Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for Karen at Scrapbook of Inspiration for making my Thankful Thursday logo. I could not figure out how to get the words on my photo and so I asked her. Didn't she do a great job? She even used my favorite quilt as the background! If you have never visited Karen, make sure you do. Her blog is so beautiful and she chooses different music each time to compliment the topic and just like the title says, her blog is "inspiring". Thank you so much Karen!

Here is another one she did for me. I couldn't decide which one I liked better so I'm using both of them!!

Some other friends have joined with me for Thankful Thursday. If you click on the daisy photo on my sidebar on the right, it will give you a list of other thankful bloggers to visit today. If you'd like to join us, let me know and I'll add you to the list. Let me know if you'll post it today or begin next Thursday.

What are you thankful for today?

Rhondi xo

Quilt

I finished a quilt yesterday. It's a lapsize, just perfect for cosying up with a good book. We'll maybe not right now with this 90 + weather we're having!
The part of quiltmaking I enjoy the most is choosing the colors and designing the pattern. This is just a simple pinwheel. When a quilt is all pieced, and I've finished quilting it and putting the binding on, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. My creation is complete.


Here is a view of the whole quilt. It is just a very simple quilt.

Love is a quilt - a quilt is love . . .Both love and a quilt should be:soft enough to comfort you,bright enough to cheer you,generous enough to enfold you,light enough to let you move freely,strong enough to withstand adversity,durable enough to last a lifetime,and given gladly, from the heart.
(Author: unknown)
I've made quite a few quilts for others lately so this quilt I'm keeping for myself.

Rhondi xo

A New Day Begins

Monday, the beginning of a new week. The washing machine is running, the dishes are done and I'm on my way out the door to do some errands. But before I get busy I just want to stop for a moment and appreciate the start of this new day.

I love the way the sun shines through the trees in the morning and highlights the leaves in my planters.
The sun makes wonderful shadows on the terra cotta strawberry planter
The sun peeks through the trees, lighting up parts of the deck.
It looks like a giant flashlight beaming down and I recall my favorite verse, "This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it."

Wait, what do I see? Do you see it?
Come a little bit closer..
closer...
There it is! Isn't this spider web amazing?
Well enough of this chit chat. I've got things to do, places to go. Hope this is a great Monday for you!

Busy as a Bee

I was taking pictures of the flowers blooming in my garden yesterday and I was able to capture this bumblebee. It was almost white, it was so covered in pollen. Isn't it amazing? Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
Rhondi xo

I Want To Thank the Academy...

I am amazed at how kind and generous bloggers are. Everyone is so encouraging and affirming and it seems that there is always an award being given for something! I want to thank my sweet friends, Mariano at Only Cute Things, Holly at Windy Corner, Ronda at Peachy Keen and Kady at Life on Bonnie Lane for giving me this award. It overwhelmed me to for all of them to think of me! I want to give this award to all of you who write blogs. You are all BRILLIANT and deserving of this award.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Rhondi xo

Thankful Thursday

Good morning. Today is Thursday, the day I remember to be thankful. I am thankful today for a roof over our heads, food, clean water to drink, hot water from the tap, electricity, a car to drive and airconditioning. Compared to the rest of the world I live in a mansion and am extremely spoiled!
I am going to put a link on my sidebar and if you would like to do a Thankful Thursday post every Thursday, I'll add your name to the list. There already are a couple who've joined!

Today I am thankful for all the conveniences I take for granted.
What are you thankful for today?

Rhondi xo

Another Hole in the Wall

I'm always having ideas to change things in our home. Occasionally I have moved all the furniture and turned the dining room into the living room and vice versa. Or I change out alot of the accessories , changing the color scheme of the room without spending money. One of my favorite things to do involves putting another hole in the wall. That's what I did this week. I took down all these plates which were in my studio because I want it to be more colorful, reflecting the style of quilts I make and the blue and white I have going on in there is too restricting. I took my handy hammer and nails and hung some of the plates in the dining room.
They are on either side of the china cabinet.
So now this leaves me with a problem....I have a bare space above the windows in my studio! I am thinking of bright colored plates, like fiesta ware, something in bright colors. I am sure I have a few plates around here somewhere! Just need to get some more plate hangers. My vision is that when you step into my sewing studio you'll feel like you're stepping into one of my quilts.

Okay, let me see where else I can hang something and make another hole in the wall...

Hope you're having a great day. It's raining here and we really need it.

Rhondi xo

Fantastic Giveaway!

I shouldn't be telling you this because it will lessen my chances of winning, but I just couldn't keep such a great giveaway to myself! Dana of Old Red Barn Co. is giving away a fabulous quilt. You need to go there quickly because she will draw the winner on Wed. July 23. Just click here to go to her blog. Good luck!
Rhondi xo

Thanks Ralph

I've always liked Ralph Lauren's style in home furnishings and clothing. But long before Ralph began to style things for the home, I saw a picture in a magazine of a blue and white bedroom by a well know decorator at the time, named Howard Kaplan. It was a huge room with a big stone fireplace and old beams on the ceiling. It was all in blue and white and I fell in love with it. I've never tried to copy the picture,but over the years it's been my inspiration for our bedroom several times. I've tried other colors but always come back to my favorite blue and white.

