Dining Room Design

I have hit blogger's block! I haven't posted much lately because I can't seem to come up with anything to blog about...I seem to have exhausted the gardening subject for now. So I thought to myself, what is it that I really like to see when I visit other blogs. I really like to see how they have decorated their home. I love to take the tour. That got me to thinking that I haven't shared many pictures with you of my dining room, and I have added some Nell Hill touches recently.

~ Visiting the Dining Room ~

A little corner decorated with finds found at garage sales, thrift stores and the flea market. The lamp came from Hobby Lobby and the wool rug I found at Lowe's. The little table was my Grandma B's.

I made this monogram G picture
using a frame from Dollar Tree and some scrapbook paper.

Here we are in the dining room peeking into the kitchen.
Love how the gold and the red flow so well together, they are the colors in the dining room upholstery. Underneath this new wall pocket, I would like a little chair with a stylish monogramed throw pillow!

This is a new dining room addition. I found the wall pocket at the flea market and added the ivy. In this picture you can see the paint color more correctly, it is reddish bittersweet. A friend of mine named it Rusty Pumpkin. The walls do look a bit orangey in these pictures, but it really isn't orange, all the light that comes from the big dining room windows makes it take on this orange hue.

I knew I just needed something on the other side of the windows, so last week I was scouting out plates to hang on the wall. This was definitely a Nell Hill inspired shopping trip. After looking around about 40 different booths, I found the perfect stack of plates for the perfect price! I wasn't sure about the turquoise color on the plates, but I thought they might just play beautifully with the wall color.

A closeup of the plates, all four are the same design.
In another booth, I found a matching bowl.

A very grand tassel found a home decorating the handle of the china cabinet, I found her at the flea market last week too!
Inside the china cabinet are silver and white dishes that I have been collecting through the years. I recently started picking up affordable silver serving pieces.
Victoria magazine has always been my inspiration for gorgeous serving pieces, especially their more vintage issues of the 1980's.

Just this past weekend, I served Cherry Preserves in this darling silver and crystal bowl. Isn't that spoon so very cute and dainty.

Here is a closeup of the dining room fixture. It coordinates with the foyer's fixture. The balls that look gilded are actually a metallic green with a crackle finish, the shades are an amber.

Looking into the dining room from the foyer. When I first got this grape ivy plant it was in a little 4" pot. He is just going bananas. A friend of mine in Colorado gave me the metal trellis. One day, I got the idea to stick it in this urn to give the ivy something to curl its tendrils on. I went out to the woods and found some moss and have placed it on top of the soil, I really like that conservatory/Mediterranean look!
~*~
Hope you have enjoyed visiting me and my dining room.
I'm hoping blogging inspiration will come back and I will have more interesting things to share!
~Jill~

Fabulous Finds...

I love hydrangeas and have been on the lookout for several months trying to find some pretty silk ones. I grabbed this basket right up when I spotted it! I really loved the muted colors and what a bargain at $3.

I have been playing around and haven't yet decided which room to keep them in.

I haven't really decorated much for spring.
I was inspired though, by all the pretty apothecary jars on different blogs, to make a little bird filled one for my coffee table!

I have been giving this little cabbage set the eye, for quite some time. This whole set was just $4. Lucky for me, he was in a booth that was pretty much off the beaten path at the flea market, so he waited patiently until I decided that yes, he must come home with me! This was someone's ceramic project in the 1970's. Isn't it amazing how some things really don't go out of style? Cabbage style dishes are all the rage! I think he is quite adorable with the matching salt and pepper shakers. They even have real vintage salt in them!

Not too far down from the cabbage tureen I spotted this cute print, also for $4.
It looks so French, ooh la la...
and looks wonderful above my whirlpool tub.
Looks like a French Soap label!

At the Salvation Army store I found a roll of Waverly red and white grape toile border for .50 cents. No plans for it yet, but I am sure I will think of something!

~*~*~*~

I am so ready for it it be warm and sunny!
I am so ready to put on my gardening overalls and putter in my plants!
Soon...we will get to go to Lowe's and buy all the picket fence for my kitchen garden!

