Dreamy, turquoisey-greens. My goodness there are some amazing photographers out there.
Have a Happy Friday everyone!
Noooo - not THAT season - the glitter season. Which is separate from the holiday season. I refuse to get into the Christmas spirit until Thanksgiving has had its due.
But I can get the glitter out. My glitter sisters are all nodding their heads knowingly - at least the ones that aren't preoccupied with getting that elusive sparkle off their forehead...
(It's hard to tell but that white pumpkin is glittered too). I found this little project on MarthaStewart.com. And I bought the glitters at Michael's- they had 30% off all MS craft stuff on Monday when I went in. Even at full price her glitters are worth it. So many pretty shades and it is the finest, most powdery stuff. Gorgeous.
I used white pumpkins - the little ones came white and the other I painted off-white before applying the glitter.
I also put white glitter on a nude (not painted), orange pumpkin and it looked really pretty - very frosty - but not quite the look I was going for my entryway. So it is sitting on my Dad's stoop next to the large Halloween pumpkin we never got around to carving. Have you ever noticed how long un-carved pumpkins last? They'll be sitting out there until Easter.
So tell me, who, right at this moment has glitter on their person? Go on - be honest. Join me on the dark, sparkly side.
On Friday I started my workday at 4:45am, which sounds dreadful but it does mean that I can clock out early in the afternoon and call it a day.
Rick and I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and the unexpected windfall of a few free hours on a Friday afternoon and head up to Apple Hill.
We have been wanting to go up there for about a month now but it is such a Fall activity and the last four or five Fridays have been unseasonably warm. I wanted to bundle up in sweaters and sensible shoes instead of traipsing through the orchards wearing short sleeves and flip flops.
Okay those are vineyards and not orchards but I'm sure you understand what I mean. I know I have posted about Apple Hill before because we go up there every other year or so and I've blogged about it. It is an area up above Placerville (Camino) and it is a big loop you can drive, stopping at big operations that sell all manner of apple related things, smaller (and more charming) places for baked goods and even u-pick places, if you want to do the work yourself.
Of course my real motive was the apple fritters. And I found one at the second place we stopped at. The fritter was the size of a hub-cab and I ate half of it at the fruit stand and the other half on the way home.
I have to confess that I didn't actually buy any apples. I bought apple butter, apple pie and the aforementioned apple fritters but no apples.
Maybe next year we will pick our own.
Those aren't apple trees either. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of actual orchards. My chauffeur kept offering to pull over so I could take pictures too.
Anyway - if you are in the California Bay Area it really is worth a day trip to drive up here and sip fresh apple cider and get fritter crumbs all down the front of you. I would recommend doing it on a Friday rather than a Saturday or Sunday because you avoid the crowds. Also there are a ton of wineries up here so you can make it a day of apple feasting and wine tasting if you like.
Wear your sweaters and sensible shoes.
(This beautiful woman is my Mother, Summer of '49 on the shores of Lake Michigan)
I've decided on a new regular feature for this blog. It's a riff on the Friday Flickr Favorites I've seen on a number of blogs.
I forgot how inspiring and fun it is to scour through Flickr to find favorite images. I can lose HOURS just looking at picture after picture after picture.
I thought I would also include inspiring links as well. Just things I've stumbled across during the week that I want to share with everyone.
I am blatently stealing got the idea from a new blog I am totally enamored with. A young woman that is very much into the vintage look and a cracker jack seamstress. Actually she is the girl in the pink dress in the montage above. She is adorable. I wish I had been so sure about my satorial choices when I was in my 20's. Or now, even.
Anyway - without further ado - what is making me happy this week:
Have a Happy Friday everyone!
Flickr Favorites (click on link to see originals)
I haven't done a Flickr Favorites in a while. I've been in a vintage mood lately. Not only kitchens but fashion and makeup too. I don't see myself actually embracing a 30's, 40's or 50's look (I'm more an Ethel Mertz than the more glamourous Lucy Ricardo) but I do love the styles.
When you start searching on vintage anything you can get totally lost in an entire community of people that have embraced a particular era as a lifestyle. Really fascinating.
