Merry Christmas to all...

I'm Done For the Year! No More Shows! Weird! Strange! Sad! The Dickens Shows was my last. I will put some pictures on later. It was a wild week, nothing went right. Hospitalizations, catheterizations, commotion and turmoil. Not a week I want to relive! Just glad it's over. Getting ready for Christmas...

Sewing for A Dickens Craft Show in Ebensburg, PA on Dec. 4.  Lot's to do!

Felt kinda weird not doing Bedford for the second weekend! We had a great first weekend! The weather was great, the crowd were great! Loved it! I'm getting too old for the grind of back to back shows! Too much pressure! Can't handle it! Not enough days in between for me to get anything made. I'm happy with my one week!

Pumpkins!!

Last week just before the Bedford Fall Foliage Show, I made my Punkin' Run to Pisarski 's Farm. I just got a  couple (2 dozen) or so. They have THE best assortment to pick from. Lillian is so sweet and let's us go out in the fields and forage for hours. She came with us for a bit of the pickin', too!   I go into a punkin' mania and can't make a decision.....should I get a white one... a green one, how many orange.... are two of each enough......are 12 too many! What to do!!!!  It's Pumpkin overload!    Buy a truck full, yea, that's it!  OK, that works for me!   But,still I wondered, as I placed them all around my house, did I need just a few more!!   I guess I will try to deal with only what I have....sigh...
             

Just watched the weather for the weekend... Doesn't look too warm! As long as it doesn't rain I will be happy! We may have our first FROST of the year! Scary!

Sewing like MAD for my next show...
Bedford Fall Foliage-Oct.2 & 3. Looking forward to having lots of stuff made! Still have a week go! Kinda slow start this week, but getting into it now!!!!!

New Germany 2010

Here are some pictures from my show

First show of the year tomorrow... New Germany. We went today to put up the tent and wooden displays. In the morning, it's opening the boxes and arranging my creations that I enjoy. That's my favorite part. The display. I wish I could have 8 hours to play around until I have it all the way I want it. Never going to happen... 1-2 hours and that seems like a rush to me. Oh, well, I will try to remember to take pictures, sometimes I forget.

First Steeler game TODAY!  I will probably miss most of it. Luckily, they replay everything on the NFL Channel! We have a mini reunion on my husband's side at my brother-in-law's. They are also calling for rain! Great! We do need it sooooooo bad, though!

Show is coming up soon. It's been busy, crazy here! Lot's of sewing, painting, printing, tagging, packing! First Show is Sept. 18!!! OMG! Hope I'm ready!

Working on bears, pumpkins, turkeys, dolls, santas, pin keeps, pillows, everything. I'm all over the place. I get  distracted and have lots of projects going at once. I need to finish LOTS of things...soon

The Steeler game was FABULOUS! My niece and I had a great time! It was really hot and humid when we got there and I was worried about finding a place to park. We parked near the Casino and paid $35.00! Shocking, but it's hard to find anything that's not prepaid. We had great seats and we able to see our guys really well.... the game was going well, we were winning, we were loving life. And then.......the rain started and it got worse, came down harder and the wind started to pick up! But, we had out Steeler rain ponchos. Arms were wet, feet were wet, faces were wet. It got crazy! Then, there was a huge clap of thunder followed by lightning and the game came to a stop. They made an announcement to go inside to the concourse to wait out the storm... fun! We finally got to go back to our seats after more than an hour. As soon as we got to our seats, Erin, my niece, looked for her camera to resume picture taking and it was not there. LOST CAMERA!! OMG! Not a happy camper for the rest of the game. I went to search for the camera, but to no avail. She called Lost and Found today at Heinz Field, but nothing was turned in. We are sick about it. The camera must have fallen in the scramble to get out of the pouring rain. It's terrible. We rallied to watch to rest of the game while mourning the loss of the camera. Steelers won 23-7!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yea!!!! Way to go Steelers!

