Joining the "Where Do You Blog? Party!

Kate at Centsational Girl is hosting a "Where Do You Blog? Party" and I'm attending!

This is the view from my bedroom into my office/sewing room/studio.

Welcome in! This is a small space which I added to the house before I moved in. As much as I loved the house, originally there was no place for me to work. THAT wouldn't work!

These french doors were found stored in the basement when I bought the house. Originally, they separated the living room from the dining room and really weren't needed there. I love french doors and knew I wanted to use them somewhere. When I started planning my addition they turned out to be perfect doors for a large closet. As much as I love sharing with you, I'm not going to open these doors for you. You probably understand...

Here is my laptop where it always stays. It's an old computer and although I have wireless service, this computer isn't wireless capable. So, I ALWAYS blog at this spot.

However, I'm soon to be upgraded!!! My "new" laptop is on the left here. It's actually my daughter Kate's from her four college years. She got a new one for graduation. I'm very happy to now get this one! I've yet to take it in to my handy/dandy computer guy and get it serviced and everything transferred from one to the other. I'm not tech savvy, so I'm not looking forward to the process. However, I am looking forward to when it's done. I think the larger screen will be particularly nice.

My computer sits in the corner. You can see one of my sewing machines on the left. This is where I do all my sewing. Although this room is a small space, its saving grace is the view from my desk. I have a whole bank of windows that overlook the back garden which is always a wonderful view. "Thank you" to my sister Nancy, who is the gardener around here. Be sure to check out her blog at Nanniepannies.

Moving around from the desk to the left you see a corner storage for fabric and my work table.

The work table actually has a leaf to extend it, but I never use it because the space is so tight.

Since space is tight, I try to make use of ALL of it. Under the table is a small CD player and under that, storage for yarn used to make my knitted lamb kits, which you can find at my Etsy Shop.

Note my sheep lamp which I've had for years and still love it as much as when I bought it. The print of the knitting sheep was a gift many years ago from a friend.

An idea board is a necessity for a studio. This one was made by covering foam board with a fabric I like and then framing it.

This brings us full circle around the room. If I turn around from my computer, this is the view back into my bedroom. (The door on the right is the bathroom.) So, now you know where to imagine me when you read posts from Buttermilk Cottage!

Be sure to visit Centsational Girl for many inspiring blogging spaces.

The Neighborhood Yard Sale!!!

Picture from Google Images

I haven't blogged in a week and it feels like forever. I've missed my daily reads and visits with everyone. It's been quite hectic here for the past week. This weekend was my neighborhood's twenty first annual yard sale. This happens every year at the end of August and it's a BIG DEAL. Our yard sale is well established, gets promoted and brings thousands of visitors to our neighborhood. Last time I counted there were over one hundred families participating this year. Since my daughter Kate graduated from university this May and moved to NYC (you can read about that here), our basement has been on overload. So, there was no doubt Buttermilk Cottage would be there with the rest of everyone else!

Have you ever done a yard sale? If so, you know the incredible amount of work involved. First is the sorting--what to sell, what to keep, what's not worth selling or keeping... Then the pricing, which we quickly decided not to agonize over, just price it already! The above shot is in our basement as we start the process.






Next, things get moved upstairs (oh my back!!!) into their staging position, before they can be moved to the driveway. My poor, and usually quite pretty, entryway was that spot.



Here we are ready for business. The offical yard sale day is Saturday, but because the sale is so well known, people begin to set up earlier and earlier each year. We set up Thursday evening, so we'd be ready to sell Friday morning. And, I do mean Friday MORNING. When we went out to remove the covers from our "goodies" at 6:30 AM, I found a man already there, perched over a table with his flashlight shining brightly!




A few of our "choice" items...

Did I tell you about my daughter's shoe fetish??? Actually, she's not totally responsible for the number of shoes we had for sale. Nancy and I contributed a few too.

This picture of Kate's old stuffed animals and the next one of her shoes, almost seem to capture her essence from babyhood to young woman. Ahhh....

Did I mention Kate's shoe fetish???

At last, OPEN FOR BUSINESS, and the customers! We did a brisk business all day Friday. However, our main focus was on Saturday...

Last year, we didn't have enough "stuff" to participate in the yard sale, so we did a "Bistro" on the porch. We had so much fun with it, that we couldn't bear not to do it again.

I'll tell you all about that next time!

Let's Do a Little Organizing Today!

I've been at my machine this weekend sewing knitting needle cases for the Hillsborough Yarn Shop in Hillsborough, N.C. They've ordered a selection of

six and twelve pocket double point needle cases.

This is a wonderfully easy and pretty way to organize your knitting needles.

I also make twelve pocket cases for circular needles.
My motto is "Always have ALL your needles with you. You never know..."

I even do a small case for crochet hooks. Every knitter should always have a couple of crochet hooks in her bag for picking up dropped stitches and correcting mistakes.

