My Yellow Farmhouse

Let the Decorating Begin

I've started pulling down the autumn decorations and getting ready to pack them away for another year.

Mr. Farmhouse has dragged out the decorations that are stored under the stairs

so that he can get to the tree and get that put together and up

Then the fun can start :).

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday.  Ours was wonderful with great food - (the turkey turned out amazing this year I have to say) - and family time.  We are always together once a year at Thanksgiving or Christmas and this year it was Thanksgiving which means I host it.  The weather was beautiful for a picture outside

The only one missing is my sweet DIL - who had to work and we missed her very much :).

See you back here very soon with a giveaway.  Because my goal of blogging everyday and drawing a name each week when I completed a week didn't happen except once (whew that was a run on sentence wasn't it) - will have a drawing where everyone can throw there name in the hat - how does that sound :).  Let's make it something holidayish OK :). 

Until Next Time

Crazy Time on The Lake

I woke up on Sunday morning to see this on the beach

Yes those are geese and they were in front of our place in the water and on the beach - AND were like that the whole way up the beach to several other homes - I couldn't get them all in the picture.  There had to be at least 200 geese if not  more and I'm thinking there were lots more.  If felt like an episode of the The Birds - remember that movie.  I felt like maybe I shouldn't turn my back on them.  If Mr. Farmhouse had been home he would have gotten out the air gun and popped a few in the butt, but no he was off hunting somewhere else - who knew he could have stayed home and had his fill in his own backyard, lol.  They stayed there for over 4 hours.  I tried going out and clapping my hands - complete with slippers on I might add - and they would squawk and fly out a little and then come back.  I gave up because there were just to many.  My neighbor finally came with a gun and off they flew and I haven't seen them since.  Dang I bet that beach is covered in you know what.

Another pretty site tho today on the lake

The ice is starting to form and it won't be long and it will be thick enough to move the ice houses onto it.  BUT some people just can't quite give up

they want to fish from there boat until the bitter end - man that water has got to be cold.  I love watching the ice close in the lake and I love watching it melt during the spring.  Every season on the lake is beautiful I think.

Tomorrow is woolies and we've all be instructed by Ms. Denise to bring certain things - should have some good show and tell.

Until Next Time

 

Some More Autumn Inspiration

Thanks for the sweet comments on my fall decorating.  Mr. Farmhouse and I did some hanging of pictures and moving things around.  Yes I was right in how some of the visions in my head didn't match up to reality, but some adjustments were made and it's going to be a "let's live with it for awhile" or as the Mister says - for 2 months until I change my mind again, lol.  Anyway we are slowing making progress - tomorrow more fun to be had, lol.

Last night was the monthly gathering of our sewing group - which includes the peeps and a few others.  I told  Peep Caroline that I needed blog material and could I take some pics of her darling house to share with you all - she graciously let me do just that.  I realize I didn't take many pictures of her kitchen and a cute part of her bathroom - oh well I'll be back at Christmas - hear that Caroline, lol.

They just added a new porch to the front of the house and this cute piece was by the door

In her sunroom

Let's step into her kitchen

my purse is such a lovely addition to her decor, lol

I love these funky pumpkins on her kitchen table and what a great quilt underneath

So let's meander into the living room now for some more inspiration

Down the hall - 2 great wool pictures

cute bathroom cabinet

even the sink has a little something something

down the hall a little farther is a bedroom - I love this quilt on the bed - Kansas Troubles from a several years back

I also did this quilt and love it- Bulls Eye by Country Threads

the master bedroom with a family heirloom bedroom set

we had a little show and tell last night as well - Gail just about finished up her little applique project - just needs a couple of little buttons on the flowers

she even has the frame at home ready to pop that baby in it - great job Ms. Gail

You saw this quilt from the retreat post a few posts back - but now it's quilted

how wonderful is the quilting on this quilt

my goodness Ms. Penny did a beautiful job on the quilting.

Well this was a picture heavy post wasn't it.  Hope your inspired :)

Until Next Time

A Little Fall From the Farmhouse

Happy Saturday everyone - hope it's been a good one so far.  I took off early this morning to get to a craft show not to far away.  I needed to do a little Christmas shopping for my Mom and wanted to have the best pick of these

Wonderful mittens made from old sweaters.  One of the woolies makes these for sale and does a beautiful job.  I gave these for Christmas gifts a few years back to my family members - ladies of course, lol.  So Mother Tother the mitten mission is complete and I'm sure those your giving these to will love them. 

Last week I attended a fundraiser dinner for a family in need in town and bid on a nice selection of handmade birthday cards at the silent auction.  Yahoo I WON - they were packaged very cute

and the cards were adorable

and each envelope for each card had something sweetly stamped on it as well.  I'm set for birthdays for awhile :).

