Saturday, December 31, 2016

One Year Ends, A New One Begins

Good New Year’s Eve day ~ I hope you’ve all had a relaxing, reflective week between Christmas and New Year’s day tomorrow. This year has zipped right along. I am looking forward to seeing what adventures God will bring my way in 2017. He saw me through this past year’s ups and downs, He has been my strength when I was weak. He gave me things to make me smile, some to laugh right out loud, and there were things that also made me sad and shed more healing tears. I am thankful to Him for taking care of me each and every day, for lessons learned and lessons yet to learn.

Christmas day started off with me driving the turnpike to a half-way point between my dear BIL & SIL, where my BIL picked me up. I left my van in the toll booth’s parking area, and we headed north to where they live, about another 30 minutes away. I left home around 6:20, got home just about 12 hours later.  Traffic wasn’t too bad on the way up, but on the way back it was a little heavier.

It was a good day.  Family, love, laughter, a nice Christmas service, and good food. I only got  a little teary after dinner when we all sat around singing old hymns, and when we sang ‘When We All Get to Heaven’, that did it.  It was a lovely day though, and I didn’t have to drive in the ‘dark’ for very long. I was glad to arrive safely back home to my sweet little haven. I don’t like driving busy roads at high speeds, but I made it to and from, so that was my Christmas adventure.

Tuesday my back started cramping between shoulder blades, an area where I get ‘tight’. Well, by Tuesday night it was really bad and I decided to take some of my Christmas $ and see my massage therapist Carmen. I texted her, and she had an opening at 9 Wed. morning. She is wonderful and she worked on me for almost two hours.  She said I was really TIGHT there and in a couple of other areas as well. I could hardly get up off the table after she was finished, and was ready to fall asleep. Lucky for me she’s less that 5-10 minutes away. I came home, had a little lunch, drank water, napped, drank more water and just lazed around. I’ve basically been lazy ever since. No heavy work, or ‘tight’ work.

It’s been a stressful month and a half and with working on beaded things, I really just wound right up. I will show some of what I beaded, will show two other pieces later.

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I did do a little more beading yesterday evening on another heart that will end up in my Etsy shop when I re-open it. I’m crocheting the edging now. I’ve set up an old wooden TV tray to work on instead of trying to use my keyboard area. This is much nicer and I can look right out into the front patio.

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Yesterday morning I started working on rearranging my beading/creative/embroidery area. I was inspired by one of my blogging friends, Nancy of ‘A Joyful Cottage’. She had just done some work in her creative space and showed before and after pics. Here is the start of my reorganizing.

Before

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After ~ I brought in two glass blocks from outside, cleaned them up, and put a 35 1/2 inch glass shelf that I had stashed in the bedroom, on top. I took out the artistic lamp and brought in another desk type, which makes the space feel and look larger.  This whole little room is only 6’x8’.

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The colorful ends in photo below, are the caps to my alcohol ink pens for coloring silk ribbon for my ribbon embroidery. They are now sitting over the bin drawer of silk ribbon.

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It was nice coming out here this morning to a different look. I look forward to doing more in here as it is cluttered with yarns, felt, fabric, etc. that needs to be put away.

Last night as I was sitting here at my computer I looked to my left and oh my, the sky was absolutely beautiful. I grabbed my camera, took the first photo from my chair, then headed outdoors.

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I loved how the sun was hitting the pine trees.

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Look at those swirls of color under the puffs. WOW!

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The sunset colors hitting the front outside wall of my creative sapce was amazing. It made the color more plumy. The black metal hearts are going to be a painting project soon. I can hardly wait. They were my first curbside find after my dear husband left this planet. I was thrilled because they are ‘hearts’.

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Some rose blooms to end this post.

This is Barnhouse, taken yesterday,

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and the open bloom today. This has such a lovely scent.

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Below is ‘Miss Atwood’, she is just gorgeous and has a wonderful scent too.

This is a baby plant that I got this past spring from Rose Petals Nursery. I had two blooms, one a bud and the other open, yesterday.

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I just love how these petals curl over, and the colors are beautiful.

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Ok, that’s it from Plum Cottage for 2016.

Happy 2017

to all,

FlowerLady

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful beading. And your newly re-organized work area looks so nice! You have a knack for organization! Andrea

Valerie-Jael said...

Love your beading, and your crafting room looks fab. Great photos, I can never get enough of sunrise and sunset. Happy 20017, hugs, Valerie

Deb J. in Utah said...

