So confused – or what is it???

Goodness gracious I can not get it together at all….I don’t know if it’s the lack of nice weather and sun shine or that I just am not feeling good yet…possibly a combination of all – ya think???  I do.
I need a swift boot to get myself motivated and even at that my heart isn’t into it.
Today was (and still is) a horrible day – layed down for a couple hours and basically pouted…not feeling sorry for myself mind you – basically not knowing what is wrong!

During the week I put flowers in my door box….DID NOT LIKE IT – didn’t like the Red Tulips with the Burgundy Red door so found some White Poppies on Friday and added them instead…NOW IT LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE 3 FRIED EGGS IN THERE.  What am I doing wrong!!!  I hate it.

 

Then…it was time to put out my Geraniums (or something Spring anyway) so 3 of them went in the long basket I bought in PA…wasn’t happy wherever I put it – awful on the mantle – didn’t fit on top of the pantry.
So put on two different table covers and placed it in the center…nope, so it ended up at an angle on one end just like the trusty ole trencher that usually sits there…again, I can’t get this right either.

Had them like this first…added a few sprigs of Lavender but took them out.

Then changed the cloth and kept the basket centered…that wasn’t working either.

So here’s how it ended up…nothing much different than the trencher (just in a basket). BORING!!!

      

But something good did happen!
When I was grocery shopping on Thursday last week I saw a lady in the store who looked very much like someone I had worked with many, many years ago so I quietly called out her name and sure enough it was her!
She moved away several years ago but moved back in Nov. – we said we’d get together soon…she called early last week and we set up that she would come over for lunch on Thursday…we had a fantastic reunion and now she’ll be able to join all of the others of our group that gets together every 6-8 weeks or so for lunch…more the merrier!

When I was cleaning over the weekend I was dusting some pictures and realized that I never showed you ‘the other side’ to my decorating likes.  I’m a lover of modern ‘folk art’ and the un-mentioned meaning of what you are looking at.

Several years ago when on one of the cruises we took we got hooked on the afternoon ‘art auctions’ – many, many pieces of art later here are 4 that we came home with (the rest of the pieces are packed away in the closet) but these needed to stay out.  Three of them are on the walls in the upstairs hallway – and one is in the downstairs bath.

Very modern for this gal but if I could own 2 or 3 homes they would all be very different.
I love this artist and if I had more room would have more of her work. She’s PAULA MCARDLE.

This is the one in the bathroom…colors work for this room.
It’s called ‘COURTING’

‘CAROSOUEL’

‘FAMILY OUTING’

‘LOOKING’

Thanks for visiting me on this Palm Sunday (and after).
I wish you all a wonderful Easter.

Karen

From ‘here’ to ‘there’ and back again!

Yep, on Wednesday we headed out to Pennsylvania for 3 reasons.
#1 we needed a getaway
#2 we had orders to deliver
#3 we were meeting up with a blog friend…reason #3 is first in my book!

Not sure why we picked now to head on out but maybe cabin fever – do you all have that right now?
There’s still tons of snow on the ground here and no sun – thought a short trip might do it.

We left on Wednesday and stayed overnight near Margie of Hungry Hook Primitives – before heading out on Thursday for Lancaster we met up with Margie and her husband Jim for breakfast.
Our husbands are such troopers – Doug carried in a big shopping bag of goodies for Margie and her husband carried in a big basket of wool for me…lol
We had the most enjoyable hour and a half visiting, laughing, catching up on each others families and exchanging gifts.
Margie is known for her Wool and Rug Hooking and I was blessed with both -  along with wonderful company.
I got a shot of Margie as she was getting out of her car…and look…it’s snowing…we didn’t get too far out of snow country and it came down hard in spots.
 

Oh I love this gal…she’s just as sweet in person as on her blog…she’s fun, intelligent and so cute!!!!  Her and Jim make a beautiful couple.

After lots of fun getting to know each other better we exchanged our gifts and I got to choose wool from the basket Jim brought in.
I got an adorable creation of Margie's…her Spring Chick Pillow…isn’t it adorable!

