The Living Room

Here is the beginning of the living room tour. This is the little grouping behind the loveseat. The little house was a gift from my brother and his girlfriend. I have it all sitting on my late grandmother's ironing board.

The little face on this snowman makes me smile everytime I look at him. I wish the picture was alittle clearer.

Here is the big tree in the living room. I have all snowman ornaments on this one. I wanted something alittle different this year so I added some hydrangeas and baskets.

I purchased a snowman ornament like this one and decided to make more myself. Very easy.

I found these little snowmen at the thrift store. I think I should write our names on them. I found the little blue balls at the thrift store( 75cents for all)

This too was copied from an ornament that I purchased then made more myself.

The pile of snowballs was made from styrofoam balls, sand and some patience. I hope you have enjoyed the tour. I will continue the rest of the room next time. Lisa

The tour continues

Today's tour begins on top of my cabinet in the dinning room. This is right behind the tree that I showed yesterday. Just added some pine and some cones...and a nativity.

This is our back door. I tried to take a picture of my cool yard sale finds. They are wreaths I got for a dollar a piece , just added a bow. Yeah!

This is on the wall opposite the cabinet. This is a little desk I got at the thrift store a couple years ago. This is where Larry drops all his stuff at the end of his work day. I just noticed that this picture show our very cluttered closet. Opps. I wish I had cropped that out. lol.

Oh that is nice the quilt hides the mess in this picture. lol This year I tried to use my same old Chirstmas decorations differently. I tried not to put anything in the same spot as last year. I was suprised at how much fun that turned out to be. I really didn't have that many new things this year but it all felt new since I changed things up alittle.

This is my little sewing machine beside our dinning table. I just love this quilt. This was the first quilt that I quilted on my handi- quilter. I was scared to death. I was so afraid I was going to mess it up. I just love how it turned out.

This little santa was a gift exchange gift years ago. I still love to look at it....I hope you enjoyed the tour of the dinning room. More to come..... have a good day. Lisa

Today was wonderful

Today was a day of celebration with family and friends. I was so afraid that the threat of bad weather would keep everyone away......however, we had a great turn out. Today we had a birthday party for Larry and I. My birthday was on friday and his is tomorrow. What better excuse to have people over right? Everyone brought great food to share and we had a very memorable day. I of course forgot to take pictures...the camera was even out and on the table. I just don't know if I will ever get better at this. I am pretty sure I come by it genetically. My mom is the same way....lol. But since it just isn't a fun post without some pictures.....Here is some pictures of the tree in the dinning room.
I was trying to decide what to use for a topper and thought of this pillow that was moved out of the room to make room for the Christmas stuff.

I didn't have enough ornaments so I raided my basement. I just love baskets. This one with the greenish blue was a gift from my friend Maribeth. It is a Boyd's Bear Basket. I didn't even know they did baskets.

It still needed something so I took apart an arrangement of dried yarrow and put it in the tree.

I grabbed a few birdhouses and called it a day.

Just thought I would throw one in of our "little man" He just can't get close enough to Larry. Larry has such patience.

I hope you all had as good of a day as we have had. Try to stay warm......Lisa

I miss my computer

The computer is in the shop so to speak. A friend that takes care of the computers at Larry's work is looking at our computer. He is fixing it for us. Thank goodness. I won't even get into the issues with the "geek squad" Anyway......The decorations are almost done. I hope to get some pics soon. I should have my computer back tomorrow. I have missed it. I have to admitt I do think I got more done though when it was gone. hehe. I hope everyone has had a good weekend. I am off to do some work clothes for tomorrow. Good night.

A Day to be Thankful

Today was a wonderful day. I enjoyed time spent with my family and all the good food. I thought I would show you how the decorating turned out. I planned on taking pictures while everyone was eating but got so busy talking and eating that I forgot. So here are some pictures before the guests arrived.

The dessert table....My mom actually brought a coconut cream pie and a pecan pie. And my brother Tim and his girlfriend Sally brought a coconut cake. They were all yummy! I had a black cherry cheesecake and pumpkin pie, pecan tart and some cookies.

