Get Thyself to Home Goods

If you have Home Goods in your area you should get yourself there. I got these wonderful storage boxes for my sewing room there and I love them. They were only $5.99 each. I would love to redecorate this room but until that happens I do the best with what I have. One of the things I have is ugly wallpaper that was there when we bought the house in 1984! But I bought an ironing board cover there last fall that matches the wallpaper nicely and these boxes look good with it too. So for now this is it. There are lots of unfinished projects in those boxes right now so maybe this will be the year I get those done. I doubt it.

Tag, I'm It....

Two posts in one day-what's going on here. I've been tagged by Pam at Pam Kitty Morning for 7 things about meme so here are the rules. By the way, I've done this before so I may repeat some of the things about me and I think Pam is getting back at me for passing on the Spreader of Love award to her!

The rules of the meme are:
1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 7 things about yourself
4. Name 7 of your favorite blogs
5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged

So here goes;

1. I am a college hockey geek. My husband and I have season tickets to UNH men's hockey and we love it. We even record the games when we are at one so we can then come home and check out the replays. By the way, UNH won the Hockey East title this past Saturday and hopefully will go on to the national championship, but you don't care about that because you're not lucky enough to be a college hockey geek like me.

2. I have an artificial knee. I had my left knee replaced two years ago and am very glad I did as it bothered me for years. But it is a pain when I fly now because I set of the alarms and have to be practically strip searched. My daughter thinks that is hilarious.

3. When I was first married and living on an Air Force Base in Colorado I was in a bowling league with John Denver's mother, Erma. Her husband was retired military and they lived in Denver. She was a cute, tiny little woman.

4. My first job was delivering eggs. My uncle had a chicken farm and my sister and I used to bring eggs around to neighbors in a wagon. We were about 6 and 8 years old. My mother must have been breaking some kind of child labor law.

5. One of the most interesting jobs I had at one time was a mystery shopper. I would shop and write up reports on the people waiting on me.

6. I hate big houses. It's a pet peeve of mine that all these giant houses are being built these days. Why can't they build nice little cottages or ranch homes anymore?

7. And the best thing about me is that I have known my husband since kindergarten. I didn't actually know him then but we did go to the same kindergarten. I've been married to him for almost 33 years and been dating him for a lot longer. I think it's great that we have stuck together this long. It's been easy on my side because he is such a good man.

So I will now tag PenPen, Cherry, Rose, Peri, Sue, Julie, and Mary. I have Martha's Stewart's blog listed as one I read and I was actually considering tagging her to see if she would do this but I didn't have the guts. I hope someone else will try it!

Sitting and Sewing

Still very winter here in NH so I have been getting a lot of time behind the sewing machine when I'm not at work. I've been working on my Ginger Belle quilt and it is coming along. Had to make a lot of these 3 1/2" blocks........

so that I could put them together into these two blocks.

I have managed to use a lot of scraps up which is a good feeling. The quilt is definitely getting an autumn look to it. Can't wait to put it all together. That's what I like about quilting; you start with a big pile of fabric, you cut it up and make a mess, then you make order out of the mess and magic happens!

I am Honored to Accept....

Hey-looky here! Someone gave me an award. It was Rose of Quilted Hills who gave me the Spreader of Love Award! Thanks Rose. Now I am going to spread the love a little and highlight some of my favorite blogs so go visit them.

The very first blog I ever looked at was Kim's at One Woman's Cottage Life. She has turned her home into a cottage with an amazing amount of work all while raising 3 little girls along with her hubby. I love looking at her renovation pictures and you will too. She also has some great Scandinavian and European blogs highlighted that are fun to look at.

I also love another Kim's blog, Dear Daisy Cottage. It amazes me how much she does with what looks like a small cottage. She is an artist in staging her home. I always wish I lived in Florida with her this time of year.

A fellow quilter who I love reading about is Libby at A Simple Girl. She produces the most amazing quilts that I love seeing and I am always jealous of her beautiful California weather.