It was dry enough a couple of days ago for us to finish putting in most of the spring garden. We planted radishes, green onions, lettuce, turnips, beets & peas. I went to Wal-mart yesterday and they had pack of 9 tomatoes for $3. I bought a pack each of Celebrity and Better Boys. Eighteen tomato plants, that's a good start! I am already thinking of fresh salsa. Doug said these were the littlest tomato plants he has ever seen. Right now they are sunbathing on my back step! Grow little tomato plants, GROW!

I also bought a jiffy pot that had 4 Basil plants in it for $3. Basil is just about my most favorite herb! Basil is kind of a tricky herb to try to dry and preserve because it can turn black. But I have had pretty good luck freezing the leaves whole and then giving them a rough chop before adding them to spaghetti sauce. Hmmm...I am also thinking how yummy basil is with a thinly sliced tomato on a slice of crispy french bread!
~*~*~*~
Hope everyone enjoys a beautiful weekend!
We are going to see Disney on Ice tomorrow!
I can hardly wait!
~Jill~

Rain, Rain Go Away!

I sure wish it would stop raining/snowing here!
I need to get in the garden and start planting more seeds.
Just about the time, it dries out enough...we get a gully washer!
~*~
Rumor has it, that some of my family members already have much of their garden planted, especially different varieties of lettuce and spicy radishes.
I need to purchase some garden wellingtons "wellies" so I can prance around in my garden even when it is a bit mucky.
I really like these...

Unfortunately they are discontinued. I did find them on amazon for $120. Whew... a bit out of my price range, but aren't they too cute!

Now Target has some really cute garden wellies and they are much more affordable. This cute pair is only $25. We are heading up to Kansas City next weekend, I think I will have to drop into Target!

As I mentioned before I was able to get some potatoes planted and a couple rows of asparagus.


Potatoes are fun to plant!
After the eyes were cut out, there was a lot of potato left over. I found a delicious Bacon & Potato chowder and whipped up a big, bubbling pot of soup!

You can click on the recipe and print it out for your own recipe box!
~*~
I did a little thrift store shopping a couple weekends ago and found a basket of hydrangeas, an adorable cabbage tureen with matching salt and pepper shakers and a Victoranish picture for my bathroom. I will be sharing pictures of these this week with you!
~*~
One of my faithful blog followers, asked me where I purchased my sugar and flour cannisters. Why just at the local Wal-Mart, and for a song no less!
~*~
Hope everyone gets to go out in play in beautiful spring sunshine this week!
Me included!
~Jill~

Spring Birdies

I know it certainly has been a little while since I posted. We are having a bit of an "internet" problem. My son downloaded a movie from i-tunes and it used up all of our available bandwith at a certain download speed.

I called Wild Blue and told them my internet just won't run, it times out on pages and I can't get anything to download. The lady on the phone kindly explained the problem to me, we are at slower than dial speed right now, they cranked us down after we used up all our "speedy download-ability" in just one day. We won't be back up to "speed" until the following month, April 6th. Would I like to buy the upgraded package with more speed? No thank you, I will just be content with the hours it takes to try to visit just one person's blog for the next 3 weeks.

So...that explains why I have only posted a little bit lately, it also explains, why in the world I never seem to come to your blog and visit! Most of the time, I am unable to even get a page to load. On the weekends....forget about it!

On the BRIGHT side!
I did do a little bit of thrift store shopping and wanted to share my new finds with you!
~*~
Aren't these little spring birdies too cute.
I love birds and this pair caught my eye. They were only a $1.
Really old frames, I thought they were a sweet couple!

~*~
While shopping at another favorite thrift store I discovered this blooming pot of bulbs!
Now, this was a bit pricey at $4 but I knew it would just look beautiful sitting in many different spots around the house.
For now it is sitting on my black hutch.

~*~

I am wanting to add more color to my living room. There is too much brown going on to suit me. I found a little bedraggled arrangment at the antique mall/flea market for $6. Most of the flowers were just laying in the pot sideways. I worked it over and really like how it adds so much needed color!

Love those Dollar Tree pears...they have been all over the house!
~*~
And finally...
who could resist a Gooseberry Patch Cookbook?
Certainly, Not ME! I grabbed her up quick, for only $1.50!

