Making my First Quilt

I have been talking to my hubby for years about wanting to be more self sufficient.  At first it started out as just wanting to do my own crafty things.  I mean really, no one made any palm tree quilts and I had all of these grand ideas of decorating my whole house in all home made items.  It couldn't be that, hard, right?

I am not relating this tale to make myself look like a bumbling fool (though I'm pretty certain I also do an excellent job of that as well), rather I am trying to prevent you from making the same mistakes I made.

Back in 8th grade home ec we were taught how to use a sewing machine to make a class sweatshirt.   Never mind that I had sewn the stripe on upside down in an over-locking stitch then proceeded to have to tear out all of that thread, I still wanted to sew my own pillows, curtains, and such.  My mom generously bought me a basic sewing machine for my birthday in 2005, almost 20 years after my first sewing lessons.

Over the next year, I began to hone my sewing skills with some simple projects.  I went to work right away making pretty purple curtains (complete with glitter) for my daughter's princess room, pillow covers for our couch pillows in the living room, a swag and some curtains for the living room, shortening pants for our short family.  It was going great!  I even started making some clothes.  I was really proud of my accomplishments and wanted to keep on learning to do more.

Thread tension wasn't right

I bought the fabric I wanted, got it all cut into squares and rectangles using a cutting mat and rotary cutter.  I wasn't going to use a pattern because the last time I used one I messed up and had to undo what I had done then do it right.  No patterns, no problems, right??

Wrong!  The first problem I hit was that we had to pack up and move because Cheesehead got a job transfer.  These beautiful squares stayed locked up in a box for 7 years until they were rediscovered!

4 block squares

Once I found them and felt adequately motivated enough to get going, I started sewing the squares together into my first quilt I ever made.  Well, when the thread tension isn't set correctly it begins to make the material pucker and not lay flat so I needed to adjust that.  Um, I didn't...

I sewed the smaller squares into blocks of 4 alternating the material and reorienting the fabric from the palm fronds into different directions to give the quilt some added interest.  Except apparently I didn't really cut them into all exactly the same size squares...  Note to self, measure twice, cut once, write some notes if you are going to put it away for a while.  Seriously.

Well I was feeling pretty darn good about myself and how wonderfully the quilt was coming together.  I got all of the 4 blocks together, sewed the rectangles into a line that would go down the center or the quilt, and then discovered a couple of other little problems with my process.

Ironing

I washed the fabric when I first bought it, but didn't iron.  I hate ironing because usually when I iron something I iron more wrinkles into the fabric than I get out and it ends up looking terrible.  Well, washing the fabric checks for fraying, but when it's not ironed it doesn't lay quite right, so it can make your pattern go awry.  Plus, you need to iron to make the seams lay flat.  I learned this from some friends I met online who have actually made quilts before.  Well, I ironed to give the quilt a nicer look, see?

I didn't watch my seam allowances closely when I was putting the quilt together AND I didn't make sure the raw edges were completely lined up all the way up and down the entire square so there were some sewing misses that I had to go back and fix.  Bad, this was very, very bad.

Now, when I put the center strip in and started matching up the 4 blocks to be put together the fabric didn't line up right.  Rather than doing what I should have and ripping it apart and beginning again keeping the exact same seam allowance and trimming the squares to be exact matches, cutting extra fabric from the rectangles, I pressed on and did some improvisation.  All to save myself from extra work.

I found this great brown fabric in my fabric stash, isn't it great?  I trimmed it up (thinking I had already washed to check for fraying) and set it in among my mismatched fabric.  Feeling pretty darn proud I showed it to my husband who said he couldn't wait to use it.   Isn't the color combination stunning???   I even found this great sheet at a thrift shop that made for a beautiful backing material, see on the bottom right corner?  I also bought an unopened bag of batting from there. (Or so I thought...)

Mostly finished quilt

Now I was excited to get the two sides put together!  I know this quilt wasn't the queen size that the back sheet was, so I knew I would need to do some trimming.  I laid out the top and laid the backing material over it and carefully pinned it together.  This is when my sloppiness would really shine through.  First I pinned the wrong sides together, when I should have pinned the right sides together so I had to repin.  I also did the batting at that time to save myself an extra step.  I pinned it to the sheet and started trimming.

The pieces I cut from the sheet came off lopsided.  I mean, not even slightly uneven, but majorly so.  I'm thinking I should have gathered up my measuring tape and verified sizes of everything because I obviously didn't remember from one time to the next.  Did that stop me?  Nope, I just kept right on going!

