I Feel Like this Guy Today

As I was doing the rounds this morning feeding all the animals I saw this guy. I thought he would make a good picture so I ran back to the house to grab my camera. Lol, he had barely moved an inch and it was a good little walk back to my house. I thought to myself he and I have a lot in common today. Seems I can't get anywhere very fast. When I was at mom and dad's yesterday I noticed I had ran over a metal thing, it was punched into my tire. Dad didn't have a plug kit so hubby had to come get me. So now I am sitting with no car waiting on my sister and mom to come get me. Dad and I are working on the house today and he's going to plug my tire this evening. Also my blackberry is still not adding my pics to the computer. Thanks goodness my digital camera is working fine. On a happy note the weather is awesome. We are really starting to feel the coolness in the air. We got a little rain last night but it didn't amount to much. They are handing out drinking water to everyone, so the situation must be pretty serious but I am sure the Lord will provide in due time. Hope you all are moving a little faster today than my friend Mr. Turtle and I.
Blessings,
Jill

Clover happily sharing breakfast with the neighbor's chicken

The Shows Over

The shows over! I am having technical difficulties getting my photos from my black berry to the computer. Strange as I have never had any issues before? I had a bunch of pics to share of the completed foundation to show you guys............but looks like it will have to wait. We are under a boil water advisory. The river that supplies our county with water is dry, the pumps in the river are sucking up mud along with what water is left. There is talk that our county will have to buy water from a neighboring county. Yikes I sure hope it rains very soon!
Blessings to you all!
Jill

Morgan Co. Sorghum Festival

My sister who runs Keeper of the Past and I set up yesterday at the Morgan Co. Sorghum Festival. So far we are having awesome weather! The show is on Friday-Sunday. Thought I would share some pics...........for some reason they are blurry. Sorry for the short post but I am exhausted! Hubby & Dad finished the foundation today. I got tired just watching them work so hard plus carrying them things up and down the hill! Hope you all have a great weekend!
Jill

Preparing for the Show

Woweee I have had a long day! For starters this morning hubby and I went and picked up a awesome black bed I bought for $50 I wish I had thought to take a pic but I didn't. It has really high post and will be going in the new house. We don't have room for it in our now bedroom because it is a lot bigger. After we got that taken care of and stored at Mom's house me and Dad worked on the house foundation until 8:00. After I got home and took a shower I did laundry, cleaned house and made these two scarecrows for the show. They are a little more "cute" than items I usually make but "cute" sells here. In our area they like the mildly primitive look. I had fun making these though :) Hope you all had a wonderful day!
Jill

A Big Santa & Mom's Taste Like Chicken Chops

We had a wonderful Sunday here and a pleasant weekend too. Friday and Saturday Dad and I worked on the foundation for the house. Lord willing we will have the foundation done next week and we will be ready to build! I am so excited! I started working on this Santa Saturday night and boy was he ever a challenge. He is huge and stands over three feet tall. I kept having issues with he wanting to lean forward instead of standing straight up. He wanted to be a lazy Santa and slump over. I finally corrected the problem by adding more weight to his feet by adding rags down in them. After church today I sewed on his beard and added his accessories. I used hubby's old belt on him and made him a toy sack. Seems like he still needs something? What do you guys think? I fixed my Mama's Taste Like Chicken Chops for supper tonight and they sure were yummy! Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Taste Like Chicken Chops

4-6 pork chops

1 can of cream of chicken

flour

oil

Wash your pork chops and pat dry. Roll in flour and shake off the excess. Place some oil in a skillet and fry your chops until brown on both sides. Place in a crock pot. Mix your can of cream of chicken with 1/3 cup of water and pour over chops. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or until pork chops are fall apart tender. It makes a yummy gravy :)

An Award

Thanks so much to Tammy for giving me this award! Here are six random things about me..........

1. I am the youngest of my family, I have three older sisters.

2. My husband and I share the same birthday, only he was born in 78 and I was born in 82.

3. I am a introvert and a bit shy, I'd rather be at home with my dogs than anywhere in the world.

4. I am addicted to Mountain Dew

5. I am a night owl and rarely ever get up before 10 am

6. I love to cook and bake..........I think I even enjoy it better than sewing

Gee as for who to tag I am not sure.............if you are reading this and you haven't been tagged consider yourself tagged.

