thee handworks

introducing

raisin....

and peter.

several years ago (well over 10), my husband had promised to get my oldest daughter a bunny.  she was very good and patient in waiting for her father to follow through.  time passed.  after awhile, i think she figured out that it wasn't going to happen.  it eventually became a joke between the two of them ("you mean, you fell for that?!") and she came to accept the fact that there would be no bunny in her future.  her younger sister even tried on that plea with no success.  i reminded them both that i was promised some goats and cows (and maybe even a horse or two) years ago...and i'm still waiting.

a couple weeks ago my husband called me and told me that he was on his way home.  he wanted me to have the girls come out and meet him in the driveway when he got there.  knowing him the way i do, i started to get nervous.  you just never know what to expect from that man.  however, once the girls saw him coming down our dirt road, they went out and waited.  i didn't follow immediately since i was in the middle of something.  my curiousity go the best of me when i heard the squeals though.

i've been assured that they are both males and only a few weeks old.  regardless, these little buggers stole my heart instantly.  how can they not?  i spend as much time as the girls holding and cuddling and yes, squealing over the absolute, downright, honest-to-goodness cuteness.

now, when my husband pulls into the driveway, i anxiously peek out to see if he's got a goat or cow in the back of his truck for me....cuz, he did promise.  i'm not holding my breath though.

new beginnings

a couple weekends ago we had a surprise graduation party for my oldest daughter.  i had started planning it several weeks beforehand and, with the amount of people that we were inviting, it was so hard to keep it quiet.  really....i'm *highly* underrated, and i think i proved that when i was able to completely pull off inviting over 40 people, receive their r.s.v.p.'s and make all the food...without her having any idea what-so-ever.  yep...i'm good.

first day of school

i always thought this milestone would leave me a babbling, weepy mess.  instead, i am so incredibly proud of what she has accomplished thus far in her life as well as what she has taught me.  it wasn't always an easy journey, but the rewards have exceeded all of my expectations.  she's a good kid and she makes me so proud.

she hasn't completely made up her mind on what she wants to be 'when she grows up', so i think she's decided that she's going to take the advice given to her at her graduation celebration by various folks:  lay around and let your parents support you as long as you can get away with it. 

uhh....no.

round 2

yes, i went back for more torture, but it wasn't my idea.  my oldest daughter had seen something there the last time that she decided she just had to have.  i seriously considered sending her in to get what she needed by herself...but my curiosity got the best of me.

this was my greeting as i walked through the door.  a sign?  possibly.  i left it untouched and quickly walked to another section.

another reason why i love antique stores-you get to travel back in time and relive some good memories.  my grandma had at least two sets of these glasses and i remember her using them often for lemonade and iced tea.  had completely forgotten about them up until that point.  no...they didn't come home with me though.  i was simply there to observe, admire, photograph and leave...empty-handed.

do you know how hard it is, with that plan in mind, to see this scene?  oh my gosh, i need to get myself a compact car.  the empty bed of my truck is going to be the downfall of me!  i whimpered....and walked on.

these were really hard to photograph as they were in a tall glass case, way past my eye level...but obviously my eyes have been trained to not miss something as important as this.  i love old wooden butter molds.  but still....i walked on, fully convinced that what i was experiencing was a horrible form of torture secretly used by many countries to break the poor, unsuspecting victims.  i knew that i needed to get out of there soon or i would become one of those poor, unsuspecting victims...a rather willing one.

just as i was starting to think i was going to make it out the door without spending a dime, my eye caught these (maybe i should start wearing sunglasses inside these sort of places?).  i need those.  i had been looking for a nice, small sugar bowl for awhile but hadn't found one that i liked.  after examining both (they were sold as a set), i resigned myself to the fact that they were coming home with me.  fine...i gathered them up and headed to the register to pay...which just happened to be clear across the store. 

while twisting and turning through the maze of goods that were just screaming out to me....this little guy screamed the loudest.  i had already been through that section and totally missed it...but it stopped me in my tracks the second time through.  my recipe box!  i caved as soon as i saw it.  it was exactly what i was looking for and as soon as i picked it up and opened it up, my mind started drifting to who owned it before, what they stored in it, what their life was like.  i swear, the smell of "old" (you folks that like these sort of things know what i'm talking about!) just knocks any sort of reasoning out of my head.  i grabbed it, and ran to the counter with my money in hand. 

