What do you enjoy about blogging.....

For me, blogging is a way to share some of my ideas with others on quilting, sewing, cooking and family.

I am always grateful for those ladies out there who are willing to share tutorials on anything that has to do with sewing, quilting, home decor, cooking, etc. I am a very visual person and these gals that take the time to photograph each step and write the directions are just the best.

I have had the opportunity to befriend some sweet people out there who are generous, friendly and enjoy blogging just as much as I do.

So, for me to have had the opportunity to meet one of my bloggy friends was an absolute treat. I had the opportunity to meet Stacey ( and her sweet girls )at

http://theblessednest.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=50



She recently moved back to the Chicagoland area and I thought it would be nice if we had a chance to meet. I was hoping to go to the Eddie Ross event in Illinois with her, but because of our move and bad timing, I wasn't able to.

Instead, we met up in downtown Naperville. Beautiful town in the springtime. Lots to do and see. Stacey shared some of her favorite stores she likes to go into and I shared a couple of mine. Stacey is just as sweet in person as she appears on her blog. I enjoyed spending time with her and her daughters. It was like meeting up with a friend you hadn't seen in years.

What do you like about blogging? Have you had the opportunity to meet any blogging friends?

On a side note, we have a buyer for our house. God is so good. We are heading out this week and I will be off the grid for posting for at least a couple of weeks. Once we are settled, I will post all about the adventure.
Until then, here is a pic of Stacey and I . If you haven't been to her blog, do stop by and tell her who sent ya.


Pin It Now!

Things that make me smile..

Daylilies

We are moving soon and I was upset that I might not get to see my hydrangea bushes bloom. Well, guess what? They both have bloomed and they are beautiful. I am so happy. They are the blueish ones. My absolute fave. I plan to take some cuttings tomorrow and put some in a vase for my window above my kitchen sink.

Did you know the ph level of the soil is what determines if they are blueish or pinkish? If the soil is acidic they are blue and if the soil is alkaline they are pink. I thought that was so fascinating. We didn't do a soil test when we planted these. We just planted them and I hoped for the best.

We have lived in this house for five years and this particular hydrangea below finally bloomed. It's and oak leaf hydrangea. When we first moved here we thought it was on it's way out, but we would prune it and water it when necessary and now look at it. It has such pretty white cone shaped flowers.

What is making you smile this week?

Pin It Now!

It's GIVEAWAY time again.....

Hop on over to
http://dreamywhites.blogspot.com/

Read her interview with Christina Strutt and enter her giveaway to have a chance to win !

Giveaway information!!

Cabbages and Roses will be giving away a lovely Cabbages and Roses tablecloth and 6 napkins to one lucky reader.
Valued at $185.00

You get to choose from three different Cabbages and Roses patterns, Natural Raspberry, Tulip and Rose, and or Cerise Hatley.

All of their linens are beautiful!
The giveaway will end June 15th at midnight p.s.t.
The winner will be announced June 16th.
Random number will be used to pick the winner.
You must leave a separate comment for each entry to count

So hurry, head on over and enter!

Pin It Now!

Ideas for the new house

Okay, so I got the unpacking and the laundry up to speed in one day. That in and of itself was unbelievable. Since that is all done and out of the way I thought I would share a little bit about the new house and ask for your ideas to help me decorate the guest room.

It's a four bedroom home. All on one floor. The guest bedroom is huge. Well, let's just say it's a lot bigger than the one we have now. I has space for a bed, dresser, end tables, reading chair with lighting and possibly a desk. You wouldn't believe the size of the closet if I told you. It's huge as well. I could probably do a jig in it for you (haha). What I like about it most is that it is has it's own private full size bath.

The backyard is big as well and one of the pluses that we are happy about is that it is fenced in. The previous owners have done a beautiful job landscaping it. There already is a veggie garden area established, an orange tree, a lime tree and a fig tree! So excited about that one. I have always wanted to make fig jam from my own figs. There is also a magnolia, rose bushes and rosemary bush. There is lots more, but I don't know all the names. It truly is a lovely home that they have taken care of.

Another plus with this house is we won't have to paint for the first time. The colors on the walls are lovely already. Well, except for the master bedroom. It is a tasteful green, but green is my least fave color. But I need to make it work somehow. So, that will also be a room I will need your help in. So send any pics or ideas my way.

Now, about the guest quarters. I am either going seaside retreat or farmhouse chic or maybe the B&B feel. I want your ideas to help me pull it off.

