Dreaming in RED

I posted about the new family room Lazy Boy chairs we ordered last week. 

 I'm bringing a touch of red with light blue into the family room with this fabric.

Currently I have Country Curtains in the "Cabin Check" pattern....two sets of Austrian valances - one in burgundy and another in tan.

Usually the tan valances are up for spring and summer and the burgundy set is hung for fall and winter. 

 I love the "Cabin Check" valances because they are washable. 

 Unfortunately the Buffalo Check shown below isn't.

Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) fame has recently posted about her beautiful yellow buffalo check curtains in her office (here). 

 I loved them!

 And immediately I started dreaming about switching to Buffalo Check valances in our family room.

I got out my Country Curtains catalog to look at the Buffalo Check valances again and noticed (loved) the RED Buffalo Check.

I think I may order two new sets in Buffalo Check - one in yellow (it's listed as "gold") and another in red. 

 I still like the Austrian valance style but I may go with the Pleated Scalloped valance for a different look for the family room. 

 I may order a fabric sample of the two colors before I order any valances just to make sure of the color. 

 Do you like the Buffalo Check?

My craft/sewing room is coming along. 

 I had to take a break the last couple days when the bursitis in my hip was bothering me. 

Last week I bought an OttLite floor lamp at Michaels with a 50% off coupon.   

Love those coupons!

 And I love these lamps. 

 I have two now for my sewing table. 

 Lots of good natural light to see by.

I've been researching cutting table options for my craft/sewing room. 

 I looked at IKEA tables and even thought about making one. 

 They run from cheap (make your own) to very expensive professional ones. 

 I finally saw two Horn cutting tables in person at a local sewing store that fit all of my requirements except for the price.

I bought Hubby back to the store to make sure he felt we could get either one down into our basement.  After his inspection and approval I chose the sturdier one... it's well made and has wheels, nice storage and extends to a sufficient cutting area if needed. It's about twice what I wanted to pay but I didn't want to compromise quality to save money.  Luckily we got it on sale (20% off) because of a promotion and it's tax free shopping in the state of Delaware.  So we saved a little bit.  

One reason it's sturdy is it weights almost 300 pounds! 

 We may have to get help getting it into our basement. 

 I have to wait until September for delivery.  

I love it!

It's worth the wait...after all I waited until I was 65 to finally get a cutting table.  

What's a couple more days!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What a Wonderful Christmas!

Our new single server Keurig coffee maker!

We had a wonderful Christmas in Ohio celebrating with our brothers and their families.  

But, alas, no snow.  

Bummer!

However, even without snow it was a fantastic five days.

We are so fortunate to have a very loving family.  

And, boy, do they treat us special!

The most delicious meals...from prime rib to turkey...breakfasts, lunches and dinners...we ate well enjoying everyone's company.

Our only complaint...the time went by too quickly.

Gosh, I love our new single coffee server!  Hubby doesn't drink coffee or tea but he made sure we had some hot chocolate K-cups so we both could enjoy drinking hot chocolate on those cold, winter nights.  We bought a small sampling of different kinds of K-cups (coffee and tea) to try before buying more.  So far, I like the light roast coffees the best.  

Our new iPhones 4S

We've been "playing" with our new iPhones.  These tech gadgets are fantastic.  We got unlimited texting and my poor Hubby has been getting nonstop texts from me.  I've been loading the cutest apps too.

Our adorable grand niece, Hailey

We finally got to see our cute new grand niece, Hailey!  

I just finished giving Lucas, our grand nephew, his bottle.

Lucas is the happiest baby!  

He was smiling all day but I think he's getting sleepy now.

I love this stuff..."Christmas Crap"...a great snack!

My sister-in-law, Jane, made "Christmas Crap" for all of us.  

Yummy!

Update:  Here's the recipe from Jane!


CHRISTMAS CRAP

2 cups Rice Chex cereal

2 cups Wheat Chex cereal

2 cups Corn Chex cereal

2 cups Cheerios cereal

1 cup salted peanuts

1 cup mini pretzels

1/2 lb. M&Ms

about 1 and 1/4 lb. white chocolate

Mix everything together except white chocolate.  Melt white chocolate and pour over mix.  Mix to coat.  Pour onto wax paper and let set.  Make a thin layer so it's easy to break up.

(Note:  My Sister-in-law advises that she reduces this recipe by half because it makes an humongous amount!)


The individual pretzels shown with the hershey kisses and M&Ms is another recipe.  You can find that recipe here.  

Teacup Lane's Christmas Living Room.

After returning from Ohio we celebrated our Christmas at Teacup Lane. 

 Thanks sweetie for treating me like a queen.  I love you!  

This has been the best Christmas (and they all have been great)!

  Now I can really relax and enjoy the Christmas decorations.  I know there are many bloggers out there already putting their Christmas decorations away.  But not here at Teacup Lane.  We leave it all up into the middle of January or even later.  One year, while still working, it was February before we took it all down.

Vintage Snowman

Hubby fixed our vintage Snowman...the light wasn't working...but he got it going again.  

What a great guy!  

He's my "tech guy".  

Always fixing my computer for me and now we've added our iPhones to his list. 

I hope all of you had a most wonderful Christmas with your families.

Love, hugs and magical wishes for happiness to all of my blogging friends!

Here's to a fantastic 2012 for all of us. 

Christmas 2008

Have I mentioned I LOVE, really LOVE decorating for Christmas?  Well, I do.  I haven't started decorating for 2009 yet but I thought I would share some photos of my home from last Christmas with you.   This photo is a close up of our fireplace mantel.  My SIL gave me the cute Snowman.  I made the quilted forest scene fabric panel behind the Snowman many years ago (i.e., 1991) and embellished the mantel with green garland, pine cones and red poinsettia silk flowers.

Here's the mantel in all its glory!  As I mentioned I first quilted the piece on my sewing machine, added fabric paint, beads (red ones to embellish the berries, white star shaped ones, and a string of red beads on the Christmas tree) and tiny pine cones.   PS - I just discovered how to make the photos larger.  Ah - tah!

Last year I decided to get a small, slim Christmas tree and found this one at Target for just $25!  After much thought (i.e., where to put the extra tree???) I put it up in our foyer.  I love all styles for Christmas (white, pink etc.) but I still decorate in the traditional reds and greens of my childhood.

One of my vintage ornaments!  Isn't it beautiful!

Now you can see the embellishments on the forest scene from the silver glitter fabric paint on the snow, to the red beads on the berries, white star beads on the stars, to the red garland beading on the Christmas tree.  I had fun making this fabric panel.  I have another fabric panel of Santa Claus that I may try to make for Christmas this year.

Our family room Christmas tree and fireplace all decorated up for 2008.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  I can hardly wait to start decorating for Christmas 2009.