It was my Birthday last week

 

 It was my birthday last week and the DH got me another pair of Silver Forest earrings. He knows I love their designs plus it makes it easy for him to shop. We both HATE shopping even for ourselves. I'd like some holiday themed earrings but with a birthday in May and anniversary in August there's not much to choose from. Last year he did buy me a pair with flags but I'm not real crazy for them.

 

Here's a pic of almost all of my Silver Forest earrings. A few are missing, probably mixed with with all my jewelry findings. The pink earring on the left were a free pair I got after filling out a form found at their web site. You save the stickers that come with the earrings, so it's buy 5 and get a pair free. I also have a black pair missing from the picture that was free. I didn't choose the pink and gold pair and they're just not my style so I'll use them for some jewelry designs or maybe just sell them.

 

 

I also got these.  I'm a Jenny Fan. Her books put a funny spin on dealing with panic attacks and other similar problems. The plants were a gift I bought for myself. 

It was a nice birthday because as usual there was a dog competition that Jack worked so I had most of the weekend to myself. I'm betting most of you would not be happy that your husband didn't take you out to eat or at least do something with you. I don't eat out because of being lactose intolerant so that's always a no go and I don't want to sit around in the heat watching the dogs run around. Ah, but I do enjoy having time to my self to finally get my email cleaned out and work on projects. Below is a doll for a new pattern that's almost done! Hope to have her ready before the end of June.

No more fogged glasses, it worked!

 

It's bad enough to deal with feeling panic when wearing a mask but when my glasses fog it gets really bad. While cleaning out a drawer I found this bottle that my husband had bought years ago when he liked to take waterfowl pics. It stopped his camera lenses from fogging so I thought I'd try it on a pair of Flower glasses (Drew Barrymore at Walmart) I had and it WORKED!!!!!!!!

I don't know if it would work for everyone but it did for me. Wish I would have found this a year ago :( I put a drop on each side and used a clean cloth like it said to dry as I did each drop.

You may wonder why I'm still wearing a mask when my state allows those fully vaccinated to go without unless the place you want to enter still requires it. Well, my allergies are the worst they have ever been so I cough a lot. To avoid grief from others it just seems easier to wear a mask.

Do you have an Aldis and love shoes?

The reason I ask about Aldis is that I found the cutest garden boots there last week. But I do have one problem with them, the chickens think the flowers are real and keep pecking my feet :)

 I couldn't go home with just the garden boots when they also had clogs. Had a problem there, too. The size I bought were WAY too big so I went back to the store a few hours later only to find one pair left in 5/6 in pink. I'm not really a pink clothing person but got them anyway.

 It's really funny how the size 7 boots fit perfectly but the 5/6 clogs are still a little too big and way too wide to wear without thick socks. Don't you wish manufacturers would finally decide what measurement a size is and stick with it? I own shoes from 5 - 7s so I never order any shoes. I just don't trust what I'd end up with.
 

 

 

 Sorting my closet to get out summer clothes I decided to decorate some of the boxes. The larger box with socks on it has all my super thick socks. The boxes look so pretty I'll need to make some time to do the rest. A cute way to upcycle the boxes! The stickers and paper came from a kit I bought a the local Humane Society resale store.

Speaking of upcycling we went to the local Restore shop and I was beyond happy to find many teapots to choose from. I've been wanting a new one that is a step up in size from the 2 cup I've been using. That left me with 3 to choose from. A floral was too 70's, a large that was marked with Harrods was $20 and I didn't want to pay that much, so I ended up with a shiny black pot for only $5. I'll make a pretty cozy for it and it will be fab. Teapots are not easy to find locally. Guess most around here drink coffee so the stores don't bother to carry them.

I also couldn't pass up these 2 metal frames. Not sure what I'll put in them yet but aren't they pretty? The small glass seashell was something I had to have. I LOVE shells! I'm using it right now to hold my cold and allergy pills I need to take.

 

I think the cold has finally gone away but it's left me with worse allergies than I usually have. I'm spending about half an hour a day weeding out the garden or mowing. That's about all I can take since all the weeds are making me stuffed up and coughing. Yesterday I sneezed 6 times in a row, really!

I plan on posting more often but it will all depend on how well I feel. Hope you all are doing great and wear a mask if you need it. Even though PA. has lifted it for those who have their shots (and I have) I still worry with these sinus problems I may be more susceptible to getting covid so I still be wearing mine.