I like the idea of this first pic. I plan on placing something like this on the counter in the guest bath. I will have space in the bedroom to place a tray on a dresser with coffee and tea packets, cream and sugar and a coffee maker as well as mugs. You know, kinda like you would see at a hotel. Also toying with the idea of a mini fridge, but probably won't do that as the guest quarters are pretty close to the kitchen.

photo: Country Living

Here is one inspiration photo I like for the guest room. It's light pallate make it look fresh and welcoming.

Not sure the source of this one. If anyone knows please email so I can give credit for it. I love the light, tonal pallate going on here. Looks comfy and feels very welcoming.

This next one I really love and would like to incorporate this look into our master bedroom. Love the tonal tan bedding and the sign over the bed. Not too crazy about the pillows on the bed. I think verbage on those is overkill with the sign over the bed.

Okay, that's it for now.
Enjoy your weekend!

Pin It Now!

Sorry to take such a long blog break...

We are back from house hunting. We have found a new home and hopefully will be heading out soon.

I have unpacking and laundry to do, so will be back to blogging on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!Pin It Now!

A few thoughts...

First, I hope you enjoyed seeing a few corners of my home. We have had some showings, but nothing promising yet.

Secondly, if you haven't noticed already, I have done a little house cleaning at this ole blog. My hubby recently spent quite some time fixing my computer. Seems my blog hopping and link clicking got me in a world of trouble with computer viruses. Not knowing where or how, I have decided to not have my blogroll anymore. Now this doesn't mean I won't stop your blogs anymore. That is so not the case. I still check in each morning to see what everyone is up to. I just won't be doing a lot of clicking and surfing around is all.

Lastly, I hope to share a few sewing things with you later this week. I have had some ideas rolling around, but didn't have the mojo to sew them up and share.

Hope everyone has a good week.Pin It Now!

Come on in and take a tour of ....

WELCOME TO MY HOME!

Come on in.



I am so glad y'all stopped by. If you frequent my blog, then you will know we are moving. We finally got our home on the market and I am so happy....for two reasons. One, because the house is always clean and tidy. LOVE THAT! ...and two because we are looking foward to heading out for a new adventure. So grab yourself a cup of sweet tea and stroll on through a few corners of my home.

First up is our bedroom. Not anything fancy, but it's comfy for us.



Here is another view





Before I learned how to quilt I became a collector of quilts. I have so many different ones to change out in this room along with bedskirts as well. My favorite quilt for this bed though is the toile quilt you see on the bed. I usually pair it up with a black and white gingham check bedskirt, but liked the looks of this against the furniture.

Next up is our master bath. One of the things that we loved about this house were the DOUBLE SINKS!! Oh yeah baby. We were excited about double sinks after having shared a sink for many years.




Another plus of this bathroom is the natural light that comes through the picture windows. There is also a stand up shower, loo with a door, and the soaker tub you see here. Sad to say, we hardly ever used the soaker tub.



Look at this score I got at a garage sale around the corner from our house. In keeping with the french country feel, I thought this would look lovely to hold our toiletries. It's a pedastal silver tray. See that sweet, white edged hankerchief on there??? I got the tray and six of those hankerchiefs for $4.00. The lady that sold them to me said she actually used them to you know, blow her nose. I said I couldn't dream of blowing my nose in them. They are too pretty.



I never shared my kitchen with you or our family room. Let's look at those next. Again, nothing fancy, but it does the job for me. I love red if you haven't noticed. I have little touches of it here and there all over the house. If you look there on the island, that is usually where I am blogging from.



To the left of the island, you will find the breakfast nook area as well as the french doors that lead out to the deck. Then keep going left and you will find our family room. Love this type of layout where the kitchen opens up to the family room. It makes for great entertaining and we love to entertain.



Moving on to the family room you will see more red and another quilt.




Here are a few more views.






Come back tomorrow and I will share the childrens rooms and the foyer. I am hoping to sometime today paint that piece my hubby made for me a few years ago. Maybe you all can help me with a vignette to display on it.

Enjoy your day!Pin It Now!

A new blog and a house tour...

Hi everyone!

Our house is finally on the market. I will be sharing a house tour with you later this morning.... MINE! The house is so clean. I love it! Every room is looking lovely. You see we live in every room of our home, so they are usually LIVED IN. Only drawback is any time we go out of the house we need to make sure the beds are made and there are no dishes in the sink blah blah blah. Now, you probably think that is not a big deal, but when you are in a rush to head out somewhere you aren't thinking about that stuff. So be sure to check back later this morning to see.