We went to a picnic today at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house. We had a very nice time. Lot's of great food, great people and great weather.
Today, I noticed that it is starting to get dark earlier and that spells FALL. Not happy about that! Wish this summer could last longer. It seems to have flown by too quickly. I just hate the thought of cold weather and snow. We don't have our radiators connected yet from the kitchen remodel and we will have to get the oil tank filled soon. Yuck!

Well, I'm looking forward to a full day of sewing and crafting. I hope it work out, usually something comes along to distract me and I don't get enough done. I have 2 show coming up soon and not nearly enough things made! SEW, SEW,SEW!

STEELERS... only a few days left until the first preseason game...August 14!!! I will be attending with my niece, Erin, fellow maniac Steeler fan! We cannot wait. Went shopping yesterday for new shirts and gear, not that our entire wardrobe isn't mostly Steeler stuff anyway. But, you've got to look good for the boys! Go, Steelers!

I am obsessed with my kitchen and counter tops. Love, love, love it. And so glad it's done! This picture is while the caulking is drying and we couldn't put anything on the counter tops yet. Not supposed to mount the faucet for 24 hours but, my hubby put it on there just to show me what it would look like later today. He took it off right after I took the picture last night!

MY COUNTER TOPS ARE HERE AND THEY ARE INSTALLED!!!!!!!! I can't believe it! I love them! After weeks of waiting and wondering if we picked the right color, they are here. The kitchen looks like a kitchen now!

Been going to alot of auctions lately! Buying soooo much neat stuff! Old suitcases, a dress form, a quilt, old linens, old sewing notions, TONS of old photographs, an old trunk and a victorian bookcase, old silverplate silverware. I love everything! I will have to sell some things and some will be used for crafting. DARN!!!

COUNTERS ARE COMING JULY 27TH

Counter top woes!! It looks it's going to be plywood counters until the end of July or the beginning of August. All my cabinets are in, finished the trim work, floor is done, painting done, counters not so much. I just wanted it all complete!!! How long can it take to cut them and finish the edges? We are getting Zodiaq counters in toasted almond. Can't wait to see them someday!

Happy 4th of July!

Starting to sew for the craft shows for fall. Maybe this year I will actually be ahead of schedule.  Maybe!

Hallelujah, we have a sink and running water!!! It took some doing but, finally, the sink is in. We are far from finished, though. We have temporary faucets until the counter tops come in and they aren't going to be measured till Friday. It takes 2-3 weeks before they are done. Loving everything so far, especially my carpenter...my husband, he's been working day and night!

Tomorrow we are supposed to get our replacement sink base for the kitchen! Maybe I can get running water in there again?  Since we started the remodel, I haven't had running water in the kitchen, due to first tearing out the old sink, then the wrong sink base being sent for us. We have been waiting for the new one for 12 days. Washing dishes in the bathroom or basement, not my idea of fun! All my other cabinets are in, but this is a big problem. We can't get our counter tops till the sink is in. I wish it was all done.

Whew! Shopped till we dropped! My parents are in from FL and we went to the mall today for some marathon shopping. We had to do it in stages. First it was ALL of us...Mom  & Dad, Mandy & I. Then, we came home for a change and Mom and I went back for more. Dad and Mandy stayed home to rest. Tom worked on the kitchen. We ended up eating dinner late and being very tired after the shopping experience. But, we got lot's of bargains! Can't beat 75 percent off, then 15 more!!!! Nice!

After a very tough week of loss, we are back to the kitchen redo. The cabinets are in all but the sink which came in the wrong size. We got our stove delivered and it was scratched and dented. We await a new one. So, more time without a sink or stove!!! Real tired of this. The apron sink cabinet won't be in for 9 days? The stove? Ah, The joys of remodeling.

I won't be at the Dillweed Herb Faire due to a death in the family. Very sorry for the loss of my Best friend Sandy's Mom.  Agnes Diehl. 1922-2010

Well, the count down is on...the new cabinets arrive Thursday morning. Final preparations are in high gear. A lot of  Spackle going on the walls and the sub floor is going down. I can hardly wait to see the cabinets. When you pick them out you don't really know how it all will look until it all fits in to place. I will be a bundle of nerves till it's all finished! Pictures later...

