The beginning of my harvest.

Look out berries, here comes Phoebe. She loves strawberries and i have to watch her like a hawk when she is in the garden with me.
My Strawberries are being very kind to me this year. Last years crop wasn't so kind. Take a look at what I am getting so far.
I grow my berries in straw bales. Make for a lot less work. Nice size berries Heh?

This is just the beginning of my strawberry harvest. It usually lasts till the beginning of November. Yep, even in November I am getting the last of the crop.

Oh Yummy ! ! !

I think the bumble bees are having a feast too.

Well, just a little update from 

PrimitiveJans garden

 

It was Christmas in June in my house

I was jumping up and down yesterday when the Mail Man delivered two boxes to me for two swaps that I was participating in.
One was a 4th of July swap and the other was a Happiness in June swap.

The Mail Man was even excited for me and said, "hey Jan, looks like you got your self some great packages here, and one is from NH." Heheh how funny that he took the time to see where it came from. Heheh
Well he had no idea how right he was.
This is my 4th of July swap from primouthouse Jan at Prim Pals Forum.

There was one gadget that came in my fourth of July box that I didn't know what it was but I told her that I had always wanted one and was so happy to get it but ........ what is it????? heheh . I told her that it looked like some sort of kitchen gadget but couldn't figure out what. The only thing I could figure is that it was something to push or pull hot pans out of the oven. WHAT DO YOU KNOW? I was right.

The second box was from raggedyangie  also from Prim Pals Forum.

Both of the boxes were way far up and beyond expectations. Thank you so very much, Jan and Angie. You truly outdid yourselves.

Anyone for Strawberry / Rhubarb pie

YUM ! ! !

I made this yesterday and this is whats left. YUM !

WOO HOO I just reached 100 followers.

Woo Hoo thats what I'm talking about! ! !

I didn't even realize I was that close. How awesome is that. Thank you all. Its not important to have a huge quantity of Followers, its the quality that make it all worth while. I love it when I have comments. It just lets me
know that folks care enough to take the time to drop me a line.
I was just surprised as I didn't even notice that I had
so many followers.
Thanks so much,  to all of you and I hope you visit often.

Happy first day of Summer my friends. I am in wonder that after today we will already be heading towards fall. Wow, today is the longest day of the year and after today the days will start getting shorter and the nights longer. Hum. Mother Nature wasn't so kind to us this year.
My Summer Solstice blessing is for a wonderful mild season with out any further displays of destruction from good ole Mamma Natural.

My canary, Pete, did an extra special greeting this morning. He did his usual early morning song but he also did a special little dance. Do you suppose he knows its Summer Solstice?
He lost his foot in an accident last year but has adapted so well and is such a little trooper. He sings such wonderful songs and goes on and on and I guess that is his way of celebrating life.
I plan on making my famous Strawberry / Rhubarb pie today to celebrate the  Summer Solstice. What better way to say hello to Summer.
Oh Yummy! I can hardly wait till dinner is over. Heheh

Well, I am off to make the most of the longest day and work in the garden, do a little sewing, play with my dog, Phoebe, and just celebrate being alive.

Oh yea I am also celebrating the fact that I just reach 100 followers. I just turned it on this morning and VOILA, what do you know. I am so excited and feel very honored to have that many folks interested in what I may have to say.
Thank you to all my friends and followers. You are my reason for keeping on keeping on with my blog.
Hugs and Happy Summer

Gifts from the sea and a dear friend.

Diane of Lavender Dreams  http://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/ sent me some wonderful shells and a rope woven nautical bracelet and a wonderful small little hand bag for just the necessities that you need when you run to the store or out shopping.

                                           Here is a picture of the sweet gifts from the sea and Diane.
On her blog she showed a picture of all the pretty shells that she finds on the beach and I mentioned how wonderful it must be to find all those pretty little gifts from the sea and this is what she did.
Isn't she just the sweetest lady ever.

This is a better picture of the nautical bracelet. It is exactly the type of thing that I love and I have had it on ever since I got it.
I am tempted to add some cowrie shells  like the ones in this picture to the bracelet.

We drew names and we have two winners.

I will let the pictures do the talking

So Congratulations Valerie and Michelle, I will try and contact Valerie tonight but it will probably be morning before she makes her choice and then I will let Michelle know which punch needle she will be getting.
Thanks so much for  joining in the fun. I hope you will be sure to check back in the fall for my Fall Giveaway. They are always so much fun.
Have a great evening all

The little rabbit is the extra little punch needle that goes with the first picked winner.

Valerie and Michele, I hope that you both enjoy your punch needle pieces.

I wish that I could give everyone a little something but that is just the challenge of the game I guess. I just always feel bad that there has to be losers to have winners.

Its just me that wants everyone to be winners. heheh

Hugs to all of you. 

The Tree Falling

Oh My Goodness,



This was so much fun to watch but I can only imagine how scary it must be at the top of these enormous trees. I just can't believe that these fellows can climb these huge trees like they were nothing. I was always a little bit of a tomboy growing up, playing in tree houses and yes, climbing trees. I guess that these guys must have never outgrown the desire to climb those monsters. It must be sort of a rush when the top comes off and the tree starts swaying in the breeze.. Ouuuuuu....
We sat up on the hill side while we watch from a safe distance but still the sawdust fell like snow. As I was walking back to my house I was itching like crazy. Come to find out, I had sawdust all down the front of my tee shirt.
It was so exciting to watch this fellow but I think they must have a little bit of a death wish. Sort of like mountain climbers. They love the sport of it but I think its the danger that they really get off on. As for me, I will keep my feet firmly planted on the old terra firma.
Heheh
More power to you guys, Oh yes, shortly after this last picture was taken, one of the logs that were being cut, landed on another chainsaw on the ground and just shattered it to pieces, of course.
The owner of the tree cutting service said he lost money on this job big time. He bid it out at only $800 as he didn't realize just how tall this puppy was. They started out on a boom truck and quickly realized that he was going to have to have his fellow climb and cut. I would venture to guess that this tree was a good 75 yards tall. At Least! He ended up having to pay his fellow double money for climbing and cutting and then the loss of a $300+ chain saw. I felt bad for him but was happy for my friend that got the great deal.