so, i didn't walk out empty-handed (the plan).  however, i didn't walk out of there with the absurd amount of things that i wanted to.  plus, my oldest daughter spent way more than i did.  okay....so we'll just call it a tie and move on.  no rematch is being planned....i don't think i can handle another one for a good long while.

country kitchen fixins

it all  started out as a defiant fist shaken at the cold and dreary days of february.  i needed bright, spring and summer like colors in my white and gray world and this pattern, along with a pile of fabrics from my stash, was just what i needed to pull me through that last month of blah.  it got pushed aside for awhile, but it never worked itself off of my cutting table.  finally, during a wet and dreary stretch in may, i sat myself down and finished it off.

this project was also a challenge to myself in a way.  for the past few years i've had a really hard time with published patterns.  somewhere along the line i came to feel stifled by them in a way. for years i would follow them to the exact dot, but out of the blue, i shyed away from them.  it's been strange, exciting in a way, but yet i've felt restricted as well.  it's really hard to put it all into words.  there are published patterns out there that i find appealing, but because they are published, i lose all interest.  however, let me come across an old antique quilt that i have to sit down and draw out the pattern myself, and the excitement builds.  this is a pattern that i've always liked (by kim diehl), i had fabrics that i thought would work wonderfully, so i just did it.  still, in looking at it now, it doesn't bring as strong of a connection as some of my other quilts that i've brainstormed my way through.

regardless, it's done, and that fact makes me very happy!  i have decided that it is ideal for on my porch, to add color and comfort.  at first i wasn't sure if i'd be able to put one of my quilts out in the elements like that (even though it would get very little of sun and/or rain and is brought in at evening), but now, it looks so at home and i love it.  it reminds me of an old fashioned country kitchen, always busy and full of homemade goods....like dough-nuts.  and pies, of course.

speaking of summer, even though it's a couple weeks away yet according to the calendar, the weather is saying otherwise.  it has been absolutely gorgeous here with temps well into the 90's.  yes, it is the ideal weather to this girl and i am loving it!  as if it couldn't get any better, we saw our first fireflies last evening.  yes...these are the things that get me through those nasty and cold winters.  that, and my quilts, of course.

i know better

see? this is what happens when i allow myself inside an antique shop.  quilt shops and antique shops are my downfall, and it's a fact that i'm well aware of, but for some reason i thought this time would be different.  this time, i wouldn't let my self-control hit the road and i'd walk out of there totally in control.

i was a simple task: i needed bowls.  nice, heavy, colorful bowls.  do you know how hard it is to find those these days?  i've been searching for well over a year and the closest i've come to finding what i wanted was a couple of flimsy pottery ones, not to mention some nasty plastic versions.  i got to thinking, they just don't make bowls like they use to, like in my grandma's days.  that's what i get for thinking.

upon arrival, i gave myself a stern talking to and walked in.  within 3 minutes i had talked myself out of buying at least half a dozen pieces of furniture that were to die for.  five more minutes and i knew that i best find myself some bowls quick like and get my hiney out of there.  not too long after that, i found exactly what i was looking for, and it was a whole set.  i grabbed them and looked up to find the girls and tell them that we were outta there.  and that's when i saw it.  all folded up, nice and neat and innocent looking...and on a church pew at that.

i convinced myself on the short walk over that i would be okay.  afterall, the 40's wasn't really my 'era' so, hey, everything is cool.  temptation setting on a church pew.  shameful.

once i unfolded it, i was gone.  it's in fabulous shape with no tears or fabrics thinning.  but still, i held strong. it wasn't until i saw that it was all done by hand  that i lost my sense of composure and plunged off the edge i was clinging to.  all while sitting on that blasted church pew.  yep.  it was going home with me. 

 

so, antique shop-1, me-0.  i haven't been back, but hey, i got me some really beautiful bowls!