Rednesday....Gnome Siting????

It's been a while since my last Rednesday post. I certainly not for the lack of red. More the lack of ambition and time! I am postponing my window washing today to put up this post! I have a timely picture to share today.You see, two days ago I picked my first crop of lettuce! Some red varieties....of course! I had a great idea some months ago that I would start my lettuce inside (as I often do) but instead of putting them in the garden, where I have to share with the furry critters, I would plant them in this large, $1 washtub I bought last fall at the Mega-auction! Another advantage? I can bring in the tub when the weather gets a little chilly. Iowa Springs are notoriously volatile! It has worked like a charm!

I will tell you, I did not punch drainage holes in the bottom (heavens, no!) I filled the bottom with five 1-gallon milk jugs, to fill the space, allow for drainage, reduce the amount of soil needed, thus making it lighter to lift! In all my vegetable gardening I use the Square Foot method developed by Mel Batholomew. He has a great book on the subject! I highly recommend it.

So what else is on my patio right now? A footed washtub planted with daffodils. Not at peak, yet.My chives, in a minnow bucket bought at neighbors garage sale a few years ago!Then, there's my rosemary.....what's that next to it??? Some kind of strange gnome???
No, it's Santa! I guess rosemary does look a bit like a Christmas tree! He found his way to me two weekends ago at another awesome auction. He was stuffed in a box lot of hideous (my opinion) yarn and macrame Christmas items. Mom spotted him! I completely overlooked him! Thanks Mom! He is BIG, 8 1/2" tall and in wonderful condition!

Here's the label. I am tickled to have him! Since he was so well hidden, I picked him up for a song!

So, I will be heading over to Sue's this evening AFTER the window washing, to check out the other Rednesday finds! Hope you do, too!

As Promised, an Auction Find and My Easter Decor

I promised a few days ago to post more of my auction finds. This little lamb planter was tucked in the box lots. I didn't know he was in there, so I got a pleasant surprise! He's so new, I have nothing to put "in" him. He'll stay empty this year. Any suggestions?So, that being said, what better reason to FINALLY post my Easter decor? Here is my mantel. A mish-mash of stuff.My newest additions? Well, I LOVE this giant bunny I found at my great-aunt's house! She had a whole folder of paper die cuts, every holiday and season and she gave them to me!!! She had been in charge of decorating the office where she worked.There's more die cuts on my photo tree, along with a few postcards.This little chick came out of my mom's box lot about a year ago...she didn't want it, so I took it. She may want it back now!Here's bad photo of the table runner I completed about a month ago. It's made from the leftovers of a baby quilt I made for my niece. The fabric is moda....Shangri La. I improvised the bunnies at each end. It's a really bad photo, sorry!This Easter egg tree was bought at the Goodwill a few years ago. In years past I've put real eggs inside. This year I painted some mache eggs. They aren't officially done....I plan to speckle them....this year....before I put them away! These are two pillows my dear friend, Debbie, made for me a few years ago. I love them. They are from the quilt book, "Easy Does it For Easter" by Nancy Halvorsen.
Last but certainly not least....my bestest find of the season. This honeycomb Easter basket & bunny!I actually found this the day my friend Cathy and I went Valentine's shopping...this post. It was only a couple of dollars (he does have a crease in his head) and I was extremely happy to buy him!

The one regret I have this year is the kids and I didn't get up an Easter tree. My dear daughter, bless her heart, brought home several large branches from our local nature trail! They are still in the garage. It's not going to happen this year. If you like, check out last year's, it's here.

Auction Finds

The first really good auction of the year was last Saturday. I find I'm a bit over zealous these first few auctions...just so anxious to buy something! This day I walked out with 4 box lots and two individual buys. I probably should have passed on two of the boxes and worst of all, I forgot to bid on a bushel basket that had sewing notions on the bottom!!! I can't rely on my memory when it comes to box lots, I think I need to start taking notes!!! Anyway, here they are....first buys auction buys of the year.This is the "after" picture on my counter. "After" I threw out the really atrocious stuff!The good stuff...Shiny Brites!A little chartreuse Pyrex with the label still in tact.A Jadeite dish.This cute cardinal figurine. Made in Japan.A Whitman's chocolate tin.A fair ribbon. Hawkeye Angus Association Senior Champion Bull.My individual buys were this patriot sheet music for $1. Also, two McCoy flower pots.On the way home I stopped at a home to look at some vintage picnic baskets listed on Craigslist. These babies were $5 each. That capped a perfect day!So, I haven't showed you everything I bought. If you want to get a really good look, click on that first picture, most everything is shown. I did keep a few things aside for posts this week. Yep, there I said it, look for more posts this week!!!

