PINK SATURDAY, BLUE MONDAY & MORE CHRISTMAS

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.
Today Beverly is asking us to show our favorite holiday ornament or decoration, first I thought I would show you some snow pics from a little snow storm we had last weekend. Winter has finally arrived here in WV. Bitter cold the past few days.

We have been feeding the deer just off our front porch. Poor deer are very hungry there are not many apples and nuts in to woods this year for them to eat. They are reaching the point that they will be waiting for my husband to get home from work to give them some corn. They are coming out of the woods before he leaves. I'm sure I will be getting some really good pics before this winter is over. We started feeding them on this side of the house because we are going to turn this porch into a Florida Room so we will be able to enjoy watching the wilflife from that room all winter long.

Now on to Pink Saturday which is not really pink this week. Maybe if you look hard you might be able to find pink. It's usually lurking someplace in my home. My first favorite holiday decoration is my Mother's Goebel Holy Family and shepherd. She loved Goebel's and had collected quite a few over the years. Every year when I pull them out I think of how much she loved them and was so happy to be able to collect them. She grew up during the great depression and was very thankful for anything like this that she was able to buy.

I have them setting on top of this curio with some of my other favorite things especially a pic of my son and daughter.

Another favorite of mine is this ornament that I cross stitched years ago. When my children went to Catholic School in NJ they always had a Happy Birthday Jesus mass on Christmas Eve. This remeinded me of those times.

A new favorite for me this year is a collection of vintage look tins that I purchased from Victorian Trading Company. I ordered them in a hurry and did not read the size I thought they were tiny and was planning on putting them on my small 24" Hoosier in my kitchen, I was very surprised when they arrived and were so big. I had to rethink my decorating plan for them and decided to put them on the chess table in the family room. There's still a little room there for my husband and grandson's to play chess. LOL

I love the table they set on, my husband found it at a yard sale for $10.00.

Another favorite, (I do have alot of favorites LOL) is this pretty tea set that I picked up years ago in of all places Walmart.

I just love these two ornaments that I got from Hallmark. Look how sweet this little holiday fridge is. The detail is just amazing! Please feel free to click on the pic to get a larger view of this cutie!

It even lights up and look at the pile of snow and snowman in the freezer. How cute!

Look at the detail in this little holiday stove, even cookies baking in the oven. It's even scented with a cookie scent.

New this year in my cottage is this cute little cake stand that I found at a thrift store for $12. I love it and it's perfect for my little teacup.

Now on to Blue Monday hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally, if you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.

This year I put up a white tree with aqua ornaments in my bedroom. I love this shade of blue and had collected quite a few ornaments in this color. I love the look of aqua with the pink in my room. When I was little I used to color the sky's in my coloring books in aqua and pink. I guess it stayed with me. LOL

Thank you so much for stopping by this week. It was so nice to visit with you and share all my decorating ideas. I hope to get to visit more of you this week, it's such a busy time of the year. Our calendar for Dec. is just filling up!!!! Christmas Blessing to you!

Shirl

PINK SATURDAY, BLUE MONDAY & A PEEK AT CHRISTMAS

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. This week Beverly asked us to join in on a little Christmas fun by posting something about our favorite childhood Christmas.

When I was growing up in the 50's my parents would have no Christmas in the house until we went to sleep on Christmas Eve, they would stay up all night and put up a beautiful live tree, covered in angel hair. My father always put a train display up and a huge one to boot. He had mountains, waterfalls, bridges, little towns, a Grandmother's Farm out in the country. My Mother always put out a tray of ribbon candy and mixed nuts. We woke up to the most beautiful winter wonderland. It was just magical. She even had the turkey in the oven when we woke up. The smells were heavenly! I always remember these wonderful magical times and treasure them. I wish I had some pics, but I have none. My parents used to take slides and they got ruined in the basement one year. No pics just memories. Wonderful ones though!

Today I've posted some pics of Christmas at my cottage. The one above and the two below are taken on my side porch.