I got the 3 side sewed together, turned it right side out, and finished the last seam.  Then it was time to tack the 2 sides and the batting together.  It was already wonderful, as it sat on my lap I felt so warm!  I decided to just tie the sides together as opposed to really quilting it because I really didn't know the first thing about making a quilt and I didn't want it to look bad.  (A little late to worry about that now, huh? lol)

I decided to use a nice green yarn that I got at a thrift store because if would really stand out against the tan sheet backing. As I worked through I placed a tie at each corner along the row of squares.  The first edge looked great, but the further I went, the tackier it looked.  Places that lined up when flattened together from one way bulged and buckled when viewed from another way.  I don't know how many ties I had to remove to make it look decent again.

Then, came the worst piece of information.  As I proudly viewed my "completed" quilt, I saw some edges coming apart along the brown fabric.  Apparently I hadn't checked it for fraying.  So now this fragile beauty will end up hanging on a quilt rack not to be used, but as a gentle reminder of my failings and of my lack of humility.

Lessons I took from this experience.

1.  If you take a break for any length of time, get back in slowly so you don't make mistakes.
2.  Measure twice (or even more!), cut once.
3.  If it doubt, check it out.  (EX. Meaning rewash if you don't know if you did or not!)
4.  When getting things second hand, check the size BEFORE you do the project.
5.  Follow the correct seam allowances even if you DON'T have a pattern because you obviously had something in mind when you cut the fabric in the first place.
6.  Do it right the first time, even if it isn't the easiest path.
7.  Ask an expert.  Really, there are processes for a reason.  At least use a book for Pete's sake!
8.  Pride cometh before the fall.



Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Our Home Spun Christmas, Part 1. Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

      This Christmas, I am trying to do everything as home made as possible.    This will not only save us money, but it will help the whole family get more involved in the Christmas planning, decorating, and the overall Christmas spirit.

      My first project is to set up our out door decor while it is still relatively nice outside.  When doing some yard clean-up, it occurred to me that these wonderful tomato cages were just taking up valuable real-estate in my garage storage area.  Boy, they taper to the top which reminds me of a Christmas tree.  What better use could there be for unused tomato cages and extra Christmas lights that you no longer use?

      I cleaned the cages up a bit, straightened out the legs that you push into the ground, and got out the duct tape to make the point out of the three legs.

     Next, I rummaged through my boxes and boxes of Christmas items.  Turns out I had 3 of these great lighted garlands that I haven't used in years.  What a wonderful discovery!  I am going to make a whole collection of these trees with all of my extra Christmas lights.  I'm going to point out here, that it would be wise to test your lights before starting this project as it would be an unwise time investment if you are using broken lights.

     Once the tips are taped to put the cage into a triangular tree form, it's time to start wrapping the lights around the cage.  I started at the top and just kept wrapping the garland around until I ran out of garland.

     If you are using a garland like this, some of the lights will point the wrong way and will need to be adjusted so they are aimed to the exterior of the tree.  If they are near the metal frame, you may tie them in place using twine or something similar.  Otherwise, you make need to use the branches creatively.

     Once the frame is covered, it is time to fill in the holes and make it look pretty.  My garland was pretty flat from being in storage and needed a lot of fluffing and primping.  To better cover the frame I also tied one row of branches to the others.  This isn't neccessary and you can do it in whichever way pleases your eye.  Happy decorating!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Making an Upholstered Headboard

Some of my friends and relatives have requested to see what my headboard looks like. I think it looks pretty nice even though we haven't taken the time to install it yet. I'm even going to do one better though! I will walk you through the process of making it. It was really very easy as well as inexpensive.

Materials needed:
1. A piece of wood that is at least as wide as your bed. I used some scraps we had laying around from building our shed last year.
2. Spray adhesive.
3. Padding to line to wood the with. This gives it a nice luxurious feel. I used the foam pad that son had on his twin sized bed before we replaced his mattress.
4. Batting used for quilting. This helps anchor the foam in place as well as softening up the exterior lines of the headboard.
5. Durable fabric of your choice. I used a heavier linen type fabric I had sitting in my fabric stash which I feel compliments our bedding without being matchy-matchy.
6. Staple gun and staples.

May people may like a curved headboard, but I went for simple, straight lines. It's a rectangle the same width as the bed. Also made less cutting for me to do!

