~*How Could It Be?*~

Hello Friends! How could it be freezing rain and snow one day and upper 50s the next? The last couple of days were so scary... with ice, sleet, freezing rain, and snow. We were stuck inside and praying that we didn't loose power like so many in our area did. Luckily, our lights and heat stayed on and we didn't have to leave the house... but it is crumby that here it is now Spring and we were suffering with Winter weather. Today though, was just beautiful. It was warm enough to melt all the ice and snow... but left us with a soppy, soggy mess. Our daffodils seemed to be smiling today ~ they survived...



Today we met up with several of our family members to attend our first auction of the year. We all had GREAT fun & found a few new treasures. (I'll try to get some pics of my finds in the next few days.) Grandma Mary and Grandpa Richard bought a wheelbarrow (and a few other goodies too!). Laying inside were a couple of brand new ~ in the package, kites. Since Trinity was the only lil' one with us... he was gifted with both of them. (Thank you!) After supper tonight, Tony and Trinity braved the soggy yard and took advantage of the blue sky and crisp wind (here they are in the center of our go kart track ~ safe from the power lines in the distance)...



Trinity slipped on his snow boots to avoid getting his socks wet... but was having a GREAT time & did very well navigating through the wind...



He wanted me to be sure to get a picture of the kite up in the sky...



Now... this is what Springtime is all about... daffodils, blue skies, sunshine, and family smiles!

Wishing you all warm, Springtime smiles too...

Betty

~*FULL Weekend Already!*~

Hello My Friends! I do hope you are all enjoying a fun~filled, safe, and glorious holiday weekend! We have been enjoying ourselves. It has been a simple weekend, but that is how we prefer them to be. Yesterday my dear hubby mowed the yard & wouldn't allow me to help. He insisted that I stay in my workroom ~ getting more goodies done for the Open House. Oh what a wonderful hubby he is! Today, for more fun, he took me to an auction. I do just LOVE to visit a good auction!

In my car load of treasures ~ an old oil can (to display on the front porch of the lil'house), two wooden codfish boxes with wonderful olde advertising, a candy box filled with wooden spools of silk thread, a large box of artificial flowers (they will find their place on the front door wreath!), and two pairs of feedsack~like curtains from Pier 1(they will be perfect for one of the rooms in the lil'house). Tony even bought a couple of new, in the box, computer speakers. The cost of our new treasures wasn't much ~ plus we had a good time with each other and my darling mother-in-law, Mary & sister-in-law, Linda.



The codfish boxes have sliding lids. I don't know what I will 'use' them for other than shelf~sitters.... sounds better than dust~collectors. Also inside the candy box of spools.... a skein of DMC. :)





More weekend fun has been that I have received TWO nominations for the 'Primitive Excellence Award'.



Both Sam of Gollywobbles and Sue of Rabbit Hollow Prims have been so thoughtful & kind to send the award to me. Thank you Ladies!

Rules of the award are ~ you tell who the person is you received it from and then pick 7 people to give it to and let them know.

I have so many primitive buddies ~ it will be difficult to narrow it down to seven. But here they are ~

1 ~ Ginger of Primitives by the Light of the Moon

2 ~ Marte of Boggy Creek Primitives

3 ~ Beth of The Twist Family

4 ~ Tanya of At the Honeysuckel Tree

5 ~ Julie of Plumruncreek

6 ~ Robin of Bird in the Hand Primitives

7 ~ Debbie of Simple Country Blessings

...... ok, that did take a little time, but I do enjoy visiting blogs of my buddies! :)

For now... back to punching & enjoying the weekend!

Happy craftin' my friends! Smiles, to ya.....

Betty

~*Time to Share Some Fun*~

Hello Friends! I would like to share some of my exciting adventures from this past weekend with you!

My sister-in-law, Robin, invited me to go with her to visit Toad Hollow Daylily Farm this past Saturday morning. It is not far from where we both live & was a beautiful morning to attend. Not only was it the annual Daylily Tour... but the weather was nice. It had rained the night before & was still sprinkling some... making the temperature manageable & the sun so it wasn't beating down on us. The gardens are just jaw~dropping STUNNING. If you are ever in the area, you should stop by! If it is too far for you to travel to... stop by the website to visit the slide show. You will see what I mean about jaw~dropping!

Besides the beautiful gardens, we spotted many unique, handmade pots. We were given a brief explanation of how they were made & wanted to learn more about them. .....more on the pots to follow..... gotta tell you about the rest of the day first.

