Going to See Abigail

Early tomorrow morning, Laura is driving up from Richmond. We'll be making our annual outing up to the Woodlawn Needlework Exhibition in Alexandria. My Abigail's Sampler to John is on exhibit and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. She didn't win a ribbon, and that's ok with me. I'm thrilled that I'm a part of it and hope that I'll be able to enter many more pieces in the future. Next weekend I get to go pick her up and I'm really looking forward to that, too. I can't wait to get her up and hanging on the wall. I'm really looking forward to our day tomorrow!

Yesterday, I had to stop by Borders to pick up a gift card for one of Cassie's friends for her birthday. When you first walk in they usually have displays of bargain books. Right away I noticed and illustrated encyclopedia of the Presidents of America. It's a very large hardcover book and at $7.99, I had to snap it up. When I was a child, my dad bought a book about all of the presidents for my brother and I to share. I looked through it often and this book reminds me of that one. I've really enjoyed looking through it and hope that Cassie and Joshua like it as much as I liked mine when I was young. In my quest to make myself read, I bought myself a book. It's not that I don't like reading, when I was little a read often. It's that nothing seems to interest me. The only thing I'm the least bit interested in reading are books about history, in particular books about women in history. I didn't realise just how many of those would interest me until the minutes were ticking away in Border's while I looked through tons of them. I could have easily bought 50 books but only let myself get 1. Once it's finished, I'll get another. The one I bought is called Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts. It's about the women who raised our nation. I'm really looking forward to reading it. I had a hard time deciding between 4 books. The one I bought, Ladies of Liberty, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mr. Jefferson's Women. I REALLY want the Mrs. Lincoln book but think the next one I get will be Mr. Jefferson's Women. It's much smaller and the title intrigues me...lol.

I had a little finishing project someone asked me to do for them that I delivered today. I don't know the name of the piece, but it's an Easter piece from the Sweetheart Tree. I believe this was a kit. She asked me to make it in to a flat fold for her. She loved it but decided she didn't want the one bow in the middle. I thought she might not so I just pinned it down. We pulled it off and made 2 smaller bows for the corners. It looked much cuter with the 2 bows. I took this pic before I left so it has the first bow.



After we deliver Cassie to a friends house, the rest of us are heading out to dinner. Our John Adams disc 3 has arrived from Netflix and I'm REALLY looking forward to finishing up the series. It's a really great series and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching every second of it. I think I'm going to get something about either Lincoln or Jefferson next.

Happy Spring!

It doesn't feel like spring today, it's quite chilly. I did notice the trees are budding though! I was ever so happy to kiss winter goodbye. Now if it would only warm up a tad and stay that way.

The Cherry Blossom Festival starts in D.C. this weekend! I'll be looking forward to hopping over to gander at the sea of pink in a couple of weeks when my father in law and his wife come for a visit. I'm so looking forward to spring break.

I rarely ever toot my own horn or pat myself on the back...ever. But I so need to make an exception this time. We bought a bed for a small room that's only use up until now has been to store our junk. In my quest to give every unused space a purpose, we decided to make it a small guest room. One can never have too many places for people to sleep. We bought a bed for the room on Friday and then Saturday I went shopping for bedding. I found a quilt at Kohl's that was exactly what I had in min so snapped it up. My next order of business was to buy curtains for the little window. After a couple of hours of looking and finding nothing I liked, I finally had enough and went to Joanne's and bought 3.5 yards of a print that couldn't have gone with the quilt more perfectly. I had this brilliant idea that I'd make the curtains myself. Never done that, by the way. I'm really not a sewer. I can do the basic stuff but if you give me a pattern I get all sorts of confused and overwhelmed. I called my mama and she told me how to make them. It took me a bit, but they're done! And perfect! Everything's even! I was worried that since I was making two panels that the second wouldn't look exactly like the first, but it does. I double and triple measured everything. I don't know that you can see the print but it's really simple and there are little tiny flowers on it. I am maker of curtains! Which is great because I have the hardest time finding curtains I like. No trouble at all finding fabrics though. My next order of business is to get a side table for beside the bed, a lamp, a chair, and some things for the walls. I do think I might ask Mike to move the brackets out a little more on the rod. I have a bit of the fabric left. I think I might make a pillow or two for the bed. I really want it to be a simple little colonial looking room. I love that stuff.