Spray the wood with spray adhesive. If you only spray one surface, the foam can be repositioned. Once I got the foam in place, I sprayed the foam too. Spraying both surfaces is supposed to create a more permanent bond.

Next comes the batting. Mine was queen sized, folded in half to make it extra soft. I sprayed both halves to help keep them in place and then sprayed the foam as well as the back of the batting. I pulled it and made sure it was even before gluing it in place. Maybe I went a little crazy with the glue but I didn't want it to fall apart on me.

I wrapped the batting around the wood and secured it in place on the back of the wood with plenty of staples.

The final step is putting the fabric in place. Pull securely and wrap the edges carefully and check how it looks from the front before securing in place. I used glue on the front to keep it tight and then stapled it on the back.


I had planned on making this for Cheesehead for his birthday, but I didn't have time earlier this year. Now we just need to install it!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Photo Tag to Take our Minds off the Cold

Lona from A Hocking Hills Garden tagged me with this photo tag game. I've got some pretty crazy pictures, so this could get interesting!

We are supposed to go into our 4th folder where we store our photos, post the 4th picture in that folder and describe the photo. After doing that, you are to tag 4 people to do the same. I may ignore that last line though and just ask whoever wants to participate to go ahead. If you do choose to participate, let me know I'd love to check out what you posted.

I'm in, it'll give me something to do to take my mind off of all the snow that fell today.



Thankfully it's a pretty decent picture.

We started finishing our basement when we first moved into this house in 2006. We pretty much felt like we had to since the finished area was about 1/2 the size of our previous home. After getting the drywall put up last winter, Peanut helped me to paint the walls. Son helped with the priming prior to this but had NO interest in helping with the color. It was really nice having some help with all of the work we had to do even if they didn't help with all of it.

This particular picture is of Peanut when she helped me to paint Son's bedroom. She thought it was about the right color for a lion (I'd have to agree!) so she decided to paint some lions on the wall. She's quite the little artist, isn't she? This is a picture of her posing by her master piece before we had to cover it with a layer of paint.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Our Finished Basment (FINALLY!)

Some of you may have seen the post I did a couple of days ago about 2008 in review. I thought our greatest accomplishments were our shed and the basement. Since you have already seen the shed pictures shared on my blog, I though I'd share our other pet project of the year.

Our basement started out a normal run of the mill type basement. The spaces were wide open except for the supports and the stairs located in the middle of it. We found it rather odd though that the utlities were so widely spread out. We were forced to have two different utility/storage areas because of this.

I had some pictures of the basement before we did any work, but they must still be locked in the memory of my old computer. I guess that will teach me not to back up my files! I may one day find a way to unlock that computer, until then I'll have to improvise.



It stays pretty warm down there despite the fact that we haven't had money to install supplemental heating yet. We did insulate the walls on the exterior walls. Cheesehead and I did most of the work except for the drywalling which we hired out.



It was a bit difficult working down there while also trying to store 1/2 a house worth of furniture in the two storage areas and garage, but we got it done. As you can see, it was piled pretty high. Dry wall dust is a killer too, so we put plastic up to help keep our furniture clean.



This might look a little strange to you, but we wanted to build a bathroom without having to break holes in the cement. Our solution was to buy a lift station for our basement bathroom. This required a series of steps in the bathroom, so we decided to go all out and put in a tub/shower down there too.



The drywall was done early this year... in February I think it was. Then came the tedious job of painting. Drywall soaks paint up like crazy, so we used primer for a less expensive way to get the walls covered. We used a different color in each room.



The bathroom used the rest of the left over paint we had bought to stage our house in MN. I like the color, don't you? It also looks great with the leftover tiles from our kitchen and entry way remodels over at the old house. Boy, seems like we used a lot of leftovers around here! The accessories in our bathroom were purchased to stage our old house too. I think that the white looks nice with our floors and wall color choices.



The faucets were bought on black Friday. Apparently I didn't have to go quite as early as I did, but I guess I was better safe than sorry. Cosmetically our bathroom looks finished, but alas we are still not up and running with that yet. I am also still planning on grouting the tiles.



Peanut's room color came from a mixing of our paints from the old house. We had several cans with varying amounts of paint in them. I decided rahter than dispose of them I'd mix them all together and see what we came up with. The color ended up being almost the color of Pepto Bismol. She loved the color so we didn't even have to buy any paint for her room.



