It's Fall Ya'll!

It's Fall Y'all!

 

 

Autumn is my favorite time of the year.  Yes, I love Christmas but nothing beats the beauty of fall days.  Temperatures and humidity are lower.  There is a crispness in the air.  The brilliant reds, golds and oranges of the leaves is such a beautiful contrast to the clear blue sky.  Each year, I can hardly wait for the weekend after Labor Day, because that is when I begin to bring out the pumpkins!  First, I decorate indoors.  Then, around the first of October, it is off to the pumpkin patch ( or the grocery store) to purchase pumpkins for my outdoor décor.

I don't really decorate for Halloween but often we carve a simple jack 'o lantern. Here, my cat Sam is inspecting daughter Lauren's progress.  Notice he is already dressed in his costume!

 

 

 Who can resist the beauty of an arrangement of fall colors on the dining table?

My casual dining area, with woven wicker chargers and autumn napkins.  I have even found a way to incorporate my favorite polka dots with the vase!

 

Breakfast on the kitchen island is more stylish with the addition of a simple vase of flowers.

 

This beautiful display is in the narthex of Myers Park United Methodist Church. 

 

Elegant and simple.  This display is located in a local retirement community.  Wonderful way to incorporate silver into autumn décor.

 



This week, my daughter and son-in-law closed on their new house.  The last few days have been full of activity, with moving, delivery of new furnishings and appliances and installation of window coverings.  I helped out for two days and took along some pumpkins and pansies to adorn their new front porch.

 

 

Chris and Lauren took a short break from unpacking to let me snap this photo!

 

I also presented them with these cute velveteen pumpkins and chevron painted burlap runner for their dining room table.

 

Back at home, these pumpkins and gourds decorate the black wrought iron bench in  front of my house.

 

 

My favorite polka dots again.  Soon these pots will be filled with pansies.

 

This is a pumpkin purchased from Michael's.  I added multiple strips of ribbon for a festive indoor decoration.

 

Finally, the top of the entertainment center.  This is where my fall decorating begins each year.

 

Happy Fall!

Fabric Baskets

 

Fabric Baskets

 

 



It has been 2 months since my last post!  Life has been busy but now it is time to catch up.  Let's see if I can even remember how to do this!!

2013 is shaping up to be an exciting year for our family.  Four new babies in our extended family in 8 months! 

For each of the babies, I am creating a fabric basket, using colors and designs specific to each baby's nursery.  I used a fabric basket design from Sew4Home to get the basic dimensions.   If  you have not visited Sew4Home, you should.  There are patterns and ideas for everything.

 

Pictured above is the Easter basket that I made for my sweet grandbaby Caroline.  Instead of two short side handles that  you will see in the other baskets, I made one long handle, added ears, face, tail and her name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured above is the basket for my niece who lives in Florida.  It is the most like the original pattern from Sew4Home.  This baby's nursery has an animal theme, with pinks.  It was fun to fill the basket with items for the baby, including some burp cloths that I made.  Wrap in clear cellophane and tie with a fun bow made from fabric scraps for a great presentation!

 

 

 Next was the basket for my nephew and his wife, whose little girl was born  on her Great Uncle David's birthday!  Their nursery has an owl theme, with brown, orange, lime green and turquoise.

 

I designed the owl using their colors and some "happy" fabrics. It is machine appliqued to the chevron basket fabric. 

 

 A print of tiny owls lines the basket.

 

 

Wrapped and ready to go!

 

These baskets are also great for birthdays.  For hostess gifts, make a smaller version and fill with some cute cocktail napkins, some delicious cheese, seasonal coffee flavors or specialty vinegars and olive oil.

 

Keep a few of these baskets on hand and you will always have something for those unexpected occasions when you need a little gift.

A great way to use up small amounts of fabric as well.

 

I hope you will enjoy making these as much as I do.

 

 

 

 

 

It's A Wrap!

 

 

It's all about presentation.  You can make any gift look fun and festive.  Here is one of my favorite looks for wrapping a cheesecake.  The one in these photos happens to be a Christmas gift but the ribbon is easily coordinated to highlight any season or flavor cheesecake.

 



 Each Christmas, I bake 4 or 5 Amoretto Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes for gifts.  I place each cake on a holiday plate or platter, which is also part of the gift.  Then the fun begins!
The platter with cheesecake is positioned in a large cellophane gift bag.  To keep the bag from settling onto the top of the cheesecake, I place two or three "birthday" candles in the center of the cake.  You can barely see them in the photo above - they are white.

