HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sylvester (AKA Fluffy Muffy)

Sydney and Louis ( two crazy Aussies )

Shorty

Sambo

Dolly

A Happy New Year from some of the gang at Mapleview Farm and Olde

Crow Primitives.

A GREAT CHRISTMAS

Primitive Crow stitchery from my sister Karen in British Columbia
Another picture of the stitchery

Primitive table topper hand made by my sister Karen

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this year. Ours was pretty quiet, but we enjoyed it just the same. On Christmas day we went to visit my father-in-law where he is in long term care and had Christmas dinner in there with him. He enjoyed our visit, I'm sure. On boxing day I cooked a small turkey for DH and I and we had all the traditional "fixins" that we have every year. We have the stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, mashed turnip and carrots, turkey and gravy. Then for desert, I made my English trifle which is a family tradition. Can you tell my background is British :)?

I just had to post the pictures of a couple of gifts that my sister Karen from British Columbia sent me.

She made me this primitive pumpkin/crow table topper. She also sent me a primitive crow stitchery. I just love them. She knows my taste by now....LOL. I was out in B.C. visiting her in October and while shopping in my favorite store out there (The Weathered Rooster), I was drooling over the crow stitchery. My sister must have taken note of this, as it is mine now :)
I will be finding special places in my home for these for sure. Thank you Karen.  It would have been nice if we could have spent Christmas out there with all of my family, but we have way too many critters  and some of them are getting quite old and need lots of Love and Attention. Maybe some day we can enjoy Christmas together.

A GATHERING OF GURLFRENZ

On Monday night we had a Christmas Gathering at the Marsh Store

in Coldstream. Shirley put on a fantastic dinner for the five of us.

When we arrived, she had a table all set up in the classroom of the Quilt shop with her good Christmas china, candlelight and some great appetizers. We had a choice of red or white wine. For the main course, Shirley made a wonderful salad to compliment the spinach and onion pie that she made. We all enjoyed the meal tremendously! For desert, Shirley made a Chocolate truffle cake that was just awesome so we enjoyed that with some coffee. Thank you so much Shirley!

Shirley had planned a project for our night of sewing. She designed a Christmas placemat and we all made four placemats using the stack and wack method. Shirley brought out her stash of Christmas fabric and let us all choose which fabric we would like to make our placemats out of. There was something for everyone, as we all have unique tastes in fabrics. This was a super fast project.

Seeing we all had such a great time, we have decided to make this Christmas Gathering a yearly event.

Mary was the photographer, so she didn't make it into the picture, but there was five of us that got together to enjoy the evening.

Merry Christmas~Janet

CHRISTMAS BAKING

Hello everyone.

I thought I would share a picture of my Christmas baking. I got up early this morning and started making the shortbread recipes and made about 6 batches. I also made some icebox cookies and they are rolled in plastic wrap and in the refrigerator to be sliced and baked tomorrow. This is such a busy time of year but fun. Just have to watch that I don't eat too many of these myself!

IT IS FINISHED!!

Woodburning Cookstove
The Buck Saw table

Another shot of the Buck Saw table

The "Huge" Primitive cupboard

I even have a small freezer next to it.

1930 Findlay Oval woodburning Cookstove

and Look!!!

Deb's Hard Tack Candy is sitting up on the warming shelf.

I put it there so that I could get a shot of it.

Well after lots of hours of hard work, the summer kitchen is finished. There still needs to be some finishing up on the inside. I am planning on painting the legs of my buck saw table a barn red colour and the top will just be stained in Early American. The huge...and I mean huge primitive storage cupboard will be painted a barn red also. I will leave the painting for a later date. I took DH out for supper last night to thank him for all of his hard work. I helped out too, but he did most of the work. He finished around midnight Monday. He is glad that it is finished.

I am posting a picture of the outside that I took this morning. I will post pictures of the inside later when my camera is charged...LOL.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Today I got a parcel in my mailbox and it was the hard tack candy that I won on Crow's Creek Primitives Blog give away. http://debsprimitivecountrykitchen.blogspot.com

Thank you so much Deb. DH and I will be sampling it tonight.

