Hi Everyone!

I hope you're all doing well and surviving this crazy weather we've been having!

I wanted to show you my latest creations.  I've taken up the challenge by Anne Brooke for her #52tagshannemade she did in 2021. I wanted to do it last year, but life kept intervening! So I decided to do it this year and so far, I'm on track. Hopefully I'll be able to keep that up.   Here's how it works.  Each week, Anne sends out "prompts," and the idea is that you create a tag following whatever the prompt is.  And by year's end, you have 52 tags of your very own. Some might use them or give them away, but I'm planning to keep mine and either keep them in a book of some kind, or display them somehow on a wall. Anyway, I've just completed Week # 4, for the 4th week in January 2022!  And here they all are:

This is Tag #1 for the first week in January, and the prompt was: White.I personally don't care much for white; I do prefer various shades of creams, though. And I want all the tags to be identical in shape and color. I also plan to use softer colors if at all possible. The overall look I'm going for is something that looks "peaceful." I hope that makes sense.  Fortunately, I was able to make all 52 tags from scrap cardstock! And the base material is a lovely piece of Irish linen, which I think will go well with all the tags....maybe! 😊 For this tag, I've used antique and vintage lace and these precious vintage buttons. Aren't they adorable? And tiny too!  One of the buttons, the one on the bottom, still had it's original thread in it, so I matched it with some of my own thread for the other three buttons. It's the perfect color to "appear" vintage.

This is Tag #2 and the tag prompt was:  Hearts
I learned a lot when I was creating this tag and also Tag #4. For one thing, I finally realized that it's been almost 20 years since I've done any embroidery to speak of! And my eyes don't see as well, and my fingers aren't as nimble as they were 20 years ago! My DMC threads are at least that old, but probably more, and my embroidery needles are all gone! It's very sad but I'm going to take one for the team on this one and. . . . go buy some of those yummy threads I've seen people using! 😀 Some new embroidery scissors are already on their way, as well as needle threaders. I also bought some new reading glasses! So I'm almost set! I used my DMC threads in these soft green and pink colors. I drew the shape of the heart on the fabric using a stencil. Then, I stitched around it in green. I drew ivy here and there and stitched that in green, with little pink flowers.

This is Tag #3 and the prompt was: Scraps!
This one was a lot of fun because I have LOTS of scraps. I save fabric and lace scraps as long as they are at least one inch square (though I have saved smaller pieces if it's something special).  I searched through all my lace scrap bins and found these lovely pieces. Then, I determined how they looked best arranged and glued them down on the base fabric of Irish linen. Voila! I think it was more fun because it was less exacting. But that's also the beauty of this project. It's nothing too involved, but just enough to give you a little nudge to create something small. And if you take longer, then so be it. 😀

This is Tag #4 and the prompt was Fly Stitch.  I'm actually going to redo this one because I want the colors softer. I also need more practice with fly stitches! This way, you  can hopefully see my progress in the next one I do!  I love lavender and my sweet husband grows it in our garden every year. He's a fan of lavender too.  And I've also pressed quite a lot of it too! They make great journal cards and tags. Lovely scent!  😀

Well, that's all for now. I hope you've enjoyed this post.  I'd love to hear what you think.  And I'll be putting up a video about them on YouTube shortly.  The link for that will be:  https://youtu.be/h6-31KsE9xI     And my Instagram link is: 

https://www.instagram.com/ fursdonhouse

Many thanks and may God bless.  Jan

Happy New Year 2022!!

Hi Everyone!

I've come to the conclusion that Blogger no longer sends out notifications of my posts to people even though they have subscribed to my blog! Quite irritating! And I'm not sure how to go about fixing this because I'm not that computer literate.  So I've decided that until I can figure out how to make it work, I'll just announce new blog posts periodically on my YouTube channel, and put a link there as well.  Oh well, there certainly are worse things that could happen, so I'll count my blessings.  Here are some recent pictures I've taken!

