Saturday, April 17, 2010

Spring view at Melville Hill





















Hope you enjoyed a look at some of our Spring views. I wish the beds were cleaned out but it is difficult for my husband with his MS to stay on top of every thing. In the bottom picture, he did get out on his scooter this morning and pulled up some weeds but as you can see, he gave out before he could get them up.
Love,
Marie









Saturday, April 3, 2010

I WON!!!!!!!


The past two weeks have been a nightmare with my computer. This wonderful machine was bought the day after Christmas and has been giving problems off and on ever since. The other day, my DH finally had it up and running and I went to visit my blog. Much to my surprise, there was a comment from Faye at Behind My Picket Fence. Mr. Picket Fence had chosen #9 to win a pretty spring pillow. Wow! I was the lucky one. I love pillows on the bed so I placed my new pillow there--it is the one with tulips with the word tulips on it. If you have not visited Faye's blog, you have missed a treat. Go to my sidebar on the left and click on her blog. She is one talented lady with lots of talented friends. She has the most wonderful way with words. I can imagine it would be a hoot to meet her in person. Tell her that I sent you.

Thanks again for my wonderful gift!

Love you,

Marie

PS: Since I had found out that I won the pillow, we have made a complete restore on my computer twice. I just hope it will work this time!

Monday, March 22, 2010

More Knitting by my Great-Great Grandmother, Angeline

Angeline knitted six of these bedspreads, one for each of her children. This was done sometime between 1855 when she was married and 1908 at her death. She knitted it in squares and joined them. The yarn was spun by her, most likely. This was probably done by lamp or candle light.

This view of the spread shows the crochet border that was added to the knitted spread. We do not know who did that but it is beautiful.

This is my sister, the great-great granddaughter of Angeline, holding the bedspread.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Easter through the house...

This is my kitchen table finished. My mother walked .7 of a mile every morning. The year before she died, as she took her daily walk, she left one of the five bunnies in the yard by a bunny that I had on display. She did this as a surprise for me. The eggs on the tree are crochet and also the eggs in the grass.
These decorations are on a bookcase that I inherited at my mother's death.
This is the decoration in the center of the den bay window.

This is not a clear picture but it is done in pastel color with rabbits on every tier. I don't have candles, but then I never would light them.

Cross stitch eggs are hanging in the side window of our bay in the den.

This is a combination of cross stitch and hardanger and I have it on the fridge door.
I am sorry that the above picture it out of focus. I have these cross stitch pieces done for each month.
Cross stitch piece that I placed in a wooden hoop, added lace and ribbon. This is hanging on our back door.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Thought Spring...but snow came!


We had a beautiful day on Monday and the weatherman was predicting no more than a dusting of snow for us on Tuesday. The snow was to fall much further south. It started a light snow around lunch time and it kept coming into the night. This was such a beautiful snow and the roads did not get that bad right around us. The schools were closed on Wednesday but I really thought they could have just started classes a couple of hours late. While the snow was falling, I was working on some Easter crafts. I made the little rabbit from a wash cloth and a bar of soap. I printed out a couple vintage cards and crocheted an edge around them. I enjoy making and sharing crafts with my friends.
Love,
Marie

Saturday, February 27, 2010

I am thinking Spring!!!!!!!!!!



We have had the worst winter in a long time. We had snow flurries a couple of days this past week. They are talking about the Snow word for us again this coming week. I decided to start decorating for Easter to bring some Spring into the house.
Love, Marie

Friday, February 12, 2010

Enough Mush.........



Back in 1969, we had been married 7 1/2 years on Valentine's Day. My husband gave me this large envelope with my name on the front and signed from him.
Well, I opened up this beautiful card and there was two pages of all these sweet words. I remarked that there was enough mush to last for years. His reply to me was that if that was true, then he would never buy me another Valentine. Well, here it is 2010 and he has held true to his statement. Each year, I bring out this same beautiful Valentine with all that mush. Now, come this August 18, we will be married 49 years.





