My Yellow Farmhouse

Holy Moly Bloggies

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my poll - there were some very sweet comments in there that sure made me smile.  My goal for this website is to have it up and running at least partly by the 15th of July.  I will keep you all posted on the progress I make and give you the link when it's ready.  There's a lot to do and I'm trying hard not to think about the big picture and taking little snippets at a time to work on.

So I forgot to ask Mr. Farmhouse to pick a number this morning and had to call him at work to do his part of the giveaway.  He asked how many had left comments and then picked a random number which is 60 and that number belongs to Kindra.  Again thanks to everyone who left a comment your support and input means so much to me.

So I don't think a post is complete without a picture or two so I want to share some goodies I got in the mail from Wendy.  We exchange packages in the mail once in awhile and it's so exciting when I see a box or envelope in the mail that has her return address on it.

That cute little pincushion she made - yikes those strips are tiny, a sweet little zipper purse that's in my purse right now, a couple of patterns, a spool of pearl cotton, a Canadian penny and the perfect little sheep with a "Got Wool" sign hanging on it.  Thank you sweet Wendy you know me very well - hope you enjoy your goodie box when it arrives.

I stopped by at a friends house the other day and just had to take a picture of her garage - how cute is this

she had these little ones grazing around the pasture with all of the cows - I think their names are Jenny and Cash

there was also Willard the pig - but that picture really didn't turn out.  She has a picture postcard type of farm setting and it's always a treat to stop by.

So I'm taking a little bloggy break to head to the lake for a long holiday weekend with the whole family - YAHOO.  It will be our last time all together at the cottage before it's taken down in August.  Lots of memories have been made there over the last 13 years with family and friends.  So this is a bit of a bittersweet weekend for us.  But there will be lots of new memories to come that we will make in our new home.   I will see you back here on Monday

            HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE 4TH OF JULY

AAAAACK

This new typepad is driving me crazy.  It wouldn't let me post pictures earlier, so I waited and now it froze up with spell check and I had to cancel the whole dam post and start all over.  Soooooo I'm making this 3rd time the charm - keeping it short and not spell checking. 

OK here's the deal that I need your help with - hope I can explain it as well as I did 2 times before - aaaaack don't get me started again, LOL.  This is regarding my website.  If you see a pattern you like and there's a kit for it and the kit snaps your socks are you more likely to buy the kit or work from your stash.  I know that a fat quarter of wool can be on the spendy side and sometimes you only need a little bit of wool for a project.  I know that not everyone has access to a variety of wool - so sometimes stashes are limited.  It's taken me several years to build up my little stash (OK peeps and woolies - no talking here).  Also for those of you who want to build a stash - would bundles of 8x8  inch squares in a variety of coordinating colors "snap your socks" rather than investing in fat quarters.  I guess I'm just trying to get a feel what works best for you when your out shopping for wool and patterns.  I would appreciate any input you care to share and I sure hope I'm making sense here after trying to do this post a few times I might be skipping what I'm trying to say.  Sooooo if you leave a comment by Tuesday night July 1st I will have Mr. Farmhouse pick a number for this little giveaway - after all I need to show my appreciation to you bloggies for taking the time to help a girl out

I will be carrying these little braided runners in my store in a variety of colors as well as wool penny rugs for those who don't want to make their own.  This runner measures 8x28 and this one comes in the colors of browns,blacks,tans,golds and a little bit of red and green.   But wait there's more (just like those infomercials that always have a little more to offer you before you place your order) I'm also going to include one of my favorite candles, McCall brand in the scent of Campfire Marshmallow.  So leave a comment by tomorrow night the 1st and Mr Farmhouse will pick a number the morning of the 2nd.  I know this is quick but I want to get this in the mail to you by Thursday before I head to the lake for the holiday weekend.  So forgive the errors because I'm just not going near spell check again and I will share the rest of this post another day because I just can't retype the whole thing again.

Until Next Time

Thank You

for all of those sweet words of encouragement about my new website.  It's something I've been toying with for sometime and it so wonderful to have support from my bloggies out there.  Thank you :)Check back tomorrow I've got a favor to ask of you all.

