What Are You Doing Today?

Good afternoon blogger friends! Well, yesterday our governor put stricter limits on our staying home. I think it's the wisest thing for now. Since Jim and I are retired, our life hasn't changed a great deal. We are being careful and have so much to do around the house anyway. I am still selling on my Etsy site and packaging items always takes time. I enjoy it and it is a bit of spending money for dolly things.

I love to write letters. This extra time at home has motivated me to write to friends. With FB and emails, I have gotten away from snail mail. This little fabric folder was a birthday gift from my friend last December. It is handmade out of the cutest fabric. I think it may have been a towel. She tucked in some sweet notecards.

She even found stamps that match the notecards. What a great time to use them!

I think I have done more cooking at home than I have in awhile. We do eat out a fair amount. It's actually been fun to try out some new recipes as well as some of my family favorites. I made a big pot of spaghetti (gravy or sauce to the Italians). I use low sodium tomatoes and sauce now along with ground turkey for my health.

It was yummy and we have enough for leftovers.

I think it's important to be somewhat normal about things. We eat at the table without the news and just have time to talk together. It just feels better.

Jimmy's spaghetti. We had a nice fresh green salad too. I enjoy each fresh item and wonder if Jim will be able to go to the store for more? Different times for sure.

I'm not sure you can see the rainbow in the sky. It just seemed like a bit of hope today.
I hope you are doing well and can find some happiness today. 

Stay Home!

Well, here I am again. It's been a very long time since I have blogged. I may have to learn all over how to do this. So much has happened since my last blog post but I will add as I catch up.
Most of you are probably staying in your home as we face this Coronavirus. It seems like the time to  return to somethings in life that we haven't had time for with our over busy lives.
This virus began in China and our country got a bit behind preparing for all of this. This is a new virus to the human body, so no one has immunity and there is no vaccine. It has hit WA, CA and NY especially hard and those states and a few others are in lockdown. My governor in OR may decide to enact that tomorrow. Sadly, so many people are not taking this seriously. The only hope we have to limit this virus is to pretty much stay home. The new term for keeping 6 ft away from each other is "social distancing". This is a very contagious virus and it is especially harmful to older people as well as those with certain medical conditions.The virus can be passed along as some don't even know they are sick. I have been home for over a week and Jim has only gone out for propane and a few groceries. It is impossible to get paper goods, especially toilet paper! It is hard to find other things...peanut butter, bread, sugar, hand sanitizer, bleach and cleaning products.
My daughters can no longer visit us. It's really hard not to see our grandson Otto. We do Face Time with him, but I sure would like a hug.
School has been out for 2 weeks and will continue to be closed for 4 more weeks. Angie works for Centennial School District in their office, so she is off work too. Thankfully, she gets paid! She is home along with Otto, so she is trying to provide some homeschooling. There's a lot of ideas and help out there. He's a first grader.
My other daughter Gina moved back to Portland from Seattle last summer. She is employed by the Clark County CC and all their classes are going to be online next term. She only has one class, so her income is cut too.
Jim and I are doing ok. It's scary and I think it's just hard when we have no idea how long this will drag on. We are retired and used to being home with each other. I am thankful we have each other.
So that's enough for tonight. I am going to try to keep my blog up again.
I pray that you and your family are well. I want to be positive during this difficult time too.
I worked outside today, cleaning out my flower beds. I'm tired so will say good night blogger friends.

The Doll's Wedding....Tasha Tudor Fun Ahead!

Save the date! This summer, my Tasha Tudor friends in Vermont, are having a doll wedding. We will be touring Tasha Tudor's home and then the Tudor family has given us permission to have a doll wedding on the property. We will be able to use the stage. This is a dream of my friend Melinda. Her doll Daisy will be the bride who has quite a Tasha connection. Atticus is the groom and he was made by Marjorie Tudor. Both belong to Melinda.

They are in love! The wedding is drawing near. There will be a reception for dolls and adults at the hotel after the home tour. As you can imagine, we are all busy working on projects for the wedding.
I decided it would be fun to record what I am doing for the wedding on my blog. This is a very special occasion for dolly friends and Tasha Tudor fans.

