Wildflowers in My Creek Bed

 

Hello Friends!

 

I am posting over at my new blog today.

I hope you'll have time to visit me there.

 

 

My sweet granddaughter has gone home after visiting for two weeks.

It's always an adjustment every summer when this happens. I enjoy her company so much and we have such a good time together.

 

As you can see from the photo we did crafts together. Starlet had this wonderful idea to make neck pillows for herself, her brother and her best friend. She cut the fabric from the pattern, chose the embroidery designs, and then did the sewing and stuffing herself. She did a great job! She says she now wants her own sewing machine.

We are both hooked on the Australian cooking show 'My Kitchen Rules', and we watched it together every night. She also read my old Donna Parker books and Gene Stratton Porters, 'Freckles and The Girl of Limberlost'. She was so inspired by 'The Girl of Limberlost' that she went on line to see if there was still a market for selling moths and butterflies! She said there is.

She's a girl after my own heart and I'm going to miss her, for sure.

 

Now it's time to mosey on over to my new blog here if I haven't worn you out already!

Blessings-Kim



Beary Busy Days Here

 

I thought I would show you first my peonies that have finally bloomed, then get on to the nitty gritty of what's been happening here at Camp and cottage Living these past few days.

 

First, we (my grand daughter and I) are on bear watch this morning. We have noticed the last few days that this bear is cutting through our back yard to go for his morning, and sometimes evening, explorations through town.

I know this is a lousy photo, but that's what happens when your camera is in the other room and the bear is moving fast!

 

These garbage cans are the reason for our concern.

Today is trash pick-up day.

 But I am prepared with my fog horn handy and ready to blow!

 

Realistically, I can't just sit here watching out the window all day.

 I have things to do, places to go, and people to see......

Today Starlet, Nana and I plan to go down to the park and walk the path along the lake, then go to get an ice cream cone. Next I am forcing Star to go shopping with me. She strongly dislikes shopping, but it has to be done. Then I expect we will either go fishing or swimming, depending on how warm it gets here. I prefer fishing.

 

 

Yesterday Tim and I canned thirty five quarts of various meats.

We put up bacon for the first time. It is easy to do.

 We just followed a youtube video and all went well.

 

I wanted to share this much better photo of the bear we spotted on our way home from White Lake Provincial Park last weekend when Tim's sisters were here visiting. As you can see he was right next to the very busy (to us) Hwy 17 and it didn't bother him at all. He just kept grazing about on the grasses.

 I'm hoping ,now that I have my camera handy and ready to go, to get a better shot of the bear that is using my backyard as his thoroughfare.

Wish me luck on that!

 Kimberly

 













Lace Curtains

 

I have really taken a shine to lace curtain lately.

So much so that I am seriously thinking of hanging them in my kitchen windows.

 

 

I had not been a fan of lace curtains in the past. I suppose because I had not seen many that I liked before. But pinterest has changed all of that.

 Now my world has broadened....

Ha!!

 

Even if I had found lace curtains that I liked, I never would have thought of hanging them in my kitchen.

I thought that they would be too frilly, perfect for the bedroom, but never the kitchen.

 

 

I can see now how wrong I was!

 

This lace curtain appears to be a patchwork of several different laces and vanity scarves.

I've been fortunate these last couple of months to have found varying lace pieces cheap at rummage sales, so I could attempt to make my own....

Although I don't think they would come out quite as pretty as this panel did.

 

Now in the end, after I have raved on and on about lace curtains, the homemade roll up shades in the photo above are my favourite. I'm not sure why I like them better, but it may be because I think I have figured how I can make the centre panel detachable and then change it with the seasons.

 

What do you think?

Which curtain is your favourite?

Would you ever hang lace curtains in your kitchen?

 



 

 





The Good Ol' Days

 

Do you ever find yourself romancing about the good ol' days?

I do.

 I often think about how much politer society was back then. It seemed to me that people were less narcissist and more industrious...

That folks were neighbourly and more willing to lend a helping hand. I mean a real hand, not a hand out!

 

Well, you know the whole scenario. We could all write a book on how wonderful everything was way back when.

 

 

But then, while surfing through pinterest, I run across a board with old ads and then I say to myself, "Just how stupid could people have been back then?"

 

 

Honestly, does anyone know if these ads are for real?

 

It certainly gives a whole new meaning to the, "You've come a long ways, Baby" quote!

 

 

If I ever met the person who created this sign I know I could come up with an alternative use for that big old cast iron skillet of mine that's hanging on my wall.

Gee it's enough to make a non-violent gal like me see red!

 

Funny, I never realised all of the torture I had been subjected to while I was raising our four children!

 

Someone please tell me if these ads are for real or not, or are they actual signs or just ones someone has made up to humour us?











Lost Sheep Found

 

A Story of My Lost Sheep, Now Found

 

Tell me dear friends, are you like me?

Do you decide you're going to de-clutter, then pack  many of your décor goodies away in a box never to think of them again? In fact, you just completely

forget that you ever even owned them.

 

This is sorta how I lost my sheep.

Two years ago we moved into the house that we are presently living in. Of course the first thing I had to do was paint, replace flooring, sew curtains, and so on and so forth. So somehow those poor little sheep that were packed in a box for the move never did get unpacked.
You can view my sheep display here from my previous home if you'd like.

 

 

My husband has been working on turning a spare room in our basement into a livable space. Many of the boxes from the basement have made there way to the garage, but many more were brought up to me to go through before they were taken to the resale shop.

Yikes!!

 

I'm just so glad I ran across my old sheep collection.

They not only make me happy to look at.......

 

but are also a reminder to me of my Good Shepherd-Jesus! 
*****************************************************
I am partying here:
link-party-friday

 fridays-five-features-party
 

Happy 4th of July

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July from Canada!



How To Make a Hoop Thread Holder

 

I debated about whether to title my post today "how to make a hoop thread holder" or "how not to make a hoop thread holder'.

 

I had debated about checking pinterest for a tutorial, but honestly how hard can it be to put something so simple looking together? I figure you buy a hoop (I get all mine for peanuts at resale shops), buy two one eighth inch dowels ($1.09 each for me), cut the dowels to determined bobbin length, and then just stick the cut dowels in between the inside and outside of your hoop.

 

Wrong!

It didn't work that way.....

It was all good for the first five dowel inserts, but after that the space between the inside and outside hoop became too wide and the dowels started falling over.

 

This is when I brought out my hot glue gun and began to glue each dowel to the inside of the hoop.

Now be sure at this point that you have your threads handy to measure distance between your dowels. My machine embroidery thread has a very wide bottom and won't fit on a regular thread holder, which is why I decided to make my own holder.

 

Now look at what happened!

The distance between the two sides of the top hoop made it impossible to use the screw that is attached for tension so I decided I would just wire the too top sides together.

Wrong!

As you can see the tension ripped the bracket right out of the wood.

At this point I was tempted to trash the whole project. But I needed this thread holder! 

 

In the end I decided to wire the inside and outside hoop together with thin wire at intervals and cover it with pretty tied fabric strips

All in all it turned out okay. I estimate I put three hours into the project. Now that I know what to anticipate it may only take me one hour to complete the next one. I need three!

I did check pinterest to see how someone else recommended putting this together and there is a tutorial here.  I guess I should have read it first.

It's a lesson learned...

Blessings-Kim

 

 

 





 

 











Happy Dominion Day!

                                                                                                                  Lyrics in French, then English
                            Have a wonderful Canada Day!

 

The lyrics for O Canada

 

An adorable representative!

***********************************************************************

For more Canadiana visit here.