Son's room paint had been chosen for our master bedroom when we first moved in. It didn't match the bedspread that MIL bought for me for Christmas last year, but I thought it looked great with son's green furniture. Green and gold, it's his dream come true. A Green Bay Packer colored bedroom!



Our family room is a nice place for us to sit and visit. I showed you the workout angle before when I showed you that gym I put together so I thought I'd show you a comfy place where we could sit and chat.

I don't know if you can really see the green color on the accent wall in the corner, but it is also another free cycle paint.

Cheeshead had some friends come over that helped with the flooring and various other tasks. We aren't exactly handy at laying carpet if you know what I mean. He did a very nice job of putting down the laminate flooring that we bought on clearance.

We have a few finish details left to do, but they aren't obvious enough to show up in pictures. I'm so glad to have most of this behind me!

I have been babbling about my craft room too, but it is nowhere near ready for display yet. It won't be finished like these other rooms, rather I am working on getting it organized and easier to work in.

New year, new basement! I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Common Packing Mistakes

Since Thanksgiving is now passed we got out our Christmas stuff today and prepared to deck the place out in all of it's Christmas glory. I had a bit of trouble though, so I thought I might share some tips with you so your decorations won't suffer the same fate as some of mine did.

1. When packing breakable ornaments, make sure that they have plenty of padding. If you think that one layer of newspaper will be enough, think again! I lost an ornament and two candle holders because of careless packing done last year.

2. Lights should be pulled tightly on a rolled up newspaper or cord winder. This just might save you a few hours of untangling light bulbs. It may also prevent breakage of a few light bulbs.

3. When you put your garland away you may want to wrap this tightly onto a rolled up newspaper roll as well. If you don't your "tinsel" garland may end up with a few bald spots and you beads will end up in a tangled mess.

4. Snow globes are NOT a good thing to store in a garage where temperatures reach well below freezing. Store them in your basement instead. It may save you a whole box of fabric Chrsitmas crafts that would have to be thrown out because of a heavy mold infestation. The moisture from the exploded globe was trapped in a water tight plastic box all summer. Everything had about 1/4 of an inch of white mold covering every visible surface when I opened the box today. EEEWWW!

5. Do not place heavy objects on top of fabric flowers unless you plan on spending a long time fluffing them back up to their original condition.

6. Okay, all of these little lessons can lead back to one major mistake I made last year. Do NOT under any circumstances allow your husband to put away your Christmas decor if you're ever planning on using any of it again. Sigh.

(Memo to self: Put reminder on calendar to put the tree away the day after Christmas so Cheesehead doesn't do it again this year.)

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Treasures Galore

On a recent trip to Goodwill, I was reminded of the treasures that my grandmother used to make. I guess she isn't technically my REAL grandma, but she's the only grandmother I ever knew. My real grandmother died back when my father was back in college, LONG before I was ever even thought of. Recently I have begun wondering what my other grandmother was like. I suppose it is because of the ancestry research.



Back to the point of this particular post though which was a beautiful knit ensemble I saw hanging on the rack at Goodwill. It had these beautiful little flowers sewed onto it. This lovely baby sweater and bootie set portrayed such a feeling of innocence, it was absolutely captivating. I briefly contemplated buying it, but I had no use for it and decided to leave it for someone who actually might need something like that.

As I ran my hands over the soft, lovingly knitted yarn I couldn't help but let my mind wander back to all of the things my grandmother hat knit and/or crocheted for me.

There were countless hats and mittens, pillows,

vase covers for our wedding table center pieces, and

(My first afghan from her)

(College graduation afghan)

(our wedding aghan)
an afghan for every special occassion that she made for me.

She made booties for my children,


a baptism afghan for each of them, and a wonderful sweater for my daughter.

I suppose she may have taken a while to venture into sweater making later in life. I have most of the things she made around my house still, except the hats and mittens. I couldn't imagine giving that love away to anyone else who wasn't part of my family. I hope to keep these treasures for my grandkids one day, they'll be family heirlooms as long as I'm alive.

Does it seem selfish of me to hang on so greedily to these things? I took pictures of them, but I can't get my computer to pull up the pictures. Ack! Technology!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Fun Fall Projects

So many things remind me of fall. Colored leaves, apples, and pumpkins are just a few. I have been battling with my camera and computer for quite a while now, so I just decided to lump all of these projects into one post since I actually could get photos uploaded today.