I also couldn't resist this adorable cookbook from Inns in New England for $1.
If they serve in at an Inn, I bet it is delicious.
By the way, have I ever mentioned I LOVE cookbooks.

~*~
Someday soon, I will be able to cruise the internet with lightning speed again,
and I will LOVE coming and visiting all my friends!
Until then, I have gathered all my supplies and have started scrapbooking again.
I am working on Tyler's baby album.
We have planted two rows of asparagus and 4 rows of potatoes.
The fruit trees & berry bushes have all made it through the winter
and Doug is getting ready to dig up my cutting/herb garden.
No chickens yet, we still have to do more work on their house!
Till we meet up again...
Jill

Making Ruffled Lampshades

My little chandelier lampshades were just a bit on the "blah" side. I would look at them and think, "they need a bit of something". You have often heard bloggers talk about shopping their house. That is just what I did...I remembered that I had bought trim for the curtains in the breakfast room, but didn't purchase enough and ended up buying a tassel trim. So I dug that out, then I thought to myself...I have a lot of fabric left over from the curtains, I wonder what a little ruffle would look like added to it also!

I sort of remembered how to make a ruffle. I had made Lindsey a couple of summer outfits awhile ago and they had ruffled trim. I cut a 4 inch strip from 60 inch material, folded it in half and pressed it. You really only need to double the length around the base of your shade, that will give you plenty of gathers. Too much gathered material is too bulky.

Using a wide stitch and the tension very loose, I stitched 3/4" away from the raw edges. Then I did a second row of stitching about 1/8" from the first one. I learned the hard way that gathering threads break VERY easily and the gathers look prettier when pulled by two threads. This is the part that took the longest...even being careful, I broke a lot of my gathering threads!

Using Eileen's Tacky Glue, I glued the ruffle along the edge of the bottom of the lampshade.
Then glued my trim on top to cover the rough edge. Of course, needing to frou frou just a bit more, I added more trim to the top!


It only took me a couple of hours to complete them,
and I think they turned out pretty cute!

Viola!
So if you are looking for a fun, fast project
make some ruffled lampshades!
~Jill~

My Cute Garden Sweater

As many of you may know...I LOVE cutesy sweaters.
Now, I am a bit of a sweater connoisseur/sweater snob...
I LOVE fancy, Boutique cutsey sweaters.
~*~
I have posted about finding cute sweaters in the past,
those were some of the posts that were lost in my blog fire.
Some of you may remember the cute sweaters I found this fall...
one was of a pumpkin patch and another adorable one
had the little fuzzy sheep stitched on it with a woolly collar.
~*~
Yes, I know that cutsey sweaters are not fashionably correct.
I think I am fairly safe in assuming that I would be
booed & laughed right off the proverbial red carpet.
I can't help it, I really LOVE them,
along with my plaid shirts and Ked tennis shoes.
Today I am wearing a black sweater that has cats stitched all over and the words,
"A Cat is Cat" and "Meow" all along the bottom.
The kitties are swatting at butterflies, and
some are sitting in a basket with little red ribbons around their necks ~ Cute!
~*~
Yesterday while thrift store shopping,
I found another really, REALLY cute sweater.
This time the theme was gardening!
One of my most favorite subjects!

Darling little cabbages in a garden row!

Farm Fresh Produce is the BEST!

We have a little red Ford tractor.

A cute little garden market!

I picked up a Lemon Thyme plant last week.
I love cooking with herbs and I am so anxious to start planting my herb garden.
You can sprinkle these little lemon scented leaves in your muffin batter.

This came in the mail yesterday!
I have been trying to figure out what seed varieties I want to buy.
Lowe's carries Burpee garden seeds, which is great!
That way I can save on the shipping.

One other treasure I found just yesterday!
Do you see it in my sugar cannister?
A red & white teacup!
It was a bargain too,
just $1.00!
~*~
It has been nice and warm here lately,
then the rain came, and lots of little frogs
that peep, peep, peep all around the pond.
But, this afternoon it has turned
very blustery & windy and very chilly.
It is not quite time yet, to be out in the garden,
but it is still chilly enough to wear a sweet garden sweater!
~Jill~