~ Relaxing Weekend Ahead ~

   Good Friday MORNING dear friends and stitchers!!

Yes, I've really got my act together this Friday, I'm actually 

posting this in the morning instead of the late

 afternoon.....this may be a first for me!

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I always thought it would be fun SOMEDAY to open a 

needlework museum, but for now I'm just 

enjoying sharing my years of collecting right here....

This is a beautiful early 'Thread Well' holder.

The color of wood is just marvelous!

The base is accented with little inlaid ivory studs.

I'm not sure what type of wood this is, but the quality of 

workmanship is really outstanding!

To use a thread well, you would lift the lid and place your 

ball of crochet thread inside,

 and then thread it through one of the eyelets....

The two thread eyelets are also ivory.

It looks like maybe the very top of the finale broke off 

over the years, but I still love the overall beauty.

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Every year the Christmas season is always so busy, I'm

hoping this year I'll have more time to do some

special decorating.  I'm having fun just

paging through all my different Christmas books 

gathering ideas.....

~ The Pleasures of Christmas ~

by Early American Homes

Hardcover

152 Full Color pages

©1996

Published by Random House

Here's a glimpse of the contents....

This book is packed with traditional ideas for decorating your

home, holiday entertaining (recipes), gifts to make, and 

Christmas collectibles.

I love looking closely at the small details of each page, looking

for unique ideas.

I keep a small notebook by my stitching chair so while I'm

paging through a fun book in the evening I can make

myself little notes of the things I want to try this year.

 I've got a great idea for a 'Needlework' tree that I'll share

with everyone when it gets closer to Christmas :)

I like the idea of putting a small tree into a pretty 

old basket!

Lots of collectible Santas; painted chalkware and composition,

just perfect for the Santa lovers.

This book even has patterns with complete directions to make

wonderful old time looking ornaments.

Hope you enjoyed the preview for this book...it gets

another 5 star rating.

**********

For now I'm getting exciting about starting to decorate for 

fall.  In fact I pulled out my pair of large solid concrete

Owls from the barn....

I still haven't decided where I'm going to put them this year...I'm

going to start my Autumn mode on September 1st.

These Owls stand 25" tall and are so heavy I can't even lift

one....that's were my Husband & Son come in very handy!

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Awhile back I posted my Tiger Lilies when they were just

starting to bloom, now look at them.....

What a great shade of orange!

These plants are so tall and top heavy they are leaning 

away from the porch....or maybe they are 

reaching for more sunlight?

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Okay, now I have a confession to make.....the real reason I was able 

to release this post so early this morning is because I 

actually did it Thursday night, I'll be out

antiquing today.....

This is my absolute FAVORITE antique show that I have

been going to for many, many years!  

If you live anywhere near Rochester, Minnesota and are

looking for something fun to do this weekend....please

check it out!

It's about an hour drive for me, but I always look so forward

to it....yeah!!

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Plus, I also have a very special day planned on Saturday, I'll

be going to my favorite cross stitch shop in the 

Madison, Wisconsin area.

I'll take lots of pictures this weekend.....so please 

come back on Monday for a special 

field trip to a very special shop!!

Hope you have a fun and busy weekend in YOUR

special corner of the world!

Blessings from the Studio of Scattered Seed Samplers,

~ Kindly, Tammy ~

♥♥