Last week I made some more home made apple sauce. The kids just love it. One of my son's friends wanted some to take home with him when he had some one day this summer.



This time I used a variety of different apples and I made a larger quantity than I had previously made. Usually I use about 6 apples, but this time I used much more than that. Want to know how I made it? It's really simple! Sorry I don't have any measurements for the ingredients, I just eyeball it.

I peel the apples first. MIL laughed when I got out the vegetable peeler to peel the apples for the apple pie she wanted to make, but she was amazed at the ease of the process. I think I've made a new convert!

After the apples are peeled it can be kind of a pain to core and slice the apple. No need for expensive kitchen gadgets (although I DO find them vey appealing), I use a simple vegetable slicer, do you see it? It cuts the core right out for yo so you don't waste much of your apple at all. If you'd like the pieces to be smaller, you simply cut them smaller with a paring knife.

Then just throw them in a slow cooker. You can also make it on the stove, but I really prefer the crock pot methed. I just add some water (not too much though unless you like your sauce to be really runny). I add enough to cover the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle a little sugar approximately 1/3 of a cup. Brown sugar can also be used. I like to add some cinnamon for a little extra flavor although it's not neccessary.



Then simply stir it all together so all of the apple slices are evenly coated, turn it on low and let it simmer for about 6 hours stirring occassionally. Sorry, no finished product pictures, but they were a rich golden brown and oh the cinnamon smell in my kitchen was to die for!

We did some pumpkin carving this weekend too.



I used to be afraid to let the kids do any carving. It was a good idea to keep them from the knives when they were 3 and 4, I have NO idea why I waited so long to turn the reins over to them.



They were pretty excited this year to be given the control of the project. I was simply the seed roaster (next time I should wait until I feel well before roasting. I burned them this time) and gut scraper. Peanut drew the pattern with washable marker until she thought it looked just right and son wielded the knife. Didn't they do a good job? I guess my illness made me more willing to hand over creative control to the kids. They had a great time.



We also decorated with some projects we made previous years. Here is some of the collection on our stove. I think my favorite is the flower pot pumpkin with the inverted drainage dish used as a lid. We also made a set of felt placemats with fall leaf colors, a tissue paper ghost (set up on a cup for added height), pom-pom spiders, a painted wooden pumpkin, and a cutout pumpkin with painted wax paper between two black construction paper pieces. I have a few new plans I'd like to try to get to doing with them too, but time will tell if we ever get around to it.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Our Day of Family Fun

Cheesehead has the weekend off. We've been more than a little stressed out lately, so we decided to take the day off and do something fun with the family. We went to Wausau and mostly window shopped.

We got a lot of great ideas for Christmas although I did warn the kids not to expect too much this year. We also went to two of my favorite stores, Goodwill and Salvation Army. Cheesehead doesn't like shopping at these stores, he says they smell. Whatever. I found some GREAT bargains and I am quite pleased with my ability to stick to such a limited budget!

What did I find? Well, at the Salvation Army I found a package of 3 matching ribbon trims edged with lace. I needed to find some quilt binding for an old quilt I am trying to repair, I am hoping I can make these work, I have seen that quilt binding is quite expensive. After buying it I did see that it was not meant for apparel usage so I'm not sure that it was a wise investment of my $3. Any thoughts? I've never made/fixed a quilt before and I want to do the best job possible. I think I'm going to try to find out the quilt's story too. If I ever am able to make any connections about it, I'll share the story with you. I also found a huge pack of fabric paint for only $1.50. While I didn't really need it I was thinking about all of the stains my children manage to get on their clothes. My thought was that I could disguise the stains with something painted over them perhaps.

At the Goodwill I found two matching lampshades for the lamps that are going into the family room. I also found but didn't purchase two matching end tables. Cheesehead was skeptical if I'd actually find the time to refinish them as I envisioned the treasures. I only bought the lampshades. I guess I'll have to keep searching for those end tables.

I have one that he likes downstairs already, but apparently he seems to think they need to match. We searched Fleet Farm for one (that's where I bought the first table), but the tables they sell there are darker than the one we own so they weren't a match either. I'm not sure what the big deal is, I just want them to be big enough to hold a lamp, book, and a drink. I guess I'll have to continue my search and see if any acceptable solutions present themselves.

Cheesehead was just grumbling at me again the other day how I gave away the end tables that match our coffee table. He told me to get rid of them. How was I supposed to know that we were going to move and he'd regret his decision to give them away a couple of years later? What a goofball!

