of white, pink, & blue calico.  I remember the ladies at the store were busy with another customer that day.  I assume she was "somebody" because they couldn't do enough to help her out.  Finally one of them came over to me & grudgingly took my bolts of fabric, cut the necessary yardage & signed me up for the class.  On the first day of class I sat at a table in a small room. There were about a dozen of us in the class each with our own little table.  The instructor then taught us how to make templates from cardboard, trace around them, & cut them out.  She then said it was time to sew them together.  I expected her to lead us to another room filled with sewing machines for our use, but as I looked around the room I saw all the other ladies threading their needles & beginning to stitch their pieces by hand!  Hand piecing!  Hand piecing a queen size sampler quilt!  Everyone got a good laugh when they found out I thought we were using machines.  The instructor said "A quilt isn't a quilt unless it's hand pieced."  I didn't agree with that but I had paid my money so went about hand piecing my top.  I missed the last 2 classes because I ended up in the hospital with a blood clot in my leg but I did finish my quilt top.  I had not realized the class did not follow through with actually quilting the quilt ... just making the top.  I didn't like the way the top turned out (really hated those colors together) so I held onto the top for a few years & then sold it to someone for $90.  She eventually sent it away to have it machine quilted & was quite happy with it.

I never took another quilt class but I did amass a great many books & watched a lot of quilting shows on TV so basically learned to piece a quilt on a machine on my own. I've made quite a few over the years & I hope you will enjoy looking at the photos.

This quilt is the first one I made by machine. The pattern is called Mock Log Cabin.  I hand quilted it.  It is made from all the fabrics my husband bought me one Christmas.  First you will see a picture of me with all the fabrics, then a picture of the finished quilt   : )

  

The following quilt is the quilt I now have on my bed.  I was always fascinated with "the old days" & loved old feedsacks.  This quilt is made with a sampling of the feedsacks I have collected over the years.  The top side is made from 6" squares, no two alike, & the back side is made from various feedsack pieces sewn together. It is machine quilted with a Baptist Fan pattern which was a popular pattern used in the 1930s.  

I really fell in love with the 30s & so made quite a few quilts using 1930s reproduction fabrics.  The following photo shows one of my 30s sampler quilts.  Each block is quilted differently.  This quilt was made using blocks from an online block exchange.  

Here is a quilt top which was also made using blocks from an online block exchange. I only pieced together the top ... then got a new bed & discovered the finished quilt was going to be too small so I took it all apart & have yet to put it all back together.  I need to make a few more blocks to add to it to enlarge the size a bit. 

The following quilt pattern is called Jacob's Ladder.  I made this quilt as a gift for my cousin.  It is hand quilted.  

This next quilt was a Christmas gift for my brother.  The pattern is called Rail Fence & I used patriotic fabrics because he likes the history of our country.  It was machine quilted.  

This is the last quilt top I made although this photo was taken before I sewed the blocks together.  The pattern is called Friendship Star.  I made it to use on my bed here in this house but I am having trouble finding just the right border fabric for it. 

I have made a lot of baby quilts & other quilts over the years but unfortunately don't have any photos of them.  I also have about 7 or 8 quilts packed away that are just about finished ... I only need to add the binding to them.

I did not make the following quilt ... it was a gift to me.  My mother passed away 6 years ago & afterward my father became very ill & we thought we were going to lose him too. My brother & I went to Florida to take care of him & we were there for 2 months. Thankfully he regained his strength & went on to live another 3 years.  When I came back home after those 2 months I found a package waiting for me & it was this quilt. My friends in the online quilt group made the blocks & sent them to my dear friend (the one I mentioned in Sunday's post who has muscular dystrophy) who sewed them together & had the quilt finished for me.

I've also made other quilted items over the years.  The following pictures are of some Christmas wallhangings I made a few years ago.

  

And finally here are the quilted Christmas stockings I made for me & John.  John's is on the left, mine is on the right.

I really enjoy quilts & quilting.  Like I said, to me a quilt represents love, comfort, & home.  

God bless you if you've made it this far through my post ... lol!  I hope you enjoyed the photos.  Be sure to check out the Tuesday Display Chain post on Misi's blog ... 1890s Gable House Musings ... so you can visit other bloggers who have shared their quilts as well   : )