Exciting News!!!

I am so pleased to announce that I have been invited to join TDIPT Mercantile! TDIPT is a website of folk artists "who long To Dwell In Primitive Thymes". It is such an honor to be included with so many talented folk artists!

If you are not familiar with this website, please take a look at:

http://tdiptmercantile.com/

There are two groups of folk artists - Half update their offerings on the 1st of each month and the other half updates their offerings on the 15th of the month.

I have just finished posting my offerings and they are available to see now. To celebrate my debut, I am offering free shipping within the U.S. I will be posting my offerings on the first of every month. Please take a look at the wonderful offerings by all the talented folk artists.

I must admit that I am a frequent customer as well :-).

"For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory."

-Romans 11:36

Blessings, Patti

~*Final strawberry inspirations*~

Well, I think that strawberry season is winding down... It was our best year yet. We picked 7 large colanders of berries. We enjoyed the majority of them, but did freeze several quarts to enjoy this winter. There are a few left to snack on while out working in the garden, but that is about it.

I completed one last strawberry project before moving on:

This is "Sweet Delight" by Diane Kramer for Need'l Love.

The good news is that raspberry season is on its way...

I wonder what they might inspire?

I'm off to bake bug cookies for the Garden Walk on Sunday. (Well, decorated sugar cookies in the shape of butterflies & bumblebees.) Pictures will be up next week.

"Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp,
but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Blessings, Patti

Summer Solstice

Enjoy the Summer Solstice!

Life is blooming!

All around us!

Take time to smell the flowers!
"live in each season as it passes,

breathe the air, drink the drink,

taste the fruit..."

-H.D. Thoreau

"God blesses everyday,

It's up to us to notice."

- Anonymous

Blessings to you all summer long, Patti

Lesson Learned

I work in the historic Wrigley Building in Chicago on North Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River. Each day I take the train downtown. I usually spend my 20 - 30 minute train ride creating on the train. A woman on the train once commented to me that she always wonders what I will pull from my briefcase to work on today...

After my train ride, I take the water taxi to my office in the summer and the bus in the winter. Eventhough this is just a short 10 minute ride, I usually pull out my crafts to work on during this leg of the trip as well.

This past week, I was working on one of my velvet strawberries on the train. All I had left to do was add the glass beads for the seeds. You know how it is, when you are that close to finishing a project, you just have to finish it. I've been working with small glass beads for years. I know how to balance the container on my knee, with children bopping me around, and slowly and carefully pick up one bead at a time. No problem. So I started adding the beads. About half were on when the train hit a glitch in the track - there went the container and all the beads! I yelped loudly and all the people in the train car turned to look. I didn't have time to care, I had to find as many beads as possible! Well, o.k., I hoped to find any beads! I just needed to find enough to finish my strawberry! I don't know which was more amusing to the other commuters - me yelping - or me trying to crawl around and locate teeny tiny beads! Luckily I found just enough to finish my berry. Then I stopped searching. I don't think I'll use beads again on my commute.

I think I've learned my lesson. On the way home that day I started wondering... maybe its not such a good idea to work on the train/boat/bus with a mouth full of applique pins either...

Did you know that Chicago with its 37 moving bridges has more moving bridges that any other city in the world?

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." -Ecclesiastes 9:10

Blessing to you, Patti

More strawberry inspirations

The strawberry batch continues to inspire me. I just completed "Strawberries & Bunny Pinkeep", a pattern by primitivebettys. If you are not familiar with the talented Betty Dekat, you are in for a treat. Betty works in a variety of mediums including cross stitch, needlepunch, and rughooking. Betty has a very sweet blog at http://primitivebettys.blogspot.com/

We are all blessed this year as Betty is sharing free doodles/patterns on her blog. These doodles are perfect for needle punch, rug hooking and wool applique. I've already completed one of her doodles as a penny mat and am itching to do more.

I've been fortunate to purchase several of Betty's originals including a needle roll that matches my new pinkeep.

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

Matthew 6:21

Blessings to you, Patti

Home grown

We live on a city-size lot in a town that borders Chicago. When the boys were little, I really wanted them to see where fruits and vegetables came from, so I started a little garden. I had never gardened before and really didn't know where to start. We began and with a little trial and error managed to grow a few things. Over the years we've experimented and enjoyed gardening as a family. We've grown all the typical garden fare and have enjoyed our fresh produce and herbs. Some of our favorites have been indian corn and pumpkins. The boys really enjoyed sharing the harvest with their teachers and classmates in the autumn. Although one teacher really didn't believe that we had grown the corn in our backyard :-)!

My personal favorite is the strawberry patch. It's about the size of a twin bed but can yield several large mixing bowls of berries a year. The best part is that I just let it go and it takes care of itself - all it needs is an occassional weeding.

This is a good year for strawberries. The plants are just loaded with them. It's a good thing as I think the boys can easily go through a pound or so a day :)

This weekend we picked our first batch and enjoyed strawberry banana smoothies for a Sunday night desert.

I've enjoyed the strawberry patch so much that it inspired this:

Wishing you an inspiring week filled with sunshine and strawberries! Patti

Hello and welcome!

I have spent many hours over the past year enjoying many beautiful blogs. Some I find the urge to check almost daily. And others lead me on meandering paths to blogs that I never would have found. I've met people that I feel I know who live half way around the world. Now, after repeated encouragement from several friends, I have decided to come out of hiding and join the blog community.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Phillipians 4:13

Most people who know me also know that I am technologically challenged. The fact that this blog is now floating through cyberspace is proof that one can do anything with God's help :).

Come visit again soon, my friend! Blessings, Patti