Two Months and Counting!

Life has been different lately.  Not better.  Not worse.  Just different.  Wedding plans are coming along.  Throw in some major yard work, indoor home projects, a three-day yard sale and the usual grind of daily life, and you've got lots of busy days, plenty of aching muscles and tons of stress.

 

So as of yesterday, we have exactly two months until the big day.  My table is covered with wedding invitations.  My living room is filled with wedding accessories.  My daughter is having her wedding at a farm-like venue along the Snohomish River.  A beautiful setting for her rustic wedding.  Tomorrow we're meeting with our caterer up at the venue.  My friend will be joining us and we have a list of things to measure, look at, and to figure out.  We still have so many little projects to do and a couple of BIG projects still.  I wish I could say I'm enjoying all this, but I honestly will be glad when it's all over.  And I'm so thankful I only have ONE daughter!  LOL!  But I am looking forward to the actual day and SO looking forward to family who will be coming out to visit.  Most will be staying a while and I can't wait to spend time with them AFTER the wedding!  It will be a much needed vacation for me to go out and enjoy the sites with them while they're here.

A couple of years ago I swore I would never do another yard sale.  The work that goes into them and the total exhaustion I feel afterward is just not worth it to me anymore.  But a few months ago my daughter approached me about having a yard sale before the wedding.  I knew she had a lot of things to get rid of, as did her fiance; and I ALWAYS have stuff to get rid of.  And I knew they could use the extra cash as they begin their life together.  So I told her if she wanted to do the bulk of the work, I would have one more yard sale and let her have all the money I made from it, as well.  So, when the banner went up advertising our annual neighborhood yard sale for last weekend, I knew that would be the perfect weekend.  The neighborhood's sale was Saturday and Sunday, but we decided to include Friday.  I'm so glad we did, because it turned out to be the most beautiful day of the three, and we had a ton of people to show up.  So, THAT'S behind us and they did very well!  And I have a garage once again!  Now she's wanting ONE LAST sale this summer...after the wedding.  We'll see....!

After years of neglecting my yard, I really have my work cut out for me out there.  I've been digging up overgrown ferns, pulling weeds, transplanting existing plants and trying to get rid of some wild blackberry bushes that have crept up in various places.  That has been the worse and has definitely been no easy task!  I have planters to paint, flowers to plant, beds to redo, furniture to clean....!  I don't know if you follow Pinterest (I'm an addict!), but that is one dangerous site!  I have SO MANY ideas and plans for gardening projects, most of which I've gotten off of there! And then there's the house!  Lots of cleaning, a little painting and my CRAFT ROOM!  I have my work cut out for me!

 

So needless to say, I am not doing any sewing right now.  And you know what?  I LOVE IT!  I don't miss it in the least.  And at this point, I have no plans as to when or even IF I will reopen.  I do have a few Halloween and Christmas orders still to do, but they know I won't get to them until this summer.  And after my out-of-town family leave, I'll have to stay busy.  Besides, I have so much fabric and supplies that I'll need to do something with.  But when I return, it will definitely be in a different capacity.  What, I'm not quite sure yet.  All I know now is I'm loving the freedom to work out in the yard again, and that's been my passion lately.

  

So until I get to sewing again, or whether I come back to sell off my supplies, I only have some of my past primitives to show you.  I hope you have been enjoying your spring!  Happy May to you all!  ~~Annie

HAPPY EASTER!

I love this vintage image.  This will be us here shortly.  We're off on our way up north to Sultan, WA, to enjoy Easter services with my future son-in-law and his family.  Hope you all have a most blessed Easter, enjoying it with friends and family!  

H*A*P*P*Y E*A*S*T*E*R!  

~~Annie

New Pattern and My Favorite Picks from the Last 5 Years!

I love creating for the Easter season, although I didn't get to do as much this year as I would have liked.  As I was going through and cleaning out some of my photo files, I came across so many of my past creations I'd forgotten about.   And then when I saw this photo, it reminded me that I had started the pattern for it several months ago, but had never finished it.  So I went to work on it immediately and finally got it finished up yesterday!  It's now listed in all my shops.  This is one of my favorite pieces I've ever made.  And since I was cleaning out my different photo files, I thought I would go through each holiday/season and pick out my favorite from each.  Believe me, it was not an easy task.  I actually have MANY favorites from each holiday.  But I narrowed it down to just one.  It was fun looking at five years of gatherings, make-dos, sitters, hangings, candle mats, and pin keeps!  I decided not to include my tucks and ornies...just TOO many of those.  I'll save those for another post!  Anyway, I'd like to share a few of my favorites with you...

VALENTINE

This was such a sweet bag gathering.  I love the burgundy/red and pink hearts with this pretty quilt bag.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

This was one photo file that was quite easy to go through.  I've never made a lot for St. Patrick's Day.  Not one of my favorite holidays to create for, but I DO love this large Leprechaun hat table sitter.

EASTER

Honestly, I have SO many favorites for Easter.  So in addition to the one up top, I'm adding this one, as well.  

