Two Little White Mice

I was commissioned to make these two little white mice for a lovely lady called Cindy, who lives in Florida. It had been a little while since I had made any mice and it was a nice change from making elephants. She wanted them in the colors of pink, red, white and some grey, and somewhat formally dressed. When I showed these to my daughter she said they looked like they were all dressed up to go out to dinner, so I think I pulled it off. The good news is that Cindy was delighted with them, so they will be on their way to Florida this morning to their new home.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone that stopped by my blog yesterday and left wonderful birthday wishes for our daughter, they were so much appreciated, what a lovely bunch of people you all are.

Hope you are all having a lovely start to your week!

Happy Birthday

Today is our daughter, Layla's, 35th birthday. She has been such a sheer joy to us all these years. Happy, happy birthday angel!






(...boy is she gonna be surprised when she see's this!)

What to do, what to do, what to do.....

One of the "joys" of owning a small garden pond is from time to time you have to scoop out junky stuff.

While doing this yucky task a couple of days ago I happened to notice that most of my little tadpoles were gone. I also happened to notice some good size air bubbles coming up from beneath the rocks.

Imagine my surprise when a wiggly little head appeared rising up out of the water, that wonderful little snake that I had photographed for an earlier blog entry is using my little pond for his own personal Chinese buffet.

Well that's not good said one neighbor, you need to get him out of there said another.

Unless I can shrink myself down to 2 inches small and put on miniature scuba gear I haven't the foggiest idea how to remove him.

If anyone has any ideas on how to remove him, without harming him of course, it would be gratefully appreciated.

I'll give you the weekend to think about it, hope you all have a lovely one.

Everything is growing well.

The rose garden is all in full bloom right now and the smell is wonderful. I think I could snap photo's all day long!

The veggie garden is doing really well also, just waiting for these peas to fill out a little bit more. Although we had a cooler Spring this year everything seems to have caught up quite nicely.


How blessed I am to be able to see this view every day....when she feels like showing herself.
Our beautiful Mt Rainier, still covered with lots of snow.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday!

Perfect weather, perfect dinner

When our weather here in Washington turns lovely we never miss the opportunity to have dinner in our garden.
Yesterday was one of those lovely days, and we took advantage.

I had made my homemade spaghetti sauce earlier in the day ( my husbands favorite) so most of the preparations were already finished.

Dessert was easy as we had on hand wonderful strawberries and I am never without chocolate in the house, so put the two together and you have one of my favorite desserts.

We finally dragged ourselves back in the house just as it was starting to get dark, we really didn't want to become dessert for the mosquito's!

Looks like we will be able to do it a lot more, as our weather looks perfect for the next few days.

Summer in Washington does take it's time in coming, but there is nothing better!

Happy Wednesday everybody!

A Wonderful Day!

The weather was perfect, the people all came, and most importantly they all bought!
We sold hot dogs, which went down really well around lunch time. We even opened up our back yard so people could sit and enjoy their lunch. It really was such lovely fun.

The best part was being able to raise money for It's Meow or Never Animal Sanctuary.
It was indeed a wonderful day!

Violet

Violet and I would like you all to know that our garage sale was a smashing success!

We raised lots of money for the animal rescue, and managed to get rid of a lot of stuff.
I will post pictures and tell you all about our day very soon.

Busy Day!

The last of the preparations for our big garage sale are well underway. Things seem to be falling into place quite nicely.

A family member who just happens to be a licensed massage therapist, is going to come by and will be doing mini massages, with all proceeds going to the animal rescue sanctuary.

The weather looks like it just might co-operate and be nice, so we are hoping for a very profitable day.

Thank you everyone who gave me good wishes about my "wacky" neck, Bella fixed me....Oops I mean Dr Gerry fixed me up just fine!

The photo is of the front of my home, I am still waiting for my geranium's to fully bloom, after having lived in Germany for so many years, and admiring all their lovely geraniums I always plant some every year in my boxes on my front porch,and below my window.

I hope what ever you are doing this weekend you will all have a good one!

Beautiful Bella!

Occasionally if I have been sewing too much my neck goes a little wacky, that's when I turn to my wonderful chiropractor Dr. Gerry, in no time at all he fixes me right up!
Well I have a confession to make, the real reason that I go to see him is because of Bella.
On most mornings Bella his lovely dog comes to work with him, so I try to make my appointment when she is going to be there.
No matter how yucky you feel, when Bella gives you a hug and a kiss it makes you feel just that bit better.
One of these days I think I will kidnap her and bring her home with me, but I know that he would come looking for her at my place first!
I finally got brave enough to put a picture of me with Bella on my blog, in case you are confused I'm the one with the darker hair!
Fun day to everybody!

