Flowers, a sweet ‘win’, another beaded shell

Good morning Folks ~ Hope you are all doing well. I am feeling better with each new day.

Monday afternoon I received a wonderful give-away win, that I had forgotten about.  Terry, who had the give-away, got sick and waited until she was well to work on my gift.  I ‘love’ it. It makes me feel happy. It suits me to a T. She did a lovely job. I don’t know much about needle felting, but have admired lovely creations by so many out on the web.  You can read Terry’s post about creating my piece, here. She did a wonderful job!  Butterflies, flowers and birds, bring JOY to my heart.

Thank you Terry.

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Next we have three glorious stems of the Dancing Lady orchids. I’ve been watching for a few weeks for these to open. This is at the back/east of caravan, between caravan and the ‘solar clothes dryer’, (clothesline).

I just love the ‘cat whiskers’ blooms.  These do look like Miss T’s whiskers.

This is ‘sweet almond’ and the scent is heavenly.

Here are another couple of pics of the first beaded shell I did. More of the detail.

Here is the second beaded shell.  I just love this design and it was relatively simple to do. Except that I bent my needle out of shape going through the somewhat hard backing to do this on, when getting started. Needle is very thin. The needle has a long eye which is great for threading. I did buy some of the .006 very fine beading thread and it works great.

You can see how to do this here.

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I need to quit procrastinating and get some pieces listed in my little Etsy shop. Kathy B. gave me a huge plug in her comment, so I need to get busy.

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Well, I guess that’s it from Plum Cottage.

( I need to do quite a bit of prep work, before repainting the cottage plum, although, if I do it one section or two at a time, maybe it won’t be so bad. I had a ‘highly recommended’ painter out yesterday to get an estimate. He would charge me $60 an hour, he normally charges $75, said he’s fast. He understood if I wanted to do it myself ~ I told him I am on a limited budget ~ and gave me some pointers.  He also told me the paint brand I have picked out is a very good one. Behr Premium Plus Ultra. It has the primer and the paint all in one.  I had read about it online, decided it was what I wanted to use, and it was a joy to work with from the paint samples. Anyway, this is going to be an ongoing project, doing it when I can. He told me to not work in the sun, to take breaks and to drink lots of water. He sounded like my DH. (We were always conscious of these things, so as to not get dehydrated.) He/Jimmy the painter,  encouraged me and said he would walk me through the job and if I needed him for tips or any help to give him a call.  The encouragement alone was worth $60.)

Enjoy your days ~ FlowerLady

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If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces,

never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.

Flavia Weedn, Flavia and the Dream Maker

Flowers, goodies, needlework, T-storms

Good afternoon Friends ~ It is Sunday and hot and humid, it is 84 and feels like it is 94 with the humidity at 71%. We’ve had some nasty T-storms the past few days, strong winds, heavy rains and thunder and lightening. More rain is expected this afternoon and the next few days.  We’ve needed the rain, and I am thankful for it.

The gardens love the rain too, not just flowers but weeds too. I’ve got vines and weeds taking over the ‘back 40’, and other areas at the back of the property. UGH!  There’s nothing like ‘liquid sunshine’ for making things grow.

Here are  some of the blooms in the gardens right now.

This is my favorite hibiscus ~ ‘Hugs-n-Kisses’.

Night blooming jasmine.

‘Plumeria’ a bloom blown out of one of my three plumeria trees in the front garden.

Rubber vine

Spicy Jatropha

Vanda ‘Miss Joachim’

‘Cocktail’

‘Kathleen’

Remember me telling about receiving a monetary gift from a dear family member and she told me to spend it however I saw fit.  I told you I thought of a bread machine since my old one that served me well for 14 years pooped out recently. Well, I ordered the same make, and picked it up Friday morning before work. It’s a little bigger than the last one, but basically the same. I did peel off the label after I made a loaf of oatmeal bread yesterday morning before work.

This was a new recipe which had more oatmeal in it than what I usually use, and while the bread ‘fell’ a little it was still delicious! This  does happen occasionally, not the fault of the machine, it could be any number of reasons.  There is something really wonderful about homemade bread.  The aroma while it was baking was so ‘homey’ and comforting.

With the money left-over , I decided to get a new ironing board cover. This old one has served me many years, but it’s not really me.

I found out about these hand made quilted ironing board covers from a blogging friend. She bought one and posted about it here. I emailed her and asked her where she got her cover and she sent me the link to the lady who makes these and sells them in her Etsy shop. You can visit her here.

