Saturday, February 19, 2011

What do you get when….

you drive 98 miles one way just to get to a store?
(I made a goof in linking to someone’s blog and it messed my post up for those following me so I had to repost…disregard if you have already read this…nothing new has been added…just needed to get back on track – AND I SEE IT’S STILL LINKING TO HER BLOG….darn…don’t know how to get it off the heading)

A fantastic experience in a most wonderful Prim shop. Yep, we finally got to go to Yore Country Home in Gotham, WI. Oh my what fun. I no more got my head in the door and Theresa all bubbly said “I know who you are”…lol  I completely forgot that I had left a comment on her blog that we might drive over there on Thursday and she remembered my face from my blog.
Here’s her blog link:
http://www.yorecountryhome.blogspot.com/
Yore Store 
The store is so big it took awhile to take it all in and let me tell you the prices are wonderful.

Theresa just started carrying rug hooking wool and patterns so I took along two of my rug hooking projects so we could determine a color for some areas and we did…I bought some fabric which she immediately cut into strips for me as well as some I brought along.

I could have set up home in that place and Theresa is like a long lost friend with here wonderful personality.

Thanks Theresa for such a wonderful couple hours.

Besides the wool fabric we purchased a great old grain hopper that I think we will use in the screen room with Geraniums in it – she had it displayed that way and I liked it.

Theresa and Karen
 Karen and Theresa

Grain hopper top
Clipper Grain Box

Now I am not sure how many photos I took there but there are many – so I put them in albums.
Click on albums to view larger









Hope you enjoyed your tour…it’s a huge store.

We also went to Country Sampler in Spring Green and I found some more Mercury Ornaments. Mostly large ones but a couple of the small ones…at Christmas time I was on a mission to find them.
Click on album to view larger

My goodies from Country Sampler
Bellsnickel Chocolate Mold

Love Monahan Papers – got another sheet
Paper

Mercury Ornaments and glitter garland that I’m going to use as the ornament strings
Mercury Ornaments

That’s the road trip 240 miles later - I hope you enjoyed it!
Karen

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I won….and a new Shower Enclosure

First I want to say thank you to Jacki for picking my name in her wonderful give-away…I won some beautiful hand made/hand painted salt dough Quilt Tiles. I love the colors in them…beautiful work.  Visit her wonderful blog:  The Olde Primitive Barn

She also included some sweet little salt dough hearts and some wonderfully scented heart melts. I’m leaving them in my kitchen because any movement sends off a beautiful aroma…they are just great. What is the scent called?
THANKS JACKI! I LOVE IT ALL

Saltdough quilt tiles

Hearts

Heart Melts

And now onto our new tub/shower enclosure…I had posted a bit back that we used to have textured/gold rimed shower enclosure several years ago and had it removed when they re-surfaced the tub/sinks/walls…and didn’t want those old grungy things back on.

So now that we are getting ‘old’ we decided rather than always going up stairs when we wanted a shower (in place of a bath now and then) we’d have a new enclosure installed….to the tune of $$$$ it’s in and what a huge difference it makes in the room.  We went the extra $$ to get the frameless and I’m so happy we did.

Now we just need to get those new doors/drawer fronts and then paint the cabinets and we’re good to go again for a few years – saving us many $$$$’s on a remodel.  Well, maybe a new floor too but it’s really very nice yet.

Here’s the before:
Tub no surround

And the after:
Tub with surround

Old View from the mirror:  I think maybe new paper too! lol
Bathroom cabinets 3

New view from mirror:
Full bathroom

Oh my gosh…I can’t wait for the 4 & 5th of March – we’re going to IL for an Primitive/Antique Show.
Country Spirit in Arcola, IL where you will see the editors of the newest Prim magazine…A PRIMITIVE PLACE

Country Spirit
And also in Arthur, IL is Homesteaders on the Prairie Show
 Homesteaders on the Prairie show

Have any of you been to Yore Country Store in Gotham/Lone Rock, WI????
I have been told about it but never gone and we are only about 1-3/4 hours away so Thursday we are taking the day trip – how fun….I know I will find lots of goodies.
They also have a blog:  http://www.yorecountryhome.blogspot.com/
Yore Country Home Store

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day…our day was just the norm – but that’s okay!

Oh, before I sign off – THANK YOU EVERYONE who took advantage of my Inventory Reduction Sale.
It really surprises me how things sell when you put them on sale…there are still a few items left and there will be more things a bit later. I have boxes of inventory to go through so be watching.

