Felt Ruffled Pillow

I finished the ruffled pillow (14" x 18") that I was making for Christmas. I put a zipper in the back so it can be cleaned easily. The "ruffles" are made out of 3 inch circles sewn close together in rows. I am pleased with the way it turned out. Now I need to get to work and make more Christmas presents!

BLUE CHRISTMAS!

My plumber says to NEVER use those blue toilet bowl tablets again!!!! I'm thinking a new Water Pressure Valve was NOT what I wanted for Christmas after my upstairs toilet leaked through the downstairs kitchen ceiling. Our city water dept. has recently repaired the street in front of our subdivision causing our water pressure to go sky high. Toilets sound like they could flush the whole house down the drain, faucets are spraying and my water bill has doubled. I keep reminding myself that the bathtub full of wet towels can be washed, the kitchen ceiling sheet rock can be repaired and the kitchen floor can be cleaned. SMILE AND CARRY ON......................

PRESENTING.............PRESENTING...............Our Remodeled Guest Bathroom!

This was one of those projects you start because of one small little problem. In our case, we previously had water damage in the ceiling of the guest bath shower. My son made the statement, "I can fix that!". And, so he did! He replaced the ceiling sheetrock and it looked great! We needed to repaint the ceiling and I thought, we might as well repaint the whole bathroom.............

Pull out the masking tape......................

And so here is the finished product below..........After we painted, I thought why stop there? I've always wanted a tile floor in here. My son said, "I can do that!"

Bryan chisels out the old white builder's tile in the shower area and removes the toilet.

He then rips up the old 14 year old (5 year warranty) carpet in the powder room.

The concrete backing board goes in next.

Then the mortar and laying the first tiles.

Luckily, he has a friend with a wet saw that allowed us to borrow it for a while. Bryan was doing this remodel in the evenings after work and on the weekends. Here you can see where he cut the tile to fit exactly under the door jambs. There are things you don't think about when you say, "Hey, I bet we can lay bathroom tile. It can't be that hard."

Adding the grout..........

More grout, and more grout...........my husband was a little freaked out when he saw this step!

Father - son bonding and cleaning the grout from the surface of the tile.

Now that the tile looks so wonderful, it sure would be nice to have one of those curved shower curtain rods like they have in hotels. It really adds a lot more room in the shower! Sweet!

And my favorite, although I won't tell my hardworking son or husband, is the toilet paper holder that isn't falling off the wall!

Finished bathroom with new paint, fixtures, shower curtain rod, tile floor and trim. The toilet doesn't leak anymore and the ceiling is repaired and the paper holder is securely installed!

Thanks to my wonderful son and husband for all of their hard work. It turned out beautifully and they did such a good job. Now, you are all invited to come and visit.............

Ummm, there is a stain on the kitchen ceiling that needs repairing and while you're there, would you mind measuring the countertops????

RUFFLES

What are these, you say? Little crepes? Little pancakes? No, they are 3" round pieces of cream felt..............

And what are these? Little fortune cookies? No, these are the 3" circles of felt, folded in half and then pinched in half again and held together with little stitches.

This is the result of sewing 75 pinched white circles in four rows. What is it you ask? This is the top of a pillow I am making for my niece for Christmas. I will post a photo of the finished pillow soon........Isn't this a cool pillow top? I can't wait to finish it. I plan to put a zipper in the back so the pillow can be cleaned. The finished size should be about 14" x 18". I think I hear my sofa saying "Make me one!"

DO YOU EVER FEEL OUT OF SORTS

Do you ever feel out of sorts or that you wore the wrong thing to a party? Do you think you're overdressed or underdressed? Maybe you just want to blend in with the crowd. Do you ever feel that you just stick out like a sore thumb??

Sorry, Mr. Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket fan...........I just had to post this photo of this LOYAL Tech fan at the Georgia vs Georgia Tech game Saturday night. He sat ALL night in the GEORGIA section wearing his BUZZ hat. He was never rude or yelled or called the GEORGIA fans names like "inbred" or made fun of us because we aren't invited to a big name BCS bowl. No, he just sat there, with his BUZZ helmet and watched his beloved YELLOW JACKETS. Hats off to you, Mr. Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket fan. Or maybe I should say, Buzz Helmets off...........you're a Good Sport and good luck in Tampa!!! Go DAWGS!

CHRISTMAS WREATH

Our local library has a yearly festival of wreaths. My wreath for this year is made out of a straw wreath, yarn, vintage Christmas ornaments, handmade felt flowers, sprayed silver leaves and a few vintage reindeer I found at an antique shop.

Happy Thanksgiving

My tabletop in the kitchen..........pumpkins on sale at Big Lots + silver spray paint + shiny Christmas beads = an inexpensive Thanksgiving tabletop. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

RELAX AND CARRY ON

I hope you have a Happy and Relaxing Thanksgiving!

One of the photos I took a few weeks ago at the beach......

GETTING READY FOR THANKSGIVING

Get the Pilgrim salt & pepper shakers out...............Check

Clean the chandelier...................Check

Wash the china.........................Check

Bring out the old family recipes.....................Check

This is my grandmother's yeast roll recipe. Yum. A family tradition.

And this recipe was mixed in with my grandmother's recipes when they were handed down to me after she died. My husband loves Egg Custard Pie so I think I'll try Rose Budd's recipe. I wonder who Rose Budd was? I'd love to think that some of my recipes would be handed down and made by my grandchildren at their own Thanksgiving celebrations. I love her last sentence "Do try this pie and be assured you could make no better! Rose Budd" I'll give it my best shot,

Rose Budd................

IT'S STARTING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE............

Christmas in November! The decorations are out on the shelves, tempting reds, golds, silver, turquoise and pink. Glitter, mercury glass, beaded branches, shiny ornaments, and of course nutcrackers.

I saw this gorgeous hot pink vase at Home Goods.

Mercury glass candlesticks at Home Goods. I may have to go back and get some of these.

I've always loved nutcrackers. These were all lined up and ready to guard your mantle. I saw these at JoAnn's. These were about 36"-40" tall.

I love these little guys. They were about 15" tall and had deep purple uniforms.

I love the shelves crammed full of shiny decorations!

Isn't this purple glittered deer adorable?

And I found this turquoise mercury glass vase at a local antique mall. I think this one is calling me!

Love the silver bells. Cute on the front door?

Looks like this season's colors are blue, blue, blue and silver!