I have a dentist appt. in the morning. Wish me luck. Ever since my wisdom teeth extraction from Hell a couple of years ago, I have terrible anxiety when it comes to going to the dentist. I'm having an issue with a tooth.....an issue that I didn't have until after said oral surgeon whacked away a lot of my gum by this tooth *sigh*.

My Voice Has Left Me

For some odd reason, my voice seems to have checked out and gone on vacation! I'm not sick....I feel fine...I just can't really speak. Not well anyway. Frustrating indeed for someone who's a chatter box. I woke up yesterday to discover my impairment which was somewhat of a problem considering that I was off to pick up two friends for a fun filled day in Alexandria. I talked anyway...at least I tried. I just sounded really silly. Joshua sure thinks it's hysterical. I had a really really great time with my friends and can't wait to venture off with them again.

I have died and gone to fabric Heaven, my friends. My first order of business today was to stop by Homespun Elegance to have a peak at their moving sale. I did indeed leave with a sack packed full and am now wishing I would've done much more damage than I did. Not for any good reason because I came home with A LOT of stuff. Everything I was interested in had such great prices on it that I would have loved to have snapped it all up. Mostly, the fabric. Cassie was even shocked at how much I had. Here it is.

Those cuts of fabric are folded several times. Those 3 cuts on the top right are huge. Maybe close to a full yard a piece. I don't know if you can tell in the pic but that's a stack there in the middle. I, my friends shouldn't need any stitching fabric for a long long time! I paid just over $20 for all of this fabric...I can't believe that. And I didn't even get it all...not even close....

Ok, now look at these frames! $.50 cents each! Can you believe that?! Most of these had something very minor wrong with them. They can easily be sanded down and repainted or stained. There were tons more when I left this morning.

I'm always the first one to go through the charts because I'm always in search of those that are out of print. I hit the jackpot today, I did! I was thrilled to add these Prairie Schooler charts to my collection! I picked up-

St. Nicholas book #20, Barn Cats book #6, Sunshine and Shadow book #11, The Three Bears book #12, The Bremen Town Musicians book #4, American Primitive book #8, and Home for Christmas from the Designers Series.

I also picked up these charts- The Lady and the Flower Samplar from Little By Little, The Pinkhouse Samplar from Little By Little, Seasonal Hearts from The Needle and I, My Name Complete from Sheepish Designs, and a Sampler of Stitches from The Needle's Prayse.

People, I got all of this stuff for very little $$. She's running the sale until the weekend so if you are able to swing by, I'd recommend you do. We can do lunch even :)

I Shopped.

I did. I've been planning on this shopping trip for quite some time. Several months to be exact. We've been waiting on an extra check that we've been expecting to come in and it finally did. We took some out for things that we've been wanting. Not needing. Just wanting. Those are the most fun things to buy. Things you just want. I shopped part of Tuesday and then again today. I'm very thrifty and didn't spend much at all on what I got. I'm completely over the moon on some of my purchases. Here...I'll show you.....

First, this! I saw this antique china hutch in my favorite antique shop several weeks ago and fell in love with it the second I saw. More in love after I saw the price tag and that it was also on sale for 30% off. I've gone in at least once a week, sometimes twice, just to make sure it was still there. I walked in this morning when they turned the sign to open with bells on and bought it. Isn't it wonderful?! It's paid for but it'll be the weekend before I get to bring it home. I LOVE old furniture. I'd prefer the old stuff over the new any day. I'll be changing those knobs on the drawers and the doors. You wouldn't believe how low the price tag was on it. I still can't believe it. They pulled it out for me and I checked the entire thing from top to bottom about 1oo times, give or take. It's perfect.