Remember...

Starting to pack the kitchen cabinets in prep for the new ones to be delivered and installed. What a FUN experience! Trying to find room for all the boxes in the house so we can still use things and eat! My DH found more flooring issues and is repairing those in the main kitchen area. Gotta love remodeling! Just got to keep my eye on the prize at the end. BRAND NEW KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just added a favicon to my blogger title area. Wow, that took some doing. And you can't even recognize it as my sewing lady I use for everything like my business cards, on my paper bags and tags. But, I did it. Learning how to change html and blogger codes is crazy. The small image is twice the size of the favicon!

Just got an e-mail from WWC with the quote of the week. I love this one, as I love the brown paper bag! I'm a bag freak. Just cleaning out the basement and found I saved any BPB with handles, anything that could be stamped upon and any that had been gently used? Why? Don't know, it killed me to toss them. The ones that had company names on, small wrinkles from purchases, but still I saved them, loved them...I could have used them...Can you say HOARDER? They are gone now but I still think of them! I use BPBs to sell my crafts and I hoard those, I use the brown kraft colored paper for my business cards and tags. I still have NEW BPB around me! I sound crazy, right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Progress continues on the kitchen and the sewing. I have a show coming up in June and need to buckle down and get busy.

Also, this week is Our daughter's birthday! Time flies...numbers just get crazy! Mandy will be 34!!!! We are getting old! She's the BEST! I don't know what I would ever do without her. Just to hear her laugh or see smile makes my day! She doesn't talk, but she speaks volumes to us without saying a word. Her seizures have robbed her and us of so much, but she's the sweetest girl. She's sleeping now and gets her days and nights mixed up, she'll be awake soon, no problem, babe! I'm here.

The kitchen redo is on track so far. My hubby has spent this week tearing out part of our floor down to the joist and replaced them. They weren't going in the right way with the other floor. We had a sun porch and kitchen and now it's one room. So for a couple days we had no floor in the "sun porch". Now, we have new joists and we will have a level floor! Yeah! It's all going to be Fab when it's finished. Great to have a Carpenter at home!

Case in point.. (Can't always get what you want) OK, I said before I ordered a new printer from Amazon? Well, I didn't update that post. I stopped that order, My husband temporarily fixed the printer and all was well. Yeah, right!! Here's what happened next. I needed to print my Mom's Mother's day and birthday cards, they are on the same day. So naturally the printer decides to die before I can print and mail in a timely fashion for FL. Thanks for letting me down HP 8250!!! Mom's card were late. And my printer is dead. So I go to Amazon to order and the price is up $30, GREAT! Check EBay...OK, order one and it arrives. I decide to get an HP Office jet 8000. Good to go! We get it all set up and all it does is EAT paper!!! IT"S BRAND NEW! IT SHOULD WORK RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!! Tomorrow I have to e-mail and call the place I bought it and tell them it doesn't work! I can't wait. Can't ever get what you want

Can't always get what you want! Boy, The Rolling Stones got that right. Which brings me to my new kitchen planning...what? Yeah. that's right, in planning a new kitchen YOU CAN NEVER GET WHAT YOU WANT!!!! It seems that no matter what I pick it doesn't come with that door, that door doesn't come with glass, you can't get the vintage finish with this style.. they try to drive you insane. Cabinets are coming in June. I hope I like them. I still have to decide on the farmhouse sink, faucet, back splash and stove and microwave. It has not been a pleasant experience. I hope it gets better SOON???????? My kitchen won't look just like this but, I love it. I will post pictures later. After the insanity ends...

Sick as a dog... not sure what that means but I think I know what it feels like. We were all sick this week and weekend. My H got a cold, then I got a cold, then our daughter got it, too! All we do is cough! Not Good! I have a MILLION things to do and nothing has gotten done this week. There must be better days ahead.

