A Tribute to my Dad

I'm sending you over to my sister's blog, Nanniepannies, today. She wrote such a sweet blog about our Dad, that I wanted to share it with all of you.

Have a great day and an even better week!

Bo Peep's Sheep

Just a quick hello this weekend to tell you that one of my little knitted sheep, Bo Peep's Sheep

was included today in an Etsy Treasury titled

"A Celebration of all Things Woolen."

You can see the complete Treasury on my sidebar or go here.

Debs put this Treasury together to recognize

UK's National Wool Week Celebration.

You can read all about it at her blog,

"Musings of a Knit-a-holic from Wales."

You can also visit her Etsy Shop,

"Handmade & Found"

for lots of knitted goodies!

Bo Peep's Sheep is available already knitted or in a kit to knit yourself!

Hope your weekend is an outstanding one!

Inspired by Autumn

My knitting needles have been clicking away lately.

I've just completed my latest project.
Inspired by the gorgeous colors of Fall,

I put together a FUSION of textures, colors and yarns I'm calling...

Autumn!

Just the thing to wrap yourself in on a crisp Autumn day or evening.

You can find it in my etsy shop.

Good Morning!

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My days of making weekday breakfast, packing lunches and in the car by seven thirty are finished. A typical morning for me now is to roll out of bed, throw on some clothes and out with Daisy for a morning walk by seven. However, this week Nanniepannie is away so I'm cat sitting Dixie. This morning she started "crying" for her breakfast around five thirty. I ignored her until six.

Dixie is elderly and blind, but still a very sweet little girl. However, because she's also deaf she can be VERY vocal. She won't allow you to ignore her for long. Her needs are simple, open a small can of cat food, fill her cereal and water bowls and scoop the litter box. She's then good for the day!

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Now that Dixie has me going, my plan for today is window washing.

Hope you have a lovely day today!

Have a Seat

I'm noticing a definite trend in my house. I'm attracted to chairs! This is a framed print I've had for a while. There's something about it I love--the graceful lines of the chair, the background of old printed script, its simple black frame . It's one of those little accent pieces I move around from place to place whenever I'm rearranging.

This is the first piece of furniture my husband and I bought when we were first married. We found it at a craft show and bought it from a couple who restored chairs and were well known in our area for their chair caning craftsmanship.











I love this chair, even though I don't have "the perfect" place for it in my house. It gets moved around from spot to spot depending upon the season. Despite my constant efforts to downsize, I cannot part with it. I've even recaned it a couple of times myself.








This wicker chair actually belongs to my sister, Nanniepannie, but it sits on the front porch of Buttermilk Cottage, so I enjoy "having" it too. It was our grandmother's and Nancy actually has a picture of our grandmother holding her as a child and sitting in this chair. Priceless...
A few years ago this chair was in pitiful condition. The back and seat were broken and the chair had been banished to the garden shed. However, I have a good friend, Katherine, who is a gifted basket weaver and she generously repaired it for us.








Before moving into this house I did some serious downsizing. My former husband and I actually split all the furniture from the house we shared and I had enough to completely fill my space here. Except for in the kitchen, where the only "new" furniture I bought were two chairs to sit at my kitchen table.

I found these two chairs at an area antique shop and knew they had a home with me! Until I started blogging, this was where I spent every morning with my coffee and crossword puzzle. Now that time seems to be spent at my computer...

Another example of my chair fetish is this framed print. I first saw it several years ago, prior to "this lifetime," but it's a fairly large piece and I had no place for it. So, I "visited" it regularly in the store. I loved the colors and the organic feel of it.
Fast forward through a divorce and the purchase of another home. I went back to the store and bought it for "my new house" thinking it would be perfect in my dining room when I moved. Another fast forward through an addition of an office and bathroom and a total redo of the kitchen, plus painting and other cosmetic changes. Financial panic set in and I decided there was no way I should be buying art when I had all these other expenses. So, sadly the picture went back to the store.

Then, I moved into Buttermilk Cottage, the dust settled and I still had that picture in my head. So, back to the store (this was probably a year after I previously returned it) to get it. But, it wasn't hanging in the art/wall hanging section of the store. I walked around, dejectedly, telling myself what an idiot I was, when there it was, hanging in the floral department!!! It didn't end up in the dining room as I had planned, but found it's home in the living room where I take pleasure in seeing it everyday.

Here's one final little chair print which I found at Michael's. It hangs in my dining room. It attracted me because I love the color blue, the wood floor and snippet of rug remind me of my real dining room, the play of sunlight and shadow and quite simply, I'm attracted to chairs.

