She Challenged Me

Friends inspire us and often encourage us. But how many times does one challenge you?

Joann from Scene Through my Eyes sent me a surprise package.

It was filled with fabric and patterns. And a challenge!

She cut some of her fabric so that we both had the same fabric. She also sent me patterns just like hers.

So here was the challenge. She wrote, "I thought we could take turns picking a fabric and then making something from it for our dolls. Each would pick their own pattern/project/design and then when we were both done sewing them we could post them on the same day and see what the other had picked. I think it would be a lot of fun to see how differently or how similarly we would choose projects"

How's that for a FUN challenge?

So here's what I made and when her post is up, I'll put a link to her post.

She knew I needed a bit of a nudge to get back to sewing and this got my creative juices flowing again.

Of course getting a fun package filled with goodies was encouraging, too! 

The link to her post today is HERE! 

Have you met a challenge lately?

Rodman Dam "Let's go Fishin"

We enjoyed watching the boats on the Oklawaha River, the kids swimming and people fishing. 

And we were ready to leave when I walked out on a dock to take a few last photos.

Hubby pointed out the alligator making it's way toward the man fishing from the bank of the river.

And yes, he gathered up his stuff and was making a hasty 'escape'.

Nothing like zooming in on this big guy.

I'm so pleased with my new camera but I noticed the water looks green when I zoom in a lot.

Maybe we should plan to fish from the dock? 

What do you think? Too much zoom?

 I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE.

To Read or Not to Read?

That is the question! I have two really good libraries close by so I stop by one of them every week. And I always see interesting books to check out. I don't always read them though. There's just not enough time to do everything I want to do. 

I DID read At the Water's Edge this week and it was very good.

(I read Mademoiselle Chanel last week and I liked it, too!)

I read The Dry Grass of August but didn't like it at all and I  just finished Like Dandelion Dust. It was good.

This week I checked these out and I read the first 50 pages of each one.

I will not read A Spool of Blue Thread. (I didn't care for the story) but I will read The Cavendon Women some other time. The Cavendon Women reminded me of 'Downton Abbey' just a bit and I think I would enjoy the story and the characters but I'm just not interested in it right now.

I did get one in the mail this week that I know we will all enjoy!

 The Mystery of Lucy by our very own Nana Diana. 

(You can get your copy HERE)

I'm joining Literary Friday HERE.

What are you reading this week?

Old Methodist Church in Island Grove, Florida

We drove past this old Methodist Church in Island Grove on one of our Sunday afternoon drives.

 I took photos of it from every angle but this one just seemed best. (with my old Canon S100)

 But these photos got passed over so I went back to look at them again and do a little research.

 The website HERE had a lot of great info about this small Old Florida town, Island Grove.

Other websites mention that the church was built in 1882 and eventually fell in disrepair. Someone bought the land in order that the old structure could remain.

 What was interesting when I did the research online pertained to the post I did on the Antioch Cemetery HERE. We didn't realize when we stopped there to take photos that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was buried there. We are watching the old movie "The Yearling" based on one of her books right now and we've visited her house in Cross Creek several times.

 We have such fun traveling around Florida and it's so nice to be able to research online and find out where we've been! LOL
 Hope we can figure out how to get back some day!

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party

and Roses of Inspiration!

I found my Knight in Shining Armor!

He was at the thrift store of all places!

 And I also found this wonderful old box.

 Reckitt's Blue, a laundry product for the rinse cycle.

 I almost didn't get it but decided to ask if they would take less. They said YES, and gave me a price I couldn't resist so I snatched it up!

 Now what should I do with it? 

I put it in my 'prim arrangement' and then on top of this old wooden roller skate box.

 I think it gets lost up there so I'll probably bring it back down (which means asking my Knight in Shining Armor, my very own sweet hubby, to reach up there and get it back down after he just put it up there).

 Would you leave the top open and put something inside of it?

Or should I leave it on top of the tall bookcase? 

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

and Roses of Inspiration

and Ivy and Elephants.

Rodman Recreation Area

We love driving to a place here in Florida that we've never been to before.

(I used Photoscape, colored pencil on this photo)

 Rodman Recreation Area is part of the Cross Florida Greenway.

We drove across the dam and then watched the boats and people fishing.

It was a fun day trip and we can't wait to go back.

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday.

Be Careful!!!

Watch the signs!

And be careful at the crossings!

They are happy now...

and we want them to stay that way!

 Drive SLOW!!! 

(all taken from the car, can you tell? heehee)

We were driving through Whispering Oaks Winery. (I'll have another post to share more winery pics soon!) 

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE.

What do you Picture?

When I say it was a beautiful day for a drive, is this what you picture?

We drove around for about 2 hours and these are a 'few' of the fences we saw driving through Florida's horse country. (North Central Florida, where we live)

The sky was gorgeous and that added to the beauty of the horse farms.

 So many beautiful horses!

 And I may have taken enough 'fence photos' for the whole month, Tex!

 I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party!

Always include a Tag!

That’s a reminder to myself.

I LOVE tags!

(this is the arrangement I ended up with, for now)

I’ve been blessed to receive some beautiful tags through blogging.

In fact, that’s how I got to know one of my blog sisters, Marcia at Living the Wonders of Love.

She loves to makes tags and she loves to share them.

I have tags I’ve gotten with orders from Etsy, like these from Stephanie (when she had her shop open and I ordered a pretty pillow from her).

Tags that I’ve bought on Etsy for holiday décor or to include with gifts. And lots of friendship tags. If you see one you’ve given me ‘shout it out’ in the comments, please!

I always have this Spring cloth tag on top of my basket from Kim at Valley Primitive Stitches. Just look at my beautiful collection of tags!

So I played around with an arrangement on the tray in the library and just when I thought it looked nice, I realized I needed a bookmark. So out came my collection of tags.

It was more fun deciding on the tag and I can change them out according to my ‘mood’.

 

Packages aren’t quite complete without a pretty tag.

Don’t you agree?

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

and Roses of Inspiration

and Ivy and Elephants.