cat pics

Here are some pics of the cats.  I haven't posted pics of them for a while...

this is Sam.  He's the newest member of the family.this pic is the first picture I took of Sam.  He was so little.

  This of course is Tikki.  Mr. Grumpy LOL.

Pillows with zippers

I had gotten a crochet pillow kit and finishing it up kind of freaked me out.  It had a zipper that needed to go in it.  I had to supply the zipper myself, it was not in the kit.  But here is how I did it.

I sewed it in!  Yep all by hand.  It actually did not take me that long to do.

I lined it up and sewed in one side with the teeth just on the very edge of the crochet and then unzipped it and sewed the other side in the same way.

see you can barely see the zipper when it is closed.  By the way I couldn't find a zipper long enough in lavender so went with a cream color.  It doesn't show so no problem!

Here is the pillow.  It's beautiful.  I got the kit from Herrschner's.  The kit didn't come with the zipper or pillow form just the yarn and pattern.

and here is a better pic with more exact color of the pillow

this second photo is a little washed out but you can see the stitches.

Pillowcase embroidery ideas

I got a pair of pillowcases at an auction and just wanted to share how they were done.  These were homemade pillowcases in a lavender color with white rickrack sewn on. Here are a couple of pics.

As you can see there are three loops of rickrack across the front of the pillowcase.  The back was plain. In each of the loops there is a white circle and then the rickrack was applied with embroidery floss in a lazy daisy stitch. These are photos taken on my old phone so hopefully my new phone will take better pics.  I just love these pillowcases.  Someone spent some time on them and it shows.

new house pics

I never did post any of the pictures of my new house. I took these before I moved in.

This the driveway.  I have some really interesting plantings all over.

This is the front of the house.  See the bush just to the right, it's going to be cut down.  There are three of them and they are huge and take up half the sidewalk.  This house was built in the 60's and these bushes might be that old :)

In the back of this picture you can see my little picnic area.  It's a covered area with a cement floor.  It came with the table and chairs.  I'm not far off the highway but it's really quiet there.

Yes I got a clothesline!  It's not the best but will do for a while and I have my umbrella clothesline as well that I have to put up yet.

This is the back of the house.  The little white building is the well house. It's not working right now but in a few years I hope to get it up and running again (when I have the money). The chaise came with the house.  The small tree on the right is actually two lilacs, one white and one lavender.  The screen in the back of the well house is a clematis vine and honeysuckle.  I even had a little hummingbird tasting the honeysuckle the other day.  

Here is the parking garage.  

This is the second bathroom.  The metal rectangle is an old heating system that is still in the house.  I'm not going to use it since there is a newer system so I need to find someone to take this out and patch all the holes.  Every room has one of these even the kitchen....  

Here is the den walls.  This is the actual wood paneling.  Not that cheap stuff this is tongue in groove paneling.  It's so pretty.  

A built in bookcase in the den.  It's full now ;)

Here is my kitchen.  As you can see, it has not been updated since the house was built.  The fridge is from the 60's and still works great.  The house also came with a washer and dryer which would be on the left just out of this picture.  I'm not crazy about having the washer and dryer in the kitchen but this house only has a crawl space.  I think maybe I'll reconfigure the master bath and put them in there.  

Here is the dining room.  Not really big room but big enough for the table, four chairs and a couple of storage pieces. 

Here is the living room.  There are hardwood floors throughout but the den and bedrooms have new carpeting in them.  When the carpeting wears out, out it goes.  I would much rather have wood floors.  Notice the light in here.  My realtor tried to beg me for it.  Nope it stays forever.  There are some really unique features here. 

Here is the bedroom that my mom will be using.  She's coming to live with me in July.  It has a big closet and a ceiling fan.  I didn't realize until after I had moved in that the fan pull is a hummingbird, my mother's favorite bird.  She is bringing hummingbird curtains.  How wonderful is that.  And unplanned too!

Here is the master bath.  The cabinet on the right is really long.  When I get the washer and dryer out of the kitchen that is where I would put them.  There is also a cabinet on the wall above this where I store my toilet paper and towels.  The sinks are really low.  I'll have to have them raised although they are the right height if you are in a wheelchair.  That is real tile on the walls.  I think they put a lot of money in this house when it was built.  No cheap things here.  The flooring is really interesting.  It's linoleum but a real nice pattern.  

Here is my bedroom.  There is another bedroom that I made into a craft room.  I didn't realize I had so much crafty stuff.  I'll have to weed out some of it cause my mom crafts also and is bringing her stuff with her.  That's all the pics on the house for now.  Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Ebaying

I had to share some of the things I have gotten off Ebay.  I have another collection started LOL.  Yeah didn't really need to start another one, really I didn't but here they are....

This is from an artist in Russia.  These are the stamps on the package.  Pretty interesting and surprisingly it doesn't take very long to get a package from Russia.

As I said, she is an artist.  Here is the little baby Kangaroo.  She has her own bed and even a little sucker in her pocket. She is all crocheted and is less than 5 inches long.  Her legs and arms move.  

This is another of her crocheted creations.  It is a fox and he has removable clothes and shoes and a kerchief on his head.  His legs and arms move also.  He is also 5 inches tall.  His fur is created just by brushing the yarn.  So cute!Then I ordered two more creations from Canada this time.  These came in these two boxes.  Very professional packaging.

These were both sewn and are about 5 inches in height.  The first one is a little girl.  She has a hat and collar and dress.  They are unremovable sewn right onto the little bear.  Her arms and legs and head move.  

And here is her companion, a little bunny!  She is also wearing a hat, dress and collar that are sewn right onto her body.  She is the same height and her head, arms and legs move.  So that's the first part of my collection.  Yes I got some more that I'll post later on.

Canning!

Yes I'm back again.  I just started canning again.  Totals will be on the side bar for this year.

Dr. Quinn show shawls...

 I have to admit I've been watching the entire six seasons of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman on Amazon Prime.  Love the series but one thing realllllllllly bugs me.  That's that shawl that is on the left....Reallly bugs me.  Not that I don't love the shawl but it is NOT historically accurate.  Multi-color yarn (variegated) was not invented until 1960!  Every time the actress wears this, it makes me cringe.  I looked online and apparently no one else noticed this.  There are a few other shawls that were not accurate as well.   I guess I'm too picky as the show had a lot of things that were not historically accurate.  I hate it when watching a movie or TV show that is supposed to be set in another time and the costumes aren't correct.  What are your views on this?  Does this shawl bother anyone else?  or is it just me LOL.