A little pink for Pink Saturday. I made this pretty Yardly Soap sachet for a door prize at my quilt guild.

I made this cute little ribbon emboridered mitton for the Yankee Swap at guild.

Also a cute little birds nest tussie!

A pretty little tag.

For Blue Monday with Smiling Sally I have some aqua blue in my cottage bath this Christmas.

Thank you so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you! I had a busy week and got a stomach flu to top it off. I did not get to visit many blogs but hope to get to visit you all this week! Thank you so much to all of you sweet bloggers that stopped by and left a comment! I really do enjoy reading them.

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY, BLUE MONDAY & A PEEK AT CHRISTMAS

Hello I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! Ours was wonderful!
I've had a busy and fun week since I've talk to you all last. I love being off from work and have gotten so many things done. My husband and I put a wood floor down in a little hallway in the older part of our home. I will be posting pics of that soon.

For my Pink Saturday post today I have these pretty little fleese throws that I picked up in, of all places CVS. I thought the colors were so pretty and I love to have these handy little cover ups around. I always keep my couch arms covered up in them in case Molly the Newf decides to get on the couch and use the arm as a chin rest. LOL

If you go to visit Beverly of How Sweet The Sound you can get a list of all the other participants. A close up below. Feel free to click on the pics to get a larger view. My daughter Jen made the cute little faux sugar cookie ornaments. Your can visit her here.

Now on to my Blue Monday post with Sally of Smiling Sally. This week while being off I finished this tote that I started months ago. It's a cross stitch that I did years ago and had framed but decided to make it into a tote bag.

If you look close you can see that she has little pearls for a necklace and little pearls in her hair bows.

I love her quilted chair that she is setting on!

Christmas is definatly in the air here. I have been busy pulling out all my decorations. Friday I spent the day taking down all my fall, cleaning house and started putting up Christmas. Look how cute these socks are that I found in The Dollar Tree. I love the old fashioned wool knee socks (that I can't find anymore) so I pick up these cute little holiday socks to wear with jeans.

They have lots of glitter threads in them that is not showing up here.

We celebrated my first Grandsons 19th birthday on Thanksgiving Day. My how the time does fly. I was so busy making pies so I purchased his Birthday cake. It was delish with Bryers Ice Cream! Happy Birthday Joey, we love you and are so proud of you!

My daughter Jen made me these cute little faux cakes for Thanksgiving. She makes so many pretty things, you can visit her here. Thank you Jen, I love them!

Another one of my favorite things that I have been doing during this week off from school is reading all my new Christmas issues of magazines.

Thank you so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you. I have alot planned for my last two days off before I go back to work. I do enjoy being home and nesting, making a nice comfy home for my family but I do look forward to getting back to work. I'm sure the children will be counting the days until Christmas. It will be fun to share their excitement!

Have a great week!

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY, BLUE MONDAY & HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Thanksgiving greetings to all my dear sweet friends in blogland! I wish you a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving! I am really looking forward to the week ahead. I'm off for 9 day. YEAH!!!! I have so many projects planned and a whole pile of new Christmas magazines to read. I also plan on getting out some Christmas decorations. Doing a little painting and wallpaper, finish putting my gardens to bed for the winter and so much more. We have been having some really mild weather for the past few weeks here in WV. We are spoiled for sure.
I've put a few pics here of some of my fall decorations. ENJOY!!! Please feel free to click on the pic to get a larger view.

I have a combined post this week for Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound and Blue Monday hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally. I found all these cute little vintage plastic things at a thrift store. I've got losts of projects planned for them, now to just find the time. Lots of pink and blue here!

Thank you so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you, I wish you a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY, BLUE MONDAY & A GIFT FROM A BLOGGING FRIEND

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Thank you Beverly for hosting this fun event.

Today for my pinkness I'm sharing with you my sweet little Sacred Heart collection.
My friend Lorena over at Rose Chic friends this past summer had asked me to join her with posting collections, I have such a busy schedule that I was not able to get my pics taken until recently so I'm too late to join in with Lorena but I thought I would show you the collections that I have that are pink.

