Another addition and a giveaway...

Hee hee, lol, it's not mine this time. It's Ruth Ann over at http://www.sugarpiefarmhouse.com/ You know her if you have her on your blog roll as Warm Pie Happy Home. She gave her blog an overhaul and she is having a giveaway. She has some fabulous prizes, so hurry on over and check it out.

Now if you have frequented Ruth Ann's blog you know she just LOVES pies! She has even shared a couple recipes on there for you. One of them is buttermilk pie. Now if that doesn't sound tasty enough for you, she also has a recipe on there for spaghetti pie. Yep, you read that correctly, spaghetti.

If you haven't been to Ruth Ann's blog, grab you a cuppa sweet tea and brouse her archives.
Now go on over and say "Hey!" to Ruth Ann and sign up to be a part of the Sugar Pie Sisterhood!Pin It Now!

RED ENVELOPES...

Have you heard of Red Envelope Day? This is a wonderful opportunity to stand up for what you believe in. On March 31st (tomorrow) I am going to send an empty red envelope to the White House with this message written on the back:

"This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion. It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world. Responsibility begins with conception."

If this is something you believe in then would you join me in sending some red envelopes? If you want to read more about it then you can go here. (click on the word "here" it will take you to the link)

Here is the address to send your red envelope:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500


Have a blessed day in whatever you do.Pin It Now!

CATHEDRAL QUILTS

Hello all!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Tomorrow is the big day. I signed up for a class at my local quilt shop on how to make a cathedral window pincushion. I was reveiewing the instructions on the book we had to purchase and it looks like it will be a fun class. I have adored this type of quilt block for a long time and excited about learning how to make them.

I will post a pic of my finished pin cushion tomorrow.


Have a great day!Pin It Now!

A GIVEAWAY....

I usually post about other blogs having a giveaway, but this time it's ME! In a little over two weeks I will posting my 100th post! LOL, I know it's taking me a little over a year to get to 100 posts, but I plan on having a Giveaway. So, stay tuned for details on that. I am throwing around ideas in my head about what to giveaway and how to do it. If you have ideas on how to do the giveaway, please email me. My email is up by my profile. I have seen where folks use something called a number generator??? I guess it picks the number for you. Not sure. I will have to look into that.Pin It Now!

Book Reviews and a wish list

This new book by Heather Ross is out. While I was at Joann fabrics I had the pleasure of looking through it. I like to be able to look through sewing books before I buy them. I am a very visual learner and I like to make sure there are good written directions and lots of diagrams and or patterns. Heather has good directions and diagrams that were hand drawn by her. There are even paper patterns as well. Since I was reading through this in the store, I couldn't open up the patterns to see them. Lots of blogs have been doing giveaways of this book and I haven't won one so far. So, it will have to go on my wish list for Mom's day or my birthday.

Click the link below to see some of the great projects in the book. My fave is the ole wrap around skirt. That is Heather on the front of the book wearing a wrap around skirt made from the pattern in the book. She also has directions and a pattern for an everyday bag in there. Love it! Great size for when I am traveling or antiquing and I love the style of it. Maybe it's because their is some binding involved. Love that. When you click the link on the very last page there is a collage of some of the patterns in the book and that bag is one of them.

http://issuu.com/hnabooks/docs/weekend_sewing?mode=embed&documentId=090212163107-1935cb6918e34e9cb910878586a9a66a&layout=white

I actually have this book and have made a couple of things from it. Amy Karol is the wonderful writer of Bend the Rules Sewing. It's like having your best friend sitting next to you sewing. She gives great directions as well as patterns in the back of her book as well. She also has a nice section on the basics of sewing. So, this a great book for a beginning sewer. Like the Weekend Sewing book, Amy provides patterns of all kinds. Not just patterns to decorate with , but there are patterns for baby, kitchen related items, etc. It's been out for a while, but if you don't have it in your sewing library, it's a keeper.

Romantic Home Sewing by Christina Strutt I mostly love for the beautiful photography and the yummy fabrics. Although, I have to admit , the patterns and directions in this book are wonderful. Once I get through my stash, I plan to make several of the home dec patterns. She has taken the mystery out of making bed skirts, rolled pillows and even aprons for me. I have this book as well and it's also a keeper to have in your sewing library.

