Thanksgiving Repast

My daughter was the chef for Thanksgiving this year. She did a FABULOUS job!!! The turkey was stuffed with lemons, and with fresh lavender, sage, rosemary and thyme (no parsley! LOL) from the garden. She made a spice rub, and coated the outside and under the skin.

Caramelized corn with mint, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes balls, were among the veggies she created.

The sweet potato balls were made with a fresh baked sweet potato, then mashed. She took a giant marshmallow, coated it with mashed sweet potato, and rolled that ball in crushed walnuts. Yum, yum, yum!!!!

All the veggies were home grown - something to be thankful for.

The trifle dessert lacked one thing - a suitable clear glass pedestal bowl to display the concoction! It was made up with my featherweight pound cake, with alternate layers of chocolate pudding, home made whipped cream, and shaved chocolate and chocolate chips. I've had 2 or 3 servings so far, and haven't even cracked open the pies yet!!! This year, the pies were store bought. May have to freeze them for future use!!

We are thankful for our family, our home grown bounty, and another year gone by.......

And, since my daughter was the chef this year, I am the clean up committee, so I had better get cracking!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!!!!!!

Tea on Tuesday

I am enjoying a cup of goodness sent to me by Patty

It came in a lovely card, and she found it at Mrs. Hardesty's Tea Room in Harrisonburg, Va. The tea is from Harrison and Crosfield
and it is yummy!!!!
Listen to the ingredients: hibiscus flowers, apple pieces, rosehips, blackberry leaves, and natural essence of raspberry,blackberry, and bilberry!

During this week of giving thanks, I wanted to tell you about this blog I've been following- Nienie Dialogues

Stephanie Nielsen is a courageous young mother in Utah, who was in an airplane crash about a year ago. She suffered horrific burns. Her adoring husband, fondly referred to in her writings as Mr. Nielsen, saved her, and suffered some burns himself. This couple carries on, raising their family of adorable kids. Their lives have been drastically changed forever, but they are thankful for every minute of the day that they spend with their kids and each other. The family was on The Today Show this morning, interviewed by Matt Lauer. Truly an inspiration to us all................

Matchbox Swap

Just a reminder - the mail by date for swappers is coming up- Monday, November 30.

I know some have been mailed out and received, and when both parties have their boxes, I hope they will write a post with pix and link to me. I will share the links with everyone!

I even got 2 thank yous in the mail for hosting the swap!! Thank you , thank you - I will post pix of those soon also!!!! I am looking forward to doing another swap soon!!!

My matchbox is hidden inside this little box- don't want to show you yet - until I am sure my swap partner has received it!!!

Coincidentally, I was just flipping thru this month's Country Living Magazine - and on page 114 is a how-to for making an Advent Calendar out of mini matchboxes!! Very cool!!!

25 matchboxes are stacked on their sides, to make a tree shape.There are 5 rows, with 9 boxes on the base up to 1 at the top. Each row was wrapped in festive paper, and the end of each box was numbered, 1-25. Inside each little box is a treat for the appropriate day. Very simple idea- you could make this and be as plain or as over the top as you wanted!

Steppin' Out of the Box Again.................

I tried my hand at something new this week. Patty posted about an altered postcard she created for a swap over at this blog , Kreativ Kram.
They have an ongoing "thing" called Travel Around the World. A different location is picked each time, you create a postcard for that location, and swap partners are chosen. Patty always inspires me to try something new!!! You only have to make one postcard- which is a good thing - I don't think I could make more than one!!! LOL

When I saw Patty's - the location for Swap #15 was St. Petersburg, Russia. She was lucky enough to have gone there a few years ago. It piqued my interest because I had heard, over the years, that my Finnish great great (great?) grandparents had traveled by cart to work in St. Petersburg.

I started researching the story again, and come to find out, my mother's grandparents, did, in fact, LIVE in St. Petersburg, probably in the early to mid 1800's! There was alot of unrest in Russia, Finland and the surrounding areas during that time period. All very interesting, and so much more to discover. And to think, this journey started again for me, with a simple altered postcard!

