North Carolina Apple Festival!

It was a beautiful weekend for the Apple Festival in Hendersonville, NC! More about it HERE !

I thought the tents and booths were set up much better this year, giving everyone room to browse and shop.

It’s always crowded but I went Friday morning and it was perfect! Temps in the 70s with a breeze and a gorgeous clear sky.

(police on patrol, mountains in background)

A quote from their website, “The North Carolina Apple Festival is considered one of the finest street fairs in the southeastern part of the United States. Our attendance averages over 250,000 people each year.”

It’s always fun to see people I’ve bought from over the years. There are so many talented artists and craftsmen here.

Things I wanted but didn’t buy, included these bird houses…

Beautiful art…

Lavender from a farm nearby…

APPLES ( already have some Henderson county apples in my kitchen)

or a new car! hahaha!

But I did meet this sweet lady and bought a new Fall bag. (yes, I remember that I make bags but I couldn’t resist one of these well made and reasonably priced bags and I NEEDED it !)

I’m joining Brenda for Tweak it Tuesday.

FUN FUN FUN!

I love Festivals, don’t you?

Birds and Books and Timbuctoo!

My girlfriend Jean from the French Cupboard wanted me to have one of her pretty bags.

She knows I love nature so she made me this one. It’s the perfect size to carry shopping or to festivals. And she made it herself which makes it extra special! Visit her blog HERE to meet her and see what she’s making now!

And books? Oh how I love old children’s books, especially readers and school books from my childhood.

Judy from Cranberry Morning sent me a ‘new’ reader and I sat down and read a lot of it.

Sure takes you back to happy times…when your teacher read aloud while the whole class sat enraptured.

Aren’t the illustrations beautiful?

And Timbuctoo was a fun poem to read ….

out loud in the lanai!

And she included a bar of her wonderful, handmade soap. Have you ever tried her soaps? The Etsy shop is HERE and she has a great deal if you buy 5 bars, you get one free. I did that awhile back and they last a long time. Amazing fragrance and they lather so well. I love them!

I had a wonderful Mother’s day. I didn’t get to go to Timbuctoo but we did go on adventure to find a new hiking trail. AND this amazing new bridge looking over the Withlacoochee River.

I’ll share my adventures soon!

Did you have fun? Happy Monday!

Meet the Fall Fox Family!

Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their colorful children!

(are you seeing double?)

I had fun making the family of foxes and when I went to Wikipedia to read more about foxes (I’m fox crazy lately), it said they live in small family groups. The page is HERE.

I posted my sewing project HERE and linked to the pattern I used HERE.

I just wanted to share the changes I made. I sewed a small oval in the bottom so that my foxes could sit up straight. And to make the ‘kids’ I just put my original pattern in the copier and reduced the pattern to 66 %. I think it made them just the right size.

I’ve named them Felix and Felicity but I don’t have names for the kits yet!

Along with my ‘fox craze’ comes another Etsy purchase.

Look at the amazing bag I bought from my blog buddy, Cameron at Paint Myself Pretty.

 

Even the back is beautiful!

Her Etsy shop is HERE.

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday,

Seasonal Sundays,

Mosaic Monday,

and Amaze me Monday!

I’ve made mice, foxes and pumpkins this Fall.

What’s next? Any ideas for future projects?

Giveaway WINS and Giveaway WINNER!

I’ve won some wonderful giveaways the past few weeks.

Don’t you love the beautiful jewelry that Cheryl, the Beachcomber makes? She lives in Australia and shares her life on her amazing blog! (I put the bracelet on my dishtowel for the photo)

The link to her Etsy shop is HERE!

She let me choose something from her shop and I chose the ‘Sea Treasures’ bracelet made with beautiful amazonite beads. On her listing she writes “amazonite is said to have many healing properties. it calms the mind and the nervous system. promotes overall health, wellbeing, clarity, confidence, communication. soothes emotional trauma and fear.”

It’s beautiful and I will enjoy wearing it!

Thanks Cheryl!

I also won a giveaway at Katherine’s Corner. She and I have been friends for years and I love linking to her Favorite Things Blog Hop every week. She sent me a gorgeous bag!

Nice and big, perfect for the beach or traveling! She tucked a pretty bar of soap inside.

 

I also received jewelry from Baroni Designs as part of the giveaway.

 

I love handcrafted jewelry, don’t you? What a beautiful necklace and earring set! I feel so blessed!

And now for the winner of my little giveaway!

Congrats to Susie from She Junks.

And thanks to all of you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave sweet comments! It makes every day special!

Summer Reading GIVEAWAY!!!

Have you had a good summer, with long hot days and extra time to read?

I love rereading the classics and getting stacks of ‘new’ books at the library.

Children’s books are great to read no matter what your age.

And these are a few I’ve just finished. They were ALL really good! I’ve left reviews in Goodreads HERE !

And one I keep by my chair in the lanai!

Just to add to the fun,

I want to have a quick GIVEAWAY!

I made a book bag…simple and easy but sturdy enough for a stack of books, and a copy of one of my favorite books, Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani…one of my favorite authors!

To enter the GIVEAWAY for a book bag and book,

Please be a follower

and leave a comment!

(if you want to tell me a book you’ve enjoyed lately, that would be great, too!)

I’m reading a mystery right now,

The Garment of Shadows by Laurie King.

It’s GOOD!!! 

I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday, August 14th!

Happy Reading!!!

A GIVEAWAY…Lavender style!

I was so happy to ‘meet’ Juanita online and purchase some of her beautiful jewelry awhile back and now she has GIVEAWAY NEWS!

Juanita Tortilla is giving away a handmade purple set to one lucky reader. The set includes a handmade zipper pouch and handmade earrings.

Win this for yourself or for someone else!

 

To take part, enter the information in the little widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The links:
JuanitaTortilla's Shop (http://juanitatortilla.etsy.com)
JuanitaTortilla's Blog (http://www.juanitatortilla.com)
JuanitaTortilla on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/JuanitaTortilla/228569878253)

This giveaway is open to all international friends, from 16.Nov to 23.Nov.The lucky winner will be selected and contacted by Juanita Tortilla.

These items were made by Juanita and she will be sending them to you from Switzerland!

Thanks girlfriend! ; )

Good luck!

“Chrisy’s Creations” Ocali Days

It’s always so much fun to meet the wonderful people that come to the Festivals to demonstrate their art or to sell their creations. I met the neatest lady named Chrisy with an amazing booth.

I admired some cute little leather bags she had made and she asked me if I would rather have one with a strap? OH YES! So while we walked over to buy Kettle Corn to take home and watch the Dallas Cowboys WIN…she sewed a strap on this beautiful aqua leather bag.

 

And look what was inside…

and the bag she packaged everything in!

My hubby was sweet and picked out a pair of earrings for me, too.

It was pretty much my ‘perfect day’!

I love Cowboy football and hubby even made NY chili! (maybe even better than TX chili!!! heehee)

I know I am SO spoiled!

Chrisy doesn’t have a website or blog but I have her email addy.

Her card says, ‘Native art Aussie style’!

Have you ever seen anything like this?

Oh how I LOVE it!