So, here is my wish list of sewing books:

Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross

Sew What! bags by Lexia Barnes

Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner

Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing

Will be busy today, so hope to post pics of more sewing to gift before I send them out in the mail.

Enjoy your day and have a great weekend.

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Sewing to gift

Did a bity of sewing yesterday. Made a ladies toiletrie bag for my daughter for her birthday. Filled it up with some goodies and voila! A nice gift that is practical and pretty. I used this tutorial at http://patchyapple.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/patchyapple-boxy-bag-tutorial/ Stacy rocks with this tutorial. She guides you through each step of the process. She also has great visual photos as well to go with the written directions. I see myself making more of these to fill up and give as gifts for Christmas. They don't take long to make. I think it took me a little over an hour to make the one I made for my daughter. I used decorator weight fabric for the outer bag and cotton canvas for the the inner. Stacy suggest using fusible fleece on the outer fabric. I didn't have any, so I didn't use it. I think I will use it on my next bag though. It will help it hold it's shape more.

My eyes got big as walnuts as I finished up the last stitch and started to turn it right side out. I was so excited that it came out looking the way it was supposed to. I love the fabric and I think I will be making myself one as well.

This bag is one of the things I had on my "I want to make that" list this year. So, now I can scratch that one off. I would love to be able to make something with piping, but haven't seen any tutorials with that so far. I would also love to be able to make some slipcovered pillows that have zippers in them. Such a nice finishing touch to a pillow. Erin over at http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/ has a pretty good tutorial for that. I gotta tell ya though, I am a little intimidated of that zipper installation. I don't know why, but I just am.

What tutorials or patterns do you like that you want to attempt to try this year? Share them with me. Who knows, maybe it will make it on my ever growing list as well.

Have a great day!

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Recipes to share!

Haven't done this in a while. This spring forward thing has gotten me all out of whack time-wise. We still haven't adjusted to the time change. It usually takes our family a month. I know, pretty bad, huh?

Last week, I tried to make a pot roast....again! I have made them in the past and never had success with them. No matter how long they cooked, they still tasted like we were eating shoe leather! I kid you not! Well, last week the hubby stoppped by grocery store on way for me and was supposed to only get two things. Not! Bless his heart, he got what I needed and them some. He found some great deals in the meat department. He got a BOGO on pot roasts, a chicken, ribs and something else. It was probably over $60 worth of meat he got for $20. WOW! I can't top that and I certainly couldn't be mad at him for coming home with more, now could I?

Well, the newly acquired pot roasts sent me on a quest to find a good because I was determined we were not going to eat shoe leather;not after he got this awesome deal. LOL, a little part of me was thinking...."Hmmm, if I don't get it right on this one, I still have another one I can take a second chance at."

I remembered watching Tyler Florence on the foodnetwork make a pot roast on one of his shows. I thought maybe I will find his recipe and give it a try. So, I did and it was DEE licious! I won't type out the recipe here, but will link you up to his so that you can print it out in recipe card form. I slow cooked mine in a stock pot all day on the stove on a low flame. I added celery, carrots, onions in mine. Just like he has in his recipe. A also added potatoes, but did something differently than I usually do and that was to par cook them 20 minutes before we ate and drain them and added them to the roast. I didn't want them to cook all day and be mushy. I also added 1 cup of red wine to mine in place of the water. Between the red wine and the juice from the diced tomatoes there was a nice gravy. The wine gave the roast a fabulous depth of flavor you wouldn't believe. I know, I know, not the liquor again. I tell ya, we don't drink, but we love to cook with it. It just really gives a run of the mill meal a zip.

Okay, without further rambling on, here is the link
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_34947_PRINT-RECIPE-4X6-CARD,00.html

Another night I made meatball subs. I have never eaten a meatball sub, but my kids and hubby have and they love them. So, went on over to foodnetwork again and found a recipe from Giada. I have made lots of her recipes before and they always come out fabulous and tasty, so I knew this would not dissapoint and .....it didn't! The family loved them...even me. Here is her recipe for mini meatballs.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_28674_PRINT-RECIPE-4X6-CARD,00.html

So, there you go. A couple of tried and true recipes to add to your repitoir (again, not sure of the spelling)

Happy Cooking!Pin It Now!

