~ The Olde Farmhouse ~

Hello dear friends and needleworkers.

My Thursday guests have arrived to a very clean farmhouse!

I cleaned like crazy from Monday through Thursday, 

and was very lucky to even have the wonderful

help from my husband Bill and Son Sam!

While I was busy dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing and all kinds

of other things in between, my guys mowed the lawn,

week whacked, shampooed rugs & carpets....it was a real

team effort.

Everything looks better after a good cleaning, so I thought 

I'd share a few glimpses of the olde farmhouse.....

~ Olde farmhouse guardian angel ~

This beautiful olde angel came out of St. Michael's Orphanage,

in La Crosse, Wisconsin many years ago before they 

tore the building down.

At one time it was painted, it had been setting outside for many

years before I rescued it about 22 years ago, and I've kept it

inside ever since....safe from the elements of nature.

*******

Hickory, dickory dock the mouse ran up the clock.....

Very old cats sit on top of my mother's grandfather clock.

The three big cats are over an 100 years old, and the little

white one is a newer mini reproduction.

The black cat is a sweet little wind up toy that rolls a tin ball.

It has green glass eyes, and is also over 100 years old.

And here is the little mouse that ran up the clock!  

My husband Bill carved this little clock mouse for me.  It has 

a leather tail, copper feet, and copper tack eyes.

*******

Old salt glazed jug with red berries....pretty for the harvest

season.  

*******

My collection of German Sheep.  This is the one thing that

I did NOT get dusted in my cleaning efforts.

I have been saving this project for a rainy day, because I want

to completely rearrange how I have everything displayed.

I will share pictures of the new arrangements before Christmas.

Two old 'Scottie' dogs share this old chair from France.

*******

An old trunk with some of my husband's carved wooden decoys

sits on a lovely woven cloth.

This wood decoy sits on top of my Grandmother's old

bench with iron legs.

*******

These are original Dayton Hudson Department Store display 

sheep that sit up on top of a very large amour from Europe...I will

try to get a picture of the amour when the lighting is better, 

the one I took didn't turn out.

*******

~ Lovely old sheep picture ~

*******

  

~ Display of three old mourning sheep ~

This one is solid concrete, and very heavy....luckily my husband

has this shelf anchored very well to the wall!

This one is solid marble with set in wooden ears, and again

very heavy.

*******

Small church pew that my husband bought me 22 years ago for my

first Mother's Day gift.  

*******

This is a wall in our kitchen with a pendulum clock that

came out of an old La Crosse Hotel.....I would really

like to replace the old wallpaper some day.

******* 

I will try to get more picture of the house, for some reason

I had a real problem with the lighting.

Now that my cleaning is caught up, all I can think about

is finishing my Halloween sampler!

I'll share a progress report on Monday.

Enjoy a wonderful weekend!

Blessings from the Old Farmhouse at Scattered Seed Samplers,

~ Kindly, Tammy ~

~ Down Abby's Lane ~

Hello dear friends and needleworkers.

Here in Wisconsin we're getting our first encounter with

hot, humid weather :(

Over the weekend while taking advantage of this 

opportunity to stay in the house..... I got a lot 

of stitching done :)

******

For my faithful followers who already know who 

Abby is, there may be those who don't, so 

I'd like to introduce everyone to my dear sweet

Abby ~ short for Abigail.....

Hi, I'm Abby Black!

My little friend is a wild rabbit, and here are some of 

Abby's baby pictures from this spring....

My son Samuel discovered our family of bunnies this spring

while mowing the grass.

Here she is all snuggled up with her siblings.....look at ALL 

those little bunny ears!

After a week of discovering them, they all split up, but 

little Abby stayed close to the farmhouse.  

I fell in love with her at first sight, and would look for her

every day so I could talk to her....

As she grew....so did our friendship!

Here she is just last week all grown up and so beautiful!

She loves to TRY and help me with WEED CONTROL here

on the farm.

 My son Sam took this awesome video.....
(Just click on the image to play)

I do believe Abby enjoys all the attention she gets from all

of us here on the farm....she definitely loves

posing for pictures....

Hope you enjoyed getting to meet me?

**********

This was really a great week for outstanding pictures 

here on the farm, I have not seen one of these in years.....

~ A Praying Mantis ~

My son Samuel took another great video for me....

(Click on the image to play)

I love the reflection as the Praying Mantis walks on the car....

It always amazes me how God created SO many unique 

insects and creatures!

One last insect....

Neat looking moth, nice color contrast with the black & mocha

markings.

**********

There are signs of summer's end all over the farm....

These pictures were taken by the pond here on our farm....

Everything is all overgrown and the pond is covered with algae.

No turtles today, but at night the frogs just go crazy...I love

 listening to them on a still dark night.

******

The farm fields are so pretty right now....

They are full of Autumn blooming plants.

The Goldenrod is now taking over the Purple Coneflower.

What an intense shade of yellow!

I love how pretty the Goldenrod looks in my old cobalt blue

jar....the folkart frog was carved by my Irishman. 

**********

Check out this round field mushroom....

I have no idea what kind of mushroom this is, but it's bigger

than it looks...

Like I said, you just never know what you'll come across next

here on this olde farm!

**********

Now, for a Studio update.

I started with a pencil sketch for my next upcoming Halloween

pattern.  I have it all charted, linen cut and threads chosen.

 The model is being stitched on 35ct. Weeks Dye Works 'Beige', and

I'm using Needlepoint Silk, but will include the DMC 

alternatives for this pattern.

I hope to have the stitching all complete by the end of this

week, so I can get this released the first week of

September.  

