Pilgrim Motivation and Poacher

Sometimes it just takes the right thing to get me motivated and with DH out of town (I stay up until all hours of the night when he's gone), these two pilgrims were going to get made.  They have been on my list since last Thanksgiving.  I love, love, loved them the first time I saw them on Earlene's blog.  I knew they wouldn't be hard to make.  Of course, I had to figure my own pattern, but that wasn't too bad.  *Their skin isn't so pale as it shows in the picture.*

Their mouths, I have been told by select family members, say they remind them of "Frankenstein" or "Edward Scissor Hands" (a movie in which the main character's mouth was stapled closed).

Maybe it's just the primitive in me, but I love the mouths, so they will stay that way:)

Now for names..........

  

Here is the picture of Earlene's.  She told me she bought them at a little shop nearby her home and even offered to pick up a pair and mail them to me after I enquired as to where she got them.  What a sweet, sweet lady.  I  like the darker skin, but I didn't have any Walnut Stain.  So mine are just very fair:)  Go check her blog out www.primitivepassion.blogspot.com.  She has some really beautiful and inspiring things to share. Also, if anyone knows who makes the pattern, I would love to be able to give them credit.

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Here is the next project I really want to get done before December.  I love advent calenders of any kind and I thought this one would be extra fun to make for the girls.  Each day has a Christmas activity you can do together. 

Here are the Instructions if you are interested.  It would be a fun thing to have in your house for the Grand kids too (if they live nearby).

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This past week has been a hard one for my parents and for my children.  They lost their dog Poacher.  He has been in the family since before my children were born and was the only dog they have ever loved.  He was the best family member you could ask for.  He loved the children dearly and would sleep with them every night they visited.  He was a hunter and a chaser and a fetcher.  We shed many tears last Friday and cried ourselves to sleep.  There was a ceremony and prayer and he is buried close by the home.  

This is a picture of  "Middle" as a baby by Poacher.  She would poke his eyes and pull his ears and he wouldn't move a muscle.

Now she is grown up and Poacher so old.  

We will miss you "Old Boy"

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We haven't had any Fall snow yet.  We are anxiously awaiting though.  I can't wait to get through this next week to officially begin the Christmas celebrations.  I have been enjoying all the Christmas things on your blogs' here and there.  Just a few more days:)

Have a great one and thanks for visiting me today.

Some Fall Decor and The Oregon Coast

It seems like forever since I have done a "normal" post with pictures and thoughts to share.  Life gets that way sometimes.  Simple as it may be, these are some of the displays around my home this fall.  The girls help me decorate on the first of every September.  A tradition they and I look forward to alike.

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 The vacation we took to the Oregon Coast never fails to deliver.  As many times as we have been there the scenery never tires.  I am always amazed at the splendor and beauty of it every time.  I wish with all my heart that I could just pack up and move to a beach house there.  It is a home away from home.

The girls spent hours of their "down" time playing the a bucket pulley system I devised.

Down the beach on Tierra Del Mar.

It's fun to see my girls and their cousins get old enough to walk between beach houses all by themselves.  A little group of giggling friends.

The waves were AMAZING at Depoe Bay this year.  We have never seen them that large.  They were crashing onto the rocks and up over the edge of the side walk.  We watched them for a good hour blowing up through a channel and creating a massive spray.  Way better than Old Faithful for sure:)

This year I taught them to make Sand Meatballs or "Sand Bombs".  Something I did as a child.

Even baby figured out how to do it.

Spending time with Grandma digging for buried treasure.

Amazing Sunsets.

Hubby tried so hard to catch the elusive Salmon but no luck this year.  We did however pull in a ton of crab.  Yummy.

On the 11 hour drive there are so many neat things to see.  I love the tree farms especially. Miles and miles of trees.  All spaced exactly the same. 

May my heart ever lie with the Ocean.  Someday, we will retire there.  Someday.

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Today is a down day.  My IC has flared up this morning:(  So, I am laying low and taking it easy.  Oh, except for all the laundry.  Ha ha.

Have a great day. And don't forget to go and sign up for the Winter Wonderland Giveaway.  Just click here.

Tuesday Display Chain~A New Appreciation

I was very excited to see that Misi is hosting the Tuesday Display Chain again this Fall.  I have so  much fun with them and get to visit with many new and old blogging friends.  It's a good chance for me to stretch my creativity.  If you want to join, go on over to her blog and sign in.  

This weeks theme is "A New Appreciation".  I get to post a picture of a display in the way that I interpret this.  

There are many new appreciations that come with the season.  But how do you build a display around the thankfulness for cooler weather, or the fact that you don't have to water your garden anymore?  (It was getting a bit tiring)!!  

But, as I looked around at the decor in some of my displays, I began to appreciate the free gifts that Mother Nature offers me to put in my home this time of year.

Earlier in September, I picked some berries from a tree in the park and strung them.  Then I gathered up some of my dried sunflower heads and hung them in a row. Pine cones are always easy to find.  If you go hiking up on the Mnts. East of here you may find Putka Pods to dry.  They look like little tiny cute pumpkins.  I found mine at Michael's though.  

I really wanted to make some cinnamon smelling bowl fillers for my entryway.  I found a few small pine cones, shucked the corn that I grew, and gathered some dried berries.  Then I made a concoction of cinnamon oil and soaked them in it.  A trip in the oven dried it all up good.  

