Fall in Our Living Room

When I shared the plaid flannel pillow I sewed earlier this week, I said I would share photos of our Fall living room. I like our Fall decor to be simple and neutral with lots of texture.

I added a wire basket filled with pinecones to the $10 wood dresser. 

The ironstone pitcher, platter and hydrangeas stayed and I added a large pinecone. The little grey tote I painted is still filled with extra Fall scented votives and now has a wood star and wire garland wrapped around it.

Two years ago I made the plaid pieced throw using lovely and soft flannels in tans, creams, and greys. I also made a little table runner using smaller squares and placed it on the bench we are using as a coffee table for the time being.

This year I used more leftover fabric to make a simple bunting.

The flannel is cut into 4 1/2" squares and then folded into triangles. I stitched a hem about 1/2" from the fold to slip twine through. 

This is the pillow I sewed earlier this week.

Lots of neutrals in our living room and I am really enjoying how it looks. I would love to be able to afford a nice rug but not right now. The wall gallery needs some work, and yes that roman blind is STILL not up but this weekend is free from fairs so hopefully we can get to it. 

I found this really sturdy and large basket at the local thrift store for $5. It is huge and is way bigger than it looks in this photo. For now it is holding two vintage crocheted tablecloths but I can see lots of quilts and blankets for snuggling being stored in here. Hoping you enjoyed a little 'visit' in our living room where I love to spend time visiting with family, reading or doing needlework (we have a TV in our family room and a basement TV room so none in this room.) I hope you enjoy this lovely Fall weekend.

You can find me hanging out at the following parties...
Air Your Laundry Friday at Freckled Laundry
Inspiration Friday at At The Picket Fence
Weekend Bloggy Reading Link Up at Serenity Now
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Vintage Inspiration at Common Ground
Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
and shared as My Favourite Fall project at Funky Junk Interiors SNS #160

An Early Fall Evening and Candlelight

 We are enjoying the scent of banana bread fresh out of the oven and some lovely candlelight this evening.

I added some touches of Fall this week to our dining room table with a big white platter lined with burlap ribbon and filled with white candles. A wood berry vine in Autumn colours and pine cones fill in the spaces around the candles.

I also added a berry vine with rusty tin stars to the light fixture and two zinc lanterns with rippled glass on the table runner. The plaid wool blanket in cream, grey, red and pink on the parapet wall to the basement stairs was a thrift store find this week for $2.99. Regular visitors may notice that I put my collection of blue and white transferware in the white cabinet. 

I especially like the little mason jar tea lights on the window ledge. Lighting for photos in our dining room is always challenging and tonight is no exception : ) I will be sure to update the photos in daylight when I am home early enough in the day.

I love the neutral colours and textures of Fall and try to use natural elements throughout our home. And I also love pulling together seasonal decor with items we already have. The only 'new' purchase was the thrifted wool blanket. Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to check out my favourite blogs while enjoying a hot cup of tea and some of that banana bread.

I'm sharing this with..

Savvy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesday

White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Cowboy Up Link Party at The Ivy Cottage

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

A New Plaid Flannel Pillow

When I think of Fall I can't help but think of plaid and tartan fabrics.

A few years ago I made a throw and a table runner with this collection of lovely and soft plaids. I love the soft greys, tans, browns and creams. Late last night I was inspired to sew a pillow with the leftover fabric. For the edging and simple envelope back I used a thick muslin similar to drop cloth fabric. I also made a little fabric bunting with the scraps. Not too bad for free from leftover fabric. When I get more time I will share our living room decorated for Autumn. Hoping you are enjoying this lovely Fall day.

This post is shared at...

Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now

 

Air Your Laundry Friday at Freckled Laundry

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Cowgirl Up! Link Party at 4 blogs including The Ivy Cottage

Under $100 Linky Party at Beyond the Picket Fence

It's That Time Again

It is Fair time again and I have spent the last two weekends with our boys showing their 4-H projects. 

They are in the beef, dairy and rabbit clubs. Our oldest shows all three, but our youngest son chose to show only his rabbit this year. K is 15 1/2 and J is 13 1/2.

We are very fortunate to have great farmers allow our kids to work with their animals and prepare them for shows, and to transport them and share their time and expertise at the Fairs (we don't live on a farm so the cattle are 'borrowed'.)

K did especially well this past weekend and won quite a few ribbons, including Grand Champion Showperson in the Open Class. 

We have had great weather for the Fairs (except for two rainy Fridays and a quick shower the first Saturday), lots of time with friends and way too much Fair food. I plan to pack some nutritious food and snacks for this upcoming weekend. Three more Fairs to go and then a break until the Royal in November. Hopefully I can find some time this week to pull out the Fall decor bin. Do you visit fairs or festivals at this time of year?

Last Year's Fall Decor

Before I pull the Fall bin out of our basement storage I thought I would share a quick collage of some decor from last year.

Autumn 2011

This is a busy time of year for us but I pulled together a few simple, mostly neutral vignettes. I stocked up on some new scented votives and I will have to see what I can come up with this year. We don't decorate for Hallowe'en until after our Canadian Thanksgiving which is the weekend of October 6-8 this year. Have you started decorating for Fall?

I'm sharing this with...
Vintage Inspiration Fabulous Fall Fun at Common Ground


Countdown to Fall Party at Sand and Sisal

I Love Burlap Garland

I love burlap garland and I have a lot of it. I use burlap garland in my Christmas and seasonal decorating and just found another use for it.

Linsey at The Farmhouse Porch added burlap to a basket and I immediately thought of this basket of plants I received as a gift. I had pulled out a few of the plants to use in other places in our home and that left the basket a bit bare looking.

I love how the burlap added texture and fullness to the arrangement. I kept the raffia bow that came with it too. There is pink Kalanchoe, an African Violet and some other plants I have to find the names of.

It was easy to pull the liner away from the basket and slip in some burlap. I buy my burlap garland by the roll at Michaels. Here's a quick tip: the burlap has quite an oily smell when you first bring it home so I always unroll it and hang it outside for a few hours to 'air'.

And yes, it is perched on our copier/printer in the little office area of our family room. I am still trying to make this end of our family room a bit prettier. I added the vintage ironstone platter to catch any drips and because every area trying to look pretty needs some ironstone, don't 'ya think? Oh, and old Crown mason jars too. Ironstone and mason jars {sigh}.

The skylights in this end of our home provide lots of nice light for the plants. Adding the burlap was a simple thing to do, but I love how it looks.

You can see more burlap used for seasonal decor here, here, here and here.

It has been a crazy busy and tiring first week back to work/school and I am so happy the weekend is finally here. We will be busy each weekend for the next month with local fairs but it will be fun too. What are you up to this weekend?

I'm sharing this with....
Inspiration Friday @ At The Picket Fence
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Soup, Stew and Biscuits

I am back to work tomorrow after being off all summer so I spent some time today cooking.

I made some beef stew and 3 dozen tea biscuits for a quick dinner later in the week and a few to take for lunches. My boys inhale the baking powder biscuits but they will not eat stew -way too picky eaters. Hopefully they will outgrow this. 

I also made broccoli soup for the first time (and yes I am 47 and asking myself what took so long.) It was delicious! The batch made enough for my husband and I to eat today, and more to freeze for lunches. Luckily I am home most days just after 3 pm and my husband cooks too, but it was nice to add some more jars to the freezer. After making 60+ jars of jam this summer, I am getting low on jars and reuse pasta sauce mason jars. What is your favourite food for the freezer?