Thanks for visiting today

Karen

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Items For Sale

I just added a couple TABS at the top of this page (click on them to open new page)

One is for some items I have FOR SALE...I'm selling them through my blog right now - I'm doing an Inventory Reduction on some misc. items and supplies....when it's gone there is no more.
On my website I will be carrying just my Penny Rugs and some Primitive items that I will be making only...no more manufactured products.

Karen

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Something the rest of you have too!

I know we are in the same situation as half the US - but I’m one who LOVES it…as long as I don’t have to get out to get to a job - back when I worked it was a headache but now it’s just plain fun!

Doug started clearing at 6 this morning and it’s 11:30 and he just came in.
I took so many pictures but I promise I won’t bore you with ALL of them.

We also prepared for power outages with enough propane for the screen room heater and grill and the fireplace is ready to go…but fortunately we weren’t in the area that lost power…some of Burlington did though.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last night shortly after the blizzard started we got a little silly - around 6 pm we bundled up and headed out on a walk and my gosh the wind blew so hard and going into it my face froze! It felt like sand pelting it.

At first I had my scarf up by my face but the scarf got wet from breath so my cheeks got very icy - time to come back home. We were gone 25 minutes - that’s all my hips could take too trying to walk through drifts but it was still fun. And it really wasn’t all that cold in temperature, but the wind made it feel that way. It was 23 degrees when we left.

Karen on walk

Doug on walk

The old water tower at noon and then at 6 p.m.

Tower at noon    Tower at 6pm

I woke up at 3 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep…I looked outside and was in awe of the snow and the wind…goodness it blew.

Courtyard at 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.
I used the fence and the birdhouse as my guide for snow height
3 am courtyard 6 am courtyard 4

Front yard at 3 and 6 a.m.
 Front yard 3 am  6 am front

Front entrance and yard light at 6 a.m.
Yard light

Garage at 6 a.m.
Snow at garage  Doug by garage door up to hip

Garage 2    Blowing driveway 2

Starting the front walks
Front 1   Coming up front walk  

Front Walk   Coming up front walk 2  

Man Down!!!
Man Down
 

The finished product
Front of house 1
Front walk 1
Overhang….
Overhang

I think we’re going to have the white stuff for months to come!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wishing the Green Bay Packers a Super Bowl win!
Green_Bay_Packers

Thanks for visiting!
Stay safe and warm

Karen

Thursday, January 27, 2011

To Post or Not To Post

Well, that heading got ya didn’t it - but really I haven’t been blogging for quite some time and haven’t visited your blogs like I want to so by making a new post of my own I feel wrong until I get around to all of you…..but I feel so darned chatty and when you start reading you will see – I just can’t stop….lol

I need to say Thank You to everyone who has been checking in on me – I knew I had many internet/blogging friends but to have you e-mail me with concern and love, well, I just am overwhelmed…what a great wonderful group of friends – I will try not to stay away so long again.


I haven’t been in the mood for the computer or anything like that - I have barely been on the forums for that matter.
Maybe it’s the Winter blahs or just nothing good to talk about, but that’s no excuse for not visiting all of my friend.
I certainly have no creative energy flowing for my website - it’s  being challenged right now! I have had no updates on products for quite awhile either.

RUG HOOKING….
So what have I been doing the last month????
I have given myself some fun time with Rug Hooking.
Remember back in the Fall a friend sent me a wonderful package of wool, etc. to get me started, and I also purchased a frame - well I finally got to it!
I drew a Pineapple pattern much like the Pineapples on my Penny Rugs and found it to be very relaxing (after figuring out how to start it).
I have the design finished but need wool for the background.
Pineapple HR Pattern 

Karen HR 1

Lots of boo-boos but I still think it’s fine for a first-time rug. What about a Chocolate Brown background???

Pineapple Hooked Rug

Then I drew a traditional Penny Rug pattern and started that one yesterday but that is a challenge!
I don’t have enough wool to create it with even colored Pennies so I decided to do it in a random design and I think it will work out better. I will need to increase the border by 2-3 more rows but needed to set a parameter for guides.

Pennies Rug Pattern

Pennies HR

Yesterday we took a drive into Milwaukee to LOG CABIN RUGS which is in the JUST A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY shop in Waukesha. And one of the most wonderfully Colonial/Primitive shop in the area.
I had no intentions of buying anything - just wanted to see what she had to offer and possibly get some scissors.

