A Present From A Friend and A Gift to A Friend

I sometimes wonder how many photographs bloggers, or any photographer for that matter, take when trying to get photos for a blog or article. Love Bunny will sometimes take pictures but just one or maybe two for something he wants to keep. (As an aside: He once took photos of an open house for his model RR train club and not one of them came out! He was devastated because that event can never be duplicated.) But he is always telling me I take too many photos. What does it matter as they are all digital and I'd rather have more than enough than not enough. Anyway, I take several pictures for just one blog. I'm talking maybe 15 to get just 4 or 5 for that blog. I'm a very cautious person. ;-) But in saying that I want you to take a look at the last picture in this blog. That is the most "reoccurring" photo I take. About 1/5 of the time I'll be attaching the cable to the camera from my Mac and I'll inadvertently press the button on the camera that snaps a picture. My desk is the most photographed thing ever to appear on my camera!

Anyway, a friend was released from her church calling and had all these pictures left over—among another thing or two—and immediately thought of me. So she brought these over to give me. I noticed that some of them are Sonie Ames and I have a friend who loves this painter so I plan on sending those to her. I hope it perks her up after her long battle with an illness these past several months.

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I'm grateful for my small, snug, comfortable home. Even if I lived in an apartment I would be happy because I'm more fortunate than a lot of people who don't even have a roof over their heads.

I see people building lavish homes and lament that they need more space. How selfish can one be to build a home that could house a couple of families? I do not begrudge them their successes by any means. I just believe we could live comfortably in much humbler homes and maybe even be happier in them. It doesn't take a mansion to make one happy.
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Show Your Cottage Monday 11/9/09

Please visit Cielo's SOYCM for all the participants in this lovely event. I think you'll enjoy it.
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First, a few words about showing off my "cottage."

I don't have an elegant home. It's a humble adobe for me and Love Bunny in our later years. Not much upkeep, not very big to clean and not much yard work to tax us in the summer. So what I show you is quite simply a space to be lived in and, of course, for me to use as a palette to decorate. Not for any kind of show. Not to brag about. Not to be puffed up about. Not "showy" in the sense of ever being featured in magazines. Not at all. Simply a well loved and lived in home. Now, on with it...

The pillows I take off my bed each night and put back on in the morning when I make my bed. I love pillows on my bed. Actually, I love pillows all around my house and there are many!

The computer room/office is where most of my time is spent on any given day. You'll notice I made a pink cover for the stand. Also, my handy back scratcher is always there. I have 5 spread around the house.

For 2 years I've been wanting to do a pumpkin for our porch that wasn't orange. I bought one after halloween 2 years ago and just this past halloween got around to painting it! I'm not into halloween or the colors at all so I did my own variation on it. I set this out and will probably keep it on the porch for the fall and winter. I'll think on what to do for the spring and summer the beginning of the new year. Can you believe we are almost into 2010?!?! Where did the time go?

Anyway, I think the moms and dads liked the pumpkin much more than the little munchkins!! LOL Just my style: roses, pink ribbons and fabric print a friend gave me. :-)

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Random Thought:

And this is scary, chicks. Do you realize that most of the young women today cannot "rat" or "tease" their hair? If you're under 45, you probably don't know how.

Recently in the beauty shop while getting my hair cut, the hairdresser next to us was showing a 20something how to do it, and I almost dropped my jaw when I realized they don't know how. But I can "rat" and "tease" with the best of them! Oooooooh my.......
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I'm grateful for friends who love me enough to help me by sweetly and kindly showing me the areas I need to work on in my life to keep me on the straight and narrow path to perfection. I know most of my imperfections but sometimes I need a nudge for those I've missed.
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Romantic Bedrooms

I love hopping into bed when the sheets are fresh and crisp and seem to "talk" to me in "crinkles." And that bright dappled morning light on a summer day or that ethereal light from the snowy morning when I awaken to a white wonderland is breathtaking. The scent of the wind in the sheets from line drying as I turn my nose into the pillow. Ummm umph! Love it.

A beautiful little stool with a wisp of a covering so it can show its lovely vintage form.

The airing out of pillows, quilts or comforters in the fresh outdoors air.

A magnificent vignette at the foot of the bed. But the gorgeous shapely iron bed seems to beckon to its owner to come in and enjoy me.

Or the faintly Early American bed with its curtains waiting to be drawn to keep out the winter chills that you can envision our ancestors enjoying from the rigors of their daily chores.

Are you one of the fortunate ones to have a little sitting room off from our bedroom to relax and read or chat with your spouse? Aaaaaah, luxury.

A small dressing table to sit at is another luxury few can afford due to the smaller bedrooms in today's homes but they are wonderful if you can fit one in.

