a stroll through my yard this morning

The morning started out a little on the cool side, but it is a gorgeous day in East Tennessee. I got out with my camera and took a stroll, came back with over 100 photos, some of which I am sharing here. More than I usually put in one post. Daffodils
Purple Leaf Sand Cherry Tree

Next came my old fashioned bleeding hearts. It always amazes me that this delicate looking plant comes out before frost is all gone, and does not seem to be affected by the cold. Mid summer everybody thinks it is dying, it just can not take the heat, but it comes back early spring.I promise to share more photos from this little delicate plant.

more Daffodils

Wildflower - Little Brown Jug....looking good

The white dogwoods are just beginning to show a little bit.

Redbud that Jimmy had trimmed way back because it was shading too many of my flowers.

Common Columbine

more Daffodils

Flowering Almond, already fading. I have 4 of these in my yard.
(Acquired from my Mother)

This Wisteria will be blooming all over itself in the next day or two. This Wisteria is about waist high, tiny as far as Wisteria go, but it is going to be covered. I have other Wisteria, including white, but they are not as far along as this one.

And finally to the fruit trees. Hope I get pears off this one this year. Year before last I had pears, but not last year. Time will tell.

hopefully the bee is helping my chances at fruit on my many different fruit trees

I hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend. We are getting together with our children and grandchildren tomorrow afternoon. The grandchildren get to try out the new swings their Papa has hung for them.

Two new needle felted purses

I have been working on these 2 purses since I posted the Chickadee purse. Lots of interest in my needle felted purses, so thought I would post these here too. The styles of these two purses are totally different from each other.

The Etsy link for this first purse is here.

The Etsy link for the 2nd purse is here.

Now to go work on a custom order for a dark purple drawstring pouch with a needle felted lightening flash. Have the pouch knitted and felted, now to work on the needle felting.

And by the way, the Knoxville Dogwood Festival has started, but the dogwoods have not made an appearance yet. Need to get out and visit some of the many dogwood trails in the Knoxville neighborhoods.

Fiber Festival in Townsend, Tennessee

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was going to go the Fiber Festival. I had a blast. But I didn't do very well with my photography. Been knitting too much and not going out with my camera enough. Forgot a very basic rule. The sun was not shining on their faces and I didn't turn on the flash. Nor did I up the ISO. Hence, cannot see their faces, too dark.

I learned just a little about different sheep. These are Suffolk Sheep. And they herd with Border Collies.
They all want to stay real close to each other, and do not like it when one is separated to be sheared.

And the one being captured to be sheared isn't too excited about it either.
But once the shearing begins the sheep are really very calm.

Every few minutes could hear a very quiet "Bhah, Bhah"

And look at the wool off just one sheep. I am sure there is some work to do with it before it gets to the consumer (me) even when we get it in close to raw form for needle felting.

I bought lots of rovering for my needle felting and even found a wonderful blue for bluebirds. Now if I can just needle felt a bluebird I am satisfied with. I only get to keep the purses to use for myself when I don't think they are quite up to selling quality. Ladies, it looks like I might be getting the first one. No, I didn't do this on purpose so I could have the first one.

Spring is in the air

When we first bought the property we now live at I planted crocus on the bank at the road. We bought the property in 2004. I had forgotten about the crocus, until this year, when they finally decided to bloom.
They are scattered across the 300 yards of road frontage.
Hopefully they will get thicker over time.

On that same embankment I also planted extra daffodils. They have been doing very good and begin blooming every year before the ones in my yard bloom. This is due to the way the sun hits that small hill.

But when Granny Sorrells' daffodils begin blooming is when I really get excited.

This row of Granny's daffodils is the width of an old style tiller. Jimmy tilled 140ft strip to plant these numerous blubs in. Then I sat and planted one bulb in each hole I made. These were planted in October 2004. One week after the closing of property purchase. After all, I have to keep my priorities in order. Notice Jimmy also lined both sides with a brick border.

Here is last year's post about Granny's daffodils. The daffodils were further in the season than they are right now, so they look alot thicker.

Mason (at 2 years old) loves his Granny's daffodils. Someday he will know they are actually his Great-Great Granny's daffodils. I hope he (and all my grandchildren) will cherish them as much as I do.

A Couple of Brown Headed Nuthatch

These photographs of a pair of Brown Headed Nuthatch were taken one year ago this Sunday at our house in Rockwood. Brown Headed Nuthatch do not go as far north as Knoxville and until Jimmy's job moved to Spring City I had never seen one. I was wandering around the Veteran's Park in Spring City with camera in hand when I saw my first one. (Don't we all remember those lifer days of a particular bird?)
Clearly on the map they just barely get that far north in Tennessee. Rockwood is 10 miles north of Spring City and I was really excited the first time I saw them in our own yard. If the pair stayed there all summer I was not aware of them.

But they brought a smile to my face that day as I sat in our yard in my photographer's blind.

Birds bring such joy to our lives if we just give them a chance.