Deb also sent me in the package, a wonderful rusty bell tree ornament.

SUMMER KITCHEN

Well, DH and I have been working diligently on my summer kitchen. We worked last night until midnight and we got all of the insulation in and the vapor barrier and most of the ceiling installed. I am so glad that we installed the woodstove, at least we have some heat while we are working. It has been so cold lately. Now I have to tell you that the ceiling is a huge job. The whole inside of this summer kitchen is going to be pine, so the ceiling is 16 ft. lengths. We had ladders at each end, one for me and one for DH. I would go up my ladder and then he would hand me one of the ends, then he took the other end and went up with that. Then he had to start nailing the boards in place. I ordered pizza and caesar salad for supper and after we ate that, we got back to work. I will tell you, this morning my neck and shoulders are so sore from working above my head :( 

DH isn't up yet, but I'll bet he will be sore too, if not more sore from nailing the boards in place above his head. The walls will seem so easy after the ceiling. DH is also going to build me a huge primitive cupboard  and a Buck Saw table for the room. I designed both of these pieces and he is making them for me. The cupboard is going to be painted a Barn Red and I will do my distressing technique on it, same for the legs on the Buck saw table, the top of the table will be natural pine, stained and sealed with a mat varnish. I can't wait for the room to finished, it will be well worth all of the effort. I am so thankful to DH for all of his hard work on this.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to post of the finished project.

WOW! I HAVE BEEN SPOILED!

Last night, I picked up a parcel on my way up to Exeter to an evening of sewing, socializing, and a great Potluck supper at "Quilts and Calicos." When I got home last night, I was so tired that I didn't open the parcel, I thought I would leave it until morning. Well, it was a good job that I did that because if I had opened it before I went to bed, I would not have been able to sleep....LOL.

Nancy from stitchesnstrokes.blogspot.com and I were swap partners in the "Olde Fashioned Christmas" swap organized by Char. Funny enough, Nancy and I were also partners in the "Harvest Swap". We were actually excited that we were paired up again! In fact I almost feel like we are related now..LOL. Seeing I don't have a wide angle lense on my digital camera, I had to take several pictures to get it all in. Nancy sent me a beautiful handwritten Christmas Card, Christmas napkins, several tree ornaments, a handmade Santa ornie, a Candy Cane ornie, a beautiful handmade crow make-do and a Christmas Tree make-do. A Cardinal and snowmen lamp which is absolutely gorgeous and a handmade pincushion and a jar of her homemade Salsa.

Nancy......Thank You so much!! I just LOVE everything!! You can tell that you put a lot of thought into this package and I appreciate it so much.

Janet

You can check out Nancy's Blog at http://stitchesnstrokes.blogspot.com

Nancy's home made salsa, hand made pincushion, Crow Make-do,

Christmas Tree make-do and several tree ornaments!

Santa ornie, crow note pad and a beautiful handwritten
Christmas card from Nancy

Handmade pinchushion, Candy Cane ornie,

Nancy's homemade Salsa and Christmas Card

Cardinal and Snowmen Light (I just love this lamp) The picture does not do this justice, Apple Cinnamon Rosehips (smells wonderful)

Olde Black Crow Coffee Sign, ornaments and pincushion

A GREAT RECIPE

Here is a great recipe not just for the Christmas Season, but for all year round. I did a stitchery in this so I would like to share the recipe.

"Recipe for a Happy Home"

4 cups of Love

5 spoons of Hope

2 cups of  Loyalty

1 cup of Kindness

3 cups of Forgiveness

1 cup of Friendship

2 spoons of Tenderness

4 quarts of Faith

1 barrel of Laughter

Take hope and loyalty, mix thoroughly with faith.

Blend it with tenderness, kindness and understanding. Add friendship and hope. 

Sprinkle abundantly with laughter.

Bake it with sunshine.

Serve generously daily!