I'm having the hardest time with Internet Explorer lately. It's constantly saying it's not working and I have to restart the web pages. SO annoying! Now I'm trying Mozilla of see if I have any of the same problems. This week hasn't been the best for other computer issues, namely my HP printer. It decided it no longer wanted to feed the paper into the machine. My DH took it apart tried to fix it. Some plastic pieces were laying inside broken. NOT GOOD! It was also making a hideous noise, like a scream when it tried to take the paper. Went and bought an HP officejet at Staples. Thought that would be more heavy duty for me. Then I looked online at Amazon and found it $74 cheaper. Just my luck! But, I hadn't opened the first one, so back to the store it went and online I went! I ordered a new one from Amazon.

Now here's the funny part.... my husband says plug the old one in and just see if it will print and it DOES!!!!!!! I cannot win!

OK, making progress in the basement on my sewing area... little by little! Also getting some things finished from last year. I had a bunch of things left in pieces after my last show and needed to get those done and packed upto sell in June. More work down there tomorrow. Finally getting into it, Yeah!

Happy Easter!

 We spent part of our day at my brother-in-law's house. We had a great meal together and enjoyed their company and our nieces and the kids. A very nice afternoon!

WOW, really feels like spring today! I 'm taking a short break from cleaning the porch and deck. It looks like a bomb went off in my yard. I moved everything off the porch to scrub and now I'm waiting for it to dry and arrange the furniture. That's the best part.

 Saw this episode of HGTV this morning, where they stained concrete and brick!! Loved it! I'd like to stain our porch concrete to match the deck stain. I will be springing that on my hubby later. He just LOVES  HGTV!

The weather has got me in a funk today. It's rainy and miserable out there.  We were going to take some things to our space at our Antique Mall. But, I could'nt muster the energy. I did frame 2 pictures for my downstairs bathroom and I'm going to redo a dress form with copies of old music and old photos. I just redid ( is that a word) the bathroom by removing the old wallpaper and changing to paint. I will put some picture on when I finish.

Well, got the census done today, or rather my DH got it done. Now if we can get the taxes finished, that will be something. I should have had them finished a while ago, but like every year... I put it off till the last couple weeks. Just hate getting all those papers together and figuring things out BEFORE we call our friend Leah to do the actual taxes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Now I tried a new banner for the top and it came out passable, but not too good.  I will have to try again and get a more finished look. The edges on all the images are rough. It's a start. And yesterday I changed to a 3 column blog setup. Wow, don't really know how I managed that. ( printed instructions from another blogger to help) Moving right along with learning all this blog stuff!

Working with paint.net and trying to add layers and images, I think I'm addicted. Love it!

I decided yesterday to rearrange my sewing room so I would get back into it. And now it is a major MESS. Cluster is more like it!  I thought I would change a couple cupboards around to give me more space and all it did was ruin everything. Now the one shelving unit won't fit where I wanted to put it and it all went waywire. Just can't let well enough alone, my husband said! But, I am cleaning and re-arranging. Getting ready to sew, sew, sew.

And Brown...

I hope this comes out nice, I love this banner.

I took out the backround. Now that I can, I do it on every image I have saved!!

Then, I try it on here, then delete them?  Why? Because it took me so long to learn how!

Changed the pin a little and resized it ...

does my pin work in this small size? NO, it didn't, I had to change the size twice  to the LARGE.    FRUSTRATING. I guess I have to change the size before I get to this point.

Awaiting another snow storm. Sick and Tired. That's all I got to say about that! I'm going to sew today and forget it all.

Let's see if these work with my new theory?

OMG, I think I just got it. It's the size you upload that determines if you get a white backround? not too sure, but when I changed the size I got no white!!!! YEA! What a struggle! I'm happy now...

I keep trying and some images work without the backround and some don't! It's a mystery to me? It must be in how I save them.

Just heard the weather forcast for another week...SNOW every day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will it never end. I should be working on things for my shows or doing my income taxes, cleaning the house, redoing my craft room or something. But, it seems like I just watch the snow fall and shovel! Spring.... what a concept!

 

Now trying how to do my own wallpaper? Why? This is not Big enough, or in the right place but it showed up here!! Points for effort!