What a beautiful sunset! I love your beaded projects too! Sounds like you had a nice Christmas.Hope that 2017 is a good year for you. Love and prayers from AZ!

Nancy J said...

Blessings to you for 2017.You have made a magnificent start, the beading, organising, and then the flowers, and best of all, the skies and the colouring on the wall.How wonderful nature is.

Jane said...

I'm so glad you had a nice Christmas, Rainey! Your beading area looks so cozy. I like to imagine you working there. The skies seem to be exceptionally beautiful lately, don't you think? Hope this new year will be a wonderful one for you!

Hugs
Jane

Ruth Hiebert said...

Where do I begin.Your beading work is exquisite.All the detail you put into this is amazing. You know I love roses, and yours are gorgeous,maybe even more so in winter when I don't get to see flowers outside.Then there is that spectacular sky.WOW!! God painted that sky for you to enjoy and now I got to enjoy it as well. Blessings for 2017.

Morning's Minion said...

Your photos always inspire me--whether of flowers and nature or of your beautiful handiwork.
I stopped driving at night several years ago, so could imagine your relief at arriving safely back home.
Wishing you blessings in the new year.

Kit said...

Oh look at those colors! You have your sunsets off of tropical plants and me they bounce off my mountains. Your beading is lovely! Happy New Year old friend. Love, Kit

Debbie Harris said...

Your beading is always so gorgeous!
Nice organized area you have created and what a joy to look out the window at that beauty while crafting, awesome.

Blessings for the New Year~~

A Joyful Cottage said...

Rainey, your creative space is looking great! Isn't it wonderful how we bloggers can encourage and inspire one another with our posts? Your space may be small, but it's very well organized, and you have a wonderful view to enjoy while you work. Your beading is just lovely. I know I've said that before, but it's true. You are really talented. I'm so glad you had a nice Christmas. It's good to be with family, and it's good to shed some tears. They're cleansing, I think. I'm so glad you share your gorgeous flowers with us. They inspire me to dream of spring and gardening again. Although, I have to admit I enjoy winter here, for it forces me to be inside and more creative. May you have the happiest of New Years and know without a doubt that you are loved by God. I love you, too. :) ~ Nancy

M.K. said...

I'm just amazed at your fresh roses, year round! Only in Florida, I guess :) That last shot is so lovely. Glad you had a relaxing time with family on Christmas and got home safely. So true that there's nothing like being with family, and there's nothing like being at home. We've had both this Christmas, and are so thankful.

NanaDiana said...

I am so glad you had family to spend time with--even if it was a fast drive home. I am happy that you got a good massage and that it helped with the tightness. Blessings to you and yours in the upcoming New Year! xo Diana

Unknown said...

Happy New Year Rainey! Your crafting area looks fantastic! (You've inspired me to clean up my own space.) I love seeing your gorgeous roses. And I saw that beautiful sky the other night - I was awed too! Your photos of it are lovely. I worked in the garden today cleaning up a bit, but boy did it get hot again, lol. Have an enjoyable week!

Rebecca said...

Oh, my goodness! How I'd love to see that studio in person, Lorraine! You've done an incredible job of refreshing/organizing it! This entire post is so inspiring. Glad you got that massage! What a nice (and necessary) gift to give yourself!

Melanie said...

Sounds like you had a good Christmas. I know you miss your husband so much.
Your beading work is always exquisite. You must have good eyes! Your space looks nice and organized.
Beautiful sunset and flower pics...oh, how I miss seeing outdoor flowers!
Many blessings to you for 2017. {{hugs}}

susie @ persimmon moon cottage said...

Happy New Year!
You are off to a great start with your organization in your craft area. I need to get mine organized and cleaned up. It has become such a catch-all place - crafting chaos. It is in our dining room and is visible from the front door in the living room. You got me in the mood to get to work on my craft area very soon.

Your beaded hearts are beautiful! I enjoyed seeing photographs of your beautiful roses. I miss my roses this time of year. Here in Missouri it will be about another six months before I will see roses in my yard again.

Your photographs of the sunsets through the trees are wonderful. Beautiful colors.

Jessica Jarrell said...

Oh, how I love organizing! I've enjoyed it since I was a girl, I used to spend my weekends organizing and rearranging the furniture in my room. I always got such a feeling of satisfaction from it. Your craft area looks amazing! I just recently helped my sister-in-law create a whole closet for her crafts and organized that too. I must say, she was pretty pleased and satisfied with the organization there too.

And those pictures of the sunset, wow! Beautiful! 😍