Hot summer day in the creek, Shepherd Creek that is!

Happy Summer 2019!

Since Ed was finally able to get out and use the brush mower, Darcy and I can walk back to our little trail and visit the creek. She loves it and is happy to find out about it! I have an old chair that's been there for years where I've gone to think, cry, etc, once I despair I threw that thing! But it's nice to have that spot. I was thinking the creek needs a name. It might have one I'm not sure. But I hereby christen it "Shepherd Creek" for our new grandson, and for "The Lord is my Shepherd...he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul."

After writing this post on Instagram and Facebook, I decided it was time to finally launch my Bluebird in the Pines Facebook page! Please visit https://www.facebook.com/pg/bluebirdchris/about/?ref=page_internal

Dreams for 2018

Ok - I am way behind!!  My dream is to be more of a regular blogger, to share more of my country life and my crafts, and other parts of my life. 

2018 is here, how did that happen?  One of my goals is to learn more about how to use Blogger and also Wordpress.  I want to be more involved with other crafting blogs.  Also to possibly begin making more things to sell, and open a shop of some kind, either Etsy or Ebay.  I'm not in the antique mall anymore, since I just wasn't making any money on it, therefore basically just giving my stuff away!  But I still have lots of good "stock" and deciding what I want to do.  I have begun work on a Facebook page for Bluebird in the Pines!  Haven't launched it yet though.

I've made a lot of great crochet projects in the last year.  I found a Craft Room Challenge, which I need so much!  I know that I've put so many things into my craft room, in hopes of doing so many cool things, but not given any order to things and lost track of what I have.  Which means I don't hardly ever make anything!  Besides the crocheting.  It's been a problem for a long time and I need to break that mental block that seems to prevent me from taking these steps into my future and my dreams.  I feel like my dreams are buried in there.  I also joined the group Monthly Crafty Destash Challenge, where you are supposed to use something in your stash to make something, then blog about it and share.  That is actually how I came across the craft room challenge today.  Right now I'll follow along until I can get my blog a little more caught up so I can share more. 

At the moment my craft room doesn't look too bad, but THAT is because Rob & Jess and baby Selah came for Christmas!  I got things cleaned up on the surface level, and Selah actually slept in the craft room which used to be her Daddy's room.  But, I know there are things stashed away in tubs and the closet is full. So glad I came across this Craft Room Challenge because they are giving weekly and daily goals.  Maybe that will kick me out of this awful rut I have gotten into.

Been following Holley Gerth also doing a "21 Day Strong, Brave, Loved Challenge" that follows her Ebook Strong, Brave, Loved.  From her book Fiercehearted which I haven't read.  Her challenge today was to Believe You're Doing Better than you Know:

What’s one small step of faith, love, or courage you can take today? Today I will . . .

Gerth, Holley. Strong, Brave, Loved (Ebook Shorts): 21 Ways to Live a Fiercehearted Life (Kindle Locations 535-536). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Confession, I have not been very brave.  I have avoided many things I could and should be doing in my life out of fear, loss of hope, just plain stuck.  So here I am writing a little blog post to hopefully get me moving in the right direction!  Will I be brave enough to share it?  Afraid of failure?  "Whispers of Rest" by Bonnie Gray has also blessed me this year.  Disappointed with myself because I was hoping to get a lot done this week while my hubby is away, part of my excuse is the deep freeze we are in!!  I read this in a devotional today titled "Dare to Dream:"

"Identify where you want to grow and then start dream about possibilities for getting there.   Start dreaming a dream for your life and make a plan."  From one my favorite Bibles that is filled with little pieces of paper marking important thoughts.  Women's Devotional Bible 2, 1995, Zondervan, page 1335.   I also have #1 and really love it.  That one is falling apart. 

I really want to follow this advice, of writing down dreams and making plans...that is where I fail since I'm bad at planning and setting goals.  What about you?  

One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

—Philippians 3:13–14

May God guide us and bless us in our pursuits, give us strength and bravery, and bless the works of our hands. 

Catching up with 2016!

Caution...Long post ahead!!  

So much time has gone since my last post!  I will try to post some pictures about projects I have done during these last few months.  Have done some really cute crochet gifts!  Went to a sale this week and picked up a lot of vintage goodies.  So yes I should be blogging!

Here is my latest - a crocheted Lego blanket for my grandson Denison who just turned 5!  I had to mail it since he lives in Denver, and he got it yesterday.  It took a lot of time making all the pieces but it wasn't really hard.  If I had to do it over I'd connect the a little more nicely.  But I know how it's going to get treated by all the grandkids so I'm not too worried.  :)

The week before that, I made a taxidermy moose for my sister-in-law Rachel who turned 60!  She likes moose, mooses? Ha.  So I did this kinda last minute and had a couple of late nights and hours getting it done but it's so cute!  Now I want to make some more and experiment.

