Hey, Hey...

It's the Monkees!

We had a great time June 10th at Mohegan Sun Arena seeing 3/4 of the original Monkees. Davy, Mickey and Peter put on a great show with nearly all the seats filled.
In this first picture you can see Mickey playing drums and Peter to the right while Davy is on the front of the stage, to the left of the guitar player.

They played, sang, joked and Davy danced. I was impressed with their energy since they are a couple of years older than I am.
Here's Peter and Mickey. Since Mike wasn't there, Peter sang most of his songs. Sorry it's so blurry but they really didn't stay still for a moment.

I do apologize for the quality of my 'contraband' pictures but as you can tell from this last picture, we were hitting our heads on the ceiling up in the next to the top row.

Tornadoes in Massachusetts

This amazing NASA image of the track of the tornado that ripped through Massachusetts on June 1, 2011. I've put a small red dot approximately where I was that day.











Because we had been watching TV, we saw the warnings about an hour ahead of time. This is Massachusetts, we don't have tornado sirens. After seeing a lot of the damage, it is truly amazing that only 3 people were killed.
We were skirted by the tornado, blessed to have no real damage. The hail was golf ball size at our house. Just a block away, they saw tennis ball size hail. The hood of our van was left with a few indentations and the tarp we have up to shade our deck was absolutely shredded.













Parts of our yard looked as if it had snowed. These pictures are nearly half an hour after the storm went through.


















I couldn't believe that my garden gazing ball survived those balls of ice that flew out of the sky.







The following pictures were taken by my sweet hubby on June 2.
This is the grocery store in the neighboring town of Monson.








The house in this photo was shifted right off of its foundation.




This building lost the roof and many sections of the walls.
















These photos were taken in the neighboring town of Brimfield.











A young woman driving home to Monson from college heard the tornado warnings on the radio. Hearing that the path of the storm was following I-90, the highway she was on, she decided to exit the highway and take Rt. 20 the rest of the way home. Unfortunately she ended up right in the tornado as she drove through Brimfield. Traffic had stopped ahead of her and power lines fell onto her car, setting it on fire. She reluctantly got out of the car and ran to a woman in a nearby vehicle. This woman took her back into Monson but the main road was impassable. The young woman walked through the damage until a family member picked her up and brought her home. I saw her story on the morning news the following day. When hubby showed me this picture of a burned out car on Rt. 20 I knew it must be hers.

Have a Memorable Holiday

Here's hoping that my American blogging friends will enjoy Memorial Day with family and friends. I know it's the first holiday of Summer, time for picnics and fun. But don't forget the reason for the holiday and take time to remember and honor those gone before us.

New Pincushion

After months away from swap-bot, I was checking my messages and found a swap I couldn't resist. It was for a quick 'tomato' style pincushion. I really enjoy getting creative with something as small and simple as this. So, I picked out a bit of fabric from my scraps, a little bit of embroidery, a little bit of crazy quilt, and here it is. I started with a 6" circle and it turned out larger than I intended. I'll use a 5" circle and see how that works. I've already embroidered a little Scottie dog and started on a kitten for my next ones. I've got lovely bits of '30s repro fabric to use for these. I hope to show more soon and maybe get some things into my Etsy shop. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoy your special day.

Happy Easter!

Wishing each of you a blessed Easter and a joyous Spring.

Sandy's Easter Tag Swap

I had such fun making a special Easter swap for my partner Lisa. I fell in love with the little girl image I used for the front of my tag. But it was the chicks hatching out of Easter eggs that became the theme for this swap. I highlighted the doily, chicks, eggs and girl's hair with Twinkling H2O's. Click to enlarge the picture and see how it sparkles. I added detail to each layer as I went. The bottom layer is stitched with yarn tied in a bitty bow. The next layer is embellished with tiny buttons. I hadn't put away my paper doilies since I had them out for Valentine's Day crafting. It worked out to be the perfect element to set off the sweet girl image. And lastly I added the wonderful chunky glitter that looks like Easter grass.















The scrapbook paper I used on the tag back is something I've had since I first began scrap booking. I just couldn't believe how it matched the chicks on the front. More Twinkling H2O's here and a repeat of the chicks from the front image added at the bottom to cover the bulk of tying off the yarn. Added my swap info and a blue gingham ribbon to finish it off.















