Sometimes

Sometimes as all of you know life gets so full that blogging is not even a consideration.  In an earlier post I mentioned that both my mother and brother were ill.  I have flown to WA state  three times in the past three months and stayed a week.  I was there for my brother's operation for esophageal cancer.  He came through the operation in great shape and will start his 2nd round of chemo soon.  My mother is now at peace and out of pain.  She was 87 and was still so full of fun and told jokes all the time  until the pain became too great.

And then, I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided to open an antique booth again.  Actually I found a little store in Greenwood. Mo that I really liked and the booth rent was reasonable.  I had so much stuff in storage from my last booth that I needed to sell or just toss.  I do thoroughly enjoy the hunt for treasures and decorating my booth.  It also has helped me to focus on fun things as well.

If you live close or are visiting the KC area please stop and visit my booth at "As Time Goes By" located at 605 Main on the south side of the street in Greenwood  The store in an old white house with a charming  front porch.  It is a great shop with a variety of vendors.  I am booth 16 or just ask for Stella's booth.

I am happy to be back and looking forward to visiting everyone.

Porch Update

I finally finished sewing all the covers for my patio furniture.  My three pieces of material stretched just far enough to do both my front and back porch.

I covered six of the chair cushions with the lime green and black stripe.

For four of the chairs that fit around my rectangle table I used the lime green poly to do the seats and covered the backs in the outdoor print fabric.

Isn't this a cute print.  It has little bugs hidden on the leaves.  In this one if you look close you can see a grasshopper on the leaf on the the top right hand corner.

A couple of the side chairs also have this fabric.  Notice the little green table.  It is a child's table I curb shopped.  I found the prettiest green in a spray paint called Fern.

I loved the green so much I took a bench that used to sit by pond that was lavender and painted it green as well.  Well a couple of flower pots too.

Now I just love to step outside with my morning coffee and enjoy all the bright colors.  It is so nice what a few cans of spray and fabric can do.

It's a Lilly Day

As I drank my first cup of coffee this morning I admired all the Lilly's that are just beginning to bloom in the garden.  They are a welcome sight as my roses have finished their first  flush of blooms and I am lacking color in the garden.  I am always glad to see the Stella's bloom as they last so long and make such a brillant splash of color in the garden. 

 I had another nice surprise.  I planted a Siberian Iris two years ago and it has never bloomed.  I had three lovely blooms today so I am so excited.  I only planted one as wanted to see if I liked them or not.  They are a keeper.

These orange Lilly's are toward the back of the yard but are so brilliant they catch your eye even from the living room window.

I have always loved the brilliant pink of these Lilly's that grow beside my tea kettle fountain.

Our temps are much cooler this morning which is a relief from all the heat.  Hope you all have a lovely fun weekend.

It's Curtains

 I was wandering through TJMax yesterday and these green curtains caught my eye.  Take me home they said.   But what would I do with you I asked?  You know the back porch they said.  No way I don't have any way to hang curtains there.  But they won and followed me home. 
Looking at my wrought iron I decided if I strung wire between columns I could probably hang the curtains.  As I was walking by the garden shed this morning I noticed a coil of wire my husband must have hung from a tree by the door or else God was answering my  unspoken prayers. I hung the curtains and love them.

I just can't decide if I should let them blow in the breeze or tie them back with a black ribbon.  I am afraid if they blow to much they may begin to tatter at the edges.  But they do look so summery floating in the breeze.

Time for a Renovation

Two years is about as long as the material on my outside furniture will last.  Our long hot summer takes it's toll on material and paint.  This spring I decided it was time to give the outdoor space a new look.  I went to the fabric store to dig through the bargain table.  I go with no plan in mind as my design is usually dictated by finding enough fabric that coordinates and that will withstand it's outdoor home.  My hunt  netted me two different outdoor materials - one lime green and black stripe, one lime green print with a a black background and a large length of lime green poly.

  

This is a photo of the table last summer.  Colors and prints are rather tropical.

 I used a yellow umbrella and the fabric had lots of oranges, yellows and tropical green. The table was painted a light cream.  You may not be able to tell but the chairs are forest green just the way they came from Wally World about twelve years ago.

Today I painted the table black and dressed it in a black cloth. I also spray painted all the chair black and love how they look.   Covered the chairs with some of the black and lime green fabric giving them more of a clean contemporary look.  I do like the look and I definitely am not a contemporary decorator.    I also found a lime green umbrella at Lowe's to complete the look.  Lucky me!

All this work certainly gave the outdoor space a whole new look.  I should have some more to show you by the end of the week.  I have more chairs to cover and lots of spray painting to do.  We are going to have 90's all week so I will have to get up early if I want to work outside.

Hope everyone has good week.

Plates And Things

 I have been having fun the last couple of days trying something I know others have been doing for quite some time.  I went to the local thrift store on "old people's day"  which is 1/2 price day and picked up  various plates, vases, glasses, and anything I thought would make an attractive pedestal.  Using glue I married pieces I thought would look nice together.

 

 This one was just a glass plate with a blue rim and I found a cocktail glass that had the same blue rim.  I thought these two made a wonderful couple.

I wasn't as happy with this one.  Loved the shape of the plate but I think what I don't like about this one  is the plate is ceramic and the vase is glass.  I think it may be just a texture thing.

I tried to find plates with unusual shapes or patterns to work with. so they would have a little personality.  These were three of my favorites. 

I really like how the petal shaped sundae glass mimics the shape of this plate.

I have always like seeing food displayed against white dishes.  So I found a white scalloped plate and used a milk glass candle stick for the base.

I know you are thinking what is she going to do with all these.  Since I take dessert to various functions my idea was to present the hostess the plate as a gift.  Since they were very inexpensive to make she can either keep it or pass it on.

Have to go now I have a whole box of dishes that are just waiting for a new idenity.

I have been trying to visit all of you but blogger is not letting me comment for some reason.  I know others are having this problem so will try to find my way around it so I can comment.

A Wise Woman Said

 A wise woman once said don't try out a new recipe when you are going to be serving guests.  Well, I am sure that says it all.  I am taking dessert to our Bible study group tonight so I thought I would take something special.  I had seen a recipe for a Snicker Bar cupcake I thought sounded delicious.  So simple too.  You just mix up the cake mix, fill the muffin tin and then insert a mini Snicker Bar into the batter.  Looked good, smelled good, but didn't come out of the pan pretty.  The Snicker Bars sank to the bottom and all the caramel melted to the bottom of the tin.  Result - no bottom in the cupcakes but a beautiful top.

I decided I didn't have time to run to the store and bake again so I decided to be inventive.  I turned the cupcakes over on the top and frosted the bottom.

    Then I drizzled on caramel sauce and dressed them up a bit with a Snicker Bar.

What do you think?  Should I confess tonight or just let them think I am creative?