Sue Zalik An Artist Loved

Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake...

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Amen.


Sue Zalik, 2Stitchin'

May the Lord keep you.

Blessings, Jean

A little more reading about Sue

Prairie Dolls... so sweet

I've been creating!



I love making these sawdust prairie dolls. Each one has it's own personality... but they're all so sweet!


I've also been making angel sitters and burlap bag things... penny rugs... but what I really need to do is take a day and get outside, mow the lawn and get the yard cleaned up after this winter. I wonder how many twigs and branches I'll collect.


I'll be putting these up on my website and most likely LemonPoppySeeds. Is the 1rst coming up that fast? yep! ohhhh April Fools Day! hehehe I love that day. (my friends are scared though) LOL


On a side note, my Alien picked a daffodil for me today. Made me remember when she was 2 feet tall and giving me flowers with an adorable smile on her face. (funny how those flowers were always from my flower beds) ahem.

Blessings, Jean
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Diaries of a Modern Primitive Crafter

March 1rst was the first edition of the new online Magazine "The Olde Prairie Register".... if you haven't signed up for your free subscription, head on over there and get one!

There's great reading, featured artists, advertising space, give away's, contests, crafting tips and all kinds of fun things.

I wrote a fun little article (which I'll be doing again) and thought I would share the whole thing with you this time. Who knows.... "Diaries of a Modern Primitive Crafter" may turn into a series! LOL !

Dear Diary,

When I woke this morning, I immediately checked my middle finger on my left hand to see if that Udder Cream had actually worked as I heard it would. YES! My finger is healed almost completely!

For those of you who know what I'm talking about... my quilt is coming along nicely, thank you very much! AND mind you... not one drop of blood on it yet!

For those of you who do NOT know what in the world I'm talking about.... Udder Cream? Like in Cow Udders? oh yes... did you hear me? I said YES like Cows Udders! When you milk cows, those udders can get so very sore... poor cow. So the best medicine is a cream made special for the irritation and raw rubbing on their poor little udders. Well... when you quilt, you're constantly poking your finger that stays on the underside of the Quilt, sometimes until your finger bleeds. Hence: One Sore Finger! Udder Cream to the rescue! Now I can continue onward, destroying my finger for yet another day (I have a whole tub of this cream so I can self inflict wounds on my fingers for a long time! Or... milk a lot of happy cows)

Ahhh yes. The things we subject ourselves to when it comes to primitive crafting. It's not so much fun and games I tell you! It can be a full blown war zone! You against the supplies.

When I get out all the supplies needed to make my old fashion lye soap, I stop for a minute before I begin and yell out "BATTLE". Then onward to mix up liquid lye... which will hit temperatures that is very close to boiling point! Ahhh yes, then there's that accidental speck of lye crystal that will hit your arm and make you feel like you've just been shot with a gun! But it's the joy of making this soap that keeps me continuing onward.

Speaking of heat.... did you KNOW you shouldn't put the ceramic part of a crock pot directly ON the electric burner, with paraffin wax inside and the heat on low? WELL let me tell you... ummmm either call 911 or have a fire extinguisher on hand because that ceramic carrier will NOT handle any direct heat. It's amazing what melted wax, blazing with fire spikes hitting 3 feet in the air... can do to an entire stove, stove hood and ummmm the floor, the counter or anything else in it's path. Ahem... but melting wax is so much FUN to work with! Right? Scent it up nice and you can dunk all kinds of things in it for some yummy smelling, primitive fixins.

Stoves. This is a danger all in itself isn't it? Have you ever gotten that look from your Husband or Child... oh you know the one I'm talking about! Head slightly tilted, one eyebrow cocked... mouth a little pursed... as you are standing there, HUGE proud smile on your face as the words come out of your mouth. "I Just Finished Baking My Doll!" And, as you stand there OH so tickled pink... they just look at you like you have completely lost your mind! A doll. You cooked a doll in the oven? Well DUH! Of course I did! Ovens are a Primitive Crafter's best friend! Thanksgiving Turkeys? Well, I'm all over cooking one of those IF it's grunged just perfectly with the best blends of coffee's and spices, stuffed with rags or filling and sanded with sandpaper! Ohhh I just get all tickled thinking about making that kind of Turkey!

