A Quiet Start to a Busy Day

Good morning friends.

As you can see I've added a picture to my title banner. This is where I start my day. Isn't it a beautiful spot? Every morning I make a cup of tea and sit in my chaise lounge with my bible and my journal. I get some inspiration and encouragement for the day, write down some of my thoughts and get ready to face the day. In the winter I cuddle under the quilt. I can watch the sunrise and listen to the birds in the woods. It is a wonderful way to start each day.

I don't know about you but every year as soon as Christmas is over I just want to get all the Christmas stuff away and get my home in order. I clean out closets, sort drawers and get bags and boxes of things to take to Goodwill. It is such a good feeling to be in control. At this time of year I want to declutter my home. This declutter mode doesn't last too long as I am a born collector and so bit by bit the temporarily bare surfaces get things arranged on them again. I am sure many of you can identify with me! But I do get my home more organized and get rid of the stuff I know I don't need. Of course you know how that goes. As soon as I throw it out I will find a need for it next week!

Before Christmas I had begun to redo our kitchen. It is the original kitchen from the 1960's. I am on a very limited budget so all I can afford is paint, new hardware and maybe some tiles for the backslpash. Right now it is all white with beige laminate on the counters and butcher block laminate on the island. I am going to keep the cabinets white , the trim white and the walls lime green, and try to paint the laminate counters. We had lime green with white trim in the dining room in a previous house and it looked great with all my blue and white china, so I am trying it again. So that is my project for January.

Do you make new year's resolutions? I don't do new year's resolutions, but I often reflect on the past year. We watch too much TV in the evening and I want to try to read a little more instead of watching TV. I don't like sex or bad language or violence in books. One of my favorite authors is Rosamunde Pilcher. I like books that are inspiring, autobiographies, good fiction, true stories. Any good books you could recommend?

Well back to the great clean up. Hope that you have a wonderful day and that whatever you do brings you a sense of joy or fulfillment.

Rhondi

Awards

Good morning friends

One of the fun things I have discovered about blogs, besides how amazingly wonderful all the bloggers are, is that people are always giving awards.

Andrea at Southern Heart http://truesouthernheart.blogspot.com/ gave these awards to me.

There are many blogs that I love so it took me awhile to decide who to give them to, but I've finally decided. I want to give them to

Kari & Kijsa at Ask Kari & Kijsa http://kariandkijsa.blogspot.com/ and to

Mary at Across the Pond http://devondesigns-mary.blogspot.com/

Their blogs are great and they are special ladies too. Hope you'll go and make a visit.

I am going to have a very lazy day today and just relax after all the busyness of the last couple of days. Hope you have a little time to do what would makes you happy today too.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my new blogging friends.

I have only been blogging since November and it has been so much fun. I had no idea how many talented, creative, kind people there were out there in blogland. I have met so many wonderful people! You are all GREAT!! And I hope to meet lots more of you too.

Hope you all are more ready for Christmas than I am. Only 2 more days! I found this cute wooden Advent calendar tree at a local thrift shop the other day. Since I just got it a few days ago I didn't bother to fill the little doors with goodies, but next year I will have fun finding little treasures to fill it.

Today is Sunday so we are off to a very special Christmas service. Amidst all the busyness of the season it is so easy to forget the real reason we celebrate.

I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas. Hope you make lots of good memories this year. My prayer for all of you is that you can experience the joy peace and love that came to the earth on that special Christmas years ago. Just like the angels said , it is good news!

Thanks to all of you who read my blog and for all the kind comments you've left.
Rhondi xo

Thanks

Hi blogging friends.
Since we've been away on vacation in Florida I haven't written as often as I had been. Blogging sure is fun isn't it? I have made so many wonderful friends since I began this blogging journey only a few weeks ago!
I am amazed at how kind everyone is. My friend Carol from Katherine's Dream gave me an award! What a lovely surprise! Thanks Carol.
Along with this award I am supposed to give 7 facts about myself:

1. I love blue & white china and have too much. Does that count as two?

2. I am addicted to designing and making quilts.

3. I have been on TV three times.

4. I grew up in Canada.

5. I love to garden. I think that's where we were meant to live. That's where God put Adam & Eve, in a garden.

6. I believe you can never have too much fabric.

7. I have THE MOST BEAUTIFUL grandchildren in the world!

So I want to give this award to Angela at Cottage Magpie and Penny at Lavender Hill Studio. (I am still new at this and don't know how to have you click on their name and be able to go right to their website, but they are listed on the Blogs I Love to Visit so you can find them there.) Hope you'll go and visit them!
Only 4 days until Christmas. Are you ready? I'm not.

Holiday Open House

Hi friends

Welcome to my holiday open house and thanks to Tracey at Notes From a Cottage Industry for organizing it. Make sure you go to her blog to see a list of other open houses. Come on in out of the cold. I've been expecting you.
The lights are on in my little house collection on the bookshelf.
The candle lights on the tree in our kitchen are sparkling.

The tree in our living room is filled with family ornaments collected over the yeras.
The little tree on our breakfast table displays some of my blue & white china.
The stockings are hung on the mantle.Extra ornaments that didn't fit on the tree add a little bling in other places around my house. Vintage pink balls in a crystal dish on my wicker desk.

