The proof is in the pictures!

Basement Beautification......

 Enter into evidence picture #1.....(please forgive the ugly red metal pole and the breaker box in the right corner!) The dark brown piece of furniture is an antique sideboard that came from my grandpa's farm. My sewing machine has a place on honor atop the old singer treadle.

Enter into evidence picture #2.....the antique wood ironing board also came from my grandpa's farm. The unsightly but functional bricks underneath the legs give it added height for more pressing comfort! Two of my new shelves are located above the ironing board and are supporting many plastic boxes of cotton fabric. All of the miniature quilts shown were made many years ago by yours truly.

and the final piece of evidence.....picture #3. Here you see my cutting table which is an old enamel top table that was in the basement when we bought the house in 1996. I added the shelf above the cutting table, which holds more decorative rather than functional items. The big wooden scissors were a garage sale find and the 3 wooden boxes were found at a flea market. The blue carpeting you see on the floor was recycled from my childhood church after new carpeting was installed in the vestibule. Just call me Second Hand Rose! In case you're wondering "What's behind the louvered doors?"....Relax, it's not more fabric in plastic containers. It's just our washer and dryer!

I hope you enjoyed your 5 cent tour of my sewing corner. I sure did!

Stay tuned for more pics where I'll unveil the newly built bookshelves which surround the freshly painted loveseat. I'm sure you can't wait! Such an exciting life I lead down by the creek!

Fondly,
Diane

Basement Beautification and a Flying Lesson

Hello friends!
It's been WAY too long since our last visit and for that, please accept my most heartfelt apology. I have been spending quite a bit of time in our basement here on Silver Creek Road. It needed a MAJOR overhaul and hoeing out. My sewing space is located down there, and it looked as if a very large block of dynamite had exploded, leaving EVERYTHING in a state of disarray...and I couldn't stand it any longer! I re-arranged, hung shelves, organized fabric, replaced burned out fluorescent ceiling lights and decided what "stuff" had overstayed its welcome and needed to be "re-homed". It was a very long and tiring, yet gratifying project. BUT my sewing corner has never looked better!

Then I decided to build bookshelves to surround our basement loveseat.

Then I decided that I had stared at the ugly fabric on the loveseat for long enough, and I began painting over it. I figured painting was much easier than trying to sew a slipcover, and NOTHING could make the fabric look too much worse, so why not give it a try?!

If you've never been on Pinterest, you're really missing out on some GREAT ideas. Our basement will never be featured in Better Homes and Gardens, but I think it looks pretty darn good and I'll share pictures with you soon (but only the AFTER pics. If I showed you "before" pics, the Hoarders cameras might show up on my doorstep)!

With all of this basement upheaval taking place, my stitching has been put on the proverbial back burner. But fear not, as I have a sneak peek of a new release to tantalize you with.....

"Dare to Fly"

"Dare to Fly", as well as Parts 3 and 4 of "Sing a Sampler" will be shipping to my distributors in the very near future.

And that my dear stitching friends, is where I've been hiding. It's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks for stopping by and please come again!
Diane

Music You Can See!

Hello friends!
I thought I'd drop you a quick NOTE!
I have had a request to show the entire Sing a Sampler project....and I have decided to oblige! The sampler is SO long that I couldn't figure out a way to include it on the pattern cover. So, without much further ado, here is the ENTIRE song!

I hope those of you who are singing and stitching along are enjoying the series. There are still 2 more parts to be released, so hang tight! They're on the way!

Thanks for spending some time with me down by the creek.
Diane

The Lion ATE the Lamb!

Well, March is over, and all I can say is GOOD RIDDANCE! The lamb was nowhere to be seen the entire month (well, except for the ONE Saturday we made maple syrup.) This year, spring's arrival seems content to follow the example set forth by the birth of my dear son Colvin....LATE! He was "scheduled" to arrive June 5, but decided to FINALLY arrive, (but only with the help of induction) on June 16th at 11:00PM! If it wasn't for the pitocin, I'd probably still be pregnant!

April is following March's poor example and doesn't seem to be off to a great start either. I am so over with winter and cold weather. I'M READY TO HUNT DOWN AND KILL THE LION! So be on guard Simba, I'm gonna find you! And so goes the circle of life.....

Why, you ask am I on this rant about lions? Well, there's more to it besides the lack of warm weather. This is where the skies open up and sunshine pours onto my little piece of blogland... I want to share my new release with you. Please welcome, Dare to be a Daniel. It is boxed up and ready to ship to my distributors tomorrow.

I am now working on a patriotic piece I call Seeds of Freedom. I hope to have it finished in time to release, perhaps in June. That is, if I'm not incarcerated for killing the lion!

Hakuna Matata!

