Where does the time go?

OK a whole month has flown by and I've neglected this little blog. I promise to catch up with a few interesting photos. But in the mean time let me share this Etsy treasury put together by MA Naturally Inspired ...



By the end of this week I promise I will update everyone on the goings on at our little home.

Pandas

Yes, that is the theme chosen by my soon to be 7 year old for her birthday party. So I am finally getting around to making up the invitations.

The pandas, bamboo, and footprints were drawn in photoshop with basic ellipse/round tool. My daughter loved it and had a lot of fun making the bamboo. Now I just have to find the time and energy to make up a few games, decorations, and a craft to do.

Here are two pretty treasuries from Etsy to share ... The first has one of my needle felted nests of eggs and the second a pair of my red love birds.

Happy New Year to All!

Another year goes by so fast! It's been a fun one though!

We woke to another lovely snowy morning with the pines weighed heavily in snow. It was beautiful! A snow plow had pulled our phone line off our house so no phone or internet all day. The kids enjoyed the packing snow and had fun with their snowman family making project. I worked on a few fabric bird sculptures while enjoying watching a BBC Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice. My husband gave me a collection for Christmas and even though I am familiar with these stories it is nice to watch these versions.

These are a few of the birds ...




A cute treasury to share!

Enjoying the colors

The trees outside are so beautiful this year. Every time I look outside I am stunned at the colors. Even rainy days look bright and warm.



I am off to chaperone a school canoe trip this morning. It should be a fun and wet day! We should have fun exploring the river banks and discovering all sorts of interesting things.

I finished up on these two birds yesterday. It was supposed to be my day to run errands but the hot water heater had leaked all over the basement floor so I was "hostage" to my home again -- waiting for a plumber that might or might not show up. Luckily he did and its all fixed now -- just a bit of a mess for me to clean up.





And finally I wanted to share this cute little treasury on etsy that includes my little bird by wildlifer78.



Another wedding treasury called "Going to the Chapel" by beadgaldesigns includes a pair of my wedding birds.

A nice rainy day.

One of my new little hand sewn birds is included in an Animal Friend Treasury on Etsy by PatriciasPalette.

Another busy week

Well I think I have finally adjusted to being alone in the house during the day. Early in the week I finally got around to fixing my hypertufa planter that I made and broke last fall. It was so large and heavy that when I turned it over I dropped a few inches and broke off one side into several pieces. That was a frustrating reminder that patience always pays off. I had made an attempt this spring at a repair but was interrupted by a visitor and the cement mortar dried fast and basically made the situation even worse. I think it looks fine now but probably not very strong so I don't intend to move it. Its really too heavy to move anyway and I know my husband hasn't enjoyed moving these planters around too much. I love their rustic earthy look!

I also played around and made a few cement mushrooms but the paper towel roll bases in my first attempt were much too small. So I made a rough cylinder form with some cardboard and tape that should make a sturdier base. I am hoping if I "plant" them in a shady spot I can get some moss to grow on them a bit. A buttermilk and crumbled moss mixture is a good starter for that.

This is one photo of my lopsided cement balls. I just filled in with concrete a few deflated balls the kids broke. I peeled off the plastic ball early so I could smooth it a bit too.

I took a bunch of photos of Mexican stone carvings down at the Museum of Natural History in NY this summer and would love to try making something like them in hypertufa. I think I will avoid some of the interesting "fertility" sculptures that might get too much attention from the kids though. They seemed amused enough at the museum!


I am busily working on my little birds and finished this one this week.


I just had to make something for Halloween and made this little display of pumpkins.



Take a look at this cute Etsy Treasury! Its called "I do ... do you?" by terbearco.

Clowning around....

Friday (of last week) was the final day of circus camp and it ended in an adorable skit put on by the kids. I am sure this will be one of the things that my daughter looks back on with fond memories.



I also finished up several of these cute ring bearer pillows with a needle felted nest of eggs. I was pretty happy to come up with such a cute idea but for weeks now haven't had the time to sit down and actually sew them. I was getting a little worried that someone else might come up with a similar idea in the mean time.



These are two treasuries on etsy which feature an item from my store. One features birds and the other chickens.




This weekend we spent Sunday afternoon at Tanglewood for the last concert of the season. The music was featured Gershwin's music and it was a lovely concert. My husband made up several salads and chicken wings and packed us up a nice picnic basket. After the concert we had fun with the girls running through the maze (hedges) and playing tag and hide and seek. Later we played with our "large" frisbee on the open lawn and again played tag. All the girls seemed to enjoy themselves -- which is harder to achieve now that some are teenagers.

A very BLUE day!

I finished up my custom order of bluebirds this morning and tried to get a few good photos on the porch -- its rainy today. They are going to be used as decorations on a bed skirt. I think they are just too adorable all grouped together! They were a lot of work though!



I need to get busy finishing several orders of wedding birds. I really love doing these. I remember how much fun it was planning my own wedding. We did so much of the work for my wedding ourselves and it came out so beautiful. But I really love all the color combinations that are used now -- so much more variety too!


Here is a cute painting my 6 year old did this morning while I finished up my bluebirds. She is using my watercolors this time and having fun with my messy palate. She is definitely a perfectionist so is not satisfied with what I find rather beautiful!



I wanted to share another nice Treasury on Etsy. This time it is a "buy and replace". It included one of my pottery chickens which someone purchased! It was created by tickledpinkknits. I love this cute knit wrist cuff from tickledpink's shop.

A few peaceful mornings...

