Tag Archives: Flowers

Busy!

Oh, my goodness, what a packed full weekend!  When there is too much to write about, I don’t, sorry.  I should have been posting all weekend . . . so very sorry to neglect you all.

I hope all of you moms that celebrate Mother’s Day had a wonderful day filled with happy times and maybe a little pampering.  I started a load of laundry yesterday morning and the clothes magically got put away.  My husband and daughter gifted me with a new Kindle and a bunch of red orange tulips.  I’ve been wanting a Kindle for reading library books; I think I’ll really like it and use it all the time (that is when I’m not sewing, knitting, embroidering, or crocheting, etc.)  LOL!

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I always get asked what I want to do on Mother’s Day.  Every year my answer is something leisurely.  Do you know what I said this year?  Yard work!  Yep, that’s how we spent a good portion of the day.  Our messy garden beds were starting to weigh me down and now most of them are nice and clean.  And, it was really nice spending time working hard with my daughter at my side.  While my daughter and I worked around the front of the house, my husband was busy at the back and spent the entire day outside.  I don’t know how he does that!

Afterwards, my daughter made me a late lunch complete with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!  That ice cream was well deserved, don’t you think?

This morning my hamstrings are quite sore and I have a bright red sunburned stripe where my back waistband didn’t quite meet the bottom of my t-shirt.  Oops!  Thank goodness for aloe gel.

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 Here’s one of my three rose bushes.  We had to scrape away millions of tiny seedlings growing around the rosebushes.  (I don’t think I got them all either.)  One of the rosebushes had so many tiny forget-me-nots growing around it; it looks like it has died.  I saw a few green branches, so hopefully it will catch up to the other two.

back yard bed 426Even though I tried, I couldn’t get all of the grass pulled out that is growing through the phlox.  If anyone has a helpful tip for this, please, please, let me know.

I have more outdoor photos to show you tomorrow.

Today I need to remake Patience’s dress.  😦  The bodice is too long for the sweater and just looks odd.  I hate redoing things, but it has to be done.  Better get to work . . .

 I hope everyone’s week is starting off nicely.  Bye for now!

It’s a Sunny Morning!

It’s beautiful outside!  The sun is shining, the sky is BLUE, the birds are singing!  Glorious! I snapped a few photos to show you, so I can share my sunshine with you.  My kitchen faces west, but you can see shadows in the grass.

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And, out the front door (east) the yard is all nice and sunny.  When I am sitting at my kitchen table I can look out both the west facing bay window and the east facing front door.

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You can see the last remaining white magnolia blossoms and to the right is one of our (?) flowering bushes.  We also have a larger one which got a little clipping yesterday.  I made a bouquet with quite a few of its blossoms.  They smell absolutely heavenly!

Does anyone know for sure what these are?  We didn’t plant them, so we don’t know.  They smell and look like lilacs, but I couldn’t find this variety anywhere on the internet.  Last year, I must have found a photo of these because I then thought that they were honeysuckle.  I just now searched for honeysuckle and these do not look like the photos I found at all.  Hmmm… any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

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Thanks to Orli and April for the links to my flower question from yesterday.  These are called Creeping Charlie here in the U.S. with a European version called Lamium amplexicaule.  Yesterday I discovered this “weed” growing in our yard, but with the fuchsia or magenta blossoms.  They are from the mint family, so a bouquet might be nice.

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Hope you all have a beautifully sunny day.  If not, I’m sending some your way.

Bye for now!

In & Out of the Studio

How’s the first week of this new season going for you?  It started out pretty nice for us, but it is rapidly going downhill—cloudy, rainy, cool cold today.  Oh, and it will get worse as the week progresses; snow flurries are predicted.  Happy spring!

I had two outfits to pack up and mail on Monday.  Thought I’d show you how I wrap up my outfits in case you are curious.  It’s no big production, just the way I package right now.  I put my Amelia Thimble and Pukipuki sets into a small box.  This way the hat will not get crushed, which is especially important for the crocheted brimmed hats.  I sew the pieces onto card stock like how the first Barbie® clothes were packaged.  I use plastic envelopes for mailing these little boxes.  They can be mailed first class as they only way a few ounces.

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I don’t use a box for the larger doll ensembles; they aren’t needed with the Priority boxes I use.  First, I put all of the accessory pieces is small zipper bags, wrap the knitwear in tissue paper, stuff the sewn dress with tissue to keep it from getting wrinkled.  All of these pieces fit in a larger zippered bag.  I then wrap the bag in tissue; you can see the package below.  I used to use ribbon to tie the package, but ran out one day.  I got the “brilliant” (ha ha) idea to use coordinating or matching yarn from the ensemble to tie up the package.  The yarn can then be reused for hair bows or whatever other creative purpose my customers can think of.  I print out a little thank you note card with a photo of the ensemble, its title, and month/year made to include with the ensemble for future reference.  I use brown paper to wrap up this package and into a Priority box it goes.

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Outside of my studio I found this tiny clump of crocuses that naturalized a few feet away from the main grouping of crocuses.

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On Monday this was what a few of my dolls were wearing.

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I still had my husband’s macro lens on my camera, so took a few more close up shots of the orchids in the bay window.

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And,… that was how the beginning of my first week of spring went.  How was yours?

Oops, forgot to mention that Jpop will have a few Gracie elves and humans for sale on Thursday night.  Here’s the link:  Extra Gracie BJDs.  Also, I think, but not positive, that you will need an account with them, so I’d make one ahead of time if you don’t have one.  I imagine that these will get sold in seconds, so good luck.