Is it FALL yet???

Hey blogging buddies,
I don't usually post this late on a Fri. nite, but decided to take a chance that someone just might be on the computer instead of out in the HEAT. Everyone staying COOL this summer???LOL
It is still BEASTLY here in Ky. and doesn't seem to be cooling off anytime soon, so I decided to make some FALL decor. These 3 pillows are from a kit I ordered from Farmhouse Woolens recently. It came w/the Silk Matka, the plaid homespun for the backs(which I forgot to take a pic of) and the wool, plus the pattern. I love the way they turned out. I just used a buttonhole stitch all around each one. The pattern didn't call for it, but I decided to add a little button on the acorn.

Love the way the 'leaf' looks dimensional on this one.

Remember this one I showed a 'sneak peek' of last time?? I finished it up the other night while camping recently. It is a pattern designed by the Stitcherhood, w/just a bit of Quaker motif added.

It was an absolute joy to work on. The floss was wonderful(Valdani) and just stitched up so fast for a change! I'm thinking about framing it myself, but would need to find the right size frame first.

The watermelon I showed on an earlier post, but hadn't finished it into anything at that point. This was for a recent exchange I was in, so now I can show it all finished up into a floss holder. (The floss rings fit through the holes at the bottom and that's where you hang your floss).

Awhile back when I gave you a tour of my craft barn, I had these unfinished mini cabinets, so I finally painted them black, then sanded them. I left the drawers unfinished for a more unique look.

Here's another WIP(work in progress) and a sneak peek of something else I started working on before the 4th of July. Better late than never. I would have had this finished by now, but got into stitching some fall items. At least I'll be early w/them! :))

I have stitched on it since this pic was taken and it is now almost finished and I'll post when it's done.

This is from a Shepherd's Bush pattern.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do LOVE primitive decor, but just NOT primitive camping, so here's our 'home away from home' while camping recently. We only went 2 hrs. away from here to the Ky. Horse Park right outside of Lexington(Horse Capital of the World), home of the 2010 World Equestrian Competition thingy~LOL, I can't remember the proper wording, sorry for all you horse lovers!
We have camped all over the eastern parts of the U.S. and only a few Midwestern states for 13 summers now, but would love to travel more extensively when the boys get out of school.

Slide~outs make all the difference! We started out very humbly yrs. ago and worked our way up to this 31ft. wonder on wheels!

In our first camper, you could literally sit on the potty, lean over and lay your head on the bed! we used to make jokes about it all the time. LOL
This is our third camper and it's 4 yrs. old this yr. but our fifth yr. of camping in it. I had a dear friend of mine come to visit for almost 2 wks. a few yrs. ago and we let her stay in it because we didn't have a spare bedroom at the time, and she nicknamed it "the Camper Hilton". LOL

Sorry about the glare! This was taken through the window as we were leaving. Despite the major heat wave we've had, our grass is still fairly green. (Maybe due to all the thunderstorms we've had pass through).

All the sites are paved and are a good distance between you and your neighbor. It is one of our favorite campgrounds close to home.

This was where we spent most of our time. My body was actually craving chlorine!!

It was not all that crowded at the pool each day. The right side is 12 ft. deep and they employ several lifeguards, who change seats every half hr. (who knows why, maybe cuz of the heat)??

It's one of the biggest pools we've seen at a campground.

We had a little excitement on our last day there. We were inside eating our lunch, because the lawn guys needed to mow all around us on those big LOUD turnaround lawnmowers and we felt a 'boom', like a rock or something hit the side of our camper, but later discovered that the lawn guy hit the camper w/his big machine. BJ our doggie, came running under the table it scared him so bad.

Please ignore the dirt, but here's the damage it did.

So hubby went to the office and told them what had happened and they sent this guy to check it out. Hopefully we'll hear from them soon w/an insurance check to cover the damages(keeping fingers and toes crossed) ha.

And that's what we've been up to so far this summer! Hope you're enjoying what's left of yours!

Take care, thanks for coming by and please stop back again soon!

Tanya

Too Hot to Stitch??