Yes... that's what I need. The girls will finish up with school on Friday so these are the last few mornings I will have to myself until next fall. I have thoroughly enjoyed these past two whirlwind weeks and weekends (busy with the girls' recitals), but I am a little frazzled to say the least. I think the stressful part is getting everyone from point A to point B. And when there are timing issues involved too with three ... well it takes its toll. My husband just goes on oblivious to these issues but honestly I feel like an air-traffic controller here. So I am going to take a break for a few days and catch up on some much needed gardening and house cleaning. Its difficult to attend to these with guests visiting. And gardening outdoors and enjoying the warm sun is so calming to me.

I want to share a beautiful new treasury on Etsy called Nesting: Home sweet home by sheridesthelion includes my little bluebird in a nest.



I listed my hen and chick pairs yesterday. The sky was overcast and bright so I ran down to the field out back to photograph them. I guess it was a good thing I have been too busy to mow the field because the yellow flowers were beautiful. The bees are enjoying them too so I will probably hold off on mowing for another week. The mother hens are basically the same pattern I made several years ago but I have been modifying the chick pattern a bit with some successes. My family likes one pattern and I the other so I will probably solicit more opinions on this. If any of you have any opinions let me know! I love how they display in baskets.



And while we are on the subject of chicks I have to confess that I signed up to get 3 little bantam chicks when I was last visiting the Farmers Exchange. I had every intention of resisting temptation this year and look its already June and I have seen several batches of chicks come in and leave. I haven't mentioned this yet to my husband to avoid getting the "rolling eyes" look but the kids know now and are excited.

Sharing Treasures...

I did manage a bit of time out in the garden yesterday. I finished planting the window boxes for the front of our house. They look a bit pathetic right now but I am hoping they will fill in a bit. Its so easy to spend a small fortune at the greenhouse/farmstand so I try to get the six pack plants and use them sparingly. Meanwhile my daughter discovered a dead gypsy moth caterpillar (injured on a rock). This involved a rather dramatic two hours of tears and a rather elaborate burial at sea (in my small container pond). Many prayers were said and stories of this wonderfully kind caterpillar were shared. Even water spray "fireworks" went off. Most of this was her idea and she was genuinely distraught over this. I didn't want to dismiss it but played along hoping she would snap out of it. I loved her stories about the kind caterpillar and all the qualities he had that we would miss.

Being out in the garden made me realize how much damage was caused by that hail storm Leaves litter our yard and many of the flowering plants are damaged. During the summer when I have more free time I like to make cement leaf castings of some of the larger leaves. The rhubarb looked so lovely this year but now the leaves are full of holes. Unfortunately I hadn't been able to work with cement sooner due to the weather and generally busy schedule. This photo shows some of the leaves I made last year for my porch and gardens.



The first Thursday night band concert of the summer began tonight on the town common. The girls were so excited. We ate chili dogs and cheese and the girls enjoyed cotton candy and popcorn. My youngest enjoyed the children's games but the older two were off socializing with their friends. Its difficult to let them go off without worrying about them. My husband's parents came along too (since they are still visiting us) and hopefully enjoyed themselves enough. I really enjoyed meeting up with friends too and chatting a bit while listening to the music and keeping an eye out for the children.

And now for the treasures...

Ever since I discovered Etsy treasuries I have wanted one but they proved much too illusive for my schedule. Too many interruptions go on in my life to sit patiently waiting for one. I figure that one rainy day in the future I might just have the patience to catch one. In the mean time I will enjoy the ones created by other Etsy members. One of my pottery chicken families is included in an Etsy Treasury called Little Jewels by Majo



My newly listed bee is also included in this Etsy Treasury called Bring Back the Bees by amianda.

Ahhhh! The sun.

I am enjoying the sun shining through the windows cheering me up. After a few morning chores I will make my way out to get my hands dirty a bit in the garden. I finished photos of this needle felted rooster and bee this morning and listed them in my Etsy store.



This little bee looks more like a bumble bee than our dear honey bees. Our honey bees were out this morning enjoying the sun and flowers. While waiting for the school bus we watched them gathering nectar and collecting pollen on their legs. They seemed to be humming happily.

We haven't heard any word from the sheep shearer that didn't show up so maybe today will be the today. He never did show up on Friday or over the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing the silly faces on those adorable sheep. Maybe someday we can get two to keep out in the field. We only have a single acre so I'm not sure if that is enough space for them.

One of my little birds was included in another Etsy treasury today. This treasury is called So Precious by cynmb.

I have my hands full the next few days trying to get the house cleaned up for visitors. Both sets of grandparents will be here later in the week. It is always a struggle to get all this done since nothing stays clean for long. Even the grass won't cooperate. I try to get help from the girls but only small self contained tasks seem to work. Cleaning their room definetly won't get anything productive done.

Earlier this spring Scoutie Girl included some of my etsy items in her blog in March.. At that time I had almost no clue what a blog actually was. But I was thrilled to have someone actually find my shop.



One of my needle felted birds is included in an Etsy treasury called Sing a Song by ayeyet.

Getting through the week...

I am getting dizzy driving my kids to and from activities. With three of them there always seems to be some overlap of activities so its difficult to work this out. With my husband now working so much farther away I can't count on him for "pick ups". This will all be over in another month and then we can relax a bit, I hope. In the mean time I am more than a little stressed.

I finished up my little hen and chicks that I had been working on for a while. On Monday me and my youngest took a walk over to the nearby antique store and found the base for this. An antique salt container missing its chicken top was perfect. My daughter also collected a few little glass figures there too. It is difficult to shop with a child who would rather talk a walk outside. She pestered me CONSTANTLY. But once she picked up her little trinkets she was quiet.


My needle felted penguins are featured on another Etsy treasury. This one is for felted items and was put together by kraftymomma.


My daughter and I checked up on the lilacs and they are really so beautiful. We cut some and put them in water to bring inside. I wish I could do this everyday of the year. I suppose since these things are so temporary we treasure them more.