Ahhhhh Autumn

I'm sure those of you who know me know that this just HAD to happen. I have never been a summer gal but I can usually tolerate it just for the sake of embracing four seasons. But, this year may have done me in! I know I say it every year, but this year has been the worst! Between "feels like" temps and thunder storms, outside time was few and far between-at least enjoyable outside time! And so, I held off as long as I could but I could hold off no longer!

And here we are...autumn has arrived and as long as I don't open a door, I can pretend that it is happening and I can bask in this beautiful season with all of the looks and smells even if the "feels" haven't quite caught up. Lol

I'm still waiting for mums for the front porch so let's start in the living room.

The only change I made here is that I took down the old fashioned mailbox that usually hangs here because, no matter how I arranged the leaves, most of the mailbox was covered and just no longer working in this vignette.

I made the raven canvas and added it to a frame last year and put him above the dough bowl with the raven "light" that daughter #3 gifted to me. I think the image echoes the bowl perfectly.

I love that the raven holds the light bulb in his beak-it definitely shows up better at night and adds just a touch of sparkle to this area.

 I added the pick of velvet pumpkins to the leaves last year and I love the way they look.

 

Look! Do you see what's there? My daughter just dropped off my grand dog along with the second of my chairs. Now I have the pair and I am so excited!

Here's my furry friend. No matter how I coaxed or cajoled, I couldn't get him out of this picture. Lol

As I'm looking at the picture I am realizing that the green books just look too level and flat. I have a few more so I think I will be tweaking this spot soon.

It was near impossible to get a good picture of this cutie. I shut the drapes, turned it and stood right in front of it and I couldn't block all of the glare no matter what. But, this is another of those stacked book images. I just might have one for about every holiday but I am obsessed with them for some reason.

I added one of the new autumn candle rings under the tin pumpkin. That guy was "tin" colored for many years until I added the gold leaf plate last year and it just didn't look right any more. Nothing that a quick swipe of gold Rub n' Buff couldn't fix.

It's kind of hard to see here but this is the wood pumpkin from HL. I just broke off the stem, added a stained wood candle cup, some foliage and the candle and it's really cute.

I still love my "autumn" sign that is now over the mirror. It has hung in many places over the years since I bought it at SteinMart-remember that store? I used to love shopping there and my store was in the same plaza as where our Michaels used to be right by our largest Walmart. I could definitely "kill lots of birds with one stone" there. I loved that SteinMart was so seasonal/holiday not just with their home things but also their clothing and jewelry.

When I bought this sign it was all in black and white but I felt like it needed a bit of help so I used my oil pastels to add the shades of orange to just some of the pumpkins and now I feel like it pops a bit more.

So that is the living room for this year-so far. You know everything is always open to tweaking and I think I am ready to start rethinking the cubbies on the shelf unit. I just might be over the peat pots-we shall see.

My grand dog not only brought me my chair but another little gift to thank me for watching him. I actually think he may be buttering me up for another extended visit in a few weeks. LOL If he only knew how much I enjoy having him here. I really don't need any gifts but I won't say no to this one.

It will go perfectly with the one that I made at my daughter's Halloween get-together last year.

After being reminded of this I might run to Walmart to pick up two more of their small "paintings" for my granddaughters to embellish when they visit. These things are cute.

Our storm has finally tapered off so I am heading out with Bennett to give him some exercise before we sit down, put our feet up and wait for daughter #1 to return from her day in Gainesville. Stay safe and stay tuned.

That's a Wrap!!

 When last I left you I was waiting for the coffee stain on the jack-o-lantern pillow cover to dry. I was hoping it would get darker as it dried but it didn't really. I wonder if there might be some kind of coating on the drop cloth that helps keep paint drips from soaking in-that might make sense. In any case, since I am not in love with this thing I decided to call it as it was and go ahead and put it together.

I definitely wanted it to be a cover as opposed to a filled pillow so I just whipped up two pieces for the back and sewed them down so they overlapped each other and created a nice pocket for a pillow form to slip in. And here he is...

I'm still picking at those raw edges to get a bit more fray but it is coming. I'm reserving my final judgement until he gets put out with the other Halloween stuff. Right now it is just the beautiful autumn tones and the harsh black and orange just jar my mojo but they might look better when they fit in a bit more. He was a bugger to make-at least for what the outcome is-but I will show the girls and we will see what they say. I feel like they will lean more towards my other ideas but we shall see.

I'm off to see if I can get anything done before calling it a day as I have errands to run tomorrow and then need to get ready for some family coming in this weekend. I had roofers here most of the morning sizing things up and then I went out and trimmed a tall bush in my front yard that looked like it was in dire need of a haircut-way up on the top. It took a bit of work but I got it all done except for picking up all of the trimmings so I'm off to do that before our afternoon storm decides to come in. I'm hoping that the next time I'm here I can start our autumn 2026 tour. Daughter #1 is bringing me the second of my "new" chairs and then I am giving the ones they are replacing to granddaughter #4 for the house she is renting. It's kind of funny because I just stuck the extra one at the end of the dining room waiting to hear if she wanted the chairs and now I have kind of gotten used to having that extra chair there. I know it will be a pain any time we fully open the dining table because it would have to get moved somewhere but for right now it makes another nice little conversation group. I'm going to miss it but maybe I'll find one a bit smaller that could move into this spot without needing to be moved for the table and we can still have our little chat spot. Like I really need one more place to chat in this house. LOL

Stay safe and stay tuned.

