Where do you store your placemats?

Our new dining room table and chairs were delivered Saturday.  I decided to step outside my "box" and purchased the table and chairs from Copenhagen.  I had seen the table advertised in the newspaper and the dimensions were perfect for our dining area.  (Table will be another post.) 

 

I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond searching for placemats for the new table.  My chairs are  6 different colors of leather.  These bamboo placemats are perfect.  But where do I keep them when not using them?  I wanted to keep my tablerunner on the table.  So I am using the rolled up placemats as a centerpiece.  I placed them inside an old crock and added my black bear salt and pepper. Crock is Moira Pottery made in England.   Bears from Pigeon Forge, TN.  (that will be another post as I catch up on the past few months).   Placemats are now ready to unroll and place on the table.  Oh and they were only $1.99 each!

You can see two of the leather chairs in the background.

I am linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday. 

I've been away so long

I think it's time to rejoin my friends in blogland.  Many things have happened since I last posted.  -vacations, home remodels, son's family new home, visit with college friends, Antique Roadshow, Smokey Mountains, suite at D-back game, and quilts and much more.

I'm hoping to share some of the highlights with you in the coming weeks.  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. 

A pattern from my vintage collection.  Reminds me of summers long ago. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day.

 

These lovely tulips are from my DH.  In addition to flowers, I received tickets to a Kenny Roger's concert here in March.  Flowers and concert tickets are a girl's  best friend.  Thanks to my wonderful DH for a great Valentine's day.  We had our Valentine's dinner last evening. 

 

Wishing each of you a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with hearts, flowers, and other goodies from the heart.

It's February

Thought you might enjoy some vintage Valentines.  Not sure where they all came from.  Some are from my collection.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Scrappity-do-dah

I started a Scrappity-do-dah quilt this weekend.  I made 20 of these squares.  Now I only have 420 to go.  The pattern is from a McCall's America Makes Fast Quilts but I'm telling you this isn't a fast quilt.  The little blocks are quite labor intensive.  Cut the block, cut block on the diagonal, cut the center strip, sew together, and them trim to 5".   However, the quilt in the magazine is beautiful.  This is to be a gift for someone special.  I'm hoping to complete 20 blocks a week (maybe more).  As long as I finish in time to quilt before Christmas.

I am using fabrics from my stash (one of my frugal goals for the year).  I did go to JoAnn's today and use my Christmas gift card.  After 15 years my rotary cutter died.  My cutting mat had also become very brittle.   A big "thank you" to my DH for such a thoughtful gift.  I'll enjoy the new rotary cutter and mat for many years.

My goal for this week is to finally finish the border on my Civil War Chronicles quilt.  I would like to get it to the quilter this spring.   I'm only a year late in finishing the 2011 block of the month quilt.  I really haven't enjoyed this block of the month but I know the finished quilt will be awesome.

Pocket Purses

I recently had craft day with granddaughters.  They wanted to make Pocket Purses using my embroidery machine.  I took my Janome 11000 to their house and they each made a Pocket Purse using Anita Goodesign's Projects Pocket Purse designs.  They had fun making these purses.  The design is a in-the-hoop design.  Even the zipper is added in the embroidery hoop. 

Here GD#1 shows her Pocket Purse while GD#2 used the embroidery machine.  She uses her purse to hold her IPOD.  We had a great time using the embroidery machine.  The project was so simple that they were able to complete the purse with little supervision.  They are so familiar with computers that a computerized machine doesn't intimidate them.  Fun time!

It's Valentines on the Front Porch

The front porch had been neglected since the Christmas decorations were removed.  I decided to decorate the porch bench with a Valentine's theme.  The Welcome sign is from Goodwill 99 cents.  I washed it and put it in a frame I had in the garage.  I think the frame will look better painted black but it will do for now.  I made the quilt many years ago.  Yesterday I painted an old basket pink and added the puffy hearts.  I added a few more decorations today.  I'll have photos later.

Hope you are enjoying your Holiday.