“Art in the Park”

We enjoyed spending the afternoon at Rainbow Springs State Park and attending the Annual Art Show.

It was fabulous weather, too

We saw amazing works of art as always and visited with artists that we’ve gotten to know over the years of attending.

It was fun to see Barbara Jones again. She was sweet to give me a gift card to use toward a special handmade piece of her jewelry.

I chose these beautiful earrings. I’ll enjoy wearing them! Thanks Barbara!

Her website is HERE !

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday,

Seasonal Sundays,

Sundays in my City,

Mosaic Monday,

and Amaze me Monday!

Did you do something fun this weekend?

Literary Friday and a Book and a Blanket UPDATED at the end!!!

I’m enjoying my new lap quilt in the lanai. So far it hasn’t been cool enough to wrap up but cooler temps are on the way. And I’m reading the BEST book that I want to share.

Did you ever read an author that can paint a picture? Describe something so that you can picture it in your mind? Beth Hoffman is that kind of author. Her books are always delightful. I like to rate my books 1 to 10 and I gave Saving CeeCee Honeycutt a 10! It really was THAT good!

 Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman is wonderful so far!

I don’t usually do reviews but I thought I would just quote a little part of what I read today in chapter 2. (I just started the book today)

“…the deep chug chug of Daddy’s tractor sounded. Puffs of gray smoke lifted into the air from its tall exhaust stack and Roxy was hunkered down for the ride.

Earlier that summer, Daddy had taught Roxy to do something amazing. After folding an old blanket and setting it on the front of the tractor, he tied it down with twine…and whistled for Roxy. She was big and beautiful and loved my dad something awful. Roxy was a Brahma chicken, fluffy white with feather pantaloons that went all the way down to her toes.

Daddy lifted Roxy onto the blanket and taught her how to ride on the front of the tractor. Roxy sat up there like a feathery pom pom, all plump and proud. I thought it was the cutest thing I’d ever seen…. Mama said Daddy spent more time talking to that chicken than he did talking to her.”

(a new bookmark from the library, made by a young artist)

I’m joining Ricki Jill for Literary Friday .

And Marfi with a Book and a Blanket HERE .

Are you reading a good book today?

UPDATE ~ I was SO thrilled to receive a comment from the author!

Beth Hoffman wrote,

“What a surprise. I'm delighted that you're reading my new novel and have featured it on your blog along with your quilt!
I hope you'll continue to enjoy Teddi's story and I thank you for your kind words.”

Thank you SO much for visiting me today! I am honored and delighted! And thanks to all of you that take time to visit my blog and comment. Sweet hugs to you ALL!

This Tops them ALL! My BEST Thrift Find!

I find a lot of fun things at the thrift stores here in Florida. And every once in awhile I hit the jackpot.

Which to me, means I find something on my ‘wish list’!

I love quilts and always search Etsy for redwork embroidery quilts. 

My eyes lit up when I found this crib quilt at Hospice Thrift Store.

But what could be better than a redwork crib quilt?

Another one the size of a lap quilt.

I almost felt like…that’s it….it won’t get any better than this!

 

But of course I’ll keep ‘hunting for treasures’.

I’m joining Thrifty Things Friday!

Also Katherine’s Corner,

Ivy and Elephants and

Jann for Share Your Cup

and Home Sweet Home.

Do you have something that stays on your wish list, something you always look for?

Nov Note Card Party at Vee’s!

November is a wonderful time to count our blessings and be thankful for everything God has blessed us with.

Thanks Vee for the fun party!

To take part, join us HERE !

And enjoy your week!

Do you have special plans this week?

‘Box Cover’

Frosty Florida??? Just KIDDING!!!

I hate it when you’re hiking through the Florida forest and things get all ‘frosty’. (I’m kidding!!! I put snow on these photos using Picmonkey!)

 

And you’re wearing shorts! heehee!

(earlier hiking post HERE)

I saw the biggest pine cones I’ve ever seen in the Ross Prairie Forest.

About a men’s size 12 I think…

or at least a ladies size 7! haha!

And they are ‘FROSTY’ with a little help from Picmonkey!

We saw a Gopher Tortoise and got close enough for some amazing photos. He scurried off right after his photo shoot. Maybe he thought I would take him to Picmonkey and ‘frost’ him!

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday,

Seasonal Sundays,

Sundays in my City,

and Amaze me Monday!

No animals or people were harmed while taking these photos.

(or even got cold!)

