Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Round Top, TX


So hard to see the beauty of these Willow creations
holding flowers and pumpkins!
A closer up look of one of the Willow
containers that folds up and then spreads out to
hold a pumpkin or a flower pot..
Darling...


And speaking of darling......
I bought a bunch of clothes...
This is the dressing room....
inside a traveling mobile....
should have taken more pictures,
Do you know how hard it is to try to merge
two days into a week of antiquing at
Roundtop , TX?
Oh My...
But
I
Am
Grateful
For
Two
Days!

Monday, October 1, 2012

On Our Way To Florida!


We are on our way to Destin, Fl. for our two month stay there....

Our First night on the road brought us to this wonderful restaurant
that our friends, Jim and Barbara recommended. It is in El Paso, TX , so
I highly recommend it too, if you are ever in El Paso.

I asked Randy to get off in Odessa, TX and drive by his home in which he grew up...
We were sad that it did not look like it was being well cared for....

Do you recognize the high school name?
The book and the show was
Friday Night Lights....
my husbands high school...
and
yes
he
knew
some
of 
the 
real
people
depicted
in
the 
movie...


Me with Barbara, in front of my
favorite
restaurant
in the whole wide world.
It is in Midland, TX and they
have the best Chicken Fried Steak
I have ever eaten!
Randy loves the Grilled Quail and Etufe'.
Barbara's Fall Table
Love the light streaming inside.

Drove through Fredricksburg, TX to eat at
the best barbecue joint we have ever been to...
Do You SEE the sign...closed on Mondays...
This is Monday...    :(

But consequently, it led us here....
in Fayetteville, TX where we found
Jo's place...
Yum!
Now we are in New Ulm and tomorrow
 I will antique in Roundtop, TX
( another favorite )
And
Randy 
Will
Golf...
His Favorite
Ain't Life Grand
Spoken like a true Texan....
Which I am not but would be happy to be!


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Roxie's New Dog Carrier



I can't wait to see Miss Roxie when we get
to Florida. She is the cutest little thing!
Brenda, her mom ( I pretend to be her 
Grandmother ) asked me about making her
a new carrier.
Yesterday, that is what the day was all about.
I was using my mom's sewing machine and right
in the middle of the project it crapped ( don't you love that word) out on me. I went straight to the laundry room and retrieved Aunt Mary Helen's 1942 singer sewing machine to finish the job. Luckily, last year, I had it totally serviced so it was ready to go... Isn't it cute? I have the case and even a card table that it will fit in. I might just have to set it up after the much newer machine went hay wire on me. Hate when that happens...
Anyway, on to the fun part...

 This is the front of the bag. I used new and old pieces of fabric, lace and Ric Rac. I had a darling picture of Miss Roxie so I used photo shop to erase out everything but her adorable face. This was the first time I had printed a photo on purchased, ready to go fabric lined with paper, so it easily goes through the printer.  I followed the directions on the package but obviously did not wait long enough to iron the piece, as her name smeared. The second time I did it, I put the printed piece in the dryer. The directions did not say you could do this, but I was in a hurry. It worked just fine.


 This is the back of the carrier...
Vintage doily and vintage button on top 
of new pink chenille and lots of vintage lace sewed on the top of the chenille. All of this was attached to the quilted fabric from which the base of the carrier is made.


The inside of the case is made out of that soft, soft, fluffy, fabric that feels delicious! It looks like little tiny roses everywhere.


 It is hard to tell from this picture but this is the removable bottom from the inside of the carrier. I thought it should be removable so the bag could be washed. The bottom piece has thick cardboard inside to hold the weight of the puppy.

Such a special carrier needed a special wrapping. I embellished a brown bag with many of the elements I used on the tote.
A close up of Miss Roxie. Isn't she adorable?!

A fun project for a fun lady!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Window Treatments

One of my favorite blogs
is 
the 
inspiration
for
this
post!
Her theme for her Link Party
is unusual window treatments...
SO....
I just have to share some
more pictures of my


I love old linens of all kinds 
but
my heart
really
swells
when
see
hand crocheted
or
knitted
table cloths
bedspreads
doilies
runners
well...
You
GET
the picture!

  I love using them as window treatments...
I don't care if they are in pristine condition
or if they have some wear
like the lines on my face
that help tell my story.

