Day 2 of Back to Miniatures

Last night I went up into my art and crafting studio and pulled out all the things that I have collected for this new shop..... What a mess....

So today my project will be to sort it all out and perhaps even begin to finish up some of the items. I know there are hats to be made, hat boxes to finish, fabric to put on cards and some mannequins to make. That should actually take up the next two days.

Meanwhile though I have to tend to my Real Life antique shop today. Perhaps I can do this between customers....

I have worked on projects like that before. Some of my customers ask me about the minis if I am not working on anything while they are there.

Back to Miniatures

I belong to a fun miniature and doll house group called GSOLFOT.... We have just been issued a challenge to FINISH a project that has been sitting around unfinished for awhile. WELL, I have a LOT of those.

The first one I thought of was a Doll House Dress Shop which I started several years ago. Actually most of the stuff to go inside is in bags here and there.... so I have dug it all out and starting tonight I plan to FINISH it. We shall see if I really do but since I am putting it here perhaps it will encourage me to really do it.
This picture shows how far I have gotten, better than nothing I guess.

This evening I will take a picture of all the "stuff" and add it here.... and then attempt to show the progress.

I am definitely a proud Sockee.

Twinkle Twinkle Little star

Today was my second violin (fiddle) lesson and I played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... well sort of.... perhaps a bit more practice will be necessary. I remember when we went to see our kids recitals and concerts when they were very young. I am sure they were better..... but practice will make perfect I hope. At least I made some music with my violin.

The Day After...........

We had a great 4th of July this year. It began with an all day Blue Grass Festival and ended with fireworks which we watched from our neighbors house.

Since the weather was advertised as decent we headed out to Benton to the
O.A.T.S Blue Grass Festival. The temps were in the 70s and overcast so it was pleasant to be able to sit there and ENJOY. We got to hear some new groups and now have a couple of new favorites............... David Davis and the Warrior River Band and the Hillbilly Gypsies.

Festivals are fun cause you get to meet like minded people, there is usually good food AND you can get CDs of the artists to take home and remember the day. And we got to meet the artists in person.And while there I managed to attend a fiddle playing workshop that was very helpful.

We only went for one day this year.... next year we plan to attend the entire 4 day event.

Upon arriving home we heard fireworks and so went to our neighbors yard to watch. They have the best view in our area so we didn't have to fight traffic at the park.

From our vantage point we could see three different fireworks shows, two way off in the distance. Great way to end the day.

Oh yeah, the Red Sox beat the Yankees too..... Can't get any better than that.

Poison Ivy and a Violin

This "lovely" little plant has been giving me misery for two weeks now..... Poison Ivy. For some reason I seem to locate it my garden at least one a year. At the momemt my garden is in dire need of work that I don't really feel like working on with all the poison ivy all over me. It would appear I am on the mend now. Hope so....

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But on a much brighter side, yesterday I started a new phase of my life. I took my very first violin lesson. Don't even begin to think I can play anything yet. But this is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Once I do finally get the hang of it I plan to switch to "fiddle" playing Blue Grass..... But I know I need to know the basics first.

Birds, Flowers and storms

Night before last we were visited by some raging winds and heavy rain. A lot of large tree limbs suffered because of that visit. Yesterday my husband brought out the chain saw and helped our next door neighbor clean up the mess. I didn't think to take pictures but it was a mess. Our yard did not suffer so much thankfully. Probably cause we lost a lot of stuff in a visit from Hurricane Isabel a few years ago.

But on to better things. The flowers are loving the nice rains we have had followed by the heat.
Here is a picture I took just before the storm.
The Iris have been beautiful this year and the plants just behind are the Rudbeckia (black eyed Susan) awaiting their turn to shine. The little teacup is on a spike. I think it was designed to hold bird seed and water but I just like it as it is. My daughter gave it to me. She knows I love tea things.

In other news..... We have a LOT of bird activity in the yard. My husband has set up bird feeding stations all over the place. And we get a lot of different birds. One in particular is a favorite, the chickadee, reminding us of our years living in Maine where it is the state bird.
A week or so ago I set this old birdhouse on the bench next to my garden house and a family of Chicadees moved in. We noticed they are now feeding the babies. We have to stay away now but it is worth it.

A Memorial Day Blue Grass weekend

For the third time now since last fall we have gone south to Virginia to camp out at a campground that specializes in Blue Grass weekends. We discovered the place by accident and now can't seem to stay away. The campground is filled, every two weeks with folks who play or love to listen to Blue Grass music.

We were hooked after the first time we went, even though the weather was lousy, the music was terrific. There were little groups of folks jamming in several locations around the campground. It was like sitting up on stage at a concert. Being right in the middle of it all.

This weekend was the annual Memorial Day pig roast as well as lots of music.

There are some extremely talented musicians that come to the campground, that love to play. And they just play and play. Neither of us really play but oh we are getting inspired.... We noticed several young people this time. A young girl on fiddle, her brother on Mandolin and another young man playing guitar. So the next generation is starting.

Here is a short clip of one of the groups that played this time....
Jimmy on Banjo, Kenny on Harmonica, Nevin playing Fiddle and Carol playing Bass. (The guitar player of the group- Wade- is missing for the moment.)




We always hate for the weekend to end but no doubt we will go there again soon!!!