New item and another Pineapple

Well this week flew by and I don’t really know what I accomplished.

Seems I was busy the entire time but not much to show for it that was on the fun side that is.

My aunt is back in the hospital so we went to Janesville to see her a couple times and I also finished up some orders and today the one customer sent me a picture of it on her table. And she really loved it too – I was so nervous sewing a design without a pattern but it turned out quite cute.
She wanted a barn, cow and some sunflowers and this is what I came up with.

Barn close-up
 

And here it is on her table. I think it looks larger on my chair for some reason. But I love the cute little Milk bottle crate with votive candles in them that she set on it – that’s why I did the design on the bottom and left her room to angle her milk crate.

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Last week when we came back from our cousins reunion we stopped at the Crafter’s Mall at the Wisconsin Dells and I found this stuffed Pineapple – it doesn’t look very big but it’s a whopping 15 inches tall including leaves and I see I need to fix the leaves. 
It was handmade by The Spinning Wheel.

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Here’s the group from our reunion last week…unfortunately 3 of the cousin couples couldn’t make it so our group was small….but a good time was had with lots of chatting and wonderful food.
Phyllis and Ken hosted it and we had Pulled Pork, Potato Salad, Baked Beans, Broccoli/Cauliflower Salad and lots of extras plus wonderful desserts.

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I’m just killing some time here before we head on into Milwaukee to pick up our friend who is flying in from St. Kitts via Raleigh, NC – that was his first stop today before heading up here on another flight….and they didn’t get his luggage on his flight!
Soooo the airline is going to Fed-X it up to our house.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it reaches here Saturday sometime before he has to get ready to leave for the class reunion – if not he’s going to have to wear something of Doug’s.
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Only10 more days and we head out for Lancaster, Pa and I get to meet Lori from http://loritheblackcrow.blogspot.com/
  
I’m driving to Lori’s place on Wednesday the 11th to her town of Littlestown, PA and she has the day completely planned for us from shopping to eating and hopefully getting a tour of her wonderful farmhouse.
My husband decided to stay back in Lancaster and golf with his cousin so it’s just me Lori!!!!

Here are a couple photos of her house in the snow….I’ve seen photos of the inside but I can’t wait to see it for real.


And if you want to see more of Lori’s house go to her Picturetrail:  http://www.picturetrail.com/theblackcrow

I think this is enough for today – I’ll check in on my blog friends now.
Karen

Gone Thriftin'

The boys and I hit some garage sales this morning. We had the best time! I passed up some treasures but did manage to bring home a few like...toys, a coffee maker (ours broke), books, a purse, twin sheets, a mirror, a new carpet spot cleaner machine, clothes and more for dirt cheap!

I also got a few pretties for our home. :)

I'm sorry but I cannot get enough of cute baskets! Especially cheap ones! 50 cents! Woo!

This basket was $1! The fabric was 10 cents each!

The bottles I actually got yesterday at a garage sale for $1 each. A little more than I would of normally spent but I liked the combo of these 3. :) I think they will go in our master bathroom when that is made over soon. I love their color.

As for now I'm just enjoying this display in my dining room. :)

Probably the deal of the garage sales was this big Ironstone pitcher for $1!

It has a big crack in it but it's still pretty.

Look at the wonderful detail. Don't you love thrift finds?! I enjoy this so much more than going to a store or mall and paying outrageous prices! Plus it's the thrill of the find when you find that special treasure among all the junk. :)

Do you have a local salvage yard in your area?! If you do, you should check it out! We have EcoStores Nebraska right in Lincoln. This place is filled with every part of a house you can think of to be resold. Instead of going to a landfill these things can be prettied up and put in your own home.

I scored some excellent old molding (needs cleaning) with chippy white paint for 30 cents and old coat hangers for 10 cents each there! This will be a wonderful towel hanger our master bathroom! Not bad for 60 cents!

I also bought some knobs and drawer pulls to add to the vanity and cabinet in there as well. There we 25 and 50 cents each. They'll just need spray paint. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't go there for stuff for our recent bathroom remodel. I go there when I have no kids with me. Not a fun place to have little ones with you. LOL And yesterday afternoon I was kidless (Thank you Aunt Lisa!). If you live in the Lincoln area, EcoStores Nebraska is having a wonderful sale in August, so check it out! I have a few things I would like...so don't buy the stuff I want. LOL

Well today is time again to share you yummy summertime recipes over at And Baby Makes Five! Colleen is my bud and I know she would love for you to join in on the sweet fun!