On I walk to another antique shop just down the way. This one's huge. Cassie's been needing a desk for her room and I've yet to find one that I really like. There is one at the furniture store that's a piece that goes with her bedroom set. The thing is, I'm not paying $600 for a desk. I saw this one a little while ago and was hoping it would still be there. It's solid wood and has nothing wrong with it. It's pretty old and looked like at one time it was just unfinished wood. At some point someone painted it. I'm not crazy about the green top, but that can be re-painted. I think Cassie's going to love the green top though so it might stay as is. It's perfect and just was I was looking for. It has lots of drawers, so plenty of room to put her things.The ladies working called the person it belonged to because I asked if she'd take any less for it. She did so I only paid $50 for it. Really great deal!

Now, I have a treasure. Several weeks ago when I went in to the antique shop that the china hutch resided at, I came across a small picture that really caught my eye. It was a little folk art piece of George and Martha Washington, and was only $13. I carried it around for quite some time but ended up putting it back. I had some other things in hand so I thought the picture could wait. I went back a couple of weeks later with my parents and noticed the picture wasn't where I saw it before. I didn't bother looking through everything, I just assumed someone bought it. When I was in Williamsburg with Rachel and Laura, I noticed a very similar picture in the gift shop at the DeWitt Museum that was a little larger in size for $95.00. I was really kicking myself for not buying the one at the shop for $13. I went back on Tuesday and looked through that space for a while and finally found it. When I had a better look at it, it looked to me like an original piece, not a printed copy. It was signed by the artist and on the paper backing on the back of the picture, it says it was purchased at a Virginia Beach Folk Art Show in 1993. I googled the artist and found contact information for her company. I sent them an email asking if someone could tell me if it was an original or a printed copy. The artist emailed me back and asked me to send a picture of it to her. I did, and when she responded, she told me that not only did she hand color it, she also painted the frame, and there are less than 10 that exist. She said every one that does exist is distinctly different. She said it was one of the first things she did when she first started painting. She also told me it was one to hold on to. No worries there. I adore it and am thrilled that nobody else anywhere, has one just like it. I couldn't get a good pic of this to save my life so I scanned it. The scan came out a little darker than the picture actually is.

On Tuesday I stopped off at one of my favorite little shops to pick up a pillow I've had my eye on for a little chair in my little room. The little chair that my mom helped me re-cover. You know, I never showed you a pick of it after we re-covered it. Here it is with it's new flag pillow. Cute, yes? I really like it.

I got lots of other things too, but nothing more picture worthy than these goodies!

Mike's starting his shopping for what he wants this weekend. I'm close to finished with mine. We're saving some of it so he and I can go on a trip alone this summer for a few days. Most likely Chicago. We bought his mom a plane ticket a couple of days ago so she's going to stay with the kids and the dogs while we're away. We'll book our getaway soon.

I just remembered that I forgot to post a picture of the gifties I gave to Rachel and Laura in Williamsburg. I made these pretty pincushions for them and stuffed them with crushed walnut shells. I love the feel of them so much more than just stuffing them with polyfil. You can buy the crushed walnut shells at a pet store. It's actually called lizard litter but they're crushed walnut shells. It says so on the bag. They come in 5 pound bags for around $12-$13. I also stitched these little peacocks, filled them with the walnut shells as well and tied them around little jars filled with buttons. The buttons came from a larger jar of old buttons that I bought at an antique shop. The stitched pieces come from the latest book from Blackbird Designs called My Heart is True.

