Aroma of Vinegar and Dill

Bummer!! ~~jar broke~~oh well.

Vintage Stitching

My daughter Lauren introduced me to Mozilla Firefox, a different browser than I had been using, and then she showed me Stumble! which I only tried for the first time yesterday. I don't have much to tell you about it other than I think it could be addictive--it randomly brings up web pages that you may be interested in. ANYHOW--I found this website, Sublime Stitching with embroidery patterns. My goodness I love these vintage lamps in embroidery--there's a few more in the pattern than in this picture. Trying to be realistic, I probably won't order the pattern but I sure am tempted!

4-H Project

My son made this parade puppet for the Theatre Arts Project in 4-H. Our fair is this week.



He actually wants to also enter it in the fair's parade on Sun. It will take 3 people to operate him and one to carry the sign that says "Theatre Arts- 4-H".



His name is "Orson". His hands are kind of small but the cool thing is, he was made with all supplies we had on hand. Maybe it does pay sometimes to buy every cheap possible craft item you find at garage sales and auctions.

Claire was a baking fool today too for 4-H: muffins, cookies, and snack mix. Now, if we can get everything safely there tomorrow, we''ll be in good shape.

Back From Vacation

We took a short but fun trip to Chicago last week. All of us. In the waaaaayyyy back of my mind I knew that Janelle a.k.a The Farmer's Wife was having a sale. I had come across her blog through the Junk Revolution site. I only knew she lived in Iowa but no idea where. I had thought, "Wouldn't it be neat if....."

To make a long story not as long----I used my daughter's "smart phone" to use the internet to find Janelle's blog and her address. (LOVE this technology!) Just so happened that she is located just about 4 miles or so from a big outlet mall along I80 that Bonnie and Lauren were hoping to stop at and get a little shopping in on the way home from Chicago. We dropped the two older girls off along with Claire to shop and Randy and the other kids and I went to find Janelle's sale. Didn't take long. She was surprised! Audrey and Nora hopped out and started playing with her 5 year old son within minutes. When we got in the suburban to leave, Audrey wanted to go back to give him a hug. Wasn't sure what he would think of that so I convinced her waving would be good enough.

It was so fun to meet a fellow junk lover and I came home with a few great things to "sit around my house"! She had such a neat shed set up for her sale and she will be a vendor at the Junk Bonanza in Sept. I would love to do that!

Back to Chicago--we really had a great time. It's so fun to be in a big city. Fun to leave it after a few days too!

Garden (Weed) Progress

All that wonderful fencing Randy and Will put up to hold the birdhouse gourds we were going to grow---and only one seed germinated from a whole packet. We'll see how much this one plant can produce!



A shoot from the dipper gourds straining on the trellis. (5 seeds germinated here)




Remember this post? This is a baby Cinderella Pumpkin. Looks like we should get quite a few of these. HOPE SO!



Our patch--weeds and all. We've harvested a couple kolrabi and one yellow zucchini so far.

Shed Sale South of Seward

I shopped at the Shed Sale south of Seward on the 4th this past weekend. Thanks to Rachel for pointing me to this fun event. (Speaking of Rachel-go enter her weekly contest for a necklace!)



I really went to see what it was about and decide if I would like to be a vendor there in Sept. for the fall sale. This funky gal wasn't for sale. Bummer.




This was another display that people were gathering around with chuckles. There were two different acreages to check out with lots of great items. Wish I could have gone Sunday for "Deal Day" but wasn't to be. I do think I want to be a vendor here in Sept. if it works out. Everyone working the sale were having a great time! If you like old things junky or otherwise you would have found something here.



OK I couldn't just check it out---a few things had my name on them. This is a bucket of what???? Canon balls? I'm not sure but I honestly could not lift it. I had to load about 8 of them out of it first before I could lift the rest in the bucked into my vehicle. Of course my son lifted it out of the suburban because I challenged him. Should have seen his face when he moved it.



Here's just one of them. There are different sizes in the bucket. Somehow, some of these will be in my garden. Any ideas how to use them anyone? All I know is I love the rust and shape and heft.




More for the garden. It's a little drinking fountain! How neat will that be?




I can't believe this was still there on the second day of the sale for the price it was.



Love the colors on these. If you look closely you can see the black was actually a face painted on the left one. I didn't see that until I got in the house. There's a faint face left on the right one too. (other side) I suppose the finials were repainted as project but when? Long enough ago to wear off. I don't really care ,the wear and oddity is great.




I will buy every maniquin piece I ever find if the price is right. Which never happens! But it did Sat!!!! Creeps my kids out. Which makes it all the better.

Maybe Not For a Garden Magazine....But...

I like it, and it's what I have! The poor neglected flower garden is struggling, but when you cut out a few flowers and put them in coffee pot/vase you can imagine the quaint and charming cottage garden they may have come from. They didn't, but they did in my imagination. Not perfect or beautiful but nice anyway.

Paint Samples--Don't You Love Them?

Will is painting his room. He's pulled off the wallpaper and is getting it ready to texture and paint. Mind you this has been a SLOW process over the past weeks. He's doing it himself. Because I'm still stashing away and listing items from my last auctions. Good riddens to the wallpaper. Still don't know how or why I picked a rather southwestern design for our farmhouse style home?!



We picked up paint samples today. How how I love these. The pamphlets show such wonderful combinations. I think each one is my favorite until I look at the next one. The Streamlined years (1930s)are definitely my favorite.



Until I come to the Arts and Crafts Years (1900s)



I'm telling you I look at them and think if only I could repaint our house.---Then I remember---WAIT- I did pick out the color when we built it 13 years ago. Our house is White AND I'd do it again. I love a plain white house. Specifically a plain white farmhouse which is what we have. (Even though we don't technically live on a farm but an acreage.)
I'm not sure what Will is going to end up with but hopefully the job will be done before he starts school again in August!