Christmas around the house

Meet St. Nicholas, I made him 14 years ago. He is very special to me.

Only a short week away. All the hustle and bustle , the malls are all busy .
My presents are wrapped and under the tree. Christmas around our house.
Here are some of my favourite things......Our Christmas present early to each other.
Enjoy your time together with family and friends.
MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!

welcome to our new home

Welcome to our new home. I hope you enjoy your visit. Stay as long as you want. Our door is always open.

Here is a before picture of the entrance in green.

After the painter finished



Now decorated for christmas.

Our family room before and after.




Here is a view of our screened in porch. Can't wait till summer to decorate it.
Our pantry decorated for christmas.
The kitchen is all painted, but we still have to purchase our island and our new harvest table and chairs. The basket on the left is a authentic potatoe basket. I have turned the opening so that fergus won't steal the potatoes.

Our bedroom before we painted. and here is the after.



We had our set made a few years back and I love my dressing table.


Here is our guest room before and after. Its already for our christmas guests to arrive. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

until next time.....

Before and After

Well the boxes have finally been opened.

We had a painter come in before the furniture and paint the upstairs all one colour Benjamin Moore (Muslin)




We have hardwood floors all on the main level. An up close picture of our beautiful unit. If you look closely you will see a mercury acorn in the bottom right door.
We haven't hung any pictures on the walls. That will be done in the new year. We had custom blinds made for all the rooms. My dh is going to make valances to go over them. It took forever to download these pics so I will post more tomorrow. Until then........

gone but not for long

Wow!! where has the time gone.. 17 yrs of collecting down to two weeks of moving......

We are still opening boxes and finding a new home for all of our collections.

My sewing room is a dissaster.

We were to move in a room a day, but the painter took longer than anticipated. So our sons came and moved us last saturday. Our basement was high to the ceiling in boxes.
We have our main floor now organized.
Now where is that box??????? Oh my, we will never move again.. This is it. Famous last words.
I have taken before pictures and soon I will take the after...... be patient.

until next time.....

keys to house

Friday the 13th, is when we got the keys to our new home.

Saturday started at 10 am with the steam cleaners coming and cleaning all the berber carpet in the finished basement. \
He continued on to our home and cleaned our couches and chairs and ottoman.
Then we were off to our grandsons 1st Birthday at our daughters home.
Alex was overwelmed with all the 33 guests and sat in awe while we were all in sinc singing happy birthday. Oh what a lucky little fellow to receive so many lovely gifts.

Then sunday came quite early as our son, son/inlaw and our good friend helped dear dh load up the 24ft trailer and two trucks. Off to our new home.
My daughter and our friend helped me in the kitchen cleaning , frig/stove/microwave,dishwasher cupboards....you know the usual...

After a rather busy day, we called it quits. We have 2 wks to move so lets not get ahead of ourselves. We sat around sharing our aches and pains. Oh do we feel old.... That night I took a foot cramp, oh did that ever hurt. DH complained on a sore back, our son who is 40 said he felt like 80, and our son in law and friend also felt the same...

Today is a new day. Off to the new home to complete the cleaning before the painter arrives...
Did I mention we met our new neighbours, they happen to be 90 years young... And they were out raking leaves from their ditch. And we complain about our aches and pains, tish,tish...

We plan on moving one room at a time....until we speak to the painter and he tells us that he will be there until friday... Well that puts a twist on things. ...... You can plan all you want but nothing ever goes to plan.
So at least I washed down all the bedroom windows and cleaned the other rooms so now we just sit back and wait. Dh worked on his garage, set up shop, moved one of the old (1949) ford p/u's.
Tomorrow the computer room gets set up, as part of our plan....
and maybe just maybe we can move over my sewing room.
I have taken before pics and I will post them as soon as the after pics are done.
until then...........

time moves on..

