Mansfield Park Sampler

I am looking for information about this sampler that appeared in the 1999 version of the movie "Mansfield Park" based on the Jane Austen novel.  If you have information about this sampler please e-mail me.

Stitchin' in the House!

I did find time to stitch yesterday, found it calmed the nerves!  The big "Y" is almost done!  Who is that cutie pie holding the hoop....oh my gosh it is me!!!

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/bouquetwraps.html -This is such a cool idea using ribbon and glass headed pins.  I absolutely would go bananas if someone gave me a bouquet of tulips presented like this.

http://www.sunset.com/garden/backyard-projects/backyard-scrabble-00400000013845/   I am in love with the tiled Scrabble game for the patio.  That is SO cool!  I think my beloved would enjoy it also!

From the blog Homework. I loved this idea but was thinking on a bigger scale.  I have a Hollywood bed and would this be just grand as a headboard?

 http://lisaclarke.net/tag/beginner-button-class/  Oh my making my own buttons fills me with girlish delight.  This is a 6 part tutorial at Lisa Clarkes' site!

 Don't remember where this came from but mason jars and wooden candlesticks!  COO-EL!!!!!

http://www.holiday-crafts-and-creations.com/easy-sewing-projects-shamrock-barrette.html  I know the St. Patty's day is over but this is charmingly delicious and the pattern is a downloadable pdf!

Not much to report here but I use this blog as a bit of an ideas journal to hold pics and links to fun ideas I find on the 'net!  Someday soon I may get to make one or two of them.  So from our girlish hearts here at the Lilac Thicket we bring you wishes of happiness, joyfulness and peacefulness! God Bless Us Everyone!

Corner Dirt Thieves Take Note!

I remember my Grandma saying she needed to make sure to lock her door when she left or someone might come into her home and steal the dirt in her corners.  It was amusing simply because my Grandmother's home was spotless!


Well I am certainly not afflicted with that nasty family trait! I wonder if I leave my door unlocked and the flashing neon sign lit in the front yard "Welcome Thiefs of Corner Dirt" if they might show up!  I could leave little fliers in the Lucite box, you know the kind the Realtors leave with highlights of the home for sale.  Yes I could leave a diagram of the house, pointing out the particular corners of dirt that need to be stolen.  I could also have some inviting appetizers and thirst quenching drinks to offer.  I could offer a sale, free corner dirt with the stealing of two!  Do you think I might get a taker or two?  Maybe I could get the Underpants Gnomes to come in and take a corner or two of dirt instead of the usual underpants!

So all kinds of spring house cleaning is going on, the kitchen is almost clean, I want to take down the blinds and hose them down in the backyard.  I started on the front room and you will see from the first picture, the ceiling fan has been attacked by the dust cleaner thingy!  I had to take a break, the stomach is a bit on the queasy side this morning.

Yes spring house cleaning at the Lilac Thicket is evidenced by the stylish blue trash bag to the left of the bushes I hate.  And I had a tough decision to make!

Should the shovel be left out until next winter, just to ward off any potential snow or should I stick a bow on it and call it yard art?  Well I opted to put it in the garage.  I am afraid it will daze and confuse my neighbors though.  Since I moved in the shovel has been handily left right where you see it and now my neighbors may not be able to find their way home because the landmark is gone!

I did see the leaf buds on my maple in the front yard.  What a wonderful sight, we all can now be assured spring is here at the Lilac Thicket.  If you do see the Underpants Gnomes, send them my way!  God Bless Us Everyone!

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling & Irish Tootsies Bare

Time to break out the sandals and the ankle bracelets, spring is definitely in the air.  Wow, the birds are singing up a storm and the wind is gusty.  Perhaps some rain later.