So I have been gone for a few days on an annual fishing vaca with Mr. Farmhouse and some friends.  Mr. Farmhouse heads up a few days early with Mr. C for a couple of days of intense fishing at Lake of the Woods.  This lake is in Minnesota and Canada.  Then Kari and I head up and join them for a couple of days of more relaxed fishing and pampering.  The guys always do all of the cooking and cleaning up and really treat us like queens.  How can we not enjoy that.  The weather was amazing with hardly a breeze (which would have been nice) and lots of sun.  If you not familiar with this lake - it's HUGE.  We stay in the United States side and then travel by boat up into Ontario Canada for fishing everyday.  You can go miles and miles and not even see a boat.  Mr. C is very familiar with the area having gone up for many years.  Honestly it all looks the same and with his trusty map we never get lost.  Thanks Mr. C for your awesome boating and navigating skills.    So here's a few shots to give you an idea of this side of paradise which you truly can't get from a picture - but here's a try

The only way to get to the lodge that we stay at is by boat - so they picked us up and had a nice refreshing cocktail waiting for us

Every year Kari and I surprise the boys with something that we've dreamed up during the year.  Last fall on our way to quilt market in Houston we stopped at a gas station in Texas and bought the cowboy hats and the bobber earrings we are wearing are leftover from last summers get up.  There was more to this years outfit, but what happens in fish camp stays in fish camp and no it wasn't naughty - but it was funny.

Our lodging every year

We always eat lunch once during out stay at this other resort up in Ontario - always yummy

our view while enjoying our lunch

while fishing we could see something way ahead of us moving in the water, so we pulled in our lines and took a quick trip over to see what it was

yes folks it was a bear.  We've seen them before along the lake shore but never swimming from one side of the lake to another.  He wasn't a cub, but not full size either.  He just kept swimming trying to get away from us (I wasn't that close I used the zoom on my camera) and headed up into the woods
 
Here's a little shack being built

and the boat house that goes with it

it's a drive through boathouse - nice

Keep in mind that there aren't any roads in most of the area.  So everything has to come by boat or barge.  A lot of building projects probably like this one haul there wood over in the winter when the lake is iced over and trucks can haul it instead of a barge.  Then it sits until spring when the building can start.  Boy you'd better be good at calculating what you need.  When we got to Young's Bay where the guys picked us up, there was a big truck there unloading a load of windows for someone to pick up and haul to another destination.  It's a whole different way of life.  Not sure it's for me, but it's a great place to visit.

one of my favorite areas - called Tranquil Channel

came across a couple of these - which you can rent up there.  We've talked about trying this sometime

My view when I wasn't fishing and just enjoying the sun and a book



Our view when we had shore lunch

beauty of all kinds is everywhere you look

The last night of every trip it's a tradition that we head out in the boat after a great dinner prepared by our handsome chefs

to enjoy a cup of coffee with a shot of Baileys, have some chuckles over the events of the last few days and enjoy a beautiful sunset

Thanks guys for another wonderful trip.  It gets better every year

Until Next Time

OK

so technically it's still Monday in my neck of the woods although the clock is quickly moving towards midnight and Tuesday.  But I kept my word and here I am.  I made a quick trip to St. Cloud today with Kari so that she could pick up something and I wanted to go to Grubers Quilt Shop to look for some neutral fabrics for a project.  Fun day - thanks Kari

To everyone who has purchased something from me - with the exception of 2 people who's addresses I'm waiting for - everything else is boxed up and will be shipped out tomorrow.  I will email you with your shipping.  Thank you so much for your patience :)

Last post I told you about heading to the lake place of one of the woolies for our monthly woolie get together.  It was a picture perfect day to be lakeside enjoying friendship, laughter, food and of course wool.  She made us a terrific lunch which I though was worthy of a picture

Here's a few shots from the day




she has a cute little guest cottage out back

of course the beds have handmade quilts
 

cute cottage next door

few projects that were worked on - a few of the woolies where working on yarn punch projects




look at this little treasure

what a pretty view we had all day long

Thanks JM for a wonderful day

Soooo now on to my new venture.  It's no secret of my love of wool to anyone who reads this blog or to those who know me.  I had decided before I went to quilt market in Portland to start up a website that would offer wool, patterns and kits for selected patterns and also a small amount of seasonal accents for the home which isn't related to wool but I just can't give up that part of my retail past yet, LOL.  I've received just about all of my stash that I ordered at market and I hope to be up and running by the middle of July.  My website is under construction and still needs some tweaking before I give you the link.  I will be offering a really cute block of the month program for a small wall hanging and that's what I needed the neutral fabrics that I was shopping for today.  I will also be offering some handmades at times on this site.  I'm excited about giving this a try and seeing what happens.  Some of the peeps and woolies have offered to help me make up some samples for kits and believe me I'm taking them up on it LOL so I can get started.   So that's the direction I'm heading and will see where it goes.  Like Rosanna  Rosanna Danna used to say  "It's always something".

