Primitive Heartstrings

~PEEK-A-BOO MOUNTAIN~

2012-02-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Thursday!! Living only 50 miles away from Mt. Rainier, I am constantly amazed by what I might see from my bedroom window each day!! This morning was no exception!!

The clouds are covering the whole mountain today, almost as if they are playing a game of peek-a boo, but if you look closely you can see the outline and the smaller mountain ranges on either side!! Perhaps the clouds will lift and we will be able to see this beautiful mountain just like you see on all the postcards!! I am certainly hoping for some sunshine here today, and I hope it is shining where you live too!! Even if the groundhog says we are having 6 more weeks of winter I don't mind, as long as there is a bit of sunshine!!

I have FINALLY got all my pictures updated and uploaded to my Picture Trail and if you have some time, please stop by for a visit!! Just click on the Picture Trail link:

http://www.picturetrail.com/my.primitive.heart

Here is one of the new items you will see there!

Thank you so much for stopping by!! I have been so blessed by your kind emails recently, for your sweet comments, for the new followers, and for all of you who continually encourage me by your interest....what a blessing you all are!!

Wishing all of you a "SUN-SHINY" Day~~

Julie

P.S. Rose, I misplaced your email address! Could you please send it to me again? Thank you!!

~CANDLELIGHT AND CRANFORD~

2012-01-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

Shortly after my last post, I found myself in the dark, literally, as the snow turned to ice and our area lost power! All of my best laid plans for happily stitching away had to be put on hold as I scoured my home for any available candles!!

Since it is winter time, the days are shorter and it gets darker faster, plus we were getting freezing rain and even with the curtains open the light was very minimal!! It was also cold and I am indeed so thankful that we do have a gas fireplace!! It helped keep us reasonably warm if we stayed in the living room! This is what it looked like from my stitching chair!!

My husband Jeff is an Online Professor, so that created a difficult situation for him as you can imagine!!! Thankfully for us, there is a Starbucks not far from our home, and he was able to go there and plug in for class, as well as charge his phone and his 2 laptops!! I did get some stitching in for a brief time during the day, but once 4 o'clock came, I had to light all my candles again!!

Since Jeff did have his computers charged, we decided to use them to help us get through the long, cold hours by watching a mini series we had purchased a while ago that we had watched on Masterpiece and fallen in love with!! It is called CRANFORD, and is a wonderful story of a small market town in England, during 1842. The characters are delightful and the stories of each one will have you laughing and crying as you relive with them their experiences!! As we watched, we were struck with the irony that we were living much like them.....no electricity, no cell phones, no modern conveniences, living with darkness and cold, and yet unlike us taking it in their stride!!

I felt so lost and confused, my routine disrupted and finding just how dependent I really am on all that is modern!! I missed my microwave, my blow dryer, my refrigerator ( we lost all of our food since the power was out for almost 4 days!) my sewing machine and my electric blanket, just to name a few things!!! Yet the people of Cranford just lived life with candlelight and firelight and seemed perfectly happy with the simple things!! Watching this wonderful program really helped us as we waited (im)patiently for the power to return and our lives be restored to normal!!

The third evening as we were almost finished with watching, we heard a WHOOSH and the furnace came back on as well as a few lights we had left turned on!! At first, I was so stunned I just sat there in a state of disbelief, and then the tears came......floods of them in gratitude for being able to SEE again!! We finished watching, WITH the candles still lit, in honor of the lovely people who captivated us with their stories and helped us through!!! If you ever get the chance to read the book or view this series I would so encourage you to do so!!

Now that I can see normally again, I am so happy to say that we have finally uploaded my hearts and some other items on my picture trail!! Some of you have been asking about them and probably thought it would never happen!! I plan to open the album Friday morning at 7 am Pacific time, if any of you might be interested in seeing what I have been working on!! Thank you so much for your patience with me and for all of you who continually follow and leave such sweet comments!! It really brings me joy!!

May you all have a wonderful day filled with LIGHT, WARMTH, and LOVE!! I think the people of Cranford would echo that!!

Heart-felt Blessings~~

Julie

~WINTER WHITE~

2012-01-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

Winter certainly made it's presence known today here in Sumner, WA, the small town where I live! This is the view that greeted me from my front door!! Isn't it lovely?!!!

Just yesterday we did not even have a whisper of snow anywhere, although there was much in all the surrounding areas!! The meteorologists were all calling for record snowfall, and everyone was preparing for it, but somehow my area was getting bypassed.......till this morning!!!

The view from my bedroom.....so beautiful!!

A large bush in front of my town home......dressed in a lovely winter white cloak!

All is calm, all is bright!! It is silent and still!

I had actually planned to do an update on my "hearts" but will do that in a day or two so I can finish up some final items!! Due to my work schedule lately I have been so busy that all of my handwork had to be put on "hold" for a time!! For now, I will certainly enjoy the day, happily sewing away in my stitching chair, snug and warm with needle and thread in hand!! Glorious thought indeed!! I hope wherever you are, that you too will be safe and warm, enjoying each moment, doing what you love!!

Thank you so much for your visits, for following along, for your kind comments and sweet emails and for just being you!! My heart is indeed grateful and I am blessed by each one of you!!

Wishing you all a wonderful day, filled with "Winter White" and creative delights~~

Julie

~A BEVY OF HEARTS~

2012-01-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

By definition, a bevy is a large group or collection, an array, or an assortment of something! I felt it was the perfect word to describe what I am making.......my most favorite thing........HEARTS!!! I have long loved the different shapes of hearts and have even named my blog and business with the word Heart in both!! It is a beautiful symbol of love and a perfect reminder to each of us that WE LOVE and ARE LOVED!!

Here is a closeup of some of the hearts, with the sunshine showing some lovely patterns on the velvet, as well as some former seams of older stitching. There is also a heart from some upholstery fabric, that will become a Heartstring! The red is very rich and is showing just a wee bit brighter than it actually is! They are all stuffed and ready for hangers!

This picture is from a sweet little book that I love to look at because it is all about.....HEARTS!! It is called MARY EMMERLING'S AMERICAN COUNTRY HEARTS, and is filled with wonderful examples of this lovely shape that seems to captivate so many!! If you ever happen to find a copy, do snap it up and enjoy the beautiful pictures and lovely quotes that grace each page. I would certainly love to own those cookie cutters shown, wouldn't you!!!

Besides these hearts shown, I have many more all stitched up and ready to become pincushions, single hanging hearts and of course, Heartstrings, both vertical and horizontal, and hope to have some on my picture trail soon!! They take some time, between the cutting, stitching, stuffing, hand stitching (I do little X's all around the edges), staining, adding hangers, and finally making tags, but they are so much fun and who doesn't love RED!!

I will leave you with a sweet quote from the HEARTS book....

A HEART FOR AN OLD FRIEND,

A HAND FOR THE NEW:

LOVE CAN TO EARTH LEND

HEAVEN'S HUE

~ James Stephens

Wishing you a HEART filled with all that is lovely~~

Julie

~HAPPY NEW YEAR~

2012-01-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

We will open the book. It's pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called OPPORTUNITY, and it's first chapter is

New Year's Day! ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

As we start this new year of 2012, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who faithfully follow my blog and have taken the time to leave a kind word of encouragement! You have filled my heart with much joy by touching my life with your friendship!!

May we all begin this year with pen in hand, ready to begin a new story filled with much laughter and love!

Let the story begin.......

Julie

~MERRY CHRISTMAS~

2011-12-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. - Luke 2:11 The Message

Wishing all of you a Most Wonderful Christmas!! May it be filled with Peace, Hope and above all....Love!!

Christmas Blessings~~

Julie

Christmas Ornaments - Old & New

2011-12-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

My tree has lots of ornaments that I have collected over the years….many of them handmade, and I would like to share a few with you!

A primitive Santa I made using a Sweetpeas Primitives pattern! Love his expression!!

A small snowman, all hand stitched, from batting and red wool! I made so many of these, but only have one left!!

A primitive pear I made using a Walnut Ridge Primitives pattern! I added the little piece of linen and hand stitched the date to add an extra primitive touch!

A snowball head ornament, with a pine crown, a pod nose and allspice eyes and mouth!

Gingerbread man with his banner and candy canes from a wonderful pattern by Jackie Schmidt! He also carries some sweet annie, which I am now EXTREMELY allergic to!! So sad, as I really did love the smell! Jeff has to hang this one or I start a sneezing sonata!!!

Perhaps the oldest one on the tree was made by a little boy in the 3rd grade! He painted it a bright yellow, with little lines of glitter to mimic a real light bulb! That little boy happens to be my husband Jeff, and he still can’t believe he has had it this long…..he said it turned 50 this year, and it is hung among all the other handmade ornaments that decorate our simple tree, adding to the other ornaments and memories that go along with each one!

This year I have 3 new ornaments to add to my handmade collection, and two of them are from my good friend Lori of Homespun prims! When I saw these, I just knew I wanted to order them and am so very happy I was able to!

The first one is a sweet lady she made from an old cookie cutter!! I just love her face and her tiny little homespun apron, don’t you?? She is simply perfect and hangs on my little feather tree!

The second one is also patterned after an old cookie cutter, a horse, and is just wonderful!! I love how she hand stitched the date on the front of him, and he also hangs on the feather tree! I think they really seem more special that way and really fit well with my display of old cookie cutters too!!

My last new ornament is an angel that I made using a Schneeman pattern! I just love this little doll and decided she would be perfect as an angel with her own set of wings and a bell at her waist!! After all, "every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings."

It is hard to believe that there are only a few more days left till we will be celebrating this most wonderful and Blessed time of year, and I hope all of you have your trees trimmed with ornaments, old and new, your stockings hung, and a hope and prayer in your hearts as we join in this beloved carol….

HARK THE HAROLD ANGELS SING, GLORY TO THE NEW BORN KING!!

With HOPE and JOY~~

Julie

~ MY RED PLATE ~

2011-12-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

Many years ago, I was gifted with a beautiful red plate and it has become one of my most cherished possessions! Over the years it has been used for many special occasions in our family and the memories connected to it are priceless! What makes it even more precious is that the giver of this gift passed away, and yet each time I look at it, I am reminded of her love and generous spirit, and that makes the sentiment on the plate, “YOU ARE SPECIAL TODAY,” that much more meaningful!

This year I have decided to use this plate as part of my Christmas Decorating, and have given it a place of honor in the kitchen, right over my stove, where I will be spending LOTS of time baking!

It will be a constant reminder to think of all those special people in my life that mean so much, not just at Christmas time but each and every day!!

Along with the red plate, I have added several other items that rest on my noodle board . One is a Plum Pudding, that I made several years ago using a wonderful pattern by my sweet friend Sharon Mitchell of HOMESPUN HEART PRIMITIVES! Sharon is not only a talented artist, but a wonderful encourager and I thank her for her influence in my life! The pudding nestles in an old wooden bowl, and I think it looks good enough to rival Mrs. Cratchet‘s!

On the other side of the noodle board is a group of 3 primitive gingerbread men I made several years ago, using a great pattern by my friend Catherine Simpson of ANGEL AND THE CROW! They are nestled together in an old tin cake pan, with an old chopper, old cookie cutter and an old grater!! The lamp behind them is one that I won in a Giveaway from THE PRIMITVE HEART and I love the glow of the light from the pierced tin shade!

Also sharing the noodle board is another design by Catherine Simpson, a primitive snowman, made especially for me by Catherine! He is surrounded by some old biscuit cutters, a heavy iron heart mold, an old tin tea container and an old grater, with the red plate right above him, so I’m sure he does feel special indeed!!

I finally finished up my Christmas Decorating and with the help of my SPECIAL husband Jeff, you can see it on my picture trail, if you have a spare minute or two during this very busy time of year! Perhaps you will be inspired and if you have a moment, I would love to hear from you!

Christmas Decorating 2011

May you be filled with Peace, Hope and Love during this Blessed Season and my wish for you is that you would remember….

YOU ARE SPECIAL TODAY!!

Julie

A FROSTY MORNING

2011-12-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

The view that greeted me this morning as I opened my curtains was one of stark beauty and amazing contrast…..frosted grasses and trees with sunshine breaking through, creating a sparkling pasture!

Then, in just a matter of minutes, a thick mist descended and blanketed everything with a dense mantle of fog! It is indeed December 1st, and winter is making it’s appearance here in the Pacific Northwest! That means that Christmas is not too far away!! The countdown begins!!!

With thoughts of Christmas, come thoughts of SANTA, and as you can see by my new header, (with special thanks to my husband Jeff) I have several new ones I have created! They were actually started last year but were never able to be finished due to an unexpected trip. I even have one more waiting to be completed, but am happy I got two of them done, even if it did take me a whole year!! I guess the old saying fits appropriately here, “SLOW, BUT SURE!” Hopefully the last one will not take me a whole year to complete!!

The Santas are made with the same pattern by Hidden in the Attic, a favorite of mine, but I did try to make each one unique, starting with the robes!

The brown fabric is a brushed flannel and shows a bit lighter in the picture due to the flash! Both Santas stand about 19” tall and are weighted with sand, so they stand very well on their own! The red fabric is also a brushed flannel, and is also darker in person.

I found 2 wonderful vintage bottle brush trees during one of my “treasure hunts” and thought they would be perfect for each Santa to hold! I just wish I could have found one more for the last Santa, but have another idea for him!

