My Yellow Farmhouse

Yup I'm Finally Here

First off thanks for stopping over and giving Ms. Faye a warm welcome.  She has an amazing gift for writing and the woolies always look forward to her emails and updates - she's just a plain hoot and we all just love her - ya Faye we do.  Thursday is our monthly wooly get together - hmmmm who will post first, lol.

Soooo where have I been you ask - to take such a long blogging break.  Do I really have a good excuse this time - well yes I do, pretty good I think.  First off Mr. Farmhouse (oh ya I'm changing my blog name again - can you guess what it's going to, maybe another little giveaway here to the first one to guess it correctly) and I headed to Lake of the Woods with Kari and Mr. New Leaf Stitches

for our annual fishing trip.  It's such beautiful country up there and even for me who's not a big fisher (I'm pretty sure that's not a word) person, I truly enjoy the company and the beautiful scenery plus Mr. Farmhouse and Mr. New Leaf Stitches

LOVE LOVE LOVE it up there.  So while I did fish and caught a few I might add, one that even made the dinner plate one evening - I also spent my time doing this

That Circle a Word Find a Word book kept me entertained when I wasn't fishing. Kari and I even had races to see who could finish first, this book was a big hit, well at least with me, lol.  Can you see the name on the left side of that word game "Blizzard".  The weather was far from winter let me tell you - it was about as perfect as you can get up there. 

Hope Kari doesn't kill me for this one - but we picked these up in Houston last fall at Quilt Market and saved them for the fishing trip

Sorry Kari - don't hate me, but I think there a hoot and just had to share.  I'm pretty sure I'll pay for posting this pic - I'm just sayin

Every evening while we watched the other fisher people come in for the night

we sat on the deck and enjoyed a "happy snappy" to celebrate the catches of the day

Pretty soon it was time for Kari and I to come home

while the guys stayed up a fished a few more days.  Another perfect trip full of laughs and good times.  What goes on at fish camp stays at fish camp - I'm just sayin :)

So Tuesday morning I drove all the way to North Dakota - which is really only about 45 minutes from me, but it sounds far doesn't it when I say it that way - sorry I digress once again, boy I do that a lot, ok back to the story -  to pick up a couple of woolies so that we could head down the road a piece to Primitives of the Midwest retreat in Missouri that Quilters Station in Lee's Summit puts on. Ms. Faye was to come along and be my roomie, but was unable to come at the last minute and we sure missed her.  She had to make a tough decision on whether to go or not and she did the right thing by staying home and boy think of the money she saved, lol. Oh my the things we saw while driving there and while we were at the retreat - the wool- oh lawdy mercy me the wool  - the fabric, the kits, the samples of quilty loveliness, so much wonderful eye candy.  Ok I hate to tease but I will save that for my next post.  I need to get my address and links figured out before I share the pics.  I do promise to report back this week before the holiday weekend - I really do promise and I'll show you ALL the beautiful wools I picked up for the website.  But here's a little snippet of a place we ate lunch at, have you ever seen such a cute salad bar - look at that cute quilt in the goat cart and that black cupboard is prim goodness - who'd of thought - prim and salad bar could go together, but it does

Thank you everyone for letting me know your feelings on adding floss to a kit.  I would say the majority of you would like it to be included.  Most of you felt the way I do and that it's nice to have it all together and not have to run out for a skein or 2 of a color you don't have.  I will probably offer it both ways for those who don't want it.  Also my kits will contain full skeins of the floss.  It would be to time consuming to keep track of what you need for a kit, cut skeins up and then mark them with the color number.  Since the cost of floss isn't to bad it just makes sense to include full skeins.  So for the winner I picked #30 who is Cindy since today is the 30th of June.  So Cindy-no blog please email me and let me know your address so I can get a little something something in the mail for ya.

It's been busy around the Farmhouse so far this week - look at the changes that have taken place outside

15 evergreens were placed around the property (see crazy Jake in the cab being goofy for the camera) and then a semi full of sod arrived this morning

and the guys got right to work - there's Josh flexing his muscles for the camera

and then this afternoon - BOOM

instant lawn - well maybe not instant for the guys laying it down lol, but I did feed them and kept them happy.  The fire pit is just about done - just needs some cap block around the top and the red chairs around it - pretty sure it will see some activity this weekend
 

it's amazing how some green grass can make such a difference - makes me want to do the "Fred Flintstone" all around the fresh grass - NO MORE DIRT

AHHHHHH - HOME

Until Next Time

OH YOU MUST - JUST MUST

Stop in and say hi to my dear sweet friend Faye who has decided to jump into the world of blogging.  You might remember she did a guest blog posting awhile back and was a hit.  She's a sweetheart with a gift for writing - (no pressure Faye, lol) and a great sense of humor, plus a very creative soul - WOW talk about pressure, lol. Anyway stop in and welcome her by saying hi.