I started my collection of Sacred Hearts of Jesus with my Mother's little Sacred Heart Hummel by Goebel. Then I added these two hand painted prints that I had found in the summer of 2008 at an antique mall in NJ.

Below is a close up of the little prayer printed on one of them. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is supposed to remind us of his burning love for us.



A closeup of the little Hummel.

I'm still on the lookout for some vintage Sacred Hearts to add to my collection.

I received this adorable hand painted package in the mail last week. I won a giveaway from Laurie at Charming Designs a few weeks ago. Packaging is just to pretty to toss out so I will have to save this to use in paper crafting.

Laurie painted this cute little charm, and included a chain to use as a necklace and a ring to use as a keychain.

The back is a quilt block and has a pretty glittery shine to it. I could not get that little glare off this pic even using the no flash museum setting of my camera.

Thank you so much Lourie! I love it and will always treasure it!

I'm doing a double post again this week so that the rest of the week I will have time to visit blogs.

Welcome to my Blue Monday post hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally.

For my blue this week I have this pretty blue and rose fleece that I purchased at Joanne's Fabric Store. I thought the colors were so pretty and I love using them as a cover up on the couch. I also use them as a shawl on a chilly morning. Another way I use them is on my front proch just tossed over a chair or chaise. I love the feel of these soft fleese blankets.

I took several different closeups of it so you could see all the pretty things going on on this blanket.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed all my little things that I've shared with you today. Have a wonderful week and I will be visiting blogs all week long!

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY & BLUE MONDAY

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Stop by to visit her and get a list of all the other participants.

Today I am doing a double post, I hope I'm not commiting a blogging crime! LOL It's just that I only get time to do one post a week and I have been missing out on Blue Monday so I'm doing both posts together. This gives me all week to visit other blogs.

Today for my pinkness I have a cute little teatime cross stitch that I did several years ago. I've framed it in a little frame that my daughter Jen painted for me. I'll be using this in my new pink guest bedroom that I hope to show you soon.


Thank you Beverly for hosting this fun event!

Blue Monday is hosted by Sally of Smiling Sally. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants. I've missed several weeks of posting in this event since I've started back to work this fall and I have missed chatting with all of you Blue Monday bloggers.

Today I have a blue tapestry to share with you. I found this beautiful winter tapestry in a Dollar Tree for $1.00. Isn't it a beautiful winter wonderland? I just love it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it into a pillow or a quilted wall hanging.

Thank you all so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you. I'm looking forward to all my pink and blue visits this week!

Blessings, Shirl

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY & HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you stop by to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.

Today for my pinkness I just have to show you this pretty little print (above) that I bought just this week in an Antique Mall. I thought it so "shabby" and so "sweet"! A few close ups.

My next little bit of pinkness is this pretty vintage embroidered tablecover. I love baskets and thought this was sooooo pretty and was lucky enough to win it on an ebay auction.

A few closeups, you can also click on the picture to get a larger view.

I have a busy weekend planned, what plans do you have? Among the many things I plan to do (gardening, baking cupcakes for grandsons, sewing, shopping for furniture, church) I hope to find time to sit and relax will all my new magazines that have come in this week. This is one of my most favorite things to do with my daughter Jen, is to relax with a cup of coffee or tea and look through some magazines. Share ideas of decorating, crafting, sewing and recipes.

These Australian magazines are just full of the most beautiful sewing patterns.

Sew Sunny Homestyle has the cutest little patterns. I find this type of book so inspiring to come up with my own creations. Of course Paula Dean's magazines are such a joy to read, she is such an uplifting person.

I wish you all a happy and safe Halloween! Yesterday our school had a Halloween party for the children, my students were just as cute as can be. Some really adorable costumes!

I thought I'd share some pics of my front porch all decked out for fall.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Molly the Newf is still doing great! Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY & HALLOWEEN PRETTIES

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Thank you Beverly for hosting this fun event. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.