Here is a shot of the table. It looked so nice with all the food. I can't believe I was so worked up that I forgot to take more pictures. I was so worried that I woulded get everything done in time.

A close up

I was wondering what I could put in these baskets to line them. I got some nice ideas from my blog friends...I decided to use burlap...I have a ton of it...It is cheap...So if it got grease stains from the cookies...All is good.

I just cut a circle...sewed around the edge a half inch in and then frayed the edges. I love how it turned out. I also love the iced tea container that I got a while back. It worked wonderfully. I made ice cubes out of iced tea so that the tea wouldn't get watered down. The plan was to make a bunch of them...one batch made then I forgot until very late. Went into the freezer to empty the trays and try to make more in time and what did I find? Larry had made a bunch for me while I was at work on that long 16 hour day. I almost cried when I saw them. He is soooo good to me. I know that it is just ice cubes but to me it was so special that he is always there to help me when I need it. I have so many wonderful things in my life that I am thankful for...so many things that make me smile....The fact that God has brought this wonderful man into my life....For this I am truely thankful. I hope you too are enjoying a day to be thankful.

Here is a final shot...Carlee has been watching the cooking process so long that she has worked up a thirst. Marlee is eyeing the desserts. Funny dogs...They all got baths the other day with the hopes that they would stay pretty and clean for today....Well...Larry was just getting out of the shower this morning and he asked me...Where are those too? Meaning-Carlee and Maddee. He said I haven't seen them for a while. He looked outside the back doors to see them both digging by the outhouse(shed) and the dirt was just flying. Soooo...two hours before the guests arrive those two nuckleheads got a shower. Then of course had to clean the muddy foot prints. Dogs are so much fun. I have to admit there weren't that many smiles going around right about then though. Neither us or them. (Do dogs smile?)

What a Lonnngggg Day

Today we had to assemble the Thanksgiving Dinners that the customers will pick up in the morning. So my day started at 10am and ended at 1:50 am. Fun right? I got to sit down for a 10 minute break at 7:30pm. The rest of the time I was the final check for the dinners. So I stood on my feet all day and had to concentrate so much. Bummer. I got home and grabbed a bag of chips and sat in front of the computer. Now I am afraid that I might not be able to get up from this chair let alone make it up the steps. The sleeping bag that the dogs lay on down here is looking pretty good. Since I can barely keep my eyes open, I am going to try to make it upstairs. Wish me luck. I hope you had a nice day today!

It has been a good day

You might remember one of my latest thrift store finds. I just love it and am planning to have it on the dessert table for Thanksgiving. I think I am going to put some cookies in it. I just have to figure out what kind of liner I want to put in the bottom of the baskets. Any ideas?

I decided to make some of the cookies today since I had some free time. I made some pecan tarts, snowballs and some with andres mint chips.

Yummmmmmm. I am also planning on making a black cherry cheesecake, coconut macaroon brownies and of course, pumpkin pie.

In between baking and picking up the house I had to take a look at the new Country Sampler.

I thought I would show some of my progress on the rug. I am enjoying the border alot more than I thought I would. In the grass and sky areas I did it in chucks, the border I am trying to do it more spread out. I don't know if that makes any sense.... I like the borders this way.

I hope you had a nice weekend! Thanks for stopping by and for the comments. I enjoy them. See ya soon!

My First Hook In!

Today I went to my first hookin. I had a blast. I have seen the pictures of other hook ins and have always been so envious of the ladies that can go to these. Now I know what it is like. I am so thankful to Alice for sharing it on her blog and then being so nice to allow me to join in the fun.
The ladies were so nice and welcomed this newbee so graciously. I was pretty nervous. When I got home I decided to felt some more wool. This is some of the latest thrift store finds. The rest are still in the washer and the dryer. They look so much better in person.


I sometimes buy jackets if I like the colors. They are more work and there is alot of waste. The back has interfacing on it so it isn't any good for hooking. I was getting a pretty nice stack. The intention was to make a tree skirt with the pieces of wool with the interfacing on it. This is my first attempt. I cut the squares 3". It is a little tree. I think it turned out cute. I was glad I got alittle bit of sewing in since it is Friday night Sew in. Did you get any sewing done tonight? I would love to see what you did.