NEW BANNER....

Just changing things up a bit. Isn't that quilt beautiful on that rocker? It was made by Karen over at http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ Stop by her blog and say "hello." I have linked her to my blog roll on my sidebar.

She was kind enough to let me use her picture of a quilt she made years ago as my new banner. Thanks Karen!

Now all I need to figure out is how to get the name of my blog over to the left of the rocker...or maybe the right. Ugggh!Pin It Now!

Guest Bedroom....

As promised, here are some pics of the guest bedroom redo. I am going to keep it real for y'all and show the scary before pics and the progress I have made so far pics. It's not where I want it to be yet. I have found that I need to be patient and wait for stuff to go on sale, or make do with what I have. But I am open to ideas, suggestions....LOL, be kind, please.

Here are some before photos of the room when it was basically a dumping ground. In the midst of getting my daughters stuff out of that room and trying to move the guest room stuff in, it was looking a litle harried. The room really isn't that big. It's only 10X12, I think.

See the above photo..??? We were hoping to keep that little desk in there so we can use it as a sewing room when we don't have guests over. Well, dh had other ideas...and off it went into my daughters room along with those white shelves.

Here is how it looks now. Our daughter is finally settled in her room and we have the furniture in the guest room that will be staying. Don't mind that vaccum cleaner...lol, forgot it was there until I took the pic. Again, keeping it real, just for y'all.

This view is looking straight in from the doorway. The closet is there on the left, just behind the vaccum. Can you see my curtains? Love the ball fringe. To the right of me is the bed.

Here is a pic of the skirting on the bed. I love battenburg lace cutwork. It's such a fresh, clean look. I also have shams to match, but not enough pillows.

So, for now, I just have the bed skirt and white sheets on the bed and a pillow form...decorative one. I am hoping to cover it in some fabric I will show you later. But here are the pillow cases I got at Homegoods for $4.99! The one and only thing I have bought so far for this room redo. I love the color and the stripes and I think it's just enough pattern for the look I was going for.

Here is a front al view of the bed. Don't you just love that heart? If you remember, I mentioned that dh made that headboard for me for an anniversary gift many years ago.

See this tray...I am hoping to make a little placemat for it to place in the tray part. I am also thinking about painting it out a creamy white. This tray will have a couple of glasses, a water carafe and some snackage for the guests. Not sure where I will be placing it yet though.That luggage rack will be in the room as well in front of the window. Unfortunately it was the only place to put it. For now anyway. It's from Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic line. I got it a long time ago on sale. Here is a pic of the tray with the fabric that I would like to use to make the placemat for it. It's also the fabric I was thinking about using on the naked pillow form on the bed. I was also thinking about maybe using an old cableknit sweater to cover that pillow form with. You know, to bring a little texture in.
Last photo is of the nightstand. Well, it's not truly a nightstand, but that is what I am using it for in this room. It is an old sewing machine in a cabinet. My mom made all our clothes with that machine when we were younger. So, it means a lot to have that in there. I just think that lace doily thing and that lamp are not the right thing for this room though, what do you think?
I like the fact it has the blue that goes with the room, but the shade and the base of the lamp itself are more cream. So, can you mix cream and white when decorating? Is that a no no? I don't know. I also love the pop of the red on the lamp base as well. Taupe or red was going to be the other color in this room that I brought in.

Okay, I lied, there is one more pic. A basket of fluffy towels. To me, a guest room should shout comfy, inviting and calm. There should be all of the necessities of home in there to make you feel comfortable. I usually fix up a little bucket of toothbrushes, shampoos and soaps, etc. We travel quite a bit and have a ton of those hotel size toiletries that we bring home, but never use. We usually save and put it out for company. There should be a clock, plenty of extra quilts, blankets and pillows. There is also a tv in there, but I don't think I got a shot of it. You should also have plenty of closet space if you don't have drawer space to offer. In our case with the room being so small, we have plenty of closet space, plus the hooks on the cubby over the bench.



Well, let me know what you think. I know the room looks flat now. It needs texture and some more color....maybe??? Give me some ideas and I will see what I can do to shop the house.