I also used some really thick store twine for his rope tie and old skeleton keys, with handmade tags and a rusty bell so he can “jingle all the way!”

The beards, also a bit different, are real sheep’s wool, and the eyes are also a bit different, making each one unique. They will be added to my Picture Trail soon, so keep checking back! This is a very busy time for my online professor husband who also happens to be my Picture Trail, blog, computer guru, so I have to be patient! He has a MASSIVE AMOUNT of papers to post and grade and very kindly and graciously helps me when he can!! I could not do it without him!!!

I am so happy to welcome all of you new followers to my humble little blog, and love nothing better than reading your comments, so just know how much it warms my heart to see and hear about your interest!! With all of the MANY WONDERFUL BLOGS out there, I am honored that you chose to stop by!! It may seem like a little thing, but believe me, EACH AND EVERY COMMENT AND VISIT IS VALUED!! Many, many thanks!!!

Oh, and remember the frost I mentioned in the beginning of this post? Well, it is mostly gone, but the fog is STILL HERE!! I am STILL hoping the sun will break through!! Till then……

Wishing you a day filled with

warmth from the heart~~

Julie

~ THANKSGIVING WISHES ~

2011-11-23T11:12:00.000-08:00

Gratitude is the music of the heart, when the chords are swept by the breeze of kindness.

~ Author Unknown

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving, filled with the melody of many blessings!

With a Thankful Heart~~

Julie

~ AN OPEN HOUSE ~

2011-11-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin?

In the lane, snow is glistenin,

A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight,

Walkin in a winter wonderland!

A winter wonderland did indeed greet all the eager shoppers who came out to attend the Open House at New England Saltbox, the shop where I work, located in Sumner, WA, and owned by Marlene Grantham. Several days before the event, I was able to snap some photos and wanted to share them with you! I hope you enjoy the tour!

This is what greets you as you step through the doors…Santa and some special toys!

The sleigh is stunning, a new piece all the way from PA! Isn’t the blue paint wonderful!!

Here is the front of the sleigh with a festive sign!

Two reproduction Santa candy containers on a hand painted box!

A fabulous Arnett Santa and some great Santa boards and tins with lighted grapevine tree!

A group of happy snowmen, all ready for SNOW!!!

Another view with a super large snowman, looking for the first flakes to fall!

Two beautiful hand made dolls with an old sled (it has Rosebud painted on the front) and a lovely vintage red and white quilt.

A grouping at the counter, to welcome our shoppers!

My handmade angel hanging on a cupboard filled with Redware!

Mr. Nutcracker is standing at attention outside the pantry!!

A beautiful table filled with ……RED, the color of Christmas! LOVE the polka dots!!

A tree filled with shoe ornaments in our Boutique!

Our wonderful purse and scarf line from SPARTINA!

Lovely red hats, scarves, and purses…..what woman doesn’t need one of each??

A view of the Yelloware room, filled with all things Harvest!

Turkeys and pumpkins and pilgrims, oh my!

Notice the large sled on the table, also from PA! It is just incredible!!

A wonderful antique cupboard, filled with harvest items!

A fantastic triple shelf glass display case! Notice the old sheet music lining the bottom!

A selection of great books and magazines!

Something for your sweet tooth! Candy bars, cookies, cider mix and taffy!

Fabulous candles to tantalize the senses!

Believe it or not, this is just a small sampling of what you will find when you come for a visit! I wish I could have taken more pictures but my camera ran out of space, so I will have to try to post more at a later date! The shop also has a wonderful antique mall and a decorating room, complete with fabric samples for the furniture we sell! There is just too much to mention, so please be sure to stop by and visit New England Saltbox HERE.

Marlene would love to hear from you if you happened to see something that caught your eye!

Our Open House was a huge success and we certainly had a large crowd of happy visitors who left with smiles on their faces! I hope these pictures also do that for you, and fill you with anticipation and excitement for the upcoming holidays! I also would like to thank all of you who have just recently started following my blog….it is such a pleasure to welcome you! Thank you to all of you who also continue to follow and leave such encouraging comments….what a blessing you are!!

Wishing you WONDER, MAGIC and sounds of SLEIGH BELLS~~

Julie

~ SWAPPING WITH A FRIEND ~

2011-10-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

My sweet friend Lori Rippey (of HomespunPrims by Lori) and I recently participated in a swap together and here is what she sent me!!

Isn’t it absolutely wonderful??? She knows I love to make birds and this fits in perfectly with my collection! I have an old chicken cage and in true “MAKE DO” fashion, I have created a display cupboard of sorts, complete with a little door that was just the perfect spot for my new rug!! The reds in the rug really “pop” when combined with the red of the game board!

Here is another view of more of my “cupboard” As you can see, I took an old black bench for some added height, and more display options, and used some wonderful red shutters to help cover up all that white wall! I live in a townhouse and am not allowed to paint, so this was my answer to that problem!!!

My base is an old scrub top table that I just love and again, has that wonderful red….can you tell that is one of my favorite colors?? This is in my entry way as you come in the front door and I pass it each time I go up and down the stairs! I just LOVE how the rug looks with it and seems like it has been there forever!!

Lori has become a very special friend to me and not only is she an Amazing Artist, but her kindness and generous spirit touches all who meet her! If you are friends with Lori, that is something you already know, and if you have not met her yet, please be sure and stop by her blog to meet her! You will be so happy you did!! She has some wonderful items on her picture trail and also does updates that you will not want to miss!!

http://homespunprims.blogspot.com/

http://picturetrail.com/homespunprimsbylori

Thank you dear Lori, for being such a blessing to me, for being a Kindred Spirit, and for your lovely gift, that I will treasure Always!!!

With a Thankful Heart~~

Julie

FROM CHAOS TO A CHORUS LINE!!!

2011-10-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year when I seem to be at my creative best AND worst, due to the fact that I am the busiest! I am constantly inspired to create something new (my best) but in the process, I seem to leave CHAOS everywhere (my worst) a little pile here, a bigger pile there, piles and clutter EVERYWHERE!! Does this ring true for anyone else?? I’m sure I am not the only one who belongs to the CHAOS and CLUTTER Group!!

So what did all those piles of clutter become??

Let me introduce you to my “Chorus Line!”

I call them “Oil Can Cats” and “Kitties” and the inspiration for these came from a lovely pattern by Lori Brechlin that I have had for a long time, and from my collection of old oil cans that I have been collecting for just such a project! I love makedos as you know, and these cats and kitties just seemed to be perfect to mount to these old oil cans! I took them all down to New England Saltbox and have already sold several of them. They have also been added to my picture trail and will be the only ones I have as I ran out of oil cans for now! I hope you like them!! They just make me smile with their sweet expressions and I want to thank Lori for her wonderful pattern!

Another pile produced this…

A “SHOE MOUSE” from a sweet pattern by Pam Gracia that I have had so much fun with! This shoe was actually shown in an earlier post where I mentioned I might use it to put a mouse in! He has been adopted and is now living in his new home in Canada! I really hated to part with him but I have another shoe left so have plans to make another one soon!!

Yet another pile yielded these…..

I call this one “SUGAR BOWL MOUSE” and he lives in an old vintage sugar bowl, nestled in a bed of real flax, with his own acorn! He is actually going to share it with a hungry squirrel! Notice his long curly tail!

His brother is “CREAMER MOUSE” and guess what he lives in??? It is an old vintage creamer and he too has his own nest of flax, and also holds an acorn, but wants to trade it for some cheese!! Both of these were made using a sweet Kentucky Primitives pattern and one has stitched eyes while the others are glass beads, making them each unique!

I have really had fun creating these little characters from my hands and heart and ALL THOSE PILES of CHAOS and CLUTTER, and hope you have had fun seeing them!! If anyone is interested in joining the CHAOS AND CLUTTER Group that I mentioned earlier, it is open to ANYONE and once you join, it is a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP!! The only requirement is…..ALWAYS HAVE FUN!!!

Wishing you…..CREATIVE CLUTTER~~

Julie

IT’S PUMPKIN SEASON

2011-09-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

Oh how we love pumpkin season.

You DID know this gourd-ish squash has its own season, right?

Winter, Spring, Summer, Pumpkin….

We anxiously anticipate it every year.

~ Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer~

The days have a definite crispness in the air and everywhere I look there are fields full of bright pumpkins, growing warm and ripe, ready for harvesting! It’s Pumpkin Season!! After a visit to my favorite local farmer’s market, I purchased some lovely little pumpkins, and decided to do some simple decorating on my small front porch.

Remember my old tool carrier from an earlier post? I decided to use it to showcase all these beauties! There are different sizes and I found some with some really great curly stems! I have an old simple red bench that is just the right size and remembered I had found an old cast off trellis that would be perfect as a backdrop and also allow me to hang a wreath! I added some small Indian corn and hung the wreath with a mustard fabric strip for contrast! It certainly added just the right touch, rather than just a plain old screen! I just love castoffs too, don’t you??

I needed to fill in the space underneath the bench and thought some plain crocks would be the perfect touch. The crocks are a nice mustard color with dark brown interiors and contrast so well with the orange of the pumpkins!!

Then I brought out a favorite little old red chair that I actually found one day sitting by the curb, ready for trash day!! I could NOT believe my eyes OR my good fortune, and since red is my favorite color too, the chair came home with me. Sometimes “another man’s junk” really ISN’T junk!!

I decided to continue the crock theme and used another favorite crock filled with flowers……and believe it or not, these are NOT REAL!! I purchased these from New England Saltbox last year and just love them for how real they look!!

I added another pumpkin and then a lovely piece of Indian corn, also red, for contrast again!

Here is what it looks like as a completed grouping! I just love how it all came together and really dressed up a very simple area and made it POP!! What do you think? I hope you enjoyed my pictures and bit of decorating and that it gets you in the proper mood for celebrating this wonderful time of year……..Autumn!!!

I have been really busy creating things for our upcoming Autumn Evening at New England Saltbox and hope to post some pictures soon, but like all of you who create, I find my time filled with stitching, stuffing, painting, staining, hand sewing, and all that comes with making handmade items! I am really trying to enjoy the whole process and take pleasure in using my hands and heart and wish that for all of you who also do what I do! May all of us just relax and take time to enjoy each and every day and be sure to enjoy the bounty all around us because……… It’s Pumpkin Season after all!!!

Wishing you Harvest Blessings~~

Julie

It is the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the spring, who reaps a harvest in autumn.

~ B. C. Forbes~

~WE HAVE A WINNER~

2011-08-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today is the day to find out the winner of my Velvet Pear Pincushion and I had a very willing volunteer to help with the choosing! Isn't he cute, and oh so anxious to pick the winner!!!

It looks like #33 was his choice...Mary of Willow Ridge Primitives!!

Congratulations to you!! Please contact me with your information so I can send you your prize!

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who participated and for all of you who became new to my blog, my heartiest welcome!!!

Thank you again, for your friendship through blogging......it really is a wonderful thing!!

Wishing you a wonderful day~~

Julie

LAST DAY FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!!!

2011-08-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Good Morning my friends!! This is just a quick note to remind you that this is the last day to enter my Giveaway, so if you have not done so yet, you still have time!! Just be sure you are a follower of my blog and that you leave a comment on the ORIGINAL POST!!

It will be closing at 10 pm, Pacific Time, and the winner will be posted sometime on the 17th!

Thank you all for following, commenting and posting, and I want to wish all of you the best of luck!!

Blessings from the heart~~

Julie

~GROWING PUMPKINS~

2011-08-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am making slow but sure progress on my “Pumpkin Patch” mentioned in my previous post and I must emphasize the word SLOW!! I just thought I could put these guys together before you could say “Jack Robinson,” but it is actually taking a bit more time….. more like quoting a chapter from a book!! Gosh!! I always put so much pressure on myself to produce more quickly, but I get so lost in the process…..between the stuffing (needing just a bit more) to the hand stitching (wanting it to be “just so”) to the staining and distressing (it doesn’t look “old” enough) to hand lettering all the tags (do I REALLY want to hand letter all of these?)…..PHEW!! No wonder it takes me so long!!!!

But the JOY of the creative process is what drives me….the act of taking a piece of fabric and watching it “BECOME” never ceases to give me PLEASURE, and I love it from start to finish!! It just seems like sometimes the FINISH is a bit longer in coming!!! I guess we all have a certain SPEED and RHYTHYM that we march to, and so I will just enjoy the journey, even if it takes a bit longer to get there!!

So far I have completed (except for tags) 2 large and 2 small pumpkins and hope to keep SLOWLY adding more. Perhaps I will even surprise myself and get some down to New England Saltbox and listed on my picture trail soon!! I am hoping to eventually fill this big tool carrier with a nice grouping!

Thanks for all your sweet comments about them and I know many who have checked out the pattern as well!! I hope you are all having as much fun creating them as I have and I would love to hear about your progress!!

I also wanted to remind you again about my Giveaway, which is about a week away now!! Be sure to leave a comment on the ORIGINAL POST in order to be entered!! I want to welcome all of you new followers/friends who have recently joined and just ask you to be sure to leave me a comment as well as an email to reach you!! I understand that several of you had a hard time signing in, and if you were unable to do that, please send me an email so I can enter you!!

Let me leave you with this beautiful quote I read recently:

WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN LIFE TO PURSURE,

OUR OWN KIND OF DREAM TO BE WEAVING.

