Another great find.

I love finding fun and unique stores and this little shop on Market Street in Corning is just that. I found this store when I first moved up here and always make sure to take visiting folks there.
Corning Stitch Works is a collection of all the stuff that I love-vintage fabrics (mixed in with some really cool, new stuff!), vintage bric-a-brac, vintage furnishings and lamps, vintage ribbons and trim and (my favorite) vintage findings. LOTS of vintage stuff! This store is stocked from the floor to the rafters with amazing stuff. The owner (lady who is usually there) is so nice and helpful and is always working on an interesting project. I love to just poke around in there and see what I can find. I usually leave there wishing that I could sew. But using this stuff in crafting projects will have to do.
Recently I was on the hunt for some cool Halloween stuff to put in a goody bag for my Swarm Sisters in Florida, so that was my first stop! I had to take some photos to share. This last photo is my favorite! This is a skirt made from a pattern called "The Study Hall Skirt" (the one on top in the fall colors). The lady there said she made it using 1970's curtain panels and some vintage brown material as trim and inserts. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this skirt!

PS to the last blog post

This post is my version of a wifely chuckle!

On Monday evening I was taking the dogs out after dark. I am not the one who normally takes them out after dark, but Charles was busy, so what the hey. I turned on the front and back porch lights because if I'm going out in the dark the more lights I can turn on the merrier! So while I am out there waiting on the dogs, the lights go off! What the hey?! I rush in and have a few words with my darling husband about safety and lights and night time critters and wanting to see them just before they attack me, etc. He counters that he was just trying to save on electric. (Now is the part of the story that I'll tell you that inside the house the following lights were on: kitchen, living room, hallway #1, bathroom, bedroom #1, hallway #2 and master bedroom-where was Mr. Frugal IN the house?) Anyway...I stuck with my guns about safety and keeping outside lights on when we are outside.
Now we arrive to last night. BIG...GIANT thunderstorm brewing in the mountains. Very creepy-like setting. I put two baskets of recycling on the front porch to remind us to take it to Bloss this weekend. Charles wants to move it to the garage. OK, have at it. He sets off to move the baskets to the garage in the dark.

Now, my dear readers, remember what is in 3-4 mounds in the back yard? "Bird seed!" That's right? And remember what bird seed is called when it is not winter? "Bear food!" That is also right! And one more question. Remember what my rule is about outside lights on? "It helps to let you see the animal who is about to attack you!" Now back to Charles and that recycling!

He is in between the house and the garage when he hears snorting, huffing and lip smacking from a bear who is at or near the treeline. But he can't see 'cause he didn't turn the back porch lights on! His first thought is not to take a few steps to safety, no. He calls me on the phone! He is literally just a few steps from the house. All he would have to do is holler into an open window to get my attention. But he calls me. For what? To possibly ask me to turn on the back porch light to scare away the bear? To take photos as he wrestles a bear in the yard? I simply am dumbfounded!

Now I would like to add to the last post that HUSBANDS DO THE DARNEDEST THINGS!!!

Charles' Magnificent Obsession.

My husband is funny to me. Kids say the darnedest things?! Ha! I believe that Husbands say the darnedest things! Here's the story...

We were big fans of the HBO show, The Sopranos. If you were too, and watched from the beginning, you will understand the reference: "Wild birds are to Charles as ducks were to Tony." If you do not understand that, then suffice it to say that Charles is obsessed with the wild birds in our area.
When we first moved into this house, all he wanted to do was feed them. Since we moved in here in the summer, he had to wait until the late fall and winter to feed them. You see, we are not supposed to put out bird seed until the bears are hibernating. This is considered "feeding" bears and will help to turn a wild bear into a nuisance bear. So he waited until it was "all clear" and he could feed the birds. Last year he put out more bags of seed than I could count. He would sit at the windows and watch birds. He would pick up binoculars and watch them up close. He put out feeders for the smaller birds. He talked about the birds and their feeding habits. Oh, yeah. He was really into those birds. Now when spring came he was sad that he couldn't "take care" of them anymore. I have overheard him on more than one occasion talking to birds telling them he was "sorry, but to come back in the winter." Remember that word I used? Obsessed? OK...
All spring he's been waiting. All summer he's been waiting. Now it's fall and he is still waiting. BUT the other day a bag of birdseed appeared in the hall closet. He, it appears, is done waiting.
On Saturday we got a weather alert from the Weather Channel saying that we were getting our first frost warning of the season. Temperatures were going into the low 30's and so that afternoon we started to "winterize" our porches. Bringing in perennial plants, covering others. Then Charles went to the hall closet and brought out his big bag of seed. I could almost hear his inner monologue..."temperatures at freezing, frost on the ground, frost is like snow, snow equals winter, winter is here! I can feed the birds again!!" Off he went.
Charles has given up on the bird feeders. The bears have knocked down and/or destroyed each of the ones he has put up, so instead of feeders Charles will just make 3-4 giant mounds of seed near the tree line. Kind-of like the buffet line for birds. He is a happy man. His birds will be back shortly. We wake up Sunday morning, just a few short hours from when he put out the birdseed, and while getting ready to go to fellowship, we notice a ton of blue jays, some crows, a few random brown birds, a rabbit, a hand full of squirrels and eight turkeys all feeding from the mounds. As I was standing there taking photos of the turkeys, who were the last to arrive, my crazy, funny husband says..., "I just wish that more of a variety of critters showed up."
Again I say, Husbands say the darnedest things!
(Charles, last winter. Notice the spots in the yard where he removed the snow to put down the seed?)

