Favorite Florida Christmas Trees

These are not typical Christmas tree colors. Yet they are perfect colors for the great room decor.

I enjoyed acquiring the glass ornaments for my flamingo tree and also enjoy seeing it decorated. You DO know I collect tasteful flamingos!


These three magenta trees that added the holiday spirit to the master bedroom now reside in my middle son’s pool house.
Over the years I have decorated so many trees. I have not documented each and everyone with photos.

As November Winds Down, Christmas Is On My Mind

I gave the majority of my Christmas decorations to my middle child recently. He had already started using them to decorate when the family was there for Thanksgiving.
But I still have the minority of them and even that is a lot.
I found some things I love and have done a little decorating.
I don’t do the amount of decorating I once did as I am not in just one place for the holidays.

My Santas come out every year, but never in the same place twice.

He’s sitting on my copper wash boiler this year.

I enjoy seeing the chandeliers decorated.

My newly redecorated breakfast area looks like Christmas all year round!
Putting things up is fun….taking them down after the holidays is what I don’t enjoy!
I have a few other things I’ve put out. It’s possible there could be more.

Thanksgiving 2018 Out Takes

Some of the members of my Florida family really enjoy having their picture taken. I'm not so sure Madeline enjoyed the ride as much as her big brother did at the same age.

Not every grandparent has a Merry Go Round on their dining room table for their grandbabies!

Tucker is the only GUY I know who LOVES to have his picture taken and his beautiful sister is enjoying the photo shoot!


Drew arrived late but there was still food for him.




 Greatlookingfamily….and there’s that guy who loves to have his picture taken again! He’ll never see these as he hardly uses the internet!


He’s photobombing another picture.

Ryder is learning a few tricks from that uncle.

Andrew was having fun peeking at me through the doorway and then hiding and reappearing.

Lauren admitted Tucker is her favorite son and Ali is her favorite daughter…shhh, it’s a secret!

Tina didn’t want Andy to wear this shirt AGAIN! So he did!!!!

But he did change after dinner.
AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
THE END

Sharing Our Florida Family Thanksgiving

I’m thankful for my wonderful Florida family that has grown in the years I have spent the holiday with them.

I call this the “grown ups” table.Left to right Sally, Larry, Chris and our hostess and host, Tina and Andy are on the right. We all sure appreciate their willingness to provide a welcoming place for all the holidays and occasions.

Andy’s family: Ben, Megan, Sarah and Drew enjoying time together after dinner.


Lauren’s family: Trevor, Tucker, Ali, Lauren and Sean.

Megan, Ben and Andrew -Madeleine was either napping or with someone else who loves her.


Andy with his favorite teenager: Kendall

Andy and Ted: Brotherly love!


Tina with Madeleine.

Laney holding the newest family member Madeleine who is 1 1/2 months old.

Remember you saw him first here. Some day when you see him as a top country music star, remember the name: Ryder Roberts!

It was a long tiring chocolate day for Andrew and Clifford!
THE END

Breakfast Area Redo

I bought “new to me” chairs and a table.
You won’t see the table in these pictures as I am using it elsewhere.

I had the chair seats recovered with fabric I already had as the fabric on the chairs did not fit in my decor. All the things you see in this picture were things I already had.

This shows off the new upholstery on one of the chairs. They are much more comfortable that the antique straight chairs I had been using. I am continuing to use the antique table as it is one of my prized possessions partially because of the story about how we acquired it and also because of it's unique base.


I created the table setting with things I already had. I switched my kitchen and dining room dishes. Everything you see in this table setting was already somewhere in this house.
I really enjoy using what I have and finding new ways to put things together.
I am going to enjoy using this area and inviting friends to eat and relax in this new area!

Thanksgiving Through The Years

This was the first year the men spent Thanksgiving in my studio. Must have been around 20 years ago.

Thanksgiving at Karen and Jerry’s….beautiful table setting.

Family Thanksgiving at my brother Bill’s and SIL Mary’s at their historic house on the lake.

My FL family celebrating Thanksgiving one last time at the lake house.

Thanksgiving with my friend Kay at her family’s ranch.

Thanksgiving at my neighbors Ken and Bettys.

Thanksgiving at Cody’s Road House with my FL family. No matter how old they are, boys will be boys!

One of many Thanksgivings with my FL family. This was last year at the safe house.

Another one from last year: Lauren with grands Ryder and Laney. I’ve known Lauren since she was  a baby!

One final picture from last Thanksgiving showing the last time I’ll be bringing the gravy boats as Andy now has his own special one. Tina must have had a say in what Andy wore! (inside joke)

Thanks to the age of digital cameras and cell phones for these memories.

Before And After

I noticed there was a mistake in one of the blocks for this quilt once I had the blocks put together.

This is the block when I found the error. It is quite obvious when you just see the block.

Here is the block after I spent just 10 minutes fixing it. It was worth it to me, Had I not fixed it I would have noticed it every time I looked at it.
And my grand Drew would have noticed it immediately!

Getting Ready For Christmas- But NOT At My House

I have spent time this past week getting Christmas decorations ready to give to my middle child.

Andy, Tina and Kendal came over to have lunch with me today at Toppers. We enjoyed the new menu.


As soon as we got back to the house they loaded these bins and the box into the truck. Then we went searching for more.

I remembered I had a lot of candles I never use anymore so we packed this box and I found all these votive holders to put the votive candles in,

You can see some more of the things they were able to take off my hands.
Yes, there was more but I didn’t take pictures of everything,
I am sure they are going to create some beautiful scenes with these things,
And I am glad to pass them on and have more empty space.

New Quilt In Progress-Getting Interesting

I added pieced sections on each side of what has already been done. These were created for a vest I taught called Museum Vest. It was an original design. I made one complete vest and realized I didn’t need to complete another one. The colors were perfect for this composition I am creating and they were the perfect length. I only had to trim 2 inches from the bottom of each of them.
This is a totally new way for me to work to create a composition using vertical components.
I think I know what will come next but you will have to wait to see if it works.
It can be a challenge trying to work with units/blocks leftover from previous projects but it also is gratifying to be able to use them and make something beautiful.

New Quilt in Progress–One Step At A Time

I hang this on my design wall and then decide what will my next step be.
Part of my vision for this is to use leftovers from the other two projects.

This is a group of some of the possibilities. I am hoping this will reduce my fabrics in this bin!

I added a deep plum strip to frame the blocks you saw yesterday.
I do have an idea what will come next and I hope it will work.
Stay tuned.

New Quilt In Progress

I normally wait until a quilt is finished to share it.
I have decided to try something different with this one. I think many of you will be interested in following how I make this. It also may give you an idea of how to use some of your orphan blocks.
I have a lot of orphan blocks and scraps that have been begging to be made into a quilt.

This is the beginning of the quilt. I had these 7 plus a few more blocks left as demonstration samples when I taught a sampler class with these blocks. The blocks are 9 inches finished size.
I am putting them together with leftovers from another project, scraps from both projects, new fabrics and who knows what else.
I hope you’ll follow my progress as I create this unique quilt.