Christmas Scenes 2013

Merry Christmas and a ho, ho, ho.

Sharing a few Christmas scenes from our home to yours.

Three year old Addison was very happy to sit on Santa's lap this year.

She tells us she wants a dancing doll for Christmas.

We don't know where she got that idea, but she is adamant about it.

Callie  is 2 and spending her Christmas in a much warmer climate.

My son and his wife are unable to get home this Christmas.

I am missing them a whole lot.

Some scenes from around Applestone Cottage.

It's a little shabby, but it's cozy and warm.

Especially when we have a fire all lit in the fireplace.

And it truly looked like this the other day.  It felt like I was inside a giant snow globe.  The snowflakes were huge. 

It has snowed here every single day this past week.  It is really beautiful!

However after Christmas I wouldn't mind a break from it.

The roads have been rather treacherous.

Wishing all of my friends here a joyous and happy holiday season.

Oh Christmas Tree...

Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches. We made a trip to our favorite cut your own tree farm last Saturday.  It was bitter cold and the gal working there had just brought in a bunch fresh cut trees. 

And rather than go out in 9 degrees below zero temps searching for the perfect one, we grabbed this one and I think it works perfectly.  I love Frasier fir Christmas trees they hold their needles amazingly well. Balsam is my other fave, because it has the most wonderful scent.  But for a long lasting beautiful tree, Frasier is king!

I thought I would share a few of my ornaments.  Most of them were rather inexpensive, but they still have a special meaning to me.

I got this burlap ribbon at Northwest fabrics.  I only wish I had bought more of it.

You will find a lot of skating ornaments on my tree!  My daughter used to figure skate competitively.  Oh  I am so looking forward to the Winter Olympics this year.

I bought this ornament in 1979.  It holds a lot of special meaning to me.

More figure skates.

And one of my all time favorite places to visit.

And the view out my window.

Quite the winter wonderland isn't it?

Thanks for coming by so I could share my tree.

I know we are all busy right now.... I have decided I will be reading Christmas posts in January just to catch up.

Happy Week-end everyone!

Cindy

Joining:

Between Naps on the Porch for Met. Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll thru Life

Winter Wonderland

Sleigh bells ring are you listening,

In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight,

We're happy tonight

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird,

Here to stay is a new bird

He sings a love song.

As we go along,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

 In the meadow we can build a snowman,

Then pretend that he is Parson Brown.

He'll say: Are you married?

We'll say: No man,

But you can do the job

When you're in town.

Later on, we'll conspire,

As we dream by the fire

To face unafraid,

The plans that we've made,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

When it snows, ain't it thrilling,

Though your nose gets a chilling

We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way.

Walking in a winter wonderland.

My Grand-daughter Addison and I saw the buck on our way home the other day.

He wasn't the least bit afraid and just stood there while we talked to him and I took his picture.

The rest are my pictures from that day and previous posts.

Today... we are off to slay the cut your own Christmas tree.

However it's bitter cold now and we may have to grab one they have already cut down.

We'll see.  On Tuesday when it was snowing the temps were in the mid-30's and quite tolerable.

With the wind chill our high today will be minus 3. a bit nippy I would say.

Stay safe and warm everyone and Happy Week-end.

Cindy

Linking to:

Seasonal Sunday @ The Tablescaper

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

 

Christmas Mantle 2013

    Hi friends.  Thanksgiving 2013 is in the books and now onto the mad Christmas rush.  We celebrated Thanksgiving at my brother Matt's home near the Twin Cities.    It has become our family tradition.  This year Matt and his wife Bridget hosted 45 guests.  It's busy, loud and lots of fun!  Oh did I happen to mention I have a very large family and that my brother has a heated and very beautiful 3 car garage that they are able to set up in.    Now onto my Christmas mantle.  I found this very old window frame  and decided to clean it up and take it from there.   I already had everything I needed to decorate it with in my Christmas stash.

I wanted some new stockings that had a rustic, cozy and country Christmas feel to them.  After looking at how expensive the ones I wanted were,  I decided I would just make my own.   The front of the stockings have a burlap cuff and the back are made of felt. I found the patchwork looking fabric for the front's on clearance, and I knew right away it was just what I was looking for.

.