Red balls and red glass beads adorn the chandelier in the dining room.
Another corner gets a splash of gold.
The table is set for dinner.

A close up view.
If you have time I'd love it if you could stay for a cup of tea. I just made a fresh pot and cookies are fresh out of the oven.
Thanks for coming to visit! Keep warm if you are in one of the places that got hit with winterstorms this week.

Please take just a minute and leave a comment so I know you visited.

Merry Christmas and God Bless You..... Rhondi

If this is your first visit to my blog there are more open house pictures on my Dec.12 post which yoiu might enjoy :)

Baby It's Cold Outside

Here we are in sunny Florida and it is freezing out!! So until it warms up a little I figured I may as well do some sewing. These are a couple of blocks I have sewn. It's a wonky Christmas tree. I decided it might be fun to do it in non traditional colors so it's greens and pinks with a little red thrown in. Of course I had to add polka dots somewhere!

Tomorrow I plan to have my home open for the holiday tour that Tracey of Notes From A Cottage Industry is hosting, so I hope you come back tomorrow and visit!

See you then and I hope this is a wonderful day for you .

Going to Florida

We are heading off to Florida for a week, so you may not hear from me for a few days. Here is a picture of our grandaughter her first Christmas. I made the little outfit for her and her mom took this picture. I just love it. Doesn't she look just like a little doll. She's 3 now but still just as cute!! I'll talk to you in a few days.
Rhondi xo

Christmas Open House

Hi welcome to our home. I've got the candles lit, the music playing. I'm all ready for you. Come in. Make yourself at home. The New York Beauty quilt I made hangs in the front hall.
I put some greenery along with my brass candlestick collection on the living room mantle.A little gold angel sits beside the picture.

Our very traditional tree is in the corner. It's filled with old family ornaments and an assortment of things past down over the years. The red dining room is ready for Christmas all year long. My new red & white tea set and some holly from the garden decorate a side table. I love the way the light shines a reflection on the wall at this time of day.

A little closer view. Even the chandelier gets dressed up for the occasion!
In our TV room the mantle gets greens and red apples. Some more of my candlesticks get red plaid bows. Mr and Mrs Santa look great with the green plates behind them.
I got this funny little wire tree a few years ago and hung a whole lot of little red wooden hearts and birds that I had saved for many years. It sits on the hearth in the TV room. On our breakfast table I placed a little tree filled with some of my blue and white china. I have lots of it, nothing too valuable but all interesting or pretty.

Our kitchen tree has little candle lights, red apples, red wooden bead garland and some special little things that have special meaning for me.
It looks lovely at night.
The hutch beside the kitchen tree gets some special Christmas decor too.


What do I love about my holiday home?

Special family ornaments, like this glass bunch of grapes that have been passed down through the family.

Little things that remind me of family, like this doll my mom had hanging in her studio.
Memories of those special Christmases as a child in Canada when it would magically snow on Christmas Eve. Now the only snow I see is in this little snow globe.Handmade decorations from friends and family, like these ones painted by one of my mom's folk art students, Senta. They are 15 " tall.

Things painted by family members. My sister did this one to represent our daughter.
The best thing I like about my home are the framily and friends who come to visit. This is a wonderful time of year for all of us to reflect on our blessings and to remember why we do all this at this time of year. Jesus is the reason for the season.
I'd love for you to stay longer but I know you have other homes to visit today so please come back when you have more time and I'll put the kettle on and make us a cup of tea. To see the other open houses visit Karla's blog where they are all listed:

http://karlascottage.typepad.com/

Thanks for visiting. Hope you'll come back and visit me again. I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment so I knew you were here.
Rhondi xo

Getting Ready for Company

Tomorrow is the Holiday Open House that Karla has organized. So today I am puttering and tidying . Just thought I'd show you a couple of close ups of my trees. This little wooden doll belonged to my mom. When you pull the red ball her arms and legs go up. Isn't she cute? A crocheted snowflake given to me by one of my students years ago when I taught school and a beautiful glass garage sale find.
The tree on our breakfast table covered with some of my blue & white china.
A pine cupboard in my studio filled with more blue & white. I don't have any decorations in my studio but since it's open to the kitchen I tidied up so it will look nice when you come to the open house tomorrow. If you are a quilter you know how satisfying it is to have all your "stash" organized and how quickly it gets in disarray again!
A great find yesterday at Goodwill: Mary Engelbreit's Christmas book for $1. I've just made the tea and am going to sit by the tree and enjoy my new book. Stay awhile if you can. There's enough tea for you too!

Thanks for visiting!
Rhondi xo

Friends

Saturday night we had some dear friends come for dinner. I like to have company because it makes me want to fluff things up a little more around the house. So I set the table, lit the candles, got the soup on the stove and put some baked brie in the oven to heat up. By the way it was very good.


As we waited for them to arrive I noticed that the sky was turning pink and it was a beautiful mild evening. I had my little Christmas houses all lit up.

The ornaments on the tree were sparkling. The Christmas music was playing in the background. All was ready for our guests. They came. We talked. We laughed. We dined. We sipped some wine . We ate some chocolate.


Aren't friends wonderful? I am thankful for the friends we have, every one unique, every one lovable, everyone special, every one a gift from God. I am thankful for you too, all my BF's (blogging friends). Thanks for visiting me today. You make my day happy!

Rhondi xo