It’s NOT COLD here!!!

I was just kidding with this post!

It will be 80 degrees here today!

A Book and a Blanket ‘HGTV Updated’

Time to get the blankets out for the winter time weather! Even here in Florida! It’s what we consider COLD here today! Only in the high 50s with a HIGH wind!

My girlfriend, Marfi came up with this idea to do posts every week in November with a book and a blanket. Her blog is HERE and she’s even having a giveaway this week.

I bought this Bob Timberlake ‘Cardinal’ throw at a consignment shop a couple of years ago and it’s perfect to snuggle up with.

I got the book at a thrift store awhile back and I’m going to start reading it this week. I love this author so I know I’ll enjoy it.

And recently I found another Matt and Shari book. I was thrilled! Their show Room by Room was my very favorite program when I first started watching HGTV. I wish they had more decorating and craft shows now, don’t you?

This looks like a cute project. So many of their ideas are still popular and in style.

I’m joining Thrifty Things Friday!

Also Katherine’s Corner,

Ivy and Elephants and

Jann for Share Your Cup

and Home Sweet Home.

Do you have a favorite throw

or lap quilt for the winter time season?

UPDATE:

I don’t know if anyone will come back to look at this update but I really wanted to add some of the names of the HGTV shows that were mentioned in the comments. It seems like we ALL miss the decorating and craft shows that made HGTV so popular in the beginning. It would be great if they brought these back…shows like Room by Room, Carol Duval, Kitty Bartholomew, Decorating Cents with Joan Steffend, Peter Walsh, and ' Aleene's creative living'.

Dorothy’s comment I so agree with, “I miss Carole Duval and her Christmas Specials!”

And one more that I just thought of, Christopher Lowell. I learned a lot from his show!

And I liked Lynette Jennings, too, Becky! She was such a beautiful lady with style.

Any others that you can think of?

Wouldn’t it be great if HGTV heard us?

The Leaves are back ON the tree!

We traveled back to Florida to enjoy the warm temps of a Florida Fall!

Our first outing was Sunday afternoon.

The weather was fabulous….79 degrees with low humidity and a light breeze.

So we took a 2 hour hike in the Ross Prairie State Forest.

(Spanish moss hanging from a live oak tree)

I found a website here to plan more hikes.

There’s so much to do here year round!

And we enjoyed being out in nature.

We saw lots of wildflowers and berries on the vines.

I’ll share a few other ‘sightings’ later in the week!

I’m so happy to be back in the Sunshine State!

I’m joining Coastal Charm ,

Brenda at the Cozy Little House

and Inspire me Tuesday .

Is it time to put up the Halloween decorations and get out the Christmas decor? hahaha

Veteran’s Day Tribute

We remember and honor all those who have served in the armed forces of this great country .

Thank you every one.

World War II Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial (at night)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Comments are off. Please take time to honor our veterans today and have a wonderful day!

Mosaic Monday Textures?

I had so much fun this weekend with the photo challenge HERE that I thought I would create a mosaic without using textures!

It might look like a texture but it’s actually a leaf caught on the screen outside one of the windows of our condo here in Western NC.

(when I look back at these photos, I realize I used a paint effect in the top left photo in my mosaic…the sky wasn’t blue enough! lol)

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday,

Seasonal Sundays,

Sundays in my City,

Mosaic Monday,

and Amaze me Monday!

The leaves are flying off the trees this week!

Do you have any pretty Fall color

left in your trees?

November Photo Challenge : Applying Textures

I love special effects! It works so well on a photo that has ‘problems’. Do you ever take a photo and what you saw was not what you captured in your photo? That’s the best time to use textures.

I don’t have any special programs and I only use the free online services, most of the time I stick with Picmonkey and Ipiccy. They are both user friendly.

When we travel to the mountains of NC, our last few miles are on I 26 and this is our first view of the mountains that we love. I took the photo to Picmonkey and used Posterize to give it this neat effect.

I meant to use it as a banner. (all you need to do is remember to resize it to the proper size)

One afternoon at Fletcher park, the sun was making everything dull. (Below is the original and then 4 changes to the same photo.)

So instead of trying to make it look ‘less dull’, I used Dusk to make it even duskier.

Then I played a little more and made it night time! lol

The Paint effect gave the sky more color.

I also love using Pencil Sketch in Picassa.

Do you like playing with photos on your computer, too? Join us for these challenges HERE. We have fun and always learn a lot, too.

Thanks Donna!!!