Choosing An Iron

The past couple of weeks, the unthinkable happened.  My iron began leaking and not heating as well as it should.  An iron is not something I can do without.  My husband wears dress shirts for work and besides ironing a lot of our clothing, I press each seam as I sew for a more professional looking finished product.

In 1994, I'd had it with irons.  At least once a year, my iron burned out and I purchased a new one.  That was when I discovered Rowenta.  My first Rowenta iron lasted ten years.  The second one lasted an additional nine years.  Today I got my third Rowenta.  There may be other brands who have upped the ante and make better appliances these days, but I'm so happy with the Rowentas, I haven't tried another brand.  Here's why:

Four hundred holes for steam!

Extra steam, spray, and a really pointy tip to get between buttons and around curves.

Pretty in Pink and a large water reservoir.

But the BIGGEST reason I love Rowenta irons:  THEY IRON TWICE AS GOOD IN HALF THE TIME!!!

Spring Flowers

I just spent several days in the South and what a beautiful time to travel there!  My trip started in Northern Nevada.  I flew into Memphis in the rain, but the view as we flew over Arkansas had me wondering if I'd gone all the way to Ireland.  The land was brilliant green as I gazed through the clouds.

I rented a car and drove to Northeast Arkansas to my mom's house. 

We drove diagonally through Arkansas toward Dallas, where my son and his family live.  Along the way we saw tons of red clover lining the roads. 

The azaleas are just beginning to bloom.

 

By the time we reached the Texas state line, the red clover was being replaced with pink Mexican Primrose. 

We also saw acres of glossy yellow Buttercups

and here and there, Indian Paintbrush.

 

Then, finally, we saw Texas Bluebonnets.  I've always heard of them and wanted to see them.  People were stopped all along the roadside to get out of the car and sit in the midst of the State flower of Texas.  We didn't sit in them, but I hear they smell wonderful.

 

It was a long trip, but there was lots to look at along the way, and the best part was getting to see my family.

 

 

A Peachy Sundress

 

 
 

I just had a wonderful trip to visit my son and his family.  I was very excited to take this little sun dress to my 3 month old grand baby.  The size small on the pattern said it would fit a 13 lb. baby.  Since she is 12 lbs, I figured it would be perfect for summer.  The fabric is tone on tone cream colored roses with a peachy pink border.

It has matching panties underneath.

Criss-cross straps in the back are anchored with bows and the dress fastens with peachy pink buttons.  It's adorable.

A matching sweet sun hat to shade her little head and face from sun.  She has very fair skin and not much hair yet.

When I was sewing the dress, it seemed large, but the patterns sizing chart seemed like it would fit her soon.

This reminds me of why I don't sew that much for myself - no standardization in sizing.  Ack!  She will have to gain 10 lbs to wear this dress.  I am afraid it will fit her in the dead of winter.

Praying Hands

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  All of us can pray for our country. 

This is the portrait of praying hands by the artist, Albrecht Durer.  There are different accounts of the story.  Some say the hands belonged to Durer's brother, Albert.  Others say they belonged to his friend, Franz Knigstein.  The story goes that both young men wanted to study art, but neither could afford to attend the academy without support, so Knigstein, or Albert, would work and support Durer while he learned at the academy.  When Durer was done, he would support the other fellow while he attended the academy.

When Durer finished and came to support his friend, the friend's (or brother's) hands were arthritic and damaged from hard work and unable to draw or paint any longer.  Durer painted his friend's hands in prayer.

It is a touching story of supreme sacrifice and one of a living faith.

My Philosophy On Decorating

When I was a little girl, I loved every style of decorating except Victorian.  I'm still not a fan of that style.  It's generally dark, heavy, and busy.  All those things affect my psyche and bring me down, generally speaking.

My taste has changed over the years, but I still feel like I could be happy in most home styles and décor.  I grew up in Arkansas on a farm.  Both sets of grandparents farmed and lived in cottagey style farm houses.  The older I get, the more I gravitate toward this style.  I guess it feels like home.

My roots are all in the U.K., mostly Scotland and the homes there definitely resonate with me.  I love the English country house style, Scottish and Irish castles and manor houses, and cottages.  With all these styles bouncing around in my head, you may wonder how a person would ever decide how to decorate a home.

At the moment, I am in limbo as far as homes go.  We moved 2500 miles across country quickly when our home sold for cash and the buyer wanted us out immediately.  We had no time to shop for a new house, so we rented for a "short" time.  That short time has turned into three and a half years.  Our intention was to just unpack the essentials because we would be moving soon.  It didn't matter that our lease said we couldn't hang a picture or we would have to repaint the entire room, because we wouldn't be here long enough to decorate.  You know what happens to 'the best laid plans of mice and men...' 