Guest blogger!

Yep! That's me! A guest blogger. I was asked about 2 months ago to review some products and write up an article for the Intimates Guide blog. Yep, that means that I got to review lingerie! Curvy girl lingerie to be exact. It was really fun. I got 4 items to try out and tell everyone what I think of them. I don't know when my reviews will be posted, sometime in October. 4 spread out over the month I think, so if you want to read them, you'll just have to keep checking out: Intimates Guide Blog. It is a great blog with TONS of information about bra fittings, yoga, wellness, fun and of course, lingerie! Have fun and let me know what you think.

Hello Muddah Crop Camp Menu

I'm posting the menu for the weekend crop that I'm hosting in January in north Florida. If this menu prompts anyone to sign up for the crop, just so you know...I am down to just a few seats left. You can read more about it in older posts under the title "Hello Muddah". It's gonna be a lot of fun and all the food will be home cooked! Yum-O!

Thursday
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich, Chips, Sliced pears, Cookie
Mocktail Hour: Snowbird “Mocktail’, "TBA" Appetizers
Dinner: Dangerously Cheesy Baked Ziti, Cesar Salad, Garlic Bread & Apple Cobbler with Ice Cream

Friday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Topping Bar & Assorted Danish
Lunch: Moroccan Pitas, Pumpkin Bisque, Cucumber Salad & Lemon Palmiers
Snack: Cheesy Popcorn & Brownie Bites with Marshmallow Frosting “Shooters”
Dinner: BBQ Chicken, Macaroni & Cheese, Green Peas, Dinner Roll & Sticky Banana Bread Pudding with Whipped Cream

Saturday
Breakfast: Yogurt, Granola and Fresh Fruit
Lunch: Meatball Subs, Cole Slaw, Chips & Rice Krispy Treats
Snack: Homemade Pita Chips with Salsa & Hummus
Dinner: Veggie Chili, Cornbread & Texas Sheet Cake
Late Night Snack: S’mores Kit

Sunday
Breakfast: Biscuits & Sausage Gravy with Hash Browns
Lunch: Mushroom Quiche & Garden Salad & Derby Day Strawberries