Let's Try This Again!

Well it has been about a week since the Mystery Box Giveaway, and as you all know the previous winner failed to come forward, and I had no way to contact her.
So another number was picked this morning and it is number 23 - Periwinkle! Congratulations Lisa! If you would contact me with all your info I will get your gifts mailed off to you.

As you can see by today's photo I finally managed to get a photo of our little snake, apologies to the squeamish, he has been wiggling around our garden for the last couple of weeks and there he was just laying on our path, soaking in the sun.

Garage sale preparations are well underway, it is so amazing to me how much stuff you can collect up every year.

I hope that sometime today I can get back into my sewing room for a couple of hours, I really miss it when I am out of there for a while.

Hope you are having fun where you are!

Garage Sale!

Every year our little town has a garage sale, it really is a fun event.

The whole town opens up their garages and puts out all their junk for sale!

For us it is so much fun as family members join us for the sale, this year we will be grilling hot dogs and selling them, all the money earned will go to It's Meow or Never Animal Sanctuary, my favorite animal rescue.

We turn the whole day into a big eating party, we get to see neighbors that we haven't seen for a while, and catch up on all the gossip!

So this week 'Ellie making' has been put on the back burner as we sort out and price all our "treasures" for the sale.

We are also on weather watch all week, hoping and praying for good weather.
There is nothing worse than grilling or having a garage sale in the rain.

Before I forget the lovely Rachel over at RachelRabbit is having a cupcake and tea swap, pop on over and get all the info on how to particapate, it should be a lot of fun.

Well still no Debbie, so it does indeed look like there will be another drawing, it will be on Wednesday the 18th of June.

Enjoy the day!

Debbie where are you......

A small problem has arisen with my mystery box giveaway last week. It would seem that Debbie, who was the winner, has yet to step forward and claim her prize.

If anyone knows Debbie please let her know.

Debbie had never commented before on my blog, and there was no info when I clicked on her name.

I feel the only fair thing to do, is to give Debbie til Tuesday June 17th midnight pacific time to claim her prize. If she still hasn't come forward, I will ask my neighbor to pick another number from all the entrees, the new winner will be announced on Wednesday's blog entry. If anyone has a better idea I would only be to glad to listen, I hope that my solution is a fair one.

Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday!

EmmaRose

What more could a little ellie want, big pink fuzzy slippers, her blankie and her teddy...

...a glass of milk and some warm chocolate chip cookies...

...sweet dreams EmmaRose.....

And the winner is......post number 76!

Thank you so much everyone for entering my first giveaway!

I hope you all had as much fun as I did, I won't keep you guessing any longer.

My lovely neighbor Annette picked the number 27, so Debbie is the winner of my first giveaway.

Congratulations Debbie, if you would send me your email address, full name and mailing address I will get your lovely goodies mailed off to you.

In the mystery box is, a little ballerina mouse, a knitted cupcake, three lovely fat quarters of fabric, a lavender scented fabric pear, and of course my favorite, some yummy chocolate!

I had such jolly good fun that I will have to do this again soon.

Have a lovely day everyone!

Hooray! Mystery Box Giveaway Day! Post number 75

It will only be a short and sweet post today, I just want to wish everyone the best of luck, and I want to thank you all for being so lovely and friendly to me by visiting my blog.
Tomorrow on my 76 post, the winner and the contents of the box will be revealed.

Have a lovely day everyone!

Windy evening! Post Number 74.

I was trying to figure out last night what I was going to blog about today. I'm sure you've all had those days when your brain is "blog empty".

Well lo and behold Mother Nature unexpectedly came to my rescue!

We had such strong winds here yesterday evening, that while I happened to be on the phone with my neighbor she looked out her window just in the nick of time to see her lovely Ash tree blowing over.

We all ran out to hold up the tree until we could somewhat stabilize it until the tree service will show up.

The good blogger that I am ran back in the house and grabbed my camera, hence today's photo.

It may not be a pretty job but we are all keeping our fingers crossed that it will be OK.

Well tomorrow is post number 75, good luck to everyone.

Yesterday in my garden. Post number 73

I took a stroll around my garden yesterday, camera in hand, to see if there was anything to take a photo of.

My beautiful dogwood tree is in full bloom and looking wonderful.

I managed to zoom in and get a photo of my "little baby grapes"

Then I saw this little frog sitting outside my birdhouse, it wasn't until I downloaded the photo's that I noticed a wasp crawing on him.

