A Autum Hike

My sister Cyndi and I went on a hike this afternoon in the hills behind my new house. We spent the day looking for greens to decorate her shop with for open house. The weather was nice and chilly and the trees were magnificent. I can't remember the trees ever being prettier than they have been this year. Hope you guys enjoy these pics!

Carvings on an old oak tree done by my sisters and I over 20 years ago!

My sister's mule loaded down with pine boughs, wild holly and cedar

God Bless,

Jill

Mini Cinnamon Crescents

The hubby was gone this evening helping a friend with a home project. Generally when I am home alone I feel lazy about cooking. I was craving something cinnamony and sweet so I whipped up a batch of these. They were soooooooo easy to make. Here is the link to the recipe http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=15467
I make so many things with crescent rolls...........the possibilities are endless.
Thanks so much to everyone who responded to yesterday's post. I took the day off today as most of my orders are out. It felt nice to just sit around with the doggies. Although I did do some light housework :) We are having very cold weather, we even had some sleet yesterday. So needless to say it has been too cold to work on the house. Temps are fore casted to rise tomorrow so hopefully we will get back to work. Many Blessings to you all on this "winter like" night,
Jill

A Relaxing Sunday

I wanted to share this pic of one of my favorite treasures. It's a old bible that I picked up on my travels. I actually have several but this is one of my favorites. This is what the inscription says on the tattered cover. "To: Minerva & Hatch From: Father & Mother. Christmas 1922." At the bottom is wrote "God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble." I like to flip through these old bibles and see where the person underlined or turned down a page of that one verse that had a special meaning to them. I like to day dream about where this old book has been and how many lives these words have changed. Who did this book give comfort to when they felt hopeless? But it makes me sad that somewhere along the line this book was discarded and put aside. I would have surely treasured this book even more if it were a family members.
I am enjoying a relaxing Sunday. The hubby is on a ATV ride so I am relaxing watching some old scary movies on tv. My mind has been filled with worries this week........some due to the house building and some other personal things. This has just been one of those weeks where everything has went wrong. I leave you with a few verses from the bible I so need to memorize. Blessings,
Jill
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, nethier do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Matthew 6:25, 26, 27

A Rainy Day in the Workshop

Today we finally got a good soaking rain that has lasted off and on all day and night. Which meant work on the house came to a halt. I took advantage of the opportunity and worked in the shop all day. I completed some orders and started some new things. Hope you all had a wonderful day! Blessings,
Jill

Odee relaxing in his favorite spot in the workshop

Daisy looking for something to chew on

My new source of heat for the workshop! Works pretty good so far :)

Faux Log Cabin How-To

I have been getting lots of questions about my siding on the house. I wanted to share with you all how to do it. This is a picture of my workshop it was built about two years ago using the same technique. My genius daddy came up with this idea of how to make my workshop look like a log cabin using inexpensive pine sheeting boards. I have had several people stop and they get out of their vehicles to look and feel to make sure if the "logs" are real or not. Then they always ask "what did you use for the chinking?". I always giggle and say "it's just wood". This is what my daddy came up with; he used 3/4" thick pine sheeting boards. I think we paid like .50 per foot or something like that. He didn't do anything to the wide boards but for the chinking he cut a wide board into strips about 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide. We painted them white with exterior paint. You nail a board up and then a white strip and then a board and so on. I used a high quality outdoor wood stain on the wide boards. I discovered (or really sis and ma did) that if you stain over the white with your wood stain it looks better. Gives it a more aged look, I plan to go back and do this on the workshop. The key is to make sure you use galvanized nails......or your nails will rust and run down your siding! Hope this answered any questions any one may have had about the siding :)

We got the roof on the house today! And just in time as we are fore casted to get lots of rain this weekend. Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Jill

Buried Under a Pile of Work

Someway or other I have gotten behind in my orders. I guess the long days of working on the house till dark have slowed me down. I came home from church and sewed some dresses while the washer and dryer were going.
The rain came before we got the roof on the house. It was a minimal amount of rain........the floor got wet but no damage was done. Everything is back bone dry today. Daddy did more work with the dozer over the weekend and made more of a backyard and changed the driveway. We will be putting the metal roof on first thing in the morning. Hope you have all had lovely Sunday's.

