Happy Easter

Happy Easter to you and your family!

Louise ... x ... ♥

Friday Stitching

I have learnt two important lessons this evening.

1.  Always have the iron hot and ready when piecing fabric.

2.  Beautiful fabrics are made to be cut and stitched and NOT hoarded.

Dang that second lesson was a hard one to learn.

But well worth it. ☺

Happy Weekend!

Toodles...L x ♥

Just a bit....

So...
Saturday we went to the Maple Festival in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.
And...
My camera promptly died after just five photos.
Fairly typical for me.
So we have no photos of the Berlin Fife and Drum Corp in the parade (my favorite in the whole parade), no photos of the maple tree taps, no photos of the maple syrup bubbling away, no photos of the sweet horse and buggies and no photos of the yummy delicious maple syrup!  Even if the camera were working, the maple syrup lasted less time than the blink of an eye.  It was THAT good.  Pancakes and Waffles for breakfast and dinner...whoo hooo!
However...
I do have photos of beautiful quilts.   These quilts were in the Historic Meyers Homestead which was the first stop on our visit of the festival.
So this is just a bit of a post...since I only have five photos and I was so busy admiring the house and furnishings that I wasn't **really** listening to the tour guide.  So I'll let them speak for themselves.

The photo below isn't actually of a quilt, but I thought this little lead glass window in the nursery door was rather sweet.  I was told it was installed to keep a quiet eye on the children whilst they slept.

Aren't those quilts and of course those rooms just wonderful?  I could have stayed in the house admiring the beautiful details all day.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of a post....

Toodles...L x ♥

Hello Spring???

Has anyone seen Spring?

I fear it may have been kidnapped.

 With snow last week, I feared we'll never see a 

sign of Spring.

 Not just a Spring time dusting, but a great big dumping.

 Seems my poor daffs may never see the sun shiny sun.

Spring and the Sun did peak out for a day or two last week.

 And as Miss Maggie and I listened to Mr. Weatherman's prediction that Spring had indeed gone missing, I did some clickety click on my needles to make her a little warm cardigan of sorts.  

For the next blanket of white.

 But alas my knitting was too slow, and the snow returned again today.

By the chair load!

As the snow started to fall yesterday  I did succeed in making something from my latest book.

 As sweet as this little purse may look, it was rather tricky to make.  The instructions in my lovely book are a wee bit muddled.  Delicious photos to look at in this wee book, devilishly hard instructions to follow.

Please do tell me, have you seen Spring over your way?

If so, please remind her to pop over here for a day or two.

Toodles...L x ♥

P.S.  It is stILL snowing here!  The weather has gone quite mad.

My Red ♥ Cardigan

I'm not thrilled with how this little cardi turned out, but I do love the buttons!

 The yarn was very inexpensive. 

I think all told this cardigan cost me $7.50 to make?

Not bad really?

 It's toasty warm and practical as I don't like long woollie sleeves - they always seem to get sopping wet when I wash dishes - and it created the perfect opportunity for the Mister to take the WORST ever photo of me!!!!!

Of course he didn't bother to tell me once side of the cardi was all bunched up!  What part of, can you please take a nice photo of my cardi for my blog do you think he misses?

I'd say ALL OF IT!

Anyway, it does seem my knitting skills are coming along...if but slowly....

Toodles ... L x ♥

P.S. The yarn is Bartlett Yarns I found on sale on Etsy and the pattern is an easy peasy top down raglan I found here - without the sleeves of course because my beginner knitting brain couldn't figure out the proper decreases! 

:: A Little Companion ::

 Just a little someone to keep me company during my work day.

Miss Maggie came together surprisingly fast and she was incredibly easy to make (except her nose and boots they both involved some mild swearing).

I will definitely make her a friend.

Of course my boys were amused by my little rabbit.  Little J's constantly giggling the words "that rabbits gone commando" got the better of me. So today during my lunch break I found myself whipping her up a pair of bloomers.

 Fancy lace bloomers at that.  I used some very old lace I found in the drawers of the old Singer 24 treadle sewing machine I purchased last summer. I think the lace suits her perfectly.

And now Little J can giggle no more!

Toodles...L x ♥

P.S.  Miss Maggie came from this lovely lady, but I do believe only the pattern is available now.  She is a treat to make and I highly recommend you rush over there now and buy the pattern.  It's worth every penny.

A Little Friday Parcel

It's not often the I can indulge in purchasing some handmade goodness.  My budget just doesn't ever stretch that far.  Not that I think handmade goodness is overpriced, it's just my paycheck can only stretch so far.  

However, recently I decided to part with two of my beloved sewing machines.  This one was particularly hard to part with, but I knew I would never use it and the loveliest lady purchased it after driving 6 hours to pick it up!  Anyway, I'm getting off subject.  These two machines put a few extra dollars in my PayPal account.  I knew I had to spend these pennies wisely, because it would be a LONG time before I had anymore luxury pennies.  So I spent the last two months trawling the Internet looking for  lovely things to spend my pennies on when I came across a lovely something. 

The lovely something wasn't quite ready yet, so I had to wait, whilst making sure those pennies didn't burn a hole in my pocket (I suffer from a severe case of long arms and short pockets.  I counted the days, stalked a certain lovely blog until I saw this post and I quickly put my penny spending skills into action.

She arrived today.  

 This bestest bit about the parcel?

The lovely hand signed thank you card.

It really touched me and I knew my pennies had been very well spent.

Now I can't wait to get stitching!

Let's hope my stitching skills will do this sweet rabbit justice.

Happy Weekend!

Toodles...L x ♥

P.S.  My sweet Rabbit was very very reasonably priced.  So I do indeed still have some luxury pennies left in my PayPal account. I am saving those for a rainy day.

Snow Day - 03.06.13

Short lived, but enjoyed by all!

Toodles...L x ♥

Little Window of Blue

It's lunchtime here, the skies are bluest of blue and the sun is shining, although it is bitterly cold outside. Instead of scurrying around my kitchen in my 30 minute break finding things to eat I am making a determined effort to enjoy the blue skies and sunshiny day.  Taking little snaps of life that make me smile, even on the grayest of grey winter days.  You see, the grey skies of winter have been getting me down. I've drifted away from creative days and spent far too much time letting the pitfalls of life get the better of me while the skies overhead cast their grey shadow.

The view from my work desk.

 A little work desk companion to provide me with some sunshine.

  The little old window of the house across the street. I love this little old window, which unlike most of the windows in the houses on our street has not been replaced by some ugly vinyl thing (like the ones in my house).  I love this little window too, because it distracts me from my neighbors very untidy yard!!!!  Please neighbor, pick up the rubbish that blows into your garden.  I do not enjoy the messiness staring back at me as I tip tap away at my computer all day.  (Not that he reads this blog, but I do hope he cleans it up as he is a very nice man really, but his garden is very untidy).

 A few stitches on my staircase window. A little smile as I come down the stairs.

 My red cardigan that has been on  hold with one sleeve.  The men of this house will not cooperate and help me wind another skein of wool into a ball so I can knit the other.  I may have to try it myself and pray I don't create a tangled ball winding mess as I am known to do.

 Lastly, the lovely sunshine through my favorite of most favorite curtains of all time.

Well I must be off back to work.  Back to my desk in the bay window.
I hope your day has a little sunshine and the grey skies of winter don't make you blue.

Toodles...L x ♥