Whatcha Workin on Thursday

Before I get started for the day, I wanted to post a few pictures of what I have been working on this week. I really love these little extreme doll ornies. I have to dust them with cinnamon yet, that will bring them to a whole new prim level and make them smell sooooooooooo good.

These bunnies are still a work in process. I have to coffee stain and stiffen their whiskers and dress them up a bit yet....I am happy with them so far, hopefully that will continue.

Here are 2 Raggedy Annie busts. I have to coffee stain them and put on the finishing touches yet. When they are finished, they will be adorable.

Not much else happening here in Wisconsin Rapids. We are suppose to get 4-6 inches of snow this afternoon...ICK!!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOO ready for summer.

I am really getting excited about heading to Arizona with my sister this coming Wednesday!!!!! We are going to be soaking up the sun and just enjoy being with our Mom FOR A WHOLE WEEK!!!! I am sure she will take great care of us, she is such a good cook and fun to be around :)

I am also sure we will be hitting a few thrift stores while we are there. My Mom was a thrift store shopper before thrift storing was cool. Years ago, she would always want to stop at them and I felt like I was being tortured the whole time we were in there. But now.....I see a thrift store and I can't help myself...I swing in and my daughters love it too.....you know that old saying "Mother's always right"....well it's true...I hate when that happens :) ...... Just kidding Mom.

Hope you all have a BLESSED day.....God Bless....Rhonda

A FUN Weekend with my Daughter

Alyssa came to spend the weekend with us and it was just what I needed, I MISS HER SO MUCH!!!!! We had such a BLAST making cookies, watching movies, relaxing and of course, doing laundry. We made spinach artichoke dip, a broccoli chicken and biscuit hot dish and she whipped up her special choc. chip cookie with a snicker bar in the middle recipe.

Here she is taking a taste test

Here is the secret ingredient...you wrap the cookie dough around a whole bite size snickers bar. I know this picture shows 1/2 of a bite size bar...but it was one of our first batches...we liked the cookies with a whole bite size bar inside much better....MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Alyssa is a GREAT cookie maker...she pays very close to detail while they are baking, they are nice and golden brown..don't they look delicious!!!!

I picked up these canisters at the Goodwill last week for Alyssa's apartment. We washed them up and they are ready for action. I find that it is not worth spending a lot of money on dishes for a college student.....chips, chips, chips is what seems to happen. When she is married and settled we will go all out on the decos then.

As you can see from this picture also...she was enjoying her choc. chip cookies....I didn't notice her choc. smile until after I had taken the picture...we laughed and laughed...She is such a NUT!!!!!!

Alyssa is my blog pages designer and darn good at it!!!!!! She gave my blog page a new face lift this weekend and I LOVE IT!!!! She used a few pictures of my latest creations for my heading...what do you all think.....I love how it is so personalize now to my world....Thanks Alyssa!!!! If you are wondering what we were watching on the tv...it was Bull Riding....I LOVE BULL RIDING...we don't miss the PBR on the weekends!!!!!!

Alyssa bought me this book "THE GENTLE THUNDER, Hearing God Through The Storm" by Max Lucado and gave it to me this weekend, she thought it looked like something I would like to read....Thank you so much honey....you are such a thoughtful daughter. I started reading it and will try to post some comments as to how this book hits my heart. WOW, you really know your daughter is growing up when she brings you deep thinking presents like this...it's pretty cool.

She took a picture of Brent and I as we were watching all her activities.

Here is Alyssa before heading back to college.....I miss her already and can't wait until she comes back again for a visit!!!! If any of you are interested in my daughters journey through college and as she prepares for her 26.3 mile marathon this June check out her blog and encourage her on her way. She is growing in the LORD by leaps and bounds too which is such an inspiration to read about especially from a young girl living in a very busy worldly environment, a college campus. I am so proud of you Alyssa, I LOVE YOU with ALL my heart!!!!

What a blessing Alyssa is to me. Young mothers, as your kids are fighting and messing up the house and driving you crazy some days....hang in there....your reward is coming....A BEST FRIEND FOREVER who will also keep you FOREVER YOUNG!!!!!

