Autumn crafting

A few things that I'll be bringing to the Bittersweet Fall Show this weekend.

More stuffed pumpkins

A few notions to embellish crafty items.


Chalkboard painted dried gourds.

We hope to see you there.

Cindy Bee

Lunch with Reality Jayne

I had an unplanned lunch with Reality Jayne this week. We discussed all kinds of life stuff, like

paint colors. Click here

hormones...You have to click here
I crack up every time I read it.

And the price of hand made items.

I spied this in her purse when she went to refill her coffee

We are involved in the Bittersweet Blessings Fall Show this weekend.

It is Saturday from 10-6 and Sunday from 11-5

at 115 Kingston Road

in Kokomo, IN.

And you are invited to attend.

It's free, open to the public, and you can shop, learn a new folk art, or just bring a project to work on (or not), and hang out with us. We're fun like that!

that I hope to show you later.

I hope a lot of non-artisans show up to learn.

Why?

Because I want people to try their hand at making something. I think it's important that we realize how much time and money goes into hand made items.

Cindy Bee

PS - OMG Martha is on tv right now talking about how people WANT home-made! She's talking about food. RJ and I also talked about Martha. Not sure about the new gold kitchen. RJ wishes Martha would have consulted her first. I'm bad with paint colors, so I did consult her. RJ that is...not Martha.

Crocheted Scarf

For those of you asking about the scarf in the post before this one, go here.
I didn't make it, Reality Jayne did.
And they will be for sale this weekend, at the Granny Bee fall open house.

Cindy Bee

Three more months....

Only
three
more
months
until
Christmas!

CRAP~

Granny Bee Meeting

I went to Granny Bee Stitchery group meeting Wednesday evening. We are not allowed to say "craft club" and if we do, we have to pay! Sort of like cussing!!! Apparently craft club brings up negative vibes such as plastic canvas and such. What's the matter with plastic canvas? Anyway, while some were finishing their scarves, and eating garlic bagel chips (with such strong garlic that I couldn't breathe-I was surrounded by it) I was perusing magazines that were brought in for our inspiration.

We decided that the afghan I was working on should be on the back of the couch in this picture!

This afghan

This picture. Should I write the magazine?

And 'Marilyn', who brought in all this crap yarn (sorry) expecting us to fight over it,

redeemed herself when she showed us her next project, which happens to be a bag for me! How nice of her! She knows those are my colors, and I love bags, and doilies.
Then I started thinking...maybe I should make an afghan out of this crap yarn....you know, to make Marilyn feel good about bringing it in. But something doesn't look quite right. Can you pick out what yarn color I need to leave out of the afghan?

And when I needed to borrow a pair of scissors, look at this little ditty bag/book that RJ made for her scissors and what not! CAAAUUTE!

And as we were sitting there, chatting away, working on our projects, Leslie wanted to look at a pic of something on my camera. Well then she starts flipping through all the pictures and says, "ooh what's this? Old Christmas bulbs? You didn't tell us about these!" Well noooo, I don't tell everything!

You see, last Friday my Sister and I decided we were going to have a garage sale at my parents house, because their neighborhood was having neighborhood sales. So whilst my friend and I were on our way to my parents house with a car load of stuff to unload for the garage sale, we saw a garage sale! And it was a good one! Love that picture frame! And the ornaments...well she wanted $5.00 for them, but I said I'd give her a dollar and she said ok.

And when I brought the ornaments home and started looking at them, I pulled this one out and I audibly gasped!

I would have paid $5.00 for it alone! These are all mercury glass ornaments, and old. How did it ever survive...even a garage sale! And remember the Historic Home tour and how they had booths on the square downtown? Well, I bought the bundle of these beauties...

all mercury glass! Are you drooling? We put all old ornaments such as these on our tree.

Only I had to pay $20.00 for the bundle. She was asking $10.00 each strand. I would not have paid that! And what Miss Leslie did not see, because I just bought it yesterday was this old muffin tin for 50 cents! Which she is going to love because you should see what the talented Miss Leslie does with old muffin tins. I'll show you sometime.

I thought it might be cute to display some of my wares at the Granny Bee fall open house next weekend. All of you readers that are close by should come. We could have a blogger fest! Bring a stitchery item to work on and just sit around with us...it's allowed! But let me say this, do not call it a Craft Club. THE GB will make you pay!