You open up the card and here is the first page.
Below are the two inside pages. Notice that he
never signed the inside of the card. I am so glad
that I saved this card because you cannot find
them this beautiful now. We have had great fun
every year as the card comes out again.




Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Valentines from the Past


The valentines spread out of the table belong to our daughter. She received them from her kindergarten mates in 1967. In the middle of them, you can see the little holder with a handle that she made to place them in. Our daughter was born in 1963. I had saved our son's also but have not been able to find them.











This is a collection of valentines from the mid 1920's. They are valentine's that my mother received when she was going to school. Mother was born in 1912 and these were cards from her classmates.

Monday, February 1, 2010

My after Christmas gift to me

My mother, who passed away two years ago this month, loved to grow amaryllis. Our son and daughter-in-law took me to Trader Joe's after Christmas and I saw they had their bulbs on sale. I just had to have me one. It has been a joy to watch it flower and there is another stalk that will probably have a couple more blooms.


Above is a picture of what our bulbs look like after being planted in the yard. After the flower has bloomed, we cut the foliage back. Then, when the temperatures are about 35 degrees, we plant them in the garden. They need to be fertilized every two weeks after flowering with a 5-10-5 fertilizer. In August stop watering and fertilizing and allow the bulb to dry out. We cover ours with mulch before the first frost and leave them that way until the next spring.
Love, Marie

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Wedding Socks made by Great-Great Grandmother Angeline






















These socks were knitted by my Great-Great Grandmother Angeline Snipes and were worn in her wedding August 7, 1855. These socks amaze me. I am going to post below a sock that I just finished this morning and it was knitted on a size 3 needle. The wedding socks above must have been done on a size one. My cousin said that she probably raised the cotton and she spun the cotton to make the thread. She did the heel flap, gusset, and the Kitchener stitch just like I do mine today. She even knitted her initials AS into the sock.
My sock is done with four size 3 needles. I used Red Heart - Heart & Sole with Aloe. I worked from the basic sock pattern in Learn To Knit Socks by Edie Eckman.
Love,
Marie

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Our Vegetable Garden in December 2009




We are so proud of this garden. They were the most perfect small heads of cabbage. I steamed some to eat with fried cornbread and made slaw with others. The brocolli was so good and tender. We ate some of the brocolli and I froze the rest. We had never had these vegetables from our back yard before and I hope that it will not be the last.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I want to wish you and yours a great New Year!
Love,
Marie
Myspace Graphics
Myspace Graphics, New Year Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Done except the Angel....


This is an Advent cross stitch that I did years ago. Each day you take one of the ornaments from the outside and place it on the tree. Even though it is just my husband and I here for Christmas, we still place this on the refrigerator each year and count down the days until Christmas day. It is all done now except for the angel that will go at the top of the tree tomorrow. I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year.
Love,
Marie

Monday, December 21, 2009

Gifts from other talented friends


I got this wonderful surprise from my friend, Celeste--we do watch bands together. She made this adorable snowman in a jar and placed white lights in it. It looks so sweet sitting on my kitchen counter with my other snowmen that can be seen in the post below. Thanks Celeste!
I love it.
These pretty little gift boxes were made by my friend, Naydine, my other watch band maker. Naydine used last years Christmas cards to make these neat little boxes and put a couple of pieces of candy inside. I think they are so neat. Thanks Naydine! My husband and I love them.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

My Christmas Surprise....


We have these wonderful friends that we met through church. They have been such a blessing to us. All through the year, Pat has been bringing us meals to put in the freezer. These meals have been such a blessing. There are days that I am not able to prepare food for us and it is wonderful to go to the freezer and take out one of these meals and pop it into the oven or microwave. Gary, the husband, has helped with mowing the yard and other things that my husband needed. Yesterday, they came in the snow and brought us more meals for the freezer and one of Pat's works of art. She painted the snowman on the bottle and place a string of colored lights inside. I placed it on the kitchen counter beside my snowwoman cookie jar. Thank you Pat and Gary for your thoughtfulness!
Love,
Marie