Maybe NOT!

 So with all of my autumn done I had planned to head outside today but, the heat indices are off the charts and I am just not ready to battle that kind of heat so....it was time to try my hand at a sample Halloween pillow so the girls could decide if it is something they would want to try.

At this point, I am guessing PRPBABLY NOT! Lol Of course, they might be braver than I am but I am so glad I decided to make a sample before we just dove into something that looks to be a simple project. And, it kind of is but it is very time consuming. And, I must say, I have learned some things along the way. Maybe they can benefit from my mistakes and they would have an easier time.

Since everything needs to be stitched before the pillow pieces go together I started by cutting a 19"X19" piece of the drop cloth. With 1/2" seams the pillow will be 18"X18" which is usually my go-to size for a throw pillow.

I actually got out my iron because this fabric is VERY wrinkled and Wrinkle Release doesn't help at all-ask me how I know. Lol

Then I decided to paint the stripes like on my inspiration photo. Luckily I am OK with "rustic" because I almost threw this out and started over without stripes. I put down a strip of masking tape and tried to paint a thin black strip on either side of the tape. I mixed acrylic with fabric medium but it still wasn't all that "flowable" and the brush caught on the nubs of the fabric often and made for wobbly lines.

Then, I pulled up the tape and tried to paint a thicker stripe in the middle of the two thinner ones. Again, good thing I'm OK with messy rustic. Lol

I knew when I grabbed these fabrics at Walmart that the orange was too bright but it was all that they had and I wasn't interested in heading to HL. I was pretty sure that I would be coffee staining this so I figured I could knock down some of that "bright".

I do love the way the raw edge frays. This is just what we need for this project.

I probably should have just drawn my own face but I decided to stay true to the inspiration instead. I cut out what I thought would be the right sized pumpkin pattern although when all was said and done, I wish I had gone smaller. This guy is just too "in your face" for my liking but it is too late now.

I cut out face pieces and moved them around until I was OK with them.

Then I traced them onto the fabric pumpkin front. I had planned to just use a piece of black fabric large enough to go under the face but I realized that if I was to do that, that black patch would show through the orange so I had to cut an entire black pumpkin piece for the backing.

Then I just stitched on the drawn lines. That part is pretty easy although the straight lines are definitely easier than the ovals. I should have just gone with the traditional triangle eyes as well as the nose and this part would have really been a snap!

All sewn. I used really small stitches to make turning a bit easier.

Then, being careful not to cut through both layers, I simply cut away a bit of the features. I left enough fabric so that even when these areas do fray a bit, the seams won't be compromised. And, it needs to be frayed. That is part of its look but I am guessing that the more I keep messing with it, the more it will fray. Fingers crossed.

Once that was all done I sewed the whole pumpkin onto the pillow front and gave it all a shot of the coffee stain.

And this is where I am right now. I'm waiting for it all to dry. The orange definitely got knocked back a bit but the drop cloth just isn't really accepting the stain. I tried it on a small spot and it seemed as if it would work but since I am now spraying it instead of "painting" on the stain, it really doesn't look all that different. I have got a few things to do before calling it a day so I am going to stop here and I will decide tomorrow what the next step might be.

I will say once again, I think the pumpkin is too large but we shall see after it is all put together.

I really don't think the girls will want to tackle that one but I also have the supplies for these:

Either of these would be so much easier and, since I still have so much of the drop cloth left, I might try a sample of each of these tomorrow. I'll let you know but until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Genius...or Not??

 So I am on the horns of a dilemma. Once again, plans have changed around here. Granddaughter #4-who is on her way back to UF for her second year of law school-decided that since the family had already helped her move her stuff from her old apartment to her new house (that she and some friends are renting) she really didn't need any other help this week. She knows that Gainesville will be CRAZY this weekend with all of the students returning so she decided that she and her roommates could cover this and then maybe her mom and I could go up in a few weeks to help with some "zhushing" after they see how things are functioning. And so, that means that I won't have house guests this weekend and that I could actually start my summer to autumn swap today. BUT, I was looking forward to spending a bit more time with my sunflowers and, after all, it is Fri-YAY which, for me, usually means a bit of a more laid back day.

And so, I came up with this brilliant idea...or, did I? LOL A few swaps ago I found myself taking out things a day or so before I began and having them all in a centralized spot instead of all over the house. I honestly don't remember why that happened but I do think it made the actual swap go easier. And so, when I was going through the pictures of last year's autumn and thinking about changes, I realized how far and wide my autumn decor is hidden  stored and I thought maybe I could still get in a bit of the swap today by just hitting up the rooms where some of the inside stuff is kept and digging it out today. Sometimes things are stored where I can just very easily grab them when decorating. Other times, things are stored under or behind many other things and a lot of my decorating time-not to mention energy-goes into getting them out on the day of the swap.

