My "Village"

When I was a young woman, I used to love to watch the movie, Funny Farm, with Chevy Chase and Madolyne Smith.  I related to the movie because I wanted to move to the country surrounded by hills, live in a "village" and be a writer.  Well, I have since moved to the country surrounded by hills, and I am an aspiring writer (retirement, maybe??).  Some people might not think of my small town as a village, but I do.  And the part in the movie where Chevy says, "cue the deer"...well, I would have fallen for that when I moved here.  The deer are everywhere...including downtown at times. They used to fascinate me...not so much anymore.

We have a town square with a beautiful courthouse, and at Christmas, the lighting will make you catch your breath!  We have a bandstand (gazebo) and at important times of the year it is used for a band, or for caroling, or for announcing the winner of Wassailfest.  Wassailfest is a really unique local event every year when downtown is closed to traffic.  The stores open up for shopping and make their own brand of wassail.  Once you've tasted about eight, you can vote for the best one.  The Christmas tree and downtown lighting are very important events held on the Friday night before Thanksgiving.  When the 4th of July comes, we have fireworks and flags surround the entire perimeter of our downtown. Speeches are made by elderly veterans. We have old churches, and old train overpasses, and lots of old buildings.  We have the oldest bakery in Texas, and a beautiful park with a Founder's Oak.  We say the pledge of allegiance and still pray at many public gatherings.  We're as close to a village as I think we can be.

Each season here has it's appeal.  The winters are fairly mild although we have several freezes and the occasional light snow.  Spring is beautiful with the wildflowers..bluebonnets being the flower of choice for Texans!  Spring is also the time that festivals start coming to the hill country.  You could go to one every weekend in the spring.  Summer is busy here.  We have two rivers, a lake, and a waterpark that all attract people from all over the nation.  When fall arrives, the city gets quiet and peaceful again.  For Texas, we have very nice fall color, especially around the rivers. 

I love it here!  I love living and working here, and I love the people I've met.  Even though I've been here 13 years it hasn't lost its appeal to me.

When I was that young woman watching Funny Farm, I used to pray that the Lord would move me to a place just like this.  I didn't know it at the time, but He had picked out the perfect place for me and for my family.  My sister has since moved here, as have my nephews, and my mom is about to move. One of my sons lives here and one lives near here, and I'm hoping that my daughter will move here soon.  It's like the Lord is gathering us together, and I feel very blessed by that!

Met Monday...My Embroidery Machine

A few years ago, I bought what has turned out to be one of my most used and favorite sewing tools...my Janome 300E embroidery machine. I can find something that is very inexpensive, and once I embroider a name, or whatever, on it...it becomes a great gift for someone. I found these very cute aprons at Target around Valentine's Day. They are going to be worn by my granddaughters when we make our gingerbread houses for Christmas. They have muffin-shaped chef's' hats with cherries on top..very cute! I also make a lot of Santa hats each year. Scroll down to see the quick transformations!

We Gather Together...

We have had more cold days in October this year than I can ever remember. It's beginning to feel more like Thanksgiving every day. Although this is not my Thanksgiving table, it could work as one!

There is a little town about 5 minutes from my house named Gruene, TX. I found the brown toile plates there a couple of weeks ago, and the larger salad plates (they're sort of a muddy beige although they look white in the pictures) came from the Dollar Tree. The acorn salt and pepper shakers, and the acorn and pumpkin dishes came from Family Dollar. My clear gold cups and saucers are old, possibly depression era?

I found the place mats and napkins at a garage sale in Gruene awhile back...you gotta love .25 napkins and place mats! Leaves are tucked into the napkin rings, and the flatware is Oneida Michaelangelo. My sister bought the pumpkin tureen for me several years ago.

Hope your fall is blessed with family, friends and lots of laughter!

Met Monday...Favorite Tablecloth Saved!

Although I really like beige, white and cream for home colors, I tend to love very busy tablecloths for some reason. About 15 years ago, I bought the fabric and made this tablecloth for my Thanksgiving table. The background is blue, and there are fall leaves, acorns and other fall flora throughout.








Well, it fit the table that I made it for, but then I bought a very large harvest table. My favorite Thanksgiving tablecloth was definitely too small. I looked forever for that fabric, and never found anything similar. So, I decided to add several inches all the way around with a coordinating fabric. The original cloth fits the top of the table, and the extra fabric hangs down around all of the sides. Although it's not as good as the original...I still have my favorite tablecloth!




I sewed this on my Bernina which I've had since the summer I wrote the 6th grade reading curriculum guide for the district I was working in. I spent every penny on that machine. It's still the best!


Since I was sewing..I decided to make another tablecloth with some fabric that I found at Hobby Lobby on sale. I will use this for a tablescape soon. Isn't it beautiful?

Cold October..

We've had several days in the low 40s this October. That's unusual in this part of Texas. Yesterday we built a fire in the living room fireplace. My favorite room in my house is my outdoor sunroom, but it's been too cold to enjoy it many weekend mornings. But, I found this cute little electric heater that looks like a woodstove with a flame to warm up the sunroom. It makes things very cozy out there!

First Fall Weenie Roast....

For much of the year, it's really, really, hot in Texas. It's the kind of hot where you can cook an egg on the sidewalk...I once tried it. So when fall arrives, we anxiously watch the weather (no real need to watch it in the spring or summer) hoping for that first, much welcomed cold front. When my children were small, this turned into quite an event. As soon as the weatherman showed those beautiful blue lines on the map coming our way we would start gathering sticks for our kindling...the annual First Fall Weenie Roast was on! Even though everyone is grown, we still look forward to this annual party. It's become one of those family traditions that we wouldn't miss. This year, I decided to do a tablescape, buffet style, using my mis-matched brown drip ware.

The chili will be in the warming pot, the napkins are in the bean pot. The rooster pitcher is very old. It came from a florist shop and the sticker is still on the bottom showing the phone number with a TU exchange. If you remember phone number exchanges..you're as vintage as me! The cute leaf placemats came from Wal Mart earlier in the season.






There will be warm spiced cider in the fall beverage server and we will use the brown dripware mugs.




Of course, there will be 'Smores for dessert. My friend Julie made the cute 'Smores basket. There is a liner embroidered with a 'Smore, and a napkin to cover it all with our name on it.

Now..let's get outside and start cooking! Happy fall, everyone!

Mom's Tablescape

I'm visiting my mom this weekend, and we've been talking about tablescaping, looking at blogs, etc. I've already explained that most of the women in my family have a dish addiction which we inherited, in part, from her. While we were looking at my grandmother's dishes, that were bought in the late 30's or early 40's, as well as other treasures, mom said.."Why don't we make a tablescape?". I thought that was a neat idea, so we did.



We used my grandmother's china, which was made by Noritake, but we don't know the name of the pattern...anyone recognize this?

We also used some more of her stemware, you've seen the goblets in my first tablescape.





Her flatware is Oneida Louisiana.



This beautiful tea set (two cups and saucers, sugar and creamer and teapot)came from a garage sale for $5 and is also made by Noritake..what a find!

The napkin rings were made from some flowers we dug out of a basket in the living room. The candles are just tea lights placed in some random crystal candle holders that mom had in a cabinet. Mom and daughter tablescaping..a fun way to play on Saturday!