FREE GIVE AWAY OFG Members

This is a fun Posting. Since Autumn is just around the corner my thoughts are on the apple orchards,cool air,changing leaves you name whatever image comes to your mind depicting Autumn.
So...am giving away a red Wool Felt Candle Mat that is approx. 8 1/2" diam. This will look lovely under your Autumn Apple candles. It has green and black hand-stitched embroidery with 3 gold beads at four areas. My photos don't give justice to this. Just think how pretty this would be sitting beside a basket of apples! Then you will also get the cute little Delicious Apples Pillow. It has a country red homespun on the back.
The drawing will be held Monday, August 31st. Just leave me a comment on this post. Be sure to put your name and address.
PLEASE NOTE this is for the OFG Team Members only.
Thank you
Enjoy
Susan

MY DOLL CREATIONS

I am posting a couple of my doll photos that were used at the Cloth Doll Group I belong to. Started creating dolls back in 1986. Began in the craft shows, then after leaving the medical field the adventure led me to my own Country Store and of course the dolls were there.
My Rabbit Doll is made from tea-stained velvet. This was alot of fun to make. Most of my dolls incorporate pieces of antique or vintage textiles and objects. When first copy righting the dolls they were under my designer name Susan Janssen-Green.
Enjoy
Susan

MID SUMMER DAY DREAM

Well here it is mid summer. Can you believe how fast the time has flown?? WOW......grandma used to tell me, when I was anxious to get out of high school, that the years would go faster and faster with each year. She was so right. Would love to sit and talk with her now about this truth. Unfortunately, when we are young the usual reaction to an older persons wisdom is , "yeah, right."
Like we knew everything there is to know at that age. Gracious.
Anyway, my rambling is because, while photographing a few of my flowers in backyard the emotion of nostalgia hit me.
Had so much fun so far this Spring and Summer. Actually, embracing the outside more this year. When the sweat (I don't perspire I sweat!!) would roll down my head and face, I embraced it....was enjoying the feeling of living and playing in the dirt.
Enjoy my backyard photos. Have alot more I could have taken, but then you would have been bored.
Enjoy Susan

A Few Frugal Tips !!

Thought it would be fun to write a blog on saving tips. Will write a few every so often. With times hard for so many, it is always wise to see how long you can hang onto your "cents." I have noticed that cooking for the two of us,hubby and I ,making sure it is a healthy balanced meal, is an art. What with the increase in cost of groceries...my oh my! Who wants to waste??

TIPS

1. In order to save your celery (we always buy for a recipe that calls for only one
stalk....Pleeazeeeee..) Cut off the bottom section, place this in a freezer bag
storing for a day of soup or broth making. Wrap the entire stalks and stems in
aluminum foil. Really, was I surprised at how long this lasts.

2. To keep a head of lettuce fresh for a week or even longer.....after washing
lettuce, let it drain well first. Insert head of lettuce into a big enough bag
along with a piece of paper towel at bottom and top. The paper towel will absorb
moisture. Each time after using the lettuce, check the paper towel to see if it
needs new. Amazingly, you will have fresh lettuce for a very long time. I eat a
salad at lunch each day. Don't waste your money of the pre-chopped bags of
lettuce. I found that once opened, they last only that day or perhaps a day and
a half. A wasted for a single or double family.

Simply Wonderful Days Of Spring

Can you believe tomorrow will be June? Where does the time fly too?
I have been busy each evening "putzing" around my flower beds.....enjoying the smells of Spring, earth, sweet cool air. Isn't it wonderful this time of year.
I marvel at God's creation. What an Awesome God is He!!! He created all, with a purpose and everything intertwined, His World for Him.
I became a member of the Peru Garden Club last June. It has been so much fun. Was afraid at first that a person needed to be a pro to join...but found out differently.
As one lady stated, "it is a great way for a novice to begin." She is right. So much knowledge from the pros in the group...you are always accepted, free seeds and plants...oh my !!!! :)
My experience has been, plant it and see if it survives. If it does then figure out or read up on why. If it dies, then do the previous. Trial and error...nothing better than that.
We live in town and have small yards,so mine is quickly becoming crowded with lots.
My one sister Jo inspired me. She is such a pro - a definite green thumb with lavender twist to boot!!!
My pictures are first the climbing rose bush that has taken about 6 years to get to this stage. Another, just plant and see what happens. My Clematis is the last 3 photos. Not sure of the name, my pansies, that are a favorite of my hubby's, are the two center photos and first photo is the Red Raspberry bush. It was absolutely loaded last year to the point that my freezer overflowed with bags of BIG PLUMP Red Raspberries. We had Raspberry Shortcake just the last week. Now this year it looks as though will be full again. Have counted 6-8 blooms on each cluster.
The funny thing is I purchased this bush at Home Depot about 4 years ago. It looked pathetic but the price was right up my alley....$1.99.
It is one of the stories "plant it and see if it grows." It wasn't until the 3rd year it yielded so much!! When we went on vacation last year I request our neighbors and cousin to please come and pick them...didn't want them to go to waste.
Enjoy my photos. ( I know they did not upload in the right order)