And a cute little ‘friends’ plaque

And some wonderful Wool!
 

And after all that I shopped for more wool in the wool basket!

I had purchased this pack of Green wool from her site and she brought it along too.

All of it together…quite a stack huh???

We intended to go to the Quilt Show at the Lancaster Convention Center on Thursday but all the parking garages were full so we shopped instead – but on Friday we did get into the show and I found a couple bundles of wool…not very big pieces in each bundle but I liked the colors

One of the booths had some adorable purses…I bought one to use as a glasses case as I don’t have one  and it worked perfect!  It’s all felted wool.

I did find a neat pair of ‘thread snips’ at one of the booths.

Oh and two little squares of a pretty wool felt – a color I do not have but might have to buy a bolt of it now that I’ve seen it for real.  I think it will work up nicely in my designs.  It’s kind of a goldish/brownish/orangie color

During the two days we were out there we did a bit of shopping – nothing special.
My favorite purchase is one Doug wanted…a huge long basket.  Not sure how I will display it though.  Might go on the dining room table with Geraniums or possibly 3 large battery candles and some Forsythia sprigs entwined around the candles.

And a silly purchase but I needed pot holders so when we were at Central Market I bought two from an Amish lady.  She said I picked out ones with true Amish colors!

This candle is huge…and smells so fresh like Spring

Up at Day’s Gone By Creations shop in Lititz she had these hand made sheep –  the wool on the body is from the actual sheep he styled the sheep after.

And some Robin’s Egg Blue eggs for one of my birds nests

Hope you enjoyed my little getaway post…still waiting for Spring here – it will arrive I know but it’s becoming a very long Winter here in Wisconsin.

Darren sent a new picture of Miranda just before we left…she’s sure getting to be a big girl.

Karen

Candle Glow…and a simple change

Being Winter is still here in southeast Wisconsin I will stay in that mode for awhile anyway – and so will the look inside my home.
I should bring out my Spring and Easter but it’s buried and I can’t get at it…it will happen soon enough though.
I love the glow of candles giving the home a warm cozy look.
I keep my lights / candles on most of the time.  Some may say it’s a waste of energy for the electric ones, but I live here and want to enjoy what I have.
So this post will be a short one and mostly pictures I took around the house this week.

First I want to show you what I did with my wall cabinet in the family room.

It has been there since the day we. put it up…never moved it and it has become ugly to me now – and the top was pulling away and I was afraid it might fall down and sure didn’t want it to happen with one of the little grand's here so Doug fixed it and we moved it.
I also have a wall cabinet in the bedroom on the dresser – was growing tired of it too – been there for at least 3 years.

BEFORE – GLASS DOOR CABINET IN FAMILY ROOM…

NOW – BLUE CABINET IN FAMILY ROOM…
It won’t stay decorated like this but I only do so much at one time right now and these things were at hand.

BEFORE -  BLUE CABINET IN BEDROOM…
 

NOW – GLASS DOOR CABINET IN BEDROOM…

I like the changes a lot – cabinet size was not a whole lot different but the color changes I love.  Funny how one little thing like that can make one smile.

So on with the glow of candles…the candles are not real…I use all battery operated ones.
Oh and I have found that the ‘timed’ battery operated candles wear out way faster than the regular ones.  I will try from now on to purchase only reg. ones. And if they are running low and turn them on – they shut off like within a minute or so. We replace batteries far too often with those.
 

 

 

 

 

  

  

   

I hope you liked the warm glow of lights and candles today!

It’s pretty hard to find things to post about when I don’t get out much or buy much anymore – I’ve had two outings of fun so to speak since on the mend and that’s not much.

Got something in the works for this coming week but not sure if it will materialize for me because of my back but I’m sure hoping…I need something fun to smile about.  If it does work out you will see a picture of a blog friend  who a lot of you know!

Hope you all have a happy and fun weekend. Stay safe.

P.S.  IF YOU HAVE SOME FAVORITE SHOPS IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES I’D LOVE A LIST OF THEM…HOPEFULLY WILL BE ABLE TO GO TO SOME THIS SUMMER!

Karen