Now this is something else I got at a garage sale. I bought her because it says Lefton on the bottom, and I've heard of Lefton....but she's kind of freaking me out....

She looks innocent enough, but last night I put her under the light on the kitchen counter and proceeded to take a picture, and it looks like she is looking different in each picture. Like she is moving her head. I'm serious. The first two pics look the same, but look closely at the first picture, looks like she is looking up. You can even see her neck.

Then this second pic, I think she might be looking at me taking the pic.

Then this one she looks like she kind of turned sideways...I don't know....it's just creeping me out.

Anyway, back to yesterdays sales.....

My friend and I told this lady at a sale yesterday that we really liked her cash box. There were three of us that were going to fight over it. Or auction it off! The lady said, "I have another one I don't need them, I'll sell them both." She wanted $5.00, I said $3.00 she met us in the middle at $4.00. And we each got one. The third lady was just playing with us, she didn't really want it. And when we got home my friend called me and said there was one on e-bay and they were asking $45.00! Seriously? Yup seriously...I looked it up.

I just think it's a cool box for sewing supplies and such...or something. It's a tin from West Germany.

That's all I'm gonna show you for now Leslie. ('cept for these pumpkins I made)

Happy Autumn everyone...or Fall, whatever you say. Tis the season for pumpkins, gourds, harvest, changing leaves and getting close to winter. s c a r y....winter that is...scarier than Halloween if you ask me!

Cindy Bee

PS - Hi Lynn C's Mom!!!

Historic Home Tour

On Saturday, my Shug and I went on an Historic home tour in Noblesville, IN.

For $12.00 you were allowed to tour several historic homes.

And here are some of the things I liked about them.

Lot's of porches, nooks, and crannies in old homes...inside and out.

Little sitting rooms. White picket fences.

Carriage houses converted into garages and apartments.

Old cars and trucks. I've wanted a truck like these for years.
Arches into gardens. I remember one of the things my Master Gardener teacher, Dick Crum, taught us is if you want people in your yard, put up an archway. He said, "people just HAVE to walk through these." He's right!

Wide steps with plenty of room to walk,

that lead to wide porches.

Fireplaces

and built-in cabinets or shelves. Hardwood floors.

Interesting ceilings and architectural details.

This was a small kitchen but I thought it was interesting how they found a way to 'eat-in' the kitchen and

I am on the hunt for one of these sinks. If you know where I can find one, please let me know.

Cute gardens with nooks, crannies, sitting areas, and hand made yard art.

Windows with casings, trim...details.

Balconies...

From the picture, this looks like it is street level, but it isn't,

it's up there! (on the left) and this house was not actually part of the tour. Two Realtors had open houses that day. Smart! So this was one of the 'bonus' houses, and was one of my favorites. It actually reminded me of a beach house with the colors inside, the windows, the balconies...I loved it.

They also had booths on the square downtown and people were selling their wares.

I loved this afghan. I did not buy it. It was $100.00 Probably not a bad price for all of the work, but I didn't want to spend that much money.

And I think this was my favorite booth. I enjoyed the day a lot. However...I would like to say a few things about home tours.

Do's and dont's if you will.

If you are a hostess, when someone walks in the door, DO greet them and tell them where to start the tour. DO NOT stand there talking to someone you know for so long that the tourer (is that a word? Oh, maybe tourist?) starts the tour on their own, wandering somewhat aimlessly through the house.

If it is a ticketed event, ask to see tickets. We probably could have gotten by without purchasing them.

If you are a tourist, DO NOT monopolize the time of the volunteers who are watching the rooms on the tour. He/She has a job to do. Especially DO NOT stand in the middle of the entry ways to all of the bedrooms/bathrooms so people have to keep saying excuse me....excuse me......excuse me....good grief. (you know, some homes have a little room with doors that lead to all of the other rooms, rather than a hall way.) I noticed she finally asked him to stand against the wall. And btw-Mr. talker man - she wasn't all that into you, I could tell. Miss Hostess Lady, next time you might say, "you know, this really isn't the time/place for me to talk" If he thinks it's a come on to talk later and asks for your number, give him the wrong one. He'll get the hint. Or ask for his instead, then just don't call him. He talks too much anyway. He thinks life is all about him.