For a homebody, gardener, decorator, and natural nester, these have been hard years.

I do know from moving around over several states that the décor that looks good in Des Moines probably won't look good in a house in Las Vegas.  The climate and light is different in different parts of the country and has an effect on the décor you'd want to use.  The style of homes is different.  The materials used in the homes are different. 

Lately, I am annoyed at much of the decorating I see.  Why does everything need a word or a number on it?  Can't people remember what their things are named?  Don't they know that the pajamas are in the third drawer down?  Is it necessary to number the throw pillows?  And don't even get me started with pennants and banners!  I love beautiful wood furniture.  Everything shouldn't be painted.

I'm not a follower of fads, so when I see everybody and their dog following a particular trend, I am turned off by that trend.  I'm not a fan of collecting either.  To me it is just a lot of clutter that requires dusting and I have enough stuff that I actually use that has to be dusted.  I can relate to William Morris who said, "Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful and believe to be beautiful." 

Chandeliers in the kitchen and bathroom will be hard to clean because of the steam that will adhere the dust to them.  Mirrored backsplashes on the counters will mirror/double the amount of items on your counter and appear cluttered, not to mention splashes and spots that will have to be cleaned more often.

So my home checklist looks something like this:

Plenty of closets, built-ins, and storage to keep the rooms looking clean. 
A new house will probably need molding and trim to make it look like there is a history there.
An older home may need lots of repairs and updating, but the character may make it worth the effort.
I am a cook, so a kitchen with enough storage and space to work is essential.
A shower is fine in a pinch, but a daily soak in the tub is positively therapeutic.
A little green lifts my mood.  Desert landscaping with brown rocks doesn't do that.
A shady spot to sit and room for an herb garden or small vegetable garden - necessary.
I ruined my back working on the last house and I don't even want to look at a two story house.  A one
       level house is what I need.
I hate tile counter tops.  Everyone wants granite counters, but my first choice would probably be
       quartz.  I reserve the right to change my mind.
No more mini-blinds EVER!
Wood floors, not wood looking laminate - there is a richness to the real thing that can't be duplicated.



So how do these styles tie together?  I'll never have a home as big as a castle or manor house, but I can still choose details from these styles to incorporate in my home.  I've been lucky enough to inherit some family antiques.  The gorgeous wood brings a timeless feel to any room.  I use good furniture wax that makes the wood even more beautiful.  My taste is toward traditional pieces with simple lines.  Too much carving is fussy.  Likewise, over the top anything, such as drapes that are too full, pooled on the floor, or ornate trim/cornices, etc., too many patterns, too many collectables, or lots of small pieces of furniture are all too busy for me. 

Having said that, colors that suit the climate and area make things feel right.  I always change the accents from season to season: warmer or darker colors in winter and lighter colors in summer.  I probably love plaids because of my Celtic roots and bring them out more in the winter. 

All these styles are traditional and have a historic feel to them, so they are actually easy to blend.

What can you take away from all this?  Look at the styles you are drawn to.  What are your roots?  Where did you grow up?  What is the common thread to these styles?  Where do you live?  Look at magazines and catalogs.  Tear out pages that appeal to you.  If you like a feature in a picture, but don't care for the style, color, or something else about it, tear it out anyway.  Make a note of what you do like.  You can learn from any style.  You may like a room arrangement, or the mural painted on the wall or something else you can use in your own home. 

I frequently buy fabric because it "sings" to me.  I may not know what I intend to do with it at the time, but it goes in my stash and eventually gets used.  When I look at this stack of material, I see similarities.  For one thing, all the pieces mix and match well together.  They are different brands and patterns, but they have similar colors and textures.  You'll notice as you look at pictures of rooms that you pick things that look good together too.

Don't be a slave to the current trends - it is exhausting, not to mention expensive to always be replacing things.  Keep narrowing down your taste until you have a style that is totally YOU.  Once you find it, you'll never get tired of it and you can change it up and refresh it by rearranging things and judiciously purchasing items that are timeless and worth the money spent on them.

Lavender Rooms

Lavender is a color most associated with little girl rooms.  It works perfectly for those sugar and spice and everything nice spaces, but it can be used in many other areas of the home as well...

Sarah Richardson uses it in a more grown up looking bedroom.  This wall color is a pinkish shade of lavender in the orchid family and looks great against the stronger color of the headboard.  Dark wood always looks nice against pale lavender.

