Lovely, Oh So Lovely Burlap...Cloth of Hemp

I am totally and forever 'hooked' on burlap.  The sweet cloth woven from the fibers of the hemp plant has never lost popularity since I was a child.  When I unwrap a freshly purchased piece I sink my face deep into the folds and breathe in the memories of my childhood...gunnysack races, large bags of this stiff cloth filled shells my Father collected while at sea, or my favorite Halloween costume.  I love, love burlap.

Take a gander at my adventures with my cloth~o~hemp today.

I really believed that I was Pocahontas in my gown made of this cloth...ahhh, happy memories...

Isn't it cool that they grow red hemp?

Goodies for Etsy...

I love a good strawberry pincushion...

I am going to be knee deep in this stuff all weekend...that's just how 'hooked' I am...

More...

I just had to cover a baby bench while I was at it...

Only took minutes...

I am loving these "Hooked on Fridays" posting get togethers so graciously encouraged by Julia.  I am now off to sew up some more trouble with my yards of burlap...why you ask...because I am hooked...hook, line and sinker.

Smiles ~ Ramona

Decorating In The Most Useful Way ~ Or ~ Coloring Outside The Lines

dec'o~rate  v.   adorn {don't you just love it}; ornament

~ and ~

use'ful  a.   that can be used;  helpful {now that's what I'm talking about}

Since the dawn of time...or at least as far back as I can remember...I have never colored inside the lines.  I don't think of myself as a trouble~maker...quite the opposite...I am a get~along kind of a gal.  Coloring outside the lines is just fun~er!

So being a pack~rat and not just any pack~rat, but a pack~rat with style...out of necessity I had to develop a decorating style to store useful items that I have gathered over the years.  My children have often said to me...."can we just have a normal house?..."  And I quote one of my favorite lines from the movie 'Practical Magic'...

"My darling child, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue?  It rather denotes a lack of courage!"

The fact is that I have always looked for interesting and not~normal ways to decorate with useful items...AMEN!

Baskets storing fabric that I am marinating for future sewing projects...

More fabric marinating...

Yep, I'm a stacker....I think of it as layers of decorating....yeah...whatever!

I can dress it up how ever I like...