Fall, at Last!

My favorite season of the year is Fall, I just love the colors!  And the cooler temps.  Last night it got into the 40’s, the house actually cooled off 4 degrees and with the lower humidity today, we opened the house to actually air it out! 

Florida’s excuse for Fall is just pathetic.  Here’s what passes for Fall around my house.  We have a fence next to the driveway with a vine and Spanish Moss on it.  That’s the only color we ever see, the little red leaves on the vine.

This is the Water Oak at the end of the driveway. 

All the leaves will replace themselves, dropping lots of little brown leaves, but that’s it.  Most of the trees in Florida, their leaves just turn brown and fall off. 

I’ve noticed several Autumn wreaths on doors up and down my neighborhood and decided to make one for myself.  Russel was a big help, too, as I wrapped the Styrofoam wreath with burlap ribbon and then sewed the garland on with a curved needle and fishing line.  These pics were with my phone, lousy colors.

		Construction VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Here’s the final product.  Love it!  Pic with new camera.  Colors pretty true.

For my birthday, my Russel is taking me up to the mountains of Georgia, around Milledgeville and Athens, so I can see some real Fall color.  You can bet I will take lots of pics and share them here.

Thanks for visiting. 

(-: .·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

September Creative Images Meeting

With hardly any notice, Hobby Lobby informed Therese last month that we had no place to meet due to construction on the remodel.  For September, with more notice, they still weren’t ready, so Jeannie graciously held the meeting in her home.  Worked out well.

Our exchange theme for our missed meeting was “A Little Fruity,” and we carried it over into September.  Eight of us participated in the exchange, mostly following the theme.  Click on any picture to see it up close, then back to return.

First, Cheryl B made this yummy strawberry basket with punches, die cuts and embossing.  Could almost smell the strawberries.

Ella made this Smile card with dimensional stickers and lace.  The theme is just a guide, after all.

Jeannie made this multi-layered collage of La Paire” for her card. 

This is my lemon card made with scratch and sniff technique, but the embossed lemon scent was mostly worn off.  The glass on the inside is filled with yellow Flower Soft.

Pat J cut the juicy slice of watermelon and mounted it on an embossed background. 

Pam made these cute apple cores with a retired SU label punch.  Who ate those apples?

Pat R wants to squeeze in a chat with her bright fruit slices.

Therese was doubly prepared for last month’s fruit theme and the marble theme for Sep. (now delayed to next year). She had her bases covered with this pear card!

Cheryl M had the project for this month and we all made this cute snowman from various circle punches and embossing folders.

Cheryl M brought in this proposed project for our January stamp camp.  It’s a clear glass plate prepped with stickles and white acrylic paint on the back and then colored on the front.

Jeannie made this girly card for Therese’s birthday.  I spy a pin of beads like we made last year at stamp camp!

Here’s some pics of ladies working on their projects!

		Working! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

That’s it for this month.  Hope we all can get together at our regular meeting place next month.  October’s exchange theme is “In Stitches.” 

(-: .·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Deland Road Trip Part 2

After Pam and I had lunch and with some GPS problems overcome, we headed over to the Stetson Mansion, yes, that Stetson, he of the famous hats, and arrived for the tour just as the group was heading inside.  JT, one of the owners, was our guide, and our one hour tour was almost two hours.  I had read on the website for the mansion, here, that photography was not allowed inside, so I didn’t take my camera.  For the quilt show, photos were allowed, so I did the best I could with my phone.  I highly recommend that you go everywhere on the Mansion’s website.  It has a great history of the house, the renovation, better pictures, short videos, tour information, etc.  I am for sure going to the Christmas tour.  Wow! 

Most memorable to me were the stunning floors, a different hand-made parquet design in each room.  None of the floors except the kitchen needed to be repaired, just buffed out and revarnished.  I took a few pics, but I oohed and aahed over them all.  There were quilts everywhere, all gorgeous. 

JT explained some of the renovation work he and his partner Michael had done on the house, including stripping wall after wall of wallpaper.  Mind boggling what they accomplished in 18 months.

Here’s two pics of the floors, each piece done by hand.

 

On the left is an arrangement of a boot quilt, one of Mr. Stetson’s hats and a rope.  On the right is a cowboy quilt, complete with Stetson.

Here’s two quilts made with the new Downton Abbey fabric line from Andover Fabrics, here.

This is the quilt on the master bed with a glass Stetson on it.

I think this is the front parlor with . . .

a digitalized player baby grand piano that has a Stetson on it.  There’s Stetsons all over the place!

This was JT’s favorite quilt, a hand appliqued and quilted flower garden.

This is the main staircase with chandelier, a favorite route for brides.  Portrait of Mr. Stetson on the wall.

This is the North side exterior that shows the stained glass on the main staircase.

This was one of my favorite quilts, mini nine patch.  My glasses are placed there for size.

This is another favorite quilt, called Purple Crazy Patch Pizaaz.  Love the pansies.

Here’s the west side, the main entrance is under the porch.  Black storm clouds were coming, but we outran them all the way home.

This is the SW corner of the mansion.

Here’s the north side.

This was the schoolhouse for the Stetson’s three children.  It’s been made into a guest house.

Here’s three pics of the Zen garden.

The whole day was exhausting because of the heat and bright sun, but Pam and I made it home before we collapsed in heaps to recover.  It was a day very well spent. 

(-: .·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Deland Road Trip Part 1

I got an e-mail from my favorite shop in Deland, the Quilt Shop of Deland, here. It told about a quilt show at the Stetson Mansion and gave a link on how to reserve a spot on a tour.  So, I did, and Pam and I made the drive to Deland on Saturday.  Our first stop was the Quilt Shop where we both had a hard time not spending a fortune on a new technique we both loved.  Maybe some other time, but here are some pics of the chenille tool, purse and quilts.  Click on any pic for details, then back to return.  You sew narrow seams on multiple layers of fabric, then slice through one layer at a time with the nifty rotary cutter with its little guide.  It looks like old-timey chenille.  This is the tool and the purse available in a kit.

Here are close-ups of a sunflower and hydrangea quilt.

 

Judy Hanson is the owner of the shop and she designs fabrics and quilts, like the owl quilt shown here.  My Aussie Buddy loves owls and is starting to get into quilting. 

One of the shop ladies worked up this postage stamp quilted wall hanging of the Stetson Mansion.  I bought the panel to try to make my own some day.

This cute little yoyo sewing basket/pin cushion and candle holder have a kit at the shop and I bought it so I could make a candle holder with some of the Christmas fabric I have to put into a Longaberger button basket.  Some day!

That’s it for the quilt shop.  We had lunch at Parker’s Restaurant just around the corner from the quilt shop, really great hamburgers.  Now, I’ll do the Stetson Mansion.  Thanks for stopping by.

(-: .·´* .·´*¨¨)) –:¦:- *** ((¸¸.·´*~Kathy~.·´*)****¨¨)) -:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)