God Bless......Rhonda

Whatcha Workin on Wednesday

I seem to be posting only once a week lately, that is probably because I do not have a lot to report on except what I have been creating. That will soon be changing though because in two weeks my sister and I are going to visit our Mom in Arizona and I can't wait. I will be so nice to feel some sunshine and walk around in shorts. I will take lots of pictures to share with you all.

Well, today was another day of working on my prims. I LOVE the way this horse turned out. I still have a few finishing touches to add to him, but he is almost finished.

Here is another prairie doll swag I finished up today

A close up of one of the dolls

I also finished up this Annie Swag....I think this is adorable

Close up of one of the Annie's

I just LOVE this little dog. It is a copy of a early pattern that Mothers used to make for their little children to play with.

I found a dog pattern on-line and then re-drew some of it to match the vintage picture of the dog...I was pretty please with the way it turned out.

That's about it...hope you all had a blessed day. To get in on the fun, visit Leslies blog and share your day with us.

God Bless, Rhonda

Whatcha Workin on Wednesday

Today was finished up the projects you already have started day. After spending the first part of the week organizing, I was excited to get sewing again. Andy finally got some clothes. I didn't have a pattern for his pants so I had to draw one...not really hard just a few fitting problems. I will make a few changes next time I make them.....learn as you go that's my motto in the sewing.

Andy is holding a big heart with a grungy hang tag that says "I Love Annie"......He's got his arm around her.......too cute

These are small Annie's that I am going to make into a swag...they will be cute when they are finished, hoping to finish them tomorrow. I will post pictures of them done.

Here are some more bunny's made from a free pattern from Sweetpeas Primitives to go to her awesome blog and download her pattern click here....One of them is holding a baby doll...LOVE THAT!!!!!

Bunny-Bunny

In my last post, I said I would post some pictures of some of the western show clothes I have made for some of my clients. I started making show clothes about 14 years ago when my daughters and I used to show our horses, I pretty much just sewed for us. But people would ask me so design shirts for them so I started sewing for others about 8 years ago.......I became a very busy girl. I use Lamb skin leather for the appliques and Swarvorski crystals for an awesome sparkle. Here are a few pictures of my work.

I sold a lot of these...they were a big hit last year!!!!!

I love the contrast of the black and aqua blues

When the sun hits the crystals it is a stunning SPARKLE out in the arena!!!!!

This one was a different design I tried I LOVE the neckline, but I think if I make it again I will add a collar onto the neckline.

I made brown pants to match this jacket...I think this is one of my favorites

Here I am....finally finished with these two...YES!!!! I was sooooo glad

I also made pants to match this jacket

I made pants to match this jacket also

Well, that's about it for today for me. To join in on the Wednesday fun check out Leslie's blog and let us know what you are workin on today.

God Bless and Always remember...JESUS LOVES YOU!!!!.....Rhonda

My Sewing Room Before and After

We moved into this rental here in Wisconsin Rapids in August of 2008. It is a temporary situation so we have tried not to unpack too much of our stuff. Most of our things are in storage in our home town in Spooner, Wisconsin and that's where it will stay until the owners of the cranberry marsh Brent manages builds a new house on the marsh...which might be this summer or next...I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! Our move here to Rapids is our 2nd move in less then a year, so as you can imagine....we are sick of packing and unpacking and would like to make our next move as easy as possible....Anyhoo.....

God has blessed me with being able to work on my primitives full-time since we moved here to Rapids. I need items and supplies on hand for that, so my sewing room has become FULL of thrift store and Goodwill finds, fabrics and all in all STUFF. I have been shuffling this stuff from corner to corner for awhile now and dealing with the mess but, last week.....I HAD HAD ENOUGH. I was spending more time looking for my patterns pieces, scissors, fabrics, pins, pens, etc.....then I was sewing. So I decided that some of the shelves I had in my sewing room in Spooner were coming in here. Thankfully we did bring them here to Rapids, they were out in the garage just waiting to come in here but, the only hitch would be that Brent would have to put them together and he HATES putting them shelves together. But, being the wonderful husband he is...he put them together after church Sunday with a smile on his face through most of the process.

