Enjoy your weekend:>)

Flaunt your reds

Stacey At Poofing the Pillows is having a Flaunt your reds party. It wasn't hard to come up with some reds around our house! Oh goodness, do you think I'm in a rut? lol Oh well, it's fun to share our obsessions and red is one of mine:>) Head over to Stacey's and see more!

Oh, and while you're blog hopping, head over to Cynthias Cottage Designs where she is celebrating her one year blogging anniversary with this beautiful give-away! There is even a bit of red in it. Hope I win!

Another bunch of berries..

In my etsy shop now:>)

Family, Fun and some flowers!

It wasn't all work this weekend. We decided at the last minute to have everyone over for a cookout on Sunday afternoon.
All the kids were home.

The nieces were over along with their parents. This niece thought by looking away she could avoid my camera. Silly Allison:>)

There was lots of laughter, food and fun...this is wonderful niece Juju with Victoria.

And this sweet dumpling. Oh the cheeks, couldn't you just eat him up?

And Juju made these beautiful crochet flowers for my birthday! The photos don't even begin to show how pretty these are! The handmade cards are wonderful too. Thank you Allison and Juju!

I feel a project coming on with these:>) Stay tuned!

Memorial Day

May we never forget the sacrifice that so many have made for our freedom and happiness.

Working on gardens and lawn and repainting the front porch this weekend. I haven't decided what we will do for fun. What are you doing this long weekend?

It was a beautiful day...

Flowers from friends....

and neighbors.....

and daughters:>)

A special dinner made by my youngest daughter to celebrate my birthday. Tandoori Chicken burgers, with cilantro, cucumbers and a spicy yogurt sauce...

Potato salad with sour cream, bacon and scallions...And Ginger grapefruit spritzers...
Followed by a beautiful chocolate layer cake! It was all so good! She kindly only used 20 candles so we wouldn't burn the house down! Time spent celebrating with family is the best gift of all. Thank you all for the wishes and kind comments. It was a perfectly lovely day:>)

God's little gifts

This morning I flung open the curtains in my bedroom to greet the morning sunshine. What did I see? A beautiful Ruby Throated hummingbird was floating just outside my window. He seemed to be considering the lavender. Checking to see if it was ready for breakfast. It wasn't and off he flew. I adore these little birds!
So I refreshed my memory on the correct recipe for nectar (one part sugar to four parts water) and filled the hummingbird feeder. It made enough to keep a jar in the fridge for refills, so I went to look in the basement and found this old blue jar that I painted years ago. It seemed perfect. I think God smiled as he gave me the little gift of a jeweled visitor for my morning treat. Happy Birthday to me:>) Yes, it really is my birthday:>)

The chairs

I have two of the new dining room chairs finished and I couldn't wait to show you:>) I love them! As I said a can of spray paint and a yard of fabric can work miracles. You can see the "before" photo here. Can you believe these started out as brown chairs with burnt orange velvet seats? (shudder!) I have one more of this kind, without the arms...

One of these, with arms, and a fourth chair that also has a caned back and will co-ordinate but it is a different style. I still need to paint and recover the other two if it ever stops raining and blowing around here!
Of course, like any good project, these chairs inspired a couple more projects...I got the strawberry cross stitch last summer at a garage sale. I think it was a quarter. I always wonder at the women who put so many hours into these pretty things and then their work ends up in a pile on a table for a quarter! I know I don't have the patience or time to do these so I am grateful for the chance to own these handmade pieces of art for so little! I thought the little cross stitch would make such a pretty centerpiece for a pillow. I love this!

And I also thought it would be fun to put a little country twist on the velvet strawberries I see, so I whipped a bunch up with vintage feedsack scraps and bits and pieces of all the reds I have in my fabric stash. Piled in an ironstone tureen I think they make a pretty centerpiece for May and June strawberry season! I'm having a ball making these so you can buy this bunch in my etsy shop:>)

This project has, of course, also prompted me to make a few more changes in the dining room decor. It has been black and cream toile for several years. Now I need to find something to co-ordinate with the red for the valances so you will be seeing more of the dining room when that is done. Yesterday we brought back Victoria from college for the summer! It's so good to have her home:>) today is another rainy day so I plan to do a little fluffing and cleaning that I am behind on. I hope you have a great weekend too!

Happy Monday

Certain flowers always remind me of specific events. Violets bloom just before Laurens birthday and they have sort of become her "birthday flower". It just wouldn't be her birthday without them, sometimes I put them on the cake!
I am throwing this photo in just because I love it. Same teeny vase ( I LOVE this vase!) but I found the broken off geranium in the parking lot of the farmers market when we got my Mother-in-law her mothers day flowers. I couldn't just let it lay there and die!

