New Primitive Goodies!

Gonna make this short tonight. I'm beat! Took advantage of the beautiful weather we had today and worked in my flower gardens and mowed the yard! I certainly got my exercise today! I used to mow all the time. I'm really out of shape. Then I finished up a couple of wall hangings that I made out of old barn wood a friend of mine gave me. Melanie was so nice to give me the wood when they were tearing down one of the barns on her farm. At the time I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I knew I could think of something. I just listed this two cute hangers in my etsy shop!

Then the last couple of days I've been getting some amazing shots of the hummers!

So darn cute!!!!!!!!

This one I just love! He was stretching and puffing up after he got soaked from a rainstorm we had earlier that day.

Oh and almost forgot! My Monarch butterfly came out of its chrysalis on Sunday!!! It was so neat to see it take its first flight. I was kind of sad and happy at the same time.

Here it is drying its wings

Another shot just before it took off. I wonder how it's doing out there in the big world.

I will have more butterflies emerging in about a week or so. I have 2 chrysalis's and 2 caterpillar's right now. Nature is a beautiful thing.

New Items on Early Work Mercantile!!

Can you believe that August is half way through already! Please.... Summer slow down. I'm getting ready to list some new fall goodies on Early Work Mercantile! Thought I would show you a little preview here! I will be listing these awesome pumpkins I made with a pattern by Tickled Primitive. Great fun to make!

The pattern comes with three different sizes. I only made the medium and small one. They are a pretty good size pumpkin.

Next I will be listing my favorite little ghost make do's, made with my own pattern.

And last item is this Witch Pumpkin and little spider friend make do that I just made up.

And I'm working on another Witch Moon Make Do to have finished, to list tomorrow night in my etsy shop.

So I've been busy making these items along with several orders. And taking care of my flower gardens and raising monarch butterflies from caterpillars that I find on my milkweed plants. I have one caterpillar that just turned into a chrysalis on Friday. So it will be 2 weeks before it transforms into a butterfly.

Here is the Mama

Here's the caterpillar right after I found it. It was about a half inch long.

And this is it 5 days later!!! Amazing isn't it!

And here it is 4 days after the last picture! It's in it's chrysalis stage. It will stay like that for 2 weeks before the butterfly emerges!

 Isn't it gorgeous! You should see it in person. The metallic gold on it is amazing! It's hanging from the inside of a big glass antique jar that I have. I took the lid off to take a picture. I also have another jar with another caterpillar that is about a 1/2" right now. So I have to feed it everyday with fresh milkweed leaves.

And I got some amazingly funny pics the other day of a couple of young squirrels playing around in our backyard. I just started snapping pictures as they played and got some crazy pics of them!

They look like they are dancing!

And this one really cracks me up! Looks like he is laying back and laughing!

And this one is "Tag Your It!"

They played none stop for quite awhile. So fun to watch!

And the goldfinches are loving my Zinnia's right along with all the butterflies and bees.

And every morning this baby robin and it's parents are out when I am watering my flowers.

Well I believe that's about it for now. Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

The Great Outdoors

August already!! Where has the summer gone. I am not looking forward to winter. I think we are finally going to get a little cooler weather soon. Yesterday was just terrible. It was in the 90's with heat index, I think of 112º. The humidity was so bad it seemed like it was hard to breath. I'm really trying to get my orders done. I worked on one all day today, should have it done tonight. Also made a turtle for a fundraiser we are going to next week. I used a pattern by Crows Roost Prims. I just love the way my turtle turned out. 

I don't know if any of you heard about a guy that goes up and down the Mississippi river cleaning up all the garbage that people throw in the river. His name is Chad Pregracke and he is from our area. He has been on the national news several times. He started cleaning up the river when he was just a kid and now it's this huge non profit organization.  Once a year they have a big barge party where they serve up a Fish Fry and Shrimp Boil Dinner along with live music and a art auction. So I'm donating my sea turtle. Should be lots of fun!

I had someone on facebook suggest I make a calendar with all my wonderful flower and bird photos. So I have that in the works right now. It's going to take me awhile to gather up and edit my pictures. So watch for my calendar sometime in the late fall. I'll post on here, where and how to buy it! I'm really excited!

So with that here are a few photos from this week that may be in my calendar!!!

New Guinea Impatiens

Swallowtail Butterfly on my Zinnia's

Swallowtail

Mr. Bumble Bee loving the Zinnia's

Another shot of a Swallowtail.

Monarch Butterfly that I got a shot of on Sunday. It was flying around my milkweed plants laying eggs.

And then today I found this newly hatched monarch caterpillar while I was pulling weeds around my milkweed plants!!! I'm so excited! I could not believe how tiny he was. He was about a 1/2" long. I'm going to try to keep track of him. Can't decide if I should bring him in and watch him transform. My daughter did that one year in high school, for her science class and it was the most amazing thing to watch it turn in to a beautiful butterfly.

