Sunday

I woke up early Sunday and did online church. I visited my old church across town this week. I miss that church.

Jim and I decided to go for a little drive. The weather was too wet and gloomy to get my flowers again. I want to get them planted. It has been pouring today, so it's just as well that my new plants are not in yet. It goes that way sometime here. Anyway, we drove up as far as we could get on the Columbia River Gorge old highway. Due to the virus, it hasn't reopened yet. This is as far as we could get, so we had to turn around.

This is a great lookout view but there was no way we could drive in to see it.  This is our world now.

We turned around and started to drive back to our house. This community had American flags flying for miles. It was neat to see.

We crossed the Sandy Bridge that goes over the Sandy River. The sun came out and it was just so pretty as we drove over the bridge.

We decided to stop at our local Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone. There was a line up for a treat. I think people needed to get out for a safe drive.

While we were waiting in line, we were happy to see that our local summer stand where we get berries and veggies was setting up again. There's a sign that says they are opening on May 23rd. Oh, that will be lovely. I'm wondering if the the berries will be ready as we haven't had much sunshine.

I asked Jim to drive though a couple open shopping centers. You can see that this one is still shut down.

The outlet mall near our home was all closed up too. Some retail shops were allowed to reopen on Friday, but not inside or outside malls. I feel bad for all the retail shops, but I'm still not ready to go shopping.

Now Oregon is in a very interesting position. A judge in Baker county, way out East with no large cities, ruled today that our Governor Brown's orders for reopening are"null and void" and her stay at home rule is over. One person is making the decision to reopen our state without any precautions. I am so shocked. The churches in Eastern Oregon sued the state for not letting them have their church services. I don't want to get into anything here, but this is all about big gatherings and infection. I'm a Christian and I understand the the desire to meet but as a Christian, I want to be respectful and do my part to keep others safe.

So, everyone is so confused and who knows what will happen. The governor is going to go to the Oregon Supreme Court to appeal.

I told my husband this morning before anything happened, well, I wonder what it will be this week? It's something new each and every week. We will just continue to do what we feel comfortable with and still plan to stay pretty much at home yet. I continue to pray for our country and for wisdom to continue day by day. 

A Spot of Tea

It was just time to look at something pretty and springy and happy! I decided to have a little spot of tea but wanted to use some of my pretty tea things.

I love pink roses and this little bowl has been begging to be used.

Years ago, two of my sweet tea friends and I went to tea. When we were finished, we were browsing the gift shoppe. We all fell in love with the tea for one sets. Each of us bought one to remember our day together. I had to pick the pink rose one!

Here's my little tea, just for me today. How I miss sitting and chatting with my tea ladies! I had some fresh fruit and just a black tea with milk. Perfect. I love using my little strawberry forks for fruit. I bought back this one from MA years ago.

It was fun to reread this tea book and made me think of all my tea friends....oh, yes....Let's Have Tea Together. Maybe someday. 

The Dolls Celebrate May Day!

Happy Mother's Day and welcome to another month! Who knows what another month into the virus will bring our way? I decided that I needed a bit of fun with the dolls. They bring me lots of happiness and they are good therapy.

I wanted to try to make little dolly May Day baskets. I settled on paper cornucopias filled with little flowers. I played around with scrapbook papers and pink paper doilies.

I pick up little flowers at flea markets and estate sales. I certainly had enough to choose from for the treats.

Then the dolls cleared the tea table and set up the crafts. They decided to wear flower wreaths in their hair for the little craft party. They were busy and had so much fun!

Tasha was quite pleased with her finished projects. She was able to help the other little ladies.

Lily was having a great time working on the May Day flower baskets. This was her first year here at Harlow House for the May Day fun.

The little table has been set for spring time!

Miss Hitty Noel was so excited to receive a basket this May! She looks just thrilled, doesn't she?

The other little ladies found this one on their dollhouse door!

This is little Annabelle. She was one of my first dolls and was made from a kit put together by my Tasha friend Kristen. She is only 10 1/2" tall.

This is my other Annabelle and Daphnie. They are so pretty and loved finding a May Day for them!