One of the requirements for this postcard was to use an ink stamp somewhere. I chose to use it on the back. I stamped "hand made for you" in Finnish on the back. And, NO, I don't speak Finnish - I used Google translator - so I hope it is correct!!!! I also have it in Russian.

I used a vintage postcard with an unappealing pic of a warship on the front. I did not feel bad about "changing" this postcard!!I do like the original back of the postcard tho!On the front, I put a map of Finland, and a picture of the gorgeous, altho' chillingly named, Spilled Blood Cathedral in St. Petersburg. A cutout from Artchix, vintage little girls with a map of the world, under a swatch of ribbon, with the added words "back and forth", signifying my ancestors' travels, some gel pen and sparkle embellishment and vintage rickrack- I hope it meets the swap's approval.

There is still time to join this swap, I believe, if not - there is always the next one!!!!

Tea on Tuesdays

Fabulous "new" website - new to me anyway!! You need to check this one out!

Today, (actually, it was yesterday- I am a day late in posting!) I am enjoying a cup of Stash Goji Berry Green Tea. This was courtesy of my teacup swap partner- very yummy!!!Stash is one of my fav brands, and I am hoping I can find this Goji tea locally!

I thought I would share one of my vintage thrift shop finds - tea related, of course!!!! I love this little potholder - it still had the little price tag attached - remember when stores attached price tags with tiny straight pins???!!! Back when honesty was the best policy.............

Please visit Kimmie, if you haven't already, to join her for tea and see a list of the rest of the tea party!

It's the Little Things...........

.......that get done, that make me feel like I have actually accomplished something!!!
These rainy days indoors have inspired me to finish up some of the UFO's littering the studio.
First done is the BOM for Sandy's Woolie Buddies group. She is designing a pattern for each block. I decided to do my on denim with wool appliques. It would make is more of a usable quilt, rather than another wall hanging. I am running out of space to hang things!!! The wool is from a vintage blazer, and the yarn is vintage also. The little wrapper from the yarn is in the photo.It says the thread is best washed in Ivory Snow!!!!! The denim came from my daughter's jeans!

The next is some doodling I did on some found book covers. More about those tomorrow, on my other blog!
And, finally, my old Longaberger magazine basket, whose cloth cover had seen better days, finally got a new one!!! I found some wonderful upholstery remnants at the thrift store, and used one of them for the cover, and recycled some muslin for the bottom of the cover. After, I had it all together, I remembered I had wanted to stuff the underside, so it could be used as a pin cushion. But, I am NOT going to pull it apart now!!! I'll applique a pin cushion to the underside at a later date (yup, I just turned this lid back into a UFO again!!! LOL)

And, my signature blocks are in the mail!!! Linda's birthday blocks were finally done!!! Yay!! Here are two of them - I used all different fabrics (even a bit of the fabric I won in Gene's giveaway!)

So, I am on a roll, I hope to do a little bit each day, creatively, as long as my muse is awake and inspiring me to move on!!!

Tea on Tuesday

My tea today is Globe Amaranth. It might be a Numi tea, but I'm not sure- the original packaging is long gone!!!

I love these flower teas tho'! It starts out as a dried and tightly bound ball, drop it in the infuser, and let it steep. I wish I had time lapse photography, to show it slowly blossoming!! This tea will last me thru the day. It's delicious cold too!!

When I have lunch, I have some with a salad. I discovered these wonderful walnuts to put on salads- or just eat straight out of the bag!!!! A bit pricey for the size of the bag - but mmmmmmmmmmm, they are goooood!!!!

Would love to chat more, but have to get outside and get busy, before it starts to rain....

Enjoy your day, please join us for tea, and drop in on Kimmie or Patty, for a list of all the Tea on Tuesday participants!
(Oh, and drop in on this blog, for a peek at this cute little infuser she discovered at Ross!!!)

Happy Feet, Happy Feet, Ooglebloops Has Happy Feet!!!!!

My feet are VERY happy!!! They have been VERY happy for most of the day!!!
Why, you ask??????

Well, it's because they are encased in a pair of luscious, warm, and fuzzy alpaca socks!!!! Denim blue and soft as can be, I just love them!!!

