She's NAKED and I'm worn out!!!

Well how many of you did I get with that title ??? LOL


Yea I'm worn out and tired... From pulling out nails and staples out of the very worn out fabric. As I pulled off the old fabric it just fell apart in my hands. I have no Idea when the last time this piece has been redone. But it had been in my friends garage for 50 years.

There is going to be plenty of work we have to do to the frame before I can even think about putting any fabric back on it...
So I am really hoping for a "snow day" tomorrow from school so I can tear into it and work on the frame...
Actually I could use 2 snow days and have a really long weekend!!! LOL
A girl can DREAM...

Have A Good One,
Lynn

Jan.15,09 UPDATE.... I did have a snow day today, weather is really cold but life is good!!!

An UPDATE to my update.... NO SCHOOL TOMORROW....

How do you know when you have Spring Feaver ???

Well for my husband, he knows exactly when I am getting a little antsy for spring to be here!!!

It's when he sees little baggies taped to the kitchen window!!

And when he sees my big box of seeds....

I just have to try to start a seed or two in my window, and of course I have to get that big box of seeds I so diligently picked from every flower in the yard. Just before the frost hit everything and they were gone forever...

So I take my little coffee filter, wet it and lay a few seeds down and fold the filter up ever so gently. Slide it into that small baggie, just leaving it open enough for a little air to get in. Then tape it to that bright sunny window, in hopes that something will sprout and I can plant them in little pots.

It doesn't take much to make me happy, and he knows it. So he never says a word, just gives me that look that tells me yea spring will be here soon and I will again be back out in that back yard planting away...

The next move is to the basement where the lights are up and ready, but even I know I need to wait a few more weeks for that step.

So for now I will just watch my little baggies and wait for those much wanted little sprouts!!!

Have A Good One,

Lynn

Snowmen...

As much as I hate winter, I love snowmen. Go figure !!! LOL So each winter I seem to collect a few more. We have snow here from October until the middle of March. I have even seen snow here the first of May.. So I am able to keep them up for quite a while.

This one is on the front porch, it is one I painted a few years ago.

This one sits on top my kitchen cabinets, the center panel flips over with another spring picture on it. I must have painted it in the 90's.
In the family room there are a few on the couch...
In the dinning room it is another story, there are lots in there... Snowmen Garland,

Let it Snow just to remind me that there are good things that come from snow "SNOW DAYS". Then there is the tree that stays up all year, that gets decorated for every season...

My "NEW" Snow Lady nuzzled among all the snowmen and snowflake garland...

And my favorite that stays in this flower pot all winter....So I guess I can say Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Have a Good One,

Lynn

WHO KNOWS THESE THINGS ???

I am under the firm belief that you can find anything on the computer.. But it is still amazing to me! Why and How does it all get here and why would someone know all of this stuff. I Googled antique love seat and found someone that knew about this old (really Old) love seat I am about to undertake...


He told me that my Fainting Seat is found on page 777 of the 1902 Sears Catalog.

WHO WOULD KNOW THAT ???

"1902" That would be right there in my memory bank!!! LOL But boy am I glad someone knew what I was talking about... I was clueless...


It was given to me this summer by a friend cleaning out her garage. She knew she had owned it for over 50 years. It had been redone, but not like the original. I want to take it back as close as I can get it...


But wow what a mess it is. It is going to take me at least a couple of months. The whole thing needs reworked. (That should take me up to just about the time to plant my seeds inside)

Well here it is...

Do you see the piece in the background, that is the back of it.. BAD REALLY BAD...

The arms lift and lay flat, but it should be done in 3 sections. The middle and the arms are not done all as one piece. I have most of the fabric off and the inside is nasty. A lot of work needs done on the frame work. But I will figure it out and refinish the wood then start on the fabric.

It is going to be beautiful when it is done.

JUST HAVE TO REMEMBER A POSITIVE ATTITUDE... THAT IS ALL IT TAKES....

"I CAN DO THIS"

I CAN REALLY!!!

I just have to keep believing it!!!

SEE THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR WINTER GO FAST

A CRAZY PROJECT LIKE THIS!!

JUMP IN AND JUST TRY SOMETHING NEW!!!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Have a Good One,

Lynn

PS.. To be continued at a later date...