Let's sit awhile.

"Copper Mining on Etsy"

My copper tote was included in an Etsy Treasury yesterday and I wanted to share it!

The Treasury, titled "Copper - Hard & Soft" is curated by thespectrum.
Please go and see the entire treasury!

The bag is lined with a pretty paisley print which is predominately green, but with touches of copper.

The Katherine Tote in copper on Etsy.

Fall Antics!!!

Buttermilk Cottage sits right across the street from a fraternity house.

This is what we woke up to this morning!

The Pike House traditionally gets "rolled" every year at this time.

This year, it was a notch above past ones!

Did I mention we're expecting rain this afternoon???

This is what the house will look like after the guys get done with their "little" job today.

A Good Read for Halloween

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Just this morning I finished this book and it occurred to me how timely it was to be reading it now.

I first read about Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE at the beginning of the summer.

It was on some one's reading list as "the must-read" for the summer.

I usually choose the "slice of life" novels, but this one sounded like it was right up my daughter's alley.

She's a fantasy, LORD OF THE RINGS, HARRY POTTER, kind of girl.

So, I recommended it to her and she read it right away.

Her response was, "Mom, you've got to read it so we can discuss it."

Well, I couldn't let that pass me by.

I will admit, I listened to it as an audio book, rather than read it.

It's scary, dark, gory, and deals with vampires (not the romanticized ones we've come to know and love in the past few years).

In other words, the perfect read at Halloween time.

THE PASSAGE takes place in the not too distant future.

Multiple wars, coupled with government experiments which have gone horribly amuck, fast forwards life as we know it into an apocalyptic world where civilizations crumble and the survival of the human race is questionable.

I can't imagine this isn't going to be a blockbuster movie not too far in the future.

"Read this book and the ordinary world will disappear." Stephen King

Here's an interesting video I found to whet you appetite...

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Making Pesto

I was a bit late doing this, but I finally got around to harvesting my basil plants last week.

I planted two small plants last spring and they were prolific!

However, by this time of year, they were looking overgrown and a little tired. So it was time for making pesto! I harvested all the leaves and gave them a good wash.

The salad spinner is a great gadget for getting them dry.

I found a really good bargain for pine nuts at Sam's.

I had a lot of basil, so forget those little bags from the grocery store!

I was able to make four batches with my basil and had enough left over to make Zucchini Hummus!

Pesto is easy to make because everything goes into the food processor and it does the work!

Then the pesto is stored in ice cube trays and frozen.

Each cube is about two tablespoons, just the right amount for adding to soups, sauces and stews this winter.

BASIL PESTO

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup pine nuts

2 cups loosely packed basil

1T. lemon juice

1/2t. salt

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Place garlic in food processor; pulse until chopped. Add pine nuts, basil, lemon juice and salt; pulse until nuts are finely chopped. Add olive oil gradually through food chute and process until well combined. Add cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times. Makes about 1 cup.

If you have extra basil, you might as well make up a batch of the following too, since you've already got most of the ingredients on hand!

ZUCCHINI HUMMAS

1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup coarsely chopped zucchini

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/2t. salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1t. fresh lemon juice

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency is reached. Serves four.

Mending Stitches

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A few years ago, during the same time I was preparing Buttermilk Cottage for my eventual move in, I spent my "down time" knitting a lovely blue afghan.

I knew I was going to have a blue bedroom and planned to use it there.

When Kate, my daughter moved away for college she asked if she could have it.

Since she so rarely asks me for anything I make (???) I was thrilled for her to take it.

She used it in her dorm room during her first year and the following three years in her small apartment.

Then it moved to NYC with her.

While visiting her a couple of weeks ago, this is what I discovered!

Yikes!

On the one hand, it's nice to know Kate is giving it lots of use, but...

So, the afghan came back home with me for some mending.

It was one of those jobs on my "to do" list that kept getting moved down below other, more enjoyable tasks.

Today turned out to be a good day for mending.

We had a gorgeous fall day, so I clipped on my Walkman and tuned into a great book I'm listening to (more about that when I hear the ending), and took everything out to the front porch.

After repairing the one hole, I discovered three more.

Although not perfect, the afghan is still pretty and usable.

Kate, who is getting ready to move into a new place in the big city has even asked me about it, so I know she really wants it back.

It makes me feel good to know she considers it special enough to decorate her new place and that it will be giving her some warmth this winter.

If only all mending jobs could be as pleasant as this one turned out to be.

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