Wow can't believe its already November.
By this time I'm already pulling out my Christmas decorations. Suprising myself with new finds, forgetting that I purchased them.
Out looking for my treasures to load up my urn on my front porch. But not this year.Here is a pic of our home one christmas. I'm knee deep in boxes.
My mind does not shut down. We don't have a front porch on our new home. I know I'm going to miss it.
I have booked the steam cleaners to clean our new home as well as the painter. We have decided to paint one colour through out . Benjamin Moore (muslin) and cloud white as the trim. One good thing is that we have 2 weeks to move. So we will move one or two rooms at a time.
I have being looking for my new table and chairs for the kitchen. I'm looking for a pine or oak harvest table(country) and pine and off white chairs or black windsor chairs.
I have found plenty on Kijiji. Still plenty of time.
I have decided to put wood shutters in every room, rather than curtains. So off to the blinds store and see how many $$$ I will have to spend. My dh says that I'm in my glory when I can shop. Who isn't??
Until next time......

Gone!! but not for long

Well I have been buried in boxes. Packing and packing. We have been here for 17 yrs and sure have accumulated alot. We are hoarders. Does that sound familiar.

Should we keep it?? Or toss it?? Or sell it?? Do the kids want it?? I'm not sure if I will decorate country still or a little bit of country and shabby chic.

I want to buy new for our kitchen, but we have had this beautiful oak antique table and pressed back chairs forever.
I would love to buy an antique havest table and windsor black chairs. I know what I want but finding them, might be challenge.

We are off today with a painter for some quotes, and then off to some furniture stores to look at outfitting our living room. Leather?? cloth??
We now have Kroehler furniture that is in excellent condition, but I have had this for 23 yrs. You know, the kind of furniture that you only use on special occasions. Out tables are all cherry as wel as the china/bookcase/bar unit.

The kids want me to keep it. They say it is us.

Change I guess... is hard. Keep it all I say, it can go in the family room. But DH says white..... It will be dirty in no time. Oh Well!!

Lets still buy new......

Until next time.........

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!! OUR HOUSE IS SOLD

What a better way to give thanks. Our house sold today, and now we can firm up our new home.
HORRAY11111
Time to get out the boxes.

Home Girl: more fall sale...

Home Girl: more fall sale...

FAMILY TREE HELP!!!!!

I am searching back as far as 1910 to Croydon, England. This is where my Dad was born.
His birthdate is July 31, 1910. His mother was Minnie Louise Evans. My dad was born out of wedlock. My eldest sister remembers little except that we come from the Stuarts.
If anyone can help me find out info, please e-mail me. I will keep this confidential. As you see my eldest sister now has demenchia and will soon loose her memory.
Our grandmother came to Canada with her new husband sometime in the 1920's.
I'm not sure if his birth registry would be and Evans or a Stuart.

Horray!!! We have a winner.....

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Lise , of (LISE'S) you are the lucky winner of the thimbleberry scraps
and the paper piece kit of a snowman. I will contact you on your E-mail.

A big thank you to all of you who commented and those of you who continue to follow my blog.

Have a great weekend!! until next time......

Giveaway....

The deadline is tonight at midnight.

I will be picking a winner and posting it on Friday. A Big Thank you to all that entered.

Good Luck!!!!

giveaway con't

Here is what I made with my paper pieced snowman. A pillow ..

GIVEAWAY!!!!

How does a tote full of thimbleberrie fabric scraps entice you. Most of the scraps are just under a fat quarter. As well I have a kit for putting together a paper pieced snowman.

Now the rules are simple.
If you are a follower you receive three entries.
If you post it on your blog you receive an extra entry.

Those of you who are not receive one entry.
So lets have some fun.

Deadline is Sept. 30th

Good Luck!!

We are away antiquing all day, so enjoy your long weekend.
until next time...............

100th post

Wow !! Where has the time gone?
My cast came off last Mon, but on went a splint for another 3 wks.
At least it can come off to shower.
I have been so busy these last few weeks, travelling, some gardening, and yet my quilting has sat . Its to hard to sew with one hand.
We are still house hunting. Somewhere out there is our dream home.

I will be having a giveaway to celebrate my 100th post. So stay tuned..........

lazy days of summer....come take a stroll.......

Well I can't do much more then laze around so I took some picturs of my gardens.
Enjoy your stroll through my gardens.