Until Next Time

Now Where Was I

Oh ya about to head on over to Country Threads. Sorry for the break in action - typepad was not cooperating with me the other night and out of frustration I shut the computer off and walked away and haven't tried a post since.  So let's head on down the road
 
Can I say that this shop is amazing and so much eye candy that it's almost overwhelming.  We spent several hours there walking around, then walking around again, resting a bit and walking around again LOL to make sure we saw everything - and I think we did.  So I will post several pictures here for you to see.  It really was hard to get good pictures because this place is so full and no matter where I stood to try and take a picture there was lots of stuff all around and lots of time it was in the way, LOL - so I did my best.  Oh ya another frustration with this new typepad format for me is that I can't figure out why now when you click on the pictures to enlarge them within the post they get HUGE instead of just bigger for you to see the details.  So anyone out there with a typepad blog if you can tell me what I'm doing wrong in the picture area please let me know - I'm using the custom part of the picture posting and it's still not working-grrrrrrrrr.  Ok enough of that let's stroll through Country Threads - WARNING - heavy picture post :)   EDIT - I think I might have fixed the problem so you can enlarge the pictures - finger crossed

 
 
 
 
 
 

Lot's of punchneedle and they are so creative in how they use the finished patterns - this was just a small corner of what they had
 


Here are the store samples of a few of the patterns I bought for Liberty Cottage




I picked up a few other misc. patterns to add to my already full pattern stash

A few of the peeps heading out with their treasures

Goodbye Country Threads - we had a BLAST

We did stop at one more quilt shop on the way home - it was a nice shop but nothing that really "snapped our socks". 

So 1 month away is the annual Kamp Karen at the lake and this will be our last one in the cabin.  Next year the peeps will have air conditioning and everyone will have a bed to sleep on as Liberty Cottage will change into our permanent home.  Last Wednesday was the monthly get together of the woolies and it was held at the lake place of one of the woolies.  Talk about a picture perfect day for being lakeside.  I took lots of pictures which I will share next time.  I also want to share my new venture with you but this post is long enough.  I PROMISE to return tomorrow - really I do and share both with you.

Until Next Time

WEEEEEEE DOGGIES

Channeling my sister on that saying - It sure has been hopping at the farmhouse the last few days.  But it's all good and I'm not complaining.  Last Thursday and Friday was the sale benefiting our local Quilts of Valor and think it went pretty well.  A nice chunk of change was raised by those who attended and I think another one will be in the works sometime later this fall.  A big thanks to those who donated from their stash - we sure appreciated it.

Saturday morning Mr.Farmhouse (someone left that in a comment and I really like calling hubs that - thank you to the person who left that) and I hit the road down to La Crosse WI for a wedding - a nice 5 1/2 hour drive in some very pretty country

The wedding was son#1's friend since 2nd grade - he was best man at my son's wedding and the favor was returned this weekend when son #1 was his best man.  So at the reception we hung out with son and my sweet DIL

and all of their friends - they were lots of fun and laughs - thanks guys for looking after the oldies in the group.  We stayed at a nice hotel that had a beautiful view right on the river .  Sunday morning Mr.Farmhouse and I took a stroll along the river walk before hitting the road to our next destination

Mr Farmhouse came across this beauty and was thinking it might be nice to have at the lake -

I told him I didn't think it would fit the boat lift.   Then we climbed into the car and headed down the road about 3 hours to my sisters house for a celebration get together.  Her 3 children were all celebrating something exciting.  #1 turned 30 years old,  #2 just recently got engaged to a sweetheart we all just love and #3 graduated from college with a degree in education.  It was a beautiful day for sitting outside, eating good food, enjoying her beautiful gardens (no pictures - shame on me), celebrating good stuff, visiting with family and meeting new people.  Thanks Roxanne for a great day.  Then it was back in the car for the remainder of the ride home.  Hubs and I had lots of time for chatting and making some changes in the house plans - much to Mr. Dave aka Mr. Contractor's delight.  Yesterday I traveled to a neighboring town to meet with Mr. Dave at the local lumber yard along with another helpful young man to start the process of narrowing down choices, decisions and going over the changes from the road trip.  Word on the street, well ok from Mr Dave is that the garage will be started on today, YAHOO.  Then it was my turn to host the sewing peeps last night.  I've been having oven issues for a few weeks and it's finally decided to quit working and the piece needed to make it work is on order and I'm hoping to hear from him today that it's in and he will be here to get it fixed.  So for my dessert I needed to get something that didn't require baking.  I forgot to take a picture but here's the recipe - the peeps loved it.

