How about a little 'Vintage Vavoom' in your life?????

Along with the pincushion book that I reviewed on Tuesday, I also purchased two other books and I want to talk about one of those today - "Vintage Vavoom", from the Editors of Romantic Homes magazine. This book covers things like how to create the look, how to recognize quality items, where to find vintage pieces, how to use color, how to combine contrasting elements, ways to feature YOUR style, ways to personalize your style and how to care for vintage pieces. this is a great book for the pictures alone and there is a lot of useful info here as well. Here is a picture of the front cover - love the color of these dishes:
Here is a picture showing how to display various different vintage linens together - there are lots of ideas for linens and how to use them:
And here is a picture of some wonderful green glass in a Hoosier cabinet - this looks so great together:
And for those of us who love the shabby cottage, look there are plenty of pictures like this one. Doesn't this just shout SHABBY?

This shows a couple of different shop displays and howyou can use them for inspiration in your own displays at home:
All in all - I would say this is a great book and worth every penny. There are some really wonderful ideas on how to use vintage items in crafting and how to display them in some unique ways. A good book for ideas and for inspiration - one can never have too many books like this............

Hugs, Donna D.

Feeding my Addiction.................

For several years now I have been addicted to pincushions or makedos - both making them and collecting them. Not too long ago I was reading one of my craft magazines ( I buy way too many of those, but that is another addiction altogether, lol) and they had a book review of a new book about pincushions - got to get that one, I said to myself. Here it is - I want to share it with you and encourage you to get it if like me, you LOVE pincushions, cause it's a great little book.

Its published by Lark books and you can get it at Barnes and Nobles or Amazon.com on the web.

Here is a pic of the left inside cover - don't ya love those strawberries?

And here's the inside of the cover on the right side - isn't that the cutest little Hedgehog????

Next we have a wonderful little mousie - my cat would love to play with this...........

Now that Spring is here (well almost here), this little wrist pincushion should brighten up your day and bring some Spring inside..........
And here's a use for all those caning jar lids you no longer use........

And finally, some old-fashioned barrel-shaped pincushions. I can see these made out of some felted wools and embellished for every season. Or perhaps some silk or velvet with embroidered roses on them........

Hope this has inspired you to go and make a pincushion and if you need o want inspiration, I highly recommend this book. As soon as I get some of them done, I'll share some pics with you and if you make any, I hope you'll share a pic or two with us...........

Hugs, Donna D.

Sunday Greetings........

Morning everyone!!!! I've been having a lazy Sunday morning, enjoying my coffee and the HGTV garden shows. It's cool here but not raining at the moment - sure hope we don't get any more rain for a few days as my yard resembles a lake more then a yard, lol. I am so ready to get out and 'play' in the dirt but it will be a few days till I can do that, unless I want to put on waders first, lol. At least it wasn't snow and it has warmer up into the 50's - now for some sunshine to dry things out.

I've also been thinking about going to a really great antique/flea market show in Allegan, MI. It is on the last Sunday of the month and runs from April through September. There are 200 indoor dealers and 200 outdoor dealers - surely I can find at least one goodie that wants to come home with me, lol. Here is the website so you can check it out - Allegan Antiques Show. If I do go, I'll be sure to show you any goodies that I find.

Guess I'd better get up and do something constructive - the sewing room is calling me. Have a great day and be sure to dhare with me if you end up going to the show.................

Hugs, Donna D.

Spring.....A Time of Renewal.........

According to the calender, Spring is here. Not according to my yard - it's various shades of brown with a few patches of dirty, white snow. Winter doesn't want to give up it's grip, although there are signs that it is getting warmer. The furnace doesn't run almost non-stop, there are more birds around, it gets up into the 40's during the day and it looks like a few of my shrubs are trying to bud out. Things are trying to come back from this past harsh winter - it's just taking a bit longer then I would like.

Just as it's a time of renewal for nature here in Michigan, it is also one for this 'old crow'. I have been struggling to get over a sinus infection and just not feeling well and it is taking me what seems like forever to do it. I have found out that 'being sick' and 'being sick when you are diabetic' are two different things. I really don't like it and don't want to have to deal with it the rest of my life but it could have been a whole lot worse, so I'm learning as I go and hopefully, it will get better. I'm struggling to get my BG numbers under control and live a somewhat normal life, eating a close to normal, although healthy diet and it's an uphill battle. Things that I should be able to eat in small quantities are not working out and I've found that I don't want to live eating only meat and veggies - although I like both of them. I have a feeling that a change in medication will be coming up when I go back to the Doctor in May. In the meantime, mealtimes are an experiment in what I can eat and how much. Oh well, at least it isn't boring, lol.