Memory of my Annie Girl

High in the courts of Heaven today
A little cat bravely waits.
with all the others she will not play
But sits alone by the gates.
"For some day my mistress will come." says she.
"And when she comes she will call for me."
Author Unknown

A Sad Day

My goodness it has been so long since I last posted on my Blog.
First, during later part of fall and then into December we were busy with family things...and of course the holidays.
We went to Georgia to see our grandsons & family for Thanksgiving.
Then I was busy getting ready for my upcoming re-constructive surgery on my right foot. I would be non-weight bearing for about 2 months, in a cast, then a walking cast the latter weeks.
It has now been about 4 months !!! Yes, 4 months!!! There have been problems with my ankle implant working out and the 1st Metatarsal not fusing as should. Thus am on a bone stimulator. It is working. Still in boot/cast for another week and prayerfully will be off. I do need a minor surgery to re-screw in the implant.

Now, the sad part. I am posting a picture of our beloved Calico Orphant' Annie. She is named after one of James Whitcomb Riley's poems that my father read to me often. Orphant' Annie was one of many favorite Riley poems I adored as a child and now as an adult. Of course he is a Hoosier ! :)
Annie had hyperthryoidism. We had her on meds. then she began to spit them out, hide at pill time...you name it.
Anyone that has had a Calico know they are very bull-headed and she more so since being so spoiled by us. She was a beautiful Calico.
I said God gave her to me, November 1993, because my heart had been broken by my father's untimely death.
You see, Annie had a beautiful black heart on her right shoulder! She was a new heart for my breaking heart.
It was so very hard to take her to the vet yesterday. My hubby was crying as hard as I.
The young vet was so compassionate along with the assistant. At her age to have the thyroid eradicated was just way too expensive and her being old and not an outside cat....well, I know her heart would have been broken to be away from us for 2 weeks.
So...here we are, seeing our beloved Annie's image in every nook and cranny of this 2 story victorian home.
Yesterday as I notified my friends ....my thought was.....why are we to fall so madly in love with God's critters just to have our hearts broken.
But....you know.....I am so richly blessed to have had Annie grace my life.
I always talked to her...."you are such a pretty pretty Calico." As I rubbed her chest she would puff it out and let me keep telling her how pretty she was.
Now....if that isn't a Calico for you....very proud and strutting her stuff.
I hope you enjoy her photo....I know she would love it ~
Hugs
Susan

HAPPY HARVEST TIME !

I absolutely love this time of year! While living away from Indiana I always traveled back home for a visit during the month of October.
Since moving back, and through my friend at church, there is another reason why I love October....QUILT RETREAT !! Yahooooooo
You will see to the left many photos that I took while on my recent Quilt Retreat at Camp Mack which is in North Central Indiana.
We have a ball...us ladies laughingly say "we sew alot, talk alot, eat wonderful food and sleep very little.
Many bring UFO's which is Unfinished Objects along with at least three projects to chose from.
You go away with new ideas and tips on bettering your quilting craft.
I only started quilting about 3 1/2 yrs ago, although I have always admired it often. Remember, I have been sewing (or attempting to) by the age of 5. Was taught by my beautiful spirited Grandma that raised me.
It was always a treasure to me to be able to pull out her big muslin bag full of fabric scraps and imagine and then create. Little by little she began to allow me privledges of using her tools and sewing machine.
Enjoy the photos. Should have taken more. We have a Show N Tell Night where the ladies show off a project she has worked on or completed the past year....and let me tell you...they were awesome.
It humbles one such as I.
The one photo is of the back west side of lodge...I neglected to get one of the front that was decorated with pumpkins and cornstalks.
Susan

SUNFLOWER HERB DIP

I just have to share this delic.....recipe with you.
During our monthly Peru Garden Club Meeting this past Monday, we had a speaker that provided information on the sunflower.
She handed out this recipe and upon reading it said to myself "ohhhh this sounds so good and I already have most ingredients at home. "
Well today I made it, took a small spoonful out to sample. So delicous !!!

Enjoy it !

Sunflower Herb Dip

2/3 Cup Plain Yogurt 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons chives 1/4 teaspoon paprika
(I used fresh from my) 1/2 cup sunflower kernels.
garden, snipped
2 teaspoons parseley flakes

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until sunflower kernels are chopped up. Some may not be.
Chill overnight. Serve with crackers, chips, or raw vegetables.
Yield approx. 2 cups.

Mine is chilling for tomorrow so haven't decided which is best to serve with and if using crackers which would compliment the taste. The dip is a wonderful, powerful blend so am thinking a basic cracker would be nice.

ENJOY !

I AM SO SURPRISED !!

What a surprise when checking with my Blogspot to see that Jody, with
Primgalsprimitivepallette.blogspot.com nominated me with the
I Love Your Blogspot. "
It is truly an honor and as Jody stated, humbling. There are so many
wonderful artists at OFG Team with Etsy.
Thank you

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