I'm sharing another zucchini favorite!! I made this last week and yes I admit I ate most of it! LOL I hope you enjoy this easy, yummy recipe!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups white sugar

2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.

Bake 50 minutes (1 hour, 20 minutes for big loaf) in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

This recipe made 2 big loaves! And yes, I almost ate 2 loaves of bread! LOL A warm slice with butter is heavenly...oh, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Have a super weekend. I hope to back soon with some completed projects to share!

FAKE OUT

Slowly over the years, Mr. Sweet Pea and I have put our stamp on this 70's ranch~style place we call home. With him being in the carpentry biz sometimes we have lucked out and gotten materials for very little and a few times for nothing.

The room that I now use as my studio got some fabulous wide crown molding from a job that had leftover's. With the crown molding at 6 inches we couldn't very well install wimpy baseboards. So I came up with a way to fake the look of fabulous wide baseboards using regular 3 and 1/2" base with shoe mold on the bottom and a quarter round trim placed 4 and 1/2" above. Then I painted the molding and the wall in between white and voila, big fat baseboards!

Roulotte Playhouse

Here's a playhouse styled as a roulotte -- how incredible this would be if you were a kid.


More pictures at Miko Design via OhDeeDoh.

Jersey Girl

I just get downright giddy whenever I think about one of my pillows propped on a chair in Europe.  Tracey won my pillow giveaway a while back and sent pictures of their new-to-them cottage in Jersey.  And no, it’s not that Jersey. 

This Jersey is one of six small British islands off the coast of France.  Tracey traveled to Jersey with her family when she was young and now is back to live for good. 

Their sweet cottage is over 100 years old and according to Tracey, “very quirky”. 

To me, it just looks absolutely adorable. 

And extremely quaint.

With all the charm of Europe that Americans try so hard to replicate. (and rarely are able to pull off)



Thanks for the little house tour Tracey.  May you have many happy years building wonderful memories here!

My family is headed to the mountains for a summer holiday, and so this little blog is taking a vacation too.  We’ll both see you when we get back.  :) 

Stay calm, make tea!

Here are some of the photos that Tracy Ranger took during her visit to Halfpenny Home last week. We last managed to meet up at the Saint's Market in Ipswich and because Tracy works so hard looking after the Gedgrave Flock, her flock of Wensleydale's with her husband Peter it makes it tricky to find time for a good chat about fleece, wool and natural dyes. I managed to lure her over with the promise of buttons...
I love this cascade of yarns! Maria of mimibellatree also popped in with Emily and Isabella to show off her finished fabruckets.
We were in the middle of a power cut when they turned up but we all stayed calm and made a cup of tea on the camping stove we use for dyeing and settled down with some vanilla cupcakes from Scoffin'. Maria took a couple of the wooden hares away with her, they're new and you can find them alongside the wooden hearts which are ready for you to paint and embellish. You can see in this photo a couple of the hearts that Jacqui has decorated with some Farrow and Ball paint and vintage notions.
Don't forget our blog giveaway! Post a comment before Saturday night to be entered into the draw, Nic x

brocade home look alike

Does anyone else like brocade home as much as I do? I have loved this table for a while now. I needed a little end table for the side of my couch. I knew I wanted round and white, but then when I saw this table, I thought the base gave the table so much character. It's elegant and flirty. I just love it. I've looked at the website here and there to see if it would go on sale. It's $250 plus surcharge fee plus shipping, so well into the 300's. Our family went out to dinner the other night and I had something that I needed to return to Homegoods. We all ran in together and there was my table. $80 dollars. Thank you very much. It's not exactly the same but pretty darn close. Anyway, if you like it, all of the homegoods carry alot of the same stuff.

1:00-3:00

A frequently asked question is… where do I find the time?

For blogging.

For sewing.

For organizing.

For designing.

For sleeping…sometimes.

It’s called “Rest Time”.  It occurs from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in our house, Monday through Friday.  While the littlest naps, the big kids take on some school reading. 

It’s amazing all that can be accomplished in a two hour period once you set your mind to it.  It’s really as simple as that! 

Dreaming of a Getaway

I'm still working on my desk and bed project...in the meantime I've been dreaming of a bedroom "getaway" for our master bedroom. Here are some pics I have been drooling over. Enjoy!

Source: Country Living

Have a Great Wednesday!