AND WE ALL HAVE SOME POWER TO MAKE WISHES COME TRUE,

AS LONG AS WE KEEP BELIEVING. ~~ LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

With that said, I am going back to my Pumpkin Patch!!

Wishing you a full harvest of ……..whatever you are wishing for~~

Julie

~THOUGHTS OF FALL~

2011-07-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

Our weather in the state of Washington has been extremely “un-summer like” and with temperatures today only reaching the mid to high 60’s, one can easily have thoughts of Fall “dancing in one’s head!” Such are my thoughts today, and so I find my table full of pumpkin shapes…..lots of them…..all waiting patiently to be transformed!!

Each wedge is traced out, hand cut, and stacked together in groups of 12....

... to be stitched in units of 2, and magically these units become an orb, (don’t you just love that word) that will be stuffed and stuffed and STUFFED, till it becomes………a Fabric Pumpkin!!

I love to make pumpkins and have enjoyed making them each fall, but this year, I saw a new pattern I just had to purchase and really am enjoying it!! It is by SweetMeadows Farms, and promises to be a new favorite of mine!!

It has several different styles of pumpkins and offers lots of stem options!! I chose the small curled stem and love the whimsical look!!

I highly recommend this pattern if you are looking for a different twist on an old favorite!! My thanks to Maureen for a fun and amazing pattern!!

I want to remind you as well to be sure to sign up for my Giveaway! Just go to the sidebar and click on the picture and it will take you to the post with all the info on how to enter. There are a lot of other wonderful Giveaways going on right now as well, so be sure to go check them out! I have several posted on my sidebar to make it easy! Just tell them I sent you!!

As you contemplate your day, and all that you want to accomplish, let me leave you with this sweet and simple thought………..

Each morning see some task begin,

Each evening sees it close;

Something attempted, something done,

Has earned a nights repose. ~ Longfellow (The Village Blacksmith).

Wishing you a most Sweet Repose, my friends~~

Julie

~A MILESTONE and a GIVEAWAY~

2011-07-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

When I first started blogging, I can remember being beside myself with joy when I had my very first follower!! Wow! Someone actually took the time to read what I wrote and liked it!! Gradually, that list continued to grow and each time someone joined, I still had that same feeling of unbelief and wonder!!

Now as I have actually reached 203 followers, it is time again to say Thank You, and as a way of showing my appreciation for all your sweet comments, encouraging words and interest in my little world, I would like to share one of my handmade creations with one of you!! It will be a Velvet Pear Pinkeep, made using a wonderful Stacy Nash pattern!

The Pear is made using some lovely vintage cotton velvet, and has been firmly mounted to a distressed glass candlestick. I have featherstitched all three sides, and have added a variety of pins and a small emery strawberry as well! It is topped with a brown wool stem and will be signed and dated by me!

In order to participate for ONE chance please do BOTH of the following:
1) Be a follower of my blog (open to US and CAN)
AND
2) Post a comment on THIS POST

If you would like a SECOND chance, just add this to your sidebar and let me know you have done that and I will enter you again!

I will close it on Aug. 16th at 10pm Pacific time and will announce the winner on the 17th! I wish each of you the best of luck and thank you for entering!!

I have to honestly say that when I first started this blogging adventure, I NEVER would have expected to reach this milestone and am STILL amazed every day with your interest and support!! I so wish I could be a better blogger, posting more and always having wonderful and interesting things to say and to share, but alas, I have to just be content with BEING ME, and after all, that is WHO you are following, right?

I wish I could give each one of you a gift, but since that is not possible, please know that I am sending you my Heartfelt Thanks!! All of you are important, and make blogging so meaningful…from the newest ones…a BIG WELCOME, to the earliest ones….my humblest gratitude!

Wishing you a Joyous Day, my friends~~

Julie

~BABY STEPS~

2011-07-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today’s post was actually intended for yesterday, along with best wishes for a Happy and safe Independence Day, but before I realized it, the day had passed and so I hope all of you had a wonderful day, filled with special moments, yummy meals and fabulous fireworks!!

I seem to have special places in my home that I just love, and wanted to share one of them with you, as well as some favorite things I collect!! I have a small collection of old baby shoes, different sizes, some orphaned, some worn, but ALL LOVED!! I think they are so sweet grouped together, don’t you??

Notice the top shelf of my special Pincushion Cupboard is the home for all of these sweet little orphan shoes, grouped with a Nantucket basket, a sweet little child’s bonnet, and a sign from the great shop where I work…New England Saltbox!

Below the cupboard is an old drop leaf red table, and more shoes can be found there as well. The tiny pair on the left are actually made out of velvet, trimmed with fur (perhaps rabbit?) and stuffed with cotton. They have leather soles and are a bit worn, but I love them!! On the other side is a pair of leather lace up shoes, in a wonderful tan color.

On the right side of the table, are a pair of tiny black leather MaryJanes, with shoe buttons for closing…..so very sweet! The white baby shoes are a soft leather and seem to almost be glowing…just like they were worn by an angel, which in truth, they no doubt were, in the eyes of this cherub’s mother!!!

The final shoes are a simple black lace up pair that will probably become the home for some little fabric mice! Till that time, I will enjoy them, as they sit together, and think about all those sweet tiny baby feet that once wore them!!

Just thinking about that brings a smile to my heart and I hope it does for you as well!! I would also like to take this time to welcome all of my newest followers and to say THANK YOU for coming along with me!!

Wishing you a spring in your step today~~~

Julie

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW!!!

2011-06-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

I am always on the lookout for unique pieces to use for creating one of a kind pincushions and recently found some orphan candlesticks, some with a bit more wear than others, but all just perfect for what I needed! There is nothing that brings me more creative joy than to take something that has lost its former use, and turning it into something new, useful and special! I hope you think so too!!

Each pincushion has been created with different upholstery fabric, firmly attached to each candlestick with lots of stitching and is stuffed with both polyfil and crushed walnut shells to keep all those pins and needles sharp! The fabrics have all been distressed to create the look of age, and lots of old and vintage embellishments have been added as well!!

These have all been added to my picture trail, should you be interested in reading a more detailed description.

Thank you so much for stopping by today for a visit!! I am always so encouraged by your sweet comments and hope that you too are being inspired to create the things you love and that bring not only you but others much joy!!

Wishing you creative inspiration~~~

Julie

A GOOD BOOK

2011-06-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

A BLESSED COMPANION IS A BOOK, - A BOOK THAT FITLY CHOSEN, IS A LIFELONG FRIEND,….A BOOK THAT, AT A TOUCH, POURS ITS HEART INTO OUR OWN.~ DOUGLAS JERROLD

As long as I can remember, I have loved books and that love has grown over the years! I have a large collection of old novels, many dating to the turn of the century, and not only do I love to collect them, but have actually read and still enjoy reading them!! Some are fragile and have that well-loved look, and I don’t know if they are actually that valuable, but they are to me, and I treasure them!!

One of my very favorite books also happens to be one I remember reading at a very young age, and because it was an old copy, it was missing the cover, and eventually became unreadable….perhaps you could say I literally read it to death!!

I was so sad when that happened and so my quest began to try to find another copy!! Fortunately for me, I was not only able to do that, but in the process, I found out that this author had written other books too!!! Oh Joy!! I felt like I had struck gold!!!

The book is called, “A Girl Of the Limberlost” by Gene Stratton Porter, and if you have never read this amazing story, I encourage you to look for it and read it!!

I am also the happy owner of quite a number of her other books too, and feel fortunate indeed to be able to read and enjoy them!! There are still a few I don’t own, but perhaps I may still be able to find and acquire them!! ~sigh~

I also love “how to” books, and home decorating books, and can never seem to have enough of them…..or so I thought!! Recently, while doing some housecleaning, I suddenly realized that I had some duplicates of some favorite books, and the more I looked, the more I found!!! As I said earlier in this post, I LOVE books, and because of that, I just can’t seem to say NO to ones I like, even if I already own it!!! So, I have weeded them out, and now have quite a few that I want to pass on to others to enjoy!! Some of them are out of print and all are in great shape, so perhaps if you are looking for a particular book, I may just have it!! Just hop over to my picture trail for a look!

I hope after talking about books, that you will have the opportunity to look through your bookcase, visit your local library, or even stop in at your favorite neighborhood thrift shop, to find the perfect book to relax with! It is the easiest way to have a little mini vacation, curled up in your favorite chair with your beverage of choice! ! Tea and Scones, anyone?

Wishing you a delightful, relaxing read~~

Julie

HELLO DOLLY!!

2011-05-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

One of my very favorite things to make is a DOLL!! I realized the other day that it had been quite some time since I had created one, so I began searching through my old books, magazines, and patterns for some inspiration and ideas!! I have quite a collection of wonderful patterns by some amazing designers and after sorting through some choices, I finally settled on a wonderful stump doll from Hootin Annies! I have had this for a long time and have just never made it, so it seemed like the perfect one to use!!

There are 2 different sizes, a large one, and a smaller one, and both are made without arms or legs, hence the name STUMP DOLL!! They look wonderful grouped together, with all of their different dress fabrics!

The smaller ones are grouped together on a primitive twig bench, each with her own personality. The face patches were sewn on randomly and the dress fabrics are old ticking and quilt scraps to make them each have their own one of a kind look!

Here is the larger doll with a dress made from some old turkey red fabric that I found inside and on the edge of an old quilt. I just LOVE this shade of red!!

All the bigger dolls grouped together!!

Here is a close up of the hand stitched patch on one dolly!! Each one is added to look just a bit different!!

All of these dolls remind me of a close knit group of special friends.....just like all of you who share your encouragement, concern and kindness with me and each other!! I am so thankful for all of you who let me know you were thinking of me and for your notes and comments concerning my last post!! I am doing much better and it certainly helps that the sun is finally shining here too!! I am also grateful for all of you who have chosen to follow my blog and thank you for taking the time to visit!! It warms my heart!!

All of these dolls have been added to my picture trail with detailed descriptions, so if one of them is speaking to you, please stop by for a visit! If I can answer any questions, please let me know!!

Thank you for taking the time to stop in today! I hope you enjoy my new dollies as much as I enjoyed making them!! I don't think I will ever be too big for dolls and I hope you feel the same way!!!

Wishing you DOLLY HUGS~~

Julie

A GIFT OF KINDNESS!!!

2011-05-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me. ~Author Unknown

The other day I received a wonderful gift!! It did not arrive by UPS, FED EX, or the USPS, even though I would certainly have welcomed anything from any of these wonderful organizations!! No, my gift came in the form of a kind comment, left by a sweet woman, who has since become a special friend! She gave me the gift of KINDNESS and FRIENDSHIP!! Let me introduce her to you!!

Her name is Carolyn Lee Hosier, and she lives in Des Moines Iowa! I first met Carolyn when she became a follower of my Blog, and in turn, I began following hers. Recently, she left a comment for me and for some reason, it really struck a cord with me so I in turn responded to her! What happened next truly astounded me! In my response to her, I shared with her that I had been feeling a bit down, (well, MORE than a bit, actually) and before I knew it, I even shared that I was considering closing my Blog! Not only did Carolyn respond back, almost immediately, but also shared how she would HATE to see me close my Blog AND that she would like to CALL ME!!! I was SO SURPRISED by this, I have to honestly say, I cried, plain and simple!! I can’t describe to you how very loved and cared for I felt by this gesture!! And true to her word, she DID Call!! She sounds EXACTLY like she looks, KIND, compassionate, loving and caring, and we chatted as if we had known each other for years!! She has a lovely Blog called Lee Prairie Designs, and I know she would love to have you stop by for a visit, just to say hello!!

http://leeprairiedesigns.blogspot.com/

Her call was such a blessing to me, and since then, she has emailed me several times, just checking in to see how I am doing and to offer encouragement!! Wow!! Talk about a wonderful gift!!! It reminds me of three things:

1. KINDNESS IS POWERFUL!!!

2. KINDNESS ISN’T EXPENSIVE!!

3. KINDNESS IS SO NEEDED!!

I want to THANK Carolyn from the bottom of my heart for her kindness to me, her caring heart, and her listening ear!! She gave me a wonderful gift that I will treasure!! I am so happy she reached out to me and hope that I can learn from her example and be that kind of a friend to someone…… “I’ll just be ME!”

Wishing you ….Special Friends~~

Julie

BLESSED EASTER WISHES!!!

2011-04-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

Spring has FINALLY ARRIVED here in the Pacific Northwest and I am so happy for the sunshine and the promise of warmer temperatures!! I'm also so thankful for all of you who stopped by for a visit to my first picture trail update! Even though there were just a few glitches, all in all it went well and now that we know how to do it, I will be trying to update it more regularly! Thank you for your purchases and support! They mean so much!!

With Easter just a few days away, I decided to share a few pictures of some favorite vignettes around my home! Nothing says Spring quite like a bouquet of fresh tulips!

Two favorite rabbits, ready for that special day with what else......candy!!

My favorite kind of Easter eggs......Chocolate Peanut Butter!!

Another closer look at the rabbits! One is into healthy eating with his bag of carrots, while the other one has some yummy foil wrapped treats!

Mr. Rabbit again with his prize winning carrot and his nest of real eggs!

Finally, Easter is the time to celebrate my Risen Lord! Hallelujah!! He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!!

May you have a Most Blessed Easter, My Friends!!

Hope-Filled Blessings~~

Julie

SPRING UPDATE SNEAK PEEK!!!