We have three tall grass plants outside our side window.  I thought that some of the taller stems would look lovely inside for the season.  A few snips later they became a part of my home decor.

Welcome to my entry way.  I hope that you find some fall pleasure here.  I know that I do.  

Thanks for visiting my little piece of the world.  I appreciate all your wonderful comments and the friendship you have to offer.  Have a great day. 

Fall Is Here And The Kids Are Gone

Fall's First Breath

The golden hue of the sun is playing on the dried grasses and the perfectly round bales of hay today.

It's distant and muted.  Giving the picture a matte finish.

A trick, just for the fun of Mother Nature.  Tomorrow we will see.

A chilly night's sleep goes unnoticed.  The damp, cool morning does not.

The cool wetness gives way to the warmth.  Leaving behind a tapestry of scents: ripening fields, aging leaves, smoky hints.

The air clings and hangs closer.  Pulling, softly tugging.  "I am coming, I am coming".  

Anxious feelings imprinted from childhood.  Excitement of the change fill us up as night falls faster.

It's a surety.

Fall is creeping in.  Seething around the folded corners of the slowly dying leaves and slipping through the ragged edges of the cut grain.

Soon, the crisp will follow.  Blanketing the world and transforming it once again.  Giving it a glorious new name. 

Autumn.

~Stephani~

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Ann from A Hole in the Basket Primitives was having a pattern pass along.  I was the lucky recipient.  It's a Stacy Nash design and was so much fun to stitch.  I have it hanging in my front entryway. Thanks again Ann.

Now that I am done with it, I want to pass it along again to someone who will promise to use it.

Just comment letting me know that you would like it and I will pick a name on Friday.  

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Taking August for the girls was a very good thing.  But, so many times I wanted to run to the computer to share what was going on. 

I won't try to play catch up with you but will share just a few.

We have had some very big fires close to home.  It's amazing to see the fury of Nature.  

 Our neighbor is a fisher and crabber in Alaska.  He was visiting his family for a couple of weeks and brought this by our house for dinner. The girls thought it was amazing.  It sat in a steel bowl in our refridgerator over night.  They watched it move and breath and spit water in and out.

 Every 4 or 5 years the Blue Angles come and give us a show at the  airport.  We live just North of it where the show flies.  We get them right over our house.  So we stand on our lawn chairs and watch.  They are so loud and shake the ground as they go by.

 Don't ever let the Kirby salesman in your door.  Three hours later you will be willing to spend the money just to get him to leave.

 We have had some spectacular shots of the moon.  We also have had some amazing lightning storms.

 We go to the County Fair every year where the girls get to ride rides, eat as much as they want, and have fun looking at the animals and exhibits.  Oldest threw up "again" because she ate too much.  How many fried Nutter Butters, donuts, candy fish, icecream, popcorn, and soda can you eat before you do?  Oh, ya.  Put it all on top of a Happy Meal too.

School started today. The kids are all gone.  I have all three going for the first time.  It is very quiet here and I am left with all my own thoughts.  It's scary.  Ususally I am always helping, or fixing, or talking, or breaking up an argument or two.  Now.....nothing.  Complete silence.

What will I ever do?

Have a great week.

Thankful for you and for inspiration

I really just have to say that I am so thankful that I can blog.  Staying at home all day with my children is exactly the way I want to raise them.  It is fulfilling but, sometimes I need something else to occupy my mind and time.  I have been able to meet so many neat people and talk with other women who share my interests.  It's fun to see all the wonderful things you create and to get inspiration from you.  My house is smelling better :), the chores are done a little faster (so I can have time to blog), my children get tended to more promptly (so I don't feel guilty about blogging),  and I am finding a ton of new ways to have a creative outlet.  So, thank you for reading my blog and commenting and being a part of my primitive life.  It means so much to me.

I have been working very hard on some things this week.  These are the acorn bowl fillers that I have wanted to get done for so long.  I got the idea for the dried sunflowers from Dru with a Fine Farmhouse.  I ran outside to the garden last night, during the halftime show, with a flashlight, scissors, and a grocery bag to cut some off.  

Before I applied the stems and grunge mixture, my two year old picked each one up and said "ice cream" and licked the tops.  She is so funny. 

I felt so sore that I didn't win the spell book from Eve with Lee Hill Primitives:(  I really loved that book and I still do.  She was nice enough to post instructions so I could make one myself.  Now, I still like hers better, but mine will do.

I found these things, whatever you call them, at good will.  I wanted to make a witch broom out of them.   So, yesterday I was cutting sticks from my raspberries and thought they could be a broom handle.  The inside of raspberry branches have a soft pulp so I just shoved that pointed end right in and wala, a broom.  Somedays I feel like I need a witch broom and hat of my own:{

 Christine with preferably prim posted a tutorial on these cute crows.  How many crows is too many?  A flock is building up here.  They are addicting to make and sooo easy to make.  My six year old thought I was making stuffed animals and wanted me to make her some to play with!!

Batches of hearth corn are coming from my oven and it smells like a cinnamon factory around here.  I couldn't find any whole corn at my feed store in bulk so I had to dry my own.  

Thanks for letting me share.  

Now I have to go help three little girls with their dress up costumes.  They are having a pretend dance party. 

Have a happy weekend.