A Nice Fall Day

I could really get used to this weather! I am still working away on items for the show as well as listing on ebay. My mom dried this awesome okra garland. I will be listing it on ebay tonight. Blessings to you all today!

Halloween Pillows for the Show

The beginnings of BOO the ghost.............made by a Kentucky Primitives Pattern

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

Talk about a beautiful day! Fall is so near, you can just feel it in the air. Last night we had some very cool temps and I just loved it. I have always loved fall and winter. I do love the wonderful plants and herbs the summer provides us with but I much prefer cooler weather. I am praying this nice mild weather sticks around for the festival next weekend. We are in desperate need of rain, they have closed the car wash and are advising people to conserve water and not to water your lawns or plants. Which means every one will have to wait to buy those beautiful fall mums.

I am working on several projects today. Mostly fall items for the show. I have all my orders out and can focus on the show. Seasonal items usually sell best and I will have lots of new things this year. I love using patterns for my shows because it allows me to have lots of different designs without actually having to design them all. I made a bunch of my corn cob dolls to take to the show. I did these a little differently and didn't cover the cob. I think I may actually like these better. I am off to the post office and to get a bite to eat. Hope you all have productive days!

Jill

New Offerings

Garden Cans

Pumpkin & Field Mouse made from a Country Stitches Pattern

Pumpkin with Stitched Face made from the same Country Stitches

Finally we have a little cooler weather! It's hard to get in the mood for fall when it's so hot. I have been busy working on items for my show the end of this month. I added lots of new things to the website as well. Don't you just love this time of year?

Come check out all the great artists at Simply Primitives a new issue just released today!

Apple Head Doll Tutorial Part 2

I finally finished my apple head doll. I had so much fun making this doll, I sure hope you try this project. I did her a little differently than the early ones that were made. Mine has a cloth body instead of a wire one. It just gives her a more substantial feel. Also I did not include detailed instructions on sewing the dress since I know most of my readers are experienced artists but if you need additional help just email me and I will try to help :) gigi252000@aol.com

Goodes Needed

1 dried sealed apple head

1 toothpick

2 wood beads

12 inch long piece heavy gauge wire

muslin

gray or black fabric

Nutmeg brown paint

flax, wool or yarn for hair

Embellishments such as lace, a witch hat, head scarf and cheesecloth

First you will need to sew together your body. Cut 2 pieces of muslin 3 1/2" wide by 6" long. Sew them together leaving an opening at the top in the center for turning. Turn right side out and stuff firmly.

Place a large bead of hot glue on one end of the toothpick and insert it in the apple in the bottom.
Cut two very small slits in your body, cut one on each side close to the side seams where the shoulder area is. Place your 12 inch long piece of wire through one hole and the body and then out the other hole. Run a long bead of hot glue around your neck opening, insert toothpick and head and hold until it dries.

Here are the dress measurements: Dress bodice cut 2 pieces 4 3/4" wide by 2 1/2" long

For sleeves cut 2 pieces 3 1/2" wide by 7" long

For skirt cut 2 pieces 10" wide by 8" long

After sewing your dress together and turning right side out place on your doll. Glue dress around the dolls neck. Bend over both ends of your wire arms. Paint both wood beads with nutmeg brown paint and let dry. When dry put a dollop of hot glue inside each wood bead and insert the wire. You will be gluing a bead to each end of the wire. Hand gather sleeves around wooden hands and tie off. Place a drop of glue so sleeves don't slid up and down the wire. Now comes the fun part! Embellish your doll however you want. I made mine into a spooky witch for Halloween. I glued on some flax for hair and then a little witch hat. If you want to make yours a old woman instead of a witch just add a homespun scarf around her head. You can also use yarn or wool for the hair. I added some vintage lace around her neck and tied a cheesecloth apron around her. To finish her off lightly sand her dress and dust her with cinnamon.

ENJOY!

As with all my tutorials please do not sell these directions; share them freely with your friends as they were freely given to you. Feel free to make these to sell for profit, if selling them online please mention my name.

God Bless,

Jill

Working Working Working

I will be offering loose dried beans to fill your wood bowls and trenchers this week!