I'll be back tomorrow with a picture heavy post of a road trip. Oh ya I'm talking WOOL HEAVEN sisters, lol

Until Next Time

Ahhh the Lake Life

Sunday was the perfect day for lake living .  Warm - yes I did say warm, finally, no wind and lots of sun.  We spent a good chunk of the day outside enjoying the beautiful day.  Even the geese families where out enjoying the calm lake - aren't they sweet just chugging along, the babies are getting so big

we took off for a "funtoon" ride to end our day - with a cold snappy summer drink and a slow cruise around - perfect

and someone was shot from her big day out and about

she could have cared less about her surroundings on the lake, she just wanted a soft place to land and some serious shut eye.
Came back and ended our day here on the patio, enjoying the boats on the lake getting settled in for their night fishing.  There were 8 boats out in front of us, but you can't see that many.  We are lucky and that our end of the lake tends to be pretty quiet most of the time, 8 boats is alot.   Must have been great fishing because they pretty much stayed there until dark

Been working on this cabinet a bit here and there

It's not done by any means, but at least there's somewhat of a plan and it's a start and right now that's a lot lol.

One of my favorite little pieces is this little blue drawer box - bought on ebay from circa1892
Not sure if that link will work, but Margo has some wonderful stuff and I'm pretty sure she's a favorite out there of some.  I've bought several things from her and have never been disappointed, but this piece is my favorite and for now it sits on the kitchen counter

The pantry door glass is finally done

please excuse the finger prints, it was just put in. It originally had 3 stars and I decided I really wanted 5 so the glass was removed and a new piece made - long story short I had the opportunity to make the change before the whole thing was finished, I'll spare you the details, lol.  The door will be taken out one more time to be repainted due to a nail issue when the glass was put in the first time.  Love how it turned out.  Boy getting this picture was hard, no matter where I stood there was bad light popping off of the glass - this was the best I could get right now.

Since moving I'm much closer to a great quilt store in another town - not sure that's a good thing.  Anyway I went the other day to pick up some neutral fabrics and saw this great patriotic line from Marcus Brothers - I think it's called Americana Patriotic or something like that.  It's wonderful yummy rich colors, don't ya love it PH :)

I wouldn't let myself buy it until I had a plan, so I came home and came up with a plan and made a trip back there yesterday. This will be used in some fun seasonal wall hanging kits with a flag background and then there's wool applique pieces on the front for each season.

I have been stitching a little bit, getting ready to kit some of these as well and the peeps are hard at work helping me get more samples done.
 

Picked up a cool pop box the other day at my favorite antique store

the red is a perfect color for the farmhouse, but I'm unsure what to do with it - any ideas out there?  I also picked up those greens inside the box as well.  I circled that dang box for quite awhile before I bought it.  Without a plan for something I'm trying hard not to buy anything, but the red was perfect and for some reason I'm a sucker for boxes.

Well I think that's about it for now.  Here's a question for you stitchers out there regarding floss, when you buy a stitchery and the background fabric is included would you like the floss included in the kit or would you rather use your own.  I know we all have lots of floss, but I swear every time I'm going to start a project I'm always short a few skeins of something and have to go into town to buy it.  So would you rather use your own or have everything you need in the pattern besides a needle so you could stitch as soon as you get home.  Leave me a comment regarding this and I will put your name in a drawing for something - not sure what yet, but something.

The upcoming week is going to be a busy one, so I probably won't be back until later next week - but I promise a fun fun fun post when I return and a name of a winner.

Until Next Time

Well Hey There

Thought it was about time I stop in and say HOWDY.  Boy I sure appreciate you stopping by and visiting Liberty House.  I know a few of you were wondering about the name of the patterns for a few projects that Ms. Denise shared - I emailed her and she answered back but thought I was just being nice and not serious.  Soooo bloggets I emailed back and said no I wasn't just being nice - inquiring minds wanted to know.  So Ms. Denise, what's the hold up :).  There - now the pressure is on her, lol.

So let's see what have I been up to since we last chatted.  Well we had a couple of peep get togethers.  One was our monthly get together.  There was a little show and tell from the evening.  Ms. PH showed her table runner that she was stitching down the binding on - cute patriotic runner

2 of the peeps bought the same kit at Country Threads when we went there last summer - hey wait a minute I do believe that I  bought that one to - hmmm but mines not done, lol. 

