Good Monday morning.  Quilts and plates are two of my favorite things.  Blue and white quilts and plates are my VERY FAVORITE things!

I finally finished this blue and white 12 patch quilt that I started back in the fall. It is such a simple classic pattern. You may know that I love to use men’s shirts and other old pieces of fabric in my quilts and this is one that has a lot.  They have a softness to them that new fabric doesn’t have.

I love the look of a quilt just sort of thrown over a bed like this. I wish you could feel it.  It’s so soft.

 When I began this blue and white quilt, my plan was to make a tablecloth.

Maybe there are a few too many checks going on in this room.

Or on the sofa to cozy it up in the winter.

It would be great on our bed.

Also picked up a set of 8 dinner plates and 2 bread and butter plates at GW the other day.   Hard for me to resist a blue plate for only 49cents, actually 37 cents with the senior discount!

 I plan to use them for meals but for a little while I put them in the coffee table and they make a nice contrast against the black background.

                 Blue and white quilts and plates, that’s what I love.  Oh and of course I love a cup of tea.

I’ve got a pot of tea all ready hoping you might stop by today!

                                                                      Rhondi xo

Christmas Decorating with Blue and White China

Finally started to do some Christmas decorating with some of my blue and white china.!  For the last couple of years part of my Christmas decorating has been a small tree with some of my blue and white china on it. It began as a little tree sitting on the  island in the kitchen.  Then it graduated to a larger tabletop tree.  This year I decided to go for a full size tree.  Our daughter borrowed this tree for a few years and we just got it back.  I love it because it looks like a real tree. I used pine cones gathered from the neighborhood, plastic silver and white snowflakes, blue and white china and chandelier crystals.  Needless to say it sparkles!!

Today I decided  to link up with 2 blogging friends who I haven’t visited for a long time. It’s always fun to see what other bloggers are up to!  Why don’t you come along with me?  I’m sure they would love to see you.

Mary hosts Mosaic Monday with Mary at her Little Red House blog.

Sally is hosting  Blue Monday at her Smiling Sally blog.

Hopefully in the next few days I will have got the decorating done and I’ll have you over for tea and cookies, so you can see how our home looks with its Christmas decorating with blue and white china and other good stuff..

Rhondi X0

Blue and White Quilts

Blue and white quilts again?  Can’t help myself.

Good morning dear friends

Ever since I decided to begin blogging again I have had the hardest time in being consistent with it.  So here I am again.  I finished a couple of sewing projects that I want to show you.

This first one is made with hexagons.  It is all hand sewn and took quite awhile, but I really enjoy hand sewing.  There is something about sewing by hand that is so relaxing.  I think it must cause the brain to go into a different rhythm or something.  I thought I might make a quilt but after sewing  lots of hexies, decided to cover a pillow instead.

           
           Now where to put it?  On the porch would be nice but don’t want to expose it to the elements.

                                                                   Maybe on my chaise lounge…

                                                            Or on the chair in my sunroom..

The other thing I have been working on is this quilt.  The pattern is called Irish Chain.  So simple and classic.

I wonder if you are thinking ” Enough blue and white!”  I probably have way too much of it.  I have made lots of quilts in different colors.  I’ll do  a photo gallery of all of them sometime, but I always come back to my favorite blue and white.

Do you have a favorite color combination that as much as you try to do something different , you always return to?

Rhondi xo

Joining Anything Blue Friday at The Dedicated House

Blue Mosaic Monday

We had the most beautiful weekend.  People were out walking their dogs. kids were riding bikes, joggers were running through the woods, and we were able to eat our lunch outside.  It was wonderful!

Today I decided to have some fun making collages with some of my blue things, and participate in Mosaic Monday at Mary's Little Red House and Blue Monday with Sal at Smiling Sally.

Some of my blue and white teapots.

Now make sure you take time to visit Mary and Sal to see lots of other mosiacs and blue things.  

Rhondi xo

For a Friend With Love

I love quilts.  They are so cosy and comforting.  On a cold winter day there is nothing better than to wrap up in a snuggly quilt with a hot cup of tea and a good book.

This pile of quilts on the chair is what I've been working on for the past while.  I have a dear friend whose husband died of cancer and she commissioned me to make quilts from his shirts, one quilt for each of their three adult children and one for her.

Her husband Larry, was a great guy, a fine Christian man, full of life, a good sense of humor and always thinking of others first.  As I worked on the quilts, I felt like he was watching over my shoulder, in a good way, cheering me on and enjoying the entire process.

The quilts for their sons were made with the more masculine looking fabrics.

I used some of the lighter colors for their daughter.

