Inspired By Another

Greetings Friends~ ~ ~

I'm so pleased with the results and I want to share my process with you. I was in the middle of putting away all my summer decorations when I visited dear Artie's home over at Color Outside The Lines. He has committed to take a picture a day of his home to share with us for the next 30 days I believe, all in the effort to acquaint himself with his new camera. I got a lot of camera envy goin' on here.

Artie did something that I fell in love with. He repurposed his dining room table to be much like a library table. Now I have this sweet little white table in the sunroom that I have been using for crafting. All summer I have had a floral arrangement and lace doilies and a few do dads on it. This is how it looks now. I am having such fun using it for a knitting table. I love how he turned the chairs around and put stacks of books on them. Although my weakness when it comes to reading material are magazines. I'll probably replace some of the books with a stack of decorating or knitting mags.

I began with 2 summer tablecloths with the lace one on the bottom. A stack of books and the pink flower pot on top. A pretty pedestal glass dish with tea bags.
My books and needles and a few skeins of yarn and some creative arranging. I can now have my pattern out ready for reference as I knit. I pull one of these chairs around and sit here during daylight hours so that I can enjoy the falling leaves outside. Curling up on the sofa to knit isn't always the most practical for me.
This table is sort of pushed into a corner so I can only use 2 chairs around it.

I know, the flowers are the summer ones I was in the process of packing away till next year. I was just so excited to get started that I grabbed the closest things around. Next week I'll show you how I have the same table decorated for this fall.

There is a crystal hanging on the angel's wing and it reflects beautiful colors in the candlelight. A lovely skein of red laceweight yarn. As you can see in the above picture it is almost dark outside.

This picture above is right after I started the arrangement in the afternoon. Lots of light outside the sunroom. On the far left is a bowl of hickory nuts that I initially had on the table but it just did not work. I looked around the house till I found something that might work. Ah, the angel, but he is too short. No problem, I'll put him on a small stack of books.

Better but still to low, more books.

Much better, just the right height. This enamel plate was a gift many years ago made specially for me by a dear friend. It is my beloved black Afghan Hound, Pepsi, who is now with the angels. He was one of those pets that you never forget, a best friend. He was all that is glamorous and aloof yet funny and handsome! I miss him.

A lovely sweater pattern and my favorite knitting needles.

Thanks for visiting me and please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

My thanks to the lovely Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting

Tablescape Thursday.

It's Nuts Around Here !

We have a few nut trees in our yard. These are Hickory nuts or shell barks as they are called around here. I like to call them Shag Barks because the bark strips off in long shaggy strips. What do they call them where you live? The bigger darker nut is the outside shell. The small tan shell is inside and it's a bugger to crack, really hard. I like to use them to decorate my Christmas cookies. Mostly the nut comes out in little pieces.

In contrast to these big guys. The green ones are Black Walnuts. Similar to English Walnuts but stronger in taste. We love Black Walnut cake! Inside the green shell is a shell that looks a lot like an English Walnut but there is black sticky stuff inside, between the two shells. After the green shell comes off we then let the nuts sit for a few weeks to dry. Then shell them for cooking.

This is my Pumpkin Cheesecake with pecans decorating it. I could have used Hickory nuts also. The strong taste of Black walnuts might have been a nice addition to the pumpkin too. I'll have to try that next time. Do you like Pumpkin Cheesecake?

Now for cat humor. This is the wise one on the bag of kibble I had just folded up.

Wise One inside the bag havin' a happy moment!

All Done!

Please join Gollum to visit with everyone who is joining us this week for Foodie Friday.

~Make it a Great weekend~

~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

Something Went Terribly Wrong. . .

Does this look like a fall tablescape to you? Me neither. It started innocently a few days ago when I decided to layer a tablecloth or 2 or 3 to get a really lush look for a dinner with friends.

Then I decided to use the R.S. Plates I bought this summer. I layered it over my new Gibson white china. $14.99 for 4 place settings at Ollie's. I thought I was dreaming!

Thought I could use the green in the plates with fall decorations and make it work. No way. Every time I put another element on the table we traveled further and further from a Fall look.

Three cloths layered was a good start but the poppy plates took me in a totally different direction.

Oh well, I just threw my hands up and went for the winter votives I just purchased, grabbed a string of silver beads and went for that icy winter look

Pulled the ivy off a tree out back and the little lavender berry's off the bush on the patio. I love natural elements. Didn't even put them in water, just layered them on the table.

I love mixing votives with tall candle holders. If you look close you will see that the two tall crystal candlesticks don't match. Sort of a trademark for me. I love the unexpected!

Won't my guests be surprised! It's cold enough here to be December maybe they won't notice.

Thanks so much for stopping by and listening to my silliness. Please visit Susan to view the list of folks who have joined her for Tablescape Thursday. It's always a fun event. Enjoy yourself.

~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

Sweet Little Apron

Greetings friends~ ~ ~

Just a quick post to say I Won! This great little apron was made my Laurie at Meggie Mae Aprons. (I'm so sorry but I can't get this link to work. Click on Laurie's name then choose her site.) I must say she is a great seamstress her hand stitching and sewing is neat and precise. Oh yes, they are lined too.

