Good Morning!

Post July 4th Ramblings

I hope all my U.S. friends had a wonderful holiday weekend. The weather cooperated in our neck of the woods (many times it doesn't) and lots of fun was had by all. My SIL was in town for the week so we had a nice visit with her. My DH got a new BBQ grill for father's day, but somehow I end up doing all the grilling. (That's okay though - he has a good excuse.) My next grilling attempt is to make individual veggie pizzas on the grill.

A co-worker sent us the most wonderful box of chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries. This photo doesn't do them justice though. The strawberries were HUGE and completely covered in the most divine chocolate. Yum!

Crochet Tea Cup available in my Etsy shop here.

We've had it hot here lately and not very much rain, so I've been keeping busy running around the house everyday watering our flower pots and planters and beds.

These pale lavender petunias seemed to weather the heat the best.

Have a wonderful day!

Crafting:Needle Felting

It seems like everywhere you look people are falling in love with needle felting. I first was introduced to this lovely craft when I purchased this felted cupcake from Betz White at the very first Country Living Fair held in Illinois three years ago.

And this felted fall purse by another artist at another craft fair.

Then there is Julie Collings, whose sweet and simple felting projects make you want one of everything she makes. You can find my favorite books on this craft here and here and here.

So I thought I should try it out for myself and decided to make these little felted charms. They are easy and fun to make in the evening while watching TV. Just be careful you don't stab yourself with the felting needle when you're watching your favorite show!

When I was done, I attached the charms along with some wire-wrapped beads to a chain to make this necklace. I think I'm going to make a charm bracelet next.

I Saw Red - Strawberries

Today I See Red strawberries in a bowl all juicy and ready to eat....Yum! These are my favorite kind fruit. When I was a little girl I would eat them with cream poured on top. I love strawberry milk shakes, strawberry yogurt, strawberry preserves, strawberry shortcake....ooooh, I'm getting hungry now.
Yesterday Mr. Postman delivered my Birds and Bonnets Vintage Workshop panels from the swap that Karla and Beth held last month. Aren't they beautiful? What fun it was to see how everyone used the same images, but created totally different pieces of art. The panels above (left to right) are from (1) Karen Young, (2) Kim Morris and (4) Karen Payne.
This is the back side of the panels, again from left to right (1) Karen Payne, (3) Kim Morris, and (4) Karen Young.
The panel above didn't have a tag or name attached to it, so if anyone knows who this one was created by I would love to know so I can thank them.