January roses~

I thought it would be fun to make rose garlands from the
dried roses I saved over the summer.
The roses were too pretty to toss,
so I sat down and made some to hang around the house.

Some just shattered when I tried to tie them together but I ended
being able to salvage a few.

I love dried roses.
I like how they look in every setting.

The birdcage seemed like a reasonable place to drape one when I finished.

I finished the curtain I was making for the master bath from the beautiful fabric I 

got from Peony and Sage.

I love how it turned out!

With my leftover roses I made some wreaths to hang over the bed.

I used the cedar wreaths I had made for Christmas as the base.

I'm pleased with them and how they look in the room. 

A little Valentine-y I think!

 I wanted to make them fuller, but many of the roses shattered when I tried to 

glue them onto the cedar, so this is what I ended up with.

Well, that's a few more things I have to check off my 'to do' list.
It feels good to see the list getting shorter and shorter and 'stuff ' actually being made into
something tangible and useful.

January 2013 will be over tomorrow and February will then be here.
I love the month of February!
I don't know if it has anything to do with Valentines Day,
but I do LOVE my chocolates!

I hope you all have had a great 2013 so far,
and will continue to do so!
sending many hugs your way!

How I'm spending the Winter

Can you believe that it is almost the middle of January?

Why oh why do the days have to speed by so fast?

 The winter is going by so quickly that I am seriously starting to
wonder if I will get even

 half of the things done I have been planning on doing.

I am happy to announce that I have made peace with winter.

When I first started my blog I was quite the 

'Winter Whiner'

That was one thing I wanted to change about myself and I think 

I am winning!
Yes, it was a conscious decision to learn to embrace it.
I knew this all the time, I was just being stubborn.

Cold and snow and everything that comes with it like bad roads, icy walks,
cars not wanting to start, etc, etc, was all that I
was focusing on.

If I were a skier this wouldn't be an issue, since I live just 45 miles
from Sun Valley and the famous Bald Mountain ski runs.
I have only been skiing four times but never developed a knack for it.
(yes, for me four times was enough to know that I wasn't any good at it :-)
I liked the sitting in the lodge part drinking hot chocolate,
but not the coming down the hill part.

One of the things I am determined to do this winter is to read more.
I used to read a lot of novels but over the past few years they have been replaced
by magazines, blogs, and computer sites that I can learn something from.
However, sometimes it feels good to just hold a book in your hands.
Here are some that I have picked from my personal library to read this winter.

Something else that I would like to do more of is to get my sewing projects done
before the garden takes over my time.
Gardening is my favorite hobby,
but creating comes in a close second.
Going out to the studio and sitting down at the sewing machine just makes my day! 

My current sewing project.
curtains
The fabric is Rose Wreath by Peony and Sage.
I have never sewn on such beautiful linen as this! The quality is amazing!

One of my main goals for the winter is to clean, clean, clean.
I'm one of those weirdos who loves to clean.
My house sure doesn't show it a lot of the time,
but I do!

I get behind in the summer, so winter is my time to play catch-up with the cobwebs,
and right now I probably have some angry spiders wondering
what just happened to their homes.

Since Christmas I have been pulling out the furniture and vacuuming the corners,
washing windows and moving everything around.
It always feels good to get the deep cleaning done.

Now if I could just learn to discipline myself to corral the clutter!
cute little crumb brush

Another favorite winter activity for me is treasure hunting.
 I am always looking for vintage or unique items that I can add to my already
large collection of things that do nothing in particular but look pretty.
I know that most of you reading this post know that it is more about the
thrill of the hunt than finding anything in particular.
My favorite thing to do is to get in the car and drive to the nearest
big town and just go hunting for that perfect thing...
more like that perfect, im-perfect thing,
 like this old lamp and clips below.

I usually don't make resolutions for the new year,
but this year I want to
make kindness more of a priority in my life.
Maybe my attention, my smile, my hug, will make a difference
in some one's life.
Maybe if I make eye contact with everyone I meet and make them feel like they matter-
will matter!

The other day I got a text from one of my daughters asking me why my Facebook profile

has my birth date as March 29, 1947?

HUH???

That would make me 65!

Now, there's nothing wrong with being 65---

except that I would really like to experience 

58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and 64!!!! 

I don't know how my birth date got changed,

but at least I can be thankful that it still had me listed as a female  ;-)
I decided to keep my profile private, so folks can just guess.
If I disappear from your friends list it will because
I decided to take myself off FB and not because I did it for any other reason.
FB has been a fun way to keep up with everyone, but I'm not really
good at updating my status or keeping up with my family on it.
It really has never become my thing...
kindda like skiing I guess.
But thankfully,
I think I have conquered the knack of enduring Winter well!