Thankful Thursday

Today is Thursday, when I think about what I am thankful for. If you click on the daisy on the right it will take you to a list of others who are posting about what they are thankful for too.

Today I am thankful for the wonderful people who have come into my life over the last few years: my dear quilting friends who I spent the weekend with, wonderful friends from church, and all you sweet generous bloggers who encourage me, challenge me, entertain me and just generally all round bless me!

I am thankful for the surprise I received from dear Mary Jane of The Beehive Cottage.

Yesterday I went to the mailbox expecting the usual bills and junk mail.
But wait, it looks like I have an interesting package.
and it's for me!

It's wrapped in lovely paper with a beautiful handmade tag.
The tag has a pretty blue (wonder how she knew I liked blue?) yo yo on it.
Inside I found 2 handmade crocheted dishcloths. This may sound silly, but I've wanted some just like these for a long time. Someone makes them for my daughter in law and I always like using them when I visit her.
Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness Mary Jane.

I am also thankful that the flood waters in the woods out back subsided very quickly, and they didn't quite reach our property line.

What are you thankful for today?

Rhondi xo

Thanks Fay

It rained most of yesterday and all night long here, courtesy of tropical storm Fay. This is what we woke up to this morning. The creek in the woods has flooded almost up to our property line. This is the view from our deck .
I hope that the deer found higher ground.


This is the road into the swim and raquet club down the street. All the tennis courts and pools are under water.

We usually enter the woods here each morning on our walk. Someone else was out taking photos too.
But the rain is over. The sun is beginning to rise.
The sky is clearing.
The sun is shining through the trees.
Hopefully there is no more rain in the forecast. I plan to stay home and work on some quilts today.

Rhondi xo

Weekend With The Girlfriends

I'm spending the weekend with my quilting girlfriends. We will do lots of talking, laughing, eating, and maybe even get some sewing done.

Hope you enjoy your weekend too.

Rhondi xo

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for little things: the morning glory blooming, a cooler temperature on our morning walk, a phone call from our 4 year old granddaughter in Texas yesterday, seeing a friend today who has moved to Brazil, the bright yellow of a goldfinch at the birdfeeder, seeing the goldfish all swim to the surface as soon as I approach the pond to feed them, the sound of the newspaper rustling as my husband reads it in the next room, spending this weekend with my girlfriends sewing quilts, the zephyranthes blooming.
I am also thankful for all the friends I've made through blogging.

Remember when you first started your blog and how exciting it was when you began to get a few comments? Well, actually it's still exciting isn't it?I've recently met two girls who are new to blogging: Mimi Sue has a lovely new house with a great front porch in an old historic neighborhood. I'll have to make sure she joins our front porch party next year. Sue, collects blue and white dishes. We are instant kindred spirits! I'm sure they would love it if you stopped by.

Don't forget to click on the daisy on the right to visit others who are posting today for thankful Thursday. So what are you thankful for today!

Rhondi xo

Morning Glory

I was very excited when I went outside this morning and saw the first bloom on my morning glory. I planted the seeds very late this year. In honor of my morning glory blooming, I have made my blog blue again, like it originally was and I've got my dainty blue tea set ready in case you have time for a cup of tea today. I love blue. There is blue in my garden in the summer.
Blue in the garden in the spring.
Blue in our home all year round.
What can I say! I love blue! I love lots of colors, but blue is my favorite. Did I ever tell you I think blue is God's favorite color too? Look how much blue he used when he created the earth; all the sky and water. Green is probably a close second.

What is your favorite color?


A very belated thank you to Michelle for this sweet award. I pass this on to all of you creative bloggers out there. There are so many of you, it's hard to choose one!
Thanks to Kathy for this delightful award. I want to pass it on to anyone who has ever left me a comment. You have all been so KIND, TRUSTING, HONEST and CARING. You are a remarkable group of ladies and I appreciate every one of you each time you take the time to leave me a comment.

Hope your day is filled with blue skies. I'm praying for those of you in Florida in the path of tropical storm Fay, that you'll be safe.

Rhondi xo

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

I've always liked to buy second hand books. I buy books for lots of reasons:I like the author, or it has an interesting cover. This book met both those criteria. I think the gold leaves on the side are so pretty. I buy books that I've always wanted to read or that remind me of my childhood. This set by Winston Churchill fulfilled that role. I have the whole set of 5 and I plan to read them some day. Here I've used that decorating technique of stacking things on books. It really helps when you need to vary the height of things.
I buy books because I like the color.

Lately I've been buying books with patterned covers. This art nouveau look is attractive.
and look at the colorful designs on these Reader's Digest Condensed books.
I liked the pattern on this little book too. It goes perfectly with my Delft pieces.
Recently I've read 2 of the books that I bought because I liked the color. One was a red book: The Word by Irving Wallace. The other was a yellow book: Johanna by Claire Cooperstein which was a novel about the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh. I discovered that the inside was just as good as the outside.

So what color shall I read next? Blue? Yellow? I think I'll choose yellow next: The Covenant by James Mitchener.

Who said you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover?

Rhondi xo

That's More Like It

On Monday I showed you this and this
After four days, it's done. Remember when I painted my kitchen lime green? Well I just loved it with all my blue and white china, but when I looked into the kitchen from our red dining room or the TV room which also has a lot of red , it really bothered me. So, I knew the green had to go.

Here's the new color combination in the kitchen. I gathered up all the red and some of the yellow things I had and mixed them with my favorite blue and white china.

I painted the walls the same yellow which I have in other parts of our home. This little print I had is perfect.
I painted the hutch the same red as the dining room walls. When I hung those plates on my dining room wall last week and saw how good they looked against the red, I knew this would be a great look.

This fun Mary Engelbreit rug came out of a guest bedroom. It was a great find about 5 years ago. It's about 4 feet square and I got it on sale for only $15.
I removed the doors from the cabinet above the stove and filled it with more things. I still have to paint the inside of that today. The space above the cabinets will have blue and white plates again but I need to find a couple of red and white ones to add a little variety, so they're not up yet.

Picking up the red and white with some accessories on the counters.
A friend of mine painted those little people. They are salt and peppers
I thought this picture looked good on the counter too.
The little salt and peppers I found last week fit in perfectly.

The blue glass is still in the window. It is actually cobalt blue, not aqua like it looks in the photo, so it is a perfect color with the red and yellow. I'll replace a couple of the plates with red and white when I find them.
Looking from the kitchen into the dining room. It pleases my eye so much better than when it was green.
Looking from the kitchen into the TV room. So much better.
Looking from the dining room into the kitchen and beyond into my studio. Everything flows together nicely. If you click on this photo it will enlarge and you can see something new I am doing in my studio.
I am so happy with how it all turned out and all it cost me was 2 gallons of paint. The room still need some more tweaking, but I love how it's turned out so far.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Rhondi xo

Thankful Thursday

We have been watching the news, seeing the attack in Georgia and watching the Olympics as I'm sure many of you have. Wasn't the opening ceremonies an amazing production! I got to thinking what it would be like to live in those countries, one under attack and one controlled by communism. As I thought about it I became very thankful that I lived here in the United States, where we have freedom. So today I am thankful that I live in America.

Don't forget to click on the daisy on the sidebar at the right to visit other bloggers who are participating in Thankful Thursday.

What are you thankful for today?
Rhondi xo