Rainy days and Mondays.

It was a gloomy wet weekend, not at all the weather

I ordered for the last 2 days of my vacation.

The only good thing about rainy weather is that it gives me plenty of time

to work on indoor projects.  I've got a huge pile of old junk in the basement

in preparation for the 3rd and probably last garage sale I'll ever have.

Forgive me for saying this, but I would rather visit the dentist than go to garage sales
 and the thought of all those wasted hours having one of my own...ugh,
but every 10 years or so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

The unknown animal on my clock now has 2 ears.
As I'm looking at this photo, the thought that comes to mind is,
"There's a sucker born every minute."
Is that what you were thinking, too?
I thought so.

I propped it on top of my medicine cabinet while the clay cures,
and even my coffee cups are smirking about my foolishness!

Enough about that.

As you can see, I've hung valances on my kitchen windows.

They weren't exactly what I had in mind, but they were quick and easy.
I bought three 16 x 90 table runners from World Market and sewed 2 together
for the bay window and hung the 3rd one on the window over my kitchen sink.

WM also carries napkins and towels to match.  In fact, the towel hanging
on the drawer pull was my inspiration for the valances.  I went to buy more,
thinking I could piece them together, but I was pleasantly surprised
 to find the runners instead.

Now that they're up, I have to curb my temptation to adjust the folds.
As my Baba would've said, "It's put near impossible to get them even!"

The table runners were $12.99 each, so for around $40 I've got window treatments
that required very little work.  I ripped out the finished edges on two sides of each runner
before sewing them together for this window.  Then I stitched a rod pocket on the top edge,
 pressed them, and that's it!  Easy peasy!


 The runners are available at World Market in...

 Orange

 Black

 

Blue

and red,
and now they're on sale for only $9.74!

I've been given a piece of crocheted autumn inspiration that's tempting me
 to make another set of valances in orange.

What do you think?
Should I go for it?

Red striped valances for December through mid August,
 and orange stripes for the autumn months.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, pumpkins, candy corn.....hmmmmm......

Well, today it's back to work for me, so no creative time for quite a while, I'm afraid.

Thanks for visiting!
Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Tweak it Tuesday  Cozy Little House
Share Your Style  The Essence of Home
Share Your Cup Thursday  Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Magic moments.

Winters around these parts can get long and rather depressing at times,

but there's something magical about the first snowfall of the year.....

especially when viewed through the eyes of a child.

Free Holiday Mouse pattern by Barbara Prime available on Ravelry.

Our two city mice spent almost a week with us while their parents vacationed, and
as luck would have it, we received our first dusting of snow during their stay!

Before they braved the weather, I shared a tradition with Maggie and Mack that I carried on
 with our own girls when they were small.  They were serenaded by Christmas music
 during lunch while we watched the beauty of the snow falling outside.

  I don't rush the season in any other way, but year after year my Christmas cd's
 are dusted off and played on a regular basis as soon as we have snow covering the ground.
  Even the drive to work is a whole lot merrier when I've got Bing along for the ride.

 After lunch they were each given an Oreo for Frosty's eyes, but
one little elf felt the need to take a bite out of hers first.

What big eyes you have Frosty!  And I guess there is no
"right" way to insert his carrot nose.

Snow day.  :o)

Meanwhile, over in Beaverville (my pet name for their home in the country)
Finley and Willie are busy decorating the oh-so-sweet homemade dollhouse we
found for Finley's 4th birthday.  If they're anything like their DeeDee, they'll
be entertained for many years with the wonder of life in miniature.

I managed to snap a few photos while they napped,

but once they were up, my camera was set aside for snuggle time.

  Unfortunately
the birthday girl was sick during her party, but she soldiered on and hopefully
she'll enjoy some quiet play time with little bro today.  Sending hugs and kisses your way, Finley!

If you look closely, you'll see that whoever made this house even added

rubber doorstops to the handrails.  Don't you love the doorknobs?

A big smile for her invitation photo taken in their woods
with a deer friend.