 In 1955, Tasha Tudor staged a doll wedding on her property in New Hampshire. Life magazine sent a photographer out and I have posted some of the photos from the article. It is so charming and what a treasure that this was recorded then. There is also a film version that has the wedding in it. It is called THE GOLDEN KEY.

Notice the little girls have wreaths that allow them to walk their dolls. I was given the task of making these wreaths for our dolls. Our colors are pink and white.

Last January, Melinda and decided on the garland and I chose grape vine wreaths. I thought I would be able to just glue the garland on, but I ended up sewing it onto the wreath. It took awhile, but it worked out better. I added a few daisies and some baby's breath. I think they turned out great.

I had to make 11 of them. After the wedding, they will be used as table decorations. I am shipping them back east this week. We will have to attach the ribbons in July to get the right lengths figures out with the dolls and the group.

This is the bride's wreath. It is fuller and has more flowers than the other's.

Stay tuned for more wedding adventures! My next project is going to be the dress for my doll the bride's maid. So much fun.

The Purple Heart

My friend Ann is an interesting woman, loving person, very giving, extremely smart, so encouraging and just a wonderful friend. I first met Ann a few years back when she joined my Take Peace group. This is a group who loves Tasha Tudor and is keeping her legacy very much alive. I was matched up with her on a Christmas exchange. Group exchanges are so fun as you really get to know your partner. You know how you just kind of click with certain people? Well, Ann and I just clicked.
Last year, we both experienced very difficult health issues. Ann actually almost didn't make it.It's often at those times that you realize how much a friend means to you. Well, the struggles we faced only brought us closer together.
Ann is an Episcopal minister. She retired last year, another difficult part of her journey. We are currently working through the book Woman of the Bible. It's a year long study and it's great to be sharing it with a friend. Her insights on life and her experience as a minister bring a different dimension to our bible study. She is so open and honest.
So, we have become very good friends. We have never met in person yet, but we intend to!
Today, I got a delightful card in the mail with a little purple knitted heart! So sweet. She sent me a print out from her blog about this adventure. She award little hearts to people who do special or caring things and really don't get credit for it. We don't need to get credit or recognition but how nice to be surprised by this sweet little gesture.

So she awarded me with one and it arrived in the mail today. I was so touched, I cried. Things like this are so dear and are very encouraging.

So, go out there and spread some joy or happiness or help. Who knows, you may get a purple heart.
Thank you sweet Ann.

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. 

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! I am glad to turn the page the New Year....2018 was a very difficult one.
I  did very little blogging this past year and I miss writing, sharing and connecting with my blogger friends. I have lost them. My real reason for blogging was to create a journal of my life.
I really had time to reflect on the New Year. I have set goals for myself....body, mind and spirit! This will include, improvement, faith, learning, making time for quilting and sewing, reading, gardening, and happiness. The past 3 years have left little time or energy for the gifts that God has blessed me with in my life.
I think my word for this year is HOPE! I am going to concentrate on that and pray that God blesses me with exactly what He knows I need. Sweet and simple.

Happy New Year.

Pretty Fall Days

It has been just a beautiful fall here in Oregon! The days have been warm and sunny and windy!

After days of strong east winds, the trees are getting a little more sparse.  Oh, but there are lots of leaves left to fall!

The wind piles the leaves up against Jim's cottage...they are piling up.!

I decided to do a bit of baking to enjoy a bit of tea today. Something for me and something for Jimmy.

I've been experimenting with almond flour. The tea bread is a pumpkin spice almond flour bread.
It's very moist and has a lot of flavor. It only has 2-3 T of honey, no sugar. I had a 1/2 can of pumpkin, so made Jim some soft drop pumpkin cookies with an old fashion butter cream frosting. YUMMY.

I have had these pumpkin mugs for over 40 years. I got them at the Oregon State fair when we were first married. I have used them every year.

My friend LaVonne gifted me with this darling acorn teapot. I brewed a chai tea by Stash-mild and delightful.

Our weatherman says we will have about 5 more days of this lovely weather.