Lilacs bloom just before my birthday. I love them. I don't think I have ever lived in a house that didn't have these. Never. When they bloom I fill as many vases and pitchers and vessels as I can with them until the scent fills the house. I have done this since I was a little girl. I just love spring flowers.

Some cultures and people say that cutting a flower is bringing death into the house. I couldn't disagree more. I think they bring life into a home. What do you think?

It really is the little things that make me happy. Like this silly bag holder thingy. The old one was pretty grungy, it made me cringe every time I looked at it. So I grabbed a vintage linen last night and whipped up a new one. I love it. It's just a silly old plastic bag caddy but I actually just gazed at it before going to bed last night. I am such a dork!
This morning I walked outside in the sunshine and fresh air. Through a carpet of fallen pear blossoms.

This pear tree is so old and gnarly, I think it's my favorite tree in he whole yard. It is beautiful in every season.

I was on my way to the clothes line to hang up some old linens I've been soaking to get the stains out. The age old question of whether to use your beautiful embroidered linens had been answered by the previous owner. She had used them and they were a bit the worst for it. Most of the stains came out, anyone have a good tip for removing rust stains? These day of the week towels were 25 cents at a garage sale last week. So I took the chance that they would come clean and bought them. All I am missing is Sunday and Monday.

You know how some things remind you immediately of a friend? Thursday's towel is just so Becky walking Doogs. It's the first thing I thought when I picked it up:>)

I'm off to visit my mom this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful Mothers Day! Give your mom a hug, tell her you love her...and I hope you all get the recognition you deserve for the best job in the world, being a Mom:>)

The ones that got away...

Not everything I make for etsy actually makes it into the shop. There are the usual number of finished products that just don't rock my world and then there are the ones that end up being handed over to this little bandit.
Those earrings? Yup, they were headed for the shop. Vintage rhinestones on new silver wires. She fell in love with them and what's a mom supposed to do? And the apron below was a new design I was working on. I made the mistake of asking her to come over and let me fit it.

It went something like this "Mom I love it! can I have it? Please?" "But honey you don't even cook! why do you need an apron?" "Mom I've been thinking that I really need to do more cooking and I will NEED an apron!" Uh huh! If this apron can get her to cook, you all will need to buy one for your non-cooking kids too. I have to admit she looks pretty sweet in it:>)

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

I love Church sales!

I promised to show you some of my finds from yard sales this week. This lovely couple was found in a church basement! I saw them first thing and snapped them up. they were still in the original box. I think they might be from the 50's, does anyone have any idea how to date these?

Look how adorable they are. I brought it home and Earl just looked at me like I was crazy. I explained that I thought it was pretty and romantic. It was one of those, "What?" moments for him. LOL. I think it's adorable!

And down in the shredded tissue paper of the box was hiding this little couple! I think they are about 2" tall, probably made for cupcakes. I got the whole box for $2.
This blue and white creamer came from an estate sale for $1. I set it in front of a yard sale platter purchased last year and then realized they had almost matching patterns!

And these cute Napco cherub candle holders? In the free box! They have some cracks and may have been glued, but I don't care. I think they are great and you can't beat free:>)

I have still not gotten around to finishing my church sale chairs for the dining room! I need to spray paint outside and the weather has not been cooperative. Rain, wind, you name it. I am also having a hard time finding just the right fabric for the seats. I have had black and cream toile in the dining room for years and I'm feeling the need for some changes. I loved my toile for so long and I wont be getting rid of it, I may pull it out again some day. We are supposed to have better weather this week so maybe I'll make some progress. If you want to see some more great finds, or share some of your own, head over to Rhoda's at Southern Hospitality. She has a linky going:>) I'll see you all later!

Look at what I found!

Click here for a link to a garage sale planner that I think is the greatest! Did anyone else know about this? I'm off to the sales and hopefully, if it clears up I'll be working on my "new" dining room chairs. I'll catch you all later:>)

Just a few things I've been working on

Happy May Day everyone! Today was beautiful and sunny...most of the day, and then the rain began again. Ah well, the flowers are blooming and that's all that matters:>) I have had such a hard time getting back into the swing of posting regularly again. I think I can be forgiven though, because I have been back at the sewing machine making these.....
Clothespin aprons! It's time to hang out the wash again and with the increased interest in saving money (running the dryer can be expensive!) and in being green (air drying, can you get any more green?) these little beauties make hanging out the wash easier and prettier.

I love this blue one with the handmade vintage embroidered panel. So sweet, and designed with gusseted pockets to hold lots of clothespins.

And another little black and white number for the kitchen. You can find these in my etsy shop right now! I have been so busy, going to sales and sewing. Lots to show, and more sales tomorrow! I'll do a post on all the goodies I've found tomorrow. I hope you all have a beautiful beginning of May. Isn't it just the best month of all?