How I Make My Winter Go Faster....

As most of you know I hate WINTER!!! Yes you heard me right I hate winter... I don't like to be cold. So I spend my winters inside trying to keep busy... I think January and February are the worst. So I try to dive into something really time consuming, and most of the time really off the wall for me.. I love to try new things. Sometimes my husband thinks I have really gone over the edge...

Four years ago it was stained glass. I took a class for the first time. Of course I had no idea what was involved in doing a piece of stained glass. I just knew it was beautiful and I wanted to do it. I loved it and had a wonderful teacher. So I made my first small piece, it was about 11x14 and really cute. It took 6 weeks to finish it in class. So when it came time to take another class I wanted to do something just for me and not the class project. My teacher was really worried I would never finish it, but she didn't know me well...

It took over a year and it is up and we love it!!!

It is four sided and 109 inches long...

So last winter I decided to reupholster the living room furniture...

I figured if I took pictures and took lots of notes, whatever came off first had to go back on last. But thank goodness I didn't have any parts left over... LOL

BEFORE...
AFTER... Then it was time to finally redo the old trunk that was in the attic.....

BEFORE...

AFTER....

So it is January again and I need a new project....

TO BE CONTINUED .... NEXT BLOG...

Have a Good One,

Lynn

Okra... A funny story!

As I was taking the ornaments off the tree the other day I came across these ornaments...
Strange as they may seem, they are two of my favorites... Some of you may recognize them as Okra pods! But when I was first married I had no idea what Okra was, let alone eat something that looked like that. But the first time my husbands aunt fixed it for us for dinner I fell in love with it. My father-in-law grew it every summer in his garden. That garden was in our back yard and his back yard. We have lived next door to my in-laws since 1978, and helped them work in their garden...
One year when we were getting ready to clear off the garden for the winter, I noticed some old Okra pods left on the plants... As my husband always said "If it doesn't move she will Paint it".
And that I did... I asked my father-in-law if I could have the old pods to paint. At that moment he knew I had really lost my mind!!! It was fall and that is the time of the year I am thinking about one thing.... CRAFT SHOWS! I gathered up all the old dried out pods I could carry and took them home. I painted over a hundred that year. Some small and curly and added pin backs to them. Some large and really long and put string to hang on the tree.
I put them in a beautiful basket and took them to the craft show...
Everyone went nuts over them that year. Most of them had no idea they were something you could eat, let alone the name of it. You see Okra is usually grown in the South and we live in West Virginia...
None the less I sold them all! I was so excited!!!
So I took my handful of loot, and at $3.00 each I did have a hand full. I ran down to my father-in laws to show him all my money!!! HE SAID ,"WHAT IS THAT??? "

I SAID, "OKRA"

We laughed over that every year when it was time to clear the garden for the winter. He would always ask if I wanted the old Okra...

It has been almost 4 years since he died, and I miss him everyday. Especially when we are working in the garden...

Have A Good One .... I hope you got a good laugh!!

Lynn

Times Past but not Forgotten...

Yesterday I came across a blog of an old acquaintance from years ago. She is a wonderful gardener, but more so a Beautiful Artist. Many years ago in Leesburg, Virginia I was blessed to be able to take a class from her. I was in heaven to just sit there in her prescence. Soaking in everything she taught us!! She was just one of those teachers that could explain things so you would understand just how to do what she wanted you to. Even the books she wrote were written in a way you just knew exactly what to do and do it right!!!

But it brought back so many memories of times past! For those of you that only know me on this Blog as a gardener and not a painter, I painted for years. I began at age 12 when I took my first class at the YWCA. It went on from there... I taught painting classes in my home studio to hundreds of students for 27 years. It seems like a life time ago...
So I picked up my camera and started taking pictures of just some of the things I have around the house that my girls insist I put up every year at Christmas I haven't painted in 4 years, I really need to start again.
I guess life has it's way of just taking you in different directions. I miss my students, but have made some wonderful friends over the years. I am working full time now and love my work. I have learned how to do stained glass and of course I am really gardening like crazy. Working in the summer at a Garden Center and volunteering at West Virginia University Greenhouse in the winter. I love to play in the soil and plant my many seeds.

Well I hope you enjoy the pictures..
Just click on image at top of Christmas Stockings...