Great job peeps, they are sooo cute and so are you :)

Then we got together the other night to discuss a road trip we are going to be taking in September.  It was a beautiful night to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful scenery around us while we stitched

and visited, oh and ate as well, you know you've got to eat.

Look at these 2 cute bags a couple of them whipped up


it was perfect timing for me.  I was totally in need of some quiet time with the peeps, enjoying the touch of fabric, a beautiful evening outside, a cold snappy summer beverage (thanks GB) and some great laughs.  We have a fun trip planned through Wisconsin in the early fall.  Looking forward to it.

As I've said before son#1 who has his own landscaping company is doing all of the landscaping around the house.  It's been a busy few weeks with them here Monday - Thursday.  I know it's been a long haul for all of them as they travel and stay up here for 4 days each week, going home on the weekend.  Young Mr. Farmhouse isn't here the whole week, just for a day or 2 otherwise he is out tending to other business.  Anyway I try and feed them one good meal a week for a break from eating out, with some snacks during the day.  They are such a great group of guys and I've been teasing them that there going to miss me, lol.  There were 5 of them this week pushing to get it done before they headed home for the weekend tonight.  They will be back in about a week to finish up what's left like grass :).  This week was all the cement curbing, plants, trees and rock.  Mr. Farmhouse and I are loving the results and as I've said before, it's great to have son#1  putting his touch on our home.  Here's a few snaps of them in action
 

the side of the house with curbing and plants - there's the start of the fire pit towards the right of the picture
 

We are loving the patio and look forward to lots of butt time on there, lol watching the lake and listening to the waves
 

There's still be a fair amount of traffic through the house with worker guys, but that's getting less and less.  There has still been some internet issues, but those are also getting better - thank goodness.  Whoa there was even some decorating this week and let's say that one surprised me.  I was chatting with someone about feeling totally tapped out in that department, really struggling with it and needing to taking a break from house stuff for a bit.  Then boom I had a good day and a couple of areas came together and that might have started the juices flowing - I'm just sayin.  The star is up and in place and that makes me happy every time I look at it - it's home :)

Until Next Time

WOO HOO Mail Call

You all know that I LOVE my mail - especially when something I forgot about arrives

I pre-ordered this on Amazon a long time back and forgot about it - so when I received notice that something from Amazon had shipped I couldn't remember what I had ordered, no surprise there folks.  This book is full full full of wonderful quilts in Kim's scrappy style and here's a couple of favorites - this one's called Peas in a Pod

Cabin Cozy

hey did any of you know that I like stars, lol - so here's my favorite called Mocha Stars.  Stars, piecing and applique, a bit like the perfect storm for me - everything I like, well maybe not the piecing part, but the stars and applique

It was a treat to sit down and cruise through it and dream.  Will there ever be enough time for us to make everything that we want.  I'm pretty sure not - but let's keep trying OK.

I have been doing a little stitching - not much but a little

so there is hope :).

In the decorating department - this cabinet is finally where it's going to stay - well for the time being, lol.  Hey Linda how do I cover up those light switches - you are the queen of disguising and I say that with love :)

The new fireplace mantel is in place and totally up to code now, just waiting to be decorated - this stuff was just put there so it was out of the way.  If you look close you can still see the installers dust, LOL

My project today is to get this area totally done and I'm close believe it or not

I'm pretty sure the contractors didn't think I could fill up this closet, but I proved them wrong - is that a good thing, lol
One side fabric - which isn't much compared to some stashes I've seen out there, wink wink

and one side wool

the closet isn't perfect and there's still things to move in there and rearrange - but it's close.  I love those white tubs.  Found them at Fleet Farm and they are great for holding lots and lots of wool, projects and just plain old stuff.  Now remember I still have lots of cupboards in the sewing area - and they aren't full, but I'm onto a good start :).

Well that's it for me, I'm off to work on that sewing room and do some Farmhouse Woolens stuff.  Have a great day everyone

Until Next Time

Warning Will Robinson

Does anyone out there remember Lost in Space and the robot spinning in circles waving it's robot arms saying "warning Will Robinson warning".  Anyway my warning for long post ahead, picture heavy.  Lots to catch up on and then hopefully I will be all caught up and I can start catching up with everyone else out there.  Someone pointed out to me that I have really been MIA in bloggy land and she's right.  Soooo I promise it's time to get back to it. 