This picture was taken on January 1st!! It's my Lenten Roses in bloom! I was amazed, but very happy to see them.  And that's Brer Rabbit in the background, overseeing everything. Fortunately for him, he's concrete. Otherwise, Dundee - our very old (17+ years) and still very active cat,  would have eaten him by now!! 🐈

Another New Year's Day picture of one of our Dogwood trees! Before we had any, I never realized they have red and bluish-black berries in the winter!  And did you know there are 19 varieties of Dogwood trees? It's also our Alabama State Flower.  Now you know!

These next four pictures were taken in time sequence and shows what happened on the evening and morning of 2 and 3 January, here in Madison, Alabama!  This particular picture was taken at 8:59 pm, 2 Jan. I looked out our front door and couldn't resist grabbing the camera. Everything looked so peaceful. I also love how the lights glow from the houses in the background.

Taken at 9:30 pm, 2 January! Yes, it was coming down pretty fast and getting quite a good accumulation. The last time we had snow like this in Alabama was about 4 years ago. I think this picture would make a great Christmas Postcard!

This was taken at 10:08 pm!! Sadly, the trees that look like umbrella shapes are actually dead. They're Weeping Cherry trees and we've had three of them for about 26 years now. This past summer, they started looking quite scraggly and we asked an expert about what was needed. He asked how old they were, and then told us he was amazed, because Weeping Cherries usually only last about 20 years at best!! Of course, Nigel Fursdon not only has a green thumb; both of his hands are totally GREEN!! He even grew raspberries one year, quite successfully, and they usually only thrive in much cooler climates that you find up north!.   

Here's the final picture taken at 9:51 am, on 3 January.  All in all, we got about 4 1/2 inches here, while other surrounding areas received a lot more! Admittedly I love the snow when it gets this deep. It seems as if all the chaos and noise of the world is calmed and soothed by such heavy blankets of snow.  

I turned 62 on 4 January! And what a surprise I had! I've always been very blessed having Nigel as a husband. He gets me flowers for any special occasion, and even when I've returned home after a trip! For birthdays, we usually go out to dinner some place nice, and that afternoon, at 4:00 pm, we were going to a favorite German restaurant of mine. However, about 3:00pm, Nigel told me the restaurant had called and said they were having some difficulty and would we mind waiting until 5:00 pm to come to dinner. I agreed of course, but when we got there, Nigel started walking toward a booth that was already occupied. I couldn't see who it was seated there until Nigel moved to the side and I realized it was my Mom!  Then he told the waitress we needed a bigger table since one more person was coming.  Naturally I asked, but he said it was a surprise. So I kept wondering who it might be, but couldn't think of any one person that might come. Only couples.  Finally, after about 10 minutes, I looked behind myself to see my very best, best, best friend of all time - Sherry Craig!!  Sherry lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (about 2 hours north of us) and the reason for the delay that had us eating at 5:00 pm rather than 4:00 pm was that Sherry was delayed getting away. She wasn't even entirely certain she'd be able to make it because they also had a lot of snow, actually more than we did. Anyway, I bought the ruse hook, line and sinker!! And without reason if the truth be known because (1) had I thought about it, I would have remembered that this particular restaurant did NOT take reservations and (2) Sherry had already intimated she might try to come down within a few days or so! I guess turning 62 fried some of my brain cells. 😀 But I have to say, it was the loveliest birthday I've ever had!!

Isn't he the cutest pudgy bird?!? I took this picture on 7 January. The snow had cleared and I had walked out of the house to take the trash out. On my return to the front door, I looked up and saw him! He was SO STILL!  So I quietly went back inside as quick as I could and grabbed my camera. He still hadn't moved when I returned, so I was able to get several pictures.  Apparently he isn't suffering from "miss a meal colic" as my Dad used to say! 

Well, that's all for now. I hope you're all enjoying this new year 2022. It's certainly come in with a bang for us!  Take good care and may God bless.

Hugs! Jan