2011-04-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I am excited to announce my VERY FIRST

Picture Trail Spring Update, this coming Friday, April 15th, at 6:00pm EST!!

I have been busy creating some unique treasures, including the two sweet Rabbits in the picture, and some other special items that will be listed as well!

I hope you will be able to stop by and I so look forward to your visit!!! If you see something you are interested in, please feel free to email me and I will try to answer each email as promptly as possible!! Since this will be the first time I hope all will go smoothly and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding!!!

I look forward to hearing from you and THANK YOU SO MUCH for your interest and support of my work!!

See you on Friday!!

Spring Blessings~

Julie

SOME FAVORITE THINGS

2011-03-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have a special fondness for bean pots AND old tin!! I know…you may think that is a strange combination, and perhaps it is, but somehow it WORKS for me!!

I LOVE the short, squatty shapes, the dark brown or two-toned color of the pots, and the dulled patina and interesting shapes of the old tin pieces!!

I love to display them around my home and have gathered a small collection of both of them!! They have been relatively inexpensive too, with the most expensive piece being under $20.00, so that makes it really nice for me!

Recently, I found that I had accumulated enough pieces to display together in a nice grouping but found I had a big problem……WHAT to display them IN?? After all, they would look so much better TOGETHER, right??

I knew I needed a large shelf or cupboard for that purpose, and so I decided I would have to keep my eyes open in the hopes I could find it!

Do you ever go somewhere and suddenly the very thing you are looking for is right in front of you?? There it was, an open set of shelves, with the look of a bucket bench, primitively painted, with beadboard on the back side, and best of all, A GREAT PRICE!!! In a word….SOLD!!!

It sits in the entry way of my town home…a long hallway of sorts…hard to decorate, but the perfect spot for just such a cupboard!! It has LOTS of extra room too, so I was even able to add some similar colored crocks I have, and some little favorite bowls too!!

The bench has 3 shelves, and since the hallway is narrow, I tried to take lots of pictures at different angles, so you could get an idea of how it fits!!

What do you think?? Above the bench is a black shelf with old door knobs and old coat hooks, that I have used to hang some little birds, hearts and a sawdust flag I have made. On top of the shelf is a collection of old bobbins that I was not able to get in the picture!! I guess that will be in another post!!

Here is what it looks like straight on and as you can see, it is quite roomy, and would hold more, but I didn’t want to crowd it too much!! Don’t you just love the old pudding molds, and the tea and cocoa tin??

Here is a better view looking from the kitchen to the stairway, back by the framed quilt squares. Notice the old wooden ironing board, complete with an old linen towel and two wooden clothespins!

This is what you see as you come in the front door and I couldn’t be happier!! I think it looks like it has always been there, resting beside my old chair (found by the side of the road one day), with redware crock, piece of homespun, and the old sifter above!!

I hope you have enjoyed this little “peek” inside my home, and that you will be inspired to find something you love and START COLLECTING!!! After all, it all begins with ONE PIECE!!!

Wishing you HAPPY HUNTING, HAPPY DISPLAYING, and HAPPY COLLECTING~~

Julie

FORGET ME NOT!

2011-03-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

WHERE, OH WHERE CAN SHE BE?

I know some of you have been wondering that about me lately and lest you think I have disappeared, I want to reassure you that I am still here, still blogging, and still creating!! I feel like I just posted for Valentine’s Day (can it REALLY be that long ago since I last posted???) and now here it is March 11th!!!! I am so glad that there are no rules for blogging…..and thank all of you for checking in and staying with me even though I have not posted for a while!! I have the BEST INTENTIONS but sadly my follow through has a lot to be desired it seems!!! I guess the old saying, “better late than never” applies perfectly!!

Life has been decidedly busy……TOO BUSY, to be truthful, so because of that, I decided to take a break from Simply Primitives for a time!!! I have loved every minute of being with this amazing group of talented artists and consider Sharon Mitchell, the owner, a very dear friend who I am most grateful to for the opportunity, but because of my work schedule, and dealing with issues related to my fibromyalgia, I just felt like I could not keep up with everything!! Sometimes, you just have to say no and let go in order to stay as stress free as possible, and it is never easy, but so necessary!!! I say a fond “FAREWELL” to Simply Primitives and hope you will continue to visit there each month!!! Thank you Sharon, for making my time there so wonderful and for your amazing friendship!!

What else has been happening you ask?? Well, for one thing, I recently celebrated a birthday and found out after all these years that I share the same day with someone famous, who I LOVED as a child!!! Guess WHO???? Dr. Suess!!!!

Apparently, I loved his books, was always rhyming everything and drove my mother bonkers with all my sing song chanting!!! Perhaps that explains a lot about me………!! Anyway, rather than have “Green Eggs and Ham”, I had a lovely dinner with my husband and daughter, who had just returned from a trip to PARIS!!!! That would have been a WONDERFUL Birthday gift, hint hint!!! While there, she bought me a gorgeous scarf and some chocolate…..oolala!!!!

We celebrated at Cheesecake Factory, complete with a piece of what else…….Cheesecake!! The servers even sang (sort of) and we had a lovely time!! Also, just to make it clear, I said I share the same DAY with Dr. Suess, NOT the same YEAR!!! Lol

As to what I have been creating, well, I made LOTS of hearts for the shop, using some lovely vintage velvet, and some beautiful red wool from an old blanket!! I tend to be very methodical ( or slow) when I create, so I always seem to be behind, but still think hearts can be used anytime and if you are interested in any, just drop me an email! I also had some special orders to do, and still have one to complete, plus I am now working on some new things for SPRING!!! Hopefully I will get them done BEFORE Spring is past!!!

Thank you for letting me “catch you up” with my happenings and hopefully I will be much better at keeping things current!!! A special THANKS to all of you who faithfully follow and comment……such special gifts of encouragement, and a WARM WELCOME to those of you who have just recently joined in!!! I am AMAZED that you have and say a BIG THANKS for coming along!!!

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way! ~Dr. Suess

I wish you JOY for your JOURNEY ~~

Julie

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

2011-02-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day has long been celebrated as a day of LOVE, when cards, candy, gifts, and even flowers have been given as tokens and expressions of our deepest feelings for another!! Who doesn't love to get a beautiful card, a box of candy (make mine Chocolate please!) a special surprise gift, or a bouquet of gorgeous flowers??? It is definitely a day to celebrate the HEART!!

If you have come to know me at all, you know that I LOVE HEARTS and use them quite profusely, in my blog name, my Picture Trail, and even in my home!! I have books about them, pictures of them, and many of them tucked here and there in bowls, sifters and hanging on pegs!! They are so special to me because they remind me how very important LOVE IS!!! They can be short and squatty, long and narrow, rounded, lopsided, and perfectly symmetrical, but they ALL represent one thing.......LOVE!! Something I am convinced we can never have too much of!!

As you celebrate this special day, remember two things: How much YOU are loved by others, and How much you LOVE others! Ahh, LOVE!!! It's a BEAUTIFUL THING!!

Wishing you LOVE today~~

Julie

SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE AND GUEST ARTIST!!

2011-01-31T11:33:00.000-08:00

It's that time again for another SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE and frankly, I can't believe it is already February......well, almost anyway!!! It just seems lately like time has wings and I can't keep up!! Does anyone else feel that way??

Please stop by sometime tonight or tomorrow for a visit, and be sure to visit all of my other fellow artists who will have their new things listed as well!! You won't be disappointed!! I'm sure with Valentine's Day coming up there will be LOTS of HEARTS!!! I know you will just FEEL the LOVE!!!

I would also like to invite you to stop by THE PRIMITIVE GATHERING as well! I was invited to be a guest artist on there this month and I am so honored to be asked! They have some amazing talent there and I know you will enjoy your visit!!

http://www.theprimitivegathering.com/index.html

I want to thank you all, for taking the time to read my ramblings, for your support and encouragement, for your lovely comments, and for following my blog!! I want to also welcome all the new followers who have recently joined me as well!!

Wishing you a day filled with Love and lots of Chocolate~~

Blessing~~

Julie

CUPBOARD LOVE!!!

2011-01-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

I have long had my eye on a sweet hanging cupboard at New England Saltbox, the shop where I work, and after a long tug-of-war with myself (yes versus no), I finally won! It went something like this...

Me (yes): "That would look SO GOOD filled with all your pincushions!"

Me (no): "Who buys a cupboard just for pincushions?? Be practical!!"

Me (yes): "But it would REALLY look good filled with my pincushions, and it would help me to be more organized and it matches my other pieces in the living room AND there really isn't a place for it in the shop now anyway AND did I mention that it would REALLY REALLY look great filled with my pincushions, AND little shoes too???"

Me (no): "Gosh, you are REALLY wearing me down here!!" I give up!! Go ahead,get it, because I will not have a MOMENT'S PEACE till you do!!And by the way, come to think of it, it REALLY WILL LOOK GREAT with all your pincushions in it!"

So........what do YOU think?? Was I right or was I right??

Anyway, here is the cupboard, a lovely creation by Primitiques, done in a lovely distressed black over mustard, with a distressed off white inside!!! It looks just perfect on my wall, and indeed.....It is JUST PERFECT for my PINCUSHIONS!!!

Wishing you joy~~~

Julie

A NEW HEADER AND A "JEWEL" OF A GIFT!!

2011-01-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

I realized today as I prepared to write a new post that I was still living in the past!!! My header, though wonderful to me, had SANTAS on it and even if I DO want to keep Christmas in my heart all year long (yes, Ebenezer, I join you in that sentiment!!) I know it is time for a change! So, with the help of my faithful husband Jeff, our little camera, and various props I use for my photo shoots, we came up with the BRAND NEW 2011 PRIMITIVE HEARTSTRINGS HEADER!!

We must have taken between 20-30 pictures till we finally reached the end result you now see, and I am really happy with it!! Even though I love hearts so much, it seemed really difficult to find one......I sell them all and have yet to make any for Valentines Day, but I finally found one and so that is my focal point in my picture!! I hope you like it as much as I do!!! I tried to also use some other things I made (the birds) as well as some of my favorite things.....old buttons, spools, black scissors, and of course, the heart pincushion!!!! After all, since my blog is called PRIMITIVE HEARTSTRINGS, it only seems appropriate that I have a heart represented!!!

I also want to share with you the wonderful gift I received from my dear husband!! He is the most kind and thoughtful man and is always so good to me but this time he REALLY SURPRISED ME!! I have had my eye on a particular metal sign for some time and he has always jokingly told me he should buy it for me! You see, sometimes he calls me Jul for short and has told me I am a real "Jewel" so when we saw this sign, we both really liked it!! I really don't know what it came off of and if anyone has any ideas, please let me know what you think!!

Anyway, we went to the shop where this sign has been and when I made my way to the booth, I saw that it was GONE!!! I mentioned it to Jeff sometime later, and he said someone must have finally bought it!!! WELL.......that someone was HIM!!!! He was SO PROUD of himself that he had surprised me and I still can't believe he bought it!!! It is SO SPECIAL and we hung it inside an old window frame that is above our TV cabinet!! He even commented a few minutes ago that he is so glad he bought it for me!!! Guess what??? SO AM I!!!

Every time I look at it, I will remember what a "JEWEL" of a husband I have been blessed with!!

With Special Blessings to you~~

Julie ("Jewel")

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE!!

2010-12-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

I want to wish each and everyone of you a most Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!!! Thank you so much for all your kindness, friendship, and support during this past year!! It has meant so much to me and I have been truly blessed!! My new creations for the January 2011 SIMPLY PRIMITIVES will be posted tonight, but here is a preview for all of you.....my blog friends!! I hope you will get the chance to stop by for a visit and see my offerings as well as those of my other fellow artists!!

May you always have your thimble close by,
The right color of thread you need,
Plenty of beautiful fabrics to work with, and most importantly,
The TIME to CREATE something from your HEART!!!

Happy Creating in 2011 my friends!!

Blessings from my heart to yours~~

Julie

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2010-12-25T17:23:00.000-08:00

MAY THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS BRING YOU PEACE,

THE GLADNESS OF CHRISTMAS GIVE YOU HOPE,

THE WARMTH OF CHRISTMAS GRANT YOU LOVE.

~ AUTHOR UNKNOWN ~

WITH HEARTFELT JOY TO ALL OF YOU!!

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS FROM OUR HEARTS TO YOURS!!

~ JULIE and JEFF ~

Christmas Decorating!!

2010-12-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

There is nothing I enjoy quite so much as pulling out all the Christmas bins from the garage (actually, my sweet husband has that special job) and transforming my little home from "everyday" to "HOLIDAY"!!! It amazes me how just bringing out all the old, well loved items can evoke such warmth and joy!!! After being packed away for the year, they are lovingly unwrapped and then the fun begins!!!

I live in a small townhouse, so I don't have a lot of room and have to keep the tree in the same spot each year, but I do make the mantle look differently and like to create little unique vignettes for some of my santa and snowmen collections!! Then also due to the fact that I usually get special handmade items from friends, or make some new ones for myself during the previous year, I may have to make changes to accomodate them!! What fun it is to be creative and inventive!!!

Here are just a few pictures of what it looks like here at the Zakrzewski TownHomestead for Christmas!! And in case you have always wondered how to say my last name, here is the easiest way to do that!! Just break it down into 3 syllables......Zock-Chef-Ski!! Now say it 3 times, while turning around and touching your nose!!!! Just kidding!!! It really is easy once you get the hang of it!!!

