Splint Baskets

 Hello friends.

Today I wanted to share with you

the various splint baskets I have.

You may wonder what the heck is a splint basket.

A splint is a thin strip of wood.

These splints were mostly made from 

oak, ash and hickory trees.

Native Americans in the Eastern tribes

first brought these well made baskets into fruition.

They came in all kinds of sizes.

mostly square, but there are some round ones.

This is my biggest one.

This one someone whitewashed.

This one has seen better days...

but I still love it.

Large splints.

Smaller splints.

I love them all.

In other news,

Carla asked about my daughter.

She has not even mentioned 

her headache issue to me lately

 since Michael's car accident.

Maybe her focusing on him has made

them go away.

I will have to ask her.

Bob put the antique store up 

for sale again.

He had an offer....a dumb one.

This guy wanted to purchase our building,

have Bob sign a 10 year lease and continue

running the business.

Say what?

Why would we do that when we dont

pay rent now, we own the building 

with no mortgage and we want to sell.

The nerve of some people just amazes me.

Yesterday morning we had freezing rain.

Bob told me to come home because it was

getting bad...so I left work before lunch.

Drove in it for a few miles,

but by the time I reached home it was raining.

Thank goodness.

The thunderstorms rolled in the evening,

and then another round early this morning.

Sunday night out towns tornado alarm

went off just before a thunderstorm arrived.

We were not sure why because it was

really not that bad....I have seen worse,

and also been in a tornado before.

Crazy weather.

Well  have to get ready to go back to work.

April Blessings To All!

Janice

Sunday Starts

 Hi my friends!

Well I just have two new starts today.

Decided I better start working on my saltboxes.

I actually gave up on the Winter one.

Did not like it and felt it was way too small.

So round two working on the Spring ones.

Starting with this one first.

This time I chose a 28 count fabric

instead of a 36 count.

Am loving this stitch now.

Will have to decide if I am going to stitch

all of that white.

It is meant to look like and old 

Polaroid would have looked like.

Next up is Spring Delivery.

This is the sister pattern to

the other bunny am working on. 

Have two chicks stitched.

Then started on the bunny.

Will backstitch the tail as well as the other one.

Just not sure what color yet. 

In other news,

updates on Michael.

The gashes on his legs have become infected.

He is now on antibiotics for this.

The doctor wants to see him in two weeks.

The ortho doctor put his foot in a boot.

He has to go back to see him in three weeks.

He started having another issue.

It is very hard for him to sit and stand now.

Appt has been made to see a back doctor.

Michele received the police report.

It stated that they did take the little girl

by ambulance to the hospital.

She does not know anything else,

so we hope she is alright.

The drunk driver was driving someone else's car.

Does that surprise me...not really.

She is out on bond, but am guessing since 

she already had warrants out,

that she will skip this hearing as well...

and have another warrant out.

It is a pattern with her it seems.

Michael's boss told him to take 

care of himself and not to come back

until he is fully ready two.

At least he has a nice boss.

Friday we had a round of thunderstorms

come in the afternoon. The first time this Spring.

We had rain off and on yesterday.

Looks like more rain today.

Well you know what I will be doing.

First need to make some breakfast.

Omelets with some spinach,

sausage and cheese.

Dinner tonight will be bbq pork sandwiches

with a salad.

I made some homemade 

blueberry vinaigrette dressing last night.

Made a salmon salad with it...

so I want to use it up as it only lasts a few days.

Sunday Spring Blessings to All!

Janice

 

Whippy Wednesday

 Hello all my friends!

Today am showing my 

WIP's (Work In Progress) for the month.

This was my start on Viola Martini.

Am doing this one to remember

 my great grandmothers for

my heritage wall.

Making a lot more progress.

Stitched all of my maternal great grandmother's.

Now just starting on my paternal ones.

Then either I finish with the last row of alphabets,

or I decide to start the motifs at the bottom.

The pic also shows a border, however 

the pattern did not.

I do like that border, so may stitch it in at the end. 

I did not really mind doing this all in red.

It was a variegated cranberry...

which is hard to tell in my pics.

The fabric is a mottled grayish green.

Next up is Sarah Casey Unwin.

This one I decided to do for the verse.

It will not be for my heritage wall.

This was my start.

I work on this one most Saturday's.

Finished the flower in the middle.

Was not a fan of the peach which was called for

in some of the petals.

I opted for a different shade of pink.

The birds were done in peach.

I almost frogged them out, but will leave them.

The pattern repeats on the right,

so will make the other birds peach too...

but this will be the only peach I will stitch.

Then there is Lucky Ewe.

Originally chose my own colors.

When I got to the basket,

I must have tried a dozen different colors

to stitch that shamrock in the middle.

Nothing I chose worked. UGH

So back to the drawing board I went.

Started all over on a piece

of 28 count Green Sapphire linen.

Went and bought the called for floss,

instead of the colors I chose.

Started this time at the bottom,

then worked my way up.

I know St Patrick's Day is over now...

but will continue to stitch

thru the end of the month as much

as possible...then save the rest for next year.

This is more of the truer colors of linen.

Am much happier with the results...

and as they say...when mama is happy,

everybody is happy. LOL

Also hooked a bit more on Potted Plant.

I used two different wools for the leaf.

Hard to believe these were the colors.

A cream wool for the stem.

In other news,

my grandson Michael was in a

car accident Sunday night.

He was hit by a drunk driver who also

had her 2 year daughter in the car

without being restrained in a car seat.

He was taken to the hospital.

God was with him.

He has big gashes and bruising

all over and only a broken toe.

I don't want to show the pics,

because the huge gashes even disturbed me.

They kept him overnight at the hospital

for observation.