If you are a tourist, and the greeter/hostess is speaking to you, STOP AND LISTEN. She is there spending her precious time as a volunteer, at least give her the two minutes she needs to make her little speech. Do you think she enjoys saying the same exact thing 89 times in one day?

If you are on the committee planning a tour such as this one, especially a walking tour, have restrooms available to the public. This tour was from 10-5. There were boy scouts selling snacks and drinks. There was an ice cream social. We eat...we drink....we pee. We need a place to do so.

Parents, if you have to bring your kids...this is a perfect opportunity to teach them respect for other peoples property. For crying out loud DO NOT let them touch/play with stuff that does not belong to them and DO NOT let them climb on antique cars...any cars for that matter...don't even let them lean on them. Did you ever think about the zippers, studs, buttons, etc. on your clothes and how it could scratch a paint job on a car. Well think about it now!

And this goes to everyone, everywhere. The perfume/cologne industry will hate me for this one. But people, just stop wearing it. You know...seriously....my head was about to explode by about the third house from all the scents. Between the houses having those smelly plug-in things, the perfumes worn by tourists, the bathrooms with the cologne smells still lingering, and the cigarette smoke-filled carpeting (sorry, but true)....I was sneezing my head off on the entire tour. I finally just went into one of the bathrooms and started peeling off tissues and blowing my nose! Attractive I know.

So those are my do's and dont's for tours, and really....basic politeness. Seems like, as a society, we have forgotten such things.

Even though the night before sucked, we had a nice date. The tour was well planned, and the homes were within walking distance from each other and downtown. The map was easy to read, there was plenty of time to see the homes and shop in the booths. The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful day to be out on a date with my Shug!!!

Cindy Bee

PS - Thank you for all of your kind comments, I am feeling better. I looked up how to make a hot toddy (see comment section from this post) on the Internet, made one, drank it, and threw up! Tons of phlegm - eeewwwww. But I do feel better!

Just a spoonful of honey...

I'm answering Julie's question from the comment section of my last post for those of you that haven't heard this as I feel it's important. It has been said that raw local honey, eaten every day, will help with allergies. The reason is honey bees take nectar/pollen from plants in your area to make honey. These are assumed to be the same plants giving you allergy problems. By taking a spoonful of honey every day, you are ingesting a tiny bit of that pollen, every day, that you are allergic to, and slowly building an immunity up in your system to these plants. Say you live in...oh, I don't know.....say Delaware....and you get honey from Indiana....the allergy thing wouldn't work because you are in different zones, which have different plants, and different pollens causing allergies. Make sense? I hope so.

Also, if you look at the post I referred to from The Suburban Settler, you'll see in her comment section how she was saying that the raw local honey she bought was so much better than store bought. The reason for that is the same as if you were to buy a tomato hauled 1,000 miles in a truck, compared to one grown in your back yard, or if you were to eat an egg laid from a chicken in your back yard, compared to one hauled in from some chicken factory. Also, some honey bought at local grocery stores is known to be half honey, half corn syrup. Get what you can from your local farmers. Local is best, back yard is better!

Cindy Bee

The Suburban Settler on Honey

Hey everyone, check out this post from The Suburban Settler.
It's very interesting facts about honey.

Cindy Bee

PS - just remember not to put plastic in your microwave. Not healthy.

American-English Dictionary

Hey I thought of one....

American - Vacation
English - Holiday

So I'm wondering, what do the English call Holidays? Like Christmas, Easter, etc.