This picture looks worse then it really was....I had to move everything to one side of the room so Brent could put the shelves together, I'm really not that bad of a pig. But this is the stuff I have been shuffling from corner to corner. I am surprised I got any creating done during the day with this stuff sitting around...things are OUT OF CONTROL

Brent put the shelves together on Sunday and I am sooooooooo thankful!!!!!!!

Organizing all that stuff took 2 full days....when I starting I didn't think it would take 2 days but after looking at the before pictures I am surprised it didn't take me all week :)

My next step is to get a some curtains. I kicked up a sheet last week and threw it up on the curtain rod Brent put up for me because the sun was beating in the window and blinding me.

There are built-in shelves which really works well for organizing my stuff.

My sewing room is in the basement. There is a fire place down here but we have not used it...but it's cute

Now that's more like it

I also had Brent put up my bulletin board....I LOVE this for pining my pattern pieces on so they are easy to find

I LOVE my cutting table, it's just the right height for me

My sister let me borrow her sewing table about 10 years ago and I still have it and I LOVE it. It is nice to have my serger right next to my sewing machine with my comfortable chair on wheels so I can wheel from one machine to the other.

I use my serger for sewing western show clothes. I have not worked on any of my show clothes since we moved here....but I hope to soon. I will post pictures of some of the jackets I have made for some of my clients in a future post. I have been sewing western show clothes for about 8 years now.

It is so nice to have everything organized in tubs and boxes and easy to get to

Well, that's what I have been working on this week...and it was quit a job as you can see. I debated whether to share my mess with you all but I did...it's all part of the journey and that's what makes life interesting.

Take Care and God Bless.....Rhonda

Whatcha Workin On Wednesday

Opal

First off, I would like to share that the first song on my blog music, There will be a day by Jeremy Camp, is my husbands favorite song right now so I posted it for him. Thank you Jesus for my christian husband, he is truly a blessing to me and very handsome too!!!!!!

Today I put the finishing touches on some of my new creations. I named this doll Opal after my daughter's cat Opal. She is ready for Valentine's Day and is proclaiming her LOVE for her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She is proudly holding a heart that says, My Heart Belongs To Jesus......Amen Sister, so does mine!!!!!!!!

She can either hang as a door doll or sit on a shelf. She kinda has that deer caught in the head lights look on her face. I know how she feels, I had this same look on my face this afternoon while I was trying to come up with some ideas for the finishing touches for these gals. Anyway, I sure love her pony tails and her purple dress!!!!

Gerda

I named this gal Gerda also after one of my daughter's cats, she is so ugly she's cute :) She is holding a heart that is made out of a vintage piece of embroidered linen. She does look like she has a little bit more on the ball compared to her sister Opal...but she also looks like she could be a bit crabby at times. Oh well, we all have our days.

These sisters are sitting so pretty and waiting for their trip to "The Country Freckles" tomorrow

Here are the sisters just before I got them dressed and put the finishing touches put on them.

I named this little gal Franny...I still have to give her a hair do...I am thinking about a up do for her but not sure...I will see how she ends up tomorrow when I finish her.

Here are two Primitive bird pinkeeps that I finished up today also. I think they turned out adorable....this pattern is from Sassafras Hills Primitives. I ordered several more of her patterns to try....I am excited to see how they turn out also. Thank you Denise for sharing your awesome God given talent with us.

Valentine Bowl Fillers

Here are some Valentine bowl ornies I made using old vintage linens. I LOVE the way these turned out, so dainty and delicate looking yet so very prim

Last but not least, I am almost finished with the Raggedy Annie and what do you think about my Andy, I gave him a flat top hair do :) He is wearing his birthday suit at the moment but I will finish up his clothes tomorrow hopefully in time to head to the Freckle with the rest of the gang.

Not much else going on here in Rapids....just trying to stay warm and toasty. Hope everyone had a BLESSED and PRODUCTIVE Wednesday.

God Bless.......Rhonda