October..... SEW Finished !

Creating HOME one stitch at a time.

Cross stitch....

Hand quilting......

Buttons.....

Sweetness X3!

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures... "  

Psalm 23: 2

Icing on the cake...

Pillow back......

thrifted shirt

Loving it !

Used one of my old shirts for the border

and a pair of old jeans for the cornerstones.

Let's see I started this when my girls were young....

Finished it when my grandchildren are young...

I.am.slow!

but you know....Slow is sometimes better than fast.

The fabric I would have picked for the border  20 years ago

I would not have 

liked for the next 50 years ;) 

Maybe that is why it took me so long to finish.

I love this so much more.

Next up.....

Trying to finish up the borders on this bad boy.

Hard to do when you are not totally in love with it. 

Stalled because I can't seem to figure out what it needs.

Bonnie Hunter  free pattern

"Smokey Mountain Stars"

Made with thrifted shirts : ) 

That I do love.

Little bits of Fall Yum-Yum 

to make the world go round.

Plus...

One thing off the pile of undone

 makes for a Happy day!

Best moment of my week....

Seeing a little boy eating popcorn

  out of one big wooden popcorn bowl 

side by side with his dad

on the couch 

wearing identical neck pillows....(Really)

Watching a family movie.

Happy! 

and Adorable : )

Best Food of my week

homegrown...

Home made Sweet potato fries

drizzled with honey!

Peel, slice into fries. Rinse, 

Pat tops dry with paper towel,

 Sprinkle Sea Salt,  Fresh ground Pepper,

 Drizzle over fries 1 Tablespoon olive oil per potato

Toss fries to combine with oil.

Bake 400* Micro /convection oven setting 

30 minutes until soft

(Conventional oven may take a few more minutes)

Drizzle with honey

Eat Fresh

Enjoy the day.

If you are visiting today....

I would love for you to take a moment to say Hello in the comments.

It's lonely talking to the clouds : )

Janita

Apple Goodie Recipe

God Bless Apples!    You make my Autumn days complete.

You might enjoy more autumn delights here

APPLE GOODIE   Perfect for 2-4 people

3-4 cups Apples pealed and sliced
(Jonagold are good to use. 3 1/2 cups is about perfect )
                            1 cup =  approximately 1large apple
                                                                         
3/4 cup of sugar....... (I use 1/2 cup and it is plenty sweet)*
1 Tablespoon of flour
Cinnamon sprinkled over apples to suit you.

Place sliced apples in your  Greased 9X9 baking dish or a mixing bowl.  Sprinkle apples with desired amount of cinnamon. Mix sugar and flour in a small bowl until combined.  Pour over apples and gently mix.   Pour into Greased baking dish if you have chosen to mix ingredients in a bowl.

TOPPING
1/2 cup Brown Sugar (  I use 1/3 cup) *
Remember the ice-cream is coming later  :)

1/2 cup flour.....  all purpose white or whole wheat
            (I like Whole Wheat * if I have it on hand)

1/8 teaspoon Soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal
 or Quick oats if you don't have Old Fashioned

1/4 cup Butter

Mix dry ingredients together.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender.  Sprinkle over apples and pat down lightly.   Bake 350 degrees 45- 50 minutes.  It will be done when it starts to look bubbly.  Test with a fork to make sure your apples are soft.  4 cups of apples may need a longer baking time.

Call a friend....  Serve warm with Ice cream.

Enjoy.   Eat any leftovers for Breakfast :)
Pretend you are eating a granola bar with fruit!


*You can usually cut the sugar in any recipe by 1/3 without noticing any difference in the recipe.

*Whole wheat flour should be stored in the refrigerator to preserve the Vitamin E contained in the flour.

Simply Delightful

Home is feeling cozy .

The fireplace has be turned on as needed.

Goodies have come from the oven.

 I couldn't be sad if I tried.

This is my FAVORITE time of year.

It is official....  

One Large Orange Goodwill Sweater 

will make 4 pumpkins.

tutorial can be found here

 Whimsical-  sleeve #1

More in control- sleeve#2

Sweet Sweater Pumpkin

Yum- Yum! 

It all started here

sweater tutorial can be found here

My 3 sweet little Real pumpkins are a JOY.

 Everyone is Growing up so. 

Our littlest grandson will turn ONE year old  next week!

