Autumn Blessings From New England

Oh what a beautiful place to be this time of year!

Autumn's Beauty

The splendor of orange, gold and red

paints an image of beauty inside my head.

The colors of fall appear before me

reaching far for the hills and beyond what I see.

The crisp, clean smell of the air right now

has captured my senses off guard somehow.

The magic of Autumn with it's beauty galore

is a gift from God for us all to adore.

by Deb Boudreau

There is no prettier place to be in autumn than New England.

The air is crisp and sweet . . .

The leaves are magnificant shades of red, gold and orange . . .

The smell of burning leaves - mmmmmmm . . .
The frost is on the pumpkins . . .

The mums boast their colors . . .

Apple pickin' and candy apples . . .

Fall country fairs . . .

Speaking of country fairs, last weekend I participated in the annual "Collector's Eye Fall Festival". It is a two-day event held the last weekend in September, boasting wonderful antiques, primitives and collectibles, as well as hand-crafted offerings, art and other needfuls.

Pictured below are some of the photos I took of my setup at the fair featuring handmade creations that I have worked on all year. Some of them I featured in earlier blog posts. You may recognize them as you scroll through the photos.

Surrounded by mums, this is a sign I constructed and painted. It would be a great addition to one's bar, pub or game room.

I purchased this rustic trellis at my friend Lynn's shop, Log Cabin Antiques. I made the little "harvest blessings" sign and embellished with a swag of bittersweet from my back yard.

My friend Mollie dropped off a section of picket fence one day, so I decided to craft something with it that would be useful. I got out the power tools, screws, paint, sandpaper, etc. and this is what I came up with. A rustic bench! Not bad for a woodworking novice.

The next few photos to follow are my booth display. Please click on each image for better detail.










In this photo, I put out some homemade pumpkin mini muffins. It confused a lot of folks because inside my tent I had a "Fall Festival" candle burning. The candle smelled like pumpkin, cinnamon and all the smells associated with baking muffins. So my visitors were not sure if the muffins were real! Too funny!



This box is one of my re-do's that I featured in an earlier blog post. I simply added a mum and some bittersweet to create a colorful autumn display that would be great on a porch.





This small divided box was one that I purchased from Log Cabin Antiques. I repurposed it by hand painting a saltbox scene and adding "home sweet home" embroidered inserts. A very unique offering . . .







I had to make several yoyo's to create this embroidered table mat. Even the flower centers are yoyo's with small pompoms inside.

This is one of two wall-hangings that I completed in time for the fair. I featured this one in an earlier blog post.

Happy Fall to All

A Repurposed Collectible

From time to time I visit local antiques/collectibles shops and browse for inexpensive items that I can repurpose in some way. I have an extensive collection of vintage pieces that are waiting for a new life.

Pictured below is a skimmer/strainer with a small crack in it. It was a very inexpensive purchase, but I instantly had an idea for it when I spied it. Pictured with it are three yoyo's, a fabric leaf, a small piece of batting, some buttons, floss, a paper pattern piece, a cardboard pattern piece and the word "home" printed on a piece of paper . . . . .

. . . . . . . and this is what it became . . . . a cute little embroidered sign with yoyo flowers, great to hang from a rack, shelf, wall, etc.
I plan to repurpose several small items that I have collected and list them on Etsy at some point in the very near future. I am currently setting up my Etsy shoppe, taking time to write up my shop policies and shipping costs. I will provide a link as soon as my shoppe is ready.

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

I am back! I really need to take this opportunity to apologize for abandoning my blog for over a month. So much has occurred since my last post in July.

Please follow along as I share . . .

I am very proud to announce the birth of my granddaughter, Peyton Marie, born 8/6/09. She is God's reward for what my daughter Holly had to endure during her pregnancy. During a routine checkup, Holly showed signs of premature labor/delivery at 26 weeks into her pregnancy. From that point on she was required to spend the remainder of her pregnancy on strict bed rest. She managed to do that and keep her sanity for 12 weeks! Holly's pregnancy was considered "high risk" to begin with, as her first born son, Adam, was born at 26 weeks. He is a very healthy and energetic 8 year old now.

Welcome little "Sweet P"

In addition to Peyton's birth, I had house guests from August 3rd to the 19th. First, my niece Laurie, and her family came to visit from Michigan. I believe you all know Laurie from Downriver Primitives. We had a wonderful visit with all of them and packed many activities in during their stay, including birthday parties and a family gathering. During the same period, my mom and stepdad traveled north from Florida to spend a couple of weeks with us. I am happy to say that everyone was here for Peyton's birth and they were able to meet her before they retreated back to their homes.

During the hectic month of August, I did manage to complete a couple of projects and start others. Pictured below is a small stool that I purchased unfinished. I painted it black and distressed it. Then I designed this wool topper for it with an appliqued sheep smelling a flower.

Of course I had to embellish the little guy with buttons and real sheep curls!

With fall and winter approaching, I like to get a headstart on my holiday projects. I dug out these two items and sketched out this snowman to paint on them. The jacket is a crazy quilt design, so it will take some time to paint. I'll do a little here and there until it's finished. I will share photos later when the projects are complete.

Another event that has kept me from my blog is our home. We planned to spend all summer replacing the old siding with new and painting as we go. We seemed to have lost the beginning of our summer season to extremely rainy and cold weather conditions. This really backed up our planned schedule for the renovations. When our visitors departed, we got right to work on the project and managed to complete one end of the house. With all that went on this season, we never even took our boat out of the garage . . . oh well, maybe next year!

Now that school has resumed, I am once again caring for my two grandkids, Jack and Norah. I have them full-time during the week as their mom is a school teacher. So far, the weather has been nice and we have already gone on a picnic to the park and a couple of stoller rides. Life is good!

Finally, as I wrap up this post, I left you with a mystery project in my last post. I pictured pieces of various items including bits and pieces of wool, a vintage crocheted collar, thread, buttons and paper pattern pieces and asked for guesses, but got none. As you scroll down, you will see how the bits and pieces have developed.........

She is not complete yet, but I think she will end up as a pillow.

I am happy to be back!

To see what others are working on today, check out Leslie's blog, My Country Home.