On the crafting front, things have been going slowly but now that I'm feeling a bit better, I hope to get going again. I want to get my Etsy shop open but need to finish a few more things first.

I guess I'll go back to planning out my veggie grden this morning - it will be awhile before I can plant anything but one can dream and plan and look at seed catalogs - at least things look sunny and bright in those. Have a great day!!

Hugs, Donna D.

Snow, Snow and then some more Snow.............

Hello, it's been a very busy couple of weeks. To say that I am really tired of winter and snow would be an understatement, lol. Since I last posted we have had about 24" of snow. Now I know that for some of you that is not alot but for my little corner of Michigan, it is. We don't normally get this much, in fact the last couple of winters have been really mild and before that we wouldn't get that much in two months time, let alone two weeks. Add to that the temps we have been having and it's not been a good two weeks to be outside, that is unless you like to play in snow or you are a child, lol.

On top of the yucky weather I have had issues with my furnace. I live out in the country, so my two choices for heat are propane or fuel oil heat and I have fuel oil. We had a tankful (250 gal.) delivered on Jan. 4th and on SuperBowl Sunday, I woke up to discover that I had no heat. Went outside to check things out and found a leak in the fuel line that had caused all the fuel that hadn't been used up till then to leak out. Since a tank usually lasts about 3 months, that was a lot of fuel to lose. After phoning a couple of places and remembering that it was SuperBowl Sunday, I gave up on the notion of getting it fixed that day and was going to just wait it out till Monday when my neighbor came down to move some of the snow for me so I could move my car around in the driveway. Thank goodness for helpful neighbors. When he heard about my problem, he went and got the tools and supplies to fix the line for me and then wrapped the pipes with new insulation, as the old insulation was full of fuel oil. I called my fuel man and he came out with some oil that day and I had heat again - boy did that feel good. I was glad to find out that not all men watch the SuperBowl and that some people are willing to give an extra effort to help some one in a time of need.

We are going to have to replace the furnace before next winter and the extra cost of another tank of fuel oil at $700 really hurt this close to having payed for the first one, but things did work out all right and my faith in people has been restored. Not everyone is only looking out for themselves, some are willing to help others when they need it without expecting anything in return - sort of makes you feel good and I'm really glad that I have neighbors like that.

I haven't really felt much like crafting sice I finished cleaning out the craft room but I have been sorting things out and did go through my patterns and match up some material with a few of them and hope to get started sewing again this week. I've also taken time to go through and clean up the pics of things that I've made in the last few years. I thought that I would share a few with you so that you could get a feel for what I can make.
Hope you have enjoyed these pictures of things have have done in the past - hope to have some new pictures of new things to share soon. Be sure to leave me a comment - I love to read them. Hope you have a great week and that it's not too cold and snowy where you are............

Hugs, Donna D.

I've been tagged.............

Well this should be fun - I've been tagged by 'Donna' over at Cottage Days & Journeys and I'm not sure this is going to turn out right but here goes, lol...........

5 interesting things about me:

1. I lived in Spain for 3 years and loved every minute of it.

2. I'm a retired truck driver and I sure do miss seeing the country, especially the changing seasons.

3. I've been in every state in the US (except for Alaska and Hawaii) and every providence in Canada except for New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories.

4. I'm a sucker for stray cats and dogs - have to feed them and take care of them. I took in a stray cat and ended up with 6 as she was pregnant. Ended up keeping 3 of the kittens and have one left with me - my constant companion who is almost 15 years young.

5. I can't resist old buttons, lace, doilies ( I have a collection of over 100) and vintage china.

I am tagging the following people - can't wait to see what they revel, lol.............

Pickelberry Primitives
Hazleruthes
The Gathering Room
2 Dancing Crows
The Primitive Pear

Hugs, Donna D.

Is it Spring yet?

Morning everyone......

I am so ready for Spring. Since I last posted we have had about 10 - 12" of snow. Not all at once, thank goodness but in three seperate batches. First we got 6", then two more batches of around 3" each one day apart. That might not sound like much but for this area it is. The last couple of years, the neighbor who plows our long driveway has only had to plow twice and that was from November till the end of March. This year he's already plowed four times. The snow has been small and powderery, which the ski resort people love but it blows and drifts really badly and when you live in the open country like I do, it drifts across your drive and covers your clean car quickly. I'm learning to leave my car covered with snow till I'm ready to go some where so I only have to brush it off once, lol.