Thanks Debbie @ Confessions of a Plate Addict for providing an easy to follow stocking tutorial.

And my favorite shot with a nice cozy fire going.  
Some of the details:  My frame was free!  The child skates and old wooden box were $2 garage sale finds. The stockings cost about $3 each to make. The berry wreath was an after Christmas sale and it was only $2 . The cute reindeer was purchased a few Christmas's ago at Pier 1.  I think they still have them.
Everything else was already in my Christmas stash.
So next up...finding that perfect Christmas tree.

joining

Met. Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Inspire me Tuesday @ at Stroll thru life

Tweak it Tuesday @ Cozy Little House

The Scoop @ Confessions of a plate addict

Simple pillow tutorial

I've been on a sewing kick lately.  Not  complicated projects, but several smaller ones.

I love new pillows but I don't like the price of the ones I usually want.

I bought this fabric last summer when it was on sale. 

I love the pastorial scene. 

For my pillow project I am using a 18x18  down filled pillow form.

I cut one panel for the front of my pillow.

I cut it 18" by 18" for a snug fit.

You will need two panels for the back.  I used a navy cotton that I had on hand. Cut one panel the width of your pillow and add 6 inches.  For mine it is 18 + 6 for a total of 24".  Cut the length the same as your pillow.  Then cut the piece in half.  

Next step.

Make a fold on the length of your fabric, about a  half inch and iron.

Do this for both pieces.

Then sew each panel along the fold.

Now your ready to pin your pieces, right sides together.

One panel will overlap the other in the center.

Then sew close to the edges around the entire outside of the pillow.

Now iron, trim your edges and turn your pillow case right side out.

 It will look like this.

 Insert your pillow and ..

there you have it!  I made two, cutting the panels from different sections of the fabric.

Not hard at all.

Soon you can be whipping up all kinds of pillows.

I am going to start working on some Christmas ones next.

And pillowcases for my grand-daughters too.

Here is one I made for Addison.

And I just finished one for Calista as well.

Take care friends,

Cindy

The Adventures of Jane (Blondie) and Cindy

The Old Mill in Cedarburg, Wisconsin

This is the setting where Dan and I met up with our good friends Jane and Al this past weekend.

  Jane (Blondie's Journal) and her husband Al have become such good friends that we get together at least once a year. Jane and I hit it off nearly 5 years ago when we both started blogging.  And as an extra bonus, our husbands hit if off as well.

Jane and Al. 

Aren't they a cute couple!

We stayed at a quaint little B and B in downtown Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Cedarburg is a quaint little town in South Eastern Wisconsin.

It was about a half way point for us to meet.

However we have had many fun week-ends with these two.

This was the setting for our first ever meet-up in Galena, Illinois.

It was about 2 weeks before Christmas and the setting could not have been more perfect.

Galena is another good half way point for us.

You can read all about that here.

We stayed at a Victorian style Bed and Breakfast that was all decked out for the holidays.   There was a lovely light snow that evening and it just added to the ambiance.   

Another year we met in the little town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

It was also during the holidays and I remember we stood out in the freezing cold one evening, drank hot chocolate and watched a little town holiday parade go by.

You can read about that here.

The next summer found us traveling to Michigan.  What a treat to stay at their lovely lake home.  Here the guys are relaxing outside of the little guest house.  You can read about that here.

Back to Galena last summer. 

And last week-end in Cedarburg.

We spent Saturday shopping, eating and just visiting.

It was fun and relaxing.

And Jane, being the sweetheart that she is surprised me with this beautiful throw.

I love it! Thank-you again Jane.

The town was decked out for Autumn and Halloween.

Even the cute little popcorn wagon was dressed up.

On Sunday, the four of us had a leisurely breakfast at our inn.  Which by the way, was delicious.

We all packed up and then Jane and Al hit the road.  They had come a night before us.

The husband and I went back downtown to do a little sightseeing and then we headed out to a little park and this very old covered bridge.

Then we also hit the road because we had to make it home in time for the Packer game of course.

 I want to share my little grand-daughter all ready for some trick-or-treating.

She loves the story Little Red Riding Hood.

So I made her a cape and skirt, and lined an old basket with gingham.

Very easy and we had a blast just running around the yard and pretending she was  red riding hood.  

Off to Grandma's she goes!

Until next time,

Cindy