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~H. Fred Ale

You can tell it is the first of the year almost...
The seed catalogues are coming in the mail everyday!!!
Tom swears he is going to hide them, but I am one step ahead of him. My daughter already ordered lots of seeds and gave them to me for Christmas. She swore she wouldn't get me seeds for Christmas since she got me dirt for Mothers Day!!! But she knows what I like!!! Thank Goodness...So with some of the seeds I have collected from last summer I am ready to start planting. I may just have to start a few next week.. JUST BECAUSE.
The grow light has been going since fall with lots of things I propagated to save for this summer.
I just can't wait to set up the portable greenhouses and start some planting. But that is another 8 weeks away at least. The Profusion Zinnias are waiting...

The Butterfly Weed is waiting...

Now I have a new Christmas Present to read, and it is a good one too! I'm going to make my own Hummingbird feeders and maybe even a few Orchard Bee houses.

As I have always said "Spring can't come too soon for me"...

This book came from a collection

of beautiful spring things

at Cracker Barrel...

Have a Good One,

Lynn

PS see the little thing below this that says Coments???

Say hi so I know who has been here.....

Merry Christmas too all.....

The Poinsettia are still alive contrary to all belief that I can't do this.. But I am determined to keep them alive this year...Tis the season... Just a little under an hour til the big day.

Am I ready??? Well as ready as I'm going to be. Most of the food is cooked,Cakes are baked,the annual Onion bread is ready!! Everyone has their own traditions. Ours is dinner here on Christmas day, and it is not dinner without that bread.. When I was 19-20 and first married I found a recipe book and thought I would try my hand at baking bread. We liked it so much we have been making this every year since...

It is Onion Filled Braided Loaf....

This is a new recipe this year... One that anyone can make. Just pick your favorite cake recipe or cake mix. Then make a bunt cake...

Top with butter frosting add a little more milk so it is just a little thinner, this was it will pour right over the sided...

Sprinkle with clear sprinkles to look like show. Make snow flakes out of white chocolate, Just melt and put in a baggie and cut tip off . Make on a piece of waxed paper. Let set and add to cake. They will stick to frosting...

Just a cute way to decorate that plain cake!
The Tables are set and ready to go...

Now it is time for bed, SANTA WILL BE HERE SOON...

Have a Very Merry Christmas...

Lynn

Poinsettias-Poinsettias-Poinsettias...

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

This Is Beautiful...

What a beautiful day at the greenhouse at WVU... It was cold and snowy outside and toasty warm inside...

I remember the day the little Poinsettia plugs came in, they were so small...

Now they are big and beautiful and in full color...

In fact all different colors! Thirty different Varieties...

There is a lot of work that go into those tiny plants that came in last July,before they are ready to sell for the Christmas season. But those who take care of them on a daily basis are wonderful, and also patient...

But while I was there for just 4 hours they made lots of sales to many that were in the Christmas Spirit... Getting ready for parties and the Holidays with family and friends . Some buying for friends and family, just glad they had stopped by to see all the varieties of the beautiful flower.

Here is a little video telling you how to care for your plant and how to get them to flower next year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChCN2dm2DCQ

They have so many beautiful cultivars of this wonderful Plant!!!
This one was one of my favorites.

If you haven't stopped by to get a few of these beauties now it the time!!! Check out your nearest greenhouse...

While I was there I got a surprise!!! One of the Bonsai Trees were in full bloom. It was the Jade Bonsai. I don't think I have ever seen a Jade plant in bloom. I just wanted to take lots of pictures. I am always amazed at what I will find at the greenhouse each time I go. I had no idea 4 weeks ago this plant would be in full bloom...

WOW!!!

This is why I enjoy going to the greenhouse so much. I get to see all the blooming flowers all year long. For those who know me I am not a WINTER PERSON... Anything but... I hate to be cold and I hate to be inside. So you don't see me outside much in this cold weather. But I make up for that with my many inside winter projects... This winter it will be a one hundred year old couch I am going to refinish and reupholster.. I can't wait til spring is here!!! I'm ready to plant some seeds.

Well it is time to go back and decorate a little more. I will try to post at least once a week for the next few weeks. I do need to do some shopping since I only have a few gifts ready!

Have a Good One,

Lynn