Stay healthy,

Still fighting a cold

 

Still have a head cold but I guess it's part seasonal allergies, too. It's making me SOOOOOO tired and other than a minimal amount of housework not much is getting done. I've tried a few different medicine and one for coughs and mucus seems to help the most. The DH is getting tired of hearing me cough and the snoring that's coming from not being able to breath well is keeping him up. I just remind him of when he snores and I have to move to the livingroom to get some sleep. I'm just glad I did get both my covid shots so I don't have to worry about going for one.

The pic above is of a begonia I got at Easter. Isn't it really pretty? Behind it are 2 kalanchoes and a poinsettia. I used to grow a lot of african violets but don't seem to be able to keep them alive anymore. I think the house is too dry in the winter for them.

 I made 2 pincushions in the past month. I'm finding they come in handy when working on some jewelry patterns I've been designing. It's nice to be able to pin everything down so nothing falls off the table or gets mixed in with other projects. I wish I could keep my crafting table clear except for the project I'm currently working on, but since I tend to work on a lot of things that's not possible. I LOVE violets and during their blooming season try to keep small bottles and shot glasses filled with them. The embroidery was something I just free hand drew on the fabric. I followed a crazy quilt block pattern for the top from Pintangle.There are a lot of free block patterns and that's where the embroidery TAST group I do is found.

 The second pincushion has a small piece of embroidery I made from directions at elefantz . Look in the tutorials section. BTW, she has a lot of free embroidery patterns and an etsy store.

 Just a small selection of the eggs we get every day. We used to take the extras to a local foodbank but with covid we stopped going over there to drop them off. They get a lot of eggs donated now from stores. Friends and family can only use so many. We definitely have too many chickens and ducks. The DH just bought 4 more ducklings. He's crazy for birds. They just give me more stress and I have egg intolerance so I seldom eat them unless I'm baking with eggs. We lost one of the male ducks to a hawk. His name was Blade and he was a runner duck (hence the name Blade). Below is one of the comets, not sure which one. I was taking pics of the bleeding heart when she came over to see what was going on. They are very inquisitive.

I am trying to finish updating my old seahorse rider pattern. I made a LOT of changes to the pattern. Now there's only one version and the horse and doll are for advanced cloth doll makers. The original pattern was for sewers with some experience. I really like the new version and I know it's taken me more than 4 years to get her done. I had so much I wanted to do to the seahorse I finally realized if I made it easier I would get it finished. I do that a lot, design things that will be difficult to make, start them, and then set it aside when I realize it may be too hard for the average sewer to make.

I keep all my UFOs on the shelf with the crate that has the hearts stenciled on it. The crate and 2 shoe boxes have various doll projects as does the crate at the bottom of the pic with the stenciled pineapple and the box to the left of it.

In case you missed the post, this is a pic I shared last winter when I had a clean and tidy  of my craft closet. The shelf is larger than the door shows, it's over 4 feet and there are 2 rows of shelves above built in the 10 foot closet. All that really means is I have way too much craft supplies I don't and probably won't use. The plan is that when I feel better to start selling on ebay again. I have a lot of books and magazines on doll making, quilting, and lace making that I'm ready to let go of. Some of the supplies I'll sell and others I'm donating to the local humane society stores resale shop. I'll post here when I finally get moving on this.

Hope you are all feeling well. PLEASE get a covid shot and wear a mask so we can get back to some normalcy.

 

May's Free Embroidery and a bit of a chat

 

The last few weeks have been insanely busy. Between working on new patterns, writing directions, walking dogs, cutting grass, getting both covid shots, and then dealing with a cold I'm worn down mentally and physically. The shots made me tired and I had a SORE arm but that was it for any complaints. It's this cold that's stressing me.

May is my birthday month so I wanted to do a fantasy version of a May flower I love, bleeding hearts :) You'll see the finished version doesn't have the tiny flowers that are on the pattern. I decided to wrap the border so left them off.

I designed the tea set because of all the mother-daughter teas/lunches that are held this month for Mother's Day. I used fabric for the tablecloth but you could embroider tiny lazy daisy flowers and leaves instead.

Here are the patterns:

Right click the pattern to save it to your hard drive. You'll need to print a pattern for tracing.

 
©Billie Jo Heisler 2021
All rights reserved

 Disclaimer:
I drew this design by hand then used a software program to edit it.
Please consider the drawing copyrighted. You have my permission to print copies of the drawing in any size for your own use but not to share or sell. If you want to share the pattern please link to the blog pages.
The embroidery design is my own. I have not knowingly copied anyone else's work.

Oh, and May the 4th be with you :)