I haven't had a chance to do much around the house these past few weeks,
but I did carve out enough time to make about 10 yards of fabric twine.
You can find an excellent tutorial to make some for yourself over at My Poppet.

It can be used for all sorts of things, like embellishing gifts,
Christmas tree garland, string bikini, tying kitchen cabinet doors shut, etc.,
 but I machine-stitched mine into an oval shape to make.....

a sweet little braided rug for the dollhouse!  It took all 10 yards
of twine to make this 9 1/2 inch rug.
Tutorial for rug making can also be found here at My Poppet.

The rug warms up the very pink floors of the dollhouse.
*Note: I bought a lead paint testing kit and the dollhouse tested negative.
You can find the testing kits at Lowe's.

And lastly, my mother turned 75 years young last Sunday.
(I hope I'm as young as her when I hit that milestone birthday!)
She had plenty of help blowing out her candles from 4 of her 5 little elves.

One little elf woke up with the stomach flu the next day.
I think we all know how this story ends.  :o)
The gift that keeps on giving......

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your magic moments while they last!
Vickie

Four balloons tied to the mailbox.

*I'm joining the party at:
Cozy Little House  Tweak it Tuesday

Oh, fiddle dee dee.

I think if Scarlett O'Hara was in my place, this is what she'd have to say:

source

"As you fellow bloggers are my witnesses, I'll never
make floor length curtains out of synthetic fabric again!"

My 100% cotton dining room curtains were a snap to make, so I thought
 making floor to ceiling curtains for the bedroom would be easy, too.

How very wrong I was.

JoAnn Fabrics

The only fabric I could find in the shade of yellow I wanted
was an indoor/outdoor Better Homes & Gardens fabric called "Daffodil".
  It was on clearance for 60% off and I needed about 14 yards, so that sealed the deal.

I cut the fabric, finished the edges and hung the curtains.
That's when the problems began.

The biggest problem was the lightweight quality of the fabric.
  It didn't have enough heft (even with a 5 inch hem) to drape nicely,
so I tried a few tricks of the trade to train the curtains to behave.

I steamed the folds, which seemed to be about as effective
as taking a sip of hot coffee and blowing on the fabric.

I tied them in position and left them overnight.
The next day my curtains woke up with ponytail dents.

I'm skimming right over the fact that I haven't
 finished painting the windows yet.

source
Then I clicked my heels together 3 times
 and wished I'd never bought the fabric.

The darn fabric has the memory of an elephant,

and no matter how hard I coaxed, it sprang right back to the shape it 

wanted to take!   Just like my hair on a humid day.

In the end, the curtains won the battle, so this is the way they will look.........

for all eternity.

Because I am NOT starting over.

Thank goodness there isn't room for floor to ceiling panels on 

the other 2 windows!  I'm hoping the window treatments I make
for those windows won't be such a pain in the patootie.

Pinterest/source unknown.

Inspiration.

Eventually we'll install plantation shutters on the bottom
half of our double-hung windows, and I think the window treatment
 pictured above pairs well with shutters.


If all else fails, I can always make myself a
synthetic ball gown out of the curtains.

source
Next year's Halloween costume?

I can only hope my next project goes without a hitch.

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Thanks for stopping by!
Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday
Ivy & Elephants What's it Wednesday
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs.Olson Share Your Cup Thursday

Decorating with selfies.

Since our dining room is all decked out in red, white and blue for the upcoming holiday,

 I thought I'd share some photos of the room and a few selfies, too.

By now, you all know what a selfie is, but for those of us who don't own an iPhone,
(I'm assuming there are more than one of us?) a selfie may be something
  completely different.

For example, last winter I came across this vintage bathing suit
and I purchased it as a birthday gift for a friend with a lake cabin.

How thoughtful of me!


Of course, now that summer's arrived, I couldn't bear  to part with it!
This is my first example of a selfie.

Selfie: gift purchased for somebody else but kept for myself.  Shameful, I know.

