A Win for Me, A Win for You, A Bird Bug & A Dodo Bird

I had to show this off first! It's a gorgeous, beautifully designed and crafted pillow that I won by spinning the Make Mine Pink slot machine! The pillow is from Janets Creative Pillows! It soo reminds me of the beautiful florals and dresses in Hawaii. I just love it and appreciate all the work that went into every stitch! Many thanks to Make Mine Pink and to Janets Creative Pillows!

Speaking of Hawaii (did you like that segway?), I was in a mood the other day to do something creatively different, something with an underwater theme, something with melted WAX...and came up with this strange looking can. You know how you start out with something obscure and know what you want to do but have no idea what you want it to look like or how you're going to do it or what you're going to do with it once you've done whatever it is that you kind of had in mind?

Well, this is one of those projects. I think I accomplished the underwater theme and it definitely used a lot of melted wax. And, I actually like it. I'm not too sure what I'll do with it or where I'll put it. But, I really like that I found the cute little plastic fish with the big eyeball during my gathering process.

Last week was an exceptionally busy week. Ever notice that, during an exceptionally busy time, something major happens in your household that has to take priority over everything else? Our cockatoo, Bailey, got sick. He stopped eating, stopped playing, stopped talking and his stool droppings were discolored. This was reminding me too much of years ago when my children were little. He was definitely one sick birdy and if you don't know much about birds, rest assured that it doesn't take a long time for them to perish from dehydration or lack of nutrition.

Our feisty, strong-willed cockatoo had become relatively docile; he generally doesn't hold still for his checkups but didn't argue much about having a cold stethoscope pressed against his body and barely flinched when our vet, Gina Robinson, checked his nasal cavities and throat (...say "ahh-h-h-h...").

Blood and stool samples were taken. Thank Goodness he didn't have anything immediately life threatening, but he did have a nasty staph infection that we are treating with antibiotics and now he's back to his noisy, raucous, playful self.

This next picture probably looks very boring. Big deal, sheets on a clothesline, right? Wrong! It only took me a few short years of begging before Hubby finally got around to finding some laundry poles (that part happened early last summer) and getting them cemented into the ground (this happened last week). I celebrated by annointing the lines with just-washed bedding. Yaaaay! I've said it before, I'll say it again - It's the little things, Girls...

You've seen my win, my bird with his bug and now to reveal the dodo bird part of this post. Maybe I should call it dodo bird brain. See this cute little clothespin bag I made? Isn't it sweet? This is the front side...

(BTW, if you know me at all, you'll know the only time I use a pattern for anything is when I'm making clothes for myself or the grandkids.) ...and here's the reverse side...

Notice anything strange? Here's a hint: Do you see an opening for the clothespins? *sigh* Me, neither. An easy fix, but I still can't believe that I did that! Or, didn't do that, whichever way you want to look at it.

And finally, what you've REALLY been waiting to find out - the WINNER for my March Blog Giftaway is: MICHELE of Country Vintage! Michele is a great gal and a loyal commenter, just several of you and this is the first time she's won one of my Giftaways! So, congratulations, Michele and as for the rest of you, keep reading (I miss you when you don't come around) and commenting (I love to hear from you!).

Hugs and blessings,

Sher

Bits and Pieces, This 'n That

It's been a few days since I've posted so I thought I'd share with you what I've been doing. Remember our peach-laden peach tree? If not, here's a reminder pic:

We have a similar tree toward the back of our property and it, too, had to have its limbs propped up to prevent the branches from breaking. Well, the peaches have been falling off the tree faster than we can pick them. Our next door neighbor told us her freezer can't handle anymore; we gave them at least four bushels. We gave several bags to neighbors behind us, neighbors across the street and even to a couple people who stopped by asking if we would sell any. We ended up giving them about a bushel and a half and they left overjoyed. I'm out of room in my freezer so I've resorted to canning the rest.

This isn't all of them - there are still several on the tree and they are awaiting their turn in my canner.

Then, one evening I decided to embroider the words "Nice Counts" for another pillow. I love tone-on-tones and decided to use some of my pink fabric stash, then decided it needed some "bling" around the edges. I like the way it looks but boy, was it tedious to handstitch this little rope of beads "in the ditch" (meaning it was stitched along the seams).

I found an old octagonal box (oops, I spaced the before picture!) at a yard sale for a dollar. I don't know why in the world I was attracted to it, it was filthy and needed repair. I cleaned it up, discovered the repair job was an easy one, then it told me that it really wanted to be made pretty. It already had the little white ceramic knob with it, so out comes the pink spray paint, a cute little doily to serve as a resting spot for the knob and voila! I love it! It's now sitting on my dresser, being cuddled by this old faceless doll. Oh, almost forgot - maybe soon I'll have some updated shots of my sewing/craft studio. My hubby hung a "new" vintage cabinet for me today, giving me more storage. I'm really trying to get it organized in there. But look what he did last night while I was trying to move things around to make room for the cabinet: No, Silly, I'm not married to this bird. The bird is Bailey, our cockatoo - you've seen him before! Get a load of what he's doing. Hubby gave him a whole slice of pizza! He thought it would make a cute picture. Of course, Bailey loved it and ate quite a bit of it.

Speaking of birds (and also neighbors), the lady next door knows I love birds and antiques. She saw this at a yard sale and said she had to get it for me. Isn't that sweet of her? It's sitting on a shelf above my computer. I have at least another day of canning peaches, then I'll be on to some new projects.

What have you been up to lately? (Remember, leaving a comment will get you entered in this month's Giftaway!)