allsorts

A little flag waving

This year we celebrated the Fourth on the Third, to accommodate the work schedule of two family members which we couldn't do without. As mentioned earlier, the house was duly festooned...

A fantastic strawberry pie by our niece Alison was consumed (among a lot of other items).

And we spent the afternoon on the porch, watching the kids play in a goofy sprinkler thing, shoot each other (and us) with water pistols and set off the most benign "fireworks" I've ever seen.

But seriously, today is all about the celebration of the birth of America, and lately I've been very conscious of the sacrifices of the men and women who step up to serve this country. Many pay the ultimate price for the freedom that we all enjoy. I salute and thank you and your families...

I love this poster, courtesy of a little crafting, and the one at top, from the crafting chicks. And they are both hints as to what the theme for July is going to be!

Cheers,

Jenny

Happy May Day ~ a new theme and an ebook for Mother's Day

A new theme for a new month... May Flowers! Everywhere I look I see Spring in bloom, so this one was super easy to decide on. Also, we're coming up on Mother's Day, which is definitely a "flower event" as we called them at my daughter's school. It is an all-girl's school with lots of lovely traditions, one of the nicest being frequent exchanges of flowers. In fact for graduation they wear long white dresses with hats crowned with gorgeous flowers. Graduations are in May... and weddings... May is like one long flower event!

Well, my posting has lagged horribly in the last few weeks. For that I apologize, I've been absolutely obsessed with making interactive ebooks. The first one was so much fun, I immediately went to work on a second one! This one is based on a poem I wrote for Mother's Day, called Who Loves a Little? and features a floral theme, too!

It works on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and hopefully the Android version will be ready very soon. If you've already downloaded the iTouch Books app, all you have to do is open it and look in the Books to Buy section and you'll see it. Oh, and both my ebooks are free, as is the iTouch Books app. Click --->here<--- if you haven't got the app yet.

So now that I've finished, I plan get back to focusing on Allsorts. I'm so excited about my new theme... it's proving to be fertile ground for my imagination, so the ideas are blossoming! I'll be back soon with lots of new things to share!

Cheers,

Jenny

New England Part I

Here we are, back from our little jaunt around New England. My grand plan to blog from the road didn't quite pan out as well as expected. There were just too many glitches with blogging from my iphone, from only being able to do one image per post, and the images displaying too large, to not getting a proper cell signal. Oh well, we're home now so I'll do my blogging from the comfort of my studio.

We started from Hartford, CT. It was raining for the first couple of days, which made for a beautiful and somewhat meloncholy drive through the tiny villages along the back roads of western Connecticut and Massachusetts. We stopped somewhere in the Berkshires to snap photos of the white clapboard church above, which looked a moody grey in the drizzle. There was also the mandatory drive across a covered bridge in Kent...

Still, it was cozy in our rented little suv, listening to eclectic choral music.

Our first night was spent in Lenox, Mass at the Garden Gables Inn. It was a truly lovely inn, a classic New Engand bed and breakfast with beautiful period decor and gracious hosts. The grounds were lusciously landscaped, the color vivid in the rain. I took lots of photos while gracefully (I'm sure) balancing my little Cath Kidston umbrella overhead.

Lots of pumpkins and berries and cherries everywhere you looked. A feast for the eyes! And breakfast was a maple-syrupy-fantastic feast as well, which we enjoyed while watching the chef wander out into the yard and harvest herbs from the little garden patch. So civilized and utterly charming.

Tomorrow, Part II... where it continues to rain but we don't mind!

Cheers,

Jenny

A pretty tree in Vermont

Behind a quilt shop!

Cheers,
Jenny

Sent from my iPhone