Morning Wonder

It seems that each and every morning brings a surprise. After a clear-sky night we were met by a bank of fog that hung in the air like wet, laundered sheets. I stood by the pasture waiting for enough daylight to walk the horses back to the barn for their breakfast. Listening, I could hear the sounds of the thankful cows as the neighboring dairy farmer eased their udder burden with the help of his milking machine. I heard the braying of a distant donkey, muffled by the moist air, and the wakening of our guinea hens in the old pine tree by the barn. The fog gave the pasture a surrealistic feel as I strained my eyes to focus on the silhouetted horses grazing just yards away from me. I gave my usual whistle and heads lifted from the grass and turned my way. I guessed that they strained their eyes, as I had just done, to see from where the whistling came. Slowly, they lumbered toward me and came into focus. Taking two ponies first, followed by the remaining three horses, we headed to the barn for the comforting warmth, light, and shelter found there.

After feeding the horses and making my rounds to the goats, chickens, guineas and ducks, I made my way back to the house for a farm breakfast....Fresh eggs, French toast and local peaches were my reward for the previous two hours' work.

This morning's fog began to dissipate and we headed out for a local Labor Day arts festival. When we climbed the hilly road that leads to our farm and entered the next valley we were treated to this view....the fog surrendering slowly to the warmth of the sunlight....another beautiful day in Cenral PA!

Every day brings a little piece of magic on the farm!

Birds of a Feather

Every so often you meet a person that seems to be a kindred spirit. I have been so blessed to have a few of these types of friends. This apron is for one of those friends....someone far away in distance but always close to my heart. I call this one "Birds of a Feather".

Inspiration...

I have been holding onto a batch of quilting fabric that I bought to fashion a sunset. Ages ago I had taken a picture of one of the girls silhouetted against the most beautiful sunset of pinks, purples and oranges. My plan was to reproduce that picture in fabric and turn it into a quilt for her. But for some reason, I just have not gotten around to starting this quilt. It seems that Mother Earth has chosen to remind me of my tardiness lately. The last two evenings have produced the most incredibly beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Though it is hard to capture their magnificent intensity digitally....I took a picture for you to enjoy. And yes, I will definitely get that quilt started!

Friendship Pillow

"Plant a seed of friendship; reap a bouquet of happiness."

Lois L. Kaufman

A special gift for a special friend....with gratitude.

Butterfly Finds a Home

You may remember a few posts earlier I posted a picture of a butterfly doily. Today I decided that this beautiful creature would make a perfect pocket covering. Each of its' wings forms a hand hole for the large center pocket located beneath the butterfly making it not only lovely but useful.

Vintage Roses

I suppose that my favorite of the vintage fabrics are the florals. Here is another piece from Stephanie that is reborn an apron....

Award Received

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Kim at Oakmoon for this lovely award. It's very sweet of you to nominate me, Kim, thank you!

Now I am going to nominate some blogs that are my favorites to read.

The Rules for those recieving an award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog

2. Link the person you received the award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours

5. Leave a message on the blogs nominated

Those nominated, in random order, are:

Maryjane from The BeeHive Cottage for a most beautifully inspiring, magazine-like blog!

Ruthann from Warm Pie, Happy Home for a wonderfully homey blog with vintage appeal!

Stephanie of Queen of Dreamsz for our shared love of vintage fabric!

Grace, Katmom, because she is a kindred spirit and the best darned lavender farmer!

Anne of Anne Fannie's Green Acres for the most inspiring gardens!

Jess of the Hectic Household because she is one of the most creative Moms I know!

The Padlock is Off

A trip to the local antique market yielded 57 new doilies for use with aprons.....so.....the padlock is off the sewing room door and I have my nose to the grindstone. This afternoon I finished this one. I think it would be a perfect gift for a bride to be, or somebody who decorates cakes, etc. I think I will just call it "Wedding Cake".

Vintage Gift

Is this not the most beautiful piece of crochet work ever? I received this as a surprise in the mail from my friend Georgann. Georgann has been a long time sewing inspiration for me. She comes up with absolutely incredible creations! I can hardly wait to add this to an apron. I think tomorrow I will remove the padlock from my sewing room and try to come up with something special for this wonderful gift. Thanks so much, Georgann!!

The Weather Dictates

Well, our hot-air balloon adventure was cancelled at the last minute. It seems that with a breeze of 9 miles per hour...ballooning is a "no go." We will schedule for another day and try again.

In spite of that, we ended up having a wonderful family day we. All of the "kids" (not goats this time) found their way to the farm today and we ended up doing a bunch of projects together. We moved stones away from our rock garden...to save to make another garden when the log home is built. We chopped wood. We cleaned pastures. And we built three more elevated garden boxes in the vegetable garden.

Hunter, Jack, Ryan, Tim and Bryan (engineering team)

Bev (heavy equiment operator)

Ryan, Bryan, Tim (excavators)

Jenn and Hunter (Gator Crew)

Amanda (supervisor)

Primo and Rocky (canine comic relief)

After the work was done we went 4-wheeling, took all the dogs to the pond to swim, did a little fishing and had a big farm lunch. Such fun...all of us around the table...babbling on and sharing experiences. This is the kind of day that we live for. Only one thing was missing...and that is Andy (our 4th....who lives in Charlotte, NC). We missed you today, Andy!!!

Thank you to Amanda and Tim, Jenn and Bryan and Hunter, and Ryan...without your help we could never have accomplished all that we did! We love you all!

Up Up and Away

I have vacuumed the sewing room and closed the door. This time there is a padlock on it. For the next few days it will remain closed as I am going on an adventure.

My honey and I are taking a hot-air balloon adventure tomorrow. Until that time I must attend to farm chores and visit with our kids who are home briefly before back to college.

