Just a little over a month and I'm back here!!!  Yaaayyy!

So not a lot has happened since our PA vacation get-away except
I turned another year older on the 10th.  I reached the big 80!!!
In my head and heart I don't feel that age
but my bones tell me it is so 😁

Our boys/wives gave me a big birthday celebration on the 14th with my dearest friends and family.  They did such a fantastic job. Sadly I don't have pictures. 
Doug was in charge of that but his turned mostly blurry 😞

We ordered my cake from Walmart and have always had good luck but not this time.  Doug picked it up and when we opened it it was horrible.  They didn't get the decorations correct, spelled my name wrong and did a crappy job of piping edges and there was way too much filling in between the layers that it just slid off when pieces were cut.
We didn't show the guests the cake, just cut it fast lol
Needless to say we took the pictures to the store and the store manager came over and we explained everything - but first showed him the picture with my name....asked him what did this say and he said Karem....and so we told him my name was Karen with an n, not an m.
We were very polite and didn't get angry - explained things nicely and he totally understood and when they checked on the order slip they saw that it wasn't even a cake decorator employee that did it, just someone off the floor!!!
Manager gave us a full refund 
Cake tasted good though!😁!
Isn't it awful...looks like a grade schooler did it!

Look at the awful piping around the edge lol

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Getting closer to having our condo move in date...they said December
now - but we'll see if that holds true.  September was the other date.
We are so ready to get in and settle finally. 
I'm anxious to get some of our décor out of storage.
We went to the build site last week to see one of the units that they are getting further along - took a few pictures (this is not ours).

Originally we were told the cabinets would be white which we liked
 but they will be this color and we rather like it - kind of mellows the look out a bit.

And I love the drop in stove - no back to reach over hot pots to turn burners...I know they won't put up a backsplash so we're thinking of some peel and stick that looks like tiles.

Master bath

Guest bath - not sure why it's larger than the master though.

Looking from the living to the kitchen

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Last Monday was Amazon Prime Day so I saw this corn popper at 50% off - I tried it and don't like it...we have a Whirly Pop and love. it so not sure why I thought I could better that! 
So it's going back.  Why do we get caught up in these on-line gimmicks?  
Anyway - if you have one and like it that's awesome.

Last Friday we went to a rummage sale that advertised fabric for $5 a bolt...
well let me tell you I ran not walked to this one.
Ended up with 2 rolls and 2 bolts.  Not sure what I will use these on
 but you can never have too much fabric if you are a crafter.

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And, Dan DiPaolo was having a tent sale at his studio so we picked up a few items.
he had such low prices on things you couldn't pass things up.
I think I am a paper hoarder - at least that's what it appears
if you could see you cabinet with it in 😁 

I love all his notebooks and buy several each season at his studio.

And I so love things with dots and saw this darling 'creamer'
and of course I had to grab it...for $3 why not!!

This fella is big...at least 32 inches - he was $10

And I don't do much Halloween

 decorating if any but this fella called to me and again $10 why not!!!

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I've been getting back into rug hooking again.
I've been away from it for so long and I missed it.
This turkey one is good sized but an easy hook 22"x32".

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And as a final note...I was doing laundry yesterday and the
detergent fell off the shelf - just glad it didn't fall on the carpet!!

That's it for now...as usual it was a long one!
Thanks for stopping by
Karen (with an 'n') 😂

HAPPY APRIL!!

 I'm surprising myself with a post so soon. I was determined to not let a year go in between posts.

I really don't have much to talk about but I just feel connected if I do. 
I honestly miss blogging so not sure why I'm not better at it.

Spring came in very mild then turned quite cold and now it has been raining off and on since last Friday.  Its a wet gloomy day so a good one to be blogging.

As you know we are not in our permanent condo. We went out to the place they are building ours. We decided to not take the one we were thinking on, but the one further down and not so close to the highway/bypass.  But, being we changed our minds it puts us later in the year. Instead of the first part if July it will be more like September! As long as we aren't moving in winter I guess its okay.

