Uggg! This weather!

 No siree!! You will not hear me wishing for snow any time soon!! I am scared to death trying to get from the front porch steps to the chicken house door...slick as ice out there!!

No soft, fluffy snow here! We have sleet, and freezing rain, all packed down hard and slippery! Poppy went to the mailbox yesterday...

There was no mail and no sign of tire tracks that the mail had run. Going in the opposite direction here, takes you into town. In case you're interested. :)

 

                  

I started this post last Tuesday and here it is Saturday! The ground is still solid packed ice and we're waiting now for the next snowstorm. 

We are not used to weather like this...ice covering the ground for a week and now a major snowstorm predicted for today and tomorrow! 

So afraid of falling, I had to come up with some way to get to the goat lot and chicken house...

Well, necessity is the mother of invention! Our towels will probably never come clean but that's okay. We need a stack of new ones anyway. This idea works perfectly!! The towels stick to the ice and the top feels like walking on grass.

This pink one especially won't come clean! I had spilled a cup of coffee on it before adding it to my path. :) The damp towels stick to the ice better. 

One more weather-related item and I will hush about it...Take a look, if you will at the weird icicle...

Okay, I'm done. You Northerners are probably thinking, "she doesn't know anything!!  and I bet you're right!

Staying inside now, Ugg!!! I was bound and determined to finish this apron that has almost broke me from sewing altogether...

First, this apron has darts. Darts! I don't like making darts and the ones in this apron are odd and hard to get right. Then I had to sew the pocket on twice. I made the ruffle too short and had to take it completely off, add another length and gather it all over again! Then I pinned the bib to the skirt, sat down to sew it on and had pinned the bibb on backwards. Whew!! 

I've made a few teeny tiny pinafores and bonnets. These used to sell really well at the farmer's market. Don't know why I stopped making them...

Well, it's 10:41 am here and a few tiny snowflakes have started to fall. Guess I'll go prop up at the kitchen window, watch the birds, and finish off the bowl of popcorn from last night. :(

Want to mention though, I was looking back at the comments on my last post, the one just before Christmas. There were some very nice comments that I am just seeing. Thank you! And South Carolina girl, I enjoyed reading about the wormy Hickory nuts. The panful on our front porch may have worms but are too frozen to move around. :) 

Thank you, dear friends.

Love, Henny

Anybody remember ...

my ball of string?? I started saving the string off every bag of feed we opened starting back in 1989, well, it was probably 1990 before we actually got chickens, and the pretty black sheep Poppy brought home for me to love and care for...

The ball has grown so big I can hardly hold it, making the string hard to wrap.

My neighbor gave me a large mouth jar to keep it from rolling away. :)   "important stuff"...

I finally got around to making myself an apron. It's a cross-back and made from Holly Hobbie fabric...

and the back...

Since I've enjoyed wearing my long pantaloons lately, I figured a tee shirt, and apron would do the outfit up right. Believe it or not, these pantaloons I make with the wide legs and elastic waist are much cooler to wear than jeans in this extremely hot weather. 

and, if you're wondering where the Holly Hobbie fabric came from, well, Cousin Patty! She had yards and yards stored away. I was tickled to death to get it. I've made bags, ladies' aprons, and girl's aprons and now one for myself. Thank you, Patty.

and do you remember this...

The date on this pattern is 1973 and I found it in a thrift store a few years back. One of these days I might try and make the doll. My oldest daughter Lynn was 10 years old in 1973. Gosh! How time flies. Back then the little girls loved Holly Hobbie and now I love her. :)

Okay, more important stuff to show you...

Have you ever seen a prettier ear of corn!! (I'm kidding). This grew on a stalk of my beautiful Hickory Cane Corn! I'm just so tickled. And, it's just like Rose said...the shucks are so tightly wrapped at the top no bugs or worms can damage the corn. Hickory Cane Corn was grown for animal feed and for cornmeal, grits, etc. but can be roasted and eaten while tender and young. :)  Thank you, Rose.