I discovered that the majority of that stuff is in the front bedroom-flowers in bins under the bed, dish towels, pillow covers and pot holders in one of the cabinets and the pillows and inserts themselves in the closet mixed in with the myriad other pillows housed there. There are also some things in my closet that need a step stool to reach so more time saved if I don't have to do that later. I ended up putting most of the stuff in the front bedroom so I will only have that one place to grab from-well, if you don't count the other bedrooms and the garage-but, never-the-less, I think this is going to save me a lot of time-maybe tomorrow? We shall see when I start the swap.

I also pulled the candles in the family room. That closet behind this stuff is FULL of all things candle and, even though I try to keep them separated by season/holiday, they get all mixed up over time and I do have to get down there for a bit to figure it all out. And, that bag of leaves is another fun thing to struggle with from the very back of the family room closet so I am glad it is now out and ready for me too.

 Now that that is done, I have the rest of the day ahead. I am off for some lunch and then I think I am going to see about making a sample of this pillow to show the girls when they come for our crafting weekend.

I'm thinking the drop cloth will work perfectly and then maybe paint on the stripes. I picked up some fabric the other day and I have actually done this technique before. It is called reverse applique and I remember learning it way back in 1968. It's funny that I can remember that but we were living in Gastonia, NC and our first daughter had just been born. I would feed her and put her down for her nap and then eat my lunch while watching "The Betty Feezer Show". She was a local "celebrity" and had a show that was kind of the precursor to "Martha Stewart Living". I learned so many thins from her and, if I'm not mistaken, for this lesson we made a rooster. I remember sewing many colors and then cutting back a lot of small sections. I loved it but I guess it has gone the way of so many other decor themes in this house. I don't think I could find any place for a rooster to fit in these days. Lol

This looks to be pretty basic and the girls and I could probably just wing it that day but I want to try it out to make sure I have everything we need and to figure out the steps and how long each might take so we can fit things in between other things. I also think we might want to "grungy" this guy up so I need to make sure that the drop cloth fabric will change in a coffee solution. I have discovered the hard way that not all fabrics will take to that "dye".

And then I have a boatload more veggies to get roasted so that if I do decide to start the swap tomorrow I won't have to cook for a few days. I'll let you know. Until them, stay safe and stay tuned. And, if you live anywhere near me, try to stay cool!!!

PHEW!

 It seems a bit ironic to me that I am sitting here in 105 degree feels like temperatures and making snowmen but that is where I am! I always like to get my ornament for the year done in summertime so I have more time to just enjoy the holiday as it gets here but, that being said, I am glad this one is done! Sometimes you find a craft that you just love doing and are sad when you get done...this wasn't the case this time. LOL

I knew when I started this one that there would be many steps. I only had a picture-no instructions- so maybe there was an easier way to do this than I came up with but, this was my way and I am done. I do think the original might have had the eyes and buttons attached through the back because that area looks more pulled in than mine-and, that would have made them a bit flatter which would probably have been better but I didn't want those knots showing on the backs so....

When last I posted about these cuties, I showed you all of the steps up to that point. Next I had to make some little hang tags. I think the inspiration piece may have used a larger tag because they fit on more "wordage" but I had these so I went the simple route. Luckily I have a lot of alphabet stamps left from scrapbooking days and had some small enough to get the tags made.

After I stamped them I grunged them a bit and started the assembly process! That included adding a hanger with red, white and green butcher's twine, tying on a piece of homespun for the scarf, adding the tag and then the little piece of pine bough. I know that doesn't sound difficult but it took FOREVER.

And they are done! Are they my favorite ornament so far? Definitely not but they are a bit different from any others and I think they will look cute hanging on the tree. That being said, I think I will be looking for another painted one next year. LOL

Thought I would share a sweet moment I had the other night. I had just sat down in my family room when my eyes caught a motion out on my pool deck and my attention was definitely drawn there. Much to my surprise, there were SEVEN young raccoons. When I first saw them it looked like they were drinking out of the pool near the steps but I have actually had some swimming in there so that may have been their next step. I got up and went to the door to see if I could snap a picture and they must have sensed me because before I could get a decent shot, they scampered off and over and under my fence into the neighbor's yard.

I have many acres of undeveloped land behind my house and I found a big hole under my fence at the other end of my yard so I'm guessing that is where they came from but wondering if our hot, dry weather is drawing them out. Daughter #3 encountered one crossing a downtown street the other day and daughter #2 had three in her back yard. They are so darn cute and I hope they are finding ways to make themselves comfortable in this heat-if that means swimming in my pool, I'm fine with that.

I'm still trying to figure out what is going on with my fountain so I'm on my way back out to that right now. I have discovered what it ISN'T so now I have to see if I can figure out what it IS. Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.