Clayton

Annual Pumpkin Photos

Emerson and Harley

Addilyn Grace

I am probably the only one with tulips in their Fall decorating.

My family is use to me having tulips out year round.

This room has had some furniture rearranging which I am loving!

This is the view from my chair :) 

In a Totally BROWN room color is good.

This room needs a paint revival. 

One dresser is out of the garage!!!!!

This project has dragged on and on for a few years. 

Because when I don't know what I'm  doing...

I procrastinate..... can you relate?

I had some veneer issues along the way.

It is now painted RED! 

That is a leap over the edge for me.

I think it is good.

White is easy... picking paint color is hard for me.

I have done very little sewing in the last few weeks. 

 Having a new dresser in my sewing room should make up for that.

I did finish some embroidery on a project.

When it is finished it will be

Simply Delightful :)

No peeking until Dec 25.

Hope your November is filled with everything YUM -YUM!

Janita

follow me on Bloglovin here

The sweet and sour of life...

Last week was hard.

We had to say good-bye to two people in our lives.

Last week was beautiful.

It seemed like the most beautiful day to go to heaven.

I hope I fly away to heaven in Autumn. 

Last week was sweet.

My dearest friend came for supper.

I love old friends.

For us, there is always

 some distance between visits.

It makes the reunion all the sweeter.

I wish Life were all sweet.

But in this world there will be sorrow. 

Creating beauty around me helps lift the sorrow.

I helped a friend decorate a couple of weeks ago.

She shared some of her garden goodies.

The leaf plate has found a happy home.

I transformed some coasters in to something more appealing to me.

The leaf has danced right off the plate behind the bear.

The before......  fabric is kind of ho hum...

This little coaster makes me a little dizzy....  

but it is happy here.  

The coasters are stuffed with some crushed cinnamon and cloves.

I just made a pattern from a leaf in the yard.

Fused it on with some Heat N Bond lite

 and did some primitive stitching around the edge.

Zig-Zagged over some twine  for the stem.(first step)

I used some old shirts to remake the tops of the coasters.

Makes me happy.  

Even in sorrow......God is still good.

I made another sweater pumpkin :)

It all started here

(The stem might be too much over the top)

It was a long sleeve on that sweater!

My daughter called it Whimsical. 

I guess it will stay for now.

That is the beauty of creativity. 

You can express yourself any way you want. 

She  fits in with my other sweet pumpkins.

Emmy and Addilyn.

I try to make the house fun for my grandkids.

 The joy and blessings of Grandchildren always lift my spirits.

The best therapy when my spirit is low...

 piece my way to 

A finished quilt top.

I started this in April of this year.

.... just started with some inspiration from here and there. 

It is my own design I didn't follow a specific pattern.

Where would I be without my sewing machine????

The rhythm of the machine soothes my soul.

 This quilt started with a layer cake of

Sweetwater's fabric line

"Mama Said Sew"

 I needed a little bit of extra yardage to make it all work.

Now to get it quilted :)

Teach me to number my days..... 

Life is short.

Make it beautiful.

A special welcome to all those visiting from the Quilting Gallery 

I invite you to follow along on Bloglovin

Janita

September smiles ..... Beauty takes time.

For what ever it is worth I am going to go through the process

 of what it takes for me to create a home that makes me happy. 

FIRST...

I head to the basement and pull up my tote(s) of Fall things.

Then I begin to arrange and rearrange.

It may seem effortless

 to just show you one picture of the finished space

Lets talk REALITY here..... 

It may take days or weeks to put the space together....

It is a process of 

arranging.....

and

Rearranging....

walking away.....

Coming home and walking by....

Sleeping on it....

Asking my girls what they think of the space...

Life is not fancy here....

But I want it to feel special.

This picture is Take #1

It is pretty but it doesn't make my heart sing.

Not loving the clock on the plate so much.

I start to ask, ok what do I love about the space?

I love the little pumpkins on the plate.

What seems to be to much? 

Though I always love a candle by the front door.... 

I have two in this space.

I love the wire pumpkin but it seems to be too much here.

You can  see through it but it still seems too big and too much.

You never know unless you try it.

So let the rearranging begin.

I know I am dating myself here....

The Yankee candle shade and plate are old.

But I love bittersweet.... So I'm keeping it :) 

I think this candle works better in this space.

Now that I have moved the candle.....