An assortment of ribbons to be used for the bow.

The base of the bow will be 6 or 8 loops of a selected ribbon.

On top of the base loops, add 6"-8" lengths of a variety of coordinating ribbons.  The top ribbon will be the "ho ho ho."

Stacked ribbons, ready to be tied together.

Finished bow.

 Yummy look and taste!  Who wouldn't want to receive a gift like this?

Rooms to Runways

Summer break was supposed to be a time to catch up with my posts but that didn't happen!  On May 2, Debbie and I , along with our students, staged Rooms to Runways, a fashion show featuring redesigned and upcycled chairs and apparel items inspired by the chair designs.  It was a lot of work but, in the end, well worth the effort.



I was the commentator for the event so do not have many photos from the evening.  Included here are just a few highlights.

The Cowgirl Chair in progress

Student Shelby creating her Cowgirl Chair inspired dress from rescued jeans.
There was an underskirt of white tulle.

Spirit Chairs in progress.

 

 

The completed Hippie Chair



 

We printed programs on cardstock and used donated paint sticks from Lowe's to make fans.  Originally the event was to have been held outdoors, in the school courtyard.  Questionable weather forced us indoors but the fans still came in handy.

 

 Sydney in her Travel Chair inspired romper and Justice in her Spirit Chair inspired dress.  The bodice of the dress is a restyled T shirt.

 

 

 Wish you could see the back of Julissa's black dress!  And isn't the chevron dress cute on Lauren?

 

 

My father-in-law died in 2010 at the age of 93.  As we have cleaned out his house, lots of things have been discovered.  Some people would dismiss most of the stuff as trash, but there have been treasures as well.  I snagged two old suitcases, one of which was in very bad shape.  Take a look at it now:

 My son calls this a Caroline chair!  Grandbaby Caroline is just the right height to enjoy sitting here for story time. The teddy bear and vest were my son's when he was a little one. The  legs of the chair still need to be stained and some reinforcing must be accomplished to make the back stay at the desired angle.  Repurposing a loved one's belongings is a great way to remember them.  Most of the chairs were sold at silent auction but this one is staying with me.

 

Alas, it is now August 14.  I will report to school tomorrow to get my room set up before the first official teacher workday on August 19.  The summer break has passed so quickly!

 

 

Easter Preparations

Easter Preparations

 

Life has been pretty busy recently but I have found time to decorate a little and to make a few things for sweet Caroline.



This wreath welcomes familly and guests.  The yellow chick was a felt Easter Basket that I found at Michael's.  Debbie wove the ribbon into the pink mesh, to calm it down a bit and also suggested using the green paper Easter "grass."

 

 

These funny bunnies are on the dining room table.

 

Sorry this photo is fuzzy.  This is the tree that we made for daughter Lauren's wedding to Chris.   We hung family wedding pictures on it at the entrance to the reception.  Since then, it has "lived" in my dining room and is decorated for holidays. 

 

These bunnies are at the base of the tree. 

 

The bunnies were entirely handmade.  The embroidery is beautiful and quite detailed.

 



 

My grandmother Cassels pressed glass bowl.  At Easter, she always served potato salad in it.  Now I use it for decorative purposes only.

 

 

And , of course, I have been making a few things for sweet Caroline!

 

 

The first smocking project I have undertaken in about 20 years!  My friend Andy gave me a quick refresher tutorial last week.  Hopefully this will be a dress by Easter morning. 

 

 

Here is a little outfit I made, using Simplicity 4243 as a guide.  I added the flower by making a rick rack stem, machine appliqued leaves and a yoyo flower with stacked buttons for the center.

 

 

Detail of the flower.  Won't rotate for some reason.

 

 

Every little girl needs an Easter basket!  For my own children, I made fabric baskets for their first Easter.  My inspiration for this fabric basket came from www.sew4home.com .  Then I saw the bunny ears on a 2009 entry of disdressed.blogspot.com.  My bunny face is machine stitched with a zigzag stitch.  "Caroline" is machine embroidered on the back side, just above the mohair tail.  I let the  floral lining form a decorative edge around the basket, instead of using rickrack.

 

 

This coming Sunday, 4 generations of our family will gather at my home for Easter dinner.  It will be a special day, with ages ranging from 88 years - my  mother, to granddaughter Caroline, who will be 78 days old on Easter!   

 

Happy Easter!

 

Renny