The other reason I'm not liking the weather is that I'm not used to it anymore. For the past few years, while I drove the 'big' truck with my DH, we mostly drove down south, from Florida to California and it doesn't snow much down there, lol. It hasn't been all that warm down there lately in the winter but much milder then it gets here in Michigan and no snow, which is a big plus as far as I'm concerned.

I guess I shouldn't really complain because I have driven out west in the mountains during the winter and was really happy to be driving something that weighed 80,000 lbs. because it gave me much better traction and I felt safer - would not like dealing with the weather out there in only a car.

On the crafting side, I finally have the craft room mostly cleaned out and arranged for crafting. I need to clean one set of shelves and finish the closet but the rest is done. I might get to sew this week - yea! I've also been cleaning and weeding out my patterns and found some I had forgotten that I had which was a pleasant surprise - now to decide what to make first. I also want to try my hand at some 'altered art' and might try that later in the week - we'll have to see how things go.

Wishing everyone a snow-free week and a happy productive one..............

Hugs, Donna D.

A Very Wild Week............

Morning everyone!!!!!

The past week has been very strange. Not sure I need any more weeks like this - way too stressful for me, lol.

The week started out OK but went downhill about mid-week. My BG reading had been doing great but then started to go up and come to find out that it's true - everything effects them! Here's what happened:

Wednesday I passed my usual gas station and saw that gas prices were down to $2.81, which is low here, and thought - gotta fill up on the way home - so I stopped and did just that, spending a quick $25. As I left the station I noticed that the car hesitated, but then seemed to run fine. It did it again a couple more times and then I was home and I parked. The next day, I went to start the car - and NOTHING - it turned over and then died. So I called road service and they towed the car to the dealership where we get it serviced - after a 2 1/2 hour wait - more stress, lol. They kept the car overnight - removed the gas tank, drained the fuel lines and then told me that the fuel in the tank smelled more like water and ethanol then gasoline. The total cost for this was $310!!!

On Friday after I got home, I called the gas station and told them what had happened and they said that someone would be in touch. Well, I waited all day to hear from someone and when I didn't, I figured that they had just given me the run around. But Saturday morning I heard from the Company which runs the station and found out that at least 7 - 8 others had had the same thing happen and they said that they would cover everything including the gas lost and the gas I bought to replace it and the dealership bill. While I will feel better about this once I have a check in hand, it does sort of restore my faith in people. so I guess it did end well. Now to get things back to normal and reduce the stress levels a bit, lol.

On the crafting front things were sort of at a standstill this week, although I have decided to open a store on Etsy - just not sure when I will do that. Stay tuned and will post more news here soon. I need to do some research and see how things are doing and what's selling before I do much more. I did go through some patterns last night and pulled some of them to start on. I'm looking forward to this and maybe some Ebay in the Fall.

Today the temp is 12 and it's way to cold out but at least this isn't making any more stress for me - I'll just stay in and do some things around the house. Hope it's a bit warmer where you're at and that you all have a great day......................

Hugs, Donna D.

Reflections on a Snowy Sunday.................

Its' snowing here in Michigan, big fluffy flakes. Not enough to cover the ground, just frost some of the things with some snow - it looks really pretty. Supposed to snow all day so we will probably get 1 - 2", not alot but enough to coat everything in a blanket of white. It would be great if it would stay that way for the rest of winter but since I've lived here for 37 years, I know that we're going to get a lot more snow before 'Ole Man Winter' is done.

Since I made adjustments to my medication and diet, my BG's have been in the 90 to 120 range, pretty much all the time and I'm slowly getting used to them being close to 'normal'. For the first few days I was really tired but now I feel great and have much more energy. Will be starting my exercise program tomorrow and this should jump start my weight loss. I'm looking forward to losing some weight and getting more healthy.

The craft room is coming along and should be done in a couple of days. I need to pick up a couple more storage boxes and then finish sorting my material. Once that is all done, I'm going to start making a few things for the house and myself. In all the years I spent crafting for shows, eBay and the Country Sampler I never kept anything for myself and its going to be nice to finally have a few 'goodies' for myself. I 'm not sure what I'm going to make first but will go through all may patterns and then decide, if I can, lol.

Guess I'll go and buy those boxes and then finish up the craft room........Have a good day and enjoy the rest of the weekend..............

Hugs, Donna D.

Morning everyone!!!!!!!!

