Shop Your House

Welcome to Wednesday!

It's been a quick week here. 
Winter might just be thinking of taking an exit and everyone I know would
be happy to see that occur.  And that means it is time to change the décor
of our home to reflect spring.  Bright colors, green leaves, things that remind
us of new growth.

A fun, frugal way to change our décor is to shop your house.  All of us
probably possess way more than we need.  Finding a new home in your
home for items you have can be fun.  Then, you can decorate and not feel
guilty if you pick up just one or two new things.

I shopped my house and found some things that could be moved around
and paired with others things to create a new thing.

These I took off of stems, placed them in a glass bowl and they became this...

This wooden box got added to a new arrangement and a little bunny and...

Then this...

this...

 

 

and this...

came together and became this fun vignette.

See how fun this can be and on the cheap, too!!  That makes it extra fun to enjoy :).
Now go shop your house and see what you can do!

Don't You Just Love Quilts?

Happy Friday! 

This has been a busy week but a good week.  I hope yours has been good, too.

Quilts fascinate me.  I love to look at them.  I love to think about the hands that
made them.  I like to wonder about the lady whose hands sewed the pieces and
quilted the finished product.  I especially love old quilts.

Of course you know that quilts in America date back to the colonial times.  They
weren't the showpieces of late.  Life was hard and practical and so was homemaking.
Quilts were used on beds to keep a family warm and on doors and windows to keep
out the cold.  They had a function.

Between 1750 and 1850, quilts were pieced and patched and became more elaborate,
with many still preserved for us today.  Some were so elaborate that they were years
in the making and quilting.

It was customary in the 1800s for a young woman to make 13 quilt tops before she
married.  Twelve were to use in her homemaking and a special large one was for her bed.
Also, "heirloom" quilts were made by mothers to save for their children to use when
they began to make homes of their own.  We are priviledged to have several quilts and
coverlets made by my husband's grandmothers, both of whom were born in the 1890s.

This "Dutch Doll" quilt belongs to our youngest daughter.  It was blocked by her great-grandmother
in 1930  (84 years ago!)  and quilted in 2004 by a quilting guild in our area.  It looks like it was done
yesterday.  We love to look at the different fabrics and wonder what they originally were.  Was it
her dress...his shirt...her apron?  We'll never know, but we like to wonder.  What a treasure!

Do you have special quilts?  I'd love to hear about them.

Have a wonderful weekend and we'll visit next week.

Decisions, decisions...

I like change...and sometimes I am resistant to change.  I'm complex when it comes to decorating.  I "tweak" sometimes to give something a new look.  But when I really like something I tend to leave it.  And so the story of my bedroom.  Except for a few very small things, I have had the same look for 6 years.  Now I am trying to decide on a new color to paint....but since I am happy with the room, it will not change much, just going to refresh the walls.  Bored yet?  I thought so.  Anyway, here is the room as it is right now.

 One thing I think will change is to replace the picture and hang a set of white ironstone plates in varying shapes.  I love white matelassé.  You can use it all the time as your basic and then change the
accessorie pieces...if you change, that is (unlike me)  but at least it gives you the option.

 Another change will be to paint the monster bird cage white.

 Oh dear, those tuplips need to be dusted :). 

And...the decision I can't seem to make.  But I'm leaning toward the square one on bottom.  I'll let you know. 

Fun Fabric Flowers

Happy Monday to you! 

Last week I promised you a tutorial on how to make fabric flowers.  Lots of pictures, but if you are
like me, I need  step by step directions.  You probably could do it without my micro managing
steps but I didn't want to leave anything out and wanted to try to make it easy for you.

 This wreath has fabric flowers that we made. 

 We used squares (they don't look like it in this picture but they are)  that were 4" x 4".  I personally like flowers from 3x3 squares just as well, maybe better--depends on how you want to use them.

Out of the squares we leave one as a square to be the base and cut the others into circles.  They don't have to be perfect.  You will need 12 circles.

 Fold the circle in two. 

 Fold over--you will have a cone shape.

 Hard to see here, but put hot glue on your base.  About a nickel to quarter size will do it.

 Place the tip of your cone into the top left corner of the glue.

Fold another circle and place the tip of the cone into the top right quadrant of your glue.  The tips of the cones should be touching.

 Third cone in the bottom right quandrant--tip touching the tips of other cones.

 Fourth cone into glue.  Press the cones to make sure they are firmly in the glue.

 In the center of the bottom layer, put another nickel to quarter size "blob" of glue.

 Now you are ready for your second layer of circles.  Fold as before, and place first one in the middle of the first two you placed on the bottom layer.  You want it to be between (and on top of) the first two.  Now do just as you did on the first layer--by quadrants.  After your second layer, you are ready for the third.  As before, put glue on second layer and  place between (on top of) the quadrants. 