SPRING

 This was one of my very first primitive gatherings.  Made this in spring of 2008.  Seems like such a long time ago!  It was definitely tons of STUFFING ago!

AMERICANA/PATRIOTIC

I've made many large Uncle Sam hat table sitters that I love, but since I've already listed the large Leprechaun hat, I decided to go with this large pinwheel piece.

CANDLE MATS

 Oh my goodness!  I have sold 63 of these things!  So picking out ONE favorite was hard!  I really like this one and it's intricate design!

PIN KEEPS

 I love making these 3-tiered pin keeps.  It's fun coordinating the three different fabrics to use.  This is one of my favorite!

And my favorite of all the OOAK pin keeps I've made!

SUMMER

Talk about a hard decision!  This section included ALL the watermelon pieces I've made.  Those are some of my favorite pieces to make.  I love the hanging watermelon birdhouse with the sweetest little blue bird perched on it..."No Crows Allowed".  And although I've made several of these sunflower pieces, in all shapes and sizes, I had to go with this one.  I really liked the container this one was in.  These sunflowers have always been a good seller for me.  Not necessarily a good thing, since they are one of the most time consuming tucks to make!  But after they've been sewn, it is so much fun to turn them and watch them "bloom!"

HALLOWEEN

 Okay...I had to go with TWO for this holiday.  After all, it IS the most popular, best selling holiday of all!  Yes...even more so than Christmas!  I LOVED this piece above.  It was a lot of work, and the flat enamel pan was the perfect piece for this!  In the end, I really hated to see this one go!

This dates back to one of my first Halloween pieces.  I made it using a cream quilt and color washed it black.  The quilt piece had such wonderful stitching that give this piece so much character.  It was such a fun piece to make.  I've made other variations of this large cauldron hanging, but this one is my favorite!

FALL

Okay...so I lied.  This was an impossible decision.  I couldn't pick just one here, either.  Heck...I couldn't pick just two!  Fall is my favorite to make, and along with Halloween my busiest time of the year.  I usually have several sleepless nights during the month of September making fall and Halloween prims!  And that's just my tucks and ornies.  So I have to get all my OOAK pieces made up in August or I would never be able to get any made!  I have so many gatherings and hangings I've made using my leaves, so I definitely had to include one here.  The one above is by far one of my favorite.

And then there are my scarecrows!  I'm a scarecrow collector...my favorite item to decorate with in the fall.  It's amazing that I can even part with these after I make them.  I'm still kicking myself for selling the one above!  Maybe one day I'll make another...for ME!

And this fellow was a gift for one of my very special customers!  She loves scarecrows as much as I do!  I love this guy!

THANKSGIVING

To be honest with you, this is the only "Thanksgiving" gathering I have ever made.  I've made tons of "fall" pieces with the leaves and acorns and squirrels and pumpkins and scarecrows.  But this is the only true Thanksgiving piece.  Again, I'm not including tucks and ornies here.  I do love this piece, though!

CHRISTMAS

Okay...I pretty much gave up!  I have so many favorite Christmas pieces!  But in the end I decided to go with another oldie.  This was the very first make-do I ever made.  This piece brings back many memories for me.  I remember when and where I bought the hog scraper base...not having any idea what it was at the time.  And I only paid $2 for it!!!  I remember those early days when I was just getting started with my online business...I was also just getting started with my blog.  EBay was my only selling venue at the time, and it was mostly by auction.  I still remember when they added "Buy It Now".  It was a time when eBay groups were all the rage and very competitive.  I am still friends with the gal who invited me to my very first eBay group.  It was a fun and exciting time.  So much has changed since those early days.  I've since opened my Olde Annie Primitives website and have loved every minute of it!  I now sell on Etsy as well, and not as much on eBay anymore.  EBay groups are pretty much a thing of the past.  And I must say thankfully so, since so many of them consisted of nothing but drama, back stabbing and name calling!  However, the biggest and best change has been my pattern business.  If you would have told me five years ago that I'd be selling my own patterns, much less over 60 of them, I would have just laughed, rolled my eyes and said sarcastically "Yeah...sure!"  I now sell my patterns on five different sites, including my Homespun Annie Pattern Shop.

Another big change has been in the social network.  When I started blogging, Facebook wasn't even around.  Blogs were "the thing" and it was fun visiting and reading all the different blogs.  I enjoyed sharing photos, my home and yard, outings, events, thrift shop finds and all my latest creations.  Not to mention Harley's shenanigans!  But it's getting harder and harder to maintain my blog these days.  Time between posts become longer; and with each and every post, I tend to wonder whether it will be my last.  I hope not.  My blog has been a wonderful tool for me over the years.  It allowed me to pour my heart out to so many.  It introduced me to so many wonderful people.  And it provided me with a wealth of advertising and traffic to my website!  It served it's purpose and it served me well.  So many other bloggers that I knew and followed are gone now...closed up shop.  I just can't say goodbye to mine just yet.  So until next time...however long it may be...I wish you all a HAPPY SPRING!  Looks like you're still stuck with me for a while!  Thanks so much for dropping by today!  ~~Annie