This room from Decorpad shows rich chocolate brown against a pale lavender backdrop.

Another Sarah Richardson bedroom.  This one is for little girls, but it is beautiful enough that if Grandma and Grandpa come to visit and you are short on guest space, you could let them borrow it for a night or two while the girls camp out in the living room in sleeping bags.  The pale lavender walls and deep plumy-wine drapes look rich and beautiful together.

A deeper shade of dusty lavender walls in the room (Sarah Richardson, again).  The purple chairs and orchid stripe pillows help spread the color around the room and make the room look unified.

 Decoist.com

 

This all out lavender room says glamour all over, but the shade is soft and that keeps it from being overpowering.  The purple ceiling provides the contrast needed here.  Lovely!

How to Decorate a Niche

How many of you struggle with ways to decorate these indentations in the walls, meant to add architectural details to a room?

These are typical niches.  Some have arched tops and others are rectangular.  Most have a light in the top to shine down on whatever you display.  Nearly all are shallow, which limits what you can safely place inside them. 

Most of the time, whatever is placed in them looks like the homeowner kind of gave up and just put a tall vase or statuette in them to fill the space.

Here is a floor to ceiling niche.  They have painted a mural in tones that go with the wall color.  This is a beautiful idea!  The chest fits perfectly inside the niche and mirrors the color of the mantle.  Another option to this niche would have been to build in shelves for books, but that is what you'd expect to see.  This is a lovely option.

This is a gorgeous idea!  This is from paintedhouse.net.  They will paint a picture of your choice on canvas, or they have pictures to choose from.  This makes that pesky niche look like a window and adds depth to the room.  You could paint directly on the wall if you are inclined.  Love this!

I know this isn't a niche, but there is a lesson to be learned here that you can apply to a niche: paint the back of the niche a darker color.  You automatically add depth when you do this.  Choose a color that goes with your room and hang decorative plates inside the niche.  This is a wall from inspirebohemia.com, but you can do the same thing inside a niche by adding depth with a deeper color which makes the plates stand out.

You can fill the opening with a beautiful wall paper or gorgeous fabric.

You can still choose to place a vase or statue in a niche.  Choose something that compliments your room and in a scale that suits the niche.  The same goes for artwork.  A painting inside a niche should be shaped and scaled to compliment the opening.

With a little thought, you can turn a decorating liability into a show piece.

Sewing for Baby

I've been sewing for my granddaughter, who will be nearly three months old when I see her again in a couple of weeks.

I just finished this little romper.  It looks so small and I thought it would sew up quickly, but the instructions on the pattern were horrible.  The drawings didn't match what the written directions said and I was left scratching my head and using my instincts to assemble it.  Just because a garment is small doesn't mean it skimps on construction steps.

I found matching rosettes that I sewed on the bodice line.  These are so pretty!

Matching lavender pearly buttons fasten the shoulders and waist.  The most difficult part of all was the snap tape in the crotch.  I nearly wore out the fabric undoing the seams and redoing them before I got it right.

I won't show you a close up of this.  The finished product turned out pretty and I know my little grand daughter will make this outfit look beautiful!

Happy Memories and Roast Chicken

As far back as I can remember, my grandmother had one of these hanging in her kitchen.  So when I saw one in the Winterthur catalog, I had to have it.  Place a ball of twine behind the head and hang it on the wall.  Then you'll have twine handy to tie up chicken or roasts when cooking.

Yesterday, we had one of my favorite roast chickens, so delicious and worthy of a magazine cover!  The recipe came from Martha Stewart years ago.  I looked on her site to refer you back to it, but couldn't find this particular recipe, so here it is:

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Lemons, Garlic, and Thyme

1- 6 lb. chicken
2 lemons
3 large cloves garlic
2-3 thyme sprigs
butter, softened
salt and pepper
1 large onion sliced in 1/4" thick slices

Remove the giblets and rinse the chicken inside and out.  (The giblets were simmered until done, then cooled and given to the dog.  He was ecstatic!).  Pat dry with a paper towel.  Sprinkle salt and pepper inside the cavity (about 1/2 tsp. each).  Wash the lemons and roll on the counter to release the juices inside.  Poke holes in the lemons with a fork.  Place the garlic, lemons, and thyme inside the cavity and tie the chicken shut.  When the lemons heat up, they squirt juice into the meat, flavoring it and keeping it moist.

Rub the outside with softened butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Spray non-stick spray in a baking pan and scatter the onion slices in the bottom of the pan.  Place the chicken on top of the onion rings.  Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 90 minutes.