I made a little video of my beautiful Hickory Cane Corn blowing in the breeze yesterday. I love the sounds too but didn't mean to go a little over one minute. If I sound proud, well, I've never been able to grow corn. Just think of all the decorating I can do with these stalks this fall!! :)

Well, once again I have talked your ears off and gone on and on about stuff. Thank you if you are still here.

This little green frog was about to move in with us, so we sat him in the birdbath just outside the front door...

Love, Henny   

"Even the best laid plans

of mice and men often go awry". :)

Yes, they do! My intentions were to post once a week.  Anyhow, busy this morning with my usual jobs, the words, "even the best laid plans", kept going through my mind. Where did this come from? So, I Googled it. Awww, the poem, "To a Mouse", by Robert Burns. I sat and read the poem. 

Oh my, now I could get into some mouse stories. I've done a couple posts way back about tiny mice and my struggle to save their tiny lives. 

image borrowed from the computer

 

Maybe later. :) Friends, I am not believing, (forgive me for bragging) how pretty the teeny tiny garden is. Thank you Rose for your suggesting the old timey corn...the corn stalks are tall, some already 10' and still growing...

It's so much fun to watch everything grow and thrive. Last year the bell peppers and eggplants and even the tomatoes were such a disappointment. This year everything is doing well, and the one squash plant...

Well, you can see Poppy's arm, how small it appears compared to the plant. So far, we've gathered 22 squashes, there are 5 more almost ready to pick, and still many tiny ones coming on...one squash plant!!

Back to the corn, we found a tiny ear of corn coming on. Hickory Cane Corn grows only 2 ears per stalk...

How cute! Pink tassels for hair and see the huge cornfield bean vines winding up the huge stalks...so exciting!

And look what I found in the shade beneath the corn, a kitty cat...

 The next prettiest thing growing in the garden is the one Cone Flower...

All these blooms are from one single plant. I've never had any luck growing Cone Flowers so next year I just may have a row of just flowers. Wouldn't that be fun, and pretty!

Speaking of fun, Shelby and I were vendors at the Bee Jubilee in Oxford last Saturday. Fun, but a very hot humid 95-degree day. I was too busy fanning myself to take pictures. :)  Thank goodness for the cooler full of crushed ice, drinks, and battery-operated fans. The day went well. lots of customers, lots of sells. 

I do have an apron picture to show you. I've decided this is my favorite of all apron patterns. It's a little harder to make but worth the work...

I love the heart shaped bib, skirt, and pocket, and here's a blue print...

and matching bonnets...

The chicken print sold fast, as usual. I came home ready to start sewing again. 

Oh my gosh, I have talked your ears off again. So I will end this bragging and showing off pictures, but can I show you one more?

Little Violet got a new pocketbook to carry her important stuff in...

One year old and putting a cell phone in her bag. :) 

Thank you for visiting. Hope I haven't driven you all away. 

Love, Henny

Yearly Porch Cleaning...

and it's that time again! Sometimes here under all the trees, seems like the pollen will never end! What a green dusty mess the back porch was, so on a warm sunny day last week I went to work with a mop and bucket of warm soapy water...and of course the water hose.

far from perfect, but here's our clean porch...chairs fit to sit in again...

Oops! Just realized I took the picture before putting the clean tablecloth back on the table. The old porch floor needs another coat of paint...maybe one day.  

and, the other end of the porch...

Well, the porch doesn't look as pretty as I would like but most of the dirt and dust is gone.

So yesterday I went to work on our little front porch...dragging furniture around while mopping and scrubbing and rinsing away a year's worth of dirt...

and here's the other end of the teeny tiny porch...

My favorite thing about the little front porch is the old cupboard. You can barely see it over to the right in the first picture. I've told the story a hundred times, but the cupboard was a gift from my cousin Patty...

Anyhow, I've taken out all the fall dishes and stuff and added spring dishes...

I had to rake and scrape to gather the right dishes. My next trip to the thrift store I hope to find a pretty flowered pitcher and a few more things. 