First I'd like to thank you all for your prayers and concerns for Molly the Newf. She is doing well now, her stitches are out and the drainage has stopped. She has not bloated back up like we were afraid of. Prayers have been answered. Were so happy to have our Molly back in good health and pray that she stays that way.

Now on to pinkness, today I'd like to show you this cute little shelf sitter that I purchased on ebay. This company called Stromboli's Wagon takes vintage images, enlarges them and attaches them to wood, cuts them out and adds some glitter. They have the prettiest designs ever! Love them!
As soon as I saw this one I had to get it as it reminded me of my sister and I when we were living in Kansas, I was only 7 at the time, she was 10, and she came home all excited because she learned how to knit. Of course she taught me right away and I always had to sit and hold her yarn while she wound it up into a ball.
I bought this one for my sewing room which I hope to get painted pink over the winter. This room needs a good freshening up and purging. My walk in closet has standing room only. LOL

I'd thought I'd show you some of my Halloween and Fall decorations. This picture below is one of my favorite things that I've ever done in cross stitch. It's one of the first things that I made back in 1981 when my sister taught me to cross stitch. I still love to pull this out every fall, just a sweet view of a country kitchen with pretty curtains and a pretty fall landscape view out of the window.

Some Halloween on my little Hoosier (that still waiting refinishing,LOL).

A few closeups.

Some Halloween souffle's that I made last year.

A few close-ups around my kitchen.

Halloween in my foyer, pics are not too good in this room, we have had rain all week and the light has just not been right for pics.

My daughter Jen from Jen's Petal Palace painted this pretty pumpkin for me.

A close-up of Halloween tree.

A cute little cross stitched pillow that I stitched this summer on a road trip.

Some more close-ups.

A cute little Gooseberry Patch cookbook for Halloween. I love their products, one of my favorite places to shop!

Another cute cross stich. This cross stitch designer named Judith Kirby designed a Victorian house for every season and holiday.

Close-up.

Thank you so much for stopping by, it was so nice to visit with you. I'll have more of my fall decor next Saturday. Have wonderful week!

Blessings! Shirl

PINK SATURDAY & UPDATE ON MOLLY THE NEWF

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Thank you Beverly for hosting this fun event. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments and prayers for our Newfy girl Molly. She went for her follow-up with her vet and he was not able to take her stitches out yet. She is still draining in a few spots so she's not healed enough to take them out. Poor girl, they are still not sure what caused this but have not ruled out stomach cancer. We are praying it won't be that. She's still on meds and if she has anymore problems then they will want to run a scope down and see inside her stomach. Praying she won't need that done. These pups sure do wrap their paws around our hearts don't they?

Anyway on to some pinkness. I hit a few flea markets last month and here is the collection of things that I bought. Great prices on everything, I don't think my total price here was over $20.00.

Some closeups Lots of pretty embroidered linens.

I thought the violet teacups and saucers were so pretty. I might make some pincushions out of them.

Some pretty bling!

Love this little jadeite chick on nest.

I love old needlepoint, I'm painting the frames white on these.

One of the four vintage cards that I picked up.

Love this little set of embroidered linens.

This Martha Stewart book was only $2.00 and it was even signed. Great find, I watch Martha Stewart everyday, I like to learn something new everyday and her show makes it possible.

This is the type of doll my sister and I used to play with, we thought we were in heaven the day we got our first Barbie.

She even has her own little Bible.

Thank you so much for stopping by it was great to visit with you. Have a wonderful weekend.

Blessings, Shirl

PINK SATURDAY & MOLLY THE NEWF

Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.

Sunday October the 4th was the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron Saint of peace and all God's Creations from the tiniest insect to the tallest tree.

St Francis has been my patron Saint for as long as I can remember. Living a life of peace has always been first in my life and my love of nature and animals led me to an interest in studying him.

This past Sunday in church they announced that animals could be brought to the church yard for a blessing. Since I have two dogs and 8 cats I opted not to bring my menagerie in town but said a prayer to Saint Francis asking him to please bless my pets.