If you are in the market for an apron for the holidays or everyday use visit her site and take a look at her aprons.
I am a seamstress too and sew my own aprons so I know a talented seamstress when I see one. Laurie does a great job.

Well I did say I won this apron so off you go to visit Julia @ The Apron Goddess to register to win your own apron. Julia is a great gal with a big heart and an amazing love of aprons. Visit her sweet blog. She has a give-a-way going on. Check it out.

Thank you my friends for supporting these lovely gals. See you tomorrow for Susans Tablescape Thursday.
~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

Summer To Fall

Hello Friends~ ~ ~

This is the way my diningroom buffet looked all summer.

My Great Grandmother's pitcher and bowl set. Isn't it lovely on the white buffet with the lace?

I am so grateful to have it and in perfect condition too.

My Mother would display it when I was young so now we both can enjoy it here.

I am not a fan of matchy matchy so you will see that both sides of my buffet decorations are balanced, but they do not match. I really like that. This is a close up of the left side.

This is what it looks like dressed for fall.

Mostly the same things with just small changes.

A pumpkin and a few leaves. A fallish candle.

Also I changed out the crystal candleholders for brass.

Seemed to say fall to me

Oh and the new wallpaper border.

Here again, I have used a stack of books to get a pleasing height for the lamp.

Books are great for changing heights.

The apples didn't last long they are now in canning jars as applesauce.

This is a little arrangement I did for the one side wall in the diningroom.

An old lace hanky, some dried leaves and a few cranberry branches.

I love the little wire star on the side and a tag I made last year.

So true. Don't forget to D..r..e..a..m!

Wishing you a dreamy week.
~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

My thanks to Susan for hosting Met. Monday.

Hop on over and see what's going on this week.

Helping Animals In Need

Our pets fill our lives with Joy.

They make us laugh.

Life would be sad without them.

They are cute and cuddly and silly.

But there are some in need.

Head over to Kelee at the Katillac Shack to see what you can do to help.
Now go hug your pets.

Here Kittys, Here Kittys, Special treats for you today.

Thanks for your friendship and all you do to bring to my life.

Love to all of you in Blogland too.

~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

Diningroom Redo

Greetings Friends and Welcome to our home.

Please come in and see the changes since you were here last.

As you come in the front door and up the steps you can see in the foyer that my spinning wheel and a basket of yarn and fiber is at the ready for some serious spinning. Planning to make time for that soon.

This is a close up of the wreath at the top of the steps.

I made it a few years ago and still love it.

Beside the spinning wheel is the smaller of my china cabinets.

To the left of it is the entrance to the diningroom.

The above picture is the diningroom last weekend. You know how when you move into a new house there are just some things you have to live with for a while? Well, I have about had it with this wallpaper border. The wallpaper is OK but the border has got to go. To begin with it's green and I am not a green person. Then there is the matter of the stark white edging on the bottom of the border. Remember I told you the border was no nasty that I would not show you pictures of it. Tried scraping it off but could not without ruining the paper below so my next plan of attact was to cover it up.

~ ~AFTER ~ ~Much better!

I have been looking for a new border for months. The biggest problem was that the existing border is 9 1/2" deep so to cover it the new one had to be at least that deep to hide all of it.

Then I got really lucky and found this discontinued border with french script, scrolls and chickens and roosters. I really do love it and wait till you hear this. . .only $2.50 a roll!

This is the french door to the sunroom and to the left an addition was put on at some time to make the diningroom larger by 4 feet, so the roof line is different. The ceiling drops for the addition. The original border did a goofy little jog here and I had to follow it with the new paper also. Interesting, but I think I would have done it differently from the git go.

Oh, and my helper was available for the day so he put his inspectors hat on and went to work.

I turned my back and he was up on top of the china cabinet!

It looks like he approves. How did he get up there?

No kidding. Wish I had seen him made the assent up the ladder.

Notice the ceiling paint above a nasty gray white that did not look good at all with the border.

Don't you know that I had to paint the ceiling now. Can't let that go on but wish I had thought of it BEFORE I put the border up. Would have been so much easier to paint. Experience is the best teacher. Betcha I'll remember that next time.

New ceiling paint, Behr Butter Yellow in Satin Finish. Love satin on a ceiling. See how it reflects the candlelight and the border figures. They will try to talk you out of it at the paint store but you'll be glad you did it. This is my second diningroom with satin finish ceiling and I love it. In fact I love it so much that I'm going to paint the livingroom and hall satin too, just as soon as I can find another border to paste over the one in there.

All done and this is the top of the china cabinet where the kitty was. The rooster now has company.

Last two pictures of the finished room. It's so much lighter and brighter.

Does it look a little French Country maybe? I'm happy.

Thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate it and I love to hear your comments.

Be sure to visit Susan, Our hostess for Metamorphosis Monday, at her home to visit with everyone who joined in this week for the fun. Thanks Susan.

~ ~Ahrisha~ ~