 I need something for the basket plates

Feeling like I want a little more orange to tie in the orange table runner.

I just happen to have an orange sweater....

Picked it up last year for a project that never happened

Perfect project for a rainy day....

And I know the plans I have for you:)

Hello Sweater Pumpkin :)

tutorial can be found here

More sweater pumpkin love here

Looking yummy....

but still don't have a good feeling for the two similar shapes of the 

gum ball machine and the Yankee candle lamp.

Little Putka Pods  come down off the picnic basket.

Love in a bowl. 

I like the texture of the sticks and the little pumpkins together.

I like something that smells good to welcome me

when I don't have a candle burning.

The wind up clock from my husbands 

childhood has been moved up.

Feeling a little too much shine.... 

need  to take something shiny away.

The wind up clock has been moved back down.

Did I tell you it is a process of rearranging :)

Still not feeling the two tall skinny shapes and

because you never know unless you try it .... 

I replaced one tall skinny shape with another.

Yes I really did think the pineapple might be kind of fun.

Because I like the unexpected to show up now and then. 

It was a NO.

This is how it stands.......  

Until the end of Fall or until

I get another creative light flash in my brain :)

Then again Real Mini Pumpkins in the house

 could change everything.

Welcome Home!

I love the homemade touch.... Fall Quilt I made

I love Creativity.....Sweater turned Pumpkin

I love Memorabilia..  Old Clock

I love White Plates:)

I'll take a picnic any season.

I love Sticks!

I love Layers of YUM!

Hope your house has a smile in it this season :)

Reading the "Nesting Place" right now. It doesn't have to be Perfect to be Beautiful

you can be encouraged here to live a beautiful life herehttp://www.thenester.com

A special welcome to all of you who are visiting from the Quilting Gallery.

Hope you will follow along by way of email. 

Janita

SEPTEMBER SMILES!

  

Put the soup on!

Get the sweaters out!

Spice the cider!

Time to 

Decorate with Pumpkins!

    

Welcome Fall

Hard to believe it is really here.

As you can see

I've been getting the fall decorating fever!

If you want to catch the fever too you can check out 

http://findinghomeonline.com/finding-fall-home-tour-fall-decorating-ideas/

It is a delightful time of year!

:)

Janita

Let's talk turkey!

This turkey is made with VINTAGE  fabrics.   I belong to a quilt guild that makes charity quilts. We are pros at making something out of nothing. Most of the fabric we use is "vintage" or old and ugly  and donated to us because people no longer want it. We try to make it into something new and pretty!  We had cut some 5" charm squares and I used those to make the tail feathers.  For the rest of the runner  I added fabrics from my stash to "dress" it up.  You need some dressing with your turkey you know.   The red reminds me of cranberries..... It is just a feast on fabric.

About 10 years ago, maybe more time flys you know , An older lady who is good at taking people under her wing ,  invited me to start coming to the guild because I had told her that I wanted to learn how to quilt.   Our family life circumstances have changed in the last year or two.  My husband has a new job and travels 30 miles to work each day.  The stipulations that came with the job would be a request to move to the town where he works in a period of 18 months.  Allowing us time to find a house.   We still have not found a house so I am not sure when we will be moving but I wanted to say thank you to the ladies in my quilt guild for teaching me how to quilt.  Now just seemed like a good time to be thankful....... SO I MADE SOMETHING FOR THEM!

You have heard of a traveling trophy..... well this is a TRAVELING  TURKEY.   At our last meeting I gave this table runner/wall hanging away as a door prize.  Linda won it and she will keep it for  a day, a week , a month or a  year.....  It is probably not the most amazing thing she has ever won.... but she can enjoy it as long as she wants it,  but by next october it needs to be passed on to another member of our guild to enjoy.  The back is plain cream Kona muslin. I want everyone to write something they are thankful for on the back before they pass it on to the next person.  It will be a signature quilt of sorts.   Who knows where the runner will end up in the years to come, but we will just keep passing it around until we tire of it.

It is a life filled with blessings......  I am giving thanks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL WHO FOLLOW ALONG WITH ME.

You can find the pattern a Jan Patek quilts .   Hope you are finding much to be thankful for.

And now I can say I have joined the dresden plate rage.  It was easier than I thought. This is the first time I have made a dresden plate and I will be making another,  maybe even another turkey for myself!

Gobble, gobble!
Thanks for the visit.

JANITA