Happy Halloween!!

I hope everyone has a Fun and Happy Halloween!! My oldest munchkin is 16 today!!! Happy Birthday Pumpkin!


Tiff

Small Quilts...

Sharing two small quilts that I made last year and the year before. The first one is a fall pumpkin quilt that I made through an adult ed class offered through our town. The colors are off in the pic, they look much more fall like in person.

And this one I made from a pattern in a magazine. It was part of a larger quilt, but I liked the crow block the best and then I just added my own border.

It hangs in my main stairway below the window that my dad put in my laundry room.

I'm making progress with the house and almost have the family where I want it, just doing some tweaking and figuring out some stuff for the walls.

Have a great weekend!

Tiff

Crocks!

I'm sharing another one of my collections with you because I can't take pics of the finished rooms/projects yet, as I'm not done. Hubby and I totally rearranged the family room the other day, every stitch of furniture got moved sans one dried sink. I'm still trying to figure out where to put the little stuff but I'm really liking the new configuration of the room. And yes, I will take pics and share them when I'm done.

For now, you can see my crock collection. Some are new and some are old. Here is the hoosier, which I moved and put all my smaller crocks on in the family room...

Two crocks that hold plants, one new, one old.

And two more old crocks that I put plants in.

This in one that sits on my front porch, it's from Bangor, Maine.

And another one on my front porch. This is my most recent purchase from a yard sale this summer. The only reason the old man sold it was because it had a crack in it and could no longer hold his pickles. But I'm pay $10 for a cracked crock:)

Here is a big 10 gallon crock that sits in front of my fireplace right now holding fall foliage.

And another 10 gallon one, this one just sits next to the hoosier.

I just realized I have one more 3 gallon crock that I didn't get a pic of because it's sitting on my kitchen table right now with a plant in it waiting to find a new place to go after the family room redo. Anyway, I'm not sure why I like or collect crocks, I guess they just catch my eye.

Have a terrific day!

Tiff

Still Working and another Collection...

So the sewing room is taking longer than I thought. Mainly because I keep moving things in other parts of the house right along with working on the sewing room. As you can see in the pic below, I took the "crock hutch" and moved it in my new room for more storage. That then required me to find a new home for all my crocks, which I did and will show you in a later post. And I'm still not quite done with the little dresser(new knobs are on but not painted yet).

And I thought I would share my gray enamelware collection, it's not a huge collection, but it's steadily growing. Here is my latest acquisition, my largest tub yet and I got it for a great price at a local store (Tinsel Bright if anyone is interested, they have lots of antique prims right along with shabby chic, classic, and new stuff).

And here are four more smaller pots and tubs hanging on the wall. It's all in my mudroom.

A few pieces on top of a hutch.

And one piece that actually gets put to use, a deep tub that we fill with soccer stuff.

I have some more pieces in the basement that I need to bring up, but that is just one more thing on my list of many that I need to do!

Have a great day,

Tiff

Apron Make Over and Candle Holders....

I didn't forget about showing you all the dresser make over, I'm just not quite finished with it yet(long story, that I will tell when I show you it). But I have been working on some other things right along with it, besides working on my sewing room and cleaning out my youngest 3 munchkins closet and dressers, I've painted and aged the multi candle holder, the wall candle sconces, the big firkin, a small wall cupboard, and made this apron for my dear friend.

We both bought new white butcher aprons from Goodwill for $1.98. I then coffee stained them(with instant coffee) and baked them in the oven. I wish I would have taken a pic of them before, but they were just plain pure white cotton canvas bib aprons. Anyway, then I added the ruffle on the bottom and the trim on the top and sides, all the check fabric is actually tea towels that I bought a few years ago. After that I stitched on the crow and the star and shortened the neck tie a bit. And there you have a "new" prim apron. Now I just need to whip up mine.


Do you think the crow needs feet?

And here are the two wood candle sconces from the church sale, just painted black and sanded a bit. I hung them in my half bath downstairs because I honestly had no idea where else to put them!

Until next time,

Tiff

Fantastic Halloween GiveAway!!

Check out this giveaway at Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe. She is giving away 27 fat quarters in fall inspired prints!!!! Giveaway closes at midnight on October 31st. So go check it out and enter :) Good luck to everyone.

Tiff

GW Finds + Beginning of My Sewing Room....

Did I mention that I LOVE Goodwill?! Rarely does the store disappoint me. And because it is only 2 minutes from my house, I can check it often.

Here are some finds from this past week. The first is a huge firkin, it's not very old, probably from the 70's and I think it was a magazine rack, but I can soon remedy that with some fixing and some paint. Then I found a big basket, that I will use for storage in my sewing room. Also in the pic is a long wall basket(already a nice color, will just need some aging) and a bouquet of something? they are fake wheat like things and I thought they would look neat in the wall basket.

Then I found these bright orange sheer curtains. No, I didn't lose my mind and No, they will not be hanging from any windows in my home. BUT, they will turn into very neat Halloween aprons! And I found another baby clothes pattern, I can't resist them. I just need to find the time to sew for this baby! And last I found three window valances in a heavy weight cotton canvas material. I loved the print on them and couldn't resist them. They will be turned into something baby related, maybe a tote bag or something.

I think I mentioned on here that I am getting my sewing room back, YAY! It is a big work in progress right now and I'm taking my time moving in so that I can put everything away right where it belongs. My first step was my wool, got it all stacked a color organized. The shelving is very industrial, but it works for now, and I do plan on covering it in the future.

I have to get back to painting, I'm working on that white dresser right now. I finally figured out where to put it and hopefully tomorrow I can share that with you all.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Tiff

Copper Collection and Church Sale Finds...

I thought I would share another one of my collections with you. This is my copper collection, ok, not all of it is real copper, but it all goes together. I really haven't added to this collection in a long time(except for today as you will see below), it doesn't appeal to me as much anymore. But I'm not to the point of letting go of it. It all hangs from the bottom of an old crib in between the pendant lights in my kitchen over the island. Oh, and I totally forgot to include the two egg baskets full of copper cookie cutters in my cookie cutter collection post, but you can see them now. I guess I have to much junk that I actually forget what I have!!

And now for the Church sale finds. I really wasn't planning on going to the sale today but my good friend stopped by around 11 this morning and we got chatting and I mentioned the sale to her. She immediately said "let's go". So I got my youngest munchkin ready and we headed over(it's only a 3 minute drive). I really hate getting to these kinds of these late because I always wonder what fantastic things I missed out on. This sale started at 9am, so I know a lot hadabeen sold already, especially because the prices were so darn cheap. But I need to focus on the things I did get and forget about what I missed as it wasn't meant to be. So here is what I got...

A wood bowl with handle, two wood wall candle holders, a wood hanger, some berry vine, two swinging brass candle holders, a small copper sheep(for my collection), 8 vintage cloth napkins , a bag full of wool skirts(not pictured because it's already up in the laundry room waiting to be washed), and my munchkin got two toys(a baby Kate doll and a musical dog pull toy).

Then I got this desk, which says it is made in Vermont on the bottom. I'll either use it my sewing room or put it in my youngest daughter's room, of course after a makeover.

And last, but not least, this little chest of drawers. I know it looks hideous now, but it is such a nice size, tall and narrow, that I couldn't pass it up and I know it will look fantastic painted and primmed up.

And what did I pay for all these treasures you ask? A grand total of $ 22 !!! Yes, a total steal! Where could I get a dressser alone for that price or even the bag of wool? So thank you dear friend of mine for dragging me out of the house this morning!! And I'll be sure to share the finished makeovers with all of you, I have a lot of painting to do!!

Have a great day!

Tiff

Happy Birthday Nathan...

I've been weepy lately, I feel like I can cry at the drop of a hat. I thought it was money stress or maybe the hormones of pregnancy, but then it hit me last night... today would have been Nathan's 1st birthday if he would have made it to term. I've been thinking about him a lot lately, and sometimes I catch myself calling this new baby boy by his name in my head. It's amazing how such a tiny little being can have such a profound impact on your life. Happy Birthday my sweet little boy. I love and miss you.





Today is also Angel Remembrance Day...


Tiff

Apple Butter and Apple picking...

We went apple picking with the youngest four munchkins at a local orchard. We got half a bushel of empires and half a bushel of mcouns. My youngest daughter and I made most of the empires into apple butter and most of the mcouns(the ones that didn't get eaten fresh) were turned into pie filling and put in the freezer. The apple butter was pretty easy to make, just very time consuming as it has to be on the stove for quite awhile and be stirred constantly. We made two batches, a normal, follow the recipe batch, and then a darker, our own creation batch(with brown sugar and fresh maple syrup). We only did 12 jars in total, which I figure will last about 2 months if I'm lucky. My 6yr old, who does not like jelly is in love with the stuff and now is requesting peanut butter and apple butter sandwhiches!