Diane

The Plague of Frogs...

has descended upon my sampler! Holy Moses! I have removed more stitches than the Israelites moved bricks! Well, maybe not that many, but it sure feels like it! It wasn't that I made any counting mistakes, but rather that I wasn't happy with how the colors looked. It took three tries to FINALLY get the color exactly how I pictured it. I must admit, choosing colors can sometimes be a pain in the behind and on occasion, is my LEAST favorite part of designing. I feel very guilty when floss is wasted and ends up as little balls of fuzz in my ort jar instead of small X's neatly stitched into a row.

A sneak peek of "Daniel"

But, it's all worth it when I cross over into the promised land flowing with floss and linen!

It's almost time to release Part 2 of my Sing a Sampler which looks something like this...

I'm not sure what's next on my stitching list. I've designed 5 new samplers since January and it's SO HARD to pick which one I should "breathe life into" next. I'll have to decide soon....

Until then, thanks for dropping by and I hope this snowstorm that's coming in doesn't overstay its welcome.

Diane

Nectar of the gods and a sneak peek too!

Hello again friends!
Yesterday here in N.E. Pennsylvania, we experienced a BEAUTIFUL spring day. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind and SUN, SUN, SUN! Truly a welcomed thing after a long winter, and perfect conditions for spending the day cooking sap. We started the process at 9am by building our cinder block fire pit and starting the fire....

Next we emptied our refrigerator of 11 gallons of sap. We added to that 2 more gallons that we collected off the trees in the early afternoon hours.

As you can see, we use the best technology available to us in our sap collection by hanging recycled milk jugs on the trees. Just slice a small hole in the side and hang it on the spile (that's the metal thingy that gets pounded into the tree that the sap drips out of).

Next we sit around and watch the sap boil...and boil...and boil. We also enjoyed a lunch of baked potatoes with ham and cheese, cooked in the hot coals. YUMMY!

Yes, I know I look a bit redneck in my bib overalls and ski cap, but all fashion rules go out the window when you're making syrup! I swear, we really are making syrup, not moonshine! As you can see, we use 2 pans. The one in front of Colvin is the warming pan. We get a good boil happening there and then bit by bit, we transfer it into the next pan to cook some more. Then something magical happens...

it begins to change color. This means that we're getting closer to syrup. We were outside cooking for about 8 hours. After the sap is mostly evaporated, we then filter it through some muslin clipped to a pot with clothes pins...

Then the pans need to be soaked by melting any available snow into them...

After the fire is out, we retire to the comfort of the indoors and wait for our transition lenses to return to normal. But wait, we're not done quite yet. Now we actually finish it off into syrup on the stove...

Whoever said a watched pot never boils apparently never made maple syrup. The end is now near. After digging around in a kitchen drawer and locating 2 canning lids, it's time to cross the finish line...

That's right. This is what 13 gallons of sap turns into after 9 hours. 2 1/2 pints of pure Pennsylvania maple syrup. It's just that simple! Can you almost taste it?

Now, before your eyes glaze over and you slip into a syrup-induced coma, I've got a sneak peek to share with you. Once again, I've been invited to have a sampler appear in the Halloween issue of Just Cross stitch magazine. Now I just hope the frame arrives soon as I need to get the sampler shipped out this week. Feast your eyes on this and may the curiosity begin....

At the risk of sounding "sappy", I'd like to thank each and every one of you for "sticking" with me. Wishing you a day sweeter than maple syrup!

Diane

Tap Dancing and more!

Hello again dear friends. My, it's been three weeks already since my last post. Time sure flies when you're having fun! As my post title implies, I've been busy tap dancing. But not the "Lawrence Welk" kind that involves fancy footwork. On Feb. 10, Colvin and I tapped several maple trees around our acre of paradise and have 8 1/2 gallons of sap in our refrigerator just waiting to be boiled this Saturday. This week the temperatures will be PERFECT for more sap running, so our gallon total will be closer to 10 or 11 by the end of the week. On Friday night, we'll build a small cinder block fire pit in our driveway and start the LONG boiling process Saturday morning. In the end, we should be left with a quart (plus some) of heavenly sweet pure Pennsylvania maple syrup. It's a lot of work, but SO worth it!

This picture was taken 2 years ago in 2011. We didn't have a sugar season last year as the weather was MUCH TOO WARM for the trees to do the necessary freeze and thaw that makes the sap run.

Besides keeping the sap company, I've been stitching up a storm. Once again, I've been invited to have a sampler appear in the special Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine. I finished it in record time and am now waiting for the frame to arrive. I'll share a sneak peek in a future post. Now, I'm making fabulous progress on a sampler that will be a future release this year. I haven't named it yet, but I think you'll like it. It has lions on it and that's all I'm going to tell you!

CHICKEN UPDATE: In a previous post, I wrote about putting light in the girls coop to help get them laying again. My experiment worked! Two weeks after installing the rope light, we were blessed with an egg! On a good day, we get 2 eggs, which isn't great, but better than nothing! At least I won't have to lower my standards and succumb to BUYING eggs. It's humiliating when you know you have 5 hens in your backyard!

Well, I think I've bored you enough with my country life activities! Thanks for stopping by!

Diane