2 squares of Red Wool, piece of Monks Cloth and 2 rugs kits later we left. Whew, I guess I’m on overload with Rug Hooking kits. Can you have too many ‘starter kits’?
Plus the one I ordered from the internet a while back…have to start that one but I wanted to do some practice ones first.

 HR Chair Pad

HR Saltbox sheep 

DAMAGED WOOD FLOOR
So what do you get when you let a 2 year old play with your Pewter Goblets???? This.

Hole in wood
I stared at this little hole for the rest of the weekend and then called the installer to come see what he could do - he’s actually our daughter in-laws brother. So he came and said it was not going to work to patch it but recommended replacing the board - all I could see is the entire half of the floor tore up just to get one board replaced but he assured us that he could take the one board out and it would be fine. He does the every so often and it works very well.
So that’s what he did and it’s like nothing happened.

Doug cutting floor 1

Floor 1

Floor 2

Floor 3 
So now Aidan is off the hook and Grandma learned her lesson. Normally he doesn’t  play with the Pewter, but he was playing ’eating’  and at one point got away from us and dropped the goblet and it hit just right .

Speaking of Pewter…a couple weeks ago I bid on a Pewter Creamer and Sugar set…I placed the first bid and lo and behold I was the only bidder and got it for $5.00. I hadn’t given it another thought and a few days later there was the e-mail from e-bay saying I won! Yeah…I have only bid on something years ago when I was buying my Strawberry Hill dishes.
It’s small and rather pitted but for some reason I gravitate towards the darker, more worn Pewter. It tells a story of it’s life.
Pewter creamer and sugar
Here it is by something so you can see the size better
Creamer set

BATHROOM….
We are in the process of getting our bathroom redone - not gutted and all new everything, but we had a glass company come to measure for a shower/tub enclosure. I’m tired of always going upstairs to shower so this will be much more convenient.
We had our choice of styles and chose to go all the way with the clear frameless glass - I don’t want it to be turned into a tight dark space. We have about another week before it’s in and I can’t wait.

We’re also replacing the cabinet fronts. We would love to replace the counter and sinks BUT back when the bathroom was put in (in the early 50’s) they used these tiny 1 inch tiles and the entire bathroom and counters are done in this - and if we remove it, it will tear up the walls and that will lead to new drywall…you know how one thing leads to another - so that will have to be decided soon. A new floor is in order as well.
IF we change the cabinets and counters, we are going to just one bank of cabinets, not the L shape. But we will keep 2 sinks. The space under the window where the cabinet is now will be a Primitive cupboard of some kind.

Tub area now – it used to have a glass enclosure years ago but were removed when we had the tub-sinks-tiles re-surfaced.  It was ALL in that horrible ‘50’s Pepto Bismol Pink!
And I never wanted those old ugly doors put back on either.
Tub 1

Bathroom cabinets 2

Bathroom cabinets 3

Bathroom cabinets 4 
The drawer and door fronts will be a paneled door – maybe in a Shaker style.
And then that will in turn make the room need to be re-papered…see, one thing leads to another.

We could have the room gutted and redone but with the age of the house and all the other improvements we have made we could very well over-improve the house with too many changes and never get the money back if and when we sell.

So that’s what I have been up to this past month as well as running to Janesville visiting our ill aunts and me still doctoring with my disc/hips. That’s on-going so won’t go into it.

Oh dear, before I  foget – In return for a favor, one of our blogging buddies sent me some beautiful goodies…I want to say THANK YOU TO VAL – http://lifeslittlegarden.blogspot.com/

She sent a handful of her own hand made Okra Santa’s….aren’t they cute!
And… a wonderful mini spatula ( I love these for desserts), a cute ‘spade’  with Thank You on the handle, a lovely color of Pink Lip Gloss! It tastes good too…, and a handmade dishcloth. Now am I spoiled or what just for loaning her some books to read. Who do you think got the best of this one????

 Gifts from Val

This is the life of a cat in my house….always sleeping and very cozy! Lola’s favorite place to sleep because the morning Sun shines on the pillow topper.
Lola on bed pillow 2
Lola on bed pillow

Thanks for visiting me and I promise to get around to all my friends as soon as possible – don’t give up on me.

Karen