Well I'm feeling that little itch (way back there) to start decorating for Christmas and I'm fighting it, lol.  So I thought I would share a few areas around the house that have been decorated for fall before it comes down.  I kept it pretty simple this year knowing that we wouldn't be around a lot to enjoy it.  Plus simple is getting better and better for me.  Before that I'm going to share the before pics for you of  this mudroom (complete with shoes I'm to lazy to pick up)  that's going to have a change this coming week.  Sure hope it looks as good in person as it does in my head.  I did discover tho in thinking about this plan that I missed having a electrical outlet in a certain spot - not sure how I missed that one

A new piece of furniture has arrived here and of course that's going to mean tweaking and moving which I'm very excited about.  Actually the piece has been here for over a week and is parked in the garage (do you know how hard that is, lol).  I need help moving stuff around (amazing how 1 piece can get the wheels of change moving isn't it).  Anywho I needed to wait until the end of deer hunting which for Mr. Farmhouse was this morning.  So I told him to strap on the tool belt and get ready cuz stuff is happening next week, lol - I think he's afraid :).  Bless his heart he always goes with the flow - gotta love that about him.

I came across a picture in a book awhile back about how they had an old door on their front porch and decorated it for the season - loved that idea, they had theirs attached to the house - not sure I want it that permanent, so for now it's leaning.  I might paint it in the spring if I still want it there - so I found one and here's what's happening there for fall.  Yes I know the door is upside down - but I wanted to knob to be higher than it would have been if it was right side down, lol

don't ya love this chair

bought on my travels with the beeps to the Des Moines quilt show.  They graciously crammed found space to get it into the fun mobile for the ride home :).  Well that was after they talked me into bringing it home lol.

Inside the front door there will changes as well - which again involves the old tool belt - but here's a few fall pics

This is a new piece to the farmhouse - used to have it at the store and now it's living here :)

I love this little carrier and decorate it for the seasons

above a kitchen cupboard

my scale from the store - love it - oops looks like the pumpkin shifted a bit

in the family room (I have a Christmas movie on, lol) - there's wood in the fireplace, looks like Mr. Farmhouse is planning a fire tonight - love it

So that's it for now - pretty simple this year which like I said I like.  I think I will grab a cup of tea and sit down and look through those new Christmas decorating books and magazines I've gotten and see if I can't make that itch just a little quieter or louder, lol.  I know my Mom would like to have the Farmhouse decorated for the holidays when she comes on Thanksgiving.  It's the only time she gets up here during the holidays so I would love to do that for her if I can.  So stay tuned and see what I end up doing. 

Until Next Time

Snowflakes In The Air

Yup that's what I'm seeing right now.  Sitting here looking across the lake I can't see town - but it's not getting wet on the patio like rain - so I look closely and what do my wandering eyes see - but little snowflakes dancing in the wind.  Nothing that's going to stick to the ground - but pretty just the same :).

So my goal of blogging everyday didn't happen - but I'm here now.  I asked Mr. Farmhouse to pick a number for last week's winner of my weekly giveaway and he picked #1 - from the first post.  Why did he pick that number - well it has to do with deer hunting and I'll leave it at that, lol.  So Julie Forlsev your the winner :).  Something fun will be on your way by Friday.

I thought I would share a couple of goodies that have come to the Farmhouse recently.  First off is a sweet little sewing needle keeper that I purchased from my sweet friend Susie over on Ebay - the front has this wonderful old button- isn't that a great one - did I mention I LOVE buttons, lol.

and the inside is so wonderful

isn't that just perfect - I mean stars and a crow - it was just screaming my name.  I hope the link works for you to check out her items - I've bought several things from her in the past and am always thrilled with everything that I have received.

Another purchase that I made was from Patti over at Winding Vines blog.  If you pop over there and go a couple of posts down you can be linked to where she sells her wonderful creations and she sews them all by hand - doesn't even have a sewing machine :).  How sweet is the card and how it's wrapped

here's the darling pillow inside the wrapping - which is on the picture on the front of the card - how dang clever is that :)

so cute - can't wait to add it to the Christmas decorating.  I've also bought several things from her in the past and love each and every one of them.  Both ladies are so sweet to deal with.

Saturday one of the peeps and I had the fun of going on a tour of 4 homes decorated for the holidays benefiting scholarships for young woman.  The original yellowfarmhouse was on this tour back in 2007 - click here for a link back to some posts regarding that time.  Anyway we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the homes we toured - but we saw some very nice homes that were decorated beautifully.  I did take a picture outside at one of the homes of this crock (hey Anne this is what I was talking about)

this was at the same house and loved this as well

Here's a random picture from when we visited my brother back in October - how fun are all of these pumpkins - that's my bro sitting there waiting for us to be done shopping, lol.

This was in the town of Delafield, WI and they were having a pumpkin lighting ceremony that night - each of those pumpkins had an electric light inside of it - I bet that was a sight to see.