Or a small side or lamp table next to your bed with fresh roses and pictures of loved ones to remember as the first vestige of morpheus descends upon us.

The fabulous wonders of luxurious sumptuous linens upon which to lay our heads.

"To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub."
Shakespeare
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I'm grateful for my country—The United States of America. I love this country and the freedoms it brings and nothing or no one will ever take them away. It was founded by men of God with the help of God. Christopher Columbus was divinely directed to this country over 600 years ago to pave the way for religious freedom because he knew it would be founded here. We welcome people here to revel in these great states of ours and partake of the many opportunities it offers. We are a freedom loving country. May God continue to bless this country and we acknowledge how great it is.
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Pink Saturday 11/7/09

My friend, Lorena, is having a 200th post giveaway so please visit with her and sign up for her gorgeous items to be given away.
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Beverly from HowSweettheSound, is sponsoring Pink Saturday so go visit her and see all the PINK stuff, chicks!
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I mentioned in this post that I've wanted to do several things on my list that I made a long time ago. This is another one of those things. Read on...

First I assembled the letters and painted around them with white paint. Got out my Mod Podge, fabric and scissors and went to work. Roses, paint, ribbons, snippets of vintage lace, rick rack, etc. Can you guess what they spell?? Hah!!

Let me mention something here about these scissors as an aside. I have probably 12 pairs of scissors in this house and that is after going through the house about a month or two ago and throwing out pairs that just didn't "cut" it anymore. ;-) Five pairs are Gingher and one pair is Fiskars and the rest are just inexpensive scissors. The pair of Gingher on the bottom in the photo below are a relatively new pair that I bought and are incredible. The next photo shows the blade that is serrated. It works incredibly well in "holding" the fabric while cutting. I recommend this pair highly. They are dressmaker shears I think and are not inexpensive but will last a lifetime. And Love Bunny has been warned that if he uses them and dulls them, he's forking out $50 for a new pair of these.

See the serrated edge. Very, very sharp.

So here the fabrics are cut and glued onto the wood letters and then the embellishing began. Here are the finished letters that will go in the.......

...Laundry Room! Have you guessed what the letters spell out yet?

And here they are after hanging them in the laundry room. I think they're cute.

I changed out the embroidery that my daughter did for me years ago with this picture of a cottage that was behind the sofa in the family room and put it behind the washer instead. I think it looks fine there but now I'll have to find another place for the embroidered flowers.

Close up view of that area.

Oooh, and I covered the clothes rod with fabric also.
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I'm grateful for the health hubby and I have. No one believes we're as old as we are because we don't walk as if we were infirm. I'm a very spritely old lady but I recognize those who aren't blessed with good health and how blessed we are to have healthy bodies. Okay, so I could lose some weight! ;-) But by and large we are in excellent health. I thank God every time I think of it and ask for continued blessings with it.
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My 2nd Marie Antoinette Doll

Chicks, I have to tell you: you do NOT want to miss tomorrow's Pink Saturday post. It's darling! Would this face lie to you?!?! Hmmmm?????
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My 2nd Marie Antoinette doll was just as much fun as the first, but the final outcome was different from my vision. (Could it be that I'm a frustrated "gown designer"?!) I can't say exactly why but it just is. I'm not displeased with it. But when first I started I wanted it elegant so ended up using this "out-of-print" ribbon embroidered fabric hence I just used a small amount on the bottom. It doesn't seem to "drape" as I had thought it would. I also wanted BOLD colors and decided on red.

Originally, I had this bit of faux pearl trim around the waist but it added girth to the dress form so I took it off as you'll see in other photos.

See what I mean about the waistline? It's much wider than Marie would have actually had although it looks very pretty on the form. But I wanted a tiny waist effect.

I also used ribbon for the underskirt.

See how much better it looks with the trim removed. Just a vintage seam binding ribbon and a rose.

The bottom skirt also has a feathered stitch for interest. My understanding of Marie is that she was very extravagant in her wardrobe. She would have like this.

This red fabric is one I've been waiting to use on an apron I make but decided to snip off a piece and use for the bodice. I'll be making a pretty apron out of it and other fabrics very soon.

Here she is finished. She is now displayed on my family room coffee table. Probably soon to be put on my mantel if I can find some room there. ;-)

I already have a vision for my 3rd Marie gown.
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I'm also joining in with the 30 days of blessings over at this blog. Each time I post I'll state that for which I am thankful.

I'm grateful for each of my children and grandchildren. They all bring joy to me and hubby each time we visit them. They are all very good to us also. I can remember when each one of them was born and the joy we felt at being able to welcome them into our family. "Children are an heritage unto the Lord."
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