I have Children. Cute and Adorable little Aliens that they are. Oh yes... I just loved when they brought their friends home and the friend turns to my Daughter and asks "Your Mom is REALLY a Hooker?". As your Daughter giggles and says SHE SURE IS! As I smiled sweetly in front of my frame, hooking away... I had a vision of all my wool strips, my linen backing AND the rug hook stuffed inside her mouth so full she wouldn't be able to talk for a week! But... she wasn't technically lying now was she? When you hook rugs, you then are branded for life about being a 'hooker'. Your own Adult Friends get in on this joke also... I think at one time they were calling me Bubbles the Hooker because of my Lye Soap and Hooked Rugs. Har Har Har. (actually that was one of the more clever labels)

WOOL! I bet you wouldn't think of wool being a dangerous craft supply would you? So playing with needle felting has got to be the neatest craft.... take a felting needle and just poke poke poke and the Wool roving just sticks in ohhhh so good! Poke into what? Fabric? Skin? BONE! I don't think anyone is like me... I hold my felting needle up in front of my face and we have a little talk. "Needle" I say, "You will not poke all the way into my finger bone today ok?" But I finally figured out why it wasn't listening to me... well silly me, I thought it had ears so it can HEAR my demands! Sigh.... I'll have to figure out another way to get TO the needle to stop wanting to go play with my finger bones.

But then there's the YUMMY Wool fabric! I use a lot of black walnuts to dye my wools. Throw them in a 20 quart pot of boiling water and ohhhh the fun dye bath you can get. But, I bet you wouldn't think about getting poison ivy doing this! Or being attacked by a rabid squirrel! Or having the local Sheriff pull his car over to see what you're doing in the park, alone, with a bucket! Look, trust me when I tell you this: Upon encountering a rabid killer squirrel, with him knowing full well you are going to steal his black walnuts... RUN the other way!

Oh Diary... the memories we've shared. I just wonder if a Pioneer Lady was here today, in this time, in my home... if she wouldn't get a broom handle after me! But I'll be back another day, if I have all my fingers intact... to write more about the wonderful experience of Primitive Crafting!

Until then... Blessings!

Jean Witt
Bluejean Primitives

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August Rush

Take my word... see this movie!



Blessings, Jean :)

Sneak Peek Midmonth Updates for March

Usually late evening on the 14th you'll be able to see items updated on TDIPT Mercantile, Simply Primitives and LemonPoppySeeds. If not then, the morning of the 15th.


I thought I would share a little sneak peek for this month's update of mine. Dolls and penny rugs and more boxes and some covered books. Fun stuff!


Just click on the picture to go to the appropriate site...


AND PLEASE REMEMBER if you haven't signed up for TDIPT's Birthday Give Away this month DO SO! You'll drool over the goodies offered in our HUGE give away!

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you

Happy First Birthday Riley Girl!

Has it been a whole year already? This dog has sure changed this woman's life this last year. Over $2,000 to save her life... A FEW TIMES, not to mention the time she swallowed a tree, or for her to become an it... or the food, toys, blankets, leashes, collars, carriers and a slew of other things.

Riley girl was found by my Alien at the local McDonalds, in the parking lot. A couple of young teens were trying to get rid of her and they said they were feeding her mashed potato's and gravy from the Lee's chicken place across the street. So, of course the Alien grabs this little thing up and brings her home... where it proceeded to disrupt my life and drain a huge chunk of my savings. Notice I said 'Thing'. HA!