House Progress

Boy am I ever tired! We put in some long hours today trying to get the roof ready before it rains. And it sure was HOT! The metal is supposed to be ready tomorrow..........hopefully! Here are some pics I took to update you on the progress.

This will be the bedroom
A work in progress

We got a few runs of siding up...........We did the faux log cabin look just like my workshop

This is a pic of the end of the house coming up the driveway

New Christmas Toy Horse

I finally finished a new design for Christmas '08. Well it's not completely new........I have made a ornament very similar to this for years. But this is a 9 1/2" tall toy horse I will be offering. I am so excited to be working on Christmas designs.

The house is coming along great...........faster than I could have hoped for. We still have not gotten any rain. The forecast is giving a 50 percent chance Thursday. The very day we are supposed to put the metal on the roof. Hopefully we can get the roof on and then it will rain buckets and buckets!

Blessings,

Jill

Dried Turnips and So on

Boy did we have a hot day today! Dad, hubby and I worked all day on the house. I can't believe how far along we have gotten.........considering it's pretty much Dad doing all the labor. We have all the inside walls up and the rafters up in the roof. Dad and hubby worked on the rafters in the roof today and it made me nervous just watching them. I hate heights and get weak in the knees if I get up high on a ladder. Hopefully we will get the roof on it next week if all goes well. Then we will have to take off for a few days for Dad to work.
Our county has been declared a state of emergency due to the drought. The newspaper said this is the worst drought since 1897 and the second worst ever in the state's history. Our county is buying water off a neighboring county but their are rumors going around that it is only temporary because they don't have much to spare for themselves. I am hoping for some rain very soon!
On a happy note I have been working on some new Christmas items. I wanted to share a pic of my Mom's dried turnips. I just love them! I will be offering them on Simply Primitives the 15th. I am so glad tomorrow is Sunday..........I have a birthday party to attend after church and then it will be a wonderful day of rest........hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow.
God Bless,
Jill

New Blog

My sister Keeper of the Past finally took the leap and started a blog. If you get a chance come check it out. Blessings, Jill

A Quick House Update

Just wanted to share a pic with you guys with all the outside walls up. We have actually got a lot more done since this pic was taken Monday. Today we got all the inside walls up. You can really start to see the house coming together. We are expecting some rain tomorrow...........and I could really use a day off to work on some orders. It's so exciting to sit inside the bare walls and close my eyes and imagine it all finished. Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Jill

Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake

Forgive me everyone for being such a bad blog buddy. I wish I had time to visit all your blogs every day. I can see it's going to be a struggle to keep up with my orders and the house building. But with the Lord's help I can do it. He has already blessed me with more energy than I normally have. I have been able to come home every night and work on my orders. Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful comments. We got ALL FOUR WALLS up today. Which I am so excited about ( I will post a pic Monday) you can really start to visualize what the house will actually look like. We laid out where all the rooms will be. I am so blessed to have a daddy that can build anything...........although he is pretty stubborn and wants to do things his way. He wanted to build a separate room for the washer and dryer, but I wanted them right in the bathroom behind doors. We finally agreed upon my way :) I made this yummy cake tonight for church tomorrow. The recipe came from a Taste of Home mag. Hope you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake
1 package yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 c. water
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 3/4 t. cinnamon, divided
1/4 t. ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
2 1/2 c. cream cheese frosting
1 1/4 c. chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, water, pumpkin, 1 t. cinnamon, ginger & nutmeg. Beat on low for 30 seconds; beat on medium for 2 minutes.
Pour into two well greased and floured nine inch baking pans. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool ten minutes before removing from pans and onto wire racks to cool completely.
Combine frosting and remaining cinnamon; spread between layers and over the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle top of the cake with walnuts.

A Solid Foundation

Believe it or not the weather here has turned really cool. We are expecting a frost tonight. I love the cooler weather but we are so in need of rain. I haven't done much in the way of crafting all week other than doing some sewing on orders at night. I finally got the pics of the foundation...............it's really starting to come together!

The leaves are changing

The lumber was delivered today and we got a lot of the sub floor done

The mountain of lumber that's waiting to be used.