One more little basket for this sweet little miss. What a fun day it was for the dolls.
Wishing you all a Happy May Day and a great month ahead. 

Tea Time

I just felt like a little tea this afternoon. Angie and Otto dropped off eggs, spinach and homemade
peanut butter cookies today. It was good to see them. We still keep our distance and it's very hard not to hug! It was sunny and he ran around in the backyard and was so happy. It warmed my heart.

I didn't realize that my Lily of the Valley plants were blooming. My dad gave me a few plants probably 40 years ago. I have them under a tree and they have spread and are a delight.

I was looking at my Kate Greenaway book...The Language of Flowers. Do you know that these flowers mean return to happiness? I am dreaming about that and a return to some kind of normal life. All is well, but we all seam to be uneasy and so wondering what the future may hold.

I love my brown transferward . My collection is just a mix of treasure hunting. It makes me happy.

I love these cup and saucers. I have 4 that match. I enjoyed a toasted coconut black tea. It was nice.
Stay safe and have a cup of tea!

Vintage Bonnet Pinkeeps and Sewing

I've been spending some of my time working outside weeding and inside sewing. I'm working on an order for a friend. It's quite a fun project and I will share that later. When I was down in my sewing cottage, I came across my little collection of handmade bonnet pinkeeps. I think they are adorable.
They make me happy and I wonder what they would tell me if they could talk!

This one has a few thimbles tucked in the middle. So cute. I like the fabrics on this one.

Lots of pins inside this one! Lots of 1940''s fabrics.

I like the little ruffle on the outside of this one. It's a bit larger.

This little plaid one is the smallest of my collection. Notice how the owner tucked straight pins along the edge~

I just happened to come across directions to make these little babies in a pile of things I was looking at. Perfect timing. I'd like to try one when I finish my projects that are waiting.

It was such a pretty day outside yesterday. Look at that blue sky! This is my neighbor's flowering tree. The virus has given us some lower pollution and it shows!  Have a great day blogger friends. 

Monday Made

Yes, it's Monday and a new week...week #3 of staying home. It's cold and wet and yucky! It's afternoon and I haven't managed to get anything done. It's one of those check in days with family and friends via the phone and internet. That's more important than housework- right?

Yesterday our daughter Angie brought over a few things and at least I got to see her! Today, my other daughter Gina came by to pick up a few things and so I got to see her too. It's hard keeping a distance, talking far apart in the garage without hugs or a cup of coffee. But, it is what it is and I am so thankful I got to see them in person. 

So, today is Monday Made on my Tasha Tudor FB page, so I am sharing what I made here on my blog too. As I posted previously, I participated in Rachel Hoffman's VDC last week. I really liked the workshop by Helen Kish, so I made the little shoe the other day. Of course, I changed a few things but that's the fun part about this. I want to make another one or two. It was just fun to do something creative for a change.

I recently found this wonderful wool felt pack that I had gotten on sale, years ago. I brought it over from my storage unit, not having a clue what I was going to use it for! I love going shopping in my craft room, especially now when we can't go shopping.

So I decided to make a pink one. I used trim, ribbon flowers and seed pearls to decorate it instead of doing embroidery work. I was anxious to finish it. I used pink and green wool felt.

You can see the work on the side with this photo. A little mouse crawled into it. A chick and a little dolly were fighting to occupy it!

This photo gives you a good look at the whole shoe. It's actually an ornament, but I didn't add a hanger onto mine. I just wanted it to sit on a shelf.

Here's the little Easter chick that took over the shoe. It was a very fun project and I think I could actually make a pair of dolly shoes now by leaving off the back and adding a strap. So fun.
Thank for visiting me. I hope this made you smile. 

Spring!

Welcome Spring! You have been a long time coming. So much has happened since the beginning of the year. Will I ever get back to blogging? Maybe, maybe not. At least I got the header changed from winter.
This past week, I sold #4000 on my Etsy site and that is so exciting. I just keep getting more orders and I am so thankful. I MUST get more items listed this week. I love doing Etsy, however, it really takes a lot of time.