Spring is Just around the Corner

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.Genesis 1:10-12

It continues to rain here in Ky. The grass is springing from the ground and is lush and green. The little birdies are working hard building their nest. The tansy and lilies are stretching their necks toward the sun after a long rest. Spring is by far my favorite season. How can one go outside in the spring and not be instantly uplifted and happy?

Things are busy here, my mom and dad's living room ceiling fell through after all the rain and high winds we have had. My sister and I have been helping with the cleanup. I have been working on new creations for spring as well as some old favorites. I will be listing one Ebay for the next several days. I will be offering some new designs as well as patterns and maybe some fabric. If you would like to see what I have to offer the link to my Ebay items is at the bottom of this page. Wishing you all a wonderful evening!

Jill

New Offerings for March & a Great Find

Bunny Made by a Sweet Pea's Primitives Pattern
New Original Design Carrots w/ Sweet Annie Tops

Little Black Hutch

Thank you all so much again for your wonderful comments left on my previous post about the pattern. I received several emails from fellow artist who went through the same ordeal with the same designer, I am glad to know that I am not alone in this....................Onto a happier topic! I will be offering the above gathering on ebay. I made the rabbit using a wonderful Sweet Pea's Primitives Pattern. The carrots are a original design and have been needle sculpted with sweet annie tops. I will also be offering the carrots in sets of three along with the rabbit on my website. I found this wonderful little hutch at a antique shop. Not sure where it will go in the new house, so I am temporarily storing it in the workshop. I think it will wonderful in the new house! Hope you all are having a great day. It's raining here in Kentucky :)

Blessings,

Jill

Update on Pattern Mess

Many of you suggested that I contact Netty herself, I hadn't gotten around to it but she emailed me today. Below is a copy of the email I received from her today and my reply to it. She felt I did not tell the whole truth in the matter. I disagree. She says as many items can be made as you'd like from her patterns, however that is not what the gentleman stated that contacted me. As for the santa pattern she is referring to, a couple santa face images are included. How could one make mutiple santas with only a couple faces? At any rate this is not a matter of whom is right and whom is wrong. Like I said before it would have been a common courtesy from artist to artist if she'd simply spoken to me on this matter. Here are the emails and you may decide for yourselves.
Blessings,
Jill

jill, for a girl of faith, one of Gods commandments is that one should not take thy neighbors goods. I never said that all anyone can make is one doll, thousands of them have been made and sold, all i ever said is that people do not sell my patterns on ebay and do not copy the photos of the paper faces from the kits and resell them. you forgot to mention that you were making the santa faces from the originals,if i had emailed everybody and aked them if they were doing this , do you think that they would tell me? look at google and you will see how many people use my name, and i don't get paid for it,regards netty


I certainly understand NOW that the Santa faces were not to be copied........even though I mentioned your name when I copied them. I know for a fact several of my customers ordered your Santa pattern after seeing how I made them into ornaments. Nevertheless I would have certainly appreciated to have received an email from you personally asking me to remove the infringing items. Like I said I had no idea this was not allowed. I did not appreciate being "tricked". A simple please remove the infringing items would have done the trick. I do consider myself "a person of the faith" and would never knowingly take someone's goods. But the bible also says if you have alt against your brother to talk it over with them first. In conclusion, I sincerely do apologize if I violated your copyright, you will be happy to know I will no longer be making or buying your patterns. And the man whom emailed did state the patterns were sold with the intention that one was only going to be made. In the future you may want to consider speaking with folks in person rather than going through another party. Here is his exact quote from the email "Her patterns are designed for use by a doll maker. One time. "

Thank you for your time and I will be posting a copy of your email on my blog for my readers to decide for themselves.
Blessings,
Jill

It's One of Those Days

My sister's cow Chance!

It's sure a lovely day here in Kentucky! However seems I just feel all "blah" today. Or maybe I just have the "lazies" as I call it. The grass is popping up at the new house, which is a good sign. The dirt is very poor so I was afraid that it would not sprout. We are still patiently awaiting the electric company's arrival. I am so anxious to get the electric on, hardly anything can be done until then. From the kitchen there is hamburger steak and gravy with mashed potatoes and buttermilk biscuits. Hope you are all being more productive than I today.

Blessings,

Jill

Thanks for the Comments & a CURVES update!

Thanks so much everyone for the comments and advice. I would like to say I don't in any way hold this against N.LaCroix as a person. It's nothing personal at all. If this were the first time I would have probably contacted her. But honestly it's just not worth all the hassle. A couple years ago I had something similar happen with another one of her patterns. However I was asked to remove the item, not tricked and I do so. But this is just the last straw, fake or not making and selling her items are just not worth it to me. There are too many awesome pattern designers that don't have so many strings attached. AGAIN It's NOTHING PERSONAL AGAINST HER!
On another happier note I have been going to CURVES for a month now and today was weigh in and measure time. I had only lost one pound but I lost .75 inches from my bust, 1 inch from my hips, 2 inches from my thighs and 1 inch from my arms. For a total of 4.75 inches and my body fat went down 2.75 percent. Pretty cool when I haven't changed my diet really at all. Actually I have been very bad on my eating. Wow, if I actually watched what I ate I may could lose some serious weight.
Blessings to you all,
Jill

BEWARE if You Purchase THESE PATTERNS!

