Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I’m as corny as…

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We’re having a lovely Saturday weather-wise. After yesterday’s storms, we woke up to a rare August day of sun and low humidity. The dogs got their walk, some mowing was done, I worked at the store, my husband got to play some guitar on the porch – and we going to have another meal of fresh sweet corn-on-the-cob. Nothing is better than fresh corn in August! (You have to understand that I’m a girl who cut out a photo of corn-on-the-cob slathered in butter, along with another photo of a baked potato with butter and put them on the bulletin board in my freshman dorm room. Now this was many, many years ago; dorm food was pretty terrible – basically starch and badly cooked starch at that. A girl like me pined for good home-cooked food!) Anyway, I digress…dinner and the Olympics are on the docket for tonight. I plan to crochet away on my project and enjoy the competition.

I hope you all saw the opening ceremonies – they were simply the best I have ever seen. Spectacular! Impeccable and brilliantly conceived and executed. All I can say, even now, is Wow!

More later.

Reading and Quilts

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Just getting over my second cold of the summer. My husband got it first, then I did. Thank goodness this one was much shorter in duration than the last! So I’ve been taking it easy. Today is the first day I’ve been perky enough to do some chores around the house, other than the daily swiffering and vacuuming. While I was down and out I read Fractured by Karen Slaughter. It was so engrossing that I polished it off in a little over a day. If you love mysteries, especially gritty ones, you will love her books. She’s written several. The first time I read one of her mysteries, I was on a plane to Florida. When I got there I had finished it and couldn’t wait to get all of her books so that I could read every one of them – in order. Every time my sister and I were out I had to stop at a bookstore and look for more of her books. Don’t you just love it when you discover an author and can’t wait to get your hands on all his/her books? I was that way with Anne Perry, also. My mom had read her Victorian mysteries and recommended them to me, but for some reason I had resisted them. When I finally came to my senses and read one, I was hooked. “Catching up” on all Anne Perry’s books involves a ton of reading as she is very prolific. But it sure is a pleasure. I’ve now started The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen – another mystery involving a female police detective, apparently the second in a series. I haven’t read the first, so we’ll see if I have that “I’m hooked” feeling at the end of the book!

The photo above was taken in the upstairs hallway of our cottage. The large quilt hangs on the wall right above the landing – you can see it from the living room. At certain times during the day, the sunlight from our upstairs skylight hits the quilt and it is beautifully illuminated. I made it from a pattern by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. Its a pansy quilt. (By the way, I believe it is hanging upside down, but by the time my husband and I were finished wrestling with it I was in no mood to do any re-hanging. I rather like it this way.)

The other quilt is made out of 30’s reproduction fabrics and is a basic nine-patch. It was one of the first quilts I ever made. One of the first things I did when we closed on this cottage was drape it over the railing and there it has stayed.

Another view of the Pansy Quilt.

More later.

New Toy

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Thanks to a blog entry by the Gahan Girls I have discovered Picnik.com. This is a free site that lets you edit and play with your photos. If you are like me and don’t have Photoshop, and have an earlier version of iPhoto, this site gives you a lot more options as to the look of your photo. You can add text, you can change shapes, add frames – a whole lot of wonderful options. I’ve just begun playing, but here are three of my ‘altered’ photos. The one above is a section of my design board, the polaroid option and some text.


This is a shot I took in Woodstock. The building was charming and I loved the colors. With the help of Picnik, I cropped it, softened the edges and added text.

Of course, I had to play with a picture of the doggies…in this one, my husband and I were trying to recreate the image on a card we bought. This particular card had two dogs (looking almost exactly like ours) waiting at the door – It was entitled “Waiting for Postie”. Using treats, we tried to bribe the dogs into the right position. It didn’t work. So I have retitled this photo “Waiting for a treat.” Truth in advertising.

You might want to investigate this site. Its a lot of fun!

Have a great Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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