I hope you enjoy this little peek into my home and are inspired and blessed!!

Wishing you Peace and Joy~

Julie

SIMPLY PRIMITIVES SNEAK PEEK!

2010-11-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

It's time for another SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE and I am posting a little "sneak peek" for you to view before the 1st! I can't believe it will already be December and hope you are getting as excited as I am for Christmas, my FAVORITE holiday!!! My offerings this month (pears) were inspired by that catchy tune we all seem to find ourselves singing sometime during this month, "The 12 Days of Christmas", and I really enjoyed making them!! I don't know what all my other fellow artists will have to offer, but I know whatever it is, it will be wonderful, so I hope you stop by to visit them as well!

I had a very restful and relaxing Thanksgiving and hope all of you did as well! We enjoyed all of our favorites.....turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, crescent rolls, and of course, pumpkin pie with whipped cream!! All of it was so delicious and we had plenty for yummy leftovers too!! Just the meal itself was enough to be thankful for!!

Speaking of being thankful, I truly want to say that I am thankful for all of you, both old and new followers, who take the time to come by for a visit, read my ramblings and musings, leave comments that are so encouraging and welcome and take an interest in my life! It is a humbling and gratifying experience to blog and I am so happy you have come along with me!!

Again, thank you so much for stopping by, for following, for commenting....for just being YOU!!

Wishing you Joy!!

Blessings~~

Julie

Thoughts on Thankfulness!!

2010-11-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

Thou has given so much to me,

Give me one thing more, a grateful heart;

Not thankful when it pleaseth me,

As if Thy blessings had spare days,

But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.

~George Herbert~

This is the time of year when we are supposed to celebrate all that we are thankful for but as of late I have been finding myself rushing around in a rather frantic state!! It seems like I am running on a wheel....faster and faster, around and around, but actually going nowhere!!! Oh how the tyranny of the urgent can steal your energy, joy, focus, creativity, and thankfulness!! Everything is measured by the phrase, " I need to" and so life becomes a list of "need to's", and soon your energy becomes exhaustion, joy becomes sorrow, focus becomes blurred, creativity is stagnant and thankfulness turns to ingratitude!! Oh what is a frantic woman to do???

The answer is simple, yet profound!!! JUST STOP RUNNING!!! This truth jumped out at me yesterday and has made such a difference and I would like to share it with you....it comes from Psalm 116 and says,

"Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings." (The Message).

As I reflected on this, a deep sense of calm washed over me, and I began to smile as I thought about all the things I have to be thankful for!! Just as our early forefathers set aside a time to cease from their labor and rejoice in God's bounty and grace, so have I chosen to do the same, thankful for my many blessings.......a loving husband, children and family, a home where I am warm and safe, good food to enjoy, having a job that I love, being able to create things for others to enjoy and decorate their homes with, and special friends like you, who take the time to stop by and be part of my world. For all of this and so much more, I am truly and deeply thankful!!!

Wishing all of you a most Wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with joy, hope and above all, Thankfulness!!!

With Thankful Blessings~~

Julie

Remember God's Bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in the light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude! ~ Henry Ward Beecher

SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE!

2010-10-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Simply Primitives will be updating on November 1st, so I wanted to share a little "sneak peek" of my offerings!! I have been extremely busy creating lots of new goodies for the upcoming holidays and I hope to be posting pictures of them on my blog and picture trail as well, so please keep checking back!! Thank you for your kind visit and know I so appreciate all your lovely encouraging comments!!

Blessings and Thanks~~

Julie

We Have A Winner!!!

2010-10-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Good Morning to you!! Today is the day we pick the winner of my Primitive Heart Makedo!!

I feel like there are so many things to do to get ready for the special moment......choosing the proper setting is SO IMPORTANT!! I found a quilt that I thought would be pretty for setting off the heart to it's best advantage, a lovely old crock I got recently (it has a crack but I don't care as it is still beautiful) a little battery operated light that added just the right amount of ambiance, and finally, all my little folded pieces of paper with the names of all who left comments!!

After stirring them around and around, my faithful helper (Mr. My Primitive Heart) reached in a pulled out the winning slip of paper!! I couldn't resist showing you his arm to add authenticity to the moment!!! And the winner is..............

Rhonda of Kattywhompus Primitives!!!

Congratulations to you Rhonda, and please send me an email with your address so I can mail this to you!!

I want to thank all of you that participated and let you know how much I enjoyed reading what blogging has meant to you personally!! Believe me when I say I wish I could have chosen each one of your names as I know how wonderful it is to receive a gift in the mail, but sadly, there can only be one winner this time!! There are SO MANY WONDERFUL GIVEAWAYS out there and I encourage you to keep blogging, and following and signing up for them!! Even when you don't win the actual prize, you gain so much in just participating and commenting and the one who is hosting it gains encouragement and joy in the giving!! It is a WIN WIN for everyone!!!

Blessings for a WINNING day~~

Julie

One Year Anniversary Giveaway!!

2010-10-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

Can it really be one year ago that I started this blogging journey?? My, how the time has just flown by!! I can still remember my husband Jeff asking me if I wanted to start my own blog, and my response to that question!!! I had several, as a matter of fact! "Why would I want to have a blog? What would I write about? Who would read it???" And then the biggest obstacle in my mind was that I just didn't know HOW!!! I was afraid to step out and try something that seemed scary and unfamiliar.....after all, what if I FAILED???? Jeff patiently listened to my fears and hesitations, and reminded me that I had LOVED writing in school, was a creative and interesting person and that even if only my family read it, it would be a great way to challenge myself to grow!! Finally, he told me to JUST HAVE FUN, BE YOURSELF, and WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU LOVE !! Great Advice!!! And guess what??? I HAVE!!!

Originally, I figured that my family members and some close friends would begin to follow, because they wanted to encourage me, and initially, that is what happened. Then I began to follow other blogs and met so many amazing women who shared personal stories, wonderful pictures and tremendous talents and I have been so encouraged and blessed by them. I have learned many things this past year about myself, but also about all the special women out there, women who are passionate and creative, who are generous and loving, who are strong and gentle, who are funny and kind!!! Women like you, who are reading this post!!!

On this one year Anniversary, I want to say Thank You for impacting my life with yours....for offering friendship, kindness, encouragement, and prayers, and most of all for BEING YOU!!!

My Giveaway gift is very special to me as it really symbolizes all that I am trying to express from my heart!! What better way to do that than to give a PRIMITIVE HEART!!!

This heart is made from a well-loved pattern called "TATTERED HEARTS" by my friend Chris, better known as WALNUT RIDGE PRIMITIVES, and is a very special design that I have loved making!! The heart is quite large, measuring in at 15" H x 6" W and is mounted on an old textile bobbin, embellished with lot of rusty pins, an old skeleton key, MOP buttons, and 2 vintage doily pieces. One is hand stitched to the back, and then all wrapped with old store string. I love the simplicity of it and feel it will grace any home with a beautiful reminder of how important love is!!

To enter, please leave a comment on THIS POST, sharing something special about blogging! You do not have to be a follower (but are kindly invited to) and you do not have to post this on your sidebar (but if you would like to, that would be fine as well). The deadline for entering will be 10:00 PM (Pacific Time) Sunday Oct. 24th, and the winner will be chosen Monday, Oct. 25th.

Good luck to each one who enters and thank you again for taking part in this special time!!

Blessings Dear Friends~~

Julie

Another Amazing Giveaway Win!!

2010-10-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

I honestly NEVER win anything, but in the past several weeks I have won 2 Giveaways!!! Someone I know mentioned that this might be a good time for me to consider buying some lottery tickets!!!

The Giveaway I just won was hosted by Catherine Mahone of THE PRIMITIVE HEART!! She is a very talented folk artist who has wonderful patterns (I have most of them and LOVE them all) and a lovely blog and if you have not visited her, I would encourage you to do so!! I know she would love for you to stop by and say "Hi"!!

The package arrived yesterday while I was at work, so I did not know it was there till I got home!!! She had everything wrapped so nicely and the anticipation was building as I opened each piece!! What treasures awaited me!!! The first was a flicker light, that looks like a flame when you turn on your lamp. It gives off a warm orange glow...perfect for this time of year! Love it!! The next one was a small hanging pumpkin by Bethany Lowe, with the tiniest little blinking light to go inside! I have not seen one of these before.....so cute!!!!

Then all these wonderful coffees.....pumpkin spice, maple, caramel apple, autumn spice, and apple cobbler ! They are made by a family owned company called DOOR COUNTY Gourmet Coffee! I'm sure Catherine would be happy to tell you about them if you are interested!!

The next package was a darling coffee pot shaped lamp with a pierced tin shade....THAT was what the flicker bulb was for!!! It is really adorable and ended up on some stacked boxes on my mantel. I have a very small kitchen and the 2 places where I wanted to put it had NO outlets, but I love where it found a home!! The final item was one of her handmade pincushions, made from yummy smelling wax, orange and black cheesecloth, and filled with rusty pins and a wax pumpkin pin on the top!! I LOVE pincushions of all kinds and am so happy to add one of her HANDMADE ones to my collection!! Thank you so much Catherine for this special handmade creation, as well as for all the other gifts....all so lovely and know I will treasure each one!!

I wish each of you sunny Autumn days, filled with Special Blessings!

With a Grateful Heart~

Julie

AN APPLE PANCAKE and A RESTFUL DAY!

2010-10-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

In my last post I talked about our annual Autumn Evening and I am happy to report the following:

It was a HUGE Success!
We had LOTS of happy customers and LOTS of sales!
We had AMAZING CHOCOLATE BROWNIES and HOT APPLE CIDER!!! Yum!!
There were dancing scarecrows everywhere!
It was a LONG, fun-filled day from 10am-9pm! and most importantly.....
IT IS OVER!!!

In all seriousness, it is one of my favorite events of the year and it is so much fun to see old friends who have not been in for a while, but it is a very tiring night and I was really happy to get home and rest my poor, tired feet...and legs...and back.....and...well, you get the idea!!! My bed never felt SO GOOD!!!

This morning, after a somewhat restful night of slumber, my WH, (which stands for Wonderful Husband!) asked me how I was feeling and then said the 7 most magical words I could hope for......."How would you like an apple pancake?? Suddenly, my pains were gone and I was making a beeline for the ladies room to get ready!! I couldn't get ready fast enough!!!

All this fuss for an apple pancake,you ask?? Oh, but this is not just any ordinary pancake, this is THE BEST APPLE PANCAKE I have EVER eaten!!! EVER!! It is served at of all places, The Pancake House, naturally, and is a marvelous conglomeration of puffed dough, oozing with juicy, tart apples, dripping in buttery cinnamon glaze!!! You have to wait 20 minutes for one, but when it comes.......Oh My Goodness!!! It is a DELIGHT!! So the tiredness of yesterday was completely forgotten as I had my first LARGE forkful!!! DELICIOUS, DELIGHTFUL, DE LOVELY!!!
Now that I have shown you this culinary wonder I hope you all can find a place to help you meet this new craving you now have!! Maybe some of you even have a recipe for this and if you do, PLEASE SHARE IT with us!!!

After eating this fantastic breakfast, which also included scrambled eggs, home fries and bacon (I guess I worked up an appetite after my long work day) we stopped at a local store to pick up a favorite magazine I wanted, and I got to spend the day, just reading and enjoying the silence!! It doesn't get any better than that, does it??

Blessings and Apple Pancakes~

Julie

Autumn Evening!!

2010-10-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty hectic of late as I have been frantically getting ready for our annual event at New England Saltbox, called AUTUMN EVENING! It always happens the first weekend in October, and the shop gets decked out in all her finery for the start of the holiday shopping! Even though this has happened every year I have worked there, and is even marked on the calendar AND in my datebook, for some strange reason, it totally surprised me this year!! One minute it seemed like we were weeks away, and all of a sudden I realized it was happening THIS WEEKEND, or more correctly, TOMORROW!!! Oh my goodness!!!

Because of that, I found myself going in 3 different directions, and when that happens, SOMETHING just doesn't get done!!! Sadly, I was late on my Simply Primitives Update (and still don't know what I am sending to Sharon!!!!) Hopefully, I can get that off to her today! It is my first time being late and I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland!!!

The other things I needed to do were to help get the shop decorated for the event, AND to get some of my handmades MADE!!! Both equally important and both demanding time, which we did not have a lot of!! So, the first part of the week was spent stitching, stuffing, stitching, painting, sanding, staining, and tag making and the last 2 days were spent Decorating and Display making, and thankfully, MOST of it got done!! I am also happy to say that I was able to complete some things too and was happy with what I got done!! Phew!!

So without further adieu, thanks to my wonderful photographer/husband Jeff, here are some pictures of what our customers will see when they come for their visit tomorrow!! I wish all of you reading this could come, but hopefully you will catch the Autumn Spirit and may it inspire you to create and decorate to your heart's content!!

Autumn Blessings~

Julie

In A Word........Beautiful!!!

2010-09-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

Several posts back, I mentioned a Giveaway I won and yesterday Fed Ex delivered it to my door!! My hands were shaking as I unwrapped ( okay, I actually ripped) the tissue paper and unrolled the most BEAUTIFUL RUG imaginable!!!! Words Fail Me!!!! I am even having a hard time typing this right now!!!! For some reason I was thinking this was small, but NO, it is HUGE!! As in 24" x 37" huge!! And the COLORS........they are so much richer and deeper than the picture showed! It just sat there on my table, and I just kept shaking my head and honestly felt like crying, it was so wonderful!!

