Along With Fall, Crazy Sets In At Our House

I finished this weekend what I began last. I took advantage of the cool temperatures to get the outside of the house really ready for fall. Saturday we took the truck to various places to buy mums and red mulch. Then we began tackling the outside in earnest. I found these berries to add to my Welcome Bench (see here.)

Then I freshened up the porch Baker's Rack. This is a transitional picture of Before.

I removed all the flowers, etc. and the accumulated summer clutter, washed it and did a little transformation.

I found this poor little wreath in the "Please Take Me Home" pile of 40% off stuff at Tues. Morning. I snapped her up at $4. I saw potential under all those leaves! And after my "experience" at Wal Mart and the muffin top, I think I deserved it.

Here she is in all her autumn glory! I like the meshes that are so hot right now. I added some $ Tree flowers and I think she looks much better surrounding my porch lantern.


Do you remember last weekend's post about the small orange bench? What to do? What to do?
I brought around some wrought iron chairs from the back porch, added pillows, put the bench in between and added an old water urn filled with an autumn bouquet.

I wanted to paint her up and make her not quite so chippy. But I honestly haven't had time. That will be another project...maybe some Annie Sloan paint?

I keep my "outdoor" flowers separate from my "indoor" ones. They are each in their own container...after a month or so outside, I'm not a fan of bringing them indoors...might have a lizard attached...yikes.

I mixed artificial with real in the bouquet...rose hips from my bushes, grasses, etc.

I moved Rosie the Rocker to the side porch. I'll add a little table and she will be perfect for that little quick cup of coffee and a rock before the day begins. We mulched all the beds, planted the mums and cleaned all the porches....outside is pretty much finished...until the real pumpkins come in. Then I moved inside. I unearthed this ribbon from a stash I've been saving. Isn't it beautiful? It's from India and was super expensive...I bought it 90% off...who in their right mind would pay that much for a roll of ribbon? But 90% off is just about right.

Look at the detail...lovely.

Now, a tip I learned from a friend years ago and I've been using it ever since. I buy fresh hazelnut coffee beans, spread them in a container and nestle a Hazelnut Cream candle from WM in amongst the beans. When the warmth of the candle warms the beans, it's a heavenly aroma.

I found the hurricane at a garage sale for two dollars...I added some dried rose hips and cinnamon sticks to the mix and set the whole thing on a framed piece of crazy quilt.


See how pretty it looks on the hearth? Speaking of crazy, I enjoy making pillows and wall hangings from felt and beads. The pillow is one I made years ago and she resides on an auction chair that I paid way too much for and don't let anyone sit in because I'm afraid her legs are much too delicate...go figure.


Changing some minor details brings the season indoors. This is a vignette BEFORE "falling it up". And one minor change...do you see it? Makes the difference, doesn't it? Have I exhausted you yet?

I've posted my other autumn decorations on previous posts, so I'm really almost through inside too. I will add pumpkins and turkeys as the months dictate but all in all, I'm ready to welcome Autumn with open arms...

I am linking to: BunnyJeans Bunny Hop ; Boogie Board Cottage's Masterpiece Monday ;

and Catch A Glimpse Thursday and Metamorphosis Monday

Happy Fall Ya'll,

Crazy for Crazy Quilts

I have no idea why I am attracted to some of the things that I am attracted to...I love symmetry...(my sister has a name for that which I won't use in polite company). I like order and

neatness. When things are strewn about, I get antsy. (Is that a real word? I can't find it in the Oxford American Dictionary.) But that's the feeling I get...like fingernails scraping a blackboard. I don't mind if someone writes "Wash Me" on the car's back window in front of me as long as the letters are scribbled neatly. I am not a neat freak...well, maybe slightly, but I PREFER order.

Long story, short. One of my favorite collectibles is the Crazy Quilt. Now if you don't look closely, you won't see the order...you will see a jumble, but if a Crazy Quilt is done correctly, orderliness and symmetry emerge.

This was my first CQ acquisition...I was hooked, but good. It came from upstate New York and the backing is an old feedsack.

The only thing I did to the quilt piece was to replace the maroon triangle at the bottom..the rest of the silks and satins were pretty well intact. It was love at first sight. Thus began my quest...

I ran across this piece in a basket of "junk" pieces..I kept searching and then a dream came true. After many years, I actually talked the "hubster" into going to PA to Lancaster County...Amish country. He wasn't one bit happy (he prefers sunny Florida, not a place where electricity is frowned upon) but I finally wore him down and off we went! Oh, it was glorious and on our way out of Lancaster, I stopped at a little Flea Market and down in a big ole basket of linens, there IT was...my prized possession...a piece of an Amish quilt. ( I went to PA fully intending to buy a whole Amish quilt. I took $200...what a joke! I couldn't touch one for less than $400.) So I came roaring back across the Mason Dixon line with the following: a child's snow shovel, a piece of redware pottery by Ned Foltz, some assorted salt glazed pottery, an Amish made iron bowl holder and THE PIECE OF AN AMISH CRAZY QUILT!

Now, this picture does NOT do it justice. I pinky promise, it is beautiful!