Grilled Pound Cake (SURPRISE  it doesn't contain cream cheese)

Sara Lee Pound Cake -sliced
Hot Fudge Sauce - I used Hershey's Hot Fudge
Vanilla ice cream
Whip Cream - Redi Whip
Chopped Pecans - optional
sliced banana's - optional

Butter the slices of pound cake on both sides and brown in a fry pan on the stove.  Watch closely it doesn't take long.  On a plate layer a slice of pound cake, hot fudge, scoop of ice cream, a little drizzle of more hot fudge (can you ever have enough), a blob of whip cream, or I used Redi Whip in the can for a fancy swirly squirt - and if using nuts sprinkle on top and if using sliced bananas, spoon around the cake.  It's YUMMY and really really easy.

So life at the farmhouse is slowing down and I can get caught up on emails and blogs.  I will get the prices to those who purchased things from me and get those shipped this week.  Tomorrow will get back to the road trip to Country Threads and other things happening here at the farmhouse.  Tomorrow we head to the lake home of one of the woolies for our monthly get together.  It's supposed to be a beautiful day and perfect for enjoying being at the lake and there will be woolie work going on - right ladies?  I promise to take little silver along for pics to share.

Until Next Time

Oh ya I could use some of this view right now, but it won't be happening.  Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of days.  It's been a little hectic at the farmhouse this week and posting has had to take a back seat.  Just wanted to say that I will be back on Monday with another challenge of a Monday-Friday posting on the old blog.  I will fill you in on my new adventure and get caught up with you all.  For those who have purchased things from me this week I will get emails to you regarding prices and Pat the table runner is yours, thank you sweetie.  This weekend is full of fun and family stuff and some traveling.  I'm behind in catching up with my fav blogs so don't anyone post, LOL.  Have a safe and wonderful weekend my sweet bloggy peeps :)

Until Next Time

Did you think I forgot

Naaa just gone part of the day.  So let's continue on our trip to Calico Hutch in Hayward, MN.  OK hoped that link worked.  This shop was recommended to us by one of the ladies at Eagle Creek where we stopped after Main Street Cotton Shop.  I didn't take any pictures at Eagle Creek - oops.  This shop was about 10 miles away from where we were spending the night and so we cruised on over to see what it was all about before we settled in for the evening. This was a great shop and we all managed to find somethings that we couldn't live without.  They had a great wool room - but I was strong, but a few of the peeps were not.  A couple of them bought a kit for this cutie

I came home with a kit for this quilt


I loved the colors in their kit and this will be my project for the annual retreat with the peeps out at our lake in July.  Here's a few more shots of the inside of the store which had several rooms that I didn't take pics of


a few of the peeps resting after making their purchases

So after a nice dinner at Applebee's a few of the peeps headed out the door to see this

and we walked over to the local DQ and got some of this

perfect way to end the evening.  Tomorrow it's on to Country Threads.

So now I've got a couple of Christmas items to show you and see if anyone is interested.  This first set is a reproductions Santa candy mold and a wool pillow and these 2 items will go together for $22 plus shipping.

I believe the Santa design is a Need'l pattern that the company has rights to reproduce. 

This is a wool table runner again from the same company as the pillow.  It measures36X18 and will sell for $25 plus shipping.  I've taken 2 pictures so you can see a close up of the design.   Lots of button hole stitching on this one and it's in black, red and green.  Really pretty and I've got one also.  Hey I'm my own best customer, LOL.

So let me know in a comment if your interested.  I've got a couple of more things for tomorrow and then I'm out of stuff.  Friday I will let you know about  my new venture and maybe get some ideas from you all regarding it. 

Spent part of the afternoon setting up for the recycling sale for Quilts of Valor - doesn't that sound better than garage sale.  Anyway it starts tomorrow night and I sure hope we can sell alot - it's a great cause to benefit.

Well the weather today has been LOUSY - rain, rain and more rain along with a high wind warning - saw some trees down when I was out and about.  Thought about going to Fargo this morning to see son#2 - but i drive one of those SUV and it would have been all over the road.  So I'm heading up tomorrow for a quick trip and hope that the weather is better.  Goodness but I'm sick of rain - and it's slowing down Mr. Contractor from getting to the lake to put up the extra garage. 