The picture above is how the bed looks when I add the quilt I made.

This weekend Belks had a sale and I got this blue Ralph Lauren sheet which was regularly $270 (what a ridiculous amount of money to pay for sheets!) for $68 plus tax! The sheets are SO soft. and they really fit in well with the old white bedspread I got for $2 at a yard sale and the bedskirt made with Ralph Lauren fabric which cost me $5 and the beautiful cotton monogram pillow shams which were $1 each. The main initial is "M" too which is the first letter of our last name! Oh and the new queen size matress was free from a friend! So , here is our $77 Ralph Lauren bed!

A few other personal touches. I don't think Ralph would approve of my bunnies from the Goodwill, but who cares!
A pretty little heart
A close up of the monogram
A close up of the cloth on my bedside table.
Sweet dreams!

Rhondi xo

Puttering and Dusting

Time for a little dusting. Most of you probably know I like teapots. These ones are enameled metal and are only 3" high. The detail in the painting is wonderful.
I love the colors. The little flowers are so tiny.

So much attention to detail! They nestle together with a handpainted ceramic clock.
On the top shelf of my little bookcase in the studio. A little rabbit tries to climb a fence on one shelf and on another , Peter, helps hold some of the books.

At the Goodwill the other day, I found a pretty plate with sunflowers on it and a nice yellow metal trivet with a rooster, so that meant changing things around on the kitchen counter. When I did that it made me wonder if I should have painted the kitchen yellow! Maybe I'll put the rooster in there instead of the placemat and platter.. I love the yellow with the blue. It's one of my favorite color pairs. Enough puttering for now, I need to get back to the job at hand which is painting the trim and doors in the hall.

Hope you have a great weekend. I think we are going to see the movie Mamma Mia.

Rhondi xo

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful today for my husband. He is such a good man. He is steady and faithful and has always worked hard to provide for us. He never complains even when times are tough. I don't think I've ever heard him say an unkind word about someone else. He is very quiet however, so he doesn't say much at all most of the time!
He will always go the extra mile and would give you the shirt off his back. He loves me and loves our kids. He is a man of integrity and if he's your friend, he's your friend forever. We've been married 39 years and I love him. He is not perfect and there are times when we don't agree about things. But as Ruth Graham who was Billy Graham's wife once said, "If two people agree about everything in a marriage, one of them is unecessary."
So today I am thankful for my husband. What are you thankful for?
Rhondi xo

Look What I Found

I love wicker furniture and look what I found on Saturday at a yard sale! We had finished doing the grocery shopping and were driving back home around 10:00 and drove past a yard sale just around the corner from where we live. It looked like they were selling old boards and stuff from an old storage shed they were taking down. Since it's very hard for me to resist a yard sale, especially one right in my neighborhood, I went back, taking the Jeep just in case I found something. Look what I found! It was partially hidden under some old draperies. There should be a shelf near the bottom attached to the legs, so it is a little less sturdy than it was originally. But I love the shape of it and it was very old! So I asked the man what he wanted for it. He wasn't sure and asked me what I thought it was worth. I jokingly said $5.00 and he went to discuss it with the boss, which I presume was his wife. He came back and said $7.50! I came home with a very large grin on my face!
The paint on the top is really badly cracked and peeling. I'll try scraping as much as I can but will probably have to use paint stripper . Any other suggestions of how to get the top smooth?
The first old wicker I owned was a loveseat, a chair and a rocker. It was stored in the rafters of our neighbor's garage when I was young. I don't know how many years it had been there. It had belonged to my friend's grandma, so I imagine it was 50 or 60 years old. Anyway when we bought our first house, I asked them if they still had the wicker and if I could buy it from them. They said it wasn't in very good condition and they gave it to me! It wasn't very sturdy but we glued it and fixed the springs as best we could. I lovingly painted it white and made covers for the seats out of a green with white polka dot fabric. (All these years later I still love polka dots!)
Now I have to decide where to put it and what color to paint it.

Rhondi xo

Company's Here!

The home I grew up in had a big picture window in the kitchen and we spent many happy hours there drinking tea and looking out at the garden. Our driveway came around to the back of the house and when peoople came to visit they would always come down the driveway and come to the back. Whenever someone would appear around the corner coming up the drive one of us would often call out, "Company's here!"

Well the other morning I went out to feed the fish in our little fish pond and we had company, a little box turtle! He was swimming around in our pond. After he was in our pond for a day or so it occured to us that he probably couldn't get out, so we rescued him.
He's not too sure of us. Come on little turtle poke your head out. We won't hurt you.
He's getting a little braver.
Perhaps he's camera shy?
Getting brave now. I think he's planning his escape because we came out about a half hour later and there was no sign of him. Good bye little turtle. Hope you come back for a visit again soon.

Speaking of visiting. When you have a chance, stop by and visit Denise at

Creative and Refreshing Inspirations. She is a new blogger and I know she'd love the company. Wait until you see the beautiful hutch she painted! Remember when you started to blog and how excited you were when you started to get a few comments? Actually, I still get excited every time you leave a comment!!

Have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Rhondi