Now onto the Easter goodies. I had the idea that I wanted to make a Spring/Easter potholder since my partner likes to bake. I was undecided about what fabric to use until I spotted a yard of new fabric at the Flea Market for a great price. It had similar colors to the papers used for the tag and it had Easter eggs on it! Now I had a theme. It seemed a shame to me to cut into a yard of fabric just for a potholder or two. I have quite a few apron patterns that only take a yard and you know I love to make aprons, so.....















I hope my partner will post a pic on her blog modeling her apron. The potholder is backed with the apron fabric and I used four colors of gingham for the front.










I found this adorable felt chick basket at Target and filled it up with goodies. I wrapped everything in Easter egg tissue paper I found at K-Mart and mailed it off to Lisa.









And here's the wonderful swap I received from Lisa.




This adorable, glittery pail was a perfect Easter basket. And it was filled to overflowing with so many goodies.


This pink chick inside the music note egg is just the cutest little bit of Easter joy.
For inspiring my paper crafts, Lisa sent cute Spring stickers, itty-bitty alphabet stamps and a stamp pad, and pink flower glitter, so fun!


My boys were quick to get their hands on the chocolate. I had to get the carrot bag of Reese's Pieces from my hubby to take this picture. My son did share a chocolate bunny with me. Yum!














And Lisa crafted this adorable tag for me. The 'Happy Easter' is on shrink plastic and adds great dimension and shine. I love the chick in her Easter bonnet. She hand painted the scalloped border. Just perfect! Lisa topped it off with Spring green cheesecloth. So sweet!





Thank you Lisa @ A Peaceful Place To Be for sending such a lovely Easter swap. And thanks again to Sandy @ 521 Lake Street for hostessing such a fun swap.

What's New

Just thought I'd catch up a bit on what I've been up to since my last post on Valentine's Day. It seemed like February was the month for appointments. We all visited the dentist and got haircuts plus hubby had 3 doctor appointments and I took care of the two visits to the accountant doing our taxes this year. I've been doing our taxes for years (we don't have anything complicated to deal with.) but since we rented my MIL's house for 3 months and it belongs to my husband and his brothers, I didn't want to mess it up.
So in March we had time for more fun things. We took a day trip to Hartford, CT to tour the Mark Twain house and museum. I've wanted to do that for such a long time. For someone like me who loves a lot of detail, this house sure made me happy. All of my photos are of the outside because they don't allow photography, gum, throat drops, lip balm, ink pens, food or drink inside the house. I was surprised that they didn't have us remove our shoes!

Also in February, my oldest nephew announced that he had signed up for 6 years in the Army and was getting married! So I made a cute pink cupcake apron and potholders (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.)for the bridal shower on March 12th and here's the happy couple a week later. They're so young!

The couple next door to us just had their first baby so I made some bibs. This pair is my own pattern. Is there anything girlier than gingham ruffles?

When I saw this new Simplicity pattern I knew I had to make this pea pod bib. I love those yo-yo peas.

Such a cute pattern!

I wanted to share this photo of my pink violets. My white, purple and yellow violets are still a few weeks away. Can you guess my favorite flower?

Now I need to work on my post showing what I sent to my partner for Sandy's Easter Tag Swap. That way I'll be ready to link up with everyone on the 22nd.

Dolly Dingle Valentines

I'm linking up today to share the Valentine's I received in Elizabeth's Dolly Dingle Valentine Exchange.
This first one is from Nancy at My Crafty Little Page. I love the colors and the little girl is so sweet. Nancy used a BINGO card for the base, then layered a paper lace heart. She added some sparkle with a gold Cupid and some little gems. Thank you again Nancy, for this wonderful Valentine.













My second Valentine is from Sue at It's A Very Cherry World! Sue strung her sweet Valentine images onto pretty red ribbon. The red-roofed house makes me smile every time I see it. Sue's Valentine is so delicate and looks very pretty hanging from my sewing room window. Thank you Sue for sending me such a lovely Valentine.












To see the Valentine's I sent, click on the link at the beginning of this post and you will find yourself over at Bluebird Papercrafts where we are having a Valentine's Day Party. Enjoy!

Vintage Valentines

I just wanted to share a few Valentines I picked up while out 'junking' at the antique market.

This one reminded me of Elizabeth (Creative Breathing) over at Bluebird Papercrafts.















How could I resist this cutie?















This one certainly caught my eye with its orange heart.















Adorable skaters















I couldn't leave this one behind. Too cute!















Wishing each of you a love-filled Valentine's Day!