Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Pretty Basket & Square #11

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I was out looking for one of those old wicker sewing baskets the other day. The tin I was using to store everything to do with embroidery wasn’t really working for me. For a few dollars, I found this:


A little bigger than I wanted, but okay – not thrilled about the colors, though. Then I remembered that Tiffany of Shabby Scraps had done a post about prettying up old sewing baskets. Using only what I had on hand, I set to work and ended up with this:


I grabbed trims, ribbons, lace, millinery flowers and just glued them onto the basket. For some reason the measuring tape looks crooked in this photo – it really isn’t.


The lace and white flower came from my swap with Meri, everything else is from my meager stash. At least I got rid of the dark brown color of some of the weaving. It certainly looks cheerier. Maybe it will accompany me to San Diego? Sure would look cute in that apartment – and you remember – that place desperately needs all the prettifying it can get.

I worked outside cleaning out the garden beds today, then I came in and worked on the basket – so I stitched a very simple square – #11:


Oh gosh, now that I look closely I see another dog hair – this time courtesy of Riley! Think of it as part of my artistic vision.

Have a great day.

My Blog Re-Design & Square #10

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Hello, everyone! Welcome to my newly designed blog!

A while back, I started enlarging my photos. I sought the advice of a few people, among them Cindy of My Romantic Home. Because of the limitations of the Blogger template I was using, I could only enlarge photos vertically (portrait.) That was fine for a while but sometimes I wanted to shoot horizontally (landscape) and in the course of cropping and trying to adjust the size for the template I would lose part of the photo. Frustrated by the same thing, Cindy recently redesigned her blog so that the width of the posting area is greater, allowing space for either size photo. She inspired me.

I loved the look of my blog. That was what held me back. (Change is hard sometimes, isn’t it?) But to be perfectly honest, though I loved the free background, I didn’t like running into it elsewhere in blogland. I wanted my-very-own-mine-only look. I also loved the sidebar labels, signature and blog button Mandy created for me. I wanted to keep them. I finally bit the bullet and asked Amber of Sprinkles on Top if she could design a new template, background and banner. She did. I am over-the-moon about this new look! Amber captured exactly what I was looking for. She is so good at what she does and is a joy to work with.

If you’re thinking of a re-design, visit Amber’s website. She is reasonably priced and has several different packages available. Amber has designed Cindy’s blog, Elyse’s blog and many, many others. Thank you, thank you, Amber!

Square #10:

(a landscape size photo)

Pardon any white dog hairs you might see. They are part of living with a white dog that has hair as silky and fine as a cat’s. I must admit that I was stumped for a while yesterday. It took a while for a bit of ‘square inspiration’ to hit me on the head. And I have 29 to go.

Have a great day.

Thoughts on Sleep, a Book, Square #9

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I found this little treasure the other day just sitting in a corner in one of our local antique shops. It’s in perfect condition for a book published in 1901. I love old books – such care was taken with the illustrations and design. “Lyrics of Love of Hearth & Home and Field and Garden” – sounds tailor-made for a nester like myself.


Sigh.

Square #9:


A picket fence covered with climbing roses. The outline is a bit wonky because I was racing to finish before Antiques Roadshow started. However, it never started because PBS had some other show on in its place. Bad PBS. We like our Monday night schedule of the Roadshow and 24. As it was, we sat on the sofa listening to a documentary about the Warner brothers (of movie studio fame) and fell asleep. At 9:05, I woke in a panic – “24!!! – Turn the channel!!” We made it in time.

This is when I fear we are getting old. Every evening lately we both doze off for a bit while watching the tube. Am I becoming my grandmother? How come I can sleep so easily in front of the television and then lie awake when it is time to actually sleep in my bed?

The weather has been so lovely the last few days – temperatures in the high 40’s and low 50’s and sun. Glorious sun. Everyone is infected with spring fever. I have to do some text work on Taming of the Shrewtoday. For those of you who asked, work on the dollhouse has been put on hold as I prepare for my work in San Diego which starts mid-April. I also have to ready the garden and do all sorts of things around the house as I will be leaving it in my husband’s care for 10 weeks. I love him, you understand, but he’s not me. I will have to leave detailed instructions for him. He will do his best. The rest is out of my control. Gulp.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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