Of late, I am also enjoying my snapseeds app
on my IPhone...
Especially
the 
GRUNGE
look


 This is a look, from the outside,
of one of the pieces I used in
the living area, that you see above.
Grunge look above..
Natural look below..



Looking out of the dining area
with the curtains open..
The curtain on the above left
pulled closed.

And a runner used as a 
valence in the Master bath...
Which
also
leads
me
to
show
you
another
way
to
use
vintage
linens
My Shower Curtains around
my Claw foot Tub...
There's that Grunge Look Again!


Sunday, September 9, 2012

Raspberry

I found a treasure....
First ripe raspberry on the 
two plants we planted at the
beginning of June.
I fear more will not be ready before
we head back to the valley
but there is always next year,
right?!
I also played a little more with
the app on my IPhone..
My favorite look right now is what you see below....

The Grunge Look

And
Here
Are
The
Entire
Plants
Climbing
Up
The 
Trellis
Got
One
Year
In
Roundtop, TX
My
Favorite
Antique
Show

Again...Grunge...Love It!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Thursday Tip




This should have gone with the Flower's post...
The perfect way to water your hanging baskets,
or any other type of potted flower/plant, that is not easily 
watered............... a scoop of ice... the soil absorbs the water as it melts and there is no dripping! It is especially wonderful if one has an ice maker..... from a magazine post a friend, without a blog, sent me. Thank you, Janice! Happy Thursday, everyone!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Flower Update



Remember the Impatiens,
after the horrible hail
storm? My girlfriend, Dianne,
whose husband owns a landscape
company, told me they would come
back. As you can see, she 
was correct. They are looking
great again. By the way,you can
visit Dianne here...she loves tablescaping.

While the Impatiens came back,
my Asters did not. The storm was just too
much for them. Poor things. Had I been out
in the storm being beaten half to death I might have packed it in myself! I replaced them with Marigolds and so far, even though it has poured down rain for three days straight, they are doing well.



This is an overhead view of part of the yard.
There is a deck off of my studio. I took this
picture to show you my Dalia's. If you look closely, you might see a bloom or two, but nothing like I thought it would look like after all these weeks. Yesterday, I finally googled Dalia's to find out what was going on with them! Remember me saying we have had rain for three days straight? Well,once the monsoon season hit,it seems like we have had as much rain as sunshine. My poor Dalia's blossoms are rotting. I wondered why so many blossoms would never open and just looked brown on the ends. Now I know. I told my husband I thought we should go get some tarps to place over them when we know it is going to pour. When we go back to the valley, I intend to dig them all up and transplant them to a flower bed in Gilbert.
You can also see some mums in the above picture. I planted some small white ones in the window box off the deck of my studio.
There is also a peak of the yellow ones I just purchased. 

This was just for fun!

Just look at the size of these mums!!!
Can you believe it?
They are just gorgeous. I refrained myself and only bought five of them! :) They were only $16.99 each. I couldn't help myself. They are just beautiful and still have lots of little buds that will pop out. These we will plant in the ground before we leave. I was assured they will come back year after year. The gardener told me his have been planted for seven years and every year are just as beautiful.

I have them flanking the steps on the front deck, flanking the driveway as you enter from the street and one on a stump of a pine tree that was removed before we bought the house.
Speaking of Pine trees,I did not know this.Our area here has the largest stance of Ponderosa Pines in the world.
I read that on a menu! Smile....

Another view from above.

In between rains, my honey and I took a walk.One of the streets is backed by National Forest. We spotted these wild horses and I could not resist taking a snap of them with my iPhone. 


And what is this doing in a post about flowers?
I have been seeing lots of bottles across the Internet that have been painted on the inside. They look darling. I am going to try this someday....
When I was shopping in Walmart I accidentally saw Marketside Dressings in bottles that look like little milk bottles... SoLd! Didn't even care if the dressing was good or not. I bought two of them... one for Cole Slaw and one Ranch. Not only are the bottles darling but the dressing tastes yummy as well. So, if you are looking for some cute little milk glass bottles, head out to your local Walmart and look next to the packaged salad greens.It was such a fun find...
and
I
think
flowers
would
be
darling
in
them
too!