Quarantined

Like everyone else, hubs and I are quarantined with our Stay at Home order.  It has not been as difficult for us as it has for others.  Since we neither one have full time jobs, we haven't seen that much difference.  We have stayed at home, pretty much as usual.  I feel so bad for the ones impacted by the illness and the loss of income that has gone along with it.

Living in the midwest has given me Spring for the first time in over 40 years.  We lived in Phoenix for nearly 20 years and the Colorado mountains for over 25 years and really don't have four seasons at either location.  So since I am taking a short break from shows and crafting, (spring shows are all cancelled) I thought I wouldn't put off blogging anymore and show you some of the fun we have been having.

We purchased 6 chicks to go with the three that we moved from Colorado.  Hubs made the new chick palace.  It was too big for us to pick up so he moved it to its new home with a trailer.

 We moved here too late to see all of the trees and flowers in bloom last year.  We are hoping we get some cherries off this cherry tree before all of the birds this year.

 We planted a huge garden.  So far we have planted cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, beets, peas, corn, squash, onions, asparagus, strawberries, and raspberry.  My sister in law sent me 30 blackberry plants so we got them in the ground as well.  Hoping to get some tomato and pepper seedlings next week.  This is the gate going into the garden.  We have to keep it fenced to keep out the deer.  The gate actually cost $0!  The metal was found here on the property.  My husband cleaned all the rust off of it and painted it after welding it together.  The wooden trim is from an old cable reel.  We added chicken wire to it on the back side.  All of the posts on the fence other than the gate posts, hubs cut from the property.

 Daffodils

We also have tulips blooming, red bud trees and so much more!  I just love Spring, don't you?

Springtime yet?

I know that it is only January, but once the tree comes down, my heart and mind are already thinking Spring.  And here in Missouri, we have seen quite a bit of Spring-like weather.  I am working on stocking my Etsy shop with Spring decor, so check it out!

One of my tried and true items that are always a big seller for me are my garlands.  They are lighted and can be made for whatever decor and season you would like.  You can make them yourself easily or can surely purchase one of mine.  So here is what you need       

1. A string of lights
2. Fabric scraps

Thats it!  Easy Peasy!

So here is what I do.  I save my scraps of fabrics after projects.  You know how I have throwing away things....(please don't judge me!)  I cut the scraps into approximately 1" x 7" strips and I stick them in baggies.  I group reds, whites, blues, etc, together.  When I have enough full bags of three or more colors, I grab me a strand of lights and tie them on.  This is a great thing to do when you are sitting around watching television.  I always tell people it keeps my hands out of the Cheeto bag. 

The lights I use, I buy up during the holidays and store.  Dollar Tree carries strands of 20 and so do other retailers like Walmart and Target.  If you are lucky to find them during a half price sale, it's even better.  This particular light set, fits great across my guest room window and goes well with the pastel colors in the room.

 Hanging them on the fireplace is great too.

This is such a fun project.  Here are a few tips if you want to try it yourself:

• Choose fabrics that are different textures.  Combine cottons and rayons or even throw in some wired ribbon or burlap.
• You only need to tie once.  A double know takes up way too much space on the wire.
• Unless you have unlimited fabric, tie blue at each section, then tie white at each section, then yellow and so on.  That way you don't use all of your same colors up on half of it.  
• You can tear the fabric into strips or cut it.  I vote for cutting.  There is always some ravelling anyway and it becomes really stringy if all is torn.  
• Change it up a bit.  Like on this one, I used pastels, whites, blues, pinks, yellows, and lavender.  Then, gotcha, I threw in just a bit of hot pink.  Sassy!
• Oh, yeah.  Plug them in before you spend all that time tying on the fabric.

Well my friends, on to other things this morning.  This garland will be posted in my Etsy shop today and there is a listing for special order garlands as well.  I also have a few other items posted:

Thanks for stopping by!