The kids found many new game systems they enjoyed at the used game store. Too bad that's not in our budget. I was supposed to get a free xbox 360 for participating in a bunch of programs last year, but somehow it never materialized even though I held up our end of the bargain. I am hoping to be able to get them a Nintendo Wii someday when the budget allows for it, probably won't be for a couple of years though. I'd buy only the games they had to move to be able to play so they could get some exercise without me having to be such a clock watcher when it comes to their screen time. I'm sick of arguing with them about my 1 hour each game time rule. I even have to fight Cheesehead on this one. He thinks I'm being too strict. I'm just trying to get them to make healthier lifestyle choices.

We also browsed around Best Buy to get some Christmas ideas. Once again they gravitated to the games. Son ran into one of his friends while we were there. They decided to play a game together, I think it was Guitar Hero (?) something like that anyway. Son had never played it before and apparently forgot you not only had to hold down the strings, but you also had to strun the guitar too. OOOPS! He got 0 points and his friend almost hit 20,000. His friend lives fairly close by son says. I asked him why he never asks him over. Son wasn't sure, I assume it's because he's like his dad and likes to have some time to himself when he's at home. He likes to ride the bus when his friend is riding, but is more than happy to skip riding if friend doesn't ride too. They were in Pop Werner together. Son is hoping to get to play on his team if they keep the Packer team for a couple more years. His friend is a year older than him, well a grade ahead anyway.

We did some major grocery shopping at Sam's Club too. Apparently his friend is a member there too since we ran into them there again. Small world, isn't it? Milk was 30 cents less a gallon there than last time I went to Aldi's. I guess it's a good thing I didn't go into Rhinelander this morning before we headed down to Wausau. I had some errands I should have ran, but I decided to wait until Monday instead. Son starts basketball and I decided I'd just run my errands while I wait for him to finish. I think that choice helped us to stick to our budget better anyway. Well, I guess we blew it at Sam's but we did well the rest of the day.

When we got home we were a bit tired from all of that walking around, so we decided to veg out instead of playing the board games I had originally enviosioned. Son just finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at school. Since we own the movie and he doesn't remember ever watching it, we put that on, made some air popped popcorn and settled in under our blankets for a family movie night.

Now we've got a lot of lost work time to make up for, but it was well worth it. It was a nice day. The kids were both even well behaved!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Summer Fades, Fall is Here, Winter isn't Far Behind

For a week or so the temps warmed up. I could have alomst swore it was summer again with high temps in the 80's. You see, our normal temps for this time or year are usually in the mid 60's so I'm sure you could see how it would be pretty confusing. This week reality has set back in starting with the foggy cold football game of last Saturday.



It is fall, it was actually fairly clear for picture taking yesterday (well it wasn't raining or foggy a the time anyway) so I got a shot of the vibrant colors in my yard. This is one of my favortie shots because it shows so many different colors and textures.



Some of the individual trees were displaying all of the fall colors. I thought that was pretty unusual as I had never seen anything quite like it. Most often a tree does not show us greens, yellows, oranges, and reds all at the same time. Most of the time I have seen just a couple of colors on a tree. This particualr tree was a birthday gift to my husband from some of his friends. It is the most beautiful tree in our garden right now, I have to think that is their love for him that makes it shine.



Unlike the outdoors though, my feet will display signs of summer all winter long. My tan lines from my sandals will likely last until they can get more added to them next summer. I'm still wearing my sandals now, but I wear socks with them more often now. I really need to get some tennis shoes out soon I suppose, but they are so restrictive on my poor toes.

The cool weather outside has given me a chance to do some indoor rearranging and re-decorating. That and all of the progress in my basement spurred me into action yesterday. I was getting very tired of the way everything was looking inside. Having no money to buy anything new, I decided to change things up a bit. I used only things I already own and making them look new and different.
.


This was one of our fall colored swags. I had it hanging on it's own, which looks okay, but I wanted to add some drama and some interest. Most swags in my house have flowers, but I find that foliage is very interesting too. Keeping that and the tree from my hunband's friends in mind, I paired it with an ivy swag that was also already hanging on my wall.



As you can see, there was some variation in the greens, but in both swags the interest really came in with the twigs in the ivy and the mossy looking substance in the fall swag. These aspects are very easy to over look, so I decided to put the two together to form one swag.