Hey blogging buddies,
Is everyone staying nice and toasty?? tee hee
It is BEASTLY here in our neck of the woods and the humidity is really something the last few days! Wow! we can tell it's SUMMER! But I am thankful for all the beautiful sunshine He has sent our way, so I can't complain too much.
Did everyone have a nice 4th of July holiday? Ours went by fast and we did enjoy seeing the fireworks, except for a bunch of noisy teenagers that were standing a bit too close to us, while we were trying our best to watch, LOL.
I just finished up another cr. st. exchange that I was in, so decided it was time to jump ahead and stitch something more fallish, perhaps hoping to keep myself feeling cooler? Anyway, here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on right now.
Now I realize I have been telling you all how great it is to only work on one project at a time, but I couldn't help myself and started a second project, shhhhhh, don't tell anyone, ok?
It's stitched on 25ct. Floba. If you've never used this fabric, I highly recommend it! Love the look and feel of it.
This is a little better view of the floss I'm using ~ it's Valdani ~Golden Autumn, I just thought it spelled out 'Fall' to me. (The thread color, that is), ha.

This hanging pillow is what I received from a gal in my exchange group. She altered the LHN design just a bit for a more summery feel. I think she did a very nice job stitching it for me. Thanks again, Marjorie!

I apologize that the pic isn't more clear.

Here's my very first floss tag I made recently. I made a huge mistake at first by using FOAM board instead of MAT board, which is much thinner. It was really THICK the first time I tried it, but soon realized I'd used the wrong thing to mount it. So then I had to completely re-do it and liked the way it turned out, but not so sure I'll be making any more any time soon! :))

The fabric is much more yellow in person(I'm not the greatest photographer, for sure)!

I wanted to experiment w/tea~dying my own cr. st. fabric, so this is how my 32ct. cream Belfast linen turned out. This first pic I placed it in a pan w/tea and let it soak for several hrs. It is actually a bit darker than it shows here.

The second pic is a piece I sprayed on the tea from a bottle. A little more mottled look.

Here's some fabric I bought not too long ago to make some more pillows and whatever with. I thought they all looked like 'summer'.

Thought I'd share a new recipe I made recently for a family reunion. It's called, "Ale-8-One Pound Cake". Not sure if you can find Ale 8 in your neck of the woods, however, it tastes a lot like Ginger Ale, so I'm pretty sure you can substitute that or 7-Up.

For decades the Ale 8 drink was only sold in Winchester, Ky, where it was bottled, beginning in 1902, but today it is found all over the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Recipe down below.

W/out glaze......... had to sneak a piece just to try it out, lol.

W/glaze..........

Here's the recipe:

Ale-8-One pound cake

2 sticks butter

1/2 c. veg. shortening

3 c. sugar(I used half sugar substitute)

5 eggs

1 t. lemon extract

3 c. flour

7 ounces Ale-8-One

Cream butter, shortening and sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon extract. Add the flour and Ale-8-One, alternately, beating after each addition. Pour the batter into a greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hrs. or until cake is done. Let cool in pan 10 mins. befor turning onto a cake plate.

Let me know if you try it or you can find Ale-8-One in your area.

One month from today is my b'day and we hope to be on our way to the beach, which we haven't had the pleasure of vacationing there in several yrs.

When I had my cr. st. shop we always stopped in Charlotte, N.C. for 'market', for a few days of non-stop shopping(mostly placing orders), seeing all the lastest cr. st. designs and meeting all the designers! They were like meeting/seeing celebrities in real life and they'd all have their booths decorated so cute!

Oh, how I miss going to market every summer, it was always so much fun! Then as soon as market was over, we'd head on down to the beach, which was a few hrs. further south.

So this yr. we're hoping to do the same, except the market part, which I'm really looking forward to.


Anyway, I hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying your summer. It'll be over before ya know it. It always goes by way too fast for us!

I've also been enjoying reading Joyce Meyer's new book, "Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes". (Actually I just wanted an excuse to eat that cookie)!!! LOL

It talks about how God wants us to enjoy and celebrate different things in our lives. She asks, "Do you take time to celebrate when you finish a project, or do you merely begin the next one?" Good question! I think one of the ways we celebrate is by posting pics of our projects on our blogs to share w/others, or even better yet, if we can show it in person. It makes us feel so good when we share something we've accomplished, however large or small, and to know that it encourages others, is icing on the cake.

So take care and let me hear about what you're working on, or better yet, share a pic of it w/us so we can help you celebrate too.

Tanya