I hope you had as nice of a day as I had. Thanks again Alice. You made my day....maybe it will last all next week. lol....

Sorry for the crappy picture. This is my first attempt at making a cloth acorn. I wish I could remember the site that I got the idea from. I thought I saved it in my favs. but when I tried to find it to refresh my memory....I couldn't find it. I thought it was such a cute idea. She made hers out of cotton where I made mine out of wool. I think it would be easier without the bulk of the wool. This picture is before I hot glued the cap on. I will be able to get the cap smoshed on better when I glue it. However, I don't think I will be making them for the napkins. I just have too many other things to get done. I thought it would be fun to make wire napkin rings....as you can see I decided that I would just use a wool strip and attach a little gourd or two. I think it will be fine.
I got out of bed cuz I wasn't sleepy and thought I would come down and work with the wool I found...Instead I spent more time looking at other sites. I think there is some kind of magnet in this computer or something. Oh well off to work on the wool. Have a good nite/day.

Some Thanksgiving Preparations

Well.....There has been a change in plans. Don't you love change?.... I was planning on making placemats for under my new cream plates..... The plan...take the brown material and put it in the handi -quilter and do a simple stipple pattern and then cut it into placemats. So last night in the handi -quilter it went and when I was done....I didn't like it. So...needless to say I went to bed a little discouraged. Now what....So this morning I got some of my everyday dishes out of the cupboard and used them as a charger. It helped to make the cream dishes stand out on the cream tablecloth. I had found these cute little yellow plates tuesday night at the thrift store. They were 25 cents each. woo hoo!


I only have three green and three yellow dishes from my everyday set as chargers. So now we have 3 sets like the above set and 3 like the set below.

I went to Joann Fabrics for something to make some napkins out of and couldn't come up with anything inexpensive so.... off to the other thrift store this morning. I was able to find a table cloth for 2.00. I decided to make them out of it.

Here are the six napkins and I even had enough left over for a small tablecloth to put on the dessert table. yay.

Now I am off to work on the napkin rings. I want to try to make some cloth acorns out of wool and I collected some real acorn caps to put on them. Wish me luck.

Thrift store finds

The plan---find some new plates for our thanksgiving dinner. We will need six plates. I was hoping to find some plain cream color plates and a fall type plate to sit on top. Here is what I found. What do you think. I got 4 salad/dessert type Fall plates for 2.00. I was only able to find 5 cream color plates but they were exactly what I was looking for. They were 2.50 for 5.

Since I still needed one more I went to the goodwill store and thought I would check their selection. What do you know. I found a plate the same shade the same size and the same shape for a dollar. It doesn't have the design but beggers can't be choosers. right?

The first store also had these two small bowl with the same type of design. They were .90 for both.

A few days earlier I had gone to another thrift store and found this 3 tier basket/stand thing. I just love it. It looks distressed. I love it. $3.00. By the way don't mind the mess of things all over my table. I was trying out different centerpieces and still have a mess all over.

I also found these pyrex bowls. They are in good condition. I got both for $4.00. I don't know if that was a good deal. It seemed like it was but I don't usually buy pyrex . We will see. I also liked the fern that is just behind the bowls.

I found this little welcome lite for a dollar. I plan on putting it in the window of our shed out by the pond.

Last but not least I found this canister/decanter thingy. I just love it. I plan to put my iced tea in it for thanksgiving.

Well now the only decision I have to make is what to do with the table. I have a quilt that I made into a table covering. I wish I had taken a better picture of it. You can see the table a little better in the pics above. I also have this piece of brown fabric that I found at the thrift store for a couple dollars. I need to decide if I should keep it one piece as it is now or should I make placemats. I think I would have enough to make 8. I thought I could quilt the placemats and then bind them with a fall color. I like to get the tablescape stuff done early other wise I run out of time. If I don't make up my mind I still might run out of time.

I hope you had a nice weekend. See you soon.

I just read a really sweet post on http://www.behindmyreddoor.blogspot.com . It is at the bottom of her thankful post. I think you will like it. Have a great day. I am off to get busy doing some much needed work around this house. See ya later