All kinds of Irish frolicking is going on at the Lilac Thicket.  Since the residents here sport quite a bit of the Irish heritage, from the Connolleys, Haggerty's, Ryan's, Sullivan's, Kelly's and many undiscovered lines we claim about 50% of our lineage to the green side.  I have decked myself out in the greenest frocks I own.  I have never sported a brogue but I do have lovely memories of my father imitating his Grandmother Fanny "Get up and go to church ya dirty heathen!"  The Irish lass hailed from Balin Rostig in the great county of Cork.  Her father, a lighthouse keeper in the Bay of Cork.  She followed her brother to America and ended up in Chicago and eventually met my Great grandfather Darius James Roberts and married him.  She worked scrubbing floors in the Catholic Mercy hospital in Davenport Iowa.  She had designs on my Grandfather William becoming a priest.  Thank goodness he didn't, you wouldn't be reading this missive if he did.  I remember when I was a wee lass, maybe 3 or 4 being lifted into a bed and having an old woman stroke my head and coo in my ear.  That is the only living memory I have of that hard working, devout Catholic Great Grandmother Fannie Ryan Roberts.  Thank you God for that memory and for the wonderful values that my Irish family has bequeathed to me.


Well I know that I have been quite lax in my duties in the blogging realm but I am getting ready for my baby boy's visit and I want the Lilac Thicket to be tidy and neat and homey.  God Bless Us Everyone.

Shocking tales of Spring cleaning revealed

Oh yes, oh yes, the great and wonderful me is going to start spring cleaning on Saturday!  I hear gasps of shock and awe from many of my most faithful gentle readers.  Some of you are bosom friends and you know me and how I break out in an allergic rash to anything remotely related to cleaning but sometimes I must clean.  I first stock up on the epi syringes to stem any antephialtic shock, so I don't die from the act of housecleaning!  That would sort of defeat the purpose of cleaning if my dead and rotting flesh littered the floor, don't you think?  So then I need to stock up on lots of trash bags, a good thing my trash hauling service doesn't limit the number of bags I put out.  Then I think it is best to put the girlz outside, so they don't accidentally fall into a trash bag after walking on a clean kitchen floor.  I best pull out the ladder so I can dust the tops of the ceiling fans, I have found that turning them on high speed and then quickly reversing the fan direction with the flip of a switch really doesn't adequately remove all the dust.  I will also need to take down all the curtains so I can tote them up to laundromat.  I have those louvered blinds that need to be hosed down, but mom suggested letting them soak in the tub with a little Calgon, okay the Calgon was my idea...take me away Calgon as the woman soaks in the tub.  I need to clean out the fridge, there seems to be a lot of penicillin growing in there.  The stove and oven aren't too bad but I want to clean out all the cupboards get rid of old canned goods and stuff.  I don't really eat a lot of that stuff anymore and most of it has been sitting there for well over a year.  I need to wipe down my semi latex painted walls and scrub all the 2 sinks in the house, one toidy and one tub.  Makes me rethink my complaining about how small this house is when I venture forth in unknown territory of spring housecleaning!  Oh did I mention my sweetie has booked his flight to come for a visit?  Yes I have until April 5th at 12:03pm to get my house in somewhat of a semblance of tidy!  Gosh, isn't a deadline convenient when it comes to motivation!!  God works in mysterious ways. 

I have also been thinking of looking for a new sofa and chair, something overstuffed and cozy too!  Yes picture me with cute hair draped upon an over stuffed sofa cuddling with my sweetie as we watch Mutilated Muppets Part XVI! 


I accidentally closed the tab to my new blogger post!  I let loose with a blood curdling scream and then realized blogger has auto save for idiots like me! 

Isn't this the most darling idea for a clock?  Oh my gosh how cute would this be in a sewing room or craft room!  Here is the link: http://lamdesigns.tumblr.com/post/1275298298/its-been-a-while-but-i-actually-made-something
She doesn't tell you how to make it but it is pretty obviously easy to figure out!

http://www.aestheticnest.com/2011/03/sewing-ribbon-dish-towels-tutorial.html
I really thought these were so cute and easy to put together.  Maybe when I get my spring cleaning done I will make a few to brighten up my kitchen.


If you want some freebies the Craft Gossip site has quite a few pictured.  http://craftgossip.com/


So my gentle readers of our beloved Lilac Thicket, I think I have blathered on quite long enough.  Even though I don't have cute hair this week due to my state of putrid health, I do need to put on my mascara to enhance the sexy eye thing.  Since my eyelashes are remarkably long and lush, I do need ample time to properly enhance them.  Until later, ado, ado, parting is such sweet sorrow!  God Bless Us Everyone!