Just a Little Note

I wanted to let everyone know I've been changing my subscriptions from feedblitz to Google reader. So, if you see me unsubscribing, don't fret! I still love you! Just changing the way I see your updates!

I have been resistant to Google reader for a while. Now that I've learned to navigate it and organize my subscriptions, I'm pretty excited to go this route!

Rednesday....The Family Room with Lots of RED!

Since I have missed Rednesday over at Sue's "It's A Very Cherry World." for the past TWO weeks, I though I'd make up for it with a BIG post. I may regret it later when I can't find any RED....but I don't think so!I'm featuring all my RED goodies in our basement family room. It's a HUGE room, like 17' x 36' and it serves as the "rough housing" room in the winter. The kids and hubby would play football, wrestle....whatever. So, I always had to keep in mind, it was all fair game to be broken. Luckily, nothing ever happened and now the kids are 15 and 12. Their "rough housing" days seem to be behind them....for the most part!There is no question this is a RED room with my RED walls!This TV cabinet hubby and I built when we couldn't find one I liked, at a price I wanted to pay. We are NOT carpenters, but the only real drawback, it's HEAVY!I love this corner. The ladder that came from my great uncle was taller, I cut three rungs off and used that smaller section in another room. The quilts from top to bottom are "Braided" Quilt As You Go, "Yellow Brick Road" by Terry Atkinson and Spiderwebs by Fons & Porter. The window was painted by a local artist and bought at craft show. The chair was a garage sale find.This rocker came from the Goodwill before my Goodwill began pricing me out of the market! I painted it RED, of course! The quilt behind I call Amish Basket Weave, I'm not sure if it has another name, but the black says "Amish" to me, even though there are prints in it.
The cornices are another one of my projects. I used insulation Styrofoam sheets and hot glue to make my box and covered it with the pieced "quilt" I designed. It's all Civil War Reproduction fabric. I love the Prairie Points detail. It was my first time trying them.
So, keep in mind, this is HALF the room but the other half is pretty bare....for the "rough housing." I do have a few more REDS over there, but I'll save those for another day!

Happy Rednesday!

More Rednesday Valentine's

Welcome to another Rednesday! Did you come on over from Sue's blog? It's a Very Cherry World! I bet, so! Love Rednesday!Do you remember last week when I said I didn't have that many vintage Valentine's? Well, two days later I went to the antique shops with my friend, Cathy. We both collect vintage Valentine's but our tastes are totally different. She collects Whitney Mades. Well, we both did well that day! I came home with about a dozen and I think she did about the same! Maybe now would be a good time to mention I've never won a darn thing in the lottery!
I love the anthropomorphic veggies! I added a couple more baseball cuties! Plus, a few birds. My favorite among the birds is this flicker. Kind of unusual I think. My daughter loved it, too. So, I feel I am cultivating that love of vintage things with her.
While we are on the subject of my daughter. This Valentine reminds me of her. She loves her noodles....and plain just like the girl here! Of course she pointed out to me, she's not blonde! She is very much a stickler for details! Wonder where she gets that from?
So, I have this quilt..... you had to know I had another to share! This is my Raggy Heart quilt. It's one of those easy ones, just a matter of sewing the hearts on top, cutting them into quarters, then sewing them back together. The quilting is always the challenge! My machine quilting is fair....at best!So, what will become of me next Rednesday when Valentine's Day is over and the reds aren't as obvious? I actually have a REALLY good red to share if I can ever finish the little details it needs! One of these days.....

Valentine's For Rednesday

Here is it, another Wednesday another Rednesday, the only day I seem to post anymore! Thank you Sue for giving me a reason to get something on my blog! Make sure to head over to It's a Very Cherry World and see ALL the red loveliness!

I decided it was time to share my vintage Valentine's. I don't have that many, really. I try to buy what a really like. Now if I happened upon a lot of them at a good price, I'd snap them all up, but that hasn't happened yet.The first two are baseball themed. I love all things baseball, so I would probably buy any baseball related Valentine's. These two guys are lonely!
The next one is my absolute FAVORITE! I bought it last year off Etsy. When my husband played baseball the scout that signed him used to call him G-man. A spin-off of our name. Now that my son is playing baseball his nickname has become G-man. It's a pretty good nickname for a baseball, "Get a hit G-man!" So, I about flipped when I saw this one for sale.I love how his jacket pulls back to reveal his heart! So cute!
The last thing I'll share is the quilt I have on my front door. Like the pillow I shared last week, I change this out with the seasons. A girls has to have many places to display her quilts! I even have them in the bathrooms! I have one more Red Heart quilt to share, but I'll save that for next week!

BTW- The quilt is on my floor because I could not get a decent picture of it on the door! Too bad, my door is red, too!
Have a great Rednesday!