I decided to go ahead, while I'm at it, to do a recap of the last half a year since about Thanksgiving, of some of the things I've made, happenings around Bluebird in the Pines and family!

Thanksgiving pies!

Our new grandson Henley was born on 1/2/16, one day after we left there and drove home!  I was so disappointed that we missed his birth, but we went back out when he was a month old. Here he is in the Very Hungry Caterpillar cocoon I made for him.

I love these kind of pocket vases and have a couple in my booth.

I did a Christmas CAL and this is one of the things we made, I love it, I gave it to my grandkids.

I experimented with tea cup candles.  Fun.

 Two more Christmas CAL items, snowflakes and scrubbies.

 Cup Cozies, I love making these!

I made a "Box o'Gnomes" for the grandkids!  So fun and I will do this again.  They did not stay in a box for long and are scattered around their house now. :)

Cup coasters I made for my son.

Bunny Lovie for my younger granddaughter.

Peter Rabbit blanket I made for Henley!

Sock Monkey hat for Denison!

Henley and Epaw

Cute "hat" for Elodie!  She is still a little bald on top at age 2 so this looked so cute on her for her 2nd birthday.

 Ok so my oldest granddaughter Eva was feeling sad that everyone else had something, so I made her this "sleeping bag" for her dolls.  Fun.

We have an antique fan museum in Zionsville, and my brother-in-law Tom needed a "fan" for the sewing machine fan, so I made one out of some fabric he had bought from India. It fans back and forth when you peddle the sewing machine.

 

I play trumpet in the Zionsville Concert and, and took this selfie after our first concert of the spring which was right after Easter.

Annual GardenFest in Lebanon, Bluebird booth

 Then the event we trained for for quite a while, the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon.  My husband, the runner, walked it with me.  We did really great and it was my first half-marathon.  Not sure I will do it again as it was a little hard on my knees but will stick to shorter ones.  It was fun to go around the track and it was so encouraging when we finished really strong.

 These are pin cushions I made from old baby shoes I found at Goodwill! Love them.  Also some wooden hangers that I decorated with ribbon and flowers. These have been in my booth but not selling so bringing them home.

 

One of the loves of my life....a beautiful mama bluebird with her newly hatched babies, I took this by sliding my Iphone into the box.  So pretty.

This spring I am starting a new flock of chickens!  Here are some pictures of their development.  We have 7 and just found out one of them is a rooster, but he gets to stay for now.  :)

That's all folks!  Thanks for reading through a few months of happenings at Bluebird in the Pines!

Weekend doings

This weekend I’ve been working on the office space out in our pole barn, that I’m making in to a little workshop and storage space for all my junk, I mean supplies and stock for my antique booth.  It’s been a long process but coming along.  It’s like the movie “Field of Dreams.”  I have ideas for that space but I’m not totally sure what it’s going to be, it’s more like “build it and they will come.”  Future antique shop, or just a place for me to make and store things?  Maybe a place to hold classes or gatherings for crafters?  I can think of lots of things but I am learning to have more guts about these things.  Part of my reason for working on the space out there is also so I can get a lot of clutter out of the house and my craft room.

I've spent some time crocheting this weekend also.  

What a beautiful fall day here in Indiana.  I’m going to head out for a long walk.  I’ve been listening to Anne of Green Gables on an audiobooks app, it’s delightful and making me want to talk with flowerly long words!  :)

My header photos

Not sure if I ever explained this, but the photos at the top of my page pretty much sum up my life.  I am a bluebirder.  The Eastern Bluebird pictured at left is a passion of mine.  I head up the local bluebird society and for probably 15 years I have put out bluebird boxes, and taught other people about them and how to help them also.  Our yard has a long line of beautiful white pines, and something I love is to hear my bluebirds out in the pines singing their hearts out.  So I gave our little farm this name, and also use this name for my blog and my antique booth.

The beautiful lady holding the cake is my great-grandma Nellie. She was my mom's grandma on her dad's side.  This was a birthday of hers and I just love the picture.  She died one year before I was born, she had 8 children and was a farmers wife! For some reason I have always been inspired to be like her.  Another big inspiration is my grandma, Katie.  She died when I was almost 2 so I didn't get to know like my older siblings. But she is also a huge inspiration, she was a great seamstress, cook and crocheted many beautiful things. She was my mom's mom.