The allure of the tar pit

I woke last night in another of my mind filled frenzies.  I was sleeping well, which hasn't occurred in several nights due to my fierce head cold.  I was panicking and letting my old insecurities get the better of my mind rather than trusting God.  As I lay there my fears subsided and I thought about tar pits...yes tar pits!  Living creatures would be attracted by the shiny appearance of tar pits (apparently they had no sense of smell because tar stinks!) and they would find themselves being sucked into them and the more they struggled the faster the tar would suck them down.  Other creatures seeing a struggling creature would think they had an easy meal and they too would get trapped by the ooze.  Move swiftly ahead a few million years and today those same tar pits are spitting up the bones of all of their victims.

It is a good analogy of our lives when you think about it.  We get attracted to the shiny things this world has to offer such as beauty, power, money, lust and we get ensnared in it and it eats us alive.  If we are lucky or better yet wise, we can escape our tar pits through God's Grace and we avoid having our bones spit up millions of years later. 

Do you realize that the shiniest of shiny places in all of the world has the most famous tar pits of all.  Can you guess where that is?  Hollywood!  Yes gentle readers, Hollywood, Cal-ee-forn-eye-a!  The La Brea Tar Pits!  Seems to me that is God's sense of humor, doncha think?

Honestly there has been a time or two in my life when I was attracted by the lure of the shiny things.  It never seemed to last long as God always had a way of humbling me and returning my mind to sanity.  It hasn't been but 4 years since he pulled me back from the precipice of the cliff.  It was New Years Day and I was flipping thru the channels and I happened to pause on a channel where a nice looking young minister was talking about God and I swear that he was talking directly to me.  I had tears streaming down my face and what he was saying was like a salve to my soul.  In my hour of need God spoke to me through Joel Osteen. 

Most of us have such busy lives that we cannot see, let alone hear, God as He goes about his timeless promise of being here for us.  He talks to each of in different ways, He speaks very quietly to me and to my dear friend Marilyn, He is loud and proud.  He speaks to each of us in the way He knows will grab our attention.  Be still for a few and you may hear Him.  He may speak in grandiose ways such as a sunset or an earthquake.  He may speak in a quiet way as thru the smile of a stranger or the shape of a cloud.  You must be open for His words. Our lives are so cluttered with static that a lot of times it isn't until we reach a crisis point in our lives that we do hear Him!  When we do finally hear Him, we look back at our lives and we see how His works have been there all along, we were just too busy struggling in the tar pit that is our life to hear Him.  Don't let the tar pit spit your bones out in a million years from now, it will be too late then.

I had thought about blathering about creativity but that I shall leave for another day.  I did start a small project.  It is a free design but I can't find who the designer is.  It is the words "I love you" in the shape of a free form heart.  The person I am making it for, his favorite color is Navy Blue, not blue, Navy Blue.  Well I had a wonderful piece of fabric in 28 count lugana and I am stitching with Crescent Colours "Cupid".  I am wild about the contrast of the 2 colors.  I know you can't see it but that is my sick self behind the fabric of the web cam pic.  There is NO cute hair this week!  I am just blessed I feel half way human!

I really like this Glendon Place design "Eggs a la Round".  I don't think I will buy it although I can't predict the future.  I just have SO much stash and I really need to comb through it and seriously get rid of a lot of it. 

I hope that for today you will feel the grace of God, if not for just one brief moment, and let that feeling fill every cell of your body.  God Bless Us Everyone!

Ghosts in the Linen Closet

We have a ghost in the linen closet, that is the latest from my youngster April.  She is a skittish pup and last evening I put up some medicine and boxes of tissues in the closet.  Well a short time later one of the medicine boxes settled and this poor pooh jumped a mile. For the next 30 minutes she sat and stared at the closed door, cocking her head back and forth waiting for the "ghost" to come and get her.  Well I know that no one and that includes ghosts would want to "get" her.  They would have to endure tongue baths and the herding nudge with the nose in the keister, not to mention whining when Rose steals her bone and runs outside to bury it. Ghosts don't want family time in the bathroom while they are doing their business or the pleading brown eyes for a little morsel of food to be dropped.  I think that whoever might "get" April would bring her back very quickly.  I think that our ghost in the linen closet will not be showing itself again soon.