I can understand the appeal - everything just seem simpler and was valued more. Like my comment on Sunday about how disposible appliances are now. Back in the 40's or 50's if you broke your toaster, you fixed it. You didn't log onto Amazon and order another one and charge it to one of your many credit cards. If you wanted a car you saved your money until you could buy one. None of this no money down, 0% financing nonsense that goes on these days.
I didn't mean to go off on a tangent. I'm coveting that aqua bread box in the upper left-hand corner. And the Smeg refrigerator.
Isn't the Fall time change the most delicious thing? I love having that extra hour in the morning, especially on a Sunday when the mornings can be kind of hectic.
I usually spend it doing laundry and getting ready to head down to my Dad's. If I want to miss the Tahoe traffic (weekend travelers heading back home) then I need to hit the road by Noon.
Lately we have added a calmer, more relaxed ritual to our Sunday mornings; Sunday breakfast. Initially we were thinking we would find a neighborhood restaurant, something casual, clean, friendly and that served great, inexpensive breakfasts. That's not too much to ask, is it?
Well we tried a few places and it just didn't quite measure up to the fantasy so we decided we would just make breakfast ourselves on Sundays. Put in a little more effort than our standard toast or bowl of cereal.
That waffle iron has been in Rick's life for more than 40 years - maybe close to 50. He grew up with it and when we moved in together his mother gave it to him. I can't tell you how many waffles he has made over the years.
Isn't it sad that most appliances are disposible these days? Forty years ago if your toaster or your waffle iron broke you would take it in to get repaired. Now you just toss it and buy a new one.
This morning's breaksfast was waffles with peach syrup and assorted breakfast meats.
I have to point out we didn't eat all that breakfast meat up there. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I started cooking it up.
This little ritual has turned out to be a nice way to end the weekend and start the new week.
Do you know that is one of the most misquoted lines from Shakespeare? It isn't "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well..." it is actually "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him Horatio,....."
I love replanting my deck pots with this Fall combination of ornamental cabbages, Mums and whatever that dusty, sagey looking plant is.
We had our annual Halloween Party last week - if you haven't seen Nicki's pictures yet - go take a look. It was quite fun, as it is every year. One of us may have had a wee bit too much wine but I'm not going to point any fingers...
The party is always my big Halloween celebration since we never get any trick or treaters that want to come all the way down our country lane and brave our long, dark driveway. So I feel like Halloween is over. I have that feeling I get the day after Christmas when I cannot bear the sight of another holiday decoration. I'm over all the orange and the pumpkins and Halloween related stuff.
I do like my sparkly skull though. Yorick can hang out for another day or two. And we never get tired of the spooky black cat.
How is that for dirty? Yuck.
Thank you for all the feedback and suggestions for the quilt. I have decided to repair rather than re-purpose.
In looking at the damage more closely I can see the biggest hole isn't actually missing any pieces like I originally thought. It has just come apart.
You can see the hole went through all three layers. The back of the quilt had a number of splits in the fabric and just wasn't salvageable. The batting was beyond disgusting. I carefully snipped all the ties (all eight billion of them) and then separated the top from the other layers.
The quilt didn't have a binding - the top and bottom pieces were just folded in and then straight stitched so it was a breeze to take it apart.
See - the hole isn't so bad after all. The edges of the quilt are another story. The fabric is splitting where it was folded under. I think I can just remove the outer most pieces and bind the edges when I get a new back and batting on. I might have to replace a few pieces, but not too many.
Meanwhile I'm still in the cleaning process. After I separated the top from the other layers I filled the tub up with warm water, Biz and Ivory Snow. The brown water is after 30 minutes of soaking. I didn't agitate it all - just let it sit there. I drained the tub and filled it with just plain water and let it soak for an hour. Then drained, filled it again with warm water and Biz and let it sit overnight. This morning I drained it and it's now soaking in just plain water (which has remained clear so far, thank goodness).
I think it will always be too delicate for use but it will be pretty folded at the bottom of a bed.
Edited to add: Any suggestions for quilting it? Or would hand-tying it be the way to go? I've never really cared for the look of tied quilts but that's just me.