And here is a sweet hummer that I was able to get a shot of this morning!

That's all for now folks.

Heat Wave!

So it's been in the upper 90's all week and I'm loving it. You may think I am crazy, but I wait all winter for warm weather. I hate being cold!

Just want to make sure you all stop by Early Work Mercantile to see what I have newly listed!! Remember that I always list new things the 15th of the month. You also have to check out the other artist there! Fantastic group of primitive artist!

Just have to show you this picture I took yesterday of a cardinal that was at my window feeders. He caught my eye as I got up from my computer, so I grabbed my camera which I was so glad that it was right on my computer desk and snapped a few pics. The poor thing had lost just about all his feathers on top of his head and part of his body. I checked online to see what could be his problem and most likely it was from mites. He probably scratched so much he lost his feathers. I don't think he will be getting any new girlfriends anytime soon. If you look close you can actually see his ear below his eye!

And have to show you my petunia that is growing like crazy in all this heat! It's not a wave petunia, but it sure is growing like one!

And these flowers (Gazania) are so bright and cheery! I picked them up from Kmart a couple of weeks ago. Here it is July and I'm still buying flowers!

I might be buying more tomorrow to replace a couple of my tuberous begonias that have about bit the dust. I think it might be the heat. All my other flowers are doing wonderfully!

Oh and got to show you this fountain I got about a month ago. I just love it!!!!!!!!!

This past weekend we made a trip to Chicago which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from where we live. We drove for a hour and hopped onto a Amtrak train and rode into the city. It's the best way to visit Chicago as there is not place to park and if you do its so expensive! Hubby and I met up with my daughter and her family who flew into Chicago from NC for a Chiropractic Seminar. We were the official babysitters! We had the best time ever! Did a little sightseeing with our granddaughter.

We walked to Millennium Park and saw "The Bean"! You've got to see this if you ever visit Chicago!

My granddaughter Cora!

The view out our motel room!! We were on the 25th floor! That's the Chicago River below.

Lots of boats going up and down the river!

Thousands doing their Saturday morning workout doing Zumba in Millennium Park!! This was so cool to watch!

Yep we are in Chicago!

My grandson Max! I was so happy to see my grandchildren!

And we had to get a Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza! It was amazing!

Veggie Stuffed Pizza!

I was so in awe of all the tall buildings!!!

And had a foot long Chicago Style Hot Dog!!!!! Yum! Hubby and I split it!

I am so ready to go back to Chicago. There is so much more I want to see!!

Ahhhh Summer

Wow...I can see it's been awhile since my last post. Being a little lazy these days. So I've been doing a little sewing and getting ready for some Halloween items that I will be listing on Early Work Mercantile next week!!! Halloween is my most favorite holiday to create for! Here is a little something that I just listed in my Etsy Shop a little bit ago.

My gardens are doing so well this year! My only problem right now are the Japanese beetles and the deer. I read online that the best way to get rid of those pesky beetles is to pick them off by hand and throw them in a bucket of soapy water. Do not get those beetle traps you see at your home improvement stores. They make things worse by attracting the beetles.

Here is one feasting on one of my Zinnias

Cone flowers are blooming!

I wasn't to sure when I took this picture what it was, then when I loaded the picture on my computer I discovered it was a baby katydid!!!! It was so tiny, just about a inch in length. Please click on the picture to see a bigger view.

One of my new daylilies! I just love this one!

My Hydrangea is blooming! I almost killed this poor thing a couple of years ago with fertilizer. I was trying to change the color to blue with Miracid. I'm so happy that it decided to bloom this year after it's close call. It's a small plant with one bloom but it's doing just fine now. I'm certainly babying this plant now.

And these are very tiny flowers that are blooming on my sedum that I have planted in the cracks of my garden edging. So pretty.

My first green pepper!!! woo hoo!

And my little wren just singing away this morning. He's been very busy building a nest.

And yesterday My daughter, her boyfriend and I went to see the Oscar Meyer Wienermoblie at our local grocery store!! I always wanted to see this when I was a little girl and I finally got to! I got a wiener whistle and a sticker which I will be giving to my granddaughter when I see her in a few weeks. I wish that she lived here so I could have taken her to see the wienermoble.

My daughter sent me this picture the other day of my granddaughter after she opened a package I mailed to her with her pink bird that she requested, that I sent her. The blue one I made and sent to her about a year ago. Now she wants a purple one! hehe I think she loves her birds! I can hardly believe she will be 3 years old in a couple of weeks!

Well that's about all for now I would think! LOL Enjoy the pics!