It is a overcast rainy day here in the Lilac Thicket today. I can feel the life squirming around in the bare limbs of our beloved lilac bushes. Soon there will be emerald leaves appearing and then the heavenly fragrant blossoms will appear.



I have been lousy sick with a head cold and it started last Thursday.  I have been through boxes of tissues, cough syrup, Actifed and Afrin.  Finally I am feeling better.  It is hard to imagine how much mucus one human being can produce.

There hasn't been any stitching done at all.  I have to say I love the new Lizzie Kate "Flora McSampler" line.   I think they are cute. Even though they are quick stitches, for me, they would be a year long project.  LOL!

My Marie Calander Beef Pot Pie is done so I am going to finish this boring missive and eat.  May all of you stay healthy and may there be NO ghosts in your linen closet!  God Bless Us Everyone.

Some found freebies and the running of the nose

A really cute freebie offered at http://syku66.blogspot.com/ .  It is called "The Thief", I love it. 

Cute chicken and Easter design from http://stickeule.blogspot.com/ .

A nice patriotic free design from http://www.prairieschooler.com/free.htm .

Pretty spring tulips, a nice free design at http://www.permin.dk/Default.aspx?ID=21 .

I thought at first this was a bird house but I now think it could be a mail box that lovers mail off their cards and letters written with passionate love poems.  Find this free design at http://penelopisfreebies.blogspot.com/ .

Sweet little Valentine design for you to stitch for next year or even to declare your love to your one true soul mate.  Find this nice design at http://passionericamojournal.blogspot.com/ .


There is a darling Spring/Easter stitch along that is being offered at http://novalee02.over-blog.com/ .  I couldn't save a pic of the design so you will have to go look yourself.  Part one is available now, it is cute little chickies.


If you love Marilyn Monroe then you may want to stitch this.  It is a free design offered here http://www.cachounette.com/ .

Fun little monkey design available at http://www.mariadiazdesigns.com/mdd/free.php .

I am trying to come down with a sinus infection and am feeling a bit miserable which makes me upset because this is the start of my 3 day weekend.  Hopefully I can fight this thing off with Zyrtec, Hall's Cough drops, Diet Pepsi, frequent naps and general laziness.

So Melanie Griffith said in a movie, there is someplace that you can touch a woman and drive her crazy...her heart.  This morning my sweetheart told me he had put my picture in his wallet.  That indeed touched my heart.  Gentle readers, I am crazy for him.  We have some rain moving in and I am having problems getting warm.  I think I will climb into bed.  God Bless Us Everyone.

Love and the Positive Life

Yes I have been told my postings have been missed from here within the Lilac Thicket.  Yes I have been remiss but with good reason, I have been busy falling in love with the most amazing man.  No he is not the same fellow I met last year, but he is much more wonderful than I could have ever imagined.  He will be moving up to the area at the beginning of April and we will be able to spend a lot of time together. 

That being said I wanted to share this:

20 Tips for a Positive Life

 

Take a 10-30 minute “Thank you” walk every day. While you walk practice gratitude. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
• Buy a TIVO, tape your late night shows and get more sleep—it’s the ultimate energizer.
• When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement: My purpose is to___________ today.
• Live with the 3 E's. Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.
• Read more books than you did last year.
• Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
• Do the “one thing” you have always wanted to do.
• Dream more while you are awake.
• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less foods that are manufactured in plants.
• Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.
• Engage in daily random acts of kindness.
• Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing positive energy into your life.
• Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
• Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
• Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
• Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.
• Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:  I am thankful for __________.  Today I accomplished____________.
• Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
• Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

I am enjoying all my chats and phone calls with my sweetheart, so I ask you for prayers that he is indeed as wonderful as I think.  God Bless Us Everyone