The other pictures are of our barn and our grandkids.  I have a blessed life and I am learning to "bloom where I am planted."  Sometimes I lament that our kids are gone and I really hate being apart from them, but I am trying to count my blessings and love my life!

Today my son Daniel turns 30 years old!  Amazing to think that I have been a mom for 30 years.  That day was a miracle and Dan is such a blessing, along with his wife Jamie and their 3 and 1/2 children.  :)

Somehow I need to get into a habit of checking into this page, and not just Facebook and Instagram.  I have lots to say and share about the happenings in my life!  Just returned last week from a trip to California and had a great time.  First at Huntington Beach, my husband's hometown where we went for a conference.  I got a lot of beach and pool time but also attended some events.  Then we went up the coast for our 34th anniversary and enjoyed Cambria, CA.  We stayed at the Pelican Inn and had a room looking out at the ocean.  Loved it so much.  They have a boardwalk along the beach.  We saw seals and elephant seals, drove around the wine country, just had a nice time.  Then we visited our son and DIL in Orange County for a few days, which was wonderful but always bittersweet.  We had our first try at Airbnb and stayed in a really cute little house in Fullerton.

Now back home, still battling the jet lag after a week. But also "heart lag" trying to get back into my life and find inspiration.  Why is it always hard after a trip?  I do too much thinking.  This week I am reminded to listen for God and also to be thankful every day for the tremendous blessings in my life.

I have so many projects either started or on the back burner.  So I need to get with it!  Lots of crochet projects and also cleaning up my craft room.  I have a room that I have worked on that is in our pole barn, it was an office that was crammed with stuff for over 10 years since we moved here.  Last summer I realized I could use it for my workshop and a place to store a lot of my "stuff" that I buy for my booth at the antique mall, and also things I buy hoping to make things.

When I first started this blog it was the intention to begin to stop dreaming about things and actually start DOING them.  Since then I have made my son's room my craft room, I have started renting a bookcase at an antique mall,  I have started fixing up that room in the pole barn.  Now I just need to learn more about managing my time and figuring out how I can do all the things I want to do.

I really need to find some time to figure out how to use this page correctly and also how to use my Mac more efficiently to be able to post pictures etc.

Meanwhile happy fall!   Getting ready for Indiana Bluebird Society meeting on Saturday, and a meeting for my group, the Boone County Bluebird Society in a couple of weeks.

I have so much to update!  I'm still trying to figure out how to use Blogger and make a respectable looking blog.  Remember Xanga?  Yes, old school, but I had that figured out so well.  Now I have things to blog about again, and ideas, lots of ideas!  So I need to study and figure this baby out, because I don't really want to start over again on another site.  For instance, I want to put a nice header with this gorgeous bluebird, but this is just not right at all, way too big, and I haven't figured out yet how to do it.   **Edit:  I found a page about how to make a header with Picmonkey!**

So, on my very first post on Bluebird in the Pines, I talked about my frustrations of having dreams and never being able to make them come true.  Since then I have taken big steps!  I created a great craft room, which is a little cluttered up but has a lot of potential.  Last month I took a leap and rented a bookcase in the Zionsville (Indiana) Antique Mall, Booth #12, look for my pretty bluebird decorations.  I called my space "Bluebird in the Pines" of course!

In January I took another leap and joined the Zionsville Concert Band.  I needed to start playing my trumpet again!  We practice on Tuesday nights, and have had a couple of concerts.  A few more are coming up in July.  I know this is a talent and a gift I need to use.  Need to find time to practice though.

Here I am with my cornet and my trumpet.  Our home was broken into in January, and I praised God that they didn't steal my instruments.

I have a lot more pictures to add.  But I have things to figure out.  When our home was robbed, my laptop was stolen.  My kids all said, get a Mac!  Grumble grumble.  I know they are great and all, but I am still figuring it all out. Plus figuring out this Blogger. Also I need to work on a Facebook page for Bluebird in the Pines, then I would have an easy way to share pictures of my antique booth, my bluebirds, my farm etc etc.   I had my laptop photos etc backed up on Idrive, but I haven't gotten all of those put back up on Picasa Web Album, or wherever else I need to store some pictures to make it easier to share on here.

Yesterday morning I went out to find that 3 of my 4 chickens had been killed.  Oh I am sad. I've lost chickens before, but never 3 at once.  Things have gone so well for the last year, since we had a couple lost, that I guess I got a little careless and didn't notice a big gap in the pen that is on the back side of the barn.  Some little critter, we think a weasel, got in.  I have a barred rock that has been "broody" and that saved her life.  I want to get more, but we know we have a lot of work to do on the barn first.

Maybe I'll figure out my pictures and come back and add some to this blog.