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I've been selling 'MYSTERY PENNY RUGS' the last couple months....it has been fun.
The customer doesn't know what it will look like, just the size and price. 
So far my customers have been happy so I will probably keep going with it till summer.

This is my customer Debbie, the last on I delivered 2 weeks ago.

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I have been making and selling this adorable Folk Art Bird Punch Needle in between stitching penny rugs.  My friend Teresa Miller's son has been making the boards I mount them on.

The pattern is from https://www.facebook.com/robin.leuschen , you can also find her design on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/BirdInTheHandPrims?

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Three weeks ago I was searching Marketplace on FB and came across a lady in IL who was selling her saltglaze so we took the half hour drive there and came home with these goodies. 
We don't purchase saltglaze for the value of it, but what pleases us to look at and these pleased us.
They are pretty much 12 to 14 inches tall so not too big.

These are not in the greatest condition but I love them just the same. 
I am not sure what you would call them but I think maybe a batter bowl.

This bowl is not in the greatest shape but I love it too....I like that just the inside is glazed.
I've been putting my spring tulips in it.

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Last month we had card club at our place and I tried a new recipe that was soooo simple.
Frozen puff pastry a can of cherry pie filling and cream cheese!
Puff Pastry Cherry Danish 
https://iambaker.net/cherry-danish/

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Reproduction Civil War era fabric is one of the little things that makes
me happy....I use it on the backs of my penny Rugs.

I was getting really low on one of my favorite patterns. I had purchased some in Lancaster 2 years ago and ran out...last September I asked my cousin if she'd go see if there was some more of it...
there was so she bought the last 3 yards they had.

I was determined to find it again - so I did a search and found it in two places.
One was for $15.99 a yard the other $10.99 a yard...
no brainer there. And the cheaper one was at the store
I originally bought it from in Lancaster!!

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Prior to making penny rugs and the other punch needle for customers
I designed a couple new patterns for my website/Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/kmprimitives?ref=hdr_shop_menu

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When we moved in December my husband talked me into putting our tank vacuum
out to the curb for trash pickup - I had regretted that since because most
floors here are flat surface and that
old vacuum did the job well.  Soooo, I went online last week and found one.
It's not a brand I've ever heard of but oh boy does it work great!!!

That's it for me thank goodness, right? lol
See you soon
Karen

HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG???

 I can't believe I haven't posted since the middle of January!

Well here I am finally - but not much has happened, maybe that's why I haven't gotten on here.

Have you ever gotten on the bandwagon? I did it this past month. One lady on FB posted that she purchased a metal Windsor bench from Tractor Supply Co. and the craze started!!!

I don't know the exact number that purchased them but at one count there were 110 that I could find...I wonder what TSC will think when they look at the inventory the end of this month 😂😂

We bought two of them - the funny thing is that most of the stores got in just one, possibly two if they were lucky so anyone wanting 2, like us, had to go to another town to purchase the second one.  But it was so worth it - they are a very very heavy metal.

I've been busy the last couple weeks getting into the designing mode and will be just as busy for the next several months till the show in October.  Our dining room table has been full - although I had to clear it off for Easter dinner - but it went right back on.

A friend here in town raised bees and I asked her if she had any filtered beeswax I could purchase - she said she did - I got 20 lbs. of it from her for my poured beeswax shapes.
I should have enough for what I need once I start pouring.

Oh and I forgot that I purchase some new molds and now I'm anxious to get pouring!!!

And....because we don't have fabric stores near us I buy what I can

 when I can so here's my latest stash!

Some I used already to cover a set of Mache boxes for a customer

 and some I have used as backings for my penny rugs.

I hope you all had a great Easter - we did - we finally had some of our family for dinner.

Being Doug and I had both vaccine's we felt good about having the kids here for dinner.

But for breakfast Doug and I had 'fried bread dough'.
I grew up having this as a special treat when mom and or grandma made bread - they would save some and fry it. I love butter and sugar on mine.

It's way better than pancakes or French toast.

I finished punching this sweet pattern this week.

I love the mellow colors

I'm sure there's more I've missed but that's it for now!!

Karen