Patty and I were texting about the new spring look and she suggested moving the candle to the side instead of in the center...so I did.  Poppy must have thought it looked off balance and centered it again. :(  

Anyhow, decorating the old cupboard added joy to the scrubbing of the front porch.

Better get busy. I'll be doing the farmer's market tomorrow. I have finished three aprons and 4 bonnets this week. Want to show you this cute one with the flowers and bees and butterflies...

and a couple of lavender bonnets...(pardon the messy bed)

Sewing is messy work.  :)   Thank you so much dear friends, and a new follower. Oh my. Thank you!

Love, Henny

Another first!

There's lettuce growing in the teeny tiny garden...

Lettuce fit for picking and eating! I'm pretty tickled about that. 

Have I told you about the farmer's market?

Well you see, wishing for a little extra spending money and seeing all the sunbonnets and aprons I've sewn, hanging around decorating my little sewing room, I decided to call our county extention office. What a sweet lady I spoke with..."honey, she said, we would love to have you"!

"Spring Fling" , opening of the markets, begins May 5th, so I packed up and was there at 7:00 am.  Can't see my table in this picture, but here's half the market...

My bonnets and aprons were a big hit, who would have thought! My first sale was to this lady who was a vendor there selling beef from her ranch.

She wore the bonnet and apron all day and had it on again last Saturday.

Anyhow, you have got to see this! Talk about luck! I've been raking and scraping for fabric to sew with and said to Poppy, "with the money I made at the market, I'm going to Walmart tomorrow and buy a few pieces of fabric"! 

And so I did...

Every piece I picked up, the clerk scanned and said, "oh, this is on sale for $1.00 a yard"! Be still my heart!  Here's my messy little sewing room with my new fabric folded under two new bonnets...

Right now I'm working on three bonnets and two aprons. Pieces stacked on the right of the sewing machine need stitching. I then move it to the little table on the left for pressing. Kind of a one man assembly line. :) Works good for me. 

S

and...

So, I am all excited and into sewing again...what with a stack of new fabrics and a place to sell what I make. 

Okay, I'm sure you have heard enough. Thank you for listening and oh my goodness, new followers! Who would have thought! Thank you so much!

Will say goodbye for now and leave you with a picture of Randall Rabbit, visiting with me in his home...

Love, Henny

Maybe I will do a little blog post...

not that I have anything important to say. I did look out the little kitchen window a few mornings ago and saw the prettiest blue and orange colors in the sky...

Amazing how fast the colors change. Sometimes it's hard to get the camera and catch the beauty of your first look.

Then late one afternoon recently, looking out across the cut-over, there was a rainbow...

that quickly faded away underneath stormy looking clouds...

and you probably know how afraid I am of storms. Nothing cheers me up as much as seeing a storm pass and the sun come out.

Speaking of weather...I've simply got to rake these five acres of brown leaves that cover every inch of ground...

Yep, I changed my mind about joining them. The leaves are now driving me crazy. :) That black dot you see there is Smokey!  

I had been busy busy busy in the teeny tiny sewing room...

up until Saturday. Shelby and I were vendors at Santa's Christmas Bazaar in the little town of Franklinton. 

I carried a sack of my silly little Santa dolls and a few other little people...

plus a few of my larger dolls, made from maple twigs. Fun stuff.  Also had lots of new calico bonnets made and ready to sell...

Certainly didn't get wealthy but it was a fun day spent with Shelby and I came home with a little pocket money, all my own. To make the day even more enjoyable, my daughter Andee stopped by and also my friends, Karen and Norm.

So I've now unpacked and stored my goods away...

here and there...the old pie safe from Cousin Pat is the perfect spot, and while I'm in the sewing room, I want to show you the sweetest long legged bunny rabbit...

found him in a thrift store, in a box, for free. He was dirty and looked at me, well, I had to bring him home.

Guess I had better get up from this computer. Got line dancing at 2:00 and an eye appointment at 3:30...plus Blogger is moving my pictures and changing the print size and that drives me crazy even more than the leaves!! :) Thank you for visiting.

Love, Henny