Australian Kookaburras in our backyard

Australian Rosellas on our back deck

Featherbellies...

How many of you love to sit and watch the birds like I do? Right outside my den window I have several birdfeeders and houses; and on snowy cold days I really enjoy sitting and watching all the activity...yesterday I snapped a few (grainy for sure) pictures to share and in a short time we were able to spot cardinals, finches, doves, bluejays and a few unidentified species as well...the bluejays are the "bullies" of the crowd and my favorite is the brilliant male cardinal you will spot in a picture below.

I thought this pic was interesting with the screens so detailed..almost looked like a cross stiched piece to me

Jelly Rolls aren't just for snacking..........

A couple of years ago I took up quilting, though, on a very small scale. I would NEVER venture to make a quilt large enough for an adult to sleep under. I resign my sizes to baby quilts, wall hangings or the table topper as you see here. My aunt presented me with a beautiful Jelly Roll from Moda Fabrics over two years ago and this week, I decided it was time to get something created. I love the Chinese coin quilt pattern, so I started searching the Internet for ideas and decided it would be easier to just find a photo and do it on my own. The collection consists of citrus colors with all designs, so this made part of the project easy. I decided to do a different border and used some solid strips in the collection as they reminded me of limeade, orangeade and lemonade. Hey it's February and when I was getting my table items set to take a photo - I decided that I would have hot tea - rather than iced. In 51 days, we will meet up with SPRING. I will be happy to sit at this cute table scape and have Gayle (perhaps Keely can join us with Easton) over for iced tea. Victoria: hope you like the table topper - I enjoyed our chats about it.

While I appreciate the things I have accomplished, we all tend to strive to excel a little more. I never embraced the "country" look, but when you have to work with what you have - that's what you do. My kitchen is large, but there was never sufficient space so over the years, I've upgraded to allow for more storage for the huge collection of dishes and serving pieces we all collect. A floor redo was implemented a couple of years ago and my son Al did the tile work which I designed to resemble a rug on the floor. He did an excellent job and I probably will never change this.
This past summer we installed some new cabinets purchased at Lowes - they make the kitchen feel more organized since everything is stored and out of sight. Carl has never done carpentry work like this, but I think he did a great job. Now - all I need to do is put some paint on the back wall to make the cabinets POP - perhaps a good red color. Any suggestions - are welcomed. Come by for tea - we can sit here!

Refreshing Before & Afters - Kitchen Project

What a Difference...

A few feet of Crown Molding can make! Our main floor bath is tiny (circa 1954) and I'm always looking for ways to make it seem more like the luxury baths that are so popular these days. Last year we had replacement windows put in and we removed the old window with panes and replaced with the glass block window (love it!)...we have plaster walls and the previous owner had wallpapered without a backer and when I went to remove the paper the plaster walls were coming with it! I found the paper with a linen texture and we put that up a few months back but i wanted crown molding to really finish it off...we bought the molding several weeks back but jim was putting it off and then today i came home to find he had started it...here's a before without and one section with it! Amazing what a difference it makes to add the crown molding doesn't it?