I hope your weekend is wonderful!

I will share pictures of our balloon flight after tomorrow.

Up, up and Away!!!!

Vintage Ballerinas

Just a couple of hours ago, this pink vintage ballerina fabric was one panel. I am not sure what it was in a past life...but it has been reborn. Oh my, what will I do when this pile of vintage fabric is gone? I guess I am going to have to visit antique malls to look for more! You just cannot buy new fabric that has the look or the feel of the old.

For the Birds....

I found this adorable chicken fabric and thought I would turn it into an apron.....and here is the result. I call it "Hen Party". Yes, the pocket is egg fabric. Perfect attire for those trips to the henhouse for fresh eggs. I am sure the hens would LOVE it! Baaaaawwwkkk!!!

And The Winner Is........

Thursday is finally here! As each of you contacted me I placed your name on a list and assigned you a number. I had 71 entries. This morning, before Hubs left for work I had him pick a random number....and he picked #34.

#34 is......................(drumroll...........)

Carol VR from Ontario, Canada.

Congrats Carol! E-mail me with your address and I will get your apron into the mail today!

Thanks to all who participated in my give-away. I will be posting more give-aways in the future, so check back from time to time....or you can stop by and visit me whenever you like....I always have time for a cup of tea and a chat!

Addendum: Carol contacted me and would like to have this full apron that was featured on my Etsy site http://www.honeybeez.etsy.com/. It was sewn from 2 soft, colorful prints from Free Spirit and is reversible. Sure hope you enjoy your apron, Carol!

Vintage and More Vintage....

This piece of fabric caught my eye this morning....and I started laying out pieces. A little applique on the pocket (on top of the doily) and.....here you have it: (vintage from start to finish!)
So, now I must lock the door to my sewing room for a while and get some other things done. The problem is....all this vintage fabric calls to me and it is hard to stay away. Ok, somewhere I must find the strength!

The Wonder of Vintage Fabrics

Oh how I love vintage fabric. As I sew something new with each piece I wonder about the history that is woven into its' threads. This is one of my favorite pieces of fabric that was amongst my gift from Steph. Today I gave it a new life.....an apron of course! But I still wonder about its' previous life... (To check out Steph's fabric page..click here.)

Time to Sew

What an amazingly cool August we are having...and plenty of rain. Besides the benefits of not having a drought to deal with, this weather gives me a little extra time to sew. Today I finished this cowgirl fussy apron...."Calamity Jane". This is one of my favorite fabrics and I have used it in several colors over the past year.

My next projects involve digging into a yummy pile of vintage fabric that my friend, Steph sent to me. When I received those boxes I felt like a child on Christmas morning. I can hardly wait to turn them into something fabulous!

Apron Party....Summer Blog Giveaway....

Put your apron on girls, we're having a party!!!

Just because!! Because: life is good. Because: friends are dear. Because: I love the fact that so many of you visit me here. Because I am having a blast at my online store Touch of the Past Aprons . Because: I feel like having a blog party!!

So......I am hosting an apron party on my bl0g and giving one of my aprons away. Just because!

If you like aprons and would like to participate.....email me at BeeHavenMaven@aol.com . I will ship your apron anywhere.....just because!

I will be pulling one of your names out of a hat next Thursday, August 14th. You needn't be a blogger or an aquaintance of mine. If you stop by this blog and are interested....please join in!

Just Desserts

I found a little time for sewing today. Here is the latest addition to the "Touch of the Past" collection. I also made a run to the fabric store for some additional supplies....I have about 6 apron ideas floating around my brain. If only there were more hours in the day. Well, tomorrow is another day!

Thank-you Friends!

I have a sweet friend from the deep South, and her name is Autumn. Over the past year she has sent me such thoughtful surprises. Yesterday the mailman brought a package that had this wonderful bee-themed journal made by Autumn. It is adorned with the cutest little felted bee. Sitting on top of the journal is a felted beehive that Autumn sent to me last year. I cherish these things as well as so many others that I have received from my farmgirl friends. It's funny, most of these gals I have never met face to face. We e-mail, send letters and cards and wonderful surprises to each other. We know each other's life stories and share our good times and bad. Distance is all that separates us from one another. We all long to be closer, to run to each other to borrow a cup of sugar or share a cup of tea. Most of us keep online blogs and read each others' regularly to stay on top of happenings.

I am so fortunate to have so many "sisters" to share my life with. If it were another era, we would all live in the same small town. But the world has grown so and we are truly blessed to have the world of cyberspace to reach out to each other through.

So here it is gals....I cherish our friendships and never feel alone. I hope to one day meet you each face to face! You have all woven yourselves into the fabric of my life and I love you for that! Autumn, Jess, Sheryl, Maryjane, Grace, Kathie, Steph, Bonne, Sharon, Tina Michelle, Bonnie, Georgann, Debi, Carol Sue, Denise, Linda,Kim, Amy and all of my other acquaintances who grace the pages of my blog comments. Thank you for sharing with me.

Just in case you were wondering, I plan to use this lovely journal inside the door of our new farmhouse which will be finished within the year. It will become my guest book. I only hope that each and everyone of you will make your way to Bee Haven Acres for a visit and sign this book.

Do You Love Cupcakes?

There is nothing more delectable as a beautifully decorated cupcake. It is just the perfect portion for a luscious dessert. With this in mind, I designed my next apron to celebrate the cupcake....

Wild Blackberries

After what feels like weeks and weeks of blueberry picking and jam production, the bushes are all but picked clean. There were enough ripe ones left to add to a wonderful harvest of both wild and cultivated blackberries to make the yummiest jam ever....Mixed berry jam. This weekend's picking yielded 7 pint jars of this delectable, fruity spread...and another case of chigger bites!







These jars will be added to the pantry for use throughout the coming year.