Thursday, February 24, 2011

SHARING AN ONLINE FABRIC SITE

Have you all been to this site?



I stumbled upon this site back before Christmas.  I had been online looking around for red stripe jute webbing for some C'mas projects because my local JoAnn's had been out of it forever.  I was pleasantly surprised at the price ~ cheaper per yard than JoAnn's ~ and they had blue!



Then I started browsing around the site, and besides being a great online source for fabric of all kind . . . 

quilting  
even stocking some great Amy Butler prints




home dec
designers like Laura Ashley and Waverly




fashion

craft ~ felt, trigger, broadcloth, canvas


They also sold some really cool things like . . .

stenciled burlap coffee bags

stenciled burlap potato sacks


authentic printed sisal coffee bags
varying sizes of burlap bags

variety of burlap by the yard

rolls of 2 inch burlap fabric strip

It's really worth a few minutes for you to check out what all they have to offer.  
They also have a blog with great ideas and tips on all sorts of things
like quilting, home dec, fashion, etc.




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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

JUST FUTZING 'ROUND THE HOUSE

That's what I've been doing . . . 


for the past five days ~ counting today.  I haven't set foot outside my house since last Thursday.  And I've been loving every minute of just futzing around.  


I've been playing with some new surface vignettes.  Setting out and displaying a lot of the things I just love to look at.  I really enjoy walking through the house and catching glimpses here and there of some my pretties.


I filled this metal basket with those bargain Tekla dish towels that Ikea sells that make great oversized everyday cloth napkins, along with some vintage sliver utensils.  The flatware was Hubby's grandmother's, and the bakelite handled steak knives were my parents.  A wedding gift from 55 years ago.  
It's the "centerpiece" of the kitchen table.


The top of the hutch got a new look too.  Gone are all the pinks and reds of Valentine's Day.  Now I have displayed a few more of my favorites.  
Vintage caning jars. I just love 'em.  Ball, Atlas . . . I don't care.  
If they're old, I'll grab 'em up!
And, I have to mention the gorgeous sign hand crafted by the very talented
Paula from Castle and Cottage Signs
is still the crown above the hutch.


In a couple chicken wire baskets I purchased in shop at the Chelsea Market in NYC, are more Ikea dish towels along with some Johnson Bros. Snowhite Regency ironstone plates.  A couple pitchers from my collection ~ a Hall strawberry topped creamer and Johnson Bros. Harvest Time pitcher.  See that green pitcher in back?  That pitcher graced our dinner table every evening when I was a kid.  It was my job to make iced tea for dinner in that pitcher every night.  Not sure what it is.  The only marking on the bottom is the number 30. I should do some investigative work on that piece.


A couple pieces from my salt-glaze pottery collection. 


My new, well new to me, favorite book right now.  


Oh, and do you have Serena's Christmas Book?  Again, not entirely new, but I purchased it right before C'mas and literally could not put it down.  
It's fabulous! 


Atop my fridge, I put yet more of the Ikea dish towels on a cake plate.  
Towels Under Glass
Guess you can tell I really love those towels :o)
I just love textiles in general.  



I've also been doing some cleaning and organizing of my dresser drawers and closet.  That's a YUK job.  

I've been sewing some pillows . . . finally.  I bought a bunch of fabric months and months ago for new family room pillows and it's just been sitting.  So I'm finally getting to that.

And I've been working on the Easter Egg Swap I joined over at Thimbleprims.  Been tinkering around with redoing my blog, too.  Wish I knew what I was doing there!  Hopefully I'll have some of these finished projects done soon.  But, with having to get back to work tomorrow and Thursday, they may have to wait a few more days.


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Sunday, February 20, 2011

A PB KNOCK OFF - BOOK BUNDLE


I know, these have been popping up all over blogland - nothing new.  I'm sure you've all seen 'em.  Pottery Barn is selling these for some ridiculous price.  


And as usual, I'm bringing up the rear in getting my version done.  


I used a couple old paperback books from my kid's library of books and an old paperback student dictionary.  Ripped off the covers and binding and soaked them in a tea/coffee bath to age them a bit and make the pages wrinkly.  They were air-drying way too slowly for me, so I popped them into the oven on the lowest setting for a while to dry out.


But, it's done!  And it is my version.  I just had to add a little sumin'-sumin' to it.  Bling it up a bit, if you will.


Something so terribly simple, but I like it!  I might be creating a few more.  On the PB site, they have a wooden vessel filled with them.  A look I may knock off as well.




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Saturday, February 19, 2011

CHILI-LIME SOUTHWEST WRAPS

Looking for a quick and easy and tasty meal idea?  
Well, I have just the recipe for you!

Chili-Lime Southwest Wraps

Image from Cooking with Paula Deen
This recipe is from the September/October 2010 issue of Cooking with Paula Deen.  I've made this recipe a few times, and everyone seems to love it.  Best of all, for me anyway, it's one of those recipes whose ingredients I always have on hand.  
And it's super versatile.
  

We've stuffed whole wheat wraps with the mixture. 

We've put the mixture atop tortilla chips and added some cheese and popped it into the oven and served as chicken nachos.

We've had it wrapped with lettuce leaves . . . well . . . mainly I've had it as lettuce wraps since I'm trying to watch what I put into my mouth these days ;o).  

Hubby likes to eat it straight up.



Start with 3 cups shredded cooked chicken


You'll also need 15.25 ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained.  A 10 ounce can of diced tomatoes and green chiles ~ like Ro-Tel or any other brand.


A 15.25 ounce can of whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained.  Or, I use frozen corn that I rinse under hot water in a strainer to defrost real fast.


To make the chili-lime mayo dressing, mix together 1/2 cup of mayo, 1 tablespoon of chili powder and 1 teaspoon of lime juice.  I just squeeze a whole half lime into the bowl without measuring.  




I love how mayo looks with the chili powder "speckles" all throughout. 
The recipe also calls for 1/2 cup cilantro.  I'm not a huge fan of cilantro, so I leave it out.  
  

Add mayo mixture to all the ingredients, and toss to coat well.


I hope you give this recipe a try.  
I think you'll really like it.





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Sunday, February 13, 2011

FROM THE HEART



Actually, a mini album that IS a heart.


I created this little album for Hubby . . . gosh . . . two, maybe three years ago for V'day.  I never finished it with photos, because photos of the two of us are extremely scarce.  








You see, we both HATE having our picture taken.  
Me especially.  
I either end up with my eyes closed, or making a goofy face.



A few nights ago, I was able to scrape up enough snaps of the two of us to fill this small album and finally complete it.  I will have to admit that most of the photos 
I really don't like. 


Gotta work with what I got!


I think Hubby kinda likes it.  Each one of the photos was from a special occasion.  It's fun to look at these pics and remember the good times we were having when they were snapped.






That will have to be a future post ~ how to feel comfortable in front of the camera.

Hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's Day, and can incorporate even just a bit of extra love in whatever you do!



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