I debated about whether or not to post this but I decided everyone should know and I wanted to warn you guys before you purchase a N.LaCroix pattern. For starters I have purchased her patterns for years and I made the items and sold them on my website for profit. Did you know her patterns are supposedly copyrighted to only produce one item?? WHO BUYS A PATTERN TO ONLY MAKE ONE TIME?? Well, I didn't know that either and her patterns do not say so. I was under the impression as long as I gave her credit and didn't mass produce it was fine. Apparently I was wrong. Here is a copy of the email I received and a copy of my response. I will explain afterwards............
Hello,My name is David Cole and I manage an extensive inventory of Netty Lacroix products. I have recently found your website and decided to enquire regarding your production capabilities. I am particularly interested in the SANTA ORNIES and wanted to know if they are available in quantity.Thank you very much.


Hi, Thank you for your interest. I don't have any in stock at this time. However anything small such as ornaments I can produce rather quickly. Items such as my dolls with clothing take a little longer. I have attached a link to my wholesale site. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Blessings,
Jill

As you can see I received an email which I thought was someone interested in purchasing my items wholesale. Boy was I wrong! Here is his response........

Hello,This is formal legal notice to cease using Netty Lacroix's name and/or any derivations of her name.I see that you have several products associated with her name. It is also apparent that you are infringing on her copyright by making multiple copies of her images. Cease copying, advertizing and selling the N.Lacroix santa images. Remove her name from the website until you can compensate her for the use. Her patterns are designed for use by a doll maker. One time. What is happening is they are being duplicated, electronically, so that others make an unintended profit. Thank you for your cooperation.David Cole

If I was violating any copyright I totally did not do it intentionally. Why not just email me and ASK me to remove the infringing merchandise?? Instead I was tricked into thinking this person was interested in ordering. At any rate I removed ALL merchandise from both of my websites that are in any ways associated with the N.LaCroix name. And any one interested in buying my patterns I would be happy to sell them, just leave me a comment if you are interested. In conclusion, I have had no contact with N.LaCroix herself this all happened through the person apparently working for her.
Blessings,
Jill

Where did the warm weather go?

New Green Tomato Jam Can
Mom's Dried Parsnips

Fabric Covered Journals

Unfortunately the warm weather left and we got about 5 inches of snow Thursday night. It melted very fast however and I was able to go to Curves. After Curves my sister and I went to the movies to watch The Last House on the Left. Boy did it ever keep you on the edge of your seat! Today it's raining cats and dogs. I have been out in the workshop organizing and working on a few things. My mom made these awesome dried parsnips, I added the green tops and the tag. I will be offering them on Simply Primitives. I also made these fabric covered journals for a wholesale order. Lastly I made this new can. I just loved the size of the can and thought the shape suited the label well! From the kitchen there is Paula Deen's goulash and Pioneer Woman's awesome cheese bread. What a yummy fare for this rainy day.

For a house update, the inspection went well. We were approved and the electricity will be turned on hopefully this coming week :) Thanks so much to EVERYONE whom commented on my house...........I sure do appreciate the support!

Blessings to you all,

Jill

New Bottle Dolls

Things are moving along smoothly on wiring the house. We are hoping that we will be able to call Thursday for an inspection! I have to get my butt to Curves tomorrow because I haven't been any this week. I have been so busy running back and forth and today I had a hair app. I managed to actually craft something new the other night, I made two bottle dolls. These were fun to make and pretty easy. I will be offering them on Simply Primitives and I will be offering them wholesale as well. Hope you all had a wonderful day.

Long Over Due House Update

With the warm weather and abundant sunshine Dad and I have been back to work on the house. We worked Friday and Saturday on getting it wired and ready to be inspected for the electricity to be turned on. This is the front of my house which will eventually have a porch across the entire length of the front and the door will be red to match the roof. Today after church I sowed some grass seed, however it was so windy I think most of it blew away! Tomorrow we will be working again on the wiring. I am so excited to get the electric on! Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday.

Blessings,

Jill

Old Fashioned Chocolate Pies

Today was a glorious day! Temps were in the upper 60's and it felt so good for the warm sun to wash over my skin. I spent the day running errands when I had rather been scrathing around in the dirt or spring cleaning. But these ordinary dull things must be done as we all know. This evening I made one of my favorite pies. This recipe is one of those that I don't know where it came from orginally. Before I left my parent's home I copied down several of my mom's recipes and this is one of them. This pie is simple and delicious. Here is the link to the pie crust recipe I love http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/

Old Fashioned Chocolate Pies

4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)

4 cups whole milk

2 cups sugar

4 T. cocoa

9 T. Flour

2 t. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients, beat yolks with milk. Combine dry ingredients with wet in a heavy cooker. Cook over med. high heat until thick, and until it coats the back of the spoon. Turn heat off and add vanilla. Pour into two baked crust. Add meringue and bake at 350 until golden.

Can you believe it's March already?

Is it just me or is this year flying by? What happened to January and February? March came to Kentucky here today bringing a little ice and snow. I am so ready for spring and it seems this winter has been the longest ever. I guess because I am so excited about getting the electric on at the house and finishing the inside. I have purchased several lights for the inside and I am so ready to start decorating. What a blessing it would be to be able to move in this summer and spend the winter in my cozy little home on the hill. Lol, a girl can dream right?
Curves went great last week. I am slightly sore because I was in a hurry Friday and didn't stretch afterwards. I am feeling it now. So far I really like it. Hope you all had a wonderful week!
Blessings,
Jill