I wanted to have the title of this post be "Ahhhhhh Normal Life Ahead".  We are finally totally out of the other house as of this weekend and what a great feeling it is.  I'm pretty sure I've been packing and moving boxes for 2 months.  What a great feeling to know WE ARE NEVER MOVING AGAIN.   I've had several people ask me if it makes me sad when I go back to the river house, and you know it doesn't.  Both Mr. Lakehouse and I love love love living on the lake and although we loved the river, we have more attachment/memories in this area.  Our memories with our kids are from here at the lake and the house before the river house is where they really grew up, so I think that makes the separation much easier. The oldest never really moved into the river house as he started college right before we moved and the youngest only lived there 2 years before he left for college. 

Anyway I digress again, boy I do that a lot.  So let's start up from our last post - yup we did have the maiden voyage of the pontoon, (or "tooner" as someone called there's this weekend, love that name and if it's OK Lib I'm going to use it as well) over Memorial Weekend and a certain little furry one - LOVES IT.  Now I'm talking about Ms. Cami people not the furry faced Mr. Lakehouse, lol - although he loves it to.  You know I still like calling him Mr. Farmhouse and I think I will go back to that, it fits him better.  We are still a farmhouse on the lake, right?

Ok I'm going off topic again.  Let's see patio is done, but here's a shot of while they were working on it - my son is the one kneeling down tucked around the corner of the house.

Boy that is some back breaking labor intensive work.  They have done an amazing job and it looks beautiful - I'll save more pictures for when all the landscaping is done.  It will be so great to have his personal touch on our home.  It's been fun getting to know his crew.  I've done some cooking for them and boy they can eat, LOL. 

Back several days we had our monthly wooly meeting.  It was a beautiful day at Jean's farmhouse. 


so we spent the day outside enjoying it all.  There was some fun show and tell - first off our hostess Jean's projects - a cute quilt and a way cool cross stitch project that didn't photograph right for some reason

Next up Ms. Faye with a darling quilt

Now Ms. Joyce with some yummy little wool flower blocks


Finally rounding out this show and tell, Ms Denise who had lots to share.  First this dang cute pillow made with 2 sizes of a block

some more cute miniatures - this girl loves her miniatures

Love this bag

and finally a sweet quilt made for a grandbaby and it's a pattern she made up herself (didn't know you could do that, lol), the fabric is a bit hard to see but it was adorable - just like Ms. Denise peeking out from behind the quilt :)

Thanks woolies for a wonderful day, it was just what this girl needed, sunshine, friendship and fabric.

So back to being totally out of the other house.  I spent part of last week getting ready for a sale on Saturday.  It's amazing how much stuff I had ready to move onto someone else.  There are still a couple of pieces I have that I'm not sure will fit into this house, but I just can't give them up yet, I'm going to work at trying to find a spot for them.  I had decided that I needed to sell things that just hadn't seen the light of day for awhile.  I didn't want to move things that I wasn't using just because I liked them.  So I sent out letters to people I know rather than put an ad in the newspaper and told them to bring friends along and bring they did.  Here's a little shot of those who were there bright and early waiting for the doors to open

All 3 floors and the garage had stuff.  The sale started at 9:20 and by 10:20 it was done, LOL. It was a whirlwind of activity and someone said it was like the Friday after Thanksgiving, LOL.  We packed up what was left and I had just a few Rubbermaid tubs of stuff to donate.  I had 6 dear friends help me with the sale and I couldn't have done it without them.  They were a huge help during the sale and helped to make things go smoothly.  There were 3 doing the checkout and 4 of us were runners or helpers in moving things out.  I know right before the sale started I was a bit of a wreck or should we just say bitchy lol, but they just humored me and forgave my "shortness and stress".  Thanks you peaches, your the best :).  Yesterday I finished up cleaning and emptying the last few boxes here in the garage.  Now I do believe that everything is in the house, not where it will stay, but it's in the house, LOL.

One of our joys has been watching these little guys

We have 3 geese families that are living with their babies in our area and it's been fun watching them take the little ones out to eat and then they swim on the water up and down between us and 2 other places on the shore.  There such good parents.  One set only has 1 chick, but the others have a few more

So I think that catches everyone up.  There has still been some internet and phone issues during the last week, will just say we hope they've got them fixed.  It's been a bit trying on this chicks nerves.

I've listed a couple of new blocks of the month over on the website and will have lots more fun patterns to come.  Now that the sale is behind me I feel like I'm settled and in one place and ready to move on.  Decorating has been slow to nonexistent, but that to should be picking up steam now as well. I'm going to give myself 1 more "OK" not to respond to the last couple of posts comments.  I'm behind already and will be starting fresh with this post.  Hope that's OK. I love reading your comments and appreciate your visits more than you know.   I promise now not to be MIA - "AHHHHHH Normal Life Ahead" - At Last :)

Until Next Time