Saturday, March 27, 2010

Young Seamstress Would Like Your Vote

Our daughter Naomi has been sewing since age 15(4 yrs.now) when a family friend offered to tutor her in the art of sewing for 6 months for free. The family friend taught our daughter so much about  sewing. From different seams, different types of fabrics and their uses, to diffferent types of needles to use, and so much more.
Our daughter was hooked, and she has been creating sewn items ever since. She loves to participate in online challenge  swaps with other sewers where they create miniature quilts and other items to exchange with each other.
Our daughter recently entered a challenge on Burdastyle.com. The challenge was to remake a basic apron from a pattern provided by the folks at Burdastyle. Our daughter's creation is now in the top 50 entrants...but she needs your vote to win.
If she does win she will receive a new sewing machine and a cash prize.
To vote for her creation stop by this link:http://www.burdastyle.com/albums/149/images?page=4&size=small
In order to vote you will need to sign up on the site. ...but a young seamstress would greatly appreciate your vote ...and so would her proud mama.
Thanks ever so much!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Oh..and I have a thank you to make..and a bit of an apology too..

I wanted to say a great big "Thank you" to all of the gals from whom I won an item from during the OWOH giveaway. I did receive the items I won, but need to apologize sincerely for not having posted photos here of the winnings. I simply have not had the time to do so. But do know that I absolutely adore all of the handmade items I received and sincerely love all of them. You women are all so talented! I have emailed all of you personally to thank you, and I do hope that you all have received those emails.
Thank you so much!! You all are angels. And I so very much appreciated the items in my mailbox.
  ~Tina/ ~The Garden Goose!~

Some great Giveaways to tell you about..and more

Hi there folks! I have some great giveaways to tell you about that you will NOT want to miss..trust me on this.


Over at the "Small Town Living" blog we are featuring a Coffee Flavor a day..for a week! Courtesy of the folks at Coffee City USA. We jump started the giveaway feature this morning with a coffee flavor called "Sinful Pleasure", and let me tell you!...it is good coffee! 
http://stliving.com/?p=1465


Also at the "Small Town Living" blog we have recently featured the art work of artist JoEllen Laurita. JoEllen will gift one of our lucky readers with a Primitive Cat Ornament...it is really adorable and you'll want to join in on the fun of that giveaway as well.
http://stliving.com/?p=1432

So stop by and join in the fun!
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I wanted to tell you about my friend Susan's giveaway over at "Not Quite June Cleaver." Susan is hosting a darling giveaway of a super cute coffee mug..(gosh we must all have coffee on our mind lately..ha.) A bit of her special coffee blend, some home made granola, and a wonderful vintage apron! So stop on by her giveaway at:
http://www.notquitejunecleaver.com/2010/03/notquitejunecleavers-spring-fling-giveaway-and-so-much-more/
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And another giveaway is from my friend Debra over at Vegan Family Style. She is gifting one of her lucky readers with a copy of the movie Food Inc.
http://veganfamilystyle.blogspot.com/2010/03/food-inc-and-giveaway.html
 So stop by and check out her giveaway too. 
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Wow..it has been a busy couple of weeks. The days are just zooming by it seems.
 I'm having loads of fun on the Small Town Living site..we feature farmers, artists, wineries, bed and breakfast Inns,book and food and other product reviews, and so much more. I stay busy networking with folks and bringing interesting information to our readers. I love it though, but I do stay quite busy with it too. 
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Oh, let me tell you about our little garden!...the kids and I planted Oregon Giant snow peas and bush bean seeds about a week and a half ago in the raised beds out back. We now have little bean and pea plants that are about 4 inches tall. Yay!
 Hopefully soon we'll be gathering some produce from those plants..or if someone buys this home soon... they will. :0) (Yes, our home here is still for sale and we are hoping it will sell soon.)
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Oh, I wanted to share with you this photo of a sandhill crane that I took back in December when we made a fast trip down to Ocala, FL. I was so delighted to see this bird in a field in Dunnellon, FL. on our way back home.
And this was the first time I have ever been able to capture one of these magnificent birds on camera!
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Well..that's all the news today..oh I'm sure there's more really, but I don't want to have to write a book today, so I'll save some of it for a later date.


"Ya'll come back now ya hear" :0)


Thanks so much for stopping by!


~The Garden Goose!~ 

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Spring is on its way!...and a giveaway to tell you about...and more.


Today I saw a few Robins hopping around in search of bugs and worms. Robins are a migratory visitor here, and once they arrive  we know that Spring is right around the corner.
 The grass has begun growing again in our backyard, another sure sign of Springs arrival.
 The doves have begun flirting with each other..yes, another sign of  Spring.
 Oh, and more bird song...ahh ....I love it..hearing the birds singing a good bit more now that Spring is about to burst forth in all of its glory!

I mentioned having sent all of my potted plants South the other day. Well...I had a major plant relapse. I cannot stand not having something green around me..somewhere..anywhere. So I asked my husband to take me by a local nursery to check in and see if they had gotten in any mint plants. I was looking for varieties like apple, or pineapple, or chocolate. I found spearmint and pineapple. 

I also found a tiny air plant, and some succulents that I'll create a dish garden with. I also found some elfin thyme, some lemon balm, and rosemary.  I know, I know... oh and hubby bought me 3 gorgeous rose bushes. 
I know...relapse..but hopefully the last relapse I have before we get moved. As I don't want any movers to have to move a lot of plants.

Oh and I learned something very interesting today about the pineapple mint plant... apparently the pineapple mint plant is also the apple mint plant... seems that the pineapple flavor variation is concentrated into the variegated leaves of the plant, but if the plant is allowed to develop solid green shoots on the same plant...solid green leaves...those leaves will be of an apple mint scent and flavor. So it is encouraged to snip off any wayward solid green leaves or stems to maintain the variegation and thus the "pineapple" flavor and scent. Strange huh? I found it rather fascinating. Something to do with the hybridization of the plant. So interesting.  Plants always fascinate me!

Oh wow! I almost forgot!! Head on over to www.stliving.com to enter the drawing for a gorgeous Vintage tablecloth..courtesy of one of the artists we have profiled on the site this week. (The Pink Rose Cottage) You won't want to miss out on your chance. Contest lasts until  March 9th.

That's all the news today folks.
 Thanks for stopping by!
  ~The Garden Goose~