I know you wanna know where you can get a pair, so you, too, can have "happy feet"!!!!!

Drop on over and visit Linda Bylsma's blog

Not only are her multiple blogs entertaining "reads", her boundless energy will amaze and astound, and her alpaca tales (not tails) are always entertaining!!!!

There are several links on Linda's sidebar - one is "Farm Store" (where you can probably find the socks, and lots of other necessary things created out of alpaca fiber-some created by Linda). She may even have a link to her Etsy store, where you can find aprons, pin cushions, and alpaca fiber and knitwear!

Winter is almost upon us - your feet will thank you!!! LOL

Matchbox Swap

Well, it seems we have 8 adventurous souls who want to decorate and stuff a matchbox!!!

Patty
Donna
Kimmi
Me
Jan
Lori
Char
Ann

Please send me your mailing address, and I will match you up with a swap partner, and we will be ready to go!! I'll put everyone's name on folded up scraps of paper in a bowl, have a disinterested party close their eyes, and pick out names, 2 at a time, to match everyone up.

As soon as I get everyone's address, I will let you know the "mail by" date.

The rules are - there really are no rules of design. Just decorate a tiny matchbox- the ones that are about 2" long. Fill with ephemera, vintage pieces of this and that, things that could be used in altered art some way. If you like it - I'm sure your swap partner will like it too!!! As many items as will comfortably fit in the box - there is no prize for having stuffed the most in there!!!

This is a have fun, let the creativity flow, no pressure project!!!


Send your name.blog, and mailing address to me at : mountain.meadows@yahoo.com

Tea on Tuesday

In a previous post, I showed the teacup I sent to my tea swap partner. Just in time for Tea on Tuesday- there in my mailbox was my swap from her! Woohoo!!!

As I peeled back beautifully wrapped layers, first was an original card, followed by 2 vintage napkins, several types of tea (decaf, no less-yay!) wrapped in a sleeve with a Mary Engelbreit teapot sticker. At the bottom, securely encased in bubble paper, was a beautiful and dainty floral cup and saucer-made in Czechoslovakia.

Thank you Wanda - I hope you enjoy yours, as much as I will enjoy mine!!! Be sure to stop by and visit Wanda's blog and shop.
Also see Kimmie, Patty, Judy for Tea on Tuesday!! Join us!!!!

3 Hours Listing Auctions on eBay.............Wheeew!!!!

..........and here's what's up: everything from cool vintage costume jewelry to college texts(political science, psych, sociology,etc), and more to see in the eBay store!!!

Click here!!!

Matchbox Swap

OK- it's on!!!

A matchbox swap!!!

The idea came from Kimmie, who discovered a website all about stuffing matchboxes. She made one, then I made one (see my previous posts), and there appeared to be some interest- so here we go!!!!!


We will use the small matchboxes. I just put mine in the mail, so don't know the measurements - but I'm guessing about 2" x 1 1/2". Exact measurements will come later - when I find some more matchboxes!!! LOL

The matchbox should be decorated, then filled with as much tiny flotsam/jetsam/bling that you can fit in there! For people into mixed media altered art - these tiny boxes can be a treasure trove!!!

I wouldn't go overboard - putting in a grain of sand, or a tiny bug, just to up the numbers seems a bit much!!!

When all the names are in - we will let the number generator or some disinterested party (!) match up the names. You will only make one box, filled with goodies, to swap with one person, and you will get one in return. Sound like fun???

If so, leave a comment and we'll start taking names!!!!

Another Wonderful Giveaway

Feedsack Fantasy is having the first of a series of wonderful giveaways!!!

Make sure you drop in and enter!!! This one will have you scratching your head on which one to choose - lovely tea items or wonderful primitive ornaments!!!!

And, The Winner Is.............................

................Patty, from Magpie's Nest!!!

She is now officially The Matchbox Queen, having received one from Kimmie also!!! I know the contents of both matchboxes will show up in some of Patty's wonder-full creations!!!!

If anyone is interested in doing a matchbox swap - let me know - it was kinda fun!!!!