October 2010 Archives

Many businesses on Facebook promote their sites with free giveaways.

I've never won anything before so the giveaways were not a draw until I received an email from Jodi at tubbytabby.etsy.com.

Her email said I was the winner of tubbytabby.etsy.com's Facebook profile reaching 100 friends and she was sending me a gift she hoped I would enjoy.

Several days later, this lovely pearl necklace showed up in my mailbox in a charming orange peachy box with a blue ribbon and the cutest cat card.

Now several weeks later, I find myself wearing that little pearl necklace with my favorite pearl earrings almost every day.

It's the perfect length to peek through v-neck sweaters and so light...I don't like having something weighing me down and this necklace is light as a feather.

Thank you, Jodi for such a lovely, unexpected surprise!

I can attest, this handmade pearl necklace from tubbytabby.etsy.com would make a lovely gift for anyone on your gift list!



Charlotte

I get very excited when I get an order like this of my favorite Howard Furniture Refinishing products.

Because of the products ordered, I know this customer is about to refinish a piece of furniture without striping, which is a wonderful way to preserve the look of aged wood while re-hydrating wood cells and easily bringing wood back to life.

There are a number of products on the market but this is still my favorite.  My family and I have used Howard Furniture Refinishing products for years, and continue do so - we know how well they work!

If you have easy access to an antique mall, there's usually a dealer or two there carrying the signature yellow cans and other related products.

Can't wait to see the pictures of what happens when this piece of furniture goes from now to wow.




Charlotte

When I design a custom quilt, I always try to suggest we do something different with the back of the quilt.

Not that a plain white fabric won't work; white fabric is the traditional quilt backing.

However, putting something interesting on the back of the quilt makes it a bit extra practical by making the quilt reversible, giving you two home decor looks in one.

How many times do you change out a bed covering or quilt because of a change in the season or because you want to quickly change the look f a room?

Precisely, so do I.

With today's lightweight quilts, the weight is no longer an issue so it gets down to quilt design.

In this example, we're making a custom crazy quilt out of t-shirts for one side, and putting Dorothy and her friends from Wizard of Oz on the other side. I made a matching pillow case out of a left over Wizard of Oz fabric panel so when she reverses the quilt, she'll have a pillow case to match.

Now when my brothers and I were growing up, there was a time or two when we would sneak under a quilt with a flashlight to read into the wee hours of the night.

Not that I'm suggesting anyone should be doing that, but - wouldn't it be more fun to be literally under the covers with something keeping you company besides white cotton?



Charlotte

I was traveling through St. Clair, Missouri late October 2010 and came across this decorated deck full of the biggest spiders I've ever seen!

A few black bats hung under the eave; several black crows were higher up on the roof. One is perched on the edge of the deck railing.

I thought about a friend who is deathly afraid of spiders.

Of course if this was my deck, I would be thrilled!

Charlotte

It wasn't until a relative called me after last Christmas to ask how I had made her personalized cards that I realized this was something special.

For gifts we ship to a different destination, we include a personalized card featuring the personalized quilt, which we make by sizing the photo to 3x5 and printing onto half a page of a heavy card stock.

I add the photographer's name and date along the left side of the photo, and a dedication at the bottom right in larger letters.

My relative last year had shared a number of favorite photos over the year, so I made a set of cards for her from those photos.

Even though she had a number of card making software options, she said my cards were her favorites.

Besides her delight with the gift, I now get those cards back when she drops me a line!

Charlotte

Bluebird Gardens: custom quilts, gifts, gardening
Bluebird Gardens Quilts and Gifts Blog
Bluebird Gardens Quilts and Gifts on Facebook
Bluebird Gardens Etsy Shop
Bluebird Gardens Twitter
Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

Bluebird Gardens: custom quilts, gifts, gardening
Bluebird Gardens Quilts and Gifts Blog
Bluebird Gardens Quilts and Gifts on Facebook
Bluebird Gardens Etsy Shop
Bluebird Gardens Chirps!
Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

Charlotte

One of the sure signs of fall in Missouri is the slew of fall arts and crafts festivals.

Rolla had their annual Fall Arts and Crafts Festival October 2, 2010 in conjunction with Missouri S&T's Homecoming.

I was delighted to find Bee Mentor Don Moore at the festival with a table full of local jams and honey for sale.

One of the interesting things about hanging around an established beekeeper is past customers who come by, sharing their favorite ways to eat or use honey.

One lady with a lovely British accent said Don's honey is the best.

She brought Don old empty honey jars, noting that one of the jars was from Missouri Farmer's Association.

 "I ran out of honey before the beginning of the season," she apologized.

Another lady said she found the perfect biscuit recipe to use with Don's homegrown honey.

I missed the actual recipe ingredients but I did catch it included snow outside, a fire in a wood fireplace and having family around.

Missouri's honey season is relatively short.

Usually from May to July,  more experienced beekeepers like Don know how to remove early honey and give honey bees enough time to make more honey for their winter supplies.

One beehive needs about 70 lbs of honey to make it through winter.


My beehives are doing well but since this is their first year, I won't be harvesting any honey until next year.

Getting home grown honey, jams and other homemade goodies at arts and crafts festivals are wonderful gifts for a number of occasions, including Thanksgiving and Christmas gifts.

Add your favorite biscuit recipe with dry ingredients for the perfect personalized gift - especially if it's snowing, there's a fire burning and friends are around!

Years ago, I sent a friend overseas a box of homemade jams, jellies, honey and homemade cookies. He wrote back just looking at the jars made him feel like he was back home.

A number of family members and friends have hinted about getting honey from my hives.

This year, they'll have to settle for lovely jars of honey from Don Moore's hives. I selected jars with the comb inside - there's something special about seeing honey gold and realizing it was made by thousands of tiny bees working inside those tiny comb cells.

Charlotte