Maybe this year they will nest there and have their babies. Sorry, Betsy, I think they would be out of range if they are seen on the plateau.

Lynne from Hasty Brook purchased my Chickadee purse from the post below. I have had some inquiries about future bird needle felted purses, so I guess I better get busy knitting and designing. Thanks Lynne for the purchase, it will be shipped today.

My needle felting purse

The company I purchase my needle felting supplies from sends out a newsletter every week. This week my needle felted purse is featured on it, with a link to their blog. On the blog they have the same 4 photos I have below. I can't figure out how to get the newsletter linked here, but you can click here for the link to their blog to see my purse on their blog.

I 'had' to add a bead for the eye. We need that shine in the eye when we photograph them, so I wanted it in my needle felting.

I put a pocket on the back of the purse (thanks, Wendy of It's Just Me for the idea) and added sead beads in the center of the dogwood blooms.
The purse is listed on Etsy, to see my Etsy listing click here. From there you can go to 'shop' on the right side and see all my needle felted purses that I have currently for sale. I have sold 3 locally.

In the needle felting world the thing to try is 3D. So after needle felting a few of my felted purses I decided it was time to try my hand at the 3D of needle felting. My first (and only, so far) is pictured above. This is a very time consuming art form. Not sure how many of these I will do, but it does have my interest right now. This little bear has moving parts. His head, arms and legs move. Notice the eyes are also beads.

The link to Living Felt for needle felting supplies is http://www.livingfelt.com/ they are great. Real fast shipping. and they accept Paypal.

By the way....here in East Tennessee we were teased by spring last week. Although I was way too sick to get out in the pretty weather. Now I am feeling much better and it is gloomy and cold again. Hopefully before too long Granny Sorrells' daffodils will be blooming and they will drag me away from knitting and needle felting to photograph them.

This weekend is a fiber festival in Townsend, Tennessee. The quiet side of the Smokies. I hope to go and photograph the sheep, some as they are sheared. I am also going to Stitches South in Atlanta late April to learn more about knitting and needle felting. If any of you that knit are going to Atlanta please let me know, maybe we can meet up there.

Signs of Spring

I am only wishing...these photographs were all taken Spring 2009, late March and early April. So I have to wait alittle longer to see these signs here.

It does give us something to look forward too. I am so tired of the cold.

I hope everybody is doing well.

George W. Bush at Fort Hood

I know I don't blog very often anymore...I just had to share something I received in an email from my brother.

So, who told the White House?

When George W. Bush heard about Fort Hood, got in his car without any escort, apparently they did not have time to react, and drove to Fort Hood. He was stopped at the gate and the guard could not believe who he had just stopped. Bush only ask for directions to the hospital then drove on. The gate guard called that "The president is on Fort Hood and driving to the hospital." The base went bananas looking for Obama. When they found it was Bush they immediately offered escort and Bush simply told them to shut up and let him visit the wounded and the dependents of the dead. He stayed at Fort Hood for over six hours and was finally asked to leave by a message from the White House.

Obama flew in days later and held a "photo" session in a gym and did not even go to the hospital. All this I picked up from two soldiers here who happened to be at Fort Hood when it happened.This Bush/Obama/Ft. Hood story is something that should be sent to every voter in the US .Class shows up...

The doctor had his TV on in his office when the news of the military base shootings came on. The husband of one of his employees was stationed there. He called her into his office and as he told her what had happened, she got a text message from her husband saying, "I am okay." Her cell phone rang right after she read the message. It was an ER nurse, "I'm the one who just sent you a text, not your husband. I thought it would be comforting but I was mistaken in doing so. I am sorry to tell you this, but your husband has been shot 4 times and he is in surgery."The soldier's wife left Southern Clinic in Dothan and drove all night to Ft. Hood . When she arrived, she found out her husband was out of surgery and would be OK. She rushed to his room and found that he already had visitors there to comfort him. He was just waking up and found his wife and the visitors by his side. The nurse took this picture:　　

What? No news crews and cameras?　　This is how people with class respond and pay respect to those in uniform.

Audrey Campbell Harrell has arrived

Yep, that is me with my newest Grandchild. The first granddaughter. Audrey was born February 8, 2010 at 8:31PM. She weighs 6 lbs, 6 ozs, and 21 inched long. Yes, I knitted the blanket and the hat in the picture that was taken today.Not to forget the boys. This next one is Mason, with John and Lindsey (the proud parents of Mason and Audrey). Mason was about 3 months old in this one, and he just turned 2 in January.
The last one is Noah, his proud parents are Wendy and Lukas, although the picture I have handy doesn't have them in it.

I am called Granny, for a while Mason called be GeGe, but he has dropped the nickname and is now calling me Granny. I kind of liked he had picked a name for me all by himself, but I really do want to be Granny. My Granny was so special to me, I feel honored to be a Granny.

We returned from a two week vacation just in time for Audrey's entry into this world.