The suit is stitched up in our high school colors of navy and white, and it's even
got the school emblem of an anchor tacked under the mesh overlay.
Go Bluejackets!

(I hope you didn't expect a selfie of me wearing the suit!)

Around the corner, my plant stand holds the sea captain that was made for me

 by a talented friend.  He's dressed appropriately for Minnesota summers,

 freezing cold one day, hot and humid the next.

  I hope he's wearing his Speedo under his wool knickers.

My window treatments are finished!

I showed up for work one rainy day this month, only to find that the schedule
 had been updatedand I had the day off.  (I'm sure you've all done that, right?)
  Since I was already in work mode, I worked at home instead.
  I spent the day cutting and sewing my stagecoach blinds
with music playing in the background, and coffee brewing in the kitchen.
Now that's my idea of a good day at work!

I didn't get paid for the day, but I got my blinds done!

The blinds add a pop of color without blocking the light.

Continuing with the nautical theme, I rolled the blinds around
pool noodles from the dollar store to keep them from drooping.
It's a cheap trick and it works like a charm!

 

I brought out the transistor radio as a summery accent in my cabinet because
it brings back memories of sunbathing while listening to pop tunes on AM radio.
Nowadays, I live more like a vampire, trying my hardest to escape the sun's damaging rays!

My drum major stands guard outside the cabinet while Shirley Temple smiles from within.
*Can you see her ghostly image on the blue glass next to the drum major?

Over the extremely long winter (it ended last week),
 I knit up a pint of wool strawberries.
Once you get past the first round, they're pretty simple to knit.
Free pattern here.



I've always thought that heart shaped items were somewhat contemporary,
but look what my sister sent me for my birthday......

...a sweet vintage heart shaped clock!!!
be still my <3

Spot's looking a bit forlorn these days and I know just how he feels.

We're both a little sad that cherries from Pottery Barn
 have replaced the chocolate that once filled my candy dishes.
woof woof

Pop bottles in patriotic colors hold miniature flags.

I may be tempting fate by screwing a hook into our
much-adored-by-the-3-and-under-crowd-sparkly-ceiling,
but it was necessary to hang my birdcage.  There are teensy weensy hairline cracks
near the edges of the textured ceiling and I hope I didn't start a
mini ceiling earthquake up there!

As for the empty cage,
there's a nasty merlin hawk in our neighborhood I'd like to stuff into the cage,
after he's been stuffed!  Bad, bad, bird.


I actually made 3 blinds for the room, but I didn't care for the look
on the double-hung window, so I made floor to ceiling panels instead.
 The blue & cream ikat fabric from Hobby Lobby drapes so beautifully
 that all I had to do was finish the raw edges and hang the panels from drapery rings.

Sew easy!
(Iron on hem tape would work just as well for those of you who don't sew.)

There are 2 finished panels, but I'm standing at the far end of my kitchen to get this shot!

There.  

As you can see, they're purely decorative since they won't close around the radiator,

but we've got plantation shutters for privacy and a roller shade to keep the sun out.

Remember, no central air at 911.

Do you recall the $2.99 thrift shop chairs from my last post?


I had absolutely positively no interest whatsoever  in keeping the chairs for myself
until I brought them into our dining room to photograph.


  I loved that I could place one at each end of the table and they didn't block the fireplace.

Perfection!

Well, they were already promised to our daughter, so I added them to my search and find list.

We took a road trip to Duluth on Lake Superior the very next day,
 and what do you think I discovered at the only antique shop we visited?
 Another pair of the exact same chairs!!  Same chippy paint, same size,
 not quite as cheap, but reasonable.  Coinkydink?  I think not!

Perhaps they were quadruplets separated at birth.


Selfie: purchasing a gift for somebody else and then
      purchasing the same gift for myself.

haPpy biRthday to me!

Thanks for bringing your little selfie over for a visit and have a....

Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday
Savvy Southern Style Wow us Wednesday
Ivy and Elephants What's it Wednesday