Tina at Cherry Hill Cottage is another amazing cottage decorator in Texas. She has an eye for the perfect vignettes and I love seeing what she does with each and every corner of her home. She must be an amazing cook too from the recipes she posts. How the heck does she stay so slim?

Mary at Little Red House is another blogger I love to visit. She has a beautiful home and publishes wonderful pictures of it. Her kitchen is spectacular and she's a tea lover like me! She's also sick of winter like me!

Cindy at My Romantic Home has done an amazing job of her home on a limited budget. She also is a master at staging little corners of her home. I also enjoy the amazing furniture she has painted so beautifully especially since my house is filled with "Man Wood", aka wood that my husband won't let me paint.

Pam at Pam Kitty Morning is another quilter and someone who just plain cracks me up most of the time. She has a great blog with lots of quilting on it because in case you didn't know she is a CSQ (celebrity stunt quilter). You'll have to read about it and find out.

Nicole at Sister's Choice is yet another west coast quilter and I am not ashamed to admit I have stolen some of her quilt ideas. She has a wonderful eye for color and pattern and is a Miss Rosie Quilt Company pattern lover like me. She's just became a Grandma (sort of) so go congratulate her.

So these are just a few of my favorites so go on over to their blogs and check them out.

For Those of You Who Love Matthew Mead

I know there are quite a few of you who love Matthew Mead's work and I am lucky enough to live in NH where he lives. He does a seasonal room several times a year at one of my favorite antique stores, From Out of the Woods, and his spring room is up (which is where this picture came from). I went to see it last week and just love all the colors which we are in desperate need of here in NH as it has been a hard winter for us with lots of white. Everything is for sale here and I did buy a little something to put some spring blooms in so I'll post a picture of that when I get some flowers in it. Until then we are just waiting for spring here and it looks like it's going to be a while. I saw snowflakes at lunch time today!

Valentine's Jewels

I know some of you out there might have gotten baubles and jewels for Valentine's Day but here is what I got. Aren't they pretty? This is only the second brand new washer and dryer I have had in almost 33 years of being married. The other ones we got in 1976. Those ones are long gone and I have since been using hand me downs from my Mom and Dad but the dryer finally broke beyond what hubby could repair, and he has repaired them several times. So the day before Valentine's Day I went in the freezing rain and horrible driving to get these and they were delivered on Thursday. Nothing was going to keep me from getting to that appliance store-not even a winter storm!

A Valentine for You!

I thought I would post these pictures and little rhymes from the fabric I used in my Valentine quilt. I especially like the picture of the little girl above who looks just like my MIL did when she was little!


Happy Valentine's Day!

Did You Ever Wonder?

I often wonder about some of the older things I have in my home. Did the woman who had these things have a green kitchen or was she so busy she didn't have time to think about something so trivial as colors?
Did she store coffee in this tin or was coffee so expensive that it was a luxury? Could she get fresh oranges to squeeze that we take for granted in these modern times? What did she use the little strainers for?
Did she peel apples for pies for her family? What did she use this gadget for in the back? If anyone knows what it is drop me a note. Do you wonder about your things?

In the Meantime....

Thanks for all the opinions on the last post about Extreme Home Makeover. As a last note about this subject, it was in our local paper this week that the new home owners are going to auction off all the artwork and some of the accessories in the home to help other families who lost homes so that is good. I'm done ranting!

On to other things like quilts. I have started a new quilt. The pattern is Ginger Belle by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, whose patterns I love. So I've been sorting, and ironing and cutting fabric as I am trying to only use scraps.
But it's not all scraps as I bought some backing fabric and binding fabric from the Rhubarb and Ginger line from Moda that was used in the original. I'm using the excess of this fabric in the field of the top. It would be a lot easier to start with nice neat fat quarters as far a cutting goes but I am determined to use my stash.
So after work each day I've been sorting and ironing and got to some sewing this weekend, in between my SIL's surprise 50th birthday party and a football game I'd rather not remember.
Now would someone please come over and refold the leftovers and put them away? One of my cats keeps eyeing this pile as a nice place for a nap.