Americana on the Porch and Inside

We are looking forward to having family home...seeing all of our kids

and doing lots of cooking and laughing.

We enjoy sitting around the table, with a glass of ice tea, watermelon, barbecue, potato salad, and much more....laughing at funny family stories, good memories....

Love it!

What better food to serve than cupcakes made in a toy oven, little buckets filled with goodies for kids and vintage red and white glasses filled with ice tea. Yummmy!

I added an old door to a bookshelf from Walmart....to store some of my quilts inside.

 I decorate with red and white...so adding blue for a bit of Americana is easy.

Inside on the hoosier kitchen hutch are appetizers and little plates and cups for a quick snack....until the meal is served.

 Quilts below were made by me...a long time ago.

Thank you for coming by for a visit!

Joining in @ http://betweennapsontheporch.net

Blessings,

Debbie

15 Things you need for a Farmhouse Porch

Necessary items for a porch....

especially a Farmhouse porch....

We have been fixing up our porch, planting flowers and getting things ready for summer, picnics on the porch, swimming, family visits...

It occurred to me there are necessary things for a farmhouse porch....

Flowers are a must...overflowing...spilling out....welcoming visitors with

their colorful and vibrant blooms.

1. Table with chairs, for relaxing and visiting, eating watermelon and drinking ice tea.

2. A tool box filled with blooms, flowers, or suntan lotion.

3. A potting bench or table for potting plants, containers for holding clippers and gardening tools.

4. Garden signs

 5. Spray painted flower boxes and planters

 6. Watering cans...more than one...and spray painted is much better

7. Birdhouses

8. Metal Chairs with metal planters filled with flowers and flags. A rake or shovel is nice....looks like you are doing farmhouse chores

9. Spray painted canning jars...I love the look of enamelware so I spray painted the lids red and the jars white.

 10. Old doors, shutters, windows and shelves.

 11. Vintage bathtub filled with overflowing flowers

12. Vintage wheelbarrow filled with flowers

13. A kitchen hutch filled with dishes and terra cotta pots

                     Visit lucyina.com

 14. Any metal buckets, chairs, pots, pans will do

                 

15. A metal gate at the entrance is always an extra treat

******************

Pinned from finegardening.com

I love these pictures from Pinterest....so many amazing ideas to see.

More ideas for your porch:

.... pillows and soft items to make your visitors comfortable, 

glasses for ice tea, 

baskets filled with sun tan lotion, or bug spray for cool night visitors like mosquitoes. 

A large basket filled with towels for unexpected guests swimming....

Soft lights or candles so that guests can find their way to their cars once the sun has gone down....

                     Visit anita-faraboverubies.blogspot.com

                     Visit dusedrommer.blogspot.com

                     Visit midwestliving.com

                     Visit aprimitiveplace.org

Thanks for coming by for a visit!

joining in with these amazing parties:

http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com
http://www.astrollthrulife.net
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com
http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com

Blessings,

Debbie

Outdoor Junk and Vintage Style

Welcome to our back porch....the barn has been raided...hubby can't find his wheelbarrow, his chicken feeders....we have hundreds...because we have hundreds of chickens...they won't miss one....

I hide garden tools, or extra potting soil in the taller chicken feeder below on our vintage washer...it is a cover up!

 We have a vintage refrigerator from my hubby's grandmother...she used to keep cold soda's in it on her porch, and now we do too!

I added an old door to a throw away (from the barn) bookshelf.

...behind this old wood door are some of my things...

and further down where you can't see are cans of bug spray

fertilizer, garden tools, gloves, tanning lotion...necessary items for the porch!

 My old vintage bathtub is starting to bloom...

 ...this rooster keeps getting out of the barn....he is not friendly either...so I let him have his space.

http://www.commonground-do.com
Blessings,

Debbie

DIY Miniature Dollhouse Vintage style RAGGED EDGE APPLIQUE Quilt Tutorial

GLAD YOU CAME BY FOR A VISIT.

This is a simple little quilt for a dollhouse sized queen bed. 

If you removed one row

of blocks it would fit a twin doll bed.

One thing I love about this technique is that the more it is washed and dried, the more the ragged edge of the flower curls up and looks like a flower petal.

Gather some of your fabrics that you like, little scraps, preferably with some roses

or flowers.

The above picture shows a ragged edged flower that is sewn on burlap for a bunting. That tutorial is here http://ribbonwoodcottage.blogspot.com/2013/04/diy-shabby-roses-bunting.html

 if you want something a little larger.

********************

Start by cutting or tearing your fabric into 2" squares.

 Next get a quarter, nickel and dime...I thought this was the easiest way to get the size that you need.

 You simply trace 12 of each coin onto your fabric. With the dime though you want to place it directly over the rose, rosebud or center of the flower. 

It is the circle that will show when done.

Cut out your pieces, 12 of each coin, 36 little circles in all...it goes quickly...no groaning about all that cutting!

 Take your 3 size pieces and stack them, largest on the bottom, middle size in the middle, and smallest sized piece on top.

 It is hard to tell, but they are stacked accordingly...

 Now place in the center of your 2" square of fabric (just eyeball it...)

 Now a little less than a 1/4" away from the outside of the inner piece (the dime piece) you will
sew around in a circle...takes about 15 seconds or less.

 Sew all the flower pieces to the 12 blocks. Then you will sew the blocks together, 3 in each row, 4 rows total.

This is what it will look like. Next you want to get it completely wet in the sink, and then throw in the dryer for a few minutes...this starts the ruffled ragged edge part of the flower. 

I did it a few times to get the look I wanted. You will do it once more when the little quilt has been put together.

Next I tore a strip of fabric (tearing is quicker than cutting...I do it quite a bit, but you can cut your strips too.) in a 1" wide strip. This is going to be sewn on all four sides of your finished piece.

I wanted my quilt to be a little bigger, so I cut some more 1" wide strips from another pink and white floral fabric and sewed it to all four sides. So I had 2 different washings on four sides.

After pressing the sashing on all four sides smooth, I laid the piece on  the backing fabric. 

I did not use quilt batting, I have found from making several little quilts, that they do not lay nicely on the dollhouse bed.