My mom makes most of my pantry jars I offer; this is a new one she did with dried carrots and black olives. I added the halloween label :)

In honor of Leslie's Whatcha Working on Wednesday here is what I have been doing today...............It sure has been a busy day. I finished my gingerbread men today and they smell so yummy. I just realized I didn't share where I got the pattern from. I purchased it on ebay PRIMITIVE GINGERBREAD MAN ORNIES FILLER TUCKS PATTERN - eBay (item 180278587083 end time Sep-16-08 15:05:59 PDT) This is the most awesome pattern. They are made completely from cloth but you put a "special" mixture on them to make them hard like cookies. They are so neat and always sell well. I am off this evening to take my MIL to my sister's shop; hope you all had a blessed day

Working Away & "The Man's Birthday"

The weather man said just the right words this morning that I wanted to hear; "cold front" and "rain". Sounds good to me Mr. Weatherman! It was already cooler here today with some sprinkles of rain. As you can I am working away and have been super busy. Gingerbread Men have invaded my kitchen; looks like hubby won't get anything for supper. Lol, just kidding we will have a simple meal of probably hamburger and fries or tacos. Today is Odee's 4th birthday! Wow it's hard to believe my little boy is 4; his nickname is "the man". He is such a little goof ball he has brought so much joy to our family. I hope you all had a productive day. Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog; I sure do appreciate it!

The Gingerbread Man Invasion
Tobacco hanging to dry from the workshop beams

"The Man" saying "hey, it's my birthday and I will stay out here if I want to!"

Chicken and Dumplings

This is by far one of the best and easiest southern meals to prepare. There are many different ways to prepare chicken and dumplings. Some folks roll out the dumplings and some people use canned biscuits. I prefer the drop dumplings. Also some people use boneless chicken breast. I prefer bone in skinless breast because the bones make a wonderful broth. Sometimes I use a whole fryer chicken and double the dumpling batter if I have a large crowd to feed.

Chicken and Dumplings

2 large skinless bone-in chicken breast

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup self rising corn meal

milk

chicken broth

salt and pepper

Begin by boiling your chicken in a large heavy pot. Make sure you put plenty of water to cover the chicken and add about 1 t. salt. Boil until your chicken is tender and falling apart; remove chicken from the pot and set aside to cool.

Back in the day chicken and dumplings were prepared using "home chickens" which are chickens that you raise to eat. Because the chickens roamed freely and ate whatever they wanted it gave their skin a dark yellow color. So the broth was yellow instead of white. To mimic this I always add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring at this point. This is totally optional. Add about 2 cups or so of chicken broth; this all depends on how much broth you have left after you cooked the chicken. Make sure you have plenty broth and bring it to a gentle boil.

While your broth is heating mix your meal and flour with enough milk to make a very thick batter. Dip a teaspoon into the boiling broth and then into your dumpling batter. Drop batter into your pot a teaspoon at a time; making sure you dip it in the broth each time. Drop half your batter into the pot; cover with lid slightly ajar. Set a timer for 5 min. and remove one dumpling from the pot and cut into it to make sure it is cooked through. If it is remove all the dumplings and set aside, if it is still doughy cook a little longer. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Remove your chicken from the bone and tear into pieces; add everything back to the pot and serve. You can add a little more chicken broth if your dumplings look dry. Enjoy :)

New Fall Designs

BeWitched Ornie
Primitive Hanging Pumpkin Head Doll
Available Retail and Wholesale

I finally got a chance to work on some new fall designs. I feel so icky today; I still have a lingering cold that just will not go away! It's makes it a struggle to get anything done with a stuffy nose, headache and sore throat. On a positive note we are expecting cooler weather and RAIN over the weekend! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday.

Blessings,

Jill

Some House Progress

Hi everyone! We made some progress on the house; as you can see we got the footer poured. Next we will do the walls for the foundation. My house is going to be VERY small! I plan on taking more of the hill out behind and building on later. I have it all pictured in my mind of just how I want it to look. I am sure ready for summer to go away. We are still in the 90's and its so dry.

We have got the dirt pushed up around the footer since these pics were taken.

The dogs sure had a good time playing in the dirt!

Till next time may God Bless,

Jill