Glue a button or anything decorative that will define your center.  You may want to "fluff" your petals a little.  Cut away  your base by cutting around the circle and you'll have this:

You can use different fabrics or circles out of the same fabric.  Because they are folded, you'll still get
a unique look.  These are so fun to use in decorating.  Wreaths, bows, anywhere you want to put them. 
Thanks to a friend, Danielle, from my church for teaching me, and my youngest daughter who made this one while I took pictures.  I hope you can figure this out.  After you do a couple, you find they are really quite easy.  Send me some pictures of yours--I'd love to see how you use them.

A Stable Foundation

As my mom use to greet us on Christmas Eve, "Christmas Eve Gift!", so I greet you.

My kitchen chalkboard reads, "All Families Need a Stable Foundation".  That is my story for today.
December 24, 1931, my grandparents were married at Key Baptist Church in Key, Texas.  It was at 7:30 in the evening.  I was very close to my grandmother growing up.  My grandparents lived across the street from us.  My brother and I rode to church with them,  not because my parents didn't go because they did.  But my grandparents went early to check on their business and so that my grandfather could check the facilities at our church and my grandmother could have her Sunday School room ready for the five year olds.  And my brother and I thought that was such fun--arriving before most people and riding with them.  My parents both had responsibilities in Sunday School so they arrived shortly but still....grandparents just seemed more fun.

I have thought a lot about my grandmother today.  Their house was where all the holiday activities took place.  I would go early in the morning on Christmas Eve just to be there while she prepared everything.  I can hear the sounds and smell the smells coming from her kitchen to this day.  I have wondered this morning what her wedding day was like;  trying to picture her as a 22 year old bride preparing for her wedding. 

Tonight, at 7:30, I'll be sitting with my family in our church's Christmas Eve service, thinking back
to the events of 82 years ago that occurred at that exact time and rejoicing that it began on Christmas Eve, and for the legacy they leave.

I am thankful for the "stable foundation" that my grandparents and my parents put into my life.  We are trying to do that with our children.  It is the most important gift we can give them.  I pray your home has that, too.  My prayer for our blog friends this Christmas is Philippians 3:10, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection...".  And John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish but have everlasting Life."
Merry Christmas, dear friends.  May this be a special Christmas season for you and your family.

My Christmas Motto

My beautiful flowers from my firstborn

Getting ready!

Stay Healthy This Winter

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

While this blog is mainly for home décor, part of homemaking is keeping our families
happy and healthy.  And with winter upon us, I am always interested in ways to keep
everyone around here from becoming sick.

All of us have heard how chicken soup is good "for what ails you", but did you know that,
literally, it has healing properties?  Apart from being soothing, comforting, and warming, it
really does contain nutrients that aid our bodies in healing. 

Chicken contains a natural amino acid called cysteine which thins mucus.  It also keeps our
digestive tract healthy which is the basis for a strong immune system.  The gelatin found in the
bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid--sounds complicated--but it supports proper digestion.
Chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine reduces pain and inflammation.  The amino acids proline, arginine, and glycine have anti-inflammatory properties.  Broth inhibits infectious agents like
viruses that cause colds and flu. 

Making it is easy, and is a sure way to be proactive in your family's health.  I put a whole chicken in a crockpot.  I season it well with salt and pepper and place 5 or 6 cloves of garlic in the cavity of the
chicken.  After letting this cook for 6 or 8 hours, I remove the meat from the bones, leave the bones
in the crockpot and add an onion, carrots, celery, and more garlic. I also add 2 TBS of vinegar as the
vinegar leaches more nutrients out of the bones and cartilage.  I let this slow cook for a few more hours.  Your home will smell amazing, by the way.  After cooking,  take a slotted spoon and remove
the bones.  You will also want to strain your broth.  Yesterday, we ate the chicken we had cooked, and I still have enough left for chicken salad and chicken to use in chicken soup later this week.
Mine yielded enough broth for one good sized batch of soup and a smaller one.  The broth is
very concentrated so you will need to add water.  A friend told me today that she freezes hers in ice cube trays so she can use a little at a time when she cooks.  Great idea!

This was taken late last night but gives you an idea.  The bones I spooned out are in the bowl behind.  They literally cook down to almost nothing.  But that's what you want for all the nutrients!  I'll try and post the recipe for chicken soup later this week.  Stay healthy!

A Reminder of What We Are Doing...

"Serve the LORD with gladness..." Psalm 100:2

"This job has been given to me to do.
   Therefore, it is a gift.
   Therefore, it is a priviledge.
   Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God.
   Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done
       for Him.
   Here, not somewhere else, I may learn
      God's way.
  In this job, not some other,  God looks for faithfulness."
                            --Elisabeth Elliot

Titus 2:4
"That they (the older women) admonish the young women to love their husbands,
    to love their children, to be disreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient
    to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be blasphemed."