My knitting needle cases are available at your local yarn shop
or at my Etsy Shop.

You can even get a matching knitting bag!

Now that we're all organized, let's knit!

Just Knock at the Back Door ...

Do visitors come to your back door or front when they come to call?

For those who come to my back door, this is a peek into the kitchen from the enclosed back porch.



The back porch is what I want to share with you today.

When I bought Buttermilk Cottage, the back porch was a real diamond in the rough. I fell in love with it because of the exposed brick. It's a small space, with lots of possibilities and several problem spots.
This quilt hides a rather large and unsightly hole that's been covered with a piece of plywood. I expect it was for an exhaust pipe at one time

Can you tell that I love baskets? The back porch has become a great storage area for my collection. Here, they are always handy for use. This metal bench came with me from a previous house and fits perfectly in the space.

The wall behind the bench is a great place to hang artwork and other miscellaneous items I can't yet part with.

The second, and huge problem area of the porch is the ceiling. It is faced with a rough plywood. I gave it a coat of white paint to "even" it out and then hung more of my basket collection to hide what's underneath. I think it's a great solution to the ugly ceiling AND a space to store more baskets!

The dropped light fixture was chosen so the baskets could hang on the ceiling.

There's a small stained glass piece that hangs in a large fixed window.

This metal bakers rack sits just outside the kitchen door and is a great catch all for interesting dishes, cookbooks, and more baskets. During the summer, it's a nice spot for produce from the farmer's market. During the winter, it a great storage rack for desserts, because it's not heated and can be quite cool.

The porch has also been a catch all for some fun, little "art" pieces.

Since I do so much work with wool, I've been collecting sheep for many years. In fact, you will find one or more sheep from my collection scattered about, in every room of my house!

This pretty much says it all about how I feel about where I live.

I love my little back porch. It was once an ugly, small space, but has become a pleasant walk thru when you enter my back door. So, if you drop by Buttermilk Cottage this weekend, come to the back or front door. You'll be welcome at either!

Have a great weekend!

I'm pulling this post out of my archives because

I'm so anxious to be a part of

The Monday Porch Club at Gypsy Brocante

A Very Moving Message

This was sent to me this morning by a friend and is such a moving message I wanted to share it.

Please remember to always wear your seatbelt.

Remember this Yarn?

I always find it somewhat amazing that I can take some colored string, two pointed sticks and produce something from it. Do you remember me showing you this yarn last week?

The deed is now done and I have a very pretty and interesting scarf. The colors of the yarn are many shades of purple. The fibers included are mainly wools and mohair with a touch of metallic.


The scarf is knitted using a diagonal pattern. The combined yarns are my own boutique yarn I call FUSION, which are short lengths of different yarns, textures and colors knitted together and resulting in a unique finished fabric.
This scarf is now available in my Etsy Shop.

You must be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch where she is hosting another Metamorphosis Monday. There you will see many other "before" and "after" projects.

Have a very creative Monday!

Peach Sangria...Let the Weekend Begin!

Is it just me, or have the peaches been exceptionally good this summer?

All summer long I've enjoyed fresh peaches and cottage cheese for breakfast. That may not be every one's idea of the perfect breakfast, but for me, it doesn't get any better. Isn't it nice when something you like to eat is also healthy?

Enjoy the peaches while they last. They won't be around too much longer.

Last weekend at a neighborhood dinner, Virginia, from down the street, brought Peach Sangria and it was outstanding.

Here's her recipe:

Virginia's Peach Sangria

One bottle white zinfandel

1/2 can frozen lemonade

1/3 cup sugar

3 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

3/4 cup peach brandy

Mix all together. Pour over ice and serve.

This evening I made a pitcher. I had peach schnapps instead of peach brandy on hand, so I used that instead. It was incredibly good.

Thank you Virginia!

We invited a new friend over to help us drink it, along with a few appetizers and it was an excellent start to the weekend.

Now, what to do with all those marinated peaches at the bottom of the pitcher when the sangria is gone (IF there are any left...)??? I had made some small pound cake muffins earlier and they were great with the peaches and a little whipped cream.

Have yourself a peachy weekend!

The Welcome Wagon!

I just had a nice surprise. I just discovered Brenda at Cozy Little House, had sent the Welcome Wagon to pay a visit to Buttermilk Cottage! Welcome to all who have come to visit by way of this lovely gesture, and please come back and visit often. Thank you Brenda!

INCEPTION

Finally saw INCEPTION this afternoon. The plot is very complex--layers and layers of story. I know I probably missed a lot of the nuances in this movie, but the acting was first rate. Every character was believable. This movie reminded me a lot of THE MATRIX. It's a bit long, two hours and forty five minutes, but it keeps you involved the whole time. INCEPTION is a good way to spend a hot August afternoon!

Picture from GOOGLE IMAGES