Green thumb

This summer has been hot and humid just the right amount of rain.   I have tomatoes that are pulling down there cages from the weight of the plants - I have to stake the cages up!   I thought I would share the pics from May 15 to June 15.

 These 2 are in May when I cleaned up the gardens from there winter sleep.

 These 2 are from June.  And now they are even twice as full and blooms abounding.  The house looks pink in this picture - I don't know why.  It really is red. lol

Below is a faux bamboo.  I believe it is called Japanese knot weed.  It is huge!  Covering my screen porch giving it a nice little oasis inside.  It regrows each year and in the fall has beautiful white delicate flowers.  But it creeps so don't want to plant it where it can spread - it will take over everything!

 And the bittersweet!  I have plants all along a fence line and they are just hanging with berries.   I usually don't harvest it because it is so pretty on the vine.  But this year I may just for the abundance!  This is one of the runners not even a main part of the plant.   I don't recall ever having so many berries.  Going to be beautiful!

I have gardens all over the yard and they are just beautiful this year!   So nice to have a year like this that things are happy - well except the hanging baskets, those kinda pooped out already in the heat, just couldn't keep enough water in them.  

Been sewing and sewing and sewing.....

Thought I would give you a peek at all that has been made in the sewing room this year.   So many items!   We will start with Spring...

 Then I went to some Americana

Had to add some sweet little nesting birds.

And hey how could you go wrong with cabbage?  These look so great in a basket with some carrots!

Then it was time to get into fall.   It is so strange to be sewing fall stuff when its 90 degrees outside.  It has been a hot humid summer here in central Minnesota.   Have to recall how we complained it was to hot when it is 40 below in 6-7 months.

I hope you enjoyed a peek of what is happening in my sewing room.   All is on my website if you wish to purchase any of them. www.handcraftedbymichelle.com

Ready for another show

Getting ready for another wholesale market out in PA.  Everything is loaded in the trailer and for the first time in a long time I am done ahead of time.   I am finding I have nothing to do since I dont want to start a new batch of dolls before I leave. Plus I have my repair kit etc packed up that has some of my tools.   And honestly Im struggling to figure out what I want to make next.  You sew sew sew for a show then its hard to regroup.  Heres a video of my storage room before the packing up, missing a few items that were still be finished by it an idea of what I made since middle of October. 

In other news - have not sold the house as of yet.   Hoping in the Spring it will sell and we can start the next chapter.  When I think of packing up this house and work shop I sweat a little!  So much stuff.....   But I dont want to get rid of anything until I know where we are going.  Will not know until we find a place what I need. 

I hope this finds everyone well and healthy.   Im back to dealing with my anxiety and panic attacks.  So strange how you can go about your life then BAM they are back.   I have dealt with these for 22 years (when I had a name put to them) but I think since I was a kid I actually had them in a lesser degree.  I had 5 good years with minimal issues, then right before Christmas I went from minimal to extreme.   Now Im just doing day by day.    UGH   Hopefully they go back to where ever it is they hide out in my brain and let me get back to enjoying life. 

Website updated!

Check out the website - all updated!   www.handcraftedbymichelle.com

Another trip to PA

Well another show in the books.  Had a nice trip out to PA to the wholesale gift market show.  We made it there and back to MN with no weather issues.  However it sure hit out there a few days later!  Here is a look at the booth this year.

We kept this trip simple - did not venture out of the show area.  We save that for the June show when its summer and warm!
Here are a few snap shots of the process of making stock!

 Body parts waiting to get assembled.

 All lined up in the basement waiting to get put in the trailer

 Rabbits anyone?   These guys were a hit!

And how could they not be they are so fun!  Almost 36" tall - great statement piece!

So what do you do during a blizzard???

So knowing the blizzard was do to arrive we made a game plan on what to "redo"  Now keep in mind this is our usual "MO".  Wait until 3 weeks before the open house and do something major. 
This is the before - nice but just a regular sheet rocked ceiling.  And yes working around the Christmas tree and all the decorations!

The during

Now this next one is a no no,  he is on the "this is not a step step"  lol   I hate heights, so my knees get shaky just looking at this picture. Considering that is a 12 foot ladder!

The final result

Just love the look!  The old rusty tin fits the walls.   Talk about a warm and cozy room.  I enjoy the fireplace and warmth the room itself puts out.   But maybe just maybe we will try to do something to the house when we are not under such time limits!  Or not...

Let it snow.... then let it melt!

It was a crazy storm we had Nov 18.  The news kept calling for it to start over night, well I woke up to rain hitting the windows.  Keep in mind we live in Minnesota - so rain in November usually means ice.   Not the case this time, it was warm enough to have actual rain.... to start with.   This was the morning view.

Then about a hour later things are starting to pick up a bit.   We had 40-50 mph winds with this storm so schools closed, clinics and stores closed early.   But as I was starting the day I thought " this is not what they were calling for, guess the news got it wrong".  Well time would tell..  This was less than a hour later at about 9:30

Then we went into Blizzard warning mode and by noon this was looking out my sewing room window.

However, it was over by Saturday morning leaving 14" of new snow.  It was quite pretty and life went back to normal with driving thru the 14" with ruts of ice underneath from the rain that froze when the temps dropped.  And let me tell you the roads were so rough I thought I would damage my car. 

But it was strangely not to last.  Temps warmed up again ( which is kinda odd to lose that much snow late in November)

SO this is the view now.  Muddy dirty snow.