When we got home from church we found our precious Newfoundland Molly laying in the backyard in pain and not able to walk and her breathing was erratic.
We rushed her into the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital. We were so scared because we lost 3 dogs to liver cancer and they had the same symptoms. They took her right in did xrays and found that her stomach was still full from the night before and nothing was moving, her intestines, colon were all shut down due to large pockets of gas all over her abdomen.
They had to do emergency exploratory surgery. They had to call in a second Dr. due to her size.
She is 171 pounds and too large for one Dr. to handle.
Anyway the surgery showed that she had a very bad infection in her stomach causing everything to shutdown. Our poor girl made it through, she has a 20 inch incision in her belly.
She will be on meds for a few weeks. We are not sure how she got this infection, we feed her good food and keep her bowls and water very clean.

There were other dogs in there with the same thing and I'm suspicious of dog food being contaminated.
My son took his cat to another vet last night to be spayed and there was another dog in there with the same thing. Those people could not afford the surgery for their dog and had to have it put down. How sad that must have been. My heart would just ache! The vet told my son he has had several dogs this week with the same thing. Scary isn't it?

Anyway Saint Francis sure did bless our baby girl this week. We have her back home with us and she should be OK in time.
We will continue to pray for her and Saint Francis will continue to be my Patron Saint. I have this pretty cross stitch shown above of Saint Francis in my bedroom and it's the first thing I see when I get up in the morning. I'm also looking for a Saint Francis statue for my cottage garden. I say this prayer when I get up and when I go to bed at night.

My husband and I have rescued dogs and cats our entire married life of 38 years but there was a dog that I had always wanted, was not sure what kind of dog it was. I would describe her to my husband and he was not sure what type of dog I was talking about.

Then one day the L.L. Bean catalog came and there was the dog on the cover. I showed my husband and said "there's the dog I want" He then told me that was a Newfoundland so I set out to find my dog. I lived in Newfoundland for 5 years when I was young and perhaps I knew one there. Don't know but the picture of that dog just tugged at my heart.

We reseached and studied the breed for three years, not wanting to contribute to any puppy mill, we found a responisble breeder in Connecticut.

While waiting for the big day that we could go and pick her up, I cross stitched this little banner and another one with her name. Crocheted her blankets in pink of course.

Molly is from a wonderful blood line called Nashau-Auke, her father and mother were both champion dogs. Her father was 181 pounds and her Mother was 169. Molly has grown to a hefty 171 pounds. We don't show her but she has done water rescue. She can pull a boat in, take a tube to a drowning person, or even pull a person into the shore. We don't have her in a rescue group right now. She's just our sweet house pet.

Here's Molly the day we brought her home from Connecticut. My friends from NJ drove up to the New England states with us to pick her up. They were the Grandparents. LOL. Molly is our empty nester dog. So you can just imagine how spoiled she is. She is like a baby sister to my kids and grandkids. She slept all the way home in her basket. She missed her Newf family and when she would wake she would cry terribly.

Here she is at her first Birthday Party.

She's such a sweet girl, she shared her bed with her brother Elvis. He died 3 years ago, they were good buddies!

Molly loves to go to the beach with us. She loves to swim, she just glides through the water. No splashing when she swims.

She always has an eye on my grandson's, she even surfed on their boards a few times. Wish I had gotten that on film!

Here's she's kissing the fish that Mikey caught.

She loves her walks especially on Cape Hatteras Island.

Molly will set at this fence in her backyard and wait for us to come home. Rain or snow she sets there. When we pull in the driveway she runs through her dog door and sets at that door with tail a wagging!

Our precious sweet girl is doing a little better day by day. We won't be feeding her dog food again until we can figure this thing out. Please keep Molly in you prayers.

Thank you so much for stopping by and listening to my Newf talk and looking at my few drops of pinkness this week. It was so nice to share with you. Have a wonderful week.

Blessings, Shirl