Williamsburg

I got home last night from my little trip to Williamsburg with my friends. We had the best time! I was far too pooped when I got home to post about it. We met at the hotel at 2 Sunday afternoon. I ran in to a wee bit of traffic on the way so they got there before I did. The nice ladies working at the front desk were nice enough to let them check in so when I got there all I had to do was sign a couple of things. I was also thrilled to find out those same ladies upgraded our room so we ended up staying in a VERY roomy 2 bedroom suite with 2 full bathrooms. It also had a full kitchen. It was a very nice room! We had enough room for at least 2 more people. We headed for Colonial Williamsburg shortly after checking in which was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. We ate an early dinner at The Cheese Shop and afterwards did some browsing at some shops while we waited for our evening lanthorn tour to begin. The lanthorn tour was very interesting. After that we headed back to the hotel where we stayed up late talking, snacking, making bracelets, and sorting through stash. Laura and I both brought some things we didn't want any more so we all went through each other's goodies and took what we wanted. I don't know about them but I really didn't want to go to bed...we were having a lot of fun. I've just realized that this post could quickly become a novel so I'll try to put this all in a nutshell. On Monday morning we got up early, had a really yummy (and free!) breakfast at the hotel, and then headed for the sites. The shuttle dropped us off at the Capitol which is what you see here. After the tour we got to go in to the jail which was really neat. We went in to one cell which looked like it had a coffin in it. Kind of creepy..lol. We also went on a tour of the Governor's Palace which was very neat. This picture is just the center front of the Palace. It's VERY large. I couldn't fit the whole thing from where I was standing. There was a beautiful garden maze outside of the Palace that we spent some time getting lost in. Such fun and the weather was perfect.







Back then, the kitchens were not in the houses. They were in a seperate building outside of the house. We went in to find some Colonial folks cooking Colonial style. Yes, that's a bunny on that platter. Ewwwwwww. That creeped me out a tad. Especially since it was it's full body laying there complete with ears and teeth. Yuk. I don't think it was quite as icky as the calves head on a platter in the Governor's Palace though. I would've been so skinny if I would have lived back then. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

We went to tons of other places including the Wythe House. Millinery, Wig Maker shop, Apothecary.....oh, I took an Apothecary picture...here ya go...

We had lunch at Chowning's Tavern. First time I've been to one of those. Very nice lunch. We also went on a quick tour through Bruton Parish Church which was really neat. I loved seeing the name plates on the doors to the pews where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry sat. Very very neat. We also spent some time at the DeWitt Museum which was a lot of fun. We got to see a lot of neat things. After the museum we went to a couple of shops and then it was time for me to head back home. I know I've left a lot out...I could go on for hours, I think. We had such a great time! We really hope that Rachel can come back so we can do it again. We still have a lot to see.

Off With the Girls!

Cassie's out tonight with her buddies at a slumber party. Tomorrow, it's my turn! I'm SO excited! I'm meeting Rachel & Laura in Williamsburg and can't hardly wait! I've got just about everything ready to go. Just waiting on my batteries for my camera to finish charging and a few things to pack away in the morning. I've not been to Colonial Williamsburg yet and am really looking forward to the trip. I'll be looking forward to coming back and posting all about it with pictures :).



Mike came home yesterday, YAY!! I picked the kids up from school early so they could go with me to D.C. to get him. It was a nice drive there and back. We never got stuck in traffic which is really odd for a Friday...or any day. He brought back presents for everyone. Look what he brought me! It's a beautiful Brighton compact. Isn't it pretty?! And so sweet. He brought lots of things back for the kids. Their favorite things I think are the starfish. They're real dried starfish. And pretty big too. Joshua just loves his. When I went to tuck him in last night I walked in to hear him saying "Nite nite, starfish". So cute.


I'm off to finish getting ready for my get together with my friends. Chat soon! :)

Old Man Winter Comes Again

My parents arrived Saturday evening for a visit. We had planned on spending Sunday in Washington. It was sleeting quite a bit Saturday night so I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to peak at the weather to see if our little trip was still a go. Nope. We were under a winter storm warning so decided to hang around town instead. It started snowing early in the afternoon and didn't stop until around lunch time yesterday. Old Man Winter dumped a whole lotta snow at our place. We were home bound yesterday so we played in the snow. My favorite part was the sledding...and the snow angels!