Spring Giveaway update.
Sign up is closed for this Giveaway, and I will be drawing the names on Wednesday. I will contact you if your name is drawn and if you were kind enough to leave me a source of contacting you.
Good luck to all the participants.

 Here are the entries.

 Amy

 Karen

 Gayle

 Angie

 Michele

 Mornings322

 Wendy

 DebbieK

 Jody

 Lor

 Sue

 Valerie of Yorkies

 Diane

 Julie

 Linda Stubbs

 Linda Cartwright

 Holli

 Debbie G

Sign up is over for Spring Giveaway

Yep, if you didn't sign up for this one then you'll have to wait for Fall.
We have 17 signed up so your odds are better then if we had 50, heheh
I hope you all have your lucky gadget in your pocket so that your name is the one I pick
but remember I am picking two so your odds are even better. So on the 15th of this month I will let
my DSH, yes my dear sweet husband is a dish, hehe, but I will let him pull the two names out of
the hat and hopefully it will be yours
Good luck and thanks for joining the giveaway.
I am off to finish sewing on some other swaps that I am involved in, and I am almost done. I do my
best work when I am under pressure. The pressure is on and everything needs to be mailed
out by the 15th, 20th, and the 22nd. Busy, busy, busy bee.
Hugs to all and have a awesome day.

~~ONE DAY LEFT TO SIGN UP FOR THE SPRING GIVEAWAY~~

(This piece is not one of the giveaways) 

As I mentioned, I have added a special little punch needle piece that will go to the

first name drawn, but it will remain a surprise until 

the names are picked.

Everyone likes a surprise!

I just wanted to make sure that I have posted and received everyones info on the Spring Giveaway.

You can leave your comment on this post to enter the giveaway if you don't feel like going back to the first posting.

When you sign up for the giveaway, please  email me your address so it won't be visable for everyone to see on your comment unless you want it to be

Be sure that if you haven't already, email me your email address so that I can notify you if your are the lucky winner so you can make the first choice.                                                                                  

These are the ones that have entered the

Spring Giveaway:

These are the ones that have entered the

Spring Giveaway

Updated as of 6/7

 Amy

 Karen

 Gayle

 Angie

 Michele

 Mornings322

 Wendy

 DebbieK

 Jody

 Lor

 Sue

 Valerie of Yorkies

 Diane

 Julie

 Linda Stubbs

 Linda Cartwright

 Holli

 Debbie G

If you signed up but I don't have your name on the list please leave me another comment and Email me your email address separately at primitivejan@gmail.com

Thanks for joining in the fun and Good luck to all

Jan

Tutorial for mouse ear placements

I just made this up for another forum but it might help someone else too.

Here are a couple of recipients of the mouse ears.

Okay, now for some basketry.

A

I used to make a lot of Pine Needle Baskets until I, all of a sudden, developed an allergy to the pine needles. 

I was very very disappointed as I loved making the baskets but at least I can say I did it and I sold and bartered with many of them.

Here are a few of my favorites. This was my very first basket. I think that my dear sweet MIL put claims on that right off. hehe

This one I made for my dear sweet daughter, Summer Rose

And so this is just another part of my self put into my work. I really enjoyed the feel and the smell of the pine needle baskets. I suppose I could switch and use a different material but I haven't as of yet. It has sort of taken a back burner much like my gourd beading has. This was a little cracker basket that I made for a friend. 

I am much more into the fabric and stitching right now in my life but who knows what I will be doing tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day in my life.

Some of my beaded gourds and the latest

This is my beaded gourd display. I haven't shown them in a while and thought you all might enjoy seeing them. Some of you have seen them before but some of you haven't. This is a beading process that originates from the Huichol Indians. I have just taken it to another level. Mine is done in a 3 dimensional process.

I cover the entire surface with beeswax and then sculpt the figures and then it is all beaded one bead at a time with 13/0 beads. These beads are pushed into the wax with a tool that I have made especially for this use.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 

This was done
 on an
Ostrich egg. It is two iguana's going around the egg that has a desert rose on it.
Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my past projects.

This is a 42" circumference gourd that is still a work in progress and may be for a while but never say die. I will get it done in this lifetime I hope. hehe

These are two that I made for friends as a Christmas gift. 

Well, there is another side of my artistic abilities and next time I will show you some of my basketry. 

Yes, I dabble in many mediums. heheh

Also, you can leave a comment here if you want to be entered in the punch needle giveaway and I will add you to the list. Just be sure that I can find you if your name is picked. The drawing will be on the 15th and the last day to enter is the 10th. So whats keepin you?

heheh

These are the ones that have entered the

Spring Giveaway

Updated as of 6/7

 Karen

 Gayle

 Angie

 Michele

 Mornings322

 Wendy

 DebbieK

 Jody

 Lor

 Sue

Valerie of Yorkies

Diane

Julie

Linda Stubbs

Linda Cartwright

Holli

Debbie G

If you signed up but I don't have your name on the list please 

leave me another comment and 

Email me your email address separately at

 primitivejan@gmail.com