In the meantime I want you to welcome Kristine to blogland. She just started up her blog....





Hop on over there and say G'day to her and give her blog a looksee. She has a beautiful home and you will be amazed at what she does with a small space.Pin It Now!

Sharing.....

Well, looks like the feature Friday post was a bust...or maybe folks were spending time with their families and not surfing blogs....if that's the case, then I am all for y'all missing. I'd rather ya'll be having fun with your families than being glued to the pc.

Very busy with getting things ready for putting the house on the market. Putting the FOR SALE sign out in a week. So, I have things to finish up sewing, painting and staging ....OH MY!! So, I will leave you with a few pics from our trip back in November. I didn't share all the pics with y'all back in November...just a few. Didn't want to bore y'all. But I think you will get a chuckle out of the story below along with the pics.

Well, this city/suburbs gal has never really seen a cotton field up close. So, I made the hubby stop so I could get the "KODAK" moment. I crossed over the ditch and then walked through some grass to get this pic. It didn't dawn on me until I was there getting this close up pic that there might be, oh, um, I don't know....SNAKES and who knows what other kinda critters!! Thankfully, I never saw any. But can I tell you I was petrified to walk back to the car after I took the pic. I sure was. The hubby was like, come on, it's fine. You walked out there. It's okay. I wanted to pic several pieces off of it to take home, but knew that wasn't right to do. Really, I was tresspassing and risking my life just to get this pic. Shouldn't that be enough? In the end it was.

Pic above is me standing pretty much right in front of the cotton. Close enough to touch it and zoning in to get a good pic.

This pic was taken from the "safe zone." As in at the side of the road with me zooming my camera in. I really wasn't wanting to crossover the ditch and what not, but as you read above I ended up doing that...cuz ya know, you have to do whatever needs to be done to get that KODAK moment. : )

The next photo I hope you can see. You may have to click on it to see it a little better. I didn't have a telephoto lens on my camera. Had I, this pic might have been even better. As we were on our trip we were always looking for deer. My husband had caught this group of deer out of the corner of his eye. They were way off in a field probably 200 yards from the road. Mind you we were going in one direction probably about 50 plus miles an hour and when he saw them out of the corner of his eye , he took the next available u turn area to whip us back around...cause yeah, you guessed it...it's all about the KODAK moment...again.Have a blessed day!

Pin It Now!

IT"S FEATURE FRIDAY!!

Hello all!
Welcome to Feature Friday! Every Friday there will be a different feature and hopefully you will learn something new.

Earlier this week I received a Cath Kidston catalog and saw these in their catalog.

They are called "wellies" or Wellington boots. I wanted to know where they got their name from. Then I got an idea. I thought maybe other people are wondering like me and want to know as well. And that is how Feature Friday came about.

So, where did the name Wellington boots come from? Why do we call them Wellies? What do the original ones look like? Below is a pic of the Duke of Wellington with his boots on.

The first Duke of Wellington named Arthur Wellesly instructed his shoe maker to modify the 18th century Hessian boot after arriving back from defeating Naplolean . He found his boots to be uncomfortable and worn out. The shoe maker was instructed to make a simple modification. The original boot was made out of calfskin leather. The new boot that his shoe maker came up with was made out of rubber; hardwearing, comfy and perhaps lighter than the old Hessian boot. The boot was also treated with wax to make it waterproof. The Duke realized he had a high quality boot for his troops. Soon, these boots were widely used. They played a pivotal role in history. They worn at the Battle of Waterloo and both World Wars.


Today, fashion dictates and you can find wellies in a wonderful array of colors and patterns, but don't be fooled by the beautiful eye candy. A lot of these fashion forward wellies are made of plastic and don't stand the test of time like an original Wellington boot. If choose to buy these plastic ones you will have aching feet. When looking to purchase a Wellington boot. Look for good quality insoles and rubber heals.

Through the years the original Wellie as been updated. You can find the Wellie in fun and funky patterns and colors. Check these out. So, you don't have to sacrafice fashion to be comfy in your Wellies while you garden.
Hope you enjoyed todays Feature Friday. Sunday evening I will post about my giveaway. So check back then.
Enjoy your weekend!Pin It Now!