Next week I will show you the baby gifts I will be sending out as well as a home tour of MY HOUSE.

Have a great weekend.

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The domino effect...

Okay, so in the process of shopping my house for the two rooms I want to redo I have come to realize that I need to get some spring cleaning done and declutter in not one just one room, but many. We have so much stuff...just stuff. Stuff we don't use. Stuff we haven't used. Stuff that probably someone else can use.

Our pastor said something in a sermon recently. He asked the congregation if they were rich. It was a rehetorical question. You see he was sharing that in America, if you have a roof over your head, food and clothes on your back those are the basics. Most of us have the basics, but if you have more than that....and most of us do; then you are rich. It was some statistic he had found. I found that interesting and pondered about it later on. Made me start thinking about the things we don't use and others could use that may need it. Soooo, for the next few days I will probably be putting things together to get ready for a spring yard sale and taking things to Goodwill and just generally throwing things out.

I also stumbled on this blog:
http://mysweetsavannah.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-organized-pantry.html you have to check out the post I linked you with. She redid her pantry and I was just so inspired. I love how it looks like a piece of furniture instead of a pantry with a door. Great thing is that because she went through the trouble to organize everything she was able to throw things out that were outdated and not have two and three things of one particular thing. It's all consolidated and looking lovely.

What are you doing to get ready for spring?Pin It Now!

Winter blahs...

Yep, I have been having the winter blahs. Not enough warm sunny days for me. Been trying trying to do some decorating in a couple of rooms in my house and I just wasn't inspired. Thing is I was tyrying to do it all on the cheap. Little to no money spent. You know, use what you have and shop my house.

One of the rooms I want to spruce up was our master bath. I finally got inspired on what to do in there. We have a soaker tub that is in a corner and above it is two windows. I wanted to redo the window treatment and add some spa like accessories and paint the vanity black. Well, I chickened out on painting the vanity, but found some spa like accessories that I can put in there. I also was inspired with a window treatment while I was at Homegoods looking for a white duvet for the guest room. That is the other room I wanted to redo. Well, here is my idea for the window treatment over the soaker tub. I saw a lovely quilted , bright white twin quilt at the store and thought..."that would look sooo cool as roman shades over our soaker tub." Well, that meant I had to go price out the ring tape and find a pattern to make roman blinds. A free pattern because I am trying to spend little or no money. Well, it turns out that ring tape is like $1.99/yd at Joanns. Not bad, but still have to find pattern before I go purchase ring tape. So stay tuned for that project. Not a bad price. Now to see if I have anything white like that in our cedar chest.

Now the guest room. I decided to go with a soft color palette in there. All the funiture has wood tones and the walls are wonderful shade of blue. It's slightly darker than robins egg blue. The room is small and I decided to go with white bedding and cottage ticking strip pillow cases and these sweet curtains. (photo courtesy of Country Curtains)

I bought these curtains four years ago when we moved here and now they look great in our guest room. I have an idea that involves some sheets and an old quilt to make my own white duvet cover without having to buy one. I also have a couple of ideas for some sweet accessories to put out that I already have and hopefully guests will find it "A soft place to land" after a long trip.

I have also been working on some baby things. So hopefully I will be able to share photos of all it soon.

Have a great day!

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V's giveaway..

Vanessa over at Vand Co. posted who won those yummy honey buns. Go check it out if you haven't already. You won't believe how many people entered her contest. It's mind boggling.

http://adayinthelifeofthechristensons.blogspot.com/2009/03/im-speechlessbut-ill-push-through-that.htmlPin It Now!

Winter blah blahs..

Feeling the winter blah blahs lately and just haven't posted. No need to get others down. I am so ready for spring and have been working on a few projects to welcome this most anticipated season in.



Hope everyone is well.Pin It Now!

A GIVEAWAY....

Hurry and go check out Vanessa at V and Co. She is having a giveaway. The winner will receive two yummy honey buns. They look like those prestrip jelly rolls from Moda. Here is her link to enter. Grab a cuppa and give her blog a looksee. She is a very talented woman.

http://adayinthelifeofthechristensons.blogspot.com/

She also has been featured over at Moda Bakeshop. So, you will have to check that out as well.

Good luck!Pin It Now!