Until Next Time

Woo Hoo 2 Days In A Row

OK so I'm 2 for 3 of my goal of posting everyday this week.    So let's start our trip with the peeps.  I put together a little giftie for the peeps to celebrate the trip and the start of summer

Inside the bags was a block set for summer and a little kit to make their own strawberry emery that I purchased at quilt market in Portland

The first stop on the trip was Main Street Cotton Shop in Hutchinson, MN - home of Lynette Jensen and Thimbleberries

One of the peeps looks pretty excited about entering the store.  There windows are always so cute and decorated for the season.  I really tried to get a good picture but the reflection was terrible and so I couldn't share that with you.  Here's a few shots of the inside.  I thought I had taken a few more - but I guess this is what I got

This is a peek at the upstairs which is the home of the Thimbleberries design studio - which isn't opened to the public

loved this cabinet in the front entry of the shop which is full of fun things for the home

So what did I buy from there  - well

believe it or not a couple of great textures of wool (are you shocked, LOL), some great rusty orange homespun which will be perfect for creating some fall items, a wooden quilt pin and a candle which will be great for fall, both in color and the scent which is cider.  Lots of fun things to see there but we all were pretty good, especially since it was our first stop, LOL.  Tomorrow it will be Calico Hutch - the next stop on our trip.

Someone had asked about this book and I couldn't find the comment again to let them know.  So here's the book for everyone else also - one of the woolies is working her way through this book and I showed her floral applique blocks several posts back.  Hope this helps the person who was wondering.

So here's the last of the block sets that I have left. Tomorrow it will be a couple of Christmas things. 

I have 1 set of each of these - they are 9.95 per set PLUS shipping

in this group I have 2 sets of the hats, wands and brooms and just 1 of the candy corn - they are also 9.95 each PLUS shipping.

Just leave a comment if your interested and I will get back to you with the total.  Today I spent the morning going through patterns and books and misc. sewing stuff to donate to the Quilts of Valor Recycling sale on Thursday.  I came up with a few things - but NO wool, LOL.    I also got the card together for our monthly card/stamping group.  This month I'm in charge of the card with someone else who is in charge of the snacks and it's at her house.  So have a great evening and see you tomorrow

Until Next Time

OOPS IS IT MONDAY ALREADY

WOW time sure flies doesn't it?  I had every intention of blogging yesterday because remember I'm challenging myself to a Sunday-Friday posting to get caught up - and already I'm missing a day. 

The trip with the peeps was a lot of fun and I will share pics and purchases through the week.  Thought I would get you caught up to date on what 's new here at the farmhouse.  So let's start with a new little table that I bought from winterberryprims on ebay.  It was bought with the new house in mind

I love it and it's perfect for sitting under a window in the dining room.  Not liking the electrical cord from the lamp but I'll get that figured out.

Another little goodie to arrive that I bought on ebay and I forgot who the seller was - sorry - is this cute Americana birdhouse

Perfect for the porch.

I bought this shelf also for the new house and it will either go in the mudroom or a bathroom - sorry it's a little hard to get a good picture in the garage.

This is a great little cookbook shelf that my woolie friend Faye made for me.  I'm going to paint this next week and it will sit in the corner of my kitchen counter - so here's the before shot and I'll share the finished piece when it's in place and decorated

I got the idea from my sweet friend Kathy who doesn't have a blog but she has a wonderful webshots page with pictures of her darling home.  She graciously sent me a close up picture of this little treasure so that I could have one made up - I sure hope this link works so you can visit her home and enjoy her wonderful style of decorating - thank you Kathy

So let's see what else - oh I think it was Darlene that wanted to see this little quilt that was hidden under the smooty (remember the fruit dip) in another post.  This quilt was from the first Little Jo's Woman quilt club that I was in and also I had never really worked with strips this tiny and that was part of the challenge for me

Here's a couple more block sets that I have available to you - everyday I will be posting the remainder of items from the sale so keep checking back.  I have 2 sets of these Santa blocks available @7.95 each PLUS shipping.
 

I have just 1 of the witch set of blocks and it's available for 9.95 PLUS shipping.

OK I think that's it for now.  If you interested in the blocks just leave a comment and I will send you an email.  Tomorrow I will post more goodies for sale - and will start out on our little quilt trip.  So if my links don't work - can someone tell my why they won't connect you up.  Ever since typepad changed my links aren't connecting - grrrrrrrr.

Until Next Time