She mailed it right out and I think that was Thursday and I got it Sat. afternoon. She’s in Maine and I’m way down here in s.e. FL.

I love this and the quality is and the workmanship is GREAT!

Here’s the quilting pattern.  Definitely made for ‘FlowerLady’ who loves roses.

The bread machine and the ironing board cover will make me think of this dear person in my family when I use them. I want to say a public thank you to her right now, without telling who she is. She knows.

Now, here are some needlework projects. This one below is still a work in progress. Silk ribbon embroidery, and a crocheted/beaded trim. I love working with threads, hooks, needles, beads and ribbon.

Not sure what I’m going to do with this one yet.

Here is more silk ribbon embroidery ~ Started out with white ribbon for rose and leaves, three different sizes of silk ribbon, colored with alcohol ink markers. The little French knots are  a variegated purple embroidery floss.

The frame I picked up at a little flea market in the spring. It was perfect for this piece, made for a friend who had a birthday. Yellow roses are special to her. I also colored the roses on the frame with the alcohol ink markers.

Tomorrow is our widow’s group, ‘Friends Needing Friends’, meeting and luncheon, and I’ll be talking in front of the group. Yikes! First on how I came to start the blog (one year ago), for the group, and secondly I’ll be talking on the widow ‘Anna the Prophetess’, and how this widow in the Bible has inspired me in my widowhood journey.  If you think of it, say a little prayer for me. Writing a blog is a whole different thing than speaking in front of a group.

“The Lord is my strength”.

He is how I’m able to move forward and grow in His love, grace and mercy.

Thank you all again for being such a great bunch of friends. You’ve blessed, encouraged and inspired me in many ways.

Have a GREAT week whatever you do. 

Trust in the Lord. Call on Him and He will work all things out.

FlowerLady

Lots of blooms :-)

Hi Folks ~ It’s been 9 days since I last posted and I’ve a passel of pictures to show you. We are being blessed with cool weather still, low 80’s, cool breezes and the humidity isn’t too bad.  I am so thankful for that. We’ve got cloud cover today, which is nice for working outside, which I did some of this morning.  I got a load of laundry washed and hung out too and mowed.

Last week I wanted to make pizza, so loaded the ingredients into my bread pan and plugged it in like normal.  Well, it did NOT sound right at all, and then the motor just stopped running and was making a grinding noise. I unplugged it, waited a minute and plugged it in again.  Same thing. I’ve had this for 14 years and it served us well. Now I will get another one, and Oster 5838 (same brand, but if I’m not mistaken, this one makes horizontal loaves.)  I can order it through Walmart and they will send it to my store.  The store does not carry it. I did make the pizza dough and let it rise, but kneading the dough really got to my right wrist which was damaged in a car accident in 2000. The machine has been a joy to use, just put in the ingredients, close the lid, plug it in and it does it’s thing.  While I’m out doing other things the bread is making and before long it smells wonderful in here.

Anyway, lots of blooming is going on down here in tropical s.e. FL. From what I’ve seen from your blogs, there is lots blooming for most of you too.  It’s a great time of year.

The first few photos are of Bauhinia acuminata or Dwarf White Orchid tree.  I grew this from seed, planted in 2005. This is the first year that it is loaded with blooms.

It is in the terra cotta pot at the end of the picket fencing, next to the caravan.

The queen crepe is loaded with buds this year. I need to take a picture in the morning, this was taken late afternoon.

This is a new hibiscus.  Isn’t it a beauty?

First blooms on Jerusalem Thorn, grown from seed, planted in 2005, it’s about 6 feet tall.

‘Angel Face’ roses.

‘Granada’ bud

Unknown rose

Unknown miniature rose

Another unknown miniature rose

‘Prosperity’ rose bud, this is a cutting from my main bush. I was thrilled that it rooted and is now in bloom.

Hamelia paten and Zebra Longwing

Purple Velvet plant with pretty bloom.

Sunrise one morning last week.  The clouds were moving at a fast pace from the west.

That’s it for now. 

Enjoy the rest of your week, count your blessings and let people know you care.

FlowerLady

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"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it,

it's your world for the moment.

I want to give that world to someone else. 

Most people in the city rush around so,

they have no time to look at a flower. 

I want them to see it

whether they want to or not."   

 Georgia O'Keeffe