All of a sudden, I realized I needed to find a place of honor for this gorgeous piece of artistry, especially since my DH Jeff asked me where I was going to put it?? Put it?? Oh, yes, I do need to have a plan for it, don't I?? In all the excitement of waiting for it and finally getting it, I never even gave it a thought as to WHERE I would put it!!!! Suddenly, I remembered I had done some redecorating the day before and had a big, empty place on a wall (very unusual for me) and decided that was the PERFECT PLACE for it!! I have a supply of plastic rings that I use for hanging textiles and decided to sew 6 of them to the back (very carefully, I might add) even before I threw away the box and paper!! I was in such a hurry, I almost missed the note inside and am so glad I found it!! Phew! I was in such a state, as you can imagine!!

Armed with my trusty hammer and 6 nails, I hung this Beauty in the perfect place.............right over my bed, where I can look at it each night before I head to dreamland, and see it again when I wake up to start each day!!! What is even more amazing is just how perfectly it matches my bedding.....just like it was made for it!!!!

I can't thank Joanne (Snippets & Scraps of My Mind) enough for the AMAZING and MARVELOUS GIFT, and for the timing of it as well, as this has been a pretty rough past few months with lots of personal issues concerning my son, daughter and mother!! It has so helped and encouraged me and for that I am more grateful than I can say!!! I pray many, many blessings come your way Joanne, and hope that all of you reading this realize how a simple act of kindness can do more than you will ever imagine!! I certainly want to be that kind of person and will be looking for opportunities to be an encouragement to someone who may need it!!! Thank you Joanne, for being that to me!!!

Thank you all for sharing my joy~~

Blessings~

Julie

September Days Are Here!!

2010-09-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

I am a story-teller by nature and LOVE descriptive language!! I don't want to just tell you the rosehips are red.....I want to tell you the EXACT shade and intensity.....after all, there are so many different shades of red!!! I want you to actually FEEL, and SEE, and UNDERSTAND, as I do, and I think that is something that artistic people really need to do, don't you? That is why we love color, working with our hands, savoring fragrances, feeling textures, creating, and then SHARING it with others!! And that is why we LOVE BLOGGING!! It allows us to be able to share our thoughts, our handiwork, our ideas and dreams, our pictures, our lives and our stories, in our own descriptive language!!!

So isn't it marvelous then, when we come across something that describes perfectly just what we are feeling, seeing, and experiencing?? This simple poem seemed to pull at my "heartstrings" and I hope it speaks to you as well!!!!

SEPTEMBER

"When the goldenrod is yellow,

And the leaves are turning brown-

Reluctantly the summer goes

In a cloud of thistledown.

When squirrels are harvesting

And the birds in flight appear-

By these autumn signs we know

September days are here." ~Beverly Ashour, September

Wishing you Beautiful September Days, filled with autumn delights~

Julie

I WON, I WON!!!

2010-09-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

It it a foggy, wet, chilly Fall day here in WA, but I am all warm and tingly inside, bursting with joy and excitement as I share the most wonderful news with you!!! I WON the most AMAZING GIVEAWAY!!! I still can't believe it!!! Even as I am typing this I STILL can't believe it!!! Now all of you are wondering what I am so excited about, right??? Well......Here is what I won!!!!!!

This beautiful hooked rug was made by the very talented lady, Joanne, from Snippets and Scraps of My Mind , and when she contacted me, I was literally speechless!!! You see, I had just stumbled onto her blog as I was meandering through blog land, as all of us do, and loved it! She was having a Giveaway as well and my first thought was not to comment, since I got on so late, but I just KNEW I had no chance to win and just left my comment and went on my merry way, never giving it a second thought!!

Imagine my surprise when I received a notice that I had a comment on my recent blog post from Joanne, telling me I might want to check her blog for some good news!!!!
My heart was doing flip flops as I went to her blog and saw how her two kitties had picked my name!!!!!! Oh, how I love those two amazing felines!!!!

Anyway, I have received so many sweet emails from this very generous lady and can not believe the blessing I am receiving!! If you have not stopped by for a visit yet, please do so as she has a wonderful blog and you will truly enjoy your time there!! I have hosted a Giveaway myself, and seen many others out there, and have always wondered what it would feel like to actually win one........and NOW I KNOW!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH JOANNE!!! I can't wait to receive your GORGEOUS RUG and want you to know that I will TREASURE it always!!

Wishing all of you a JOY-Filled Day!!

Julie

An Old Quilt And Sawdust!

2010-08-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

A quilt will warm your body and comfort your soul. ~Author Unknown

I have a long standing love affair with fabric!! Some of my favorites are civil war reproductions, wools, homespuns, ticking, linen, prairie cloth, muslin..... do you see a pattern here??? I guess I have to say that I honestly just love textiles!!! Take me to a good quilt shop with wonderful primitive fabrics, and you would think I was a kid in a candy store!! It IS pure eye candy for the stitcher, and I get energized and inspired by the many shades of red, mustard, brown, black, blue, rust, and tan, and imagine all the many things I can create with those luscious colors!!

So imagine my delight when I came across an old quilt with all those colors in it, done in a log cabin style, AND in my price range!!! It is a wonderful old quilt, and is pretty large, but had some damage around the edges and is basically a cutter, but that didn't matter to me as I had PLANS!! There is a good part of it intact, and I decided to keep that for myself as I love having quilts folded up in a large wooden box under a table in my living room, but the edges could be removed and the perfect squares would make PERFECT PINCUSHIONS!! So that has been my latest project!!

I removed the straight stitching between the blocks and made a back for the block out of black prairie cloth, which I felt really added to the look of the piece. After stitching the two pieces together, I filled the square with clean sawdust. Now, if you have never done that, it sounds pretty simple, but I must tell you that it takes some TIME and PATIENCE and the CORRECT TOOLS to do it right (at least MY WAY, anyway). I use a funnel with a large hole in the end, as the sawdust can really get clogged and stop up the funnel!! I just thought you poured it in and it just filled up like magic.....SILLY ME!!! I also use a metal chopstick as wooden ones have a tendency to break, and I just keep pushing the sawdust to the corners first, and then squeeze it and keep this process up till it feels full!! This can take a while and be a bit messy too, so I put the sawdust in a pie plate and use a long handled teaspoon to add it to the funnel and also to spoon the final amount in to get it as full as possible!!

When it is just the way I like it, I stitch it closed, and then do small x's all around the edge to finish it off with brown thread! Not only does that reinforce the outside, but it also gives it a really nice finished look!! I do stain it afterwards and let it dry really well, and then embellish it with old rusty pins, an old shoe button, and a handmade tag!! I have already made 5 of these and have sold 2 of them and plan to make more soon!! They have been so much fun to create and to be able to use something from the past and remake it for another purpose is so gratifying!! I can't wait to make more!!

Wishing you inspiration my friends~

Julie

"Good For What Ails You"

2010-08-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have not posted in a while due to some difficult situations that have weighed heavy on my heart! They are personal, and I have shed some tears, fretted and struggled with my emotions lately! Many of you reading this may no doubt be going through your own issues of the heart and my hope for you is that you will find peace, and good friends who will offer a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and comfort, as I have!! The circumstances may not have changed, but I have been able to let go of much of the burden and am grateful for that! Life can be really hard to deal with at times and I am just taking things one day at a time! I hope you are too!

Because of all this stress, the other day my sweet husband Jeff suggested we just take a day and go to visit a wonderful place nearby called Point Defiance. He is an ordained minister turned wedding officiant, and had just performed a wedding earlier in the week in the Rose Garden there, and wanted me to see how beautiful it was!! Point Defiance is also a State Park, and has many trails, breathtaking views of Puget Sound, and a wonderful zoo, so you can spend the day there, which we did!

We started off with a lovely lunch at Anthony's, a wonderful seafood restaurant, and since this is peach season, we had the dessert.....oops, forgot the main course first!! It was a seafood tempura, which we shared, some clam chowder and THEN, the fabulous PEACH SLUMP!! All I can say is....YUM!!! We sat at a window seat and just relaxed, watching the water and taking in the view which was so peaceful!!

From there we took the 5 mile drive, took lots of pictures and of course, Jeff made me pose in most of them because he said it was helpful for people to get the proper perspective of the size of the tree, or the view or just because he thought it made the picture look better!! Now you know why I married him!!!

The temperature that day was in the 90's but as we drove into the forest, it felt more like 70's and it was SO QUIET!! The air just seemed so clear and fresh! Of course I had some silly shoes on that were NOT appropriate for hiking and so between stumbling and almost breaking my ankle and then jumping when I heard rustling in the woods, we had a good time laughing at me as the true "nature woman!" I am always afraid there will be a lion, a tiger, or a bear....oh my! It was really fun though and the drive was beautiful! The trees are huge and one tree in particular called "The Mountaineer Tree" was dated to W. Shakespeare's time of 1500's, was 218 feet tall which Jeff calculated to be about 21 stories, to give you perspective! Boy did Jeff feel small in front of that!!!

We ended our drive, parked and walked to the Rose Garden and it was just a RIOT of colors and the smell of the roses was unbelievable!! Jeff showed me where he performed the ceremony, how the chairs were arranged, and how he had to face the sun the whole time. During the wedding one of the flower girls actually passed out and I could understand why as there was NO SHADE!! ( She didn't hurt herself and the wedding went on as planned)! Not only are there roses, but there are also many more varieties, hydrangeas, primroses, and more that I can't name or spell!! It was a true feast for the eyes and a balm for the soul and I felt like I had been given a prescription for all the stress, sadness, and worry I had been feeling!! What a special place and a special day! I feel encouraged and refreshed and am so very thankful!! It is a beautiful place and did my heart and my spirits much good!!!

I hope that you enjoy my pictures and that they lift your spirits and brighten your day!

Wishing you joy my friends~

Julie

Simply Primitives Update and "That Fall Feeling!"

2010-07-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

With temperatures dipping into the low 50's at night, things have been feeling a bit like Fall around here in the Pacific Northwest! It naturally makes me get into the Harvest and Halloween state of mind and so my offerings for Simply Primitives are just that, some adorable sock cats, a prim crow, a small hanging pumpkin head and a prim patch pumpkin, to get you and me into the Autumn spirit!! If I could package up the cool weather and send it to those of you dealing with the scorching temps. right now, believe me, those packages would be on your doorstep!! Since I can't do that, I hope my offerings and those of my other fellow artists will bring to mind the smell of woodsmoke, the taste of warm apple crisp, the fragrance of a wonderful candle and the coziness that comes this time of year!

Wishing you all "That Fall Feeling!"

Blessings my dear friends~
Julie

Finally Organized....sort of!!!!

2010-07-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the big as in B I G file cabinet that my wonderful dear husband Jeff found for me? I've had several of you ask me about it, and now that it is finally filled to capacity, I will show you some pictures!

It has a PERMANENT home in my large walk-in closet in my bedroom!! I know that sounds like a strange place for it, but sadly, there is NO room in my actual work room!! The closet seemed to be the only place left to put it and so it proudly resides there, with easy access, but hidden as it is not really very attractive! Ok, it is just UGLY, but so very helpful to keep my clutter contained!! We are definitely not going for the primitive, country colonial look here!!

The dimensions of the cabinet are quite impressive! It stands at over 5' tall, x 19" deep x 36" wide, with 5 very large drawers, complete with rails for hanging files, so that is a LOT of room to store things!! What things, you ask?
Well, first of all, on the very top are lots of magazines that I collect, read and use for inspiration and they sit in a large wooden box that holds them nicely.

Now moving on to the drawers, we have the very top one which actually works differently from the others. Not only does it pull out, but the front lifts forward and slides up and in. I'm not sure why that one does it and none of the rest of them do, but it is a nice feature anyway. This drawer holds more magazines....Country Sampler, EAL, old Country Living, and Country Home, old Country Marketplace, old Create and Decorate, Mercantile Gatherings, The Simple, Life, and various random other ones. Maybe I should start a lending libary?

The next 3 drawers hold all my primitive patterns, from A to Z, and it is the first time I have had them all in one place, neatly organized and right at my fingertips!! The file cabinet was full of new file folders and my super organized DH actually labelled each file and put all my patterns away for me when I was at work! There are NO WORDS for that!!!

The final drawer holds even MORE magazines!! I did not realize I had so many!! Funny but Jeff said he did!!! It was probably good he was the one putting them away, as I would have started seeing articles I wanted to read and looking at the pictures and.....you get the idea!!!

So there you have it.....my AMAZING FILE CABINET!!! All organized and in one place! Now if I could just find that pattern I saw in that magazine....which one was it, Country Living 1986???

Blessings and Happy Organizing...

Julie

Waste Not, Want Not

2010-07-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm sure all of you are familiar with this famous proverb that some have credited to Benjamin Franklin, and have no doubt heard it or even quoted it many times! Growing up as I did in a large family with limited resources, it was a daily motto and practice that I have inherited, and hopefully passed on to my 2 children! Of course at the time, the words "waste not, want not","making do", and "hand me downs" were not appreciated and I can actually remember being chased and made fun of for a mustard colored corduroy jumper ( a size too large) I wore to school that was not considered fashionable!! Oh the sweet memories (and not so sweet ones) of childhood!! Now it seems anything goes that you choose to wear and thankfully with age comes wisdom!! Is that another famous quote or proverb? I digress..back to my original thought...