Do you like the results? This is what I did to achieve these results.

1. If you start looking through these swags, you will see where they connect in the back thay seem to have a natural tendancy to want to bend in a certain way. Take one of your swags and very gently bend each branch in that direction. I will warn you not to be too gruff with them as some swags can be quite delicate and you may unintentionally snap some sprigs off.

2. You will end up with a hollowed out looking center with most of the foliage leaning towards the outside of that swag.

3. Take the other swag and place it in the hollowed out center area.

4. Gently twist the branches of the spread out swag into the center swag as if you are braiding hair. Do not pull hard. It is a good idea to twine them together as much as possible so they don't seperate while they are hanging together on your wall. If you have difficulty doing that or if you're not sure that you will want to leave the swags together any amount of time I have had great success with both zip ties and yarn.

5. The two should come to look like one with the colors interwoven with each other, a beautiful tapestry to behold. I think I will add some flowers to these creations once I find some that I like to add another dimension, what do you think? Maybe some sunflowers or daisies?

I'm off to do more redecorating, stay tuned!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Yellow, a feast for your senses

Angela from Cottage Magpie has put forth a color challenge. See here challenge here. I wasn't sure if I could tackle it, but after looking around I realized just how many lovely yellow shades live in my home and garden. Please, allow me to give you a tour!



Pop! Pop,pop,pop. Can you hear my lunch cooking? What a lovely aroma, it reminds me of the movie theatre. This is one of my favorite snacks, it's healthy, tasty, and filling. Too bad I always add so much butter. Besides adding the butter which gives it the yellow coloring there are the popped kernels.




Can anyone eat salt without the sweet to go with it? These aren't so very healty, but I can't get enough of them. Cheesehead made these for us the other day. They are FABULOUS home made peanut butter cups. Want one? They are SO good, they just melt in your mouth. Boy, am I thirsty now!



Clink, clink, glug, glug, glug. Would you like an ice cold glass of lemonade? Ah! Now THAT'S thirst quenching. I made this with splenda so I don't have quite so many calories. Well, I need some sour to go with my salty and sweet, don't I?



This is one of my favorite pottery pieces to use at a party. I like to fill it with veggies and put a dip in the middle. I can't think of any yellow veggies that I like to eat raw. Hmm, everything I've featured has had something to do with food. No wonder I'm so fat! Let's go to the guest room, shall we?



My friends gave me this wonderful candle as a going away present when I moved almost . I haven't had the heart to burn it yet. It smells SO scrumptious! It is pineapple scented. I also love relaxing on these silky pillows.



My Grandma made me these wonderful afghans for me. I refuse to allow anyone to use them though, because I can not fix them when they start to fray. I'd love to learn how to knit someday! I sure wish I had taken the time to learn from her when she was still alive. She always made such wonderful things with yarn.




I have a little photo collection in here too. Framed are pictures of the children from a few years ago. I loved the cheerful looking flowers on these frames when I saw them at a thrift store a couple of years ago. The perfect touch for a garden room.




Moving on... This is one of my favorite pictures in my house. It is titled "Crown of Thorns". The original drawing was made by a soldier who was in a hospital. It was one of the first Home and Garden Party framed prints that I bought. While it's technically gold I feel that gold is a yellow shade. It hangs on a yellow accent wall in my kitchen entry area. I like to use this picture as a reminder to myself on how I should try to act.

Let's take a look at one more yellow item. It's located outside by my sidewalk.



Do you remeber those lovely little pansise that followed me home the other day? I got them potted quite some time ago, but I've been so busy that I haven't had the chance to show you the hanging baskets I made with them. I'm afraid they may be a bit full later this summer, but they looked so scrawny on my camera's screen I added more flowers to each pot.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

50 cent lamp make over

This is a project that I've been working on today! I have this slightly damaged lamp with some chips in the paint. Rather than throw it out (as Cheesehead would prefer), I decided to paint it. Well, the paint chips are the excuse I'm using since the color didn't match my guest room anyway.



If you look toward the bottom of it, you can see the paint chips. It still works, so I figure why get rid of it?



This is what it looked like after the first coat of paint. I got the paint on clearance at my local Walmart for only 25 cents per bottle. I have a total of three bottle, but I only had to use two to get my end results!



Here is my "final" product. (I use that term loosly since I may add some stenciling or lacquer finish or something at some other point. For now I'm happy, so I think I'll find another project to busy myself with instead!)

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy