Folded Gingham

New Sideboard...

2012-02-02T13:28:00.006-05:00

Remember the sideboard I told you about? The one I got from Craigslist for $60 !! Well, I finally figured out where to put it. Ideally, I would like it in a dining room with my collection of Wexford Crystal on it, but since the dining room has been turned into my 11yr old's new bedroom it will have to live in the family room for now. It is just perfect as a tv cupboard.

I hate the look of all those electric and cable cords, so I put a basket underneath to contain them. But it wasn't tall enough, thus the books underneath. I'm going to have to find some big older ones that will look better(trip to GW for some vintage encyclopedias maybe), but it works for the moment. It has a mirror that stretches the whole length of the top, you can just get a glimpse of there on the right next to the Wii. Of course, moving this in here required a complete, and I mean Complete rearrange of the family room. I moved the location of the tv, the couch, the roll top desk, the hoosier, and the doll house. As soon as I'm done with it all, I'll take some finished pictures. Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Silhouette Goat and Bean Pots...

2012-01-30T16:52:00.007-05:00

I got inspired by three silhouette animals I saw on pinterest, one of which was a goat. But instead of doing it out of paper or even paint, I thought I would try it with cross stitch. So while I watch tv in the evening I have been working on my little billy goat. I drew the pattern myself from the inspiration picture and when I get him done, I may add a cow and sheep for him. I hope to find some oval frames to finish off the trio. BTW, I forgot how long cross stitch takes.

And here is pic of my bean pot collection, I moved them from the fireplace mantel into the front foyer. Have a beautiful day,

Tiff(ps, I have no idea why that #1 is there, it wouldn't let me take it out in the editing either, strange)

I've Got You Covered

2012-01-28T11:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm coming out about my baby blanket hoarding :) I love baby blankets and actually use them all when my babies are babies. Mason is going to be TWO in less than 2 weeks(can you believe that?!) so I was sorting out his closet and decided it was time to pack the baby blankets away :( The two stacks above contain 63 blankets! The stack on the right is all Gymboree ones(yes, I had a problem there for awhile, but ended a few years back). These don't even include the girl baby blankets stored in the basement. I did keep out about 6 large toddler size blankets for him, so he won't be without. But these are all in a tub now headed for storage in the basement. Mind you, I didn't buy this many with each baby, this is an accumulation of 7 babies, and some of those blankets in there are from my oldest who is 18 years old now(carters blankest last).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I no longer need all these, hopefully there is one more baby in our future.

Have a cozy Saturday, we are off to buy a new vacuum,

Tiff

Heart to Heart Swap...

2012-01-27T14:28:00.003-05:00

I participated in Sarah's(Makin Projiks ) Heart to Heart Swap again this year. I always have these brilliant ideas in my head, then when I go to make them they never turn out the way I want(I think I have perfectionist problems). So after several fails, I finally came up with these girls. Not quite what I had in mind, but they are cute and festive for Valentine's day. I needed to make 15 of these gals, and let me just say, they took much longer than expected.... I hope the recipients like them and I can't wait to see all the lovelies that I get in return :)

Thank you for all the encouragement about joining WW :) I had no idea how much I was really eating until my first full day yesterday using the points. Holy Cow! Know wonder I am fat!!! Anyway, I made it through day 1 and onto day 2 with no cheating, Yay! Thank goodness fruit and veggies are zero points, otherwise I would feel hungry. And just in time for my weight loss journey, my favorite oranges(Cara Cara) are in season!!! I stocked up on these this morning at the grocery store. The one thing I am finding hard, is trying to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day, I only made it to 5 yesterday. I'm just not that thirsty. Of course I was up 3 times to use the bathroom last night from it. Maybe I've been dehydrated for years and didn't even know it. Have a marvelous weekend!!,

Tiff

Here I go...

2012-01-26T09:04:00.002-05:00

Well, I did it last night. I signed up for Weight Watchers online. I couldn't do it by myself, I needed guidance and rules to follow, plus if I'm paying for it, I'm more likely to stick with it :) I'm tired of being tired, I need to lose weight and get in shape. I don't expect to be tiny, I never have been, but I don't want to be this big anymore. My long term goal is 70lbs, but right now my tiny goal is 12lbs.

I hate having my picture taken, so hopefully that will go away once I feel better about how I look. No more hiding behind babies when the camera clicks!(though I don't mind babies and would really LOVE one more(sending that hint up to Heaven!)).

Here are two before pictures, and these are the only ones I'm willing to share right now! The others make me shudder.

In a few months, I'll update with a more recent picture and keep that up until I reach my goal. I really think I can do it this time because I NEED to do it.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Do You Like PaperWhites?...

2012-01-24T17:13:00.003-05:00

I walked into my kitchen this morning from the family room and noticed an awful smell as I passed the kitchen table. It reminded me of an old wet diaper, sorry, I know that is gross but that is the best way I could describe it. I looked around and found nothing. Then I noticed this in the corner, just beginning to bloom.....

Ah! I found the culprit! How could such a sweet little flower smell so bad? Is it just me or does anyone else think they stink? The last time I grew paperwhites was about 10 years ago, and at the time I told myself never again because I had about 20 of them and the house stunk! But lately I have been reading blogs and everyone had paperwhites(this was just before Christmas) and were commenting on how they love them so and they smell so sweet. I thought, "huh, maybe I just had a bad batch". So a few weeks ago when I was at a floral shop, I picked a 6 bulbs up and thought I would give them a second chance. Well, I tried, and still the same result, YUCK!!! They are pretty, but I'm going to have to move them out of the kitchen so I can eat dinner at the table, as the little high chair they sit on is right next to my seat!!

So what do you think? Do you like the smell of paperwhites?

Have a great day,

Tiff

Revisiting Fall...

2012-01-23T13:52:00.011-05:00

I'm sitting here today with a bad backache from shoveling a ton of snow on Friday and falling on the ice while doing it. The only thing that seems to relieve some of the pain is a heating pad my youngest daughter made me(she sewed a two pieces of fleece together and stuffed with rice, pop in the microwave for a minute and it lasts for at least an hour). So I've been looking through old pictures that my dear hubby transferred from my old lap top to my new one(thank you dear!) and came across this past Fall's decor. I realized I never shared it on here so I thought why not do that today :)

I was inspired by a photo on pinterest for my wheelbarrow display... I think it came out pretty nice...

Here is a shot of the front porch. I made Martha's paper silhouette mice into weatherproof wood ones for outside... The other front door.. And I was inspired by another blogger, Misi over at 1890 gablehouse musings. She had a witch and crow silhouettes by a white out building(her store I think) and I just fell in love with the crows. So I drafted my own and cut them out of plywood and spray painted them black. I just perched them on the fence but you could put them on sticks too so they stick in the ground. Here is Mason enjoying an apple after a day of apple picking. I found the old wall paper ladder this past summer at a yard sale for $5. The pumpkins on it were grown by my youngest daughter. And here are two dolls that I made for a doll swap this past fall. I hope you enjoyed revisiting Fall :)

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Want to hook up on Pinterest?

2012-01-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

I gave up Facebook(don't need to be big brothered) so I can't look up pinterest friends that easily. So I thought I would make a post and share my pinterest address and if you want to share yours for other prim bloggers, leave it in the comments.

Mine is... http://pinterest.com/tiffaneyc/

Have fun pinning,

Tiff

50th Anniversary Red Work Quilt

2012-01-21T15:51:00.005-05:00

Remember the red work quilt I was making for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary? I DID actually finish it!! They did get it a few days after their anniversary back in September, but I don't think they minded that it was late.

It consisted of redwork blocks with their birth dates and places, their children's, and their grandchildren's, along with all the states they have lived in. It was many hours of time stitching, but I think the finished product is pretty nice.

This is the center square... If you look at the red squares below the bird, you will see two set of angel wings and halos, those are for lost babies. Each person's square had some sort of picture that could be associated with that person. This one happens to be my mom's, a ball of filet crochet thread and a hook.

I think it will be awhile before I tackle another one of these, but maybe someday.

Have a love weekend,

Tiff

Make your own Blue Canning Jars...

2012-01-20T10:53:00.013-05:00

I can't take credit for this idea, I found it through pinterest. There are quite a few fails on pinterest, but I wanted to give this one a try and was happily surprised with the results. I apologize for the crappy photos, I just can't win lately when it comes to taking pics, but hopefully you can get how great this project is despite the bad photos.

It seems like around here, blue canning jars are getting harder to find and when you do find them they are pricey. I have plenty of old clear canning jars that I use for decor or craft storage, so why not turn them blue! First off, no, these are NOT food safe and you can't fill with water to use as a vase. But you can use them for decoration and craft storage.

It was hit or miss with the recipe, I added too much water to the batch so I had to keep finding more glassware to turn blue. How much modg podge you need depends on how many things you want to create. For one or two jars, take about 2tblspoons modge podge and add just a few drops of water, just to make it a bit more runny. Then add blue, green, and a tiny bit of yellow food coloring to the mix. I only had gel food coloring on hand, but any kind will work. I mixed the ingredients right in one of the jars I was turning blue.

Mix the ingredients well, adjusting the food coloring to the blue green color that you want. Then swirl the mixture all over the jar(hold a lid on with a wash cloth over it, because this can get messy. Wipe off drips that get on the outside. Dump out the excess mixture into the next jar and repeat. When you are done, dump the remaining mixture out. You don't want a big pool of it at the bottom of the jar. The jars will look like this.... When dry they look like this!.... now at this point you can bake them at a low heat for an hour or so, but I really don't see the need for this because it will NOT make them waterproof. I'm not really sure what it would do, but that was in the original instructions. The photo does not do them justice, they really look authentic in real life and I am so pleased with the results. Now, while we are on the subject of blue canning jars. I want to warn you that their are reproductions out there posing as the old thing. The one woman on pinterest has a set of these reproductions I'm afraid, but she doesn't realize it. About 10 or 12 years Walmart sold a line of blue canning jars that had the glass top and wire bail. There were 3 different sizes I think. The color is a bit darker than the old ones, and they have "Ball" across the front and an eagle on the back. I had several sets of these myself(not sure where they all went!). THere is nothing wrong with these and I don't mind reproductions, BUT I just wanted to warn you all so you don't pay big bucks for what you think is an antique. Here is one of the walmart ones, I have it filled with mini pinecones. Here is a true antique one... notice the lighter color. And here are all three side by side... reproduction, my creation with an old jar, and the original old blue jar. I like the color they add to the upper cupboards... And they are pretty in the window. If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I will come back and answer them in the comments.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Better Late Than Never...

2012-01-18T16:49:00.005-05:00

Thank you all for the comments on my last post, I'm still smiling from my finds. And I promise, as the time approaches, I will share more on the whole moving thing.

For right now, I'm just adding two pics to my blog for a family record of our Christmas morning traditions. We always have a huge breakfast before any present opening starts, this year I went with a green glass theme with red and white fabrics....

And our traditional picture of the kids coming down the stairs in their matching jammies! Yes, it's already Jan. 19th, but better late than never :)

Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

Found my OWN Treasures....

2012-01-17T21:04:00.004-05:00

Anyone still out there reading this poor neglected blog? For those who still look occasionally, I have a good story for you to start the New Year. Happy New Year btw!!! I'm praying that 2012 is a better year than 2011.

So here is the story.... my parents were here for 2 weeks right after Christmas. When they come, we always go to a certain antique/junk store. Out in the barn section, there was this gorgeous tiger oak sideboard for $175, a real steal and I could see it in a dining room with my vintage glassware on it. I didn't buy it. But is festered in me for 2 weeks. Yesterday was hubby and mine's 19th wedding anniversary, so this past Saturday he took me up to the store to get the sideboard(they are only open on the weekends). When we got there, I saw the "Hold" sign on the piece. Boo hoo! But I let it go and figured it wasn't meant to be.

That evening(Saturday) I did a bit of surfing on Craigslist and typed in sideboard. In the next town over I found a tiger oak sideboard with mirror(not quite as fancy as the other one) but still gorgeous and huge and are you ready for this?!?!?! It was only $60 . My girls and I picked it up on Sunday. It's still in the back of my van, but I'll share it with you when I get it in the house(after I figure out where it is going, lol). Can you believe that? I was so happy, still am. But that's not the end of the story.....

After my good luck over the weekend, I decided to look again today at Craiglist. I usually stick with my town or the ones right around me so I don't have to drive far. I typed in my town under the for sale section and started reading. I saw a light fixture(I have a thing for chandeliers and lights that I can makeover to look old). It was a cute hurricane punched tin light for $30. I thought, "wow, that looks like the kind I put in our old house". I looked at the next listing, by the same seller, another punched tin light for $30, and I thought again..."wow, that looks like the old light over our kitchen table". Then I looked in the background of the photos and noticed some other light fixtures that looked familiar. I emailed the seller and said I wanted both lights. He called me back and we started talking and he said he recognized my name from the closet in his house....where I wrote hubby and my name when we bought the house!!! It turns out that they were MY LIGHT FIXTURES!!!! We sold that house 7 years ago and we still all love the house and have fond memories of it and refer to it as the "red house" even though it is gray now. My 14 yr old daughter and I went over this evening to pick up the lights and got the tour of our old home. I was so nervous to go see it, but when we got there, I wasn't sad at all. The family who lives there now(they bought it from the people who bought it from us) seem very nice and they love the house too. The inside was different(painted) and seemed smaller than I remember, but it was fun to see it. And most importantly of all , I have my lights back!!! The husband was very nice and asked me about things in the house and told me that he will let me have the other lamp(one that matches the hurricane one) when he gets a replacement. He was going to let me just have the lamps for free, since he said they were mine anyway, but I gave him the $60 and told him to put it towards things they need in the house. So I have two new old lights and another one coming. I'm over the moon!! And I have some of our history back.

The one light has to be wired into the ceiling, so I'm not hanging that right now, but the other just plugs in, so I hung it over my daughter's new doll house that she got for Christmas.

I looked up the lights on Irvin's and forgot how much I originally paid for them, the one above now retails for $168!

Here's hoping that this is an indication of how good this year is going to be!!! Now let's just pray that we can find a farmhouse to rent this summer. Yes, we are moving, but that is a whole other story for another day.

Much love,

Tiff

Merry Christmas Eve my Dear Friends!!....

2011-12-24T22:33:00.013-05:00

As we wait for the kids to fall asleep, I thought I would make a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas :) Here are a few pics of the house, mostly the kitchen....

This was my vintage retro tree... All in their matching jammies right before bed... OOPS, look who I just caught!!!! Merry Christmas!!!!

Love,

Tiff

Around the house...

2011-12-19T11:08:00.006-05:00

We spent a lovely and much needed weekend away in northern New Hampshire visiting my nephew and his fiance'. We stayed in a beautiful old farmhouse that I found through a vacation rental site, sorry no pics of the weekend, I didn't use my camera once! But I might steal some from my daughter's camera if I get a chance.

Before we left, I did start to take some pics of the Christmas decor around the house. Each year I do things a little different, depending on the mood I am in. For the kitchen window, I used some red gingham fabric and made a scalloped edge for the shelf and hung some pinecones in the window. It came out simple and sweet and fit in with the rest of the kitchen theme.

Burlap seems to be very popular lately and I had some upholstery webbing burlap, so I made a big bow for one of the wreaths in the kitchen and hung it on the hutch by the table. Mason's nap time is usually in the afternoon and since I moved my sewing area to my bedroom, I was in need of a way to entertain him for a bit so I could get some sewing done. I popped in his favorite movie(Lilo and Stitch is this weeks pick) on my lap and put him on my bed. Within minutes of me starting to sew, I looked over my shoulder and this is what I saw :)While he slept, I sewed a wool scrap blanket. Have a productive Monday,

Tiff

Thank You

2011-12-09T16:45:00.002-05:00

I'm extremely happy to report that Mason is fine and doing well. Everything went smoothly, other than the normal screaming from an almost 2 yr old who has major mommyitis, and even that wasn't too bad, he just wanted the IV out as soon as he woke up. Thank you all for your prayers, they really meant a lot to me. I am so glad this is behind us and it is one less stress on my mind. Hopefully I will have some sort of Internet back on Monday and I can share some pics with you. Thank you again all my wonderful blog friends. Have a lvoely weekend, Tiff

keep Mason in your Prayers, please....

2011-12-08T19:32:00.003-05:00

We are in between Internet providers, so I am using hubby's iPad, which is incredibly slow and awkward to use, so please ignore typing errors. As I mentioned in previous posts, we are going through some very stressful times, which is part of why I haven't been posting, I just don't have the gumption. But I am making this post to ask you all to keep Mason in your prayers. He is going in tomorrow morning(Friday) for dental surgery. It is in the hospital and he has to have general anethesia. Thank goodness he is to young to be stressing, but hubby and I sure am. Please pray that all goes well and he doesn't have any pain. I am one very nervous mommy. I'll try to update later tomorrow. Thank you, Tiff

Happy 11th Birthday Gavin!!

2011-11-11T11:35:00.003-05:00

What could be more awesome than turning 11 on 11-11-11?!?!!! My 4th baby has that special honor today :) We made treats for him to take to school yesterday(quadruple stuffed oreos dipped in white chocolate and covered with sprinkles on a popcickle stick, huge hit!). I'll share the rest of our day later, we are headed out to enjoy the day with the birthday boy!!

Have a lovely long weekend,

Tiff

Simplifying...Life and Home...

2011-11-05T17:11:00.005-04:00

Purging... that is my word for the next 6 months. I'm clearing and cleaning out the house. I can't believe all the stuff I have accumulated in almost 19 years of marriage, despite having yearly yard sales!! But really, enough is enough and I'm tired of "Stuff". I want a more simple home and simple life, not ruled things and clutter.

I want the lines of the house to show and to use paint to add character and interest....

No unnecessary furniture or nic nacs to get in the way..... I was going to have a huge fall yard sale, but there just wasn't enough time in the day to get everything ready. So come Spring, I'm having a massive, clear the house out, yard sale!!! I already got rid of 11 storage tubs of stuff in the basement that went to the yard sale pile. And 50x that is still waiting to be let go.

I know that this will not only simplify my home but also my life. It's not an easy task though, as some things I have had for years, but I am letting go and I'm trying to just have antiques and handmade items as decor. You should see the pile of halloween stuff I got rid of after I took it all down this weekend!!

And I know I have really let this blog fall to the way side, but to tell you the truth, my heart just hasn't been in it. I have too many stresses going on. But don't worry, I haven't abandoned it completely, it may just be once weekly that I post, until life gets more certain. I'll leave you today with a pic of some of the kids on Halloween... we had a bumble bee, Patriot soldier(made completely from wool from my stash), a mobster, a dragon, and a scary monster who sat and scared the trick or treaters. I think the was the first year that I didn't spend a dime on costumes, we used ones we already had or made from stuff around the house:) Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

Card Winners....

2011-10-29T18:57:00.002-04:00

I'm working on a different computer so I can't share any photos(like the 50th Anniversary quilt or my front porch) but I can tell you the winners of the the Shutterfly card giveaway....

CONGRATS to Gayle, Karen, and Vanessa!!!! Email me and I will email you back the codes.

I'm looking forward to this snowstorm so I can get our Christmas card pictures done :) and I just plain LIKE snow :)

Life is still busy and hectic and in turmoil and limboland, but I'm slowly cleaning and simplifying the house(starting with our closets). I wanted to have a massive yard sale next weekend, but that isn't likely anymore as there is just no way I will be ready for it. So it may have to wait until Spring. I was thinking about making a selling blog to let go of some of my prim and vintage items, but I hate dealing with the shipping thing, but then again, I may go ahead and do it. I'm so wishy washy lately, I just want my life back to normal.

Have great weekend,

Tiff

Shutterfly 2011 Holiday Card GiveAway!!

2011-10-21T12:16:00.003-04:00

Do you use Shutterfly? If you don't, you should! You can customize greeting cards, labels, hang tags, mugs, key chains, magnets, and so much more . I used them last year to make our Christmas cards(as seen above) and present hang tags. The quality of the cards is superb and all your creations come in their own box for easy storage and to keep them protected. Plus there are so many creative designs to choose from, all you have to do is pick what picture(s) you want to use and the rest is easy peasy. Create professional quality cards in just minutes!

Worried about getting the perfect group shot? No stress, there are plenty of cards that let you choose multiple photos so that you can get that "just right" picture of each person in your family on the card. That's what I did with mine. Trying to get 7 kids to look just so for a picture, I was exhausted! So I just went with individual ones and I loved the result.

So make your own one of a kind Holiday cards this year with Shutterfly!!! You won't be disappointed. And to add some sweetness to all this.. If you are a blogger, and want a chance to get 25 free cards this holiday season, register here.... http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

And for my readers, leave a comment with this post and I will draw THREE winners who will each receive a code for 25 FREE holiday cards generously donated by Shutterfly!!!!

I can't wait to get started on my Christmas cards this year, enjoy making yours!!

Have a most lovely and creative day, Tiff

Giveaway Winner....

2011-10-20T18:05:00.002-04:00

Where to start? First, an apology, I'm sorry for taking months(totally unbelievable) to post a winner and for not blogging for so long. Why? you ask. It started with just being super busy with the beginning of the school year(homeschooling and public schooling is more work than I thought it would be), then my old laptop started to misbehave and fall apart at my fingertips, it's hard to write a full post without a space bar! Yes, I could have used hubby's computer, but all my stuff and photos are on mine, lame excuse I know. Then as time passed, more things kept me busy and I just could not bring myself to even look at my blog or anyone else's for that matter. Kind of out of sight out of mind thing.

And for the last month I have been under the most stress I have ever been in my entire life. I can't go into details at this point in time, but it's not health related, we are all for the most part healthy, thank the Lord. Let's just say, there are going to some major changes happening in the next year and none of it will be easy but hopefully in the end we will all be better off and our stress level will at a more manageble level.

And along when the above stress hit home, we lost one of the bunnies, Honey, and some other minor little nightmare hit our house, so it's been a miserable few weeks. BUT, I think I can see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel, I just have too walk, crawl, drag myself a few miles to get to it.

Now for the winner of my giveaway, it's Lynn !! Congratulations! Email me with your address and I will get your package out to you.

I have a very cool Shutterfly giveaway to share with you all, so if you come back tomorrow(I'm not joking) you can see what it is.

Thank you all for your patience with me and for the emails you sent, I'm sorry for not responding sooner. All prayers of strength, peace, and guidance would be so very greatly appreciated.

With love,

Tiff

Ugh, Stuff....and Giveawy ends tonight...

2011-08-19T16:24:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't posted all week and I'm sorry, it's not that I haven't wanted to, I actually have a ton to share! Like all my yard sale finds and my sewing room/school progress. BUT, unfortunately, blogger has not been friendly to me this week and I haven't had luck with downloading pictures. Not to mention, that my sidebar keeps updating and then unupdating(I know, not a word) itself, so I can't even tell who is posting to their blog. And add to the blog issues, that I haven't been feeling well, though I have found out what has been wrong with me for the last 4 months or so(which is a huge relief because I really was beginning to fear the worst), I just haven't been on the computer much this week.

Right now I am scrambling to finish up some blueberry pies, fight off a headache, and avoid the heat outside(it got nasty and humid here) and later on tonight I will draw the winner of my giveaway, so stay tuned!

have a lovely evening,

Tiff

"Fall is in The Air" GiveAway....

2011-08-12T12:53:00.007-04:00

I've been pretty fortunate lately by winning two lovely giveaways, so I thought I would pass along some of the kindness. I'm calling this "Fall is in the Air" because Fall is my favorite season and I'm really looking forward to the cool crisp days that just have a certain feeling to them that you can't describe with words.

What I'm giving away is not Fall themed by the traditional sense, but more so because of what they are... a small tin accent light because the daylight hours are getting shorter and it's nice to have fun little lights to turn on.... a handmade doll because it's nice to have a friend to hang out with when the weather turns chilly.... and a iron on transfer kit because it's fun to have a chilly weather project to stitch on by the fire.

This gal was made by Erika of Erika's cupboard, she is no longer making dolls but was a fantastic artist and her dolls are well made. This one is from my collection. Now if you would like to enter for a chance to win these items, all you have to do is be a follower of my blog or become one and leave a comment on this post. That's it! You are welcome to share this giveaway and use any of the pics above but it is not necessary to enter. One piece of bad news is that I'm going to have to keep this to US residents only as I just looked up international shipping costs(yikes), sorry about that to all my international readers.

I'll draw the winner on August 19th at 9pm et.

Have lovely weekend,

Tiff

Thursday Thoughts... Thank you for the idea!

2011-08-11T17:39:00.006-04:00

Yes, I know I skipped "Wednesday's Work", but the day just kind of slipped away from me, at least we got our school supply shopping done though.

I've been working in my sewing room, tweaking the family room, still doing the redwork blocks, and working in the garden.

My thoughts have been scattered and all over the place lately, and I have way too many projects mulling around in my head. I did decide on the spur of the moment today to do an easy one that I couldn't stop thinking about since Kimberly of Camp and Cottage Living mentioned it in a comment about my last post.

The old mixer was pretty grungy and I had to scrub it so much that some of the paint came off with the grunge. And I got some water in parts of it,so I figured I was never going to use it for food preparation, so I cut off the cord and spray painted it. It was a pretty quick project and I like the way it came out. Thank You Kimberly for the potted plant idea!!

I dug the lemon balm plant up from my garden(it keeps sprouting everywhere!) and thought it would make a nice fragrant plant for the kitchen. The spray paint was just basic black and antique white(which was quite close to the original color). I like that it is now functional instead of just sitting in the kitchen as a decorative object. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Friday Fun, I'm going to announce a giveaway!

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Tuesday's Treasures... Craigslist Freebies!

2011-08-09T19:36:00.006-04:00

I was up late on Sunday night and happened to be browsing craigslist. I always check the Free section first and then move on to my town and then anything else I might be looking for. I spotted an add in the free section for an end table, I clicked on it and saw a small gateleg table. I immediately emailed them and in the morning I got an email back, I was the first to reply, yay! When I went to go pick it up, I wasn't expecting this perfect little(smaller than I thought, and I LOVE it) antique table. Isn't it cute?! I have it sitting in front of my medium size gateleg table so you can see the size comparison.

I have no idea where I am going to put it, but for now I'm just so excited to have found such a sweet little table for free! Have you ever seen such a small gateleg?

The older gentleman had just sold his house and he was clearing things out. He offered me this old(like 1940's old) mixmaster mixer by sunbeam. The thing needs a good scrubbing and I probably would have passed on it if I hadn't seen him pull out the two milk glass mixing bowls!! The mixer itself has all the parts, the booklet, and a cool glass juicer mixer that attaches to the side. And this was all free too!

So there are my treasures for the week. I'm skipping GW this week because the huge lions club yardsale is on Saturday and I'm hoping to bring enough home from that! Not that I need anything anyway, but maybe I'll find treasures for my etsy shop that I just won a Makeover for!!! **** Jumping up and down ***** I'm so excited! I'll share more of that tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

Miscellaneous Monday...

2011-08-08T19:21:00.018-04:00

I thought I would share some highlights from our weekend for Misc. Monday.... We made and canned blueberry syrup on Saturday...

And on Sunday, after the kids driving lessons, we were invited to a lovely friend's camp. We brought along some syrup and relish to share... The kids loved the boat ride. Highland lake is about 5 miles long, but is a quiet lake because the only boat traffic on it is from the residents. As you can see, my 5yr old was enjoying the ride.... Mason was terrified at first, but soon calmed down and began to enjoy it too.... Lots of Loons on the lake... My 10 yr old made a zucchini canoe(have you heard the song "Cucumber Canoe"?) and brought it along. The waves overwhelmed it, but it lasted quite awhile and was totally edible, so no harm to the fish. I love this photo... credit to my 16 yr old daughter who took it with her much better camera :) Ate dinner outside... All tuckered out.... A big THANK YOU to our hosts, we had a lovely time!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Tuesday's Treasures, I can't wait to show you what I got for free today from Craigslist!!

Have a happy day,

Tiff

Friday Fun... Find, Books, and Butterfly!

2011-08-05T21:28:00.026-04:00

I hope everyone has had a nice week, I got things accomplished, but not nearly as much as I would have liked(isn't that always the way).

So for today's Friday Fun, I'm sharing with you a hutch top that I picked up at GW, with my discount it was $11, a bit more than I would normally want to spend on such a thing(especially since it didn't have a bottom), but it was the perfect thing for a project in my sewing room and I could envision it all done. Here is the before... I have since painted it and it is now in place in my sewing room and working even better than I imagined. I'll share pics of it later, when I get my sewing room done(yes, it is getting another make over!)

And now for the books. I found some more at GW! I just love these two and they are both from 1953. I have never come across a hard cover Little house book before. The illustrations in it are very sweet. Almost every other page has a sketch drawing.... here are just a few. And then these next few books I have had for awhile, but I was rearranging and thought I would take some pics while they were off the shelf.... Bird book, early 1900's South African Travel and Research book, 1858 ! Love the title of this one... Mother Carey's Chickens... sorry for all the sideways pics, normally my computer turns them, but not this time. The PieMaker, not old 1980, but still sweet. 1928 Human Anatomy book And one of my favorites, a 1946 sewing book. It has everything from clothes making, to upholstery, to ovens mitts and everything in between. The graphics and pics are really neat too. I tried to take a bunch of pics, but my camera is being fussy again and most of them came out fuzzy. Here are a few though.... And last but not least.... Remember our caterpillar friend that we were watching? Well, he emerged this afternoon and we were there to watch it.... Here he is just minutes after coming out of his cocoon. He looks kind of wasp like with his wings so little. Drying out more... And after a couple of hours, he was ready to be released. Isn't he beautiful?!?! He needed some coaxing to leave the jar... His first flight was only about 2 feet onto the grill cover. He stayed there for over an hour as the kids watched him and oohed and aahhed. Finally, when we left him alone, he took flight and is now somewhere out in the yard, joining the dozens of other butterflies that we saw fluttering around the yard today. And I have to tell you what my 8 yr old son said as he was watching the butterfly on the back deck... "they sure grow up way too fast". Yes they do, butterflies and children.... can't keep them little for long enough. Have a wonderful weekend,

Tiff

Thursday Thoughts...Does your Home have a Name?

2011-08-04T13:54:00.007-04:00

You never know what is mulling around in my head on any given day, and lately I have been thinking about house names. Yes, some may see it as pretentious or even silly to give a house a name, but I think it is neat and old fashioned and helps to give distinction to our very ordinary modern homes. Houses were originally given names because street addresses did not exist, so your location was known by the name of your home. It could have come from the owner's name, the location of the house, the view from the house, what grew around the house, the owner's occupation, or just something whimsical.

In America, houses are not very often named, and those that are, are either historical or have some distinguishable architecture. It seems appropriate and not even questioned if someone names their quaint little cottage or bungalow, Honeysuckle Cottage or Beachview Bungalow. But what about those of us who live in suburban subdivisions? Do you ever see house name signs in a modern neighborhood? I don't mean signs that say the homeowner's last name, but honest to goodness House name signs.

I know that a house is not alive, but I do believe that it takes on an identity. After years of existing, it holds memories and feelings of those who have lived in it. I'm sure I'm not the only who has walked in a house and have felt negative vibes, pleasant vibes, or often, nothing at all. The latter, happening most often, but when you walk into a friendly house or an ill house, you certainly know it.

I have lived in many houses in my 37 yrs, as my parents moved us across country quite a few times and my hubby used to be in the Navy. I have never lived in a house that was named, but I have lived in a few that you could definitely tell were pleasant or not so pleasant. Our current home was new construction when we bought it almost 5 years ago. And although we did not design it, and there is a lot I would change about the layout, it is HOME and with every passing year I grow fonder of it and the surrounding land. We(myself, my hubby, and our children) are leaving our mark on it and transforming it to fit our needs and likes. It is taking on character that it lacked and growing gardens in once barren yard. Its walls are filled with constant chatter, laughter, dog barks, cat meows, and occasionally tears through out the day. By night there is audible dreams being heard and a rumble of snores permeating the walls. It may not have a heart, lungs, or mind, but it does have a soul, in fact quite a few souls live with in it, they are our souls, but this home of ours houses them. And by the Grace and Love of God we live here and I hope to live here for many many many decades to come.

So, does your house have a name? I'm thinking that our house should, but what? I can picture a small sign hanging out by the front fence that tells the world where we live. Do you have any suggestions? Anything pop into your head when you see the picture below?(please ignore the picket panel that needs to be nailed back up!). And just do give you and idea of where we live... it's small scale subdivision about a 1.5 miles from town, the houses are not right next to each other, we all have between 2 to 5 acres or so and it feels very rural without being way out in the country. The houses are 6 years old or younger and this land used to be old farmland(hence the farm dump in our back woods) but the original farmhouse no longer exists.

I wanted to share my coleus plants with you, I am blown away at this pot of plants. This was the first time I have started coleus from seed and I am amazed how easy they are to grow and well they are doing(much better than any plant I bought from the nursery). And these guys were from seeds too, but I forgot their name. I didn't start any of my seeds inside, just put them straight in the pots out on the front porch. And last, my first ever garden carrots!!! This was our first year trying carrots and we did lose half the crop early on,but the other half is doing great and just starting to come to harvest. The little bowl is full of coriander seeds, which I need to look up how to process or dry or whatever. Whew! I know that was a lot to read and I'm not usually one for long wordy posts, but I just wanted to share my thoughts and see what you all think.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Wednesday's Works...

2011-08-03T14:53:00.006-04:00

After taking my two oldest children to driver's ed this morning, I decided to come home and rearrange the family room a tad, mainly just moving toys to the basement playroom and putting "my" chair(that will a separate post) in a different corner of the room. Of course with those little changes comes a whole lot of work, you all know how that goes... move one thing and ten more have to be moved because of it!!

Besides from the room rearrange, I did manage to paint a quilt rack that I picked up at GW for $7. I normally don't buy quilt racks, but this one was heavy and sturdy and I knew it would work well in the family room.

As you can see, it had those classic country hearts that we all loathe ;) I just dug through my doily stash and found two matching ones and glued them over the hearts. Took care of the problem, easy peasy ! I'm still working on putting my powder jar collection in my sewing room. I know that I have Never shown these on my blog because they have been packed away for 5 years!! I thought it was about time to let them see the daylight again. And as much as I am in love with white painted furniture right now, I am just as equally hating the process of painting said pieces white!!! With black paint, one or two coats and you are done, NOT so with white paint. Anyway, this is a little cupboard my dad built me about 15 years ago, I took the doors off and it will become a display cupboard in my sewing room. I had better get back to the family room and finish it up before dinner time.

Have a productive day,

Tiff

Tuesday's Treasures...

2011-08-02T16:16:00.005-04:00

I decided to do a spur of the moment blueberry picking trip with the kids today, but then the thunder storms rolled in. Hoping for the best, and knowing the orchard was over 30 minutes away, we pulled out of the driveway in the pouring rain. Luckily, by the time we got to the place, the sky had cleared and you could see that the storm had already gone through. This made for a perfect day to go picking, there weren't any crowds, the berries were freshly washed, and the temps had dropped a bit.

We discovered that Mason LOVES blueberries and he was eating them as fast as we were picking :) He eventually got full, but I have never seen a toddler eat like that! After we picked two full boxes(22 pounds) we were all ready to go home, but we are headed back in about 3 weeks when the fall raspberry crop will be in, and then again in September for the apples.

Here are our treasure boxes full of sweet Maine blueberries...

And my treasures of squash and zucchini from my garden are making yummy relish that is filling up the shelves. And two little treasures from Goodwill last week, two old books that I couldn't resist, one is from 1918 and the other 1908. Have a yummy day,

Tiff

Miscellaneous Monday...

2011-08-01T14:56:00.008-04:00

Thank you all for the very lovely comments to my last post. I always tell my hubby that I wish all my blog friends and myself lived in the same area, can you imagine all the fun we would have?! It's so hard to find people who share your same interests, especially when you live in a small town, that is what is so wonderful about the internet and blogging. But, it can also be a bit depressing. Anyway, thank you again, and I will just keep my blog as it is and keep sharing my life with you :)

Look what came in the mailbox today!!! My prize from Donna's(Donna's Primitive Blessings) giveaway. I got the mail on my way out and my daughters opened up the box in the car for me. All they kept saying as they were opening it up was, "oh man, it smells so goooood!". So here are my divine smelling goodies, no booby prizes here!... a darling little candle cup with battery tea light, a prim little hanging pin keep, and a prim tea towel(that is already hanging on my dry sink by the front door). Thank you Donna for a very nice present in the mail!!! I love it all :)

My oldest daughter has decided she wants a secret rose garden in the backyard. So I'm going to put the baby crib bench in a little secluded spot and build a trellis for her. We bought two miniature rose bushes yesterday and they will be the start of her new garden. Before my son mowed the scorched dead grass this afternoon(we really need some more rain) I went out and dug up some black eyed susans that had popped up in the yard. I'm going to transplant them in my garden by the picket fence. And here is my latest outside project... I've been covering all the mulch in my front door veggie garden with river rock. I'm tired of the weeds and crab grass popping through and the mulch only looks good for so long. I'm thinking maybe converting all the mulch beds to rock, it would be a time and money saver in the long run. Once we get some good rain storms, the sand will wash the down and the color will be less tan/pinky. I still have a ton of outside work to do, but I'm really NOT a hot weather girl, so most of the work may wait until Fall or at least until we get a few cool days.

Have a terrific day,

Tiff

Thursday Thoughts and Random House pics...

2011-07-28T18:46:00.008-04:00

I've been thinking lately about my blog and what it is and what I want it to be. Right now it seems to be a mixing pot of my life...crafts, decorating, kids, food, thrifting, and so on. I wonder if that is really OK? I do enjoy how some blogs are really focused, like they are just a quilting, prim decor, or family blog. But then again, I also really enjoy blogs that show the whole picture. I know there is no right way to have or do a blog, because in the end, it is MY blog, right? But what do you think? Do you like seeing the whole picture that I put on here, or would you rather just see crafts and decorating? Btw, have you noticed how much I have been posting? :) I'm trying to be better!

And now for the house pics, because no matter what kind of blog I go to, I like to see pictures :) Here are some of my staircase foyer...

And remember that little wood stand from the church sale with my mom? I painted it white and it fit perfectly in the kid's bathroom. And the .25 cent curtains work well too! Have a beautiful day,

Tiff

Wednesday's Works...

2011-07-27T20:06:00.007-04:00

Sunday night I decided that Mason and I needed new outfits to wear to Camden, so I made these. A romper outfit for him and a skirt for me. Sorry for the pics, my camera is getting old and is very temperamental when it comes to inside photos.

Ignore the wrinkles, I took the pics after he wore it. And my skirt... it's ankle length with an elastic waist and double ruffle hem. I love this fabric, put it in the washer and dryer and it came out beautifully and doesn't seem to wrinkle. It's a reproduction(1840-1860 coverlet) print that I found at Marden's. And here is my work in progress... I got this drop side crib from a little old man who didn't know what to do with it because you can't sell them anymore. So I got it for free. I took off one side and I'm in the process of spray painting it a buttercream color. It will be a sitting bench for somewhere in my yard. The thing is soaking up the paint, I used three cans already and I need to buy more. Hopefully I can get it done tomorrow, that is if I feeling like making the trip to Walmart for more paint ;)

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Find that BLOG!!!

2011-07-26T21:05:00.002-04:00

I really don't think I'm going crazy, but you never know :) A few hours ago, I saw a blog post about Fall, it had a white barn like shed, surrounded by big black wood crows and an awesome wood witch silouette, and pumpkins and corn stalks. It's driving me nuts that I can't remember who's blog it was, and it now seems to have disappeared(or at least I can't find it). Does anyone else remember this? and can you point me in the right direction? Or was it you? I wanted to show my hubby the pics.

Thank you!

Tiff

Tuesday's Treasures....with a safety Tip...

2011-07-26T15:07:00.007-04:00

I know I have been trying to limit what I bring in the house, and I have been getting better, but sometimes Goodwill just has too many things that I love! I took one(and only one) trip to GW last week... I found 4 panels of these Lover's Knot coverlet curtains!! I have these same ones in my half bath(but in black and mustard). Now I just need to figure out where they can go, or if they will be turned into something else.

And this double tier vintage sheer curtain is going to be cut in half(to make two curtains) and will be going in the master bedroom of the camper. And then I found glassware, for my kitchen and the camper!! Most of it was half off :) And now for the safety tip.... I'm sure you all have heard that you should where gloves when you are chopping jalapeno peppers, and let me tell you, YOU REALLY SHOULD!!! I was making zucchini relish this weekend and decided to make the second batch spicy for my hubby. I chopped up 4 jalapeno peppers without much thought and started cooking the relish. Within minutes I noticed that the tips of my thumbs were hurting but I didn't realize what from. My finger tips starting hurting a bit too, but not as much as my thumbs. I washed my hands several times, but by then they were burning! I finally figured it out that it was the peppers! I tried milk and rubbing alcohol, but it was all too late, at this point, it had turned into a slight chemical burn. This lasted an entire day, everytime I would put any pressure on my thumbs or get them wet they would burn. Luckily it went away and healed overnight, but the pain of that day is a huge reminder to me that I must wear gloves when chopping hot peppers!!!! Learn from my mistake.

Have a great day,

Tiff

Miscellaneous Monday...

2011-07-25T18:17:00.010-04:00

We hit the road at 6:45 this morning for a day trip up to Camden, it was actually a test for hubby and me and I won't bore you with the details, but we have made our decision. Anyway, I wasn't much into picture taking today, so I don't have any of Camden, but you can check out July/07 of my old blog for lots of pictures of the town.

On the way up, you have to drive through Wiscasset, and for any of you Food Network fans, you will recognize this place, Red's Eats. I can't tell you if it is worthy of the fame because we have never eaten there, but it sure had a line!

One of the places I can recommend is... Morse's Sauerkraut. A great little German import store and restaurant( I use the term restaurant liberally, as it is actually only 5 or so tall back wood booths, but the small menu is excellent(recommend the warm German potato salad and Reuban sandwich). It's a very unassuming place out in the middle of nowhere in Waldoboro. It's one of those hidden gems that I would normally drive by without a thought, but thank goodness we were told of the place. We stop for garlic pickles and Happy Hippos!!! Did you know that Kinder Eggs are now illegal in the US?? Crazy! Some views around the place... Notice the weather vane? Here's a closer look. All I could think of is that this cow is pointing to Heaven. Chocolate, homemade garlic pickles, and German potato salad, guess that is close to Heaven on Earth :) The drive home was filled with lots of summer tourists and the traffic was intense. We stopped at one little junk shop, but I didn't buy anything because the prices were insanely high. I then wanted to stop at the Salvation Army in Brunswick, hubby was obliging, but unfortunately as were turning in, a big ole RV blocked ours and the oncoming cars view of each other and the little car hit my van. No damage to my van, other than my front license plate got torn off because their head light hit it. No one was hurt, thank the Lord. The police didn't even file a report because the damage was minimal, but after that I had no desire to go into SA. Maybe it was a sign to stop junking!!!

We are all home now, safe and sound and a little more wise from the journey.

Have a safe day!

Tiff

Sunday Stills...

2011-07-24T13:57:00.004-04:00

Garden Tally board...

A friend found in the garden, we are watching his metamorphosis... Enjoy your day,

Tiff

Summer Fun...

2011-07-23T17:17:00.009-04:00

What do you do when it's 95 degrees outside, the kids are sick of being stuck in the house, and all the stores are sold out of slip n slides? Make your own of course!!! Two shower curtains + duct tape + water = an afternoon of summer fun :)

Have a fun day,

Tiff

Friday Fun, Daughter's Room....

2011-07-22T08:07:00.012-04:00

For my first Friday Fun I thought I would share my youngest daughter's room, you can't get much more fun with decorating than this(at least in my house). When you walk up the stairs and turn the corner, this is what you see as you look in her doorway, a huge contrast from the rest of the house! But that's OK, you are only a child once and I like my kids to have rooms that reflect them.

The color scheme was taken from the floor(a floating laminate that we let her pick out after the laundry room flood ruined her carpet). The wall dots are just those wall stickers, bedding from Target, aqua curtains from Lowes(I think), sheer dot curtains from walmart or target(I can't remember). This was my dresser that I picked out for my 11th birthday from an antique store out in California(liked old things even way back then!). She really needs a larger dresser and one that fits in better with the decor, but this is it for right now. Here is that $15 vanity from yardsaling with my mom(it was white). This was a $12 sewing cabinet from goodwill, I love how the paint brought out the sweet lines of it(I may steal this from her for my sewing room!!). Oh, and the purple thing below it is her duct tape dress form that we made, we still need to find a stand for it. Fluffy area rugs(from target). Ugh, I see in this photo that my quick fix bedskirt(aka, old chenille bedspread) doesn't look that great, guess I will have to fix that. Ignore the floating hearts, I was trying to picnik and I forgot I left them there! Have a wonderful weekend!!!,

Tiff

Why do we collect...

2011-07-21T13:26:00.004-04:00

I know if you are reading this blog and have a blog of your own, you are a collector, and I'm 99% sure of that :) It may be a small collection or a large one, it may be a practical one that you use everyday or a totally frivolous one, it could be one collection or many, many collections.... so why do we collect things? I'm sure there are as many answers as there are blogs out there. For me, my collections grew for many reasons. And some even disappeared for reasons. I guess the first and foremost reason for most of my collections is "emotional", the feel, the look, the essence... it all brings up an emotional feeling in me. For example, I love crocks, the look of them, the colors, the history, they radiate a sense of warmth(not physical) but something that can't be touched. They provided years of service to the homemaker or shopkeeper, they were often used and abused, tossed away when cracked, or pushed to the back of the pantry and forgotten. I doubt those people would realize years later that there everyday things would become cherished and sought after treasures in the future.

I have long collected pickling crocks of all sizes, but it has only been the last year or two that bean pots have caught my eye. I do love with great affection a good sweet and tangy baked bean, but have never once cooked a batch in a bean pot, not that I'm lacking for any :) Here is my collection(lacking some small one that wouldn't fit) on my fireplace mantle... each one is different.

And I'm just adding this picture to share with you the dry sink my mom brought up for me last month. I asked her for this piece, not expecting to get is so soon, because it's one of the few pieces that she still had that I remembered from my childhood. My mom and dad are collectors, but tend to buy and sell a lot, so unless it is a family piece, things get swapped out a lot. Anyway, I just love this piece and how it has a tall back with mirror(not usual for dry sinks). And, guess what, this is now my 4th dry sink, talk about an odd collection! :) Have a lovely day and try to stay cool,

Tiff

Working on Wednesday...

2011-07-20T11:16:00.007-04:00

I got up early today(much earlier than my normal summer time day) because I couldn't sleep and it actually has been a good thing. I already weeded the tomato bed, cut half a row of kale(washed and tied it for my kids to sell in the driveway, the rest will be turned into kale chips), emptied the above ground pool that turned green(yuck), cleaned out the bunny house, did two loads of laundry, and washed off the back deck :)

I'm slowly working on the redwork quilt, the birds are time consuming!

Need some kale? I have to run to the store to get the ingredients I need to make zucchini relish. There is nothing like zucchini plants to give you the confidence to garden, these guys are so easy to grow and so prolific with their fruit. This is just two days pickings.... And another thing on the list today is blanching and freezing some beans. This was yesterday's picking. Again, such an easy thing to grow. So what are you working on today or this week? Anything fun?

Have a productive day,

Tiff

Tuesday's Treasures....Anyone Know Quilts?

2011-07-19T13:36:00.024-04:00

I haven't intentionally been yardsaling since my parents left last month but this past Saturday, I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I had pulled over so that I could use my gps to get myself home(I was on a craigslist run a few towns over) and I saw a yardsale on the side street. I didn't have any cash so I just said to myself "forget it". Until I saw the quilts hanging on the fence! I got out and ran over and this is what I brought home (after I went to the ATM)....

In a box of doilies I found this beautiful infant gown. I have never seen one like it. It's very thin, almost like it should be worn as an underdress, but then why the detail and the crochet?($1)

The Crocheted insert has the initials PET all the way around it. Then there was this gorgeous table runner of crochet and linen....($1) And ALL these!! All hand done and beautiful.($1 a piece) Three curtain valances with pink ric rac trim that will be going in the camper.($1 for the 3) Two milk glass lamps with vintage shades($7 for the pair) and a gold mirror(which I already painted white($1)), these are for the camper too. I'm going to replace the cream pom poms with either pink or blue ones. These things... isn't that wood pull toy neat!? each of these was $1 a piece And my daughter just bought fainted when she saw "Becky" laying on the blanket on the ground. I have My Friends Mandy and Jenny from when I was little and since she found out they had a friend named Becky, she has been wanting her. We bid once on ebay for one but it went for over $35! This one came with everything and looked like it was never played with!!(she was $1) Another basket for my collection... ($1) And now for my favorites... I did have to pay $15 a piece for these. The first one is a log cabin quilt which looks like it is from the 1930's to me because of the fabric, tons of adorable feedsack prints... What do you think? Am I right with the 30's? I can't see anyone using that purple print on the right after WW2. The condition has some issues and I plan on fixing the tears, but I don't mind, I just love it!! The back is this print... And here is the 2nd quilt, a dresden plate design. This one I am finding it harder to date because the fabrics look like civil war prints(at least what I have seen of the rerpo fabrics) but the design was more popular in the 20's and 30's. The picture is washing out the color a bit... Here is the back... and yes, this one too has condition problems, but that's OK, it is so lovely. Oh, and this quilt is very heavy, much more so than the other. I'm pretty sure the woman of the house had passed away and her daughters were cleaning out the house. There were several other quilts, but these two caught my eye. There were also large hooked floor rugs and handmade braided rugs, but I passed those by, as I just don't have the time to clean them and repair them. And the furniture! If I owned an antique store, I would have scored, but I was good and didn't bring any home, I just don't have the room for it.

So there you have my one yardsale on Saturday find :) Awesome huh? And I know I probably did a horrible no no in the quilt world, but I machine washed on delicate(front load) the quilts and dried them in the dryer. I just couldn't handle the thought of them in my house and not be clean. They actually came out quite well and don't have any more damage than they already had.

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Miscellaneous Monday...

2011-07-18T12:38:00.002-04:00

I know I've been slacking with my blog, so as a way to get myself more motivated, I'm going to try and post by topic days, such as Misc. Monday(I'll share some sort of homemaking tip), Tuesday's Treasures(thrift or store finds), Working on Wednesday(projects), Thursday's Thoughts(I'll have to think about that one!), and Friday Fun(what ever doesn't fit into the rest of the days).

So, for my first Misc. Monday, I'm sharing with you a very easy and cheap way to get rid of fruit flies. I don't know about you, but around here, with the warm/hot weather comes those nasty little buggers that hang around fruit or your kitchen sink. Nothing I did seemed to work, I even bought one of those traps from a garden catalog, but it did very little. We usually just suffered through and by the time Fall and the cold weather came around they would be gone. Until this year! I was surfing around the net and happened upon a blog(and I am so sorry that I don't remember who, because I would love to thank them and give them credit, but I know there are a ton of posts about this out there) who made a super simple trap and claimed that it worked like a charm. A lot of the homemade versions call for apple cider vinegar, or dish soap or a combo of both, but all this one needs in plain old white vinegar, nothing fancy!

All you need is some sort of jar, I used a mason jar because it's my style:) A piece of paper(you can get creative here and match it to your decor or theme) and about an inch of vinegar. Roll the paper into a cone shape, leaving about a half inch to 3/4 inch hole at the bottom. Use tape to hold its shape. Make sure the paper is smooth on the inside and out so that there aren't any areas that can be used for escape. Then fill your jar with about an inch of vinegar and place your paper cone in it, be sure it's not touching the vinegar. And make sure the paper is in contact with the whole rim of the jar(no gaps). Then sit back and watch how many little flies you catch! Obviously, empty it out and put in fresh vinegar when you get too many bugs. It took about a week, but I haven't seen a fruit fly in my kitchen since, ok, there is the occasional one that comes with the new bananas or through the screen door, but they are quickly done away with. I hope this helps you out a bit this summer :)

Thank you all for checking out our new little hedgehog blog, we are having a blast making it. Look for an update sometime this afternoon.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Asking for a Favor, please...

2011-07-14T22:06:00.003-04:00

Update......Another chapter is up!!!

First, thank you all for the kitchen love! It's fun to share my home with others who have a passion for decorating too because I know you can appreciate it :)

Now for the favor... My youngest daughter and I have been talking for ages about making a dollhouse garden of some sort. Well, we finally came up with a plan and a story developed from that, which is now going to be a new blog. So if you could please share it with your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, or even you yourself may enjoy it I would really appreciate it. We are going to try to update the story daily, taking the weekends off. Here is the Blog .... Thank you!!!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Tiff

Want to See the Kitchen?...

2011-07-13T18:03:00.036-04:00

I hope everyone is having a good week. I thought I would finally share some pics of the kitchen with all of you. We had a realtor come this morning to give us a value on our house, so I snapped some quick photos while the room was picked up. I realized that since I'm a stay at home mom, that the house is my job, and thus, it's always a work in progress, which means for me, it will never be "done". I like to change things too much for it to ever be a finished thing, so instead of sharing the "Finished" kitchen with you, I'm just sharing "my kitchen" with you :) Make sense?

Oh, and there are a lot of photos! As you can see, the top cupboards went white, but I left the bottom ones stained. I also painted my red kitchen chairs, my hutch, my potato bin and some small accessories. I found this old graniteware soap holder at goodwill a few months ago for $1.99. The white enamel diaper pail is used for dirty dish cloths waiting to be washed. I took out every stitch of Pfaltzgraff Folk Art out of my kitchen, and I honestly don't miss it(yet). I did leave my cows :) I know some people hate the chippy paint look, but I'm in love with my cupboards, they are the exact prim farmhouse look I wanted. And the room is so much cheerier and brighter now. This cupboard holds my pedestal cake stands. Peek into my sewing room, which is still a work in progress... Put all my vintage utensils in the old metal bread box(turned on its side). I made little brown ticking half slip covers for my bar stools to cover up some of the black. I took out the colored rugs and went with more neutral ones. This one was in my sewing room, but looks so much better here. And my mom brought me this huge one for under the kitchen table. And I finished crocheting this little one the other night, it's made from heavy duty cotton. I simplified the rack above my island and got rid of a ton of the cheapy looking faux copper molds. I hung a plant above the kitchen sink in a old enamel diaper pail. An enamel pee pot holds my Christmas cactus. Hung some old enamel lids on the walls. And yet more enamelware. I took my whole collection out of my bedroom. I still need to tweek the ladder in the corner, for now just a quilt top lives on it. One of my knobs fell off my hutch, still need to fix that! Love my kitchen table. Took an old piano stool and painted the top, then set this on it in the corner by the hutch. This whole area is still not right to me, but it will come together eventually. I took the little over hang of the center island and put a half round table under it with cookie cutters and cook books. Made a simple valance of brown ticking and hung some mason jars for rooting plants. Picnic baskets stacked in the corner with a plant in another enamelware diaper pail. The top of my cupboards(which was once full of Pfaltzgraff) now holds mason jars, enamelware bowls full of tin cookie cutters and my flat cake stand collection(I think I have about 8 of them). So there you have my kitchen as it is today. Again, it will never be finished because my mind is always working on something new.

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Total Garden Envy...

2011-07-09T23:59:00.002-04:00

I know it is totally wrong to envy what others have, but sometimes I just can't help being human. Take a look at this gorgeous garden over at Lulabelle's View. If I only had more hours in the day and an endless bank account. Ok, it's nice to dream, but I really am content with my only little spot on Earth, it's fun to look though :)

Enjoy your weekend,

Tiff

Red Work in Progress...

2011-07-05T23:04:00.002-04:00

My parents 50th Wedding Anniversary is coming up and I am in the process of making a red work quilt to commemorate it. It will have 25 red work squares(two for them, one for their wedding, three for their children, ten for their grandchildren, and nine for the states they have lived in) and 24 red calico squares. Here is a quick pic(sorry for the quality, my phone was handier than my camera) of one of the blocks. I hope to have it all complete by mid August.

Have a lovely evening,

Tiff

Happy Birthday Noah and America!...Summer Time...

2011-07-04T22:02:00.014-04:00

I hope everyone had a safe and lovely 4th of July... Wouldn't be an Independence day without some big ole fashion sparklers!!! Mason was not so impressed with them. And as you can see by his cheeks, he is working a good case of fifth's disease this 4th of July, poor little man. The birthday boy!!! 8 years old and so full of spunk :) We have picked bowl... after bowl of strawberries from our garden. And made some of the most delicious syrup from them. Mason took his first trip to the beach as a toddler a week ago and loved it! Wishing you all a Happy 4th of July and a great summer!!!

Tiff

Junking with my mom....

2011-06-26T20:59:00.010-04:00

My mom and dad came from Ohio for Cameron's graduation, and when they visit, we always have to do some junking. This time, since it was June, we did yardsaling and hit a ton on the Saturday before graduation. The pic below is my parents car after 3 hours of yard sales, and we didn't even leave my town.

I'll try to remember everything we got and the prices, but MOST of this stuff is my mom's!!! Let's see, in this pic, is a door basket($2), berry masher($1), lobster pot ($1), stack of boxes($3), chenille bedspread($1), lace curtains(4 for $1), wood butterfly house (.25), picture frames(we got about 10 for .25 each). The gingham apron was at a church sale and I wouldn't have bought it because they wanted $5 a piece for them(there were 6 done in the 50's by a woman's granny), but my mom bought it for me. The two green signs on the floor were .25 each(love it when the husbands run the sales, they practically give the stuff away), lazy susan( .50), set of three wood chairs($15), old black chair($10, mom bought it for me for my sewing chair), hurricane glasses(3 for .50), two Village Pfatlzgraff candlesticks(my mom's pattern $1). Stair step basket ($2), awesome old quilt($2, I thought it would be a cutter quilt, but it washed up beautifully), vintage glass food chopper with green wood handle(.25), oil lamp ($1). Neat twig like wood shelf stand(which is going in the kid's bathroom, $2), wood bowl tray($1), bread dishes(.50), brass chandelier(which will be going in my upstairs hallway, $2, after getting a spray of black paint), metal plant stand ($1), bag of vintage fisher price toys, camper, snowmobiles, etc($3). Wicker dog bed(which I already spray painted chocolate brown, $2), iron Christmas tree stand ($2), more of those .25 picture frames, old spools($1 a piece) Three mirror vanity(which we painted raspberry pink and is now in my youngest daughter's room, $15) and small yellow and white quilt($3). Not a bad day's worth of yardsaling! But that's it for me for the summer, I really don't need more stuff. Oh, and I found this like new quilters/embroidery frame at Salvation Army for $4.99. It says made in England, but I can't find one like it on line, any idea as to what it's worth(just wondering if I got a bargain). And a dear fellow blogger, Sabrina of Falling Leaf Woodworkers and Primitives, gave me two big boxes of new yarn!!! Wonderful prim colors along with fun colors for my daughters. We now have a ton of fiber to crochet all winter long with. Thank you so much Sabrina!!! Here are my parents with Mason asleep on my dad. My kids always take right away to Grandpa. The week went by way too fast. It was a very nice visit and we all had a good time. I really wish we lived closer to each other.

Have a lovely upcoming week,

Tiff

My Oldest Graduates.....

2011-06-24T22:33:00.008-04:00

It seems like a lot of us in blogland had a child graduating high school this year, for me, it was my oldest son. I'm really not sure how I'm old enough to have a child be finished with school when I feel like I just graduated myself :) But here I am, the proud mommy(yes, they all still call me that) of a handsome young man who has the world at his feet.

I opted not to have a store bought cake for the celebration and instead put my time and love into a unique homemade one. It had two yellow cake layers, one devil's food, one strawberry, and one fudge brownie layer, and lots and lots of buttercream frosting! And an oreo crumb covering.

It surprisingly cut quite easily and stayed together. Oh, and it was yummy! And now for the man of the hour... his graduating class had around 190 in it. The graduation was on June 12th. One little chick is about to fly from the nest, sniff, sniff.... Congratulations to my wonderful son, Cameron, and all those blogger children who graduated this year. May your life be blessed with happiness and may all your dreams come true.

Tiff

Gardens, Mason, and Teacher Gifts....

2011-06-21T08:05:00.023-04:00

Last Friday was the last day of school and it was a beautiful day. So when all the kids got home we went outside to play and I decided to take some quick pics of the gardens(forgive the tall grass, it needed to be weedeated).

And of course I had to take a zillion(but I won't bore you with them all) of Mason. He loves to be outside and is very fond of his little tractor, especially honking the horn. And here are the two teacher gifts I made for my 2nd and 4th graders teachers. I cross stitched their name and what they liked(sea shells and the lion) then I added ric rac and a pocket to both.

I think they came out pretty cute and I figured elementary school teachers can always use an apron in the classroom.

Have a lovely day,

(more catching up tomorrow)

Tiff

Playing catchup....

2011-06-20T08:34:00.006-04:00

First day of summer(summer vacation, that is) for us! I think(hope) things will be nice and slow for awhile now. The last month or so has been busy. I have so much to catch up on with blogging that I don't really know where to start, so I guess I will just start with yesterday and go backwards :) The weather here was just about as perfect as you can get, which made for a wonderful Father's Day outside. We headed only about 1/4 of a mile from our house to a park that I really didn't know was there. I knew there was a "look out" at the top of the hill for views of Mt. Washington, but I didn't realize(until we got there) that there was a whole mowed open field park on the hillside. It was a beautiful spot for the picnic we brought and plenty of room to fly kites. And the views were just spectacular, I would love to have a house with such views. The kids flew kites and played ball for hours and we now have a new place to play that is super close to home!

The mountain in the very background is Mt Washington, the snow is all gone from it. Flying kites.... Mason had a grand ole time running around, picking flowers, and chasing the kites. All the munchkins! Happy Father's Day to my dad and and all those blog dads out there! And to my wonderful hubby and proud daddy of the best 7 treasures in the whole wide world!!! I love you dear, I hope you had a nice day yesterday.

Tiff

I'm still around....

2011-05-24T21:28:00.004-04:00

Life is busy and my poor blog has been neglected. It's that time of year and a lot is going on. We had Senior prom, a 5th birthday, a choir concert, my sale, vegetable garden to plant,school stuff, and a house to get ready for my parents(who are coming in 2 short weeks). My oldest is graduating!!! in a few short weeks!!!!

I rearranged the kitchen AGAIN! and now need to redo my sewing room which I took back. I've been painting chairs and other stuff. I'm sorting through a million tubs of clothes and finally letting things go. I'm trying to gut our basement of junk, it's just hard to let go, but I must, I'm sick of the clutter. I want a nicely decorated home that is easy to clean and doesn't control me. So there you have it, I'm busy right now, and it isn't ending any time soon, we still have 4 weeks left of school! I'll be back real soon, and share some good pics.

Have a great week,

Tiff

3 yrs ago...

2011-05-14T20:45:00.003-04:00

Time keeps marching on, but I will always remember. I love you Nathan.

Love,

Mommy

$500 Giveaway!!!

2011-05-12T08:16:00.000-04:00

photo from Jeanne Oliver's etsy shop

Have you all heard about this fantastic giveaway? Jeanne Oliver is giving away a $500 gift certificate to her shop to celebrate her new line!!!! Go check it out :) LOVELY things!!!

Tiff

In Bloom...

2011-05-09T09:09:00.017-04:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day. Mine was just perfect. I got to sleep in, woke to a french toast breakfast in bed, lot of sweet handmade gifts from the munchkins, worked in the yard with my 7 yr old, hubby worked all day on making me the most awesome bunny house for the deck(hubby is not a handyman, so this was truly a gift. And the bunnies had to be put outside because it turns out that I am extremely allergic to them, who knew!), went to the store with my girls, and my oldest son surprised me with a plant for my garden(I thought they were petunias, but they are actually violas). It was a very nice day.

This morning I thought I would share what is blooming in the garden so far this Spring(we are running a bit behind after such a looonnnggg winter). All these pics were taken this morning...

I hung a basket of yellow flowers on the front door, I love how it looks against the red.

Our ornamental pear trees are in their full beauty right now, full of tiny white blossoms. I have several of these small plants and they are covered in white flowers, I have no idea what they are though! I am such a newbie when it comes to gardening, I'll admit that. I have lots of little hitch hiker flowers through out, they came along(unknowingly) with plants that I have received from friends and church plant sales. I think it's fun to see what will sprout up. Yet another unknown... they came from a church sale, I'm assuming they are some sort of daisy. My poor tulips. I planted some about 4 years ago between some bushes, now the bushes have taken over and you can't see the tulips. I'll have to dig them up and move them. When is the best time to do that? Another unknown... They are small little things that are amongst the iris. More hitch hikers that came with some Phlox... Flowers on the front porch... The plant my son gave me.... I need to plant it in this pot... oh, and see the blue enamel coffer pot, that is one of the treasures I dug up from the backyard. I'm going to put some zinnia seeds in it. And here is the after of us removing the stone(concrete) patio. We left a walkway to connect the garden to the side of the house and I used the stones to line the front bed. Now I just need to get the grass seed to grow. Have beautiful day.

Tiff

Narwhal Anyone?!!

2011-05-06T13:38:00.004-04:00

One of my daughters is going to a birthday party on Saturday and she wanted to make something for her friend(aka, have mom make something!). This girls favorite animal is a narwhal, a horned whale. So here is what I came up with.... Yes, that polkadot fleece is sure making a lot of things! I'm going to be sad when I run out of it.

He's big an squishy and will be perfect to sit on a bed and use as a reading pillow. I hope she likes him!

Have a fantastic weekend! I'll be busy setting up for my sale(which is next Friday, Sat., and Sun., May 13-15, 10- 3pm each day for you locals!),

Tiff

When GoodWill Calls....Listen....

2011-05-03T15:03:00.002-04:00

After I dropped the boys off at school, I took a load of clothes to Goodwill. I dropped them off on the back loading dock, but as I drove off I heard something calling me ;) So I had to listen, LOL! I told the little boys that we still had half an hour before story time at the library started, so let's run inside real quick. And look what I found sitting on the shelf!!!! FIVE wonderful faux chocolate bunnies!!! I grabbed them as fast as I could(even though I was the only one in the store). The one salesclerk saw me putting them in the cart and said to another salesclerk, "see, I told you the bunnies would sell". I guess because it was after Easter, they thought no one would want them. Were they wrong!!! BUT, because of this, they were only marked $1.99. Normally, my GW marks things like this way expensive, so I was shocked at the low price, but ever so grateful:) Mason had to hug each one as I put them in the cart, it was cute.

I also got to old pieces of cut crystal for my bathroom, I'll show you those later.

Aren't these guys cute? There are no chips are cracks on them either. Someone was just getting rid of their collection I guess. They still have their Homegoods stickers on them too. I'm not going to put them away, I think I have a new theme for my dining room ;0 I can't wait for my sale to be over so I can work on that room!

Have a terrific day,

Tiff

Sunscreen next time...

2011-05-02T19:26:00.007-04:00

We spent the weekend doing yard work and now we are paying for it with sunburns and sore muscles:( But at least a lot got accomplished. We put down 6 yards of mulch and 3 yards of compost/topsoil mix. We moved two large bushes to make a planting bed smaller, moved a small tree to get rid of a bed, removed some scrub trees by the swingset, put in a new 15' x 20' vegetable garden, starting ripping up a stone patio and began using it to make new pathways, weeded all the beds, and prepared the front door kitchen garden for planting.

Sorry, these aren't the best pics, I took them from inside after I took a shower and had a towel on my head. My neighbor was on her porch so I didn't want to go out in my jammies and wet head!

You can see that the strawberries from last year are outgrowing their home, I have to decide what to do about that. Patio we are ripping up... Bed we made smaller.... New veggie garden on the side of the house. We made rows and layed down straw(with stone for the moment). This is a perfect garden spot because we had yet to plant anything there and the grass was hard to grow, plus it is on a slight slope so it will get adequate drainage and it's in almost full sun. Still lots to do outside, but next weekend I HAVE to get ready for my sale on the 13th!!!! Never enough time in the day.

Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

Granny Circle Afghan Complete!!

2011-04-29T13:47:00.008-04:00

I finished up the granny circle afghan last night! I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I'm happy it's done and I actually completed a project(something I have been very bad at lately). I guess the only thing that matters is that my 4 yr old likes it, I told him it was for him and he was thrilled. Of course he quickly had to brag to his older brothers that it was his blanket :)

It's not huge, but just the right size for a munchkin to snuggle up on the couch with :) And speaking of munchkins, here are my youngest two. Mason just adores his big brother(the 4 yr old). He will just randomly go up to him and give him hugs and kisses( he really doesn't do this for the rest of us nearly as much). I think Mason knows he took his place as being the youngest, so he is making up for it with lots of affection. And don't forget to hug the ones you love. And prayer for all those families in the south.

Tiff

Shhh! Hubby Doesn't Know Yet......

2011-04-28T12:51:00.007-04:00

Yes, the pictures above have EVERYTHING to do with this post :) I gave in to my girls and we adopted these sweet bunnies from the Animal Refuge League yesterday. I picked them up this morning and they are now getting used to their new home. Aren't they sweet? The lop eared one is a boy and the other is a girl. They are bonded pair and about 3 years old. They are both neutered and vet checked. They are both very friendly and will come up and investigate you.And, they are litter box trained!! Though I'm sure there will be accidents, especially in the first few weeks. We are still deciding on names, which can be a struggle with so many opinions in one house!

And hubby, I LOVE YOU! just remember that :) You have 2 more mouths to feed ;)

Have a hoppy day,

Tiff

Hopefully a Solution, & Yummy Cookies...

2011-04-27T13:19:00.009-04:00

It's no secret in my house, that I have a real problem with paperwork. I don't like to see it, but I don't know how to organize it either. We don't have room for a dedicated office space, and I don't like to see "things" that aren't pretty(such as school papers, bills, flyers, etc) out in the open in the kitchen. I have tried bins, baskets, buckets and what not, but they tend to just get filled up with no rhyme or reason. So, it led me to this morning, trying to figure out how to organize papers that come in the house, I'm hoping that I finally came up with a solution. I made a hanging fabric organizer for the back of the pantry door. Didn't cost me a dime, just some time. Ok, yes the fabric was bought, but it was leftover from another project, and I didn't run to the store for any of this, so in my mind, it was a "free" project :)

It was a very quick sew, and not quite perfect(a little man kept asking for my attention), but it is sturdy and I hope it lasts. I stenciled the kids names on each pocket with acrylic paint. I will make another one two hang on the other door, with the youngest two kid's names plus pockets for "bills", "medical", and "other". And while these match the kitchen, I can shut them away inside the cupboard. OK, I can not take the blame for these cookies and what they will do to your hips and thighs, it's all Gina's(from Cat Nap Inn Primitives) fault!! She sent me the recipe :) YES, that is an OREO stuffed inside a chocolate chip cookie!!! And surprisingly, they weren't crunchy(or soggy) after baking, they were just about the same texture of the chocolate chip cookie part. And talk about tasty!! YUM!! We ate ours with a helping of ice cream on top. These guys are big, you could cut them in fours and still have a big cookie to eat. Here is the recipe, just in case you want to give the a try ;)

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

1 Cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

10 oz bag chocolate chips

1 bag Oreo Cookies, I used the double stuff

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Serve with a tall glass of milk, enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE Cookies

Have a lovely evening,

Tiff

Silhouette Update!!!...

2011-04-21T17:21:00.006-04:00

Ok, these are addictive and actually not very hard to make. I decided I didn't like the white background, but all the other card stock I had in the house only had 3 or 4 sheets of each color(nice taupes and ivories) and I didn't feel like heading 30 minutes to the store to get more paper. I finally found enough sheets of one color in my daughters room, it's an off white creamy color, not quite what I wanted, but much better than the white. Can you see the difference(look at the post below). I then recut all the silhouettes and added more detail to the hair and cut the bottoms differently. I like them much better now. What do you think? Better? (and my oldest is home, so I did his)

Oh, and I have no plans on doing hubby or myself, I absolutely can't stand my profile!! This is strictly a kid thing :)

Now I need to go clean up a million little paper cuttings(the only down side of this). But really, if you have put off making these, please give them a try, it only takes a little of your time and virtually no money.

Tiff

Finally, I made the kids Silhouettes!!

2011-04-21T11:22:00.007-04:00

Last night I finally took the time and made the kids silhouettes. These picture frames have been hanging on my wall empty for months! And yes, one still is empty, my oldest son was at a friend's house last night, so I wasn't able to take his profile pic. When he gets home this afternoon I will make his.

So what do you think? Keep in mind, this was my first attempt at these, so I know they aren't perfect. I'm also not sure if I like the crisp white background for this room, maybe a cream would look better. What do you think? And what about the arrangement, does it work? I've struggled to find old wood oval frames over the last few years, and I think the two smaller ones still need to be replaced with larger ones, but this is what I have for now.

Here are some close ups.... This is my 7 yr old son, he wears glasses, can you tell that in the silhouette? This is my oldest daughter... I like the way I cut her hair on the bottom instead of the flat way the others are. And here is Mason.... very hard to get a profile pic of an active toddler!! Here is the family room wall.... And if you are wondering how I did it... I took photos of the kids against a white background. Loaded them on my computer, then traced the images while they were on the screen with pencil and white paper. Cut out the white paper, then traced their profiles onto black card stock. Cut out the black card stock and glue sticked it on to white card stock. I'm sure this was NOT the easiest way to do this, but it worked for me :)

Have a glorious day,

Tiff

My Hubby is the Best!

2011-04-20T21:43:00.002-04:00

For months now I have been saying how I want to start painting things, not furniture, but pictures. I have an itch to paint animals, cows, pigs, goats.... Hubby kept telling me "do it". I kept saying "I'm busy. When the house is done. After such and such. Canvases are so expensive. " You get the point. Well, what showed up on my doorstep this afternoon.... A surprise package of canvases and paints!!! I have no excuses now. I just need to do it :) Thank you my dear sweet hubby! I love you !!!

Tiff

Paint, Paint, Paint! No! It's for the Sale!!!

2011-04-17T16:05:00.002-04:00

The bunny above has nothing to do with this post, I just thought he was awfully cute, and if they didn't pee, poo,or shed I would love one as a pet ;)

So I painted the walls of the garage yesterday, touched up the trim work today, and I'm painting pieces for the sale. As I'm painting the stuff for the sale I keep having to tell myself "NO! It's for the sale!" and I have no more room in the house and that is the reason for the sale!!! But man, some of the stuff is so cute :) Oh well, it will be fun setting up the garage like a store. I have decided the sale will be May 13-15th, so if you are local, look for it in the paper or email for the details. I have two other people who will be putting some of their stuff in too, so hopefully it will be packed full of treasures.

Stay tuned!

Tiff

Bench Redo & Little Rocker....

2011-04-15T15:58:00.007-04:00

Do you remember this foot stool bench thing that I picked up at GoodWill awhile ago? It has been out in the garage ever since I bought it. I had the fabric, batting, and tacs to redo it, just never found the time. Well, with the sale looming and needing to clean the garage out this weekend, I finally did a quick makeover on it yesterday. It was a gorgeous day out, so I took it to the back porch and stripped it, cleaned it, and painted it.

And here it is done! I painted it "pearwood" by Olde Village paints, the same as my fireplace mantel, and the fabric is a brown ticking with black upholstery tacs. The top of it looked a lot better when I finished it, but the kids decided they really liked it, so after a day's worth of them sitting and climbing on it, you can see the results. Oh well, it is meant to be used. And I kept forgetting to share this little rocker that my daughter bought for me at a local antique/junk store. You know my fondness of children's rocking chairs, so when I saw this one, I fell in love with it. I have never seen one like it before. I have seen adult versions of the carpet bag rockers, but this one is so small, just Mason's size. Anyone know anything about it? Age? Value? And the whole thing collapses too. And here is Mason enjoying the bench. Have a lovely weekend, it will be full of work for us!

Tiff

Update....

2011-04-13T23:02:00.002-04:00

Oh my, I didn't realize how far behind I was in emails/comments. I have gotten caught up on quite a few, but not nearly as many as I hoped. And some, I just had to go to your blog and comment because of the no reply thing. Ok, I need to make a new commitment to myself, reply as much as I can on a daily basis instead of letting things build up. Again, I apologize, no excuses, just my own procrastination.

In other news, did you ever have one of those days where you just felt like you could cry at the drop of a hat? I have been like that all day. Just not myself. There was no one thing that brought this day on, maybe it was building over time and a combination of things, but boy do I hate feeling like that. Hubby and I had a nice long talk this evening and the tears did start flowing, and I think that is what I actually needed. Just to let the tears out. I don't know why, but I actually feel better. Nothing has really changed, other than talking and crying, but that seemed to help. Maybe my body/mind just needs to shed some tears every now and then to clear away built up emotions. *BIG SIGH*-----AHHHH ~~~~~~~~~~ Maybe now I will have some energy. I have a lot of work to do this weekend.... cleaning out and painting the garage. The big sale will be here before I know it!

(((((hugs))))) ,

Tiff

Emailing you all...

2011-04-12T18:19:00.003-04:00

I'm spending this evening and tomorrow evening catching up on email. Some of you know that I am a horrible emailer, so it's no surprise to you that it takes me forever to write back, but for those of you who are new, Now you know :) The only thing I can say is that I apologize for my lack of email promptness and I hope you understand. Oh, and if you have "no-reply" as your setting for leaving comments, I can't email you back, so if you have commented and don't here from me today or tomorrow, that is why.

I really do love reading the comments everyone leaves and please know that they are very much appreciated.

Have a lovely night,

Tiff

Treasure Hunting in the Backyard....

2011-04-10T20:34:00.006-04:00

My girls went off picture taking in the woods this afternoon and came home telling me about all the neat old jars they saw. So after I finished Spring cleaning the back deck, I handed the baby to hubby, put on my wellies and trecked out to the woods with them. We had known that this was old farm land, and that there was the farm "dump" in the back of our property, but we never really dug into it before. We started out by just bringing that little plastic bucket you see in the wheelbarrow, but soon realized we needed more, so we got the wheelbarrow and a shovel.

I know it is hard to see the "treasures" in this heap of mess, but there really are some cool things.... A bright blue enamel coffee pot, lots of old medicine bottles(with cool imprinted labels), milk glass make up jars, perfume bottles, a coin, a broach pin, a intact vacuum tube from a tv, a silver spoon, belt buckle, booze bottles, canning jars, and more. We only brought home the intact items, there were so many beautiful things that we left because they were in pieces... pottery, depression glass, enamelware bowls, rusted out buckets, etc. Though we did leave about 4 or 5 bottles that were totally intact with lids and all, but they were nasty science experiments with their contents still in them and there was no way I was going to open them up!!!

My oldest daughter, texting her friends about what she was doing. Surprisingly, my youngest daughter and I called it quits before her, she wanted to keep digging.(can you tell how gorgeous it was out? Shorts weather, but still snow on the ground) Youngest daughter searching the small brook. Ok, this is a really scary picture of me, but I thought I would post it anyway! :) Here is my youngest daughter and myself brining it all back into yard. Oh, and for future reference, don't wear braids on the first day of outside Spring cleaning!! I have a wicked sunburn on the back of my neck! We came home and gave everything a quick rinse and everything is currently sitting in a bleach bath in the wheelbarrow. I will bring it in piece by piece and give it a thorough scrubbing this week.

It was a fun afternoon and we really felt like archeologists discovering hidden treasures and it was even neater because they were from people who lived on our property before us.

Have a terrific night,

Tiff

Pillow, Work in Progress, and Favorite Fruit...

2011-04-07T11:36:00.004-04:00

I've been wanting to make some new pillow covers for the family room for awhile now, so last night I finally got started. I made a quick log cabin cover in browns. Nothing fancy, just quick and simple.

I did the back in a solid print with a pillow sham closure. I think I will make a few more up this week, but in different quilt block designs. I'm still working on the crocheted afghan. I have about 45 of the granny circles done now. However, remember I said I only had one skein of each(the multi and the blue), well, I ran out of the multi color and when I went to buy more, they were sold out. So I bought 3 skeins of another version in the same line. Not the exact same colors(the ones on the left), but I think when I mix them all together it will turn out fine. I'm going to attach them together with plain white yarn, to give it more of a pop. My kids absolutely LOVE Clementines, we go through them like mad. I like them too, but I have discovered a new orange that I like even better, it's called a Cara Cara naval orange and they are grown here in the USA. Honestly, I don't like many oranges because their flesh it too chewy, but not with this orange. It is so tender and easy to eat, and the taste is mild but sweet. The flesh is on the pinkish side, but not to the point of being a blood orange. It's an early to mid season orange, so if you get the chance, try one! (It's the big one in the pic, and I am now out of them so I need to go get more!) I have lots of emails and comments I need to reply to, so if you haven't heard from me, I'm getting to it :)

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

About Me ABC's

2011-04-06T09:25:00.004-04:00

Age: 37 Bed Size: King Sleigh bed with pillow top mattress Chore You Hate: Putting the laundry away. Dogs: Mini Schnauzer who drives us crazy with her barking Essential Start of Your Day: Kissing my hubby goodbye Favorite Color: Don't have one Gold or Silver: Gold Height: 5'7" Instruments You Play: Zip Job Title: Mommy and wife and all that comes along with those. Kids: 7 munchkins Live: Maine Mom's Name: Patsy Nicknames: TT, Tbrid, T Overnight Hospital Stays: Baby deliveries and appendix Pet Peeve: People who lie to impress others, chewing with your mouth open(or talking with food in your mouth), and people being late. Quote From a Movie: "You soaked his underwear in meat. That is so wrong. Funny, but wrong." Right- or Left-Handed: Right Siblings: 2 sisters Time You Wake Up: That depends, 5 something when hubby leaves for work, but I don't get out of bed until about 6:30am, unless it's the weekend then we sleep in Underwear: Yep, I wear them! Veggie You Dislike: Can't think of any that I don't like What Makes You Run Late: I am very good at not being late, but when I have been, it is usually because we are waiting on a child or two to get ready. X-Rays You Have Had: Dental, Ultra Sounds, and one for a thumb that was slammed in a car door. Yummy Food You Make: Monkey Bread!!! Warm from the oven with a dollup of ice cream Zoo Animal You Like Best: The elephants, but I really hate zoos, I think they are sad and cruel.

Thanks for listening! :) How about you? Copy and past this list to your blog and after you fill it out, leave a comment so I can come see!

Tiff

Little Things...

2011-04-04T12:10:00.007-04:00

Oh how little things can make you happy !

A trip to goodwill on Saturday made me quite happy with a few little things that I picked up. I couldn't resist this vintage sprinkler, I have never come across one at GW before and I knew it had to be worth at least the $2.99 they were asking for it. Any ideas on it's age or what it is worth? This is one area of collectibles that I know nothing about. I think it will sit somewhere in my kitchen for a Spring/Summer display.

Then I found another wood bowl for my rack that I will prim up. Also a round wood tray for the top of one of my crocks. And look at this big bag of apples and pears, they look quite real. Not sure what my plans are for them yet, but they made me happy. And little things make little people happy too.

My 4yr old asked me for a super hero cape this morning, so I gladly whipped him up one in his favorite color, Red. He was Very happy with his new little thing and went zooming around the house. And one of the 7 best little things in my house, the "getting very big" little man Mason! Enjoy your Little Things,

Tiff

Ha Ha Spring, You Got Us...

2011-04-01T10:28:00.005-04:00

Sick of seeing snow pics? I sure am!! Just yesterday we actually had grass showing, but today we woke up to this. On the bright side, the kids had a snow day!! So I got to sleep in, YAY!!!

It's April, so I know it will melt soon, right?

Have a glorious day,

Tiff

Have you ever....

2011-03-31T14:28:00.003-04:00

.... held an antique sale or upscale yard sale?

I'm looking for advice or tips on throwing something other than a yard sale. My basement is busting at the seems with antiques, collectibles, and home decor stuff, but I don't want to hold just another yard sale and give the stuff away . I don't expect to get store prices either, I'm just looking for something in between. I had thought about taking stuff to a local indoor flea market, but that is a lot of hauling and work. I could sell it on my blog, but I really hate dealing with the packing and shipping.

So that leaves me with possibly turning my garage into a temporary store for a three day weekend sale. What do you think? Have you ever done it before? I thought I could clean out the garage quite well and then set it up with little vignettes . I would have people enter to through my mudroom door and block the rest of the house off and they would go directly to the garage. That way, I don't have to worry about the weather. I was thinking of advertising it with something like "antique and home decor sale", any thoughts? Would you go to something like that? I want to distinguish it from a typical yard sale, because like I said, I don't want to sell things for a quarter.

There is an annual craft sale here in May and I thought about piggybacking off of that because I know if women are out for one thing they are likely to be looking for more to go to. I also have a friend with some hand made goods who is looking to sell things, so I could possibly have a few people involved.

I know I have mentioned something like this before, but this time I am serious, my basement needs to get clean!

Any words of wisdom appreciated.

Tiff

Today's Project and Still Nothing but Water! ...

2011-03-30T19:50:00.006-04:00

I hope your week is going well. I had an eventful morning, but we won't go there right now. And there is snow in the forecast for Friday! Actually, I'm kind of hoping for a snowday, but we will see.

I did manage to get this chair and a loveseat that matches it recovered. I used an old hobnail chenille coverlet that unfortunately had a large tear in it. My parents gave me this 6 piece wicker set a few years ago because they no longer had room for it. Well, I really didn't have any place for it either. Though it would look awesome in a sunroom, but I don't have one of those :) Most of it has been stored in the basement, with a piece or two of it finding its way upstairs every once in awhile. BUT, 4 pieces have now found a place upstairs and I'm really like the look and arrangement of it. I can't share the whole thing yet, but you will see it in the big kitchen reveal.

My only dilemma now is, should I paint it? There is a really pretty spray paint called nutmeg(kind of a mocha tan color) that would match the kitchen nicely. However, once I paint it, there is no taking it back. And just a peak at some cupboards... Oh, and it's been 3 weeks now with no other beverage but water!!! I have not cheated or slipped up once!! Not even a little lemon in my water. Thank goodness we have really good tasting water here :) I honestly can't believe I have made it this long, not to say that I don't really miss my teas and juices, because Man, I sure do. And seeing commercials for cherry Dr. Pepper don't help, I really want to taste that! And then seeing a sign for Mt. Dew Coolata at Dunkin Donits, sigh, so hard!! That may sound really gross to many of you, but when you are craving something with flavor, it sounds really awesome! Now I'm drooling. Ok, enough of that. I'm off to crochet now, have a great night.

Tiff

New Things...

2011-03-29T10:03:00.011-04:00

Last week was a busy week. Hubby had off the week and helped me with some furniture moving and kid running around. There were dress rehearsals for my youngest daughter's school play and then two performances on Thursday and Saturday nights. We had orthodontist appointments and school conferences. Maine Maple Sunday was on the 27th and I took three of the munchkins to another play audition. And some of us are still battling a nasty cough and head cold. And did I mention, we were still getting snow last week!!! The temps are still cold and it looks like Spring is being a bit shy this year.

I did get some goodies last week :) We did a book store run and I finally got a copy of "Weekend Sewing" and I'm looking forward to having some time to make a few things from it.

I have been very good at Goodwill lately and not bringing a ton more clutter in the house. But, I did find this wood shelf hanger for $2.99 and I couldn't pass it up. A local prim store right down the road from me, Falling Leaf Woodworkers and Primitives (check out her blog), just made some bowl racks and I bought a stained one for a great price! I have it hanging in my dining room, but I need to do some tweaking with what's in it and the wall it is on before I am completely happy with it. I think it needs some wood spoons or something. I had bought two new skeins of yarn to make something for Mason, but I couldn't figure out what, so I decided to make a twisted granny square afghan. The colors don't go with my house, but I love the vibrancy of them and I think it will make a nice car blanket or an throw for the boy's room. And I know the kitchen has been "a work in progress" for a very long time. So long, that my hubby has even started to ask me when I plan on sharing the results on my blog :P But really, I just want to get it totally done before I share and I think this past week I finally got the furniture arrangement right(which will make my family happy!). So, I promise, within the next few weeks, you WILL see my kitchen! Now, I'm going to see if I can lay a sleeping baby down so that I can get some work done :)

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Name that Blog...

2011-03-20T20:14:00.006-04:00

UPDATE... Thank you so much Andrea and Sarah, you guys are fast!!! Off to catch up on The Cottage Nest.

Since my computer died I have been using another laptop that was the kids, but I lost all my bookmarks. There were quite a few lovely blogs that I read that I had bookmarked but hadn't gotten around to putting in my blogroll. One of them happened to be about a woman and her family who moved to a new town and they had been renting a house while looking for one to buy. She had fixed the rental up very cute and she seemed to be quite creative. She often referred to her town as "the Village" and I think she was in Ohio. I "think" she had 2 girls, but I could be wrong. I remember one post about her going for a winter walk around the village and stopping at a bakery and knitting. The town was just adorable with lots of picket fences and cute shops. I would love to find this blog again and see if she bought a home yet. SO.... NAME THAT BLOG!!!! Pretty please !!!!!!!

Thank You !!!!

Tiff

Just Stuff...

2011-03-15T09:27:00.003-04:00

I know I haven't been posting much, just busy(school play, redoing the boy's bedroom, still working on the kitchen, and haven't been feeling 100%).

I did want to let you know that I had to change the settings on my comments after I got a disturbing comment and link this morning. So if you have trouble leaving a comment, email me. If this continues, I may have to go to a private blog.

In other news, I ended up returning that galvanized aluminum 3 tier tray to Pottery Barn. Why? you ask. Because I didn't see the "Warning" label on the bottom of it when I bought it. It actually had a warning that it contained harmful chemicals that can cause problems. Yes, I know, sometimes those things can be blown out of proportion, but I did not feel comfortable having that thing sit on my kitchen counter. Really PB, why even sell that kind of thing?

I gave up all beverages except water for Lent, so I'm on day 7 of water only. It has been difficult, because I was a big juice and tea consumer, but each day gets easier. Some observations... I'm actually more thirsty throughout the day, despite drinking a lot of water, my mid section doesn't feel as heavy , and there are no middle of the night bathroom trips. The snow is finally starting to melt, but mud season is here. I really dislike this time of year, it's not pretty at all. Everything is brown and drab and the snow along the roads is just plain nasty looking. But hopefully we are only a few short weeks away until the lovely lime green buds of the trees start to show. In the mean time, hubby is going to help me build the new home for the feathered friends that will be joining our family. I need to do laundry and get some vacuuming in, so I'm off.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Going Local...

2011-03-11T09:18:00.008-05:00

Where do you get your fresh produce? Or your eggs and meat? For us, it's the local grocery store for most of it. I do have our front door kitchen garden, but that doesn't supply us with nearly enough. I do try to buy the locally grown produce at the store and we definitely get our syrup locally, but I have been wanting to go further than that. We do have enough land to have a giant garden, but that requires a Large initial investment(plowing and grading the land and fencing for the deer). And right now, I'm not sure I would be able to handle my own large garden, so that may be a few years down the road. My other option was to find a CSA and do a crop share type thing. Problem with that was that most were a bit of a drive away. BUT, not any more. My dear friend shared with me a blurb she saw in our local town paper and we now have our own CSA farm this year!!!

I called last night and we are going to buy a full share and then I'm going to do a "work share" to get double the amount. I just have to work 4 hours on Tuesdays, beginning in mid June through the growing season(roughly 20 to 24 weeks). I figure I will get some exercise, some sunshine, fresh fruits and veggies(flowers and herbs), and lots of valuable gardening knowledge. Plus, I know where the food is coming from and it should work out to save us money in the long run.

Your local CSA farms aren't just fruit and veggies. They can be beef, poultry, and pork too. And cheese and fiber... If you aren't up for your own big garden, but want to buy local and fresh, check out your local CSA farms... but hurry because most only take so many shares and they have to have their numbers in before the planting season starts.

Have a great day,

Tiff

One Kitchen Done, One to Go...

2011-03-07T12:52:00.014-05:00

I'm still not ready to share my kitchen, but I can share the boy's kitchen that I finished this weekend. I had been wanting a real wood play kitchen for the little boys and I found a lovely one at a toy store online. The only catch, it was over $350. I almost bought it, but my frugal side just would not let me. So I thought about what I could turn into a play kitchen. After looking online for ideas, I realized I had the perfect solution just sitting in the basement.

I took the top of a hutch that I was not longer using, as the bottom is being used as our TV cupboard in the family room, and asked hubby to help me bring it upstairs. It's all solid pine, no plywood, so it is quite sturdy. Here is the before... the poor thing has been painted quite a few colors over the years...

We flipped it upside down and I started to paint....(and cut a hole for the sink) And here is the finished result... I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out. Sorry for so many pics, I just adore how it looks. Sorry for the pink glare, you shouldn't wear hot pink when you are taking pics! The faucet is our old faucet that hubby replaced for me. This piece was part of the new faucet that we didn't need, so I turned it into the temperature control for the oven. I found a thermostat pic online and printed it out then mounted it behind a thin sheet of plastic. The bottom works as the mini fridge. I still need to make some shelves for in there. Storage area under the sink and stove. So here is my grand total for the project....

Bowl for sink...Goodwill .99
Towel rack... Ace hardware 5.99
4 wood knobs for stove controls...Ace hardware 3.00

Everything else was in the house and being unused... so free...Total of $9.98 for a new wood play kitchen!!!

I have decided,well finally realized, that we still have lots of little kids in the house, and I need to make more fun places for them. I can have a totally prim home when the kids are grown, for now I need to make it a neat place for them ,(with my touches thrown in). I love the Waldorf play spaces you see online, so I'm kind of making my own style of that in my kitchen area. You will see the whole thing when I share my kitchen reveal with you.

So what do you think? Cute?

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Lovely Day...

2011-03-02T21:09:00.008-05:00

My day didn't go quite as I planned, but that is a good thing. After I took all the kids to school, I stopped by my best girl friend's house. I told her that me and the boys could only stay a bit because I had a ton of stuff to do at home. Well, we talked and talked, she made us an awesome lunch of meatloaf sandwiches (don't things taste so much better when someone else makes them for you?!), and before we knew it, 5 hours had gone by(Mason had even taken a nap on my lap). So nothing got done at home, but the boys and I had a much needed break out of the house.

And when I got home, I found a nice surprise on my porch. My giveaway win from Gina at Cat Nap Inn Primitives was waiting for me. Here are all my goodies!! 2 embroidered white bar towels, an embroidered Spring towel, a cute snowman doily, recipe cards and make do pad, 2 bags of yummy bowl fillers, coconut linen spray, and my very own personalized kitchen towel!

I did a double take as I was photographing this because I didn't see what it said until I saw it through the lens. I noticed the cow right away and thought it was sweet of Gina to remember that I love cows in my kitchen, but I was blown away when I saw that she put my blog name on it! These smell so GOOD!! I put my towel here for now, but I am going to have to find a safer place for it before the kids drip sauce or what not on it. THANK YOU SO MUCH Gina!! I love it all!!!!!

And they weren't my only gifts. My dear friend gave me these today too. A new pickle for my glass Christmas tree and a neat tin link garland. I have never seen one like it and I can't wait to find a spot for it in my kitchen. She hates having her name mentioned on my blog. So I will just say Thank You again for lunch and my gifts ******* :) It wasn't the day I planned, but it was very nice and unexpected.

Have a great day,

Tiff

Done with the Snow...

2011-02-28T10:46:00.003-05:00

I really love the winter and the snow that comes with it, but there comes a time when enough is enough. And even though I'm not looking forward to the mud season that will soon be here, I can honestly say that I am Done with the Snow!! Of course, as I write this, it is snowing outside and accumulating fast. As you can see in the picture below, my front door garden isn't going to get planted any time soon, you can just barely see the fence peaking through. On the bright side, it can't last forever right? And when I'm melting in the summer heat, I can look at pictures like this and long for the white stuff. Have a lovely day, Tiff

YAY, YAY, YAY and GRRRR....

2011-02-26T21:48:00.006-05:00

The wonderful hubby bought me some new pretties for my kitchen redo today!!! My first YAY is a new kitchen faucet. Here is the one I chose.... I'm so excited to finally have a working sprayer again.

2nd YAY is a set of big and little Bee glasses. I just fell in love with these when I saw them at the mall today. They are nice and thick and textured on the outside with bees.

YAY #3 is this galvanized 3 tier tray. I want to put a bunch of potted plants on it. Thank you hubby !!!!! I love it all!!!

Now for the GRRRR! of the day. After hours at the mall, letting the new 16 yr old girl get clothes with her birthday money and dealing with way too crowded stores and loud music(I hate the mall with every fiber of my being) we finally came home. But I realized that I didn't get the fabric I needed for the kitchen. I had looked at Mardens and Walmart but they didn't have it. I knew Joann's carried it because I bought it there about 3 months ago. So at 7 this evening, my youngest daughter, Mason, and my self headed there. I looked where the ticking is, but all I saw was red and blue. So I asked one of the sales women. She said she had never seen brown ticking and that they didn't carry it. I told her that I bought it there before. She insisted that she had never seen it. Then she asked a second sales woman and she rudely said that they didn't make it. Ummm, I have some sitting right on my craft pile, I KNOW they make it and they carry it. Anyway, even my daughter thought they were a bit rude. So, I really thought I was going to get the fabric for my curtains and such today, but GRRRRR, it is going to have to wait a bit longer now because I had to come home and order it. YES, from Joann's, they had it on their website!!!

Oh, and as I was typing this post, a certain little Mr. crawled on my lap and knocked the computer to the floor. The screen went all liney and it is no longer working. Hubby is trying to fix it, and I'm crossing my fingers it is not totally gone. So for right now I'm finishing this up on my daughter's computer. If I don't post for a few days, you know why.

Until next time,

Tiff

We are heading to Boston tomorrow to watch my oldest at a cheering competition, it should be fun.

Walk in the woods...

2011-02-24T14:07:00.009-05:00

On a week day, when the temperature is up and the snowmobile path is quiet, it's nice to take a walk through the woods. It's amazing how peaceful and still things can be.

So peaceful and quiet, that a baby can fall asleep.... Enjoy your weekend,

Tiff

New Picnic Blanket...

2011-02-22T15:47:00.005-05:00

So this isn't very prim, but it does have a lot of calicos in it. I just couldn't resist this 70's crazy quilt at goodwill. And, yes, I did try not to buy it, I looked at, put it back on the shelf, circled the whole store, but it called me back! And I'm glad I bought it. Mason is too. The minute I brought it downstairs from the dryer, he took it over.

It's quite a colorful piece, but when you look at, the individual fabrics aren't really that bad, just a bit more yellow than I'm used to. But it will make a wonderful new picnic blanket. Some of the prints close up. The back is a solid avocado green. I also found some vintage trimmings. I love the flower trim and can't wait to think of something to use it on. It's all wrinkly because I washed it. Yes, I did break my "no goodwill" resolution, but I didn't buy nic nacs for the house, just sewing stuff and a very practical blanket ;)

Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

ps, still working on the house, in between dentist visits, we are they all week with cleanings, fillings, and xrays.

With Cleaning comes Mess...

2011-02-21T12:04:00.004-05:00

So I was doing a bit of surfing this morning and was on another blog and saw a candid shot of a spot of her home. It was real, not picture perfect, just a spot that is used, worked, and lived in. It made me think about how we just tend to share the "blog appropriate" pictures of our homes because the "after" and the "done" pictures are so pretty to look at. But if any of you are like me, sometimes all the pretty and perfect pictures can make me feel a tad bit envious or not happy. I know my house is not always spotless, I have 7 children, but I try to keep it nice because I NEED it that way. However, there are weeks like this, when I am in major rearranging mode and the house looks like this.... it won't stay this way for long, but with cleaning always comes a bit of MESS.... So I now timidly share with you my messy house pics...

The kitchen island, full of craft room stuff....(you can sneak a peak of the painted cupboards in the background)...

The front foyer, full of stuff that was in the unused portion of the family room, which is now becoming my craft area... My craft room that is now becoming our eating area...(still have to figure out where to put all the book shelves!) And the end of the family room that is becoming my craft area... As you can see, I have a TON of work to do. And I didn't even tell you what I'm doing with the area in the kitchen where the dining table was! That's a surprise.

So there you have it. Some real photos of life in progress. Of course I'll share the pretty ones when it's all done.

Have a fantastic, real, day,

Tiff

My Chickens Arrived!!!!

2011-02-19T16:29:00.005-05:00

No, not real ones, though I do have plans for those too. What did come in the mail was my order for my chicken family car decals. And I couldn't be more pleased. When we moved to Texas we bought our Suburban there and lots of people had the window decals on their cars. So we got the family decals. When we moved back to Maine(almost 5 years ago), no one had the stickers(at least here in our town), so we were literally the first ones to start it up here. Over time we saw more and more cars with them. I eventually got new decals for the Suburban(ones that showed us doing things, like mine was at a sewing machine).

So when we got the new van in December I knew I wanted stickers for it, but I did NOT want people ones again(I like to be different). I searched and searched for something that no one else had up here. And I finally found a site where she could customize what I wanted and here is the result....

Aren't they cute?!! The van windows are two smaller windows as compared to the one large one of the Suburban, so I wasn't sure how they would fit. But the baby chicks ended up being small enough to all fit on one window, plus there is still some space for more! Wouldn't it be cute to have a little egg on the end if I get pregnant again?(yes, I do want more children).

If you see a big black passenger van driving around with chickens on the back, you know who's it is!!

Have a great weekend,

Tiff

Sweet 16...

2011-02-18T11:03:00.003-05:00

16 years ago today, we welcomed our oldest daughter into the world. I don't know how I got so Blessed to have such an intelligent, talented, sweet, and beautiful daughter. I wish I had some baby pics on this computer to share with you because they would make you smile. She was a chubby round baby with lots of personality. But I do have some recent pics of her.... a beautiful young woman with boundless potential.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!!!! We LOVE you with all our hearts :)

House Rearranging...

2011-02-16T11:03:00.003-05:00

I've started the big 3 room rearrange today instead of waiting for winter break next week. Of course, with in minutes of starting and moving the black hutch in the kitchen, the top of it went tumbling! I watched it in slow motion with my hands reaching to catch it. What was I thinking? There was no way of stopping it. I hurt both my hands, but not bad. The top of the hutch hit the corner of the kitchen table on the way down, adding a few nice dents to it(only enhances it!) before hitting the floor cloth covering the kitchen tile. Put a whole in the floor cloth but that's better than cracked tile. As much as I hate the tile, I don't want it cracked right now. The whole glass side of the top shattered into big dagger like pieces. Luckily, no one was hurt by it.

After I cleaned all that up, I moved the hoosier into the kitchen, and the black hutch is going into the craft room(soon to being eating area). I started decorating the hoosier with my egg and chicken collection but I don't have it quite right yet, it takes time.

Right now I'm taking a break and thinking about things I want to make this year. One thing happens to be a cow painting. I love cows and I have always wanted an old painting of one or two, but have never found one at the right price. I thought I would try my hand at making my own. Something like the pic below.

Well, back to work, but maybe I'll bake some cookies first:)

Tiff

Apron...

2011-02-15T12:46:00.005-05:00

I am not going to show you the pics of this apron on me because even though I thought it looked cute in the mirror, when I saw the pics I was horrified. Let's just say that they were the type of pics that encourage you to diet!

Remember this chickie print I got from Mardens? I knew I wanted it for an apron and I finally got around to using it.

Anyway, here is an apron I made. I took the pattern from a vintage picture I saw of from the 1920's. I first made a muslin draft then went to my to chick fabric. The reverse side is a small buttery yellow gingham.

So the problem is, it is a pretty heavy apron(being sucha full and 2 fabrics thick) and I'm afraid to get it dirty! Plus, like I said, I'm not too happy how I actually look in it. What to do? I feel like I wasted a lot of fabric and I'm not sure I will ever wear it. Guess it was a learning experience.

Have a great day,

Tiff