I still practice these same principles in my life as well as in my art and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to find objects that no longer are usable for their specific purpose and reinvent or reuse them for a new one! When I find that small funnel, oil can, bobbin or spool, candlestick, salt shaker, glass insulator, old silver creamer or sugar, piece of vintage linen or fabric...you get the idea....my heart goes pitter patter and I have visions of make dos dancing in my head!!

When I first heard the title of a little book called, WASTE NOT WANT NOT, The Art of the Make-Do, I was intrigued and have been fortunate enough to now own my own copy! It is full of wonderful examples of early found objects, re-purposed into unique, sometimes humorous, and inventive repairs to create new purposes and to preserve the life of a former loved treasure! This book makes my heart sing!!

I'm sharing some pictures of make-dos I have made and I hope you will be inspired, and encouraged to begin your own quest for discarded objects and begin creating some special re-purposed treasures!! Perhaps you might even find a vintage old mustard colored corduroy jumper!!!

Happy Creating my friends!

Julie

The Possible's slow fuse is lit
By the Imagination.
~ Emily Dickenson

Celebrate Liberty!!

2010-07-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

I can still remember as a child, standing up in school, putting my hand over my heart and saying the following:

" I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America,
And to the republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all!"

I still believe those important words, and still stand up, put my hand over my heart and say the words proudly because I love my country, I love my God, I love my flag, and I love my freedoms!!

Wishing you a very happy and safe Independence Day, filled with laughter, love, good food and a thankful heart as you Celebrate Liberty, the land of the free and the home of the brave!!

Blessings and Peace~

Julie

We Have A Winner!!

2010-07-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

The winner for my June Giveaway is.........

Gina of Cat Nap Inn Primitives!!

Thank you to ALL of you for taking part in my first giveaway, and I have to say I wish we could have picked all your names!! I feel like such a winner myself, as I look at all the new friends I have made! I have been truly amazed and humbled by your response and am so grateful for all the wonderful comments as well!!

A Big Congratulations to you Gina, and please send me your address so I can get your gifts mailed to you!!

Again, Thank you my friends and now that I have caught the "Giveaway Fever" I may just have to do another one in the near future!!!

Simply Primitives Offerings!

2010-06-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Simply Primitives is a wonderful online marketplace that I am so privileged to be a part of and the new items for July will be posted on the 1st. I wanted to post a little preview of what I will be offering! My Giveaway will be over by that time tomorrow, but I will have 2 more Prairie Dolls available, sweet sisters of the one who will be on her way to a new home!! I also have 2 Folk Crows and a special "Friend" pillow! I hope you get a chance to stop by and see all the wonderful artists offerings as well!! Thank you and Happy Browsing!!

Blessings and Thanks~

Julie

Final Reminder for my Giveaway!! Don't Miss It!!

2010-06-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

This is my last reminder about my Giveaway and all the details are located on my sidebar in case you are just now finding out about it!

All of your names have been written on pieces of paper (we do things so high tech here!!) at least once since you are following and then up to 2 more times, depending on comments and sidebar announcements, and are sitting in a large #2 crock. I keep stirring up all the papers everytime I add some and will have my faithful hubby Jeff draw out the winner!! One thing is a definite....one of you WILL WIN!!! Hooray!!

The deadline for entering will be Wednesday, June 30th at 11 pm Pacific time, and I will have Jeff draw the winner Thursday, July 1st at 7 am Pacific time. I will post the winner as soon as we know who it is and if you are the winner, please send me an email with your full name and mailing address and I will ship out your Prairie Doll and Strawberry Pinkeep later that day!

Good luck to all of you and I am so excited, you would think I am the winner!!! I think I can hear the drumroll........

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?

2010-06-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

If you have always wondered who the "WHO" in that saying is, the answer would have to be.....ME!!! Actually, the saying comes from an old fashioned game for children where the object is to find the one who secretly has the button! Whoever correctly discovers the one holding the button, becomes the one who gives the button again, and so on and so on!!! It was supposed to keep children entertained for quite some time, as you can imagine! Sadly, no one would have wanted to play with me though, because if I had the button, I would have kept it, as well as searched for the button box and hidden!!! I LOVE BUTTONS!!!!!

I don't remember when my love for buttons began (ok, it is an obsession!) but I have a big, or rather, a HUGE collection of them....all sizes, shapes, colors, styles, and can never seem to have too many!! I keep them in old Ball or Mason jars, and have actually tried to separate them into colors!! One day I got the idea to try to do the colors into groups or 2 holes or 4 holes, but quickly came to the conclusion that no normal person would be doing that, so I stuck with the color idea!!! Did I mention that I LOVE BUTTONS???

I actually use them quite a bit, and when I am creating something, I will get out the appropriate jar, dump it out and look through the pile for the PERFECT ONE!! I love the feel of them as they run through my fingers, almost like sand, and never get tired of looking at them and playing with them!!!

So the next time you hear someone say, "Button, button, who's got the button?", you will know the answer is, "Julie! Who else!!"

Buttons And Patches And The Cold Wind Blowing,
The Days Pass Quickly When I Am Sewing. ~ Author Unknown

What's In A Name?

2010-06-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

Names fascinate me!! I work in a gift shop and when I help customers at the register I usually have to ask for some form of ID to prove to me that they are who they say they are! I have learned MANY interesting names that way....the typical names like Sue, Mary, Kathy, and then the more unique names like Monique, Angelica, Harla, and my very MOST unusual one.....RANSOM!!! She told me she was named after a great grandfather and said her name started MANY interesting conversations!! I can just imagine, can't you? She would have to be so careful that people didn't think she was ASKING for Ransom!

My favorite names are ones I am familiar with, like my own names, Julie Elizabeth, and my other family members' names. They are well known to me, music to my ears and bring feelings of warmth and love as I say them, because they MEAN something personal TO ME!!

I was named "Julie" by my Uncle, and "Elizabeth" after my grandmothers on both sides of the family! I learned the the name Julie means, "youthful one", and the name Elizabeth means, "promised by God!" I am certainly happy for both meanings and am really trying to live up to both of them!!

One of the greatest joys of my life this past year was to become a first-time Grandmother!! Our little Isabella Elizabeth was born in January and I did an earlier post about her arrival, and it is hard to believe she is almost 4 months old as I write!! Sadly for me, she lives in CA and I live in WA, so it makes visits very hard indeed!! Thankfully, we have the wonders of Skype, and cell phone text pics, so I can see her progress and my daughter in law and son are great about keeping us up to date! I actually heard her first burp over the computer!!! In April, Grandpa Jeff and I got to actually go for a visit and what a joy it was to hold little "Bella" in our arms!!! Pure Heaven!! Isabella means, "promised by God" and Elizabeth also means "promised by God!" I sure got doubly blessed and someday I will tell her that she is my, "Double Promise!"

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet. ~ Shakespeare

June Giveaway!

2010-06-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

I love contests, don't you? There is something about the idea of winning something that makes my heart race and gets me excited!! I imagine the moment when it is time to find out who will win! I hold my breath, and pray really hard that somehow MY NAME will be the one on the piece of paper that is pulled from the box all the other pieces of paper are secretly resting in! Drum roll please!! And the winner is........

Having said all that, I am having my first Giveaway and hope you will take part and perhaps even win!! The details for entering are located on my blog sidebar. I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to have a Giveaway soon and this seemed like the perfect time, as we get ready to welcome in the summer season. The two prizes are both things I have made and I thought I would tell you a little about each one.

The first is a Prairie Stump doll, 9 1/2" T, made with a sweet pattern by The Olde Primitive House, and is completely stuffed with fabric snippets. She would look great resting in a bowl or on top of an old book or just propped up against an old box like I have done in the picture. The other is a Strawberry Pincushion, an old Folk and Whimsy pattern, made with vintage wool and stuffed with rusty pins and lots of hand stitching. You can use it or just display it as you wish! The winner will be announced on July 1st.

Be blessed today and thank you for your visit!

The Answer Is........A File Cabinet!!

2010-06-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

SEWING FILLS MY DAYS, NOT TO MENTION THE LIVING ROOM, BEDROOM, AND CLOSETS.~
Author Unknown

I must be related to the person who wrote that quote, or perhaps I did it and don't want to confess!! No matter where it came from, I CAN RELATE!! I have my projects and patterns EVERYWHERE and never seem to have the right place to keep them all!! I even have a "Craft Studio" where I am supposed to keep all my fabrics and supplies, but somehow they turn up in the strangest places, and basically, that is all over the house!!! I'm sure no one else has this problem!!! So I went to the one person I knew who could help me....My husband Jeff!!

Strangely enough, I am married to the most patient man created who also happens to be MR. ORGANIZATION!!!! He is the neatest, most organized person I have ever met and I am amazed that I have not driven him stark staring mad!!! We have been married 29 years and somehow it works!!! Jeff has always understood my creative chaos as he too is a very creative person, but somehow he is always neat about it!! He is always trying to help me with my messiness, and did I mention he is also very kind, and yesterday he truly proved just how helpful he can be! I really believe he has been praying about this, and boy, did he get his prayers answered in a BIG WAY!!

We love to check out antique and thrift shops and have several we like to visit on our days off, so we found ourselves at one yesterday and Jeff struck pay dirt!! He has been looking for a file cabinet for me to keep all my patterns in....phase one of the "help Julie get organized" project, and he found the perfect one!! He was so excited and kept saying how he had been pricing them and that this one was a really great deal and how lucky we were to find it!! So he paid for it and even borrowed a friends van to take it home with!! Now for the bad part!!! The thing is not only BIG, but it weighs a TON, literally!!!! All I could think of was how was I going to help get it in the house????? Jeff just kept saying we could do it....He's an optimist too!!

Well, we were able to get it out of the van by using a board for a fulcrum, and there was even a hand truck, but I honestly did not know how I could help as we were actually going to take it upstairs!!!!! That's right...UPSTAIRS!! My superwoman suit has been retired for a long time so I knew there was NO WAY that was happening!! As we stood there looking at each other with it propped up on the handcart, we hear this voice say, "do you need help with that?" Talk about music to my ears!!! I turned around, expecting to see wings and a halo, but it was an ordinary man out for a walk with his wife. Apparently, she was the one who told him to ask if we needed help!! Wonderful woman!! Anyway, to make a long story short, our resident angel and Jeff ended up getting this huge monster upstairs (I couldn't watch) and safely in our large closet, where it now proudly resides!! We just kept falling all over ourselves thanking our kind neighbor for all his help, and he graciously said he was happy to do it and will no doubt think twice about walking past our house again!!

So now I finally have my file cabinet, Jeff finally got his answer to prayer and hopefully did not rupture anything, and my patterns now have a new home!! I can finally get organized!! Now if I can just remember to put the things away when I am done with them!!!

SEWING: A CREATIVE MESS IS BETTER THAN TIDY IDLENESS.~Author Unknown

Meet Mr. Woolly!

2010-06-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

I live in a quiet neighborhood that used to be mostly farmland and has been developed into private homes, townhomes, (where I happen to live), apartments and a quaint area by the Puyallup River, appropriately called, RIVER WALK!

My husband Jeff and I love to take walks around this area as it is pretty quiet, and free from the busy traffic all around us! Because the river does flood it's banks at times, there are several areas surrounded by fences that are designed for drainage. They are not very pretty and yet are quite important for keeping extra water controlled! Interestingly enough, we just found out they also serve another purpose!!

Several weeks ago on my drive home from the New England Saltbox where I work, I happened to pass one of these drainage areas and glancing over, I thought I saw a big white sheep eating grass!! It had been a long day and I was really tired, but I was SURE I had seen it!! When I got home, I told Jeff, thinking he would tell me I was crazy, but sure enough, he had seen it too! It was REALLY there or we were BOTH crazy!! We tried to figure out why a sheep would be in the drainage area, so we decided to go for a walk to investigate! You can see what exciting lives we lead!

As we approached, we saw a pretty big sheep, who was quietly cropping the long grasses and so being the knowledgeable country girl I am, I called out, "Here, sheep, sheep, sheep!" He looked up at me, and actually came!! Wow!! I found out I can speak sheep!! He came right up to me and I did the first thing anyone would do...I reached over the fence and started to pet him!! He was pretty dirty, and quite smelly for one lone sheep, but my heart went out to him all alone so I decided to call him....Mr. Woolly!! As we were petting him, we saw a sign wired to the fence that explained he was a special project for the Agriculture Department of Sumner and was not supposed to be touched or fed!! Uh oh! He had some tags attached to his ears and some marking on his back and looked so lonely all by himself!! We talked to him for a little longer (not petting him anymore) and as we walked away, he gave this loud Baaaaa sound and resumed his quiet munching! Poor Mr. Woolly!!

Yesterday, we went to visit with Mr Woolly again, but he was gone! We sure hope that whatever they were testing him for was a success! I will miss seeing him, quietly grazing, and looking up with interest as I call out, "Hey, Mr. Woolly!" I hope he has been reunited with all of his other sheep friends and perhaps he will share his adventures with them about all the crazy people who visited with him during his stay!! Happy grazing, Mr. Woolly!!

Just a reminder that I am having a Giveaway for the month of June! Details are on my sidebar! Thanks to all of you who have already signed up!