Here is the recipe we followed.... Simply Recipes

And here we are apple picking....

It's a rainy fall day here, and up north they are getting snow. I love snow, but I'm not quite ready for it yet, I still want to enjoy Fall.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Yard Sale redos...

I thought I would share one of two big yard sales I hit this summer. Along with what is in the two pics, I also got the two old wheelbarrows from my post on my old blog and the wicker rocker. I'm still in the process of redoing some stuff, like the neat wood candle holder(the box looking thing with holes on the side, the holes are to store extra candles) and the wood rooster. But here are some finished things....

This is the "mudroom" shelf in the pic above. I just painted it black, sanded it a bit and added the tin star. I also painted the wood bowl blue and sanded it, but I forgot to put it back on top the shelf when I took the pic(the wind blew it off when I had the windows open).

This is the little plywood bench in the first pic. I put an under coat of mustard paint then a top coat of black paint and sanded it.

And this quilt rack isn't in the above pics, but it was a standard honey colored pine(luckily with no Heart cutouts in it) that I picked up for 50 cents. And once again, just some paint and sanding transformed it. The wall it is hanging on is a faux beadboard wall that my dad built for me. It encloses the large opening that was in my dining room and front hall. Since we never used the dining room, I had him block it off for me to become my sewing room. Which then became my oldest son's room for the past 9 months, but this weekend we moved him back to the bonus room and I'm getting my sewing room back!! I'm so excited and can't wait to have a place to work again.

Have a great day,

Tiff

Day at the Fair...

On Friday we headed to the famous Fryeburg Fair(well, it's famous in these parts). Surprisingly, we had never been before, but I had always heard so much about it and how wonderful it is. I must had some very romantic visions of fairs, because to say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement. Maybe I'm just not a fair type of person, but I really expected more from it, or at least more of an old fashioned flair, not so carney. I didn't take pics of the massive amounts of tents full of junk(scam wows, squeegies, imported mass produced crafts, etc.) because I just saw no point. Plus, there were so many carnival rides, it was insane. I'm not a fan of the rides to begin with, I don't think they are that safe, but I did let the kids go on a couple(not the roller coasters or the big upside down spinning ones). Plus, I couldn't afford to let them go on more than a couple, the little rides cost $4 a ride!!! That is insane! So what did I take pics of? Mostly the animals, my kids, and some wagons. The craft entries were OK, but nothing was inspiring, the quilts weren't my taste but there were a couple nice penny rugs.

Here we go... WARNING... this is a heavy picture post....





My four youngest munchkins in front of the winning pumpkins.

All my munchkins....

A very ornate Romanian Gypsy wagon. This was very impressive in person.

A horse drawn hearse.

An old fashioned version of a wagon for my family, lol! We would need the three rows.

I wanted this hay wagon for my front yard. I could just picture it full of pumpkins.

They had harness racing going on too, but we aren't gamblers.

Here is my youngest enjoying a ride.

And two more of my munchkins having fun.

Going for a helicopter ride.

And now for the animals... We saw Geese...

Chickens...

Miniature donkeys....

Miniature horses....

Llamas...

Sheep...these naked ones had just been sheered.

I thought this brown one was the cutest.

A very inquisitive sheep.

Then came the pulling and draft horses....

I can not get in pictures how massive these creatures were, the tops of their heads had to be close to 9 ft high.

And my most favorite animals, the cows....

I thought this breed was neat, take a close look at the spots...

Look how they are outlined...

The kids liked the jewelry...

This cow they found "creepy" as my 3yr old put it, it kept watching them and it's eyes would bulge out.

Again, pics do not give the size of these creatures justice, their back sides were as tall as my hubby and me. I guess I'm not a farm girl, because I didn't realize how big cows are.

Here is the youngest cow we saw.

And this is my favorite, I think it had the sweetest looking face.

We couldn't afford to indulge in too much fair food, again, the prices were insane. $5 for an elephant ear(we got 2 for the family to share). But we did splurge on these jumbo doughnuts, they were $4 a piece, but oh so yummy.

On the walk out of the fair, my youngest munchkin fell asleep sitting up in the wagon.

So I know I sounded a bit negative about this fair, I guess it just wasn't me and maybe I had imagined it to be so much more in my old fashioned mind. At least I can say we have been and we don't need to go again. To be honest, I would have rather spent the time and money at the thrift and antique shops we saw on the drive home. Oh well, live and learn :)

Until next time,

Tiff