Until Next Time

Quilts From Houston

Let's take a little looky at the quilts from the show in Houston.  There were some really beautiful ones that I wasn't able to take photo's of because that wasn't allowed on those particular ones.  But I was able to take some in other areas.

So let's take a look see shall we

always liked this pattern

Until Tomorrow

 

It's Ok To Change Your Mind - Right

While at market last weekend I of course had to visit Primitive Gatherings booth to see what was new.  When I came close to the booth I could see this - the summer block of the week from this past summer

WOW - it was so pretty in person.  Now yes I did sign up for this one and yes I have the kits all nicely tucked into a bin of their own ready to start on in the very near future (one of those kits I was contemplating the other day, lol).  When I saw the finishing kit on Lisa's blog I wasn't very excited about it and decided not to purchase it (and that was wrong).  So in chatting with Lisa I found out there are still some kits available for the finishing kit - yup you guessed it, it's on it's way to my house now, lol.  So see it's OK to change your mind - and that's my story and I'm sticking to it :)

Until Tomorrow

 

Retreat

Thanks for the sweet comments regarding Ms. Cami - she is our little buddy and certainly not spoiled at all, lol.

A few weeks back the peeps and beeps attended the annual fall retreat not to far away from the Farmhouse.  It's a great facility with great lodging, food and sewing space.  During the day the light is fantastic and at night it works great to.  The beeps and peeps are all together so we can chat and laugh

Let's get on to some show and tell from those girls - first off is DD who had all of her blocks either stitched or fused and ready to go from Prim Gatherings summer block of the week - way to go DD

she also did this adorable little quilt that was in the American Patchwork summer magazine - the pattern actually had 4 of these to make a wall hanging, but she just made 1 - who knew you could do that, lol

A project from The Prairie Women's Sewing Circle that JuJu is finishing up - notice how she quilted circles in the background

DD is going to add jumbo rick rack to hers

CA was a busy girl finishing up this quilt - without border

with border

I believe this quilt is called Apple Crisp and is also from an American Patchwork issue

She also was working on this one - can't remember the name sorry

PH made several of these during the weekend for Christmas gifts for next year -

yes that's right next year, she believes in planning ahead, lol.  This years gifts were done last February.  I should try that sometime - who am I kidding I like the stress of waiting until the last minute, lol.

GB finished up a sweet quilt

then decided to reward herself with a new pair of mittens

made by someone there who was making them from old sweaters. 

Then there was some wonderful "big people" ice cream drinks being offered - who could refuse, I happened to snap GB in action - yummmmm

LL worked very hard all weekend to get the nine patches done for this quilt so that she could put it together

and she made it with about 15 minutes left of retreat - way to go LL - it's beautiful.  Many probably recognize this from Prim Gatherings summer block of the week from 2010.  LL and I both signed up after the fact and had it as a block of the month and hers is done.

So what did I work on - well the nine patches from the above quilt

then I worked on the blocks for this quilt

finished up the applique for block #2 of Folk Art Blooms by Buggy Barn

I did this through Buggy Barn as a block of the month, but I'm adding some wool snippets to each block - gotta have wool ya know, lol.

Then I prepped this applique block for the Evening Blooms quilt I'm going to be starting

Today I enjoyed a beautiful view from my sewing nest

while I cleaned up the space and contemplated just how many projects a person should have started at one time - how many do you have going at once :)

Until Tomorrow

11/1/11

Crazy isn't it - not only is it November already - but look at the date - that sure doesn't happen very often.  I bought the sign in the above picture on the getaway I took with Mr. Farmhouse up to the Duluth area.  The sign says "Autumn - the year's last, loveliest smile".  Isn't that just a pretty way to look at the autumn time of the year.  I just love it.

Life has been busy here at the Farmhouse with lots of different happenings and mini trips.  I just got home very very late last night from my trip to Int'l quilt market in Houston with Kari. Where Kari taught a class and I did some shopping for my business.  Why does the traveling day coming back from a trip always wipe me out.  I'm sure the late arrival of our flight, the trip home from Fargo (which is another hour and 15 minutes) and not being able to shut down my brain when I climbed into bed sure didn't help. 

 

Anyway it's a quiet day here and it's a beautiful overcast fall day - just perfect for regrouping and I have a little partner who was so excited to see me when I got home last night and hasn't left my side since.  Nothing like "weiner dog love" as we call it here at the farmhouse.

I've enjoyed every little getaway I've been lucky enough to go on this fall.  But now I'm looking forward to nesting and getting ready for the holidays - because there's nothing on the calendar that involves packing or being gone for more than a few hours.  So in honor of that - I'm going to give it the old college try and "attempt" to blog everyday in November.  Let's see if I can do it OK and in celebration I will pick a name each week to win a little something autumn or holiday related.  That's incentive to keep checking in isn't it :).

Until Tomorrow