Here is a very small sneak peek....you may be very surprised

with the finished sampler!  

**********

On Thursday our oldest son Nathan and his family will be visiting

with us for a week.  

Nathan's work is moving them from Virginia to California 

for an eighteen month assignment.

Will be fun to see our little Granddaughter Rachel, who will

turn three October 26th.

**********

 ~WEEKLY SOUL FOOD ~

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:

for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, 

which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

James 1:12...KJV

**********

Now, I must do some dusting, vacuuming, and moping....so

I'm ready for our Thursday guests!

Please come back and visit me on FRIDAY!

Blessings from the Studio of Scattered Seed Samplers,

~ Kindly, Tammy & Abby ~

~ Antique Gatherings & Country Roadsides ~

Hello dear friends and needleworkers.

Wow, it's hard to believe it's Friday already!

As promised on Monday, today I'll be posting the rest of 

pictures taken from over the weekend.

I'll be starting with my antique purchases from

Gold Rush and Country Sampler...

~ Strawberry Pincushion, Bee Skep Tape Measure, and
Bee Skep Thread Waxer ~

This Strawberry pincushion is in excellent condition, and the
 handle is stamped Sterling Silver.

Oh how I've wanted to add one of these to my collection, and

now I finally found one!

**********

Next, is a marvelous little Beehive Skep Tape Measure....

This is such a sweet little tape measure, and in excellent 

condition for its age. 

It has Ivory feet, a little bee hole,

 and the little nob on top that turns to wind up 

the tape measure.

The tape measure is made of silk, and is very fragile and

faded from age.

What a SWEET find....this has found a very good

new home in my collection!

I WISH that $10.00 was the price I paid....must have been
from years ago!

**********

This must have been my lucky day for Bee Skeps.....

 This is what's called a 'Thread Waxer'.

It actually has Beeswax in the center, and you would

just pull your thread over it.

It is made out of Vegetable Ivory, and is in mint condition 

with NO cracks or repairs!

Just LOVELY...hope you agree!

**********

Next, is a wonderful old sewing box signed and dated....

I love sewing items that are signed and dated....so awesome!

~ Josephine S. Allen ~ 1881 ~ 

This box is 133 years old!!

It had a small key at one time, perhaps I'll be able to find

one that fits.

The hinges still work, there are no bad odors when you open 

it up.  There is a neat ink stain, which tells me she 

probably used this for letter writing.

The previous owner taped this little note to the inside lid.

I wonder what Josephine Allen looked like?

**********

This was also my weekend for neat sewing boxes...

I was drawn to this box because it looks so primitive with

crown looking curves, and little round nobs!

I need to do a little touching up on this piece with some 

dark color wood stain.

This box is handmade out of old Cigar boxes....

The bottom of the drawers all have neat old labels on them.

Some of them have stamped advertising on the sides.

**********

I also found a nice old hand blown Apothecary Chemistry
medicine jar....

I've added some of my Grandmother's old buttons.  

**********

Those were my purchases from Gold Rush.

 I didn't really
buy too much at Country Sampler....because I 
spent too much at Gold Rush!

I did however, find some pretty new fabrics to add to my stash!

Also, found a great new Christmas book....

Lovely book, I'll do a review on it later next week.

I also picked up a jar of Walnut Ink Crystals, and 
a great smelling candle for my Studio, the scent is called
BROOMSTICK....great harvest smell!

************

The next part of this post will feature special country
roadside scenery.......

I just had to pull over and take some pictures of this neat
old log cabin.

How primitive can you get?

What a neat old door!

It's right off the main highway, and is nicely mowed.  
The log cabin is surrounded by trees, bushes and flowers.

Even a huge Thistle plant!

**********

Next, is my FAVORITE picture.....

This old barn is completely overgrown with ivy!
On the far right side is actually a small attached silo, but all
you see is ivy. If you look real closely on the far left
is the attached milk house, again completed 
covered!

While taking this roadside picture a young Amish girl
carrying school books was walking down the highway.  I waited
for her to pass and only took a picture of her from
behind, because the Amish don't like having their picture
taken.....

The log cabin, and barn pictures were taken between 
Viroqua and Richland Center, Wisconsin.

************

This next group of pictures were taken in Spring Green....

This was taken at an apartment complex building.  All the
lovely Sunflowers caught my eye!

Sunflowers are just SO pretty!

**********

Next, is a little garden park area were I parked my car to walk
down to the Country Sampler....

A peaceful little garden park to sit and relax.

My Grandma and I used to always plant lots of Zinnia's....so 
these have always been my favorite flower!

I love that big iron Coneflower!

Such lovely bright colors!

Sweet smelling Lavender, there were so many bees buzzing I 
had to be really careful not to get stung! 

**********

The last picture was taken in Madison in the parking lot of 
another shop I stopped at called 'Stitcher's Crossing'....

 Check out the ivy all tightly wrapped around this 
business sign!

I really love Ivy, but someone really NEEDS to cut back the 
Ivy around these doors and windows....yes, there are
actually windows under all that Ivy!

So this is the end of my weekend road trip...hope you enjoyed
the pictures.

Before I close there are a couple of announcements.

First, my Sweet Abby......

 would like to invite you to come back on Monday....to see
her recent video!  

Second, I will be sharing an update and 
sneak peek of my Halloween pattern that I hope to 
release the first week of September!

**********

Enjoy a fun stitch filled weekend!

Blessings from the Studio of Scattered Seed Samplers,

~ Kindly, Tammy & Abby ~
♥♥