Blessings,
Julie

Honoring Our Heroes

2010-05-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day is a special day of remembering those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their very lives, and also for remembering and honoring those who continue to serve!

I am proud to pay tribute to my father, father in law, brother, brother in law, uncles and most recently, my own son who served with 2 deployments to Iraq! Thank you for serving our country, putting your life in harm's way and helping to protect our freedoms! You are not forgotten!!

May you have a Blessed Memorial Day, as you celebrate with family and loved ones! God Bless America!!

My First Giveaway!

2010-05-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Getting To Know You In Blogland!

2010-05-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

Blogland.....oh, the mysteries of this amazing place where we can meet one another and share our thoughts, ideas, and whatever our little heart desires!! It is the modern day, "Dear Diary" and yet the big difference is that instead of storing our musings and secrets away from prying eyes with a little key, we welcome all who are interested and get excited by the growing number of "followers" we add to our list!

Today as I reflect on this, I find myself wondering who all of you are who are reading this right now......yes, YOU!!! I know you can find out about me because I put lots of personal info there for you to read, plus even a picture, so if you never met me before in person, you can at least recognize me in a crowd, if we happen to cross paths!! You have been allowed access into my "blog world" and you are most warmly welcome!! The sad thing is that you may come for a visit and I will never get the chance to know you were here, or who you are, or what you thought, or really anything about you! I can check my stats and see your email addresses, and for those of you I personally invited, I know you get a notice of a new post, but in reality, I never ever know who was here!! It makes me curious and wonder about you....that I would like to get to know you too!! Not just an email address, but a person with a name......YOU!!!

Here's a suggestion for you! If you stop by for a visit to read what I am up to, would you do me a huge favor and let me know you were here? How can you do that? I'm so glad you asked me that!! First of all, you can just leave a comment about the post! It is super easy and is right at the bottom of the post! Just click on comment and let me know what you thought!! You could also become a follower and then I could see who YOU are and get to know you that way. Or just say "Hi Julie!" I would LOVE that too!! Or, you could visit my picture trail and sign my guest book! In the future, I would like to do a Giveaway and if you leave me your name and email, I can sign you up for that! I guess what I am trying to say is, "Thanks for taking the time to get to know me, and now let me get to know you!" Simple! Easy! Pain free!! So many options!! All from the comfort of your home!!

Ah, Blogland! There is no place else quite like it!! See you there my friend!!!

Strangers are just friends waiting to happen. ~ Rod McKuen, Looking for a Friend

Simply Primitives Update!

2010-04-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Simply Primitives will be updating on the 1st of May and here is a sneak peek at what I will be listing for the month! Please take some time to visit and while you are there, be sure to check out all the other wonderful artists and their wares! Enjoy!

Blessings,

Julie

CONFESSIONS OF A STITCHER

2010-04-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

" ME THINKS IT IS A TOKEN OF HEALTHY AND GENTLE CHARACTERISTICS, WHEN WOMEN OF HIGH THOUGHTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS LOVE TO SEW; ESPECIALLY AS THEY ARE NEVER MORE AT HOME WITH THEIR OWN HEARTS THAN WHILE SO OCCUPIED." ~ NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, THE MARBLE FAUN 1859

I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE; I LOVE TO SEW!! THERE IS SOMETHING SO EXCITING TO ME ABOUT FEEDING A PIECE OF FABRIC UNDER THE PRESSER FOOT OF A SEWING MACHINE AND SEEING ALL THOSE TINY STITCHES INTERLOCKING TOGETHER TO JOIN 2 PIECES OF FABRIC! AMAZING! SUDDENLY WHAT BEGAN AS A SIMPLE PIECE OF CLOTH BECOMES A DOLL, BIRD, PINCUSHION, OR WHATEVER MY CREATIVE MIND IMAGINES!! I AM CREATING! I AM HAPPY! I AM AT HOME!!

I HAVE ANOTHER CONFESSION TO MAKE; I LOVE TO HAND STITCH EVEN MORE!!! THERE IS SOMETHING SO HEALING ABOUT THE FEEL OF A NEEDLE BETWEEN MY FINGERS, POISED OVER THE PROJECT I AM WORKING ON, AS I GET INTO THE RHYTHM OF PIERCING THE FABRIC AND PULLING THE THREAD GENTLY THROUGH. A DESIGN DEVELOPES RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL!! I RETURN TO AN EARLIER TIME, A SIMPLER TIME, WHEN THINGS WERE SLOWER AND LIFE WAS NOT SO HECTIC. I AM A NEEDLEWOMAN! I AM HAPPY! I AM AT HOME!!

"SEWING MENDS THE SOUL." ~ AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Time of the Singing of Birds!

2010-03-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have a collection of old books that I keep in a bookcase in my bedroom! They are all treasured by me for various reasons, whether it be the author, the title or just the look; I love them all! One of the books by Grace Livingston Hill is called "Time of the Singing of the Birds," and it came to mind today as we are officially entering the Spring season because when I think of Spring, I think of birds!! It seems like I see them everywhere and hear them too.....all the beautiful melodies of the song birds and the noisy "caws" of the resident crows! Spring has sprung!!

If you know me very well, you know that I am terrified of real birds, even though I love them! Sadly, I have had several encounters with our flying friends, once almost falling down a spiral staircase as a bird that was getting his exercise happened to fly right in my face, and another time when a bird got loose from his cage and kept dive bombing me! If I venture into a pet shop and a bird is loose or on one of those perches, you can bet I will find the nearest exit!!!

What is so amazing is that I love MAKING birds!!! I have quite a collection of them and have some lovely patterns by some fellow artists and they are one of my favorite things to create!! I tried my hand at my own designs and even made one with a gusset, which is a challenge, but so lovely with contrasting fabrics!! Since it is Spring again, I have the nesting urge to create more birds and right now I am working on some Pea Hens from a lovely pattern by Barbara Stein. They are so fun to do and I am going to do contrasting gussets, wings and tailfeathers, making them each unique and one of a kind! They truly make my heart sing!!

"My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather" ~ Terri Guillemets

It is indeed a " Time for the Singing of Birds!"

Blessings ~ Julie

New Year New Beginnings

2010-01-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

The world of blogging is still so new to me and with all the wonderful ones out there in blogland, I find myself wondering why I am doing one? Then the next question that comes to mind is, why would anyone want to read what I may write about? For those of you who are reading this, thank you for taking the time, and hopefully, you will be encouraged, blessed, entertained, or enlightened by my thoughts and musings. I have only posted 2 other posts, but will try to do it on a much more regular basis. After all, this is a new year and there are some special things happening! I would like to share some of them with you!! Drum roll please.....

The first thing is that on January 23rd, I became a grandmother!! My son and his wife had a beautiful baby girl, named Isabella Elizabeth Zakrzewski (that is quite a name for a little baby to live up to!) and she is a precious angel! For all of you who like details, she weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 in. long with dark hair. Mother and baby are doing well and the little family is getting aquainted with each other. Since they live in CA and we live in WA, it will be a while till we get to actually see them and get to meet her, but believe me when I say she is already tied to my "heartstrings" and this Grandma can't wait to hold her!! Little "Bella" changed our family's life and we are so happy to add her to the family!!

Another exciting thing for me is that I will be joining Simply Primitives, an online marketplace community that is home to many talented artists who also do what I love to do! I am so honored and humbled to be asked and am both excited and nervous as I embark on this adventure! I will be beginning on February 1st and you can see some of my new things available for purchase. Then each month on the 1st and the 15th, new things will be added, but I will be planning on staying with the 1st, so check back each month for something new. Thank you for joining with me on my exciting new ventures, and I will try to keep you posted on both!!

http://www.simplyprimitives.com/

My New Tree Toppers and Birds!

2009-11-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is always the BUSIEST time of the year for me and for some reason I never seem to get things made ahead, even though I know it is coming!! So I don't have as much as I would like to at the moment, but am excited about what I do have!! I have so many patterns, material, partially started projects, drawings and ideas in my "to do" pile, but so far, I have just been able to do these birds. I call them SIMPLE BIRDS, and SIMPLE TREE TOPPER BIRDS, and I just love them!! I try to use vintage fabrics as much as possible and was able to find this great old piece of woven red fabric to make some of them with. I also had some really lovely red print that I got at a quilt shop, and used that as well. I used a great old pattern from Sweet Liberty Homestead and since it is so simple, that is where I got the idea for the name of them! I also have a large stash of old bobbins and used those for the topper bases. Unfortunately, since the holes are smaller than I thought, you have to use them on smaller trees, but I have hopes to try to find some bigger ones with bigger holes for the larger trees. The SIMPLE BIRDS are small hanging birds you can use as ornaments, or just to hang from your favorite cupboard or shelf peg. They are done in the same fabrics as the tree toppers. I have them displayed on a small tree so you can see how great they look grouped together!! I hope to have more things made soon, so keep checking back. Even though this is a very busy time of year, I am trying to remember to enjoy the season and to let all the special people in my life know I love them and value them.....people like you!!! Thank you for taking the time to be part of my heart! Be blessed today!!

Open House at New England Saltbox

2009-11-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

The Open House at New England Saltbox on November 14th was supposed to officially start at noon, but when I arrived at 9:45AM to open, there were already some anxious shoppers waiting to get some early shopping in! The shop was decked out in all it's holiday finery, with Christmas music playing in the background and no doubt visions of sugarplums dancing in each shoppers head!!
Marlene, the owner, was able to find some wonderful things at Market this past year to offer to our customers, and they were not disappointed with the many choices to choose from! She got some WONDERFUL Grapevine Trees, from 2' to 6', and they really looked beautiful with the display I was able to put together! We also had some wonderful Christmas greens, from picks, to garlands, trees, and wreaths, and so much more!! The aromas of potpourri and candles was enjoyed by all and there was so much holiday spirit everywhere as people laughed, smiled and shopped!! It was so much fun to see old friends and meet new ones too!!

The whole town of Sumner participates in this event and happy shoppers went from store to store, searching for the perfect treasure to add to their Christmas list. Our shop served some delicious hot cider made with a mix we sell, and a variety of yummy treats, including the most chocolaty brownies and some adorable Christmas mice, specially made for the event!! As always, Marlene did a first class job and the open house was a huge success!! Hope you enjoy all the wonderful pictures Jeff (my husband) took to give you a small glimpse of this great event!!

Funky Junk Sisters Show

2009-10-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

For my very first post ( am I really doing this??) I wanted to share about a show New England Salt Box (where my things are displayed) participated in called Funky Junk Sisters Show! Unique name to be sure, and unique items as well. For those of you who do shows, it is a HUGE undertaking and this was no exception!! Unfortunately, our WA weather was blustery and rainy, typical for this time of year but not good for setting up a show! We had some mishaps, but all in all we got things in and set up and I think it looked great! Even though our shop does not really do the "shabby" look, we fit in just fine with antiques and some handmades and had lots of great comments! It was a fun but very tiring experience and I must admit I was happy we could return to the Saltbox and be where it was warm again!! I hope you enjoy the pictures and thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog!

Primitive Heartstrings

~PEEK-A-BOO MOUNTAIN~

~CANDLELIGHT AND CRANFORD~

~WINTER WHITE~

~A BEVY OF HEARTS~

~HAPPY NEW YEAR~

~MERRY CHRISTMAS~

*Christmas Ornaments - Old & New*

~ MY RED PLATE ~

A FROSTY MORNING

~ THANKSGIVING WISHES ~

~ AN OPEN HOUSE ~

~ SWAPPING WITH A FRIEND ~

FROM CHAOS TO A CHORUS LINE!!!

IT’S PUMPKIN SEASON

~WE HAVE A WINNER~

LAST DAY FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!!!

~GROWING PUMPKINS~

~THOUGHTS OF FALL~

~A MILESTONE and a GIVEAWAY~

~BABY STEPS~

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW!!!

A GOOD BOOK

HELLO DOLLY!!

A GIFT OF KINDNESS!!!

BLESSED EASTER WISHES!!!

SPRING UPDATE SNEAK PEEK!!!

SOME FAVORITE THINGS

FORGET ME NOT!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE AND GUEST ARTIST!!

CUPBOARD LOVE!!!

A NEW HEADER AND A "JEWEL" OF A GIFT!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Decorating!!

SIMPLY PRIMITIVES SNEAK PEEK!

Thoughts on Thankfulness!!

SIMPLY PRIMITIVES UPDATE!

We Have A Winner!!!

One Year Anniversary Giveaway!!

Another Amazing Giveaway Win!!

AN APPLE PANCAKE and A RESTFUL DAY!

Autumn Evening!!

In A Word........Beautiful!!!

September Days Are Here!!

I WON, I WON!!!

An Old Quilt And Sawdust!

"Good For What Ails You"

Simply Primitives Update and "That Fall Feeling!"

Finally Organized....sort of!!!!

Waste Not, Want Not

Celebrate Liberty!!

We Have A Winner!!

Simply Primitives Offerings!

Final Reminder for my Giveaway!! Don't Miss It!!

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?

What's In A Name?

June Giveaway!

The Answer Is........A File Cabinet!!

Meet Mr. Woolly!

Honoring Our Heroes

My First Giveaway!

Getting To Know You In Blogland!

Simply Primitives Update!

CONFESSIONS OF A STITCHER

Time of the Singing of Birds!

New Year New Beginnings

My New Tree Toppers and Birds!

Open House at New England Saltbox

Funky Junk Sisters Show

Christmas Ornaments - Old & New