The result is a golden brown chicken, crispy on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside: infused with lemon, garlic, and thyme.

Use the pan drippings to make gravy:

This is my gravy recipe and it turned out better than any gravy I've made to date:

Melt 3 Tbs. butter in a pan.  Sprinkle with 3 Tbs. flour and whisk for 1 minute.  Slowly add vegetable broth, whisking after each addition till smooth.  Keep adding broth until you have the consistency you want.

Add 1 Tbs. lemon juice.  Whisk.
Add 1 Tbs. whipping cream.  Whisk.
Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup pan broth from the chicken.  This will really give the gravy its flavor.
Whisk in 1/4 tsp. celery salt.  Whisk until heated through.

The leftover chicken was deboned and reheated in the leftover gravy and served over rice so not a morsel was wasted.

Happy Easter

 

Happy Easter to you all. 

John 3:16

Donner Lake

Today we took a drive west on I-80 and ended up at Donner Lake, just over the California state line near Truckee.  It is named after the unfortunate pioneers, the Donner party, who traveled west during the winter of 1846-47 and were stranded at Donner Pass.  Reports say they were sick, frozen, starving and resorted to cannibalism to survive.

This statue commemorates the settlers who dared to travel the treacherous landscape of the Sierras in their quest to reach California.  The base of the state is 22 feet tall, the same depth as the snow that fateful winter.

The lake is beautiful and the area is clean.  Rustic homes bring to mind an old mining camp.  People come to the area year round to camp, hike, fish, swim, and in winter, to snow ski.

 

 

Fragrant Rose Potpourri

These gorgeous roses were given to me on Valentine's Day.  The red ones smelled especially nice.  They dried on the stems and I cut them off and piled them into a big bowl. 

I wanted to preserve the fresh cut rose scent and found this diffuser oil at Wal Mart on the candle aisle for about $4.  I held each rose by the stem and sprinkled some of the rose scented oil in the top of the bloom.  You can see how some of them look a little shiny on top.

Now I can enjoy these roses for a long time and each time I walk by, I'm reminded of how good they smelled when they were fresh.

Horseradish Cream Sauce

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We had a lovely New England boiled dinner tonight, but the best part of all was the horseradish cream sauce.  It's not too hot, but cool, creamy, and flavorful - just the right accompaniment to the meat and vegetables.  It would be great on a sandwich with your leftover corned beef or prime rib.

Horseradish Cream Sauce:

1 cup whipping cream
Juice from one lemon (about 6 tbs.)
4 Tbs, grated and peeled fresh horseradish root
Salt and pepper

Peel and grate the horseradish.  I used a micro plane and it made fine white shavings.  Whip the cream till stiff peaks form.  While still beating, add rest of ingredients.  Chill.

This is so good you may want to double the recipe.

Utility Closets

With all the home organizing and cleaning articles you see these days, I am surprised that more homes don't have a utility closet.  To be honest, I've only seen one in all the homes I have looked at - and I've moved 20 times, so I've seen my fair share - and that one was built in the garage after the fact.

Many of you have something like this in the garage to hold cleaning supplies.  This works in a pinch.  I've used this system too, but what I really long for is a larger closet somewhere near the kitchen.  I want shelves for cleaning supplies, space for the vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner, steam mop, hanging space for brooms, mops, and dustpan.  A utility sink would be nice and enough space for those mega size packages of paper towels.

 

It needs to be bigger than this, though this one looks very  nice.  With all the articles about cleaning and organizing that we are bombarded with, home builders need to get on board and make a space for us to put everything and it needs a locking door to keep toddlers out of chemicals. 

Speaking of chemicals, a small counter to mix our homemade cleaning potions would be nice. If the utility closet of my dreams exists, I couldn't find it to show you.  This one from Real Simple is the closest thing I could find.  Ahhhh.  Where would we be if we couldn't dream?

America's Lake Como

This weekend, we took a drive to Lake Tahoe, otherwise known as "America's Lake Como".  Not having seen Lake Como, I can't verify the comparison, but it is a beautiful place. 

The thermometer on the car dashboard said it was 47 degrees F., but these guys thought it was warm enough to play volleyball shirtless.  As you can see, there was still snow on the ground and it was chilly enough for a sweater.

 

Lake Tahoe is filled with Alpine style homes, funky named businesses, ski shops and rentals, and interesting places to stop like this Alpaca rug shop.  If you are in the market for a T-shirt or a tattoo, you'll find a store on almost every block.

 

 

 

 

No matter what the business section holds, nothing can take away from the beauty of the lake.  It truly is something to behold and a photo can't truly capture its beauty.