Check out those stitches...every once in a while you will see one that's not just perfect, but all in all it's some of the most symmetrical stitching I've ever seen....love it!

I continued my search and found several more pieces here and there. This one is also in my living room and it sports a big white velvet heart right in its center! Stitching isn't as pretty, but I like the heart. Then one day I woke up and said to myself, "Self, why don't you try some Crazy Quilting?" I argued with me but I won and I started doing research on Victorian CQ's and

decided that I'd give it a try.

My first feeble attempt...a little cushion for my son's old rocking chair. Ok, this wasn't too hard...let's try something a little more...well, decorative, I am NOT Amish I reasoned.

I paid too much for this chair at an auction...I let my desire get the better of my sense and I kept on bidding...that lady with the hot pink blouse on was NOT going to beat me out of this chair...so to sort of "hide" my purchase, I designed and made this pillow. Does that make sense?

I used Amish colors but just sort of jazzed them up...a little...anything worth doing is better with a few sparkly beads I always say.

Why not do a little something for the bathroom? Maybe a 20x24 design...oh, brother.

A few beads here, a golden spider web there...thus, began my spider web period...uh, oh.

Let's buy a book of fancy stitches to go with the beads....
Book was by Linda Causee.

Now I progressed to "not so" Amish colors... and satin ribbon roses...such fun!



Have I lost you yet? Oh, poor reader, I am so sorry, but when I get on the CQ rampage, I can't help myself...it's almost over! I promise!

A pin cushion for my Mother.

So there you have it...a few of my pieces of another's life...the Crazy Quilt...a thing collected by a Crazy Girl! If you've never tried your hand at crazy quilting, then you really need to!

I am linking to The Shabby Chic Cottage's Transformation Thursday...grab the button on the right to join us.

May all your days be crazy,

Guest Bedroom Mini MakeOver

One little mini project is now complete! The overwhelming desire to freshen up individual rooms comes on me like a bad cold. One minute I am fine, the next I am feverishly searching the Internet for new quilts. That's what happened Friday as I was reading while riding to Hattiesburg. Husband was driving. (It just never pays to read a Pottery Barn catalog, that's for sure.)

Pictured below is my small guest bedroom. It sort of looks like a $49 a night motel room. Yikes! Things look much worse when they are photographed in naked light! How did I let this happen?
In its defense I will say, the colors are very off in this photograph. Everything is really much greener. (Don't know if that's bad or good.)

Below is the mini-transformation. I found the chenille comforter and shams and switched it out. It's much heavier than that color block coverlet and gives a little more "fluff" to the bed.

Light is an issue in this room...too much of it. Hence, the mini blinds AND the Roman shades. Once I had everything pastel in this room, and I was nearly blinded every time I ventured into the room so I decided to go darker. The walls are Dried Grass (Wal Mart) and it's a beautiful color...much darker and richer than is showing here. That color goes with every other color on the charts! (Doesn't it, Libby?)

The headboard and footboard were once a weird color...sort of a faux copper patina turquoise. Now it's a weird faux rust color. I painted it one night with a small brush and didn't even remove the linens. I sure must have been in a hurry for some reason. I do alot of my decorating like that.

I collect redware pottery...I know, I know...but you collect what you like and I'll collect my way. Once my husband took me all the way to Lancaster, PA to see Amish country and buy redware and a quilt. I took about $200 spending money with me. Well! That was a joke. I bought one redware plate by potter Ned Foltz and found a piece of an Amish quilt in a ragbag of junk in an antique store. The total...almost all my spending money. But I framed the quilt piece, still have it in my living room and I love my redware. See quilt piece below. (Don't know what that light spot in the middle of the photo is...professional photog, I am NOT.)


My point here was that this room is 1/3 Pottery Barn wannabe, 1/3 Primitive and 1/3 I don't know what I wanna be! (Side note on the Amish vacation: we didn't know you had to be in another gear to travel in the Blue Ridge mountains and burned up our engine...had to get a new car...we could have gone to Europe for what that trip cost us! And I never did get my Amish quilt.)


This is a small prim chair that I have loved for years. I hooked the little seat and back rugs for it. Below is a small prim felt picture I picked up at Stein Mart...wait a minute...Stein Mart is going prim? I don't know, but I purchased three of the pictures and I love everyone of them! All have places of honor in the room.

Below is my simplified bedside table. I was getting clutter heavy in this room...visual noise, I call it. I don't like visual noise, it makes me nervous and on edge. We certainly don't need that, do we?

Also see above the bed, the primitive Crazy Quilt piece I scored on Ebay. I use Crazy Quilt pieces often in my decorating. I love the colors, they remind me of the colors on old beat up train cars...I've told you before how I actually enjoy being stopped at a train crossing because I love the old blues, mustards, reds and greens of OLD train cars...nut that I am.

I'll end this mini-saga by saying that all in all I am pretty happy with the way things turned out. I'll do my tweaking (aka: fluttering or accessorizing further) later, but I got a good start today!
PS: Please, join me at Metamorphosis Monday, Amaze Me and Masterpiece Monday parties...see buttons on right side to attend! Lots of good ideas!