Back outside I went to make sure that he was ok, I watched for about ten minutes as wasps went in and out of the birdhouse not bothering the frog, and he didn't seem one bit interested in them.

Now if I could only get a bird to nest in there!

BethanyJane Post number 72

Finally little BethanyJane is all put together and looking prettier than she did in her last photo.

This little ellie was made for the lovely Bethany at the blog Red Yarn.

So now it is back to my sewing room to make some more little ellies, I had an idea last night to make one as a little flower girl, after all it is June, the wedding month.

Well here we are at post number 72 already, only three more posts to go before the giveaway, maybe I can do two posts in one day just to hurry things along a bit.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Poor little Ellie! Post Number 71

Well isn't this a pitiful photo today!
I am at home with a sinus infection, so between the antibiotics and the pain pills this is all I managed to do.

Sometime this afternoon, this little Ellie will have all her bits and pieces attached.....hopefully in the right places!

This is actually Bethany's elephant, hope it doesn't scare her when she sees it like this.

She wanted a little Ellie in a red dress, I think that she might be ready for her debut sometime on Monday.

I have been tagged for the first time, by the lovely Twiggy at the blog The World Of Twiggypeasticks, so here goes.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago...
Living very contently here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
Sew, eat chocolate, sew, eat chocolate…. And not necessarily in that order!

3) Snacks I enjoy:
See above!

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Buy more expensive chocolate!

5) Places I have lived:
England, Scotland, Germany and the USA (Washington, New Jersey, Virginia, Illinois, Tennessee)

6) Bloggers I would like to know more about...
I will have a think over the weekend and let you know.

Mystery giveawaybox! Post number 70

My first giveaway and I am so excited!

I had intended to have a giveaway when I had reached 100 posts, but that just seems so far away.

So I have decided to have a giveaway on my 75th post, here's how it will work.

Everyday when I post a new blog entry I will number it in the title, today it is number 70. When you see blog entry number 75 leave a comment or just say hi. The giveaway will end at 10 pm pacific time on the day of the 75th blog entry.

On my 76th post the winner will be announced and the contents of the mystery box will be revealed...my goodness I am excited and I know what's in the box.

The winner will be chosen by number, first to leave a comment will be 1, second will be 2, and so on.

I will then ask my lovely neighbor Annette to pick a number between 1 and however many entries there are, whatever number she chooses will be the winner.

There are at least four items in the box, so I hope you will all come on by and enter my first giveaway.

Babies everywhere!

Our garden is so alive right now with babies of all kinds.

I noticed today that our little pond has lot's of tadpoles, sorry didn't manage to get a photo, they are to tiny and quick yet.

A few days ago I managed to get a photo of these four little baby swallows sitting on the gutter of our home, right above the back door.

Every time mom flew in with more food they made quite a noise, it was also a little nerve racking having to go in and out the house right underneath them, as we all know, what goes in also comes out!

A little tease about tomorrows blog.....a mystery box giveaway!

Have a lovely evening everybody!

Annie

Meet Annie, ready for sunshine with her new sunglasses.

Birds bugs and flowers

It was a chilly 61 degrees here today, but a very good day to be in the garden.

I spotted teeny tiny grapes on my grapevine, they are only the size of a pin head right now, but I have high hopes.

Our little pond was overwhelmed with birds today all wanting a bath, or a drink, or both.


Quite a few flowers are blooming, but I am longing for my roses to wake up, they are my favorite.


This little bee was quite calm as I was taking his photo, he sat very still, it sure made my job easier.


I even spotted a tiny snake taking in the sun, but unfortunately I wasn't fast enough with the camera, maybe next time.

I think that this is my favorite time of the year, the whole garden feels like it's buzzing with activity, it makes for some interesting photo's.

Have a lovely day wherever you are!

Maggie

It was a busy but productive weekend.

We had a visit with our daughter so that always makes the weekend special, managed to get a haircut...was badly needed, why do I wait so long!

I packaged up Lilybet, as well as the little Pizza chef who will be on their way to California tomorrow, I know that they will be well loved.

It wasn't the nicest weather this weekend to do outdoor stuff, so I stayed in and made little Maggie, I think she turned out ok.

I really am having so much fun with all my new felt, it is so lovely to have so many colors to chose from, it was definitely one of my best purchases.

Hmmm... I almost forgot, I also went to a lovely quilting shop and as usual bought to much fabric, I'm doomed as soon as I walk through the shop door.

Think that's about it, now I'm off to make dinner!