Friday, March 26, 2010

~*Friday Finishes*~

Hello Dear Friends! I have a couple of fabulous finishes to share with you today!

Imagine my surprise when one of them came to me via snail mail... with lovely wrapping & beautiful card. I was ~ and still am ~ in complete awe over the generosity & fine craftsmanship. Patti made this one for ME! LUCKY ME! It is MINE! All MINE! :) (Can you hear my giggles of GLEE & JOY?) She stitched up the freebie ~*Blessings*~ & made it into a DARLING key fob... complete with an antique key. It is finely stitched with one strand of my favorite color ~ deep, olde red ~ and backed with a lovely reproduction print. Along with the pinkeep, she also gifted me a lil' pile of olde keys. I'm always asking her where she finds them 'cause the shops around here are either WAY~HIGH priced... or just don't have any. Patti has such a great eye for beauty. If you haven't visited her blog, please do. She takes the most striking photographs & makes the most beautiful creations. The card she sent with my gift is one she made with one of her photographs of her work... so very pretty!

Patti, I cannot thank you enough for this sweet gift! :)



Another beautiful finish to share... This one is from Connie (no blog or online album), a stitcher friend that I had the joy of meeting in person last year at the Eureka Springs Hook~in. Connie stitched up ~*Spring's Tweets*~... a pattern available for purchase. LOVELY! She stitched on 10 count Natural Heathefield with 3 strands of the recommended DMC. Liking her pillows larger enough to decorate a chair, she will either stitch over one on 10 count or over 2 on 18 or 20 count fabric. What a great idea! I LOVE IT!



She backed her pillow with an upholstery fabric that resembles painter's cloth. The colors of the upholstery fabric are a great match for the fibers used for her stitching. She also added a patch with her initials, the date, and a few vintage buttons. For filling, she added a mix of wood shavings, sawdust, cloves, and some crushed walnut shells for weight. I'll bet it smells as YUMMY as it is beautiful!



Thank you Connie for stitching & sharing!

As for me, I've continued to work on my rug & sampler... along with my many other WIPs... but Tony and I started another project too...

Well, truth be told, HE has done most of the work so far...



I have always wanted a greenhouse! We found one at a reasonable price... so this was the time to get it. It is a pre~fab house and will finish to 10 by 12 feet. We are going to add some personal touches to make it more charming & prim. To start with that, we decided to place it in the backyard with the door centered between two old hedge posts left from a days~gone~by fence. The large tree in the upper right corner of the photograph is one of my favorites, a flowering crab apple. The weedy looking stuff behind the house is what is left from my sweet annie last year. Guess I need to get that under control & cleaned up, huh? All the tires you ask? Well, those are surrounding the go kart track. The hubby has his favorites here too! :)

All the snow from last weekend is gone. Good Bye Winter... hello longer days of Spring!



Wishing you all warm smiles,

Betty

15 comments:

  1. Dear Betty,
    beautiful finishes and what a nice green shadow!
    Laura

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  2. Beautiful finishes.
    I would love a green house, one that fits a pool and jacuzzi and plants all around the edges, lol.

    Debbie

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  3. Oh... I am so happy for you that you are getting your greenhouse! You are going to love puttering around out there.

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  4. What a lovely gift you received! Could you please post a link to the "blessings" freebie? Thank you!

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  5. Thanks for the kind words Betty :) I was just sharing the joy I feel every time I encounter a wonderful freebie pattern on your blog!
    Your very own greenhouse ~ how wonderful! And I love the idea of stitching smaller patterns on big counts for larger pillows... I might just have to try that...
    Blessings, Patti

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  6. Oh man! What an awesome post! Love, love, LOVE the finishes!!! And the greenhouse is making my hands itch to play in the dirt! LOL! The last pic of your TALL shadow on the GREEN grass is simply awesome! Springtime smiles to ya'! :-)

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  7. Betty ~
    What great finishes!
    What a clever pic you took saying goodbye to winter and hello to the long days of spring!
    Pug hugs :)
    Lauren

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  8. Wonderful finishes once again! It's so great your putting up a greenhouse it's sure to be lots of fun!

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  9. All nice finishes.
    It's going to be fun seeing the progress on the greenhouse. Very exciting for you!

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  10. Beautiful finishes, Betty! Enjoy your new greenhouse and Spring!

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  11. Great finishes! I especially love the key fob idea!

    Can't wait to see what you do with your greenhouse!

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  12. What truly beautiful finishes this week. And how lucky to be gifted one of them and all those primitive keys.
    I love old keys too. Enjoy your gifts.
    ~Nan

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  13. Nice finishes! And how sweet is that little blessings gift! And a greenhouse! Wow! Lucky you! Just the other day I was thinking how neat it would be to have one! I don't know that I have a green enough thumb to invest in one tho! lol

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  14. Such pretty finishes..

    Your greenhouse looks like it will be a wonderful addition. Enjoy the spring!

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