The drunk driver was alright of course,

but thankfully as well so was her daughter.

His car is totaled.

When my daughter got to the scene and saw

his car she thought the worst.

The police officer pointed 

to his car and told Michele that was 

the person who did it.

This had been her 5th DUI now.  

Her blood alcohol level was .20

Anything over .08 BAC 

(blood alcohol content) here

in Michigan is considered drunk driving.

She was screaming to get out of the car.

At this point I think her little daughter needs 

to be taken from her for her own safety.

Michael is on meds for pain now.

We hope the gashes heal without getting infected.

He is very sore as well.

Please say a wee prayer if you can 

for that little girl.

She needs to be in a home that will 

truly take care of her.

Michael is still in pain and trying to rest.

He has a good job and will be getting 85%

of his pay for being off on disability.

They are also giving him a food allowance

of $20 per day which I though was nice...

even though my daughter will be helping

with his meals.

Once he starts feeling better, he will

need to look for another car. 

Cars can be replaced, but lives cannot.

The girl who hit him is already out on bail...

hopefully she will not kill someone 

as I am sure it will happen again.

She truly needs the book thrown at her.

 Blessings To All!

Janice

First Spring Display

 

My first Spring display includes these jugs

with faux flowers.

My first sweet Spring display also includes

this bunny, pillow and feather basket.

Created this Bun-Bun many years ago.

I stitched this piece last year.

I stuff most of my pillows with fabric scraps

for that lumpy look. 

Need to finish the other seasons now.

All atop my old dough box.

In other news,

the  day before Spring our temp

was a wonderful 71.

Then the first day of Spring

in came the rain, freezing rain,

and then the snow.

What gives Mother Nature?

While it was snowing Tundra was outside

loving it though.

My daughter Michele ended up

in the ER a few days ago. 

She went to an urgent care first 

after 2 days of migraines and nausea.

They gave her a script.

Did not help so she ended up 

going to the hospital.

By this time her BP was high and migraine 

getting worse.

She spent 6 hours waiting to be seen.

After doing a CT scan and giving her

an IV because she was getting dehydrated,

they sent her home.

After an hour, the migraine came back.

She is making an appt to see a neurologist now. 

I gave her the info for the one Bob sees.

Hopefully he can find the problem.

Don't you love hospitals though?

Speaking of hospitals,

the one near where I work there was

a shooting the other day too.  

I was already at work thankfully.

They had all of the roads closed

and a helicopter in the air 

looking for the suspect...which they 

did finally catch.

An employee shot another employee 

in the hospital parking garage.

Thankfully the one that was shot

was not fatally shot. 

He was shot in the arm twice. 

Still not a good situation.

They blocked the road an hour after 

I went through so I missed the commotion.

Am glad I did miss it.

It is raining here now.

Will be doing my cleaning and laundry.

What will you be doing this weekend?

Spring Is Here Blessings To All!

Janice

March CupboardScape

Hello friends.

Spring is almost here.

YAY

March always reminds me

of the color green.

Am not a big fan of green,

but I do have faux greens...

so this is what I decided to do

for my March CupboardScape. 

This cross stitch was a pattern

from Notforgotten Farm.

I stitched this many years ago.

The border is shamrocks.

This is a cement bunny planter.

I kill indoor plants so another faux one.

Again showing off my leprechaun

by Notforgotten Farm.

More faux ferns inside one of

 my favorite ovoid blue slip crocks.

Me thinks I captured the green pretty well here.

In other news,

hope everyone had a wonderful 

St Patrick's Day

if you celebrate.

Gone are the days where I would go to 

the Irish bar with co-workers.

We would sing Irish songs and drink green beer.

Stay until almost closing, and get up

to go to work the next day.

The owner knew us, 

so he never charged a cover fee.

The fee was for the band.

All others had to pay $5.00 to get in.

He catered in Irish food.

He made so much money just this one day,

it covered the bills for the remainder of the year.

My mom told me on Saturday that just

North of her they had 6 inches of snow.

So glad it did not come near us.

We had rain off and on Saturday and Sunday.

Bob put a fire in the fireplace to get the chill out.

We were toasty at night.

My co-worker who left me, called last night.

He does miss me, but is so much happier.

Am glad for him. 

I told him I was counting my 339 days now to retirement.

He laughed and said it was actually less days

that I have to work...because I should not 

count the weekends, my vacation days,

the holidays we get off and even my sick days.

If I do that I estimate 200 days.

Well that's it for now.

Happy Post St Patty's Day Blessings To All!

Janice

Friday Finish

 Hello my friends!

Well I only have one finish.

Actually I finished this stitch

last February...but

I fully finished it now.

WOOHOO.

This was one of Lori's patterns

from Notforgotten Farm.

The pattern is called

Lucky O'Greene.

Lori just released a new one

with a lady called Maggie O'Greene

which I will have to purchase now.

Finished into this sweet pillow.

This was the fabric I chose for the border

and the back.

The left I coffee stained a bit while the right

was the original color of this fabric.

In other news.

driving through the marsh this week,

I have noticed it is coming out of hibernation.

The Redwing Blackbirds are back 

with their sweet song.

The muskrats have come 

out of their underwater dens.

The swans are paired up ready for love.

Soon the baby cygnets will appear

swimming alongside their parents.

I also saw my first heron hiding in the

dried phragmites waiting for his dinner.

Plan on getting my Spring displays

put out in my home.

Will go grocery shopping today

 during my lunch. 

Am working form home today and the 

store I go to is only a few miles away.

I write down my list and it is organized

by the route of the store...

so I can get in and out.

Will probably be crafting, crocheting, 

stitching and hooking this weekend.

What are your plans for your weekend?

Friday Blessings To All!

Janice