Project Life, et al

Just because I have a lot on my "To Do List" these are in totally random order. Don't have the time to put them in consecutive order for 'ya!
Stacey, the boys and I pose at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center. Henry learns how to churn butter at Troy's Heritage Festival. Nico, Ginger and Aunt Cissy rest on one of the walls of a switch back path at Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon. Mansfield is getting a Lowe's! Yippee. It even has a stop light which will make us a "three-stoplight town"! I love "junk-tique" stores and I especially love the one nearest to my house, The Treasure Chest. Nothing is marked which I love because it promotes negotiation. This place is kind-of junkey looking and there are literally holes in the floor that are patched with giant metal sheets riveted down. It is dark and filled to the brim. Heaven! My thoughts on this is when I need something, I'll hit my favorite "stores" before I go for new. I have gotten a $3 crock pot, a $5 bench, a $15 desk and more there. I always use what I buy. Charles always thinks that I've found some real "treasures" and wants me to put them away for the magical day we will re-sell them and become millionaires! Well, today was the very first day that I thought "I have something here" when I came home with this bowl. I saw it on a heap of suitcases and a potty chair. It looked really unique with the feet, and it had a "burned" name in the bottom. Well, I offered $5 and once I came home and looked up the name on the bottom found out that I had actually "picked" a find! The bowl was manufactured between 1920 and 1930 by a company that is now out of business, but was very popular back then. This bowl by my best guess is worth around $55! Not a huge amount, but I like the bowl and contrary to what Charles says, we ARE gonna be using it! Frank and Jackie pose with my "Big Oil Executive" disguise mustache lollipops at the gas well tour & potluck at our house. It's the little things that make me happy. This is a handle that Target puts on the bulky items when you don't want a bag. So cool! Nico and Henry look to Dixie to help guide us out of our "tricky" corn maze. The boys really loved it! Henry on the Tioga Train ride. It was a beautiful day, we had a blast and saw two bald eagles. Fall Still Life with Kitty. (That's a growing and HUGE "Kitten Jack"!!) Getting ready for winter with a great sale at the Agaway. This is a pallet of pellets. Since we are going on a "mostly" pellet-heat winter, we guess-timate that we'll need about 5 pallets! One down... Johnnie says 'bye to Lucky at the little pond next door. My first gift of homemade preserves. (Blueberry Butter) Luna and Matilda will come and go, but Jack waits. He knows that he has it too good in the house. He'll wait at the door, greet us and the other cats, but he'll NEVER go out. Smart dude! Fall decorations look great with the curtains that Linda from Bearly Enough made for the house. Henry & Nico really loved the tour we took of a working dairy farm. We got to go into the milking room, which was NOTHING like what I expected! The smell. The poop trough. The robotic milking machines. The darkness. The one, very happy bull among all the cows. The need for quiet around the cows. Very interesting. Matilda goes on an evening walk with the dogs and us. It is pretty cute 'cause both Matilda and Luna follow us. Nico helps Aunt Cissy around the house. He was working on a special reward from the House Rules Chart. Charles takes the boys across the little lake and teaches them to skip rocks. Pretty cool. I never knew that Charles was such an expert at rock skipping! Niagara Falls was just amazing! Two books that are teaching me loads about homesteading and sustainable living. Nico gets to pick a pumpkin from the patch at the fellowship. On the Sunday that they left, only Nico and I had it in is to go to church. I had a RE class to teach and Nico wanted to a) see what church was about and b) get McDonald's for breakfast! He really was good and loved church! Stacey and me at the Iron Kettle Farm. When we went on the tour of the dairy farm I took a shine to the farmer. He was a really sweet man and when his son hooked up a wagon to a tractor for a ride around the farm, I decided to hang around and chat. Mr. Wolf was kind enough to answer all my questions about his garden AND give me some veggies to take home. He also gave Charles a beer and a mini tour of his workshop. And that is where I spied this beauty! An actual surrey with the fringe on top! I was shocked to see that sitting in the back of his workshop! I think I was way more thrilled with that and his garden than the dairy. Minnie Mae makes friends with GL, a self-purported non-fan of cats! (Who is he kidding?!)

Hobby Lobby Demo and Classes!

OK! I'm excited to announce my first demo and first two classes at Hobby Lobby. I went there thinking that I'd do a scrapbook layout first, but I decided to do two home decor projects instead. These two particular projects are VERY popular in the Florida store that I work at and we cannot keep frames and clothespins on the shelf. The Hobby Lobby clothespin is actually MUCH larger than the ones we had at Whim So Doodle. So if you live in the PA or NY area and would like to come out and make these, just give me a holler and I'll get you registered. These projects take NO PRIOR CRAFTING SKILLS to create and include almost everything you'll need to create them in your class kit!

I've got lots more up my sleeve...some fun Halloween projects, a really (REALLY) awesome Christmas project, some layouts and a new beginner class for anyone interested in learning about scrapbooking. Oh! And crops at the store too!






And PLEASE don't forget that if you are in Florida and wanna take the annual CHRISTAMS CARD CAMP with me and Stacey, registration has started on that. To register for this class, please call Whim So Doodle at: (727) 827-4911.


Christmas Card Camp
Thursday October 21st 6-9 pm

This super popular card camp is in its fifth year at The Doodle! If you have not made it to one yet, don’t miss this year’s! In our “camp-style” class you’ll be making 8 different seasonal cards that range from traditional to unique. These cards are made to teach you 8 different card layouts that are easy to duplicate for those on your own personal card list-we even include a “recipe” for each card! Most of the materials are pre-cut before you arrive, so creating these cards are quick, easy and so fun!

Fee: $30
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Instructor: Jen & Stacey