 I used what was left over for the quilt for my sweet friend Linda. We as parents often give our children the best and take what is leftover for ourselves, so I thought that seemed very appropriate.  I quilted their favorite bible verses from Isaiah 61 instead of quilting a traditional design.  If you click on the photo it will enlarge it and you can see it better.

When I delivered the quilts we both cried.  Sleep well my dear friend.
 
Rhondi xo

Happy Weekend

I hope you have a happy weekend. You might hit some yard sales and find a treasure like this small antique tureen I got for 25 cents. Maybe go to a farmer’s market and get some fresh flowers. I happened upon a yard sale today and got this fake bunch for $1. Hang around with some people you love. Enjoy some of the fall color. Go to a pumpkin patch.I have a very fun filled weekend planned. I’ll tell you all about it after it’s over!
What are your plans for the weekend?
Rhondi xo

The Shirt Off His Back

Awhile ago in this post, I showed you this picture and I asked you to guess what I was going to do with it.

I recovered 2 of our dining room chairs. The old covers had been clawed by our cats and were really a mess!

All the fabric except for the one with the white swirls came from men’s shirts that I bought at Goodwill and Salvation Army. It is such wonderful soft fabric to work with.

The chairs sit at either end of our table.

When we need extra seating in our living room, I just move them there and they look great and are comfortable too.

I still have some of the shirt fabric leftover. I wonder what else I could do with it?

We have a beautiful day here. Hope you do too and I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Rhondi xo

What's A Girl To Do?

I love blue and white. I love blue and white china, blue and quilts, white wicker with blue and white pillows. To me blue and white is cheerful. But blue and white are the colors of summer: light, fresh, sunny. And now fall is approaching. So as fall approaches and all the colors are the golden colors of autumn, I think maybe I need to make the house a little cosier and not quite so summery looking. I see some of your homes, with darker or warmer colors and I think maybe I want that look in my house too.

Yesterday I spent a good part of the day just playing house. I hung up a quilt on our bedroom wall that had some golds and blues in it and put a golden yellow tablecloth on the bed as a spread with our blue and white quilt on top. I took away the lily of the valley and added some yellow mums. It definitely had that golden glow of fall and our bedroom felt very warm and inviting.

This morning I washed the sheets and as I was putting them back on the bed I realised that even though I had achieved the look I was aiming for, I missed that crisp freshness of the blue and white combination.

I also made some changes to the living room yesterday, hanging a darker painting over the mantle, adding lots more books in warmer colors, adding more red. It looked good, but it just wasn't me. I was trying to imitate a look that I like in other people's homes, but it just wasn't me.

So today I decided that rather than do the seasonal decorating thing, I am going to stick with what I love, maybe even go a bit overboard with too much blue and white ( if there is such a thing!) If I need a change I'll just re arrange what I have. I might add just a splash of red in the fall or light green or yellow in the spring, but for the most part I am going to keep the sunny summery look to my house all year round.

So now I am going to remove all the fall touches that I arranged yesterday and put back the blue and white. I might leave just a little red :)

If it's not in style it doesn't matter. If people think I have too much blue and white, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that I like it. My husband doesn't really care what colors we have, so he's happy with anything I choose.

I may change my mind next week, but for today I'm sure that blue and white is the way to go. Now I'm going to change my banner and put back the Dainty Blue tea set photo which I just love!

Rhondi xo

Green And White Inside And Out

As I was cleaning our green and white guest bathroom this morning I glanced out the window this is what I saw. I abandoned my cleaning job for a moment and went outside with my camera.

Everywhere I looked it was green and white.

Green and white is such a fresh clean combination. I like a bathroom to be crisp and fresh looking and green and white gives me the look I want. I bought this print from Karen's Etsy shop just because I loved it and when it arrived I knew it would be perfect in our green and white bathroom. Every time I look at the picture I can almost smell the fresh air.This past winter I freshened up the bathroom a bit with a coat of light moss green paint, white trim, new lighting fixtures and a mirror. We had those ugly make up lights, all round a large mirror. The lights came down and 2 simple chrome ones went up in their place and I took an old mirror I had and hung it over the double sink. What a transformation for very little money. I forgot to take a "before" picture!

Recently I added a shelf above the window.Lace on the curtains softens the look.I finally found a use for these brackets that I've saved forever. A battenburg lace shower curtain from a yard sale years ago came out of the linen closet.Then I arranged a few things on the shelf, mostly stuff I had around the house plus two new white pitchers from T J Maxx.

Here is a close up of the top of the mirror. I love the classic lines of it. I got this at a church rummage sale back in PA. It was an ugly brown at the time.

It's not a very large bathroom so this was the best shot I could get.Whenever I walk down the hall and glance into the bathroom , this is what I see. Green and white , inside and out! I love it!

Hope your week is off to a good start.

Rhondi xo