Practice makes perfect.....

A piece I stitched years ago is the centrepiece of my display at my quilt wall in the living room. See the verse on the sampler?

Een geborduurde merklap is het middenpunt van mijn nieuwe hoekje in de woonkamer bij mijn quiltwand. Kijk goed naar de text.....

This was a quilt was the sample from a workshop I gave and it is still a favorite of mine. 

Oorspronkelijk gemaakt voor een workshop toen ik les gaf deze quilt blijft een lievelings quilt van mij. 

Practice makes perfect...oh so true!

Oefening baart kunst...helemaal waar!

Heidi

An unexpected blogger's break.....

I had an unexpected blogger's break. It was not my intention to take so long to post but many things have happened and I ended up neglecting this blog for two months. I wonder if anyone is out there anymore bothering to even read my posts? *sigh*

First, we had to prepare the house by moving everything from the ground floor as our wooden floors had to be replaced. I will be posting about it all very soon after I get some photos taken. That all seemed to finally fall into place after a drawn out legal battle fought for the mistakes a man made who laid our floors when we moved here 3 years ago. We had to get everything prepared in a short time as the matter was able to come to a close. Lots of photos and the story to follow soon.

At the beginning of November, I took two of my quilt friends for a long weekend away at Cranberry Cottage. These two ladies are both 85 years old and full of life. They are so fun and caring. We had planned this trip back in the spring but waited for autumn to go as it is all three of our favorite season. It was fun to be able to share Jos and my special little hideaway with them. The photos of this post are some of my autumn decorations there.

The toadstools were in the drive and back garden that weekend. Don't you just love the Orange Peel fungus? The first time we had it was last autumn and I thought it was candle wax. It is unreal to see.....

I also had to deal with a major crisis in my quilt group leaving many of us feeling rather hurt by two members. We have had a meeting to discuss where and if we should go from here. We are preparing to move on into a new year for the group with confidence that there will be a closer bond after dealing with some problems. It has really taken a good deal of time to get things back on track.

I am back and will be posting more regularly now. I also have to start taking time to catch up with many of my blogging friends. How are you doing?

Heidi

*Sigh* ... Autumn is here

Autumn is my favorite season. I think the earth sighs as the season begins. It is a time of such beauty and I try to reflect some of that in my decorations. My new quilt wall is donning a quilt I made back in July 2001 which I called "The Colors of an Ohio Fall".

The fabric pumpkins are also handmade. In fact, I made a second set for Cranberry Cottage as I cannot think of autumn with without "Plumpkins".

My quilt ladder is dressed with the quilts of the season. I added some vines and acorns.

Heidi

Evolutions.....

Things happen in life that lead you in a different course. We have to have our wooden floor removed and replaced soon. I decided that we needed to get out bookshelves out of the living room beforehand as that is a great deal of work. I love having books in a living room but have always dreamed of having a library. We are getting close to being done with creating the separate library but now also have a long wall where the shelves used to be that needed decorating. So time to move things around again...

My antique English sidetable is now on a portion of this wall. Right away, Jos said we could now use this as a quilt wall. Guess he missed that from our old house.

Here is my summer decorations for the sidetable...

My Bull's Eye quilt which I made back in 2004

Sweet primitive Windsor doll's chair with my teddy holding a stitched pillow which was a gift from a friend

Cutting board decorated with a summer vingette

Amazing to think it is time to change it to autumn in the next couple of weeks.....

Heidi

Pumpkins.....

The nice thing about my new quilt wall is that I have yet another space to bring in seasonal decorations. Back in August, I showed you this space (click to see the old lamp) with a lamp that was too large. I changed it to this candlestick lamp. What do you think?

The quilt is one of my doll quilts I made back in 2010 which I call Pumpkin Fields. It is so cheerful to see all the autumn shades in the evening when the lamp is on. Again I used another tiny quilt and a stitched pillow on the butler tray.

Our coffee corner in the garden has received an autumn touch with a Turkish turban gourd in my vase planter. Did you know that if you rub pumpkins and gourds with some salad (I used olive oil as that is all I have) oil that it will help it to stay fresh longer locking out moisture?

I am linking to French Country Cottage's Feathered Friday Nest.

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

- Henry David Thoreau

Happy weekend!

Heidi

No mantle place?

We have a free standing wood stove in our living room which means I have not got a pretty mantle to be able to decorate. Instead, I used a side table to get this kind of look.

Pumpkins and berries in a vase always work so well.

This year, I have a new little stitched piece to add to my Halloween decorations with this witch's game board. For me, seasonal decorating is centered around my quilts and stitched pieces.

Heidi

Do you know???

Anyone else find themselves longing for autumn on these last few days of the summer months? I saw the first pumpkin stands when we were at Cranberry Cottage over the weekend. I am planning on stocking up on them soon.

I have been adding little touches that say summer is ending to my home. I put out a crazy quilt I made with autumn colors and some accessories on the dining room table. Not quite autumn but shows it is coming.

I thought it would be fun to add a cutting board under my dough bowl but this one is very new looking. I love the size and shape of it but need to age it in a way that it is still safe. So that means no stain painted on. I am hoping someone will have advice for me about aging a cutting board? I found this link but wondered if anyone has done this before or knows of another way? I know I could just using it intensely but that takes a very long time and I want to use this on my shelves with my speculaas cookie molds.

So if you have any tips, I am all ears.....

Heidi

Problem solved - before and after.....

If you remember, this is the wall space in my living room that I did not like due to the plugs and yellowed ugly thermostat which I showed you back in June...

 Before

I brought my butler tray in from the entrance and placed some decorations on it and a large dough bowl underneath...

 After

I had intended to create a space to display some of my doll/small quilts while also hiding the thermostat. I needed air flow to circulate there so I solved the problem by sawing (well Jos did that part...grins) a piece of weather old wood and mounting my hooks onto them before hanging them on the wall. It stands about 1-1/2 inches from the wall but you cannot tell, however it allows the air to flow just perfectly and it gives me a rustic, primitive look that I wanted...

I love having a special space now to use for seasonal decorations in my living room. So for late summer...roses and blueberries with some tea accessories and a stitched piece I made a number of years ago...

I do need to swap the lamp for a smaller one I think. What do you think? This is one of my favorite lamp shades and would rather change the lamp than change the shade. I have a similar lamp upstairs that is a bit smaller with a small lampshade.

What was most fun is that the makeover of this wall was completely free. I used all items I already had. 

Heidi

Summer flowers.....

Yesterday I changed the vignette on my coffee table...

A quilt tabletopper, dough bowl filled with lace, berries and tiny stitched patchwork pillows, candles and flowers say summer. It all started as I had hosted my annual Christmas in July party in my garden. I picked some flowers for a vase and brought them indoors the day after the party.

I love the pinks coming through from the flowers to the dough bowl to the quilt...

Have you done any summer touches in your home?

Heidi