Thrifting to Kitties!

Wednesday I went to visit my folks in Spartanburg and Mom and I picked up Aunt Marty and headed off to lunch together. After lunch we went to a Salvation Army store where I found a few bargains. I spent a total of about $7. I got the lovely sweater for $2.50, some 6x6-inch board canvases for 25 cents each. A frame to hold a kitty picture for 49 cents, some furniture rubber coasters for 49 cents, a wig for Greg's mannequin that he dragged home awhile ago for $1.99 and some circle label sheets for 49 cents as well.

Yesterday (Friday) I stopped at the Hobby Lobby in Easley , SC and just bought sale and clearance items. The Easter items were all 90% off.

I had earned some Kohl cash and they were having a friends and family coupon sale as well so I ordered us a new sheet set as our sheets are staring to get a bit thin. I love the vintage look of this set of sheets.

 I decided to layout all the Golden Gate blocks that I have received and made for this months block swap and then I added the blocks we swapped for last month. I am so wanting to turn these into a Queen sized quilt for our bed. I need 30 total blocks so I am nearly halfway there.

 Last night Scott and I went up to Travelers Rest to Pizza House for a delicious meal. I got the large Greek salad and 8 teriyaki wings and Scott for the greek salad with salmon on top. Scott ended up having to help me eat the wings as that salad was HUGE! We must have been starving as we cleaned our plates - no to go boxes last night which is quite unusual for us.

 Then it was kitty time! All three came in when we got home but only Cally and Tippy settled in for the night. I guess Howie had things to do.

Cat Traps and Notecards

 I recently bought myself a new pair of sneakers and Tippy loved the new "cat trap" I mean box. He is my little shadow these days. He is the smallest of the three cats and craves the most attention out of all three of them.

 I got on a roll and made 20 small doodles on 2-inch squares using 3 markers and 2 gelly roll pens that I in turn created 20 3x3-inch tiny note cards. Ten say Hi/hello and 10 that say Thanks. It was a lot of fun layering them up.

Thanks and Thank you cards.

Hi and Hello cards.

Confining oneself to a 2 inch by 2 inch square you can really end up with tiny cards that make a wonderful impact. I'm ready to create some more.

A New Week Begins

We came back up to Greenville to the cottage last evening as we had hoped to have today to get a few things done around here but it has rained ALL DAY! We did go get the mail from the PO Box and picked up a few groceries. But the rest of the day was spent just chilling out and napping. I am currently wide awake and Scott has gone off to bed... it's 10 33 PM. He goes back to work in the morning and my plan is to go visit my folks and perhaps visit a bit with Aunt Marty too. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow too.. yuck!

While we were down at the house in Cayce we managed to get a quick walk in by the River and it was so nice. Someone has gone in and done some carvings on the trees that came down in the flood of 2015. They are so cute and fun to look for as you are walking a long.

 Some of the trees down there are SO huge. I took this photo of Scott standing next to one the the large trees.

 A favorite view of the rail road bridges! And where our walk ended. They are still making a lot of repairs to teh walkway. SO much was lost in  that flood.

WHO IS THIS GOOFY COUPLE ANYWAY?

 A blue heron and the sun going down and the pathways becoming golden with the street lights coming on. It was simply wonderful to be there again.

Life's Roadway

We are facing some changes and are unsure of where this new "Y" in the road will take us but I will write more about that when I know more as right now it's just a bunch of "IF'S". On this section of our life's journey I am sitting fully in the passenger seat awaiting to see where the Pilot will land us.

We are currently in Cayce for a few days at the house and I brought the laundry down here as I can use the dryer and get it done faster. I am nearly finished with our stuff and will probably wash Greg's pile once I am finished with ours. I need to look around and see if I have left any shoes here that I can do some yard work in as I wore sandals down here yesterday and that just will not do to pull trash out of the yard.

While we are down here I would love to go for a walk at  the River as it has been ages since we have been there. I so miss our walks there and the feeling of rejuvenation  that it gives us. We are only staying until tomorrow as there are some things we have got to get down at the cottage... like clean  the yard up and mow the grass.

A bush in bloom at the Cottage

The flowers are about the size of a 50 cent piece.

My precious buddy - Tippy

Nearing the End of April

Can you believe it is nearly the end of April all ready? Talk about a year flying by!!!

I'm getting back into quilting a bit and have been sewing blocks to exchange with ladies around the World that I "met" online. This months block is called Golden Gate and it was a super easy and fast block to put together.  I made 8 blocks in a single day and just love how they turned out. Not nearly as fiddly as last months block and I was thrilled about that!

 You can see where I had to use some different reds as I am trying to use only from my fabric stash and ran out of the small white dot on red and then I ran out of the small hearts on red and had to use a bandana red fabric for the last two blocks but I figured the ladies wouldn't mind since the blocks are going around to different ladies in different States and Countries. I only needed to mail out 6 so the two "extras" will be for me to use. I have really enjoyed the red, white and grey blocks and if we don't exchange more I will make some more myself as I would love to make a Queen sized quilt for Scott and I in this color scheme.

The Cottage Kitties have been cracking us up with their antics. They have become nearly obsessed with my windshield and I caught them on video this morning...

They really crack us up!

Frustrations!

We've  been living between two homes for over a year now and I have reached a level of acceptance that it is going to be quite awhile longer. I am trying to focus on the daily happy things  that happen in our lives and pushing larger hopes and dreams to the way back of  my mind. I will just go with the flow as the level of anxiety was starting to creep into that dark zone that I never want to visit again. We will continue the work on our house and perhaps the housing market will recover better as right now we are in a buyers market to sell and a sellers market to buy and the housing prices are vastly different.

Things that make me happy...

An unexpected little rain shower that is helping the bulbs and seeds that I planted a few weeks ago grow. I am hoping to have a lovely little flower garden at the front of the cottage  that I can pick flowers for a bouquet on the table. In the picture to the left you can see the little ditch that I dug to keep my little flower garden from washing away.

My Crafting... I'm always happiest when I am creating.  I've really enjoyed this past weeks creative sessions and am looking forward to what the next couple weeks holds ... meeting some new card makers, sewing quilt blocks and perhaps some sewing of clothes for myself. Here are a few of the things I made this week...

 And of course these 3 Cottage Kitties always make my heart happy...

Craft and Thrifting

 Yesterday morning I created these bunnies and chicks; they are corner book marks. I really love how they turned out. I did go back and added a few eye lashes to make them even cuter. 
 Today I went to two Goodwills and found a few bargains. A couple outfits for my little niece, Madeline. Each piece was just $2.

 And I found a few household items... some great tongs, a cat dish to hold my glasses on my night table, a gardening themed frame and some glass coasters.

 And some crafty bits! OF COURSE... the paper pads were just 25 cents each!

Wrapping up March

You can probably see in this photo that Tippy had a little boo boo. I think it was from a bite from his brother, Howie as they wrestle pretty hard together and Howie can be such a brute. It is healing fine but he did loose a patch of fur on his shoulder.

The azaleas in front of the cottage are being just as lovely as the dogwood outside our bedroom window.

A Spring shot of the cottage

 I altered some envelopes to make  mailable art. These are so much fun to create and I love to mail things out in them to brighten someone's  mail box.