After the tour, we headed off to a local estate auction. There we met up with her boyfriend & examined all the treasures to be won. Oh..... I do just LOVE those estate auctions! I have been trying to budget myself lately and not spend too much extra money.... so I was tickled PINK to fill up my car for only $28 ~ granted that is full of 'treasures' not gasoline.... but I did get to spend the whole day entertained with family and fun! My winnings consisted of a 5x7 wool, area rug (it is free of stains & doesn't smell) that will find a home in my future studio; a vintage, wood bowl & a couple old pottery bowls; a vintage floor lamp (another treasure for my studio once the dear hubby rewires it for me); and my PRIZE of the day...... a wooden firkin! I have been wanting a firkin for some time now ~ not for any particular reason.... just wanted one. It is missing the lid, but that made no difference to me.......



The firkin is about 9 inches tall, plus the handle, and 10 inches wide at its base. I thought it would be a good spot for some rolled up wool or dried flowers..... when I find the time to do it.

After I got home for the day..... I began my research on those handmade pots. I discovered the name ~ Hypertufa. This apparently isn't a 'new' process. Hypertufa troughs have been made for a great many years.... originating in the Orient, but becoming very popular in the 1920's on English farms. During my research, I found many recipes. Sunday, Tony took me to the home store to get the items needed. (he is a sweetie!)

Sunday afternoon, Robin came over so we could make some mud pies.....




We discovered that this is a learning process..... and weren't 100% happy with our results, but it was fun & we do want to try it again. Here is what the pots looks like while drying.....



I don't have a picture yet of how they look now.... but will plant at least one up to show later.

Well, that about covers the weekend...... until next time.... many smiles to you,

Betty

~*Auction Treasure Finds*~

Oh my gosh! One of the things I enjoy most is spending the day at a farm auction! Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing just that! It was a great time spent with family & bidding! Two of my beautiful Sisters-in-law, one Brother-in-law, my kind-hearted Mother & Father-in-law, and my ANGEL of a Son went & had a BLAST! (YA! A good number of my family was there!) LOL I was really worried about taking my 5 yr old & thought he would be bored out-of-his-mind.... but he had just as much fun (if not more!) than the rest of us. He is ready to go again too! Goodie Goodie!

Here are some of my treasures! I am not great at knowing what an antique or collectible is worth 'dollarwise', but I think I did pretty good & love the pieces I was lucky enough to win!

This Crazy Quilt was my most favorite win of the day. The auctioneer threw it on the table with two ugly hat boxes (my opinion anyway) & called it a 'throw'. He did the bidding as your pick. There were a couple others bidding against me & it was clear that they too wanted the 'throw'..... but in the end I was the winner at $25.00! (The hat boxes sold afterwards for about $5 each..... I didn't pay too much attention to them though.) Now, this treasure is old & decaying badly..... but it is totally hand pieced & stitched with vintage silks and velvets. It measures 66 by 80 inches. I don't know yet what I am going to do with it.... but was happy I could SAVE it & give it a new home. Maybe it will be displayed laying across my old, white iron bed in the spare room.







Here is the backside of the quilt (or quilt top)..... it is made of the sweetest, early print blue calicos....



Some of you may remember me telling you about the Hoosier cabinet I bought from my Mother-in-Law. I won a vintage, ribbed Hoosier Tea jar yesterday too.



My Brother-in-Law & I both had our eyes on this wooden box. I love the old advertising on the sides. In the end, he let me have it...



Inside the box is an old walnut cracker. We have about 6 walnut trees here & have discovered that those nuts are really hard to crack without this handy tool!

All in all.... it was a great day! Thanks for letting me share my new treasures.

Many smiles to ya,
Betty

You just gotta love a good ol' auction!

I hit the jackpot yesterday at a local auction. The sale bid advertised some handmade wool rugs..... so, of course, I had to go see. They turned out to be large, latch hooked area rugs..... not exactly what I had in mind. BUT, to my delight.... there were two boxes of wool yardage grouped in the bed linen area. I stayed at the auction for hours waiting for my chance to nab these! I just knew I had to have them. The colors might not be perfect ~ but that is what dye if for! I was able to grab these boxes for pennies on the dollar ~ where wool is involved anyway. I was so stoked about it too. So, I ran home & threw them in the wash & hung them on the line to dry. Afterwards, I weighed them.... these is almost 10 pounds of wool here. Yes, I am just tickled-pink about my find!!!



You know, while waiting for these two boxes of woolly delights ~ I had to bid on a few other things too. I came home with a hand crocheted table cloth & some darling cross-stitched ornies (one for every month). I am looking forward to next weekend for another auction!!! :)