Cindy Bee

Taking tea..and other musings

This is a post with no pics. Why? Because it's 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday. And I am not going to take pics of a nose with a nasal strip on it, or tea bags, or whatever...it's just silly.....or is it?
I never got my nap yesterday. So I figure I'll sleep through the night since I didn't get a nap. But at 2:30 in the morning I wake up because I have to go potty. Then I lay there.... or is it lie there, I don't know....either way, I'm horizontal, reading, and coughing....and I can't breathe. I start blowing my nose, which does no good. So I get back up and do a sinus rinse (gross, I know) and I put on one of those nasal strips...which just gives my nose more room to fill up. I know, I know..gross. But as I am reminded by Scribe and Rj, there are worse things...then I start sneezing and I think...
I want some strong, hot tea
....and I also think....why in the hell am I sneezing in the middle of the night?No one sneezes in the middle of the night.
I want tea.
Whenever I was sick or didn't feel good, Mom always gave me tea and toast. But if I get up I will have to let the dogs out, they might start barking and wake up the neighborhood, they might not come back in....I don't want to mess with them. So I close my eyes and try to go to sleep. But I can't breathe.
Now I'm frustrated because my Shug and I are supposed to go on a date today. We were excited because 1) we get to sleep in (ha) for the first time in a long time, and 2) we are going on a historic house tour in another town. But here I am wide awake.. And this means I'm going to be tired today unless I can get back to sleep.
I need tea...and toast.
Or hot chocolate...which is it? (cough-cough) Then I close my eyes to go back to sleep and I think.....where's my brown wool coat? No I am not kidding you, that is what popped into my head. I didn't remember seeing it in the closet the other day and I've packed and moved our winter stuff. I gotta get up.
So, I get up, let the dogs out, make some tea...after searching and searching because all I can find is this wimpy herbal tea. And I want some good strong Irish or English Breakfast tea. And I don't want to go into the basement but I do. And I dig around in the pantry (or is it a larder, or is a larder just for meat? what the hell is a larder exactly?) until I find some breakfast tea and I pour in the honey and make some toast...with butter and honey... mmmm,,..hey I can breathe!

Why is it when you are horizontal, you cannot breathe, but when you hold your head upright, you can? (and I think...I'm buying a recliner)

What do you take when you are all stopped up in the head?

I have to stay away from decongestants because they make my heart race.

And what's your "tea" when you don't feel well?

Hey I'm not whining, really, I'm not. I'm just blabbing.

I know there are worse things than a cold. Way worse.

I'm going back to bed now. Good night...

Cindy Bee

PS - Dammittohell I forgot to stir the tea after putting in the honey. I am not getting back up.
PPS - My brown wool coat is in the closet, smashed between two other coats :-)
PPPS - Is this post too long? Am I talking too much?!!!?!

crafting, granny bees, dottie angel

hi everyone,

well it's been a busy week.

and i am not feeling well...

the temps have cooled way down,

and I have a sore throat and cold.

so i've been into the honey...alot!

i've been sleeping...a lot!

and I've been working on our house,

watering the freshly planted grass seed...

doing errands for new house items.

not fun stuff...plumbing and such.

and by wednesday, I was beat.

so I missed my granny bee meeting :-(

but i have been crafting...here and there...whenever i find a spot of time.

i made these pins....not the pin cushion....with fimo or sculpey clay.

and here is a picture of the afghan i was working on.

i actually finished it labor day weekend, just like i said i would.

and i learned a new border stitch, thanks to attic 24's blogspot.

and I made this cute little pumpkin pincushion/decoration

it' not finished yet...but i thought i'd give you a sneak preview because i think it's cute.

i've also been harvesting flower seeds

and sweet annie....
attempting to get some things ready for the granny bee fall open house
the first weekend in october.

but apparently, while I missed granny bee meeting wednesday evening, i was talked about.
i guess one stitcher showed another stitcher this new book she ordered.
it was a dottie angel book.
and she said something like, "cindy is not a dottie angel follower."
the other one said something like I was a hater...a Dottie Angel hater.....
ladies....i am not a hater....
the only thing I hate is the word "hate" itself. ...
i look at d.a.'s blog...now and then...
i love her new book...
i love the pictures....
as i was shown, it's eye candy for the crafter...
all i ever said about dottie angel is she talks too much!
er well, she types too much...
and she types like this...
all in the middle of her page
with no caps or anything...
and it's just a lot for me....
being such a busy person...
and i've got blog peeps i've become attached to
that i miss when i am too busy like i have been this week
so it's not that i hate...it's a time thing
who has time to read all of that stuff...

and speaking of time....i gotta go,
because my sister and i are having a garage sale today...
and i am supposed to be at my parents house soon
where there is a neighborhood sale going on
and i am not even showered yet!

love and peace everyone...

(no hate)

cindy bee

(hey this was all in fun - ok)