We have been having the craziest weather up here in Michigan - its been around 60 the past couple of days , with lots of rain (even some thunder and lightening) and couple of tornado warnings and today its back to the 30's and going to get colder over the next weekend with some snow flurries - guess we just hd our 'January Thaw'. We had a couple of really loud thunder claps last night - one so loud that a shelf fell down and my poor cat jumped up about 3 feet in the air and then ran under the bed and didn't come out till I went to bed - he must have thought that the world was ending, lol. Today we also have 40 - 50 mph winds and sunshine, so that will dry things up a bit. Personally, I wouldn't have minded if it had stayed at 60 for the rest of the winter, lol.

It looks like changing my medicine was a good choice because my BG's have been alot lower in the mornings and have been good all day long. I'm still getting used to them being this low but overall I do feel better. Now if I can just get some more weight off, I will be really happy. I'm down about 15 pounds and would like to take off about 50 more - I'm aiming for 1 -2 lbs. a week and I'm going to up the exercise starting next week and see if that helps. Overall, I'm happy with how things are this week and hope to keep them like this - I feel so much better.

My craft room is almost all organized - I can actually find things, lol. The only thing left is the closet and I'll get to that this weekend. I was going to work on it today but with the sun shining I've decided to go and visit a couple of thrift shops in the area - haven't gone 'thrifting' in a while and it looks to be a good day for it.

I started the afghan for my daughter a dn while there are only a few rows done, it looks really good. I only hope that she doesn't figure out that its for her and that I can keep it a surprise. the colors aren't really what I normlly like, so if she asks I'm going to say it's for fall because there are alot of fall colors in it. When DH gets home again, I'll get the digital and post some pics - hopefully I will be able to figure out how to post them on here.

Thanks for stopping in and do leave comments - I like to know what you think of things....

Hugs, Donna D.

Good Morning Everyone...........

Yesterday was an interesting day. I had a Dr's. appointment to check on how well my medicine was working. After several minutes of discussion and checking of records, my Dr. said that she thought things were OK and that we would continue on with the same doses, etc. I didn't agree and told her why. After some consideration on her part, she agreed with me and she changed my Metformin to a higher dose and asked me to come back in six weeks for a reevaluation. I have never challenged a Dr's. opinion before - just followed their directions . I felt really good - like I had taken some control back over my life - and was a part of the decision making. After all, it is my health and life and I should be a part of making any decisions that will affect me later on.

On the crafting front, not much has changed except that I am going to spend the weekend cleaning and straighting out the mess in my craft room so that I might finally get in there and sew. I did visit a new Quilt Shop that opened last October and picked up a really cute pattern for some Valentine heart ornies from a company called "under the garden moon". The pattern is made from red, cream, pink and purple wools (several different shades of each) and then you embellish them with lace, thread, beads, buttons and ribbon trims. Since I have quite a bit of that sort of thing on hand, I thought this would be a fun project to work on.

I'm also going to start an afghan for my daughter, as she just bought her first house and needs everything. She's been raiding mine for the past couple of months and I never know what she's going to ask for next. I guess this is a good way to downsize and de-clutter, lol. The afghan is going to be in earth tones and a lace pattern that I found to crochet on the Lion Brand website and made from their Homespun yarn.

Guess I'll go and enjoy a cup of yarn and check out a couple of my favorite forums - The Sisters at Heart and Primitive and Rustic Decorating - both on the Delphi boards. Both of these forums are great for talking crafting and meeting some really great crafters from all over. I really enjoy talking with them and sharing ideas.

Have a great day and thanks for reading. I'm going to try and update this at least twice a week - on Wednesdays and then on the weekend - so see you then........

Hugs, Donna D.

A New Start for a New Year.................

It's a new year and a new start for 'the Old Crow'. I've recently retired from driving team with my hubby , due to being diagnosted with Type 2 diabetes, and I'm ready for a new start.

Things have been interesting lately, what with learning how to cook and shop for food all over again - to say nothing of learning to deal with measuring and weighing everything I eat or drink - but if it helps me get things under control, I guess its a good thing. Not sure I'll ever get used to pricking my finger several times a day but its necessary to getting this under control. Just have to remember to keep rotating those fingers, lol.

I'm looking forward to getting back into crafting again - I'm sure it will help me take my mind off of things and help me handle stress. I've missed sewing and stitching and have so many things I want to make that it won't be a problem finding something to make. I've even taking up crocheting again, after not doing it for over 20 years and found that it came back to me like I'd never stopped. There are so many new yarns out there, its hard to decide which ones to pick. It's been so snowy here the past few days that it won't be a problem to stay inside and craft - just need to decide what to do, lol. I'm sure that there are a lot of new things out there in the 'prim' craft world and I'm looking forward to seeking them out..........

Till next time......Hugs, the Old Crow