I just love the lavender, I lost 6 plants to last winter. The Annabel Hydrangeas are just so gorgeous. Don't you think? See Max and Fergus got in the picture.
The purple coneflowers, false dragonheads, black eyed susies, hostas, painted daisys, day lilies, veronica, phlox, campanulas, coriopsis, roses, musk mallows,just to name a few. I hoped you enjoyed your stoll.
till next time......

OUCH!!!!!!!!!

Well I should have been watching where I was going but............... I fell going up the stairs. I didn't spill the coffee , but managed to fracture my hand. Are we all guilty of waiting to see if we feel better before going to get it checked out. I thought that I had only bruised my hand so I waited four days before going to emerg at the hospital. After waiting for a few hours they xrayed my hand and said that I have a boxers injury. What did you say happened????? So on went the cast. That was last Thurs. My pinky finger still hurt come today so I went to a larger hosp. and a surgeon looked at me. On went a new cast. They laughed at the old one. Can you blame them!!
So no sewing, quilting, rug hooking, NO CLEANING HA HA, NO COOKING. Well that may be going too far.
We are still looking for our dream home.So this summer has just flown by. We had some nasty weather the last couple of days. Very hot and humid and heavy rains. We ran to the basement last night because the winds came up so strong that we were'nt taking any chances. We have been through a tornado in 98. Won't forget that year. I never thought that I lived in Kansas. so, till next time..............

time just flies........

There's a bluebird on my window sil, there's a rainbow in the sky, there's happiness everywhere when you go walking by.......... I know that this is a country & western song... its an oldie....
I took this picture outside of my bedroom window this morning before the rains came.
As you can see out my kitchen window it sure was raining hard.
So whats a girl to do on a rainy day ??? Hook of course. Here is a country rug I have been working on for some time. I hook for awhile, step back and look then I pull out and start again.
This might get finished by the end of 2009.
until next time.....

Where's summer....

BRRRRR!! I don't know where you are but here north of Toronto it's cold. I think it may have gotten to 60 degrees today. I had on my jeans and a hoodie , socks and shoes all day. By this time we should be in shorts and sandals saying wow its hot. So I spent my time in my studio sewing up BOM #7. If you look closely you will see that my flag reads the 1st. As in Canada Day!!
A proud Canadian. Hope tomorrow is a little warmer.
until next time......

A GIVEAWAY!!!

Hey who doesn't like giveaways. Go to http://www.marketmomsonline.blogspot.com/ and enter to win by leaving a comment. A cookbook.
The Groove Mama Goes Gourmet! by Nadine Hughes. Who Has too many cookbooks. Not I.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY...........

Rainy day tuesdays, wasn't that a song? I'm tired of all this rain. We need the sun.
We need the heat. Summer is just about over. Come August the nights start getting cooler.
In between the showers or downpours I took these pics of my flowers. I love the musk mellow plant. Its a pale lavender.
When were down in PEI a few years back these plants grew wildly in the ditches. When we got home I went to the nursery and had to have some. They come up every year and you never know where they will appear. I don't weed my garden because we have so many perennials that come up year after year. This year though, we do need to thin things out a little. My roses are blooming,the peonies are just about finished, the lavender are still very light in colour, not yet ready to harvest. The painted daisys are so vibrant. My day lillies are flowering. Do you see the little visitor. A dragon fly. If you look closer you will see that it is attached to my obelisk. Its a fake......
Here is my little pond with goldfish and water plants. My little oasis. I love the sound of running water. Its sooo soothing.


Since it was a rainy day we set out to visit my daughter in law to wish her a Happy Birthday. Her birthday is on the 9th and I will be away. My grandaughter who is two was playing in her sandbox which was on legs and my grandson who is only 12 and 5'8" tall was kicking around a soccer ball. The pool was to cool to go in. My other grandaughter was away at art camp. Sorry I missed seeing her. So we took advantage of going to the city and went to Michaels. Yes Michaels the overpriced store for some charms. When we got home I set staight to my studio and made this Scissor Fob. I only had one lobster claw clasp so back to the store another day. While I was at the checkout counter the sales person gave me a 50% off coupon for next week. Now what do I need at 50% off. NO MORE SHOPPING ......

I had also been busy making a PIF and finished this little tabletopper. It's 25" x 25".
Until next time.....