This dog was so tiny I almost jumped out of my skin. It's head was as big as a black walnut! But she was a little sick. Happy, but sick with ummm, those mashed potato's not agreeing with her if you know what I mean. That next day, I was at the first Vet's office. (yes, there was more than one!) He said, oh she's over 6 weeks old... here's some meds and let her eat whatever she wants for now. OH no no no... was bad advice. (expensive bad advice)



I'm eating a hamburger later that day and this little "thing" goes nuts. Gimme gimme gimme! Ok... sure, here's some, you little munchkin. WRONG! I shut down her pancreas. By that next day I hadn't slept, the "thing" was in what you call a steady death seizure and OFF to the Animal Hospital over in the next County. (Riley's death #1)



Riley isn't that old. Nope! She was ONLY 3 and a 1/2 weeks old. You could still see where the cord was on her belly. (The Vet created today's Birthday for Riley) So with a zero sugar level, high infection, dead pancreas... This wonderful Hospital brought Riley back to life. I wrote a hefty little check and scooped up my Puppy, against their wishes because they wanted to keep her over night to feed her every 2 hours, round the clock. (for more money) HA! Well heck, I can do THAT! They loaded me up with all kinds of weird stuff. Special food, special formula, special equipment, special sugar goo, special instructions... so Me Super Woman and Riley the "Thing" go home after hours of being in this incubator thing.

Where I proceed to loose my mind. Every two hours or she'll die! Oh I didn't quite understand that part. LOL Crafter I am. Animal Lover I am. Schooled Vet I AM NOT! But I can do this... ahem. Every single two hours, by alarm clock, this 'thing' was put inbetween two Coke 2 ltr. bottle's of hot water to manually regulate her temperature, give her goo food, her goo sugar, temp. taken, pre-measured meds in syringes (three of those) and I lost my mind. I still can't fully remember that week... it's a blur.

A couple times I had to rush her back to the hospital for zero sugar levels (Riley's death 2, 3 and 4). This little 'thing' was poked SO MANY TIMES in a month to draw blood, to put the blood in this machine they had, to check her sugar and other things. Riley would start screaming if the Vet came NEAR her with that needle because she knew she was going to get poked and squeezed. It was the saddest thing to see. Every time I took her in, Riley was near death and usually not awake.

She was only 7 ounces when I got her. Massive infections and no sugar levels, means either she'd burn up with a fever or she's freeze out with no sugar. But... it was through dedication and major work, this 'thing' survived.




She then proceeded a couple months later to eat a log or tree or something and oh boy... BACK TO THE HOSPITAL. (Riley's death #5) Xrays showed a full grown oak tree lodged in her throat. Surgery? MORE MEDS! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr She was drugged, brought home and brought back to the Hospital where they reached down and grabbed it, pulled it out... This was after I had informed them taht I had moved my Family into the big cardboard box next to Wallyworld so do something besides surgery! (eyeroll)



One thing they lied about was how big she was going to get. Of course, nobody knew what she was. Hense: Thing. Pug? Chihuahua? Could be any breed, but she for sure was mixed. Wouldn't be able to tell what she was until she got older, but I was told she shouldn't hit more than 5 pounds or so. YA RIGHT! See, they lied! LOL! Riley is weighing in at over 15 lbs today. She's both a Pug and Chihuahua so she's a "Chug".

She's actually very smart. She knows the names of all 28 of her 'toys' and she knows all kinds of tricks and commands. Know how you cuddle with a teddy bear to sleep with? That's how she sleeps with you.... she's my teddy bear and she let's me hug onto her like that all night long. The Alien sometimes will steal her after I fall asleep, then she takes Riley into her room. So Riley is a proven professional cuddler. This is Riley and the Alien below.



So Riley the wonder dog lives. A perfectly healthy, female Chug with the sweetest personality. Do I love her? Dumb me fell for her the second the Alien walked in the door with her. I really couldn't help it! We were meant to be bestest friends... and I promise to take care of you for the rest of your life. :)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I just finished this classic wool penny runner tonight and thought I'd share it with you.




I've already put it in my Poppy Shop... getting ready for my mid month update there...

Blessings, Jean :) ps. The Alien is my 19 year old Daughter. heh.