October Is?

Just what does this month mean to you?

There is so much. . .

I have three very special birthdays this month.

My youngest child, my son Mark.

His wife, Shelly, also has a birthday.

And my charming granddaughter, Brissa claims this month.

 Of course October is 

Pumpkins galore. . soon to be 

 Jack-O-Lanterns

Memories of wagon rides on hay. . are some thing I think of               

 Sunflowers in gardens.

And no one thinks of them as weeds. . 

October is a rusty old truck. . that somehow is beautiful.

Everyone is WELCOME to gather in the home.

Sitting down to a warm bowl of soup.

Or watching a football game.

Simple pleasures become so much more precious.

October is. . .

Lest I forget a fun time for all.

The time of imagination. . .What will you be.?

Or who will you be?

I may not like scary. . .but there is something about

Children dressing in costumes that brings a smile to my face.

October is. . . . .

Come back and we will take a look at more of

October!

The October Transformation

Hello, And how are you today?

Just seems that old calendar keeps flipping away 

the days and weeks,

And I am just not ready for changes.

Weather wise or Life wise.

But time marches on and waits for no one.

As the days are getting shorter and cooler. . 

I have finished up my 

October Transformation of my Home.

(nothing like the decorating I once did)

A little change in the home never hurt anyone.

As always you are welcome to my home.

The first thing you see when you come into my home is

The picture of  The Salt Lake Temple. . .

I love this picture.  It is a constant reminder to me of the things

That are most important to me.

The table is filled with vignettes for the season

A little October with a touch of Halloween.

I love decorating the top of my television armour.  

It is a cheerful addition to an otherwise blah television screen.

Little Precious October sits front and center.

I have quite the collection of Precious Moments.

And I have each month that I have a child with a birthday.

October is the month for my son, Mark, his wife Shelly and for

My granddaughter Brissa.

Always a pumpkin or two much be on display this month and

actually for next month too.  I just love little pumpkins.

Another group of pumpkins on the Beautiful Blue Buffet.

Notice also the table runner.  I made mine a little different from

my Darling Daughter's.  

This candelabra sits front and center 

for Halloween.

I made this many years ago. . of course with the help of my

Son-in-law. . .I found the junk at DI and he helped me

create this cute candelabra.  I just love it.

It was literally created from pieces of junk.

And of course the shelf, pretend mantle, is decorated.

I have said it many times before. . .

There Is No Place Like Home!

No matter where I roam, I like to come home.

I am just an old homebody.  I always have been.

Even as a child and a young girl and young mommy.

I wanted to be home.

I like stability. . .I don't like moving here and there. . 

I believe we must provide a stable home base for ourselves

And for our family.

And if at all possible I believe we should live close to family.

I know how it feels to not "feel at home".

I have wandered too and fro trying to find my home.

I hope those days are over for me.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Be sure to come back again, and see what I am up to next.

I have a big project waiting for me. . .I hope I have the energy to

Get it done.  

Hugs to you,

To Paint or Not To Paint?

Hello friends!

Another beautiful October greeting.

So much loveliness surrounding me right now.

I had to make a trip to Home Depot this evening and when I

came out of the store. . .there in the beautiful night sky was the Moon.

It took my breath away. . it is so beautiful.  

Where I live the mountains are the backdrop to the sky

the Moon looked even more beautiful in that setting.

We live in a beautiful world. Don't we?

Well, my post isn't about the Moon it is far from that subject.

It is more along the lines of. . . .

Do you paint or Do you NOT paint.

Now there is an earth shaking decision.

Seriously. . .the trend right now is to paint 

EVERYTHING!

We would even paint water if we could.

But. . .are there times when you feel it is best to keep 

the natural look of the wood.

 This little chair I found at the thrift store.

It was in very bad shape.  Sturdy but scratched and ugly.

I painted it. . .Turquoise. 

I like it very much painted.

 This chair I recently found at the thrift store.

As you can see it has some scuff marks and scratches.

It is as solid as could be. Does not wobble at all.

Beautiful maple wood.

 I debated and looked at the chair a million times.

My Great-Aunt has always told me the

piece will let you know what to do.

To paint or not to paint.

You will even get the feel of what color to paint it.

(No I am not crazy. . )

You can see from the picture, I kept it natural.

I used a Gel-Stain. Min-Wax

Maple is the color.

 I am very happy I left it natural.

It just took a small amount of sanding.

The stain went on very smoothly.

For this chair I am glad I did not paint it.

I still love the beauty of wood.

I also love painted pieces.  It just depends.

I seldom have the cushion on the natural chair. 

I just like the look of the natural wood chair.

I also like the turquoise chair. . .I love the color and it

looks pretty wherever I place it in my home.

I also like the red and turquoise together.

Now. . another decision.

I have my mother's old Singer Sewing Machine.

1948

The year I was born.

After my Dad ruined Grandma Dot's Treadle.

He bought my Mom a new Singer Sewing Machine.

Thank goodness I have it. . .but it needs some tender care.

Actually it shows it's age. . .it is close to 67 years old.

It has traveled a lot of miles. It has sewed a lot of stitches.

The head is in perfect condition and I can still sew with it.

I still have all the attachments.

It has been sitting in my son's shed.

And I decided it was time to put Momma's sewing machine on display

in my Home.

But, what to do. . .Do I paint it. . or Do I leave it natural.

For several weeks it has sit at the end of my kitchen.

I have studied it. . I have thought about it.

And it has spoke to me.

I will restore it to it's former beauty.

I will leave it in it's natural wood. 

No Paint. . .Nope. . it will be sanded. . and stained and waxed.

This beautiful Singer Sewing Machine will be a cherished

piece of History. . .passed to my children and then to my grandchildren.

And on through the generations.

I believe I heard it correctly.

Natural Beauty!

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Hugs,

A Vintage Singer Sewing Machine With a Story

Hello, dear friends!

Beautiful October blessings to you.

It has been gorgeous where I live.. . . But

As with everything, there is a change in the forecast.

That is ok. . .that is why I love living here. . 

The weather is always changing.  

Ya, gotta love it!

I have a sweet little story to tell.

I have had this old treadle Singer Sewing machine for 

50 years.  

It belonged to my Grandma Dot.

If you follow my blog you know that my Grandma Dot

is very special to me. . .she raised me.

She is my Mom's Mom!

Anything that belonged to Grandma Dot I cherish and hold

dear to my heart.

As you can see this Singer Sewing Machine is not in very good condition.

I do have the oak cabinet it goes in.  I want to get it all cleaned up and 

looking nice and refinish the cabinet.

I was interested in knowing a little about the machine so I looked

on a data base that the Singer Sewing Machine Co. has

I found the serial number on the machine and looked it up.

This particular machine was made in 1869-1874.

Well, that was long before my Grandma Dot was born.

So, I did a little research.

I believe this machine belonged to my Great-Great Grandma Taylor.

I won't go into the details of why I believe this, but needless to say

it is a very old machine and I treasure it for the simple fact

I have it and it belonged to my Grandma

And it has a story.

That is why I love old things, they have a story.

My Dad told me this story many years ago about this machine.

Besides being in poor condition from neglect. The sewing machine

has a SCAR. Can you see it.  On the base under the arm.

One day after a very trying day with three young sons that had

done something "stupid", I ask my Dad. . 

"Dad did you ever do anything stupid like ruin a good piece 

of equipment because you just wasn't paying attention?"

Oh, did my Dad laugh!

"Yes, I did". I did plenty of stupid things when I was young.

And I still do stupid things even now."

Then he told me the story of the

Singer Sewing Machine 

It was 1947 my mother was expecting me.  She was making baby clothes and

blankets for me.  She had borrowed my Grandma's Singer Sewing Machine.

After many weeks of sewing, she had my Dad return it to Grandma.

So. . .Dad loaded the Singer in the trunk of his old 1944 Ford and

started down the road to Grandma's house.  Along the way he saw a friend.

So he stopped to chat with the friend.  He got out of the car with the car engine still

running and the gear in neutral. . . He and the friend were chatting and 

suddenly my Dad saw the car rolling down the road.  He ran after it. . 

He reached the Ford just as it hit an irrigation ditch and knocked the 

Singer Sewing Machine flying out of the trunk.

Landing in the road!

Broken in half!

Oh, dear! How was he going to tell Grandma, that he had done such

a stupid thing? My Grandma depended on the sewing machine to 

make all the clothing for the family.  My Mom depended on it too.

Times were hard. . money was scarce and sewing machines cost

more money than my Dad could afford.

Well, he sadly took the sewing machine to Grandma.

He told her

he had a friend who could weld the machine back together.

 The welding job wasn't that good.  It is rough and unsightly.

The Singer Sewing Machine never worked the same.

My Dad did the best he could to fix his "stupid" foolish  mistake.

My Grandma was one of the sweetest, kindest, forgiving person 

 Grandma Dot accepted my Dad's effort to mend his foolishness.

That happened 67 years ago, I have the machine in my possession.

More than having this beautiful Vintage Singer Sewing Machine

I hold dear the story that goes with it.  It has a lot of symbolism.

Even with the scar, this machine is beautiful.

It has a history. . .

We all make mistakes. . and sometimes our attempt to fix the mistake

Is rough and unsightly.  But to Jesus Christ who makes everything

New again, He takes care of the rough edges and unsightly look.

He sees beyond the Scar, He can see the beauty in the detail.

He sees with an Infinite Eternal Eye.  

I have the old Singer Sewing Machine, I will take good care of it.

It will be all shined up and in a refinished cabinet.

Oh, by the way. . my sons made it through that foolish, stupid escapade

Only to go on to other foolishness.  But isn't that what life is about.

We learn from our mistakes, and for some reason, we still 

make stupid foolish mistakes again.

I have done my fair share.

Hugs, to all

OCTOBER PORCH

It seems I am always apologizing for having not posted.

I am sorry. . .Life just gets hectic sometimes.

And for some reason my get up and go. . won't GO!

I have just wanted to crochet the little

Wash cloths. . .I have already given some as gifts.

Finally this little project is done.

So today I want to show you the 

I completed the October Porch today.  The weather here is beautiful.

And picture taking was ideal.

I never do scary. . . .Oh No! 

Even with Halloween in this month. . I would much rather 

decorate for Fall.

My Front Porch is just tiny. . .Oh, how I wish I had a big porch.

But, I don't so you do what you can do with what you have.

I  took the chalk board down.  Every time the wind blew

it would bang on the house, and my Terrorists would bark.

 We get a lot of wind where I live. . .So I replaced it with a

cute little hanging planter I found a few years ago.

Filled it with faux leaves and flowers.

Tied a burlap bow. . .I rather like it hanging there.

I will figure out something else for my chalk board.

 

The pictures show my railings. . .Grr! 

They need to be re-painted.  I am scheduled to

have them painted, but it hasn't been done yet.

One nice thing about living in a condo. . .the HOA

Is taking care of that chore. . 

And like I said my "go" has gone. . .and I can't find it.

One last detail to the October Porch.

The wreath for the front door.

Well, I am still working on it. . .so you will have to

come back to see the wreath.

Nothing fancy.  But, it is coming together beautifully.

I am a funny person. . I don't care for the Big fancy wreaths

That so many are decorating with. . Maybe if my porch was larger I would

be ok with a Big wreath. . .my space is just too small.

So I stay with simple (Plain)

Please do come back . . I would love to have you comment.

It lets me know you stopped by.

I hope your October is going well so far.

October is truly a lovely month.

Hugs,

Linking With

My 1929 Charmer/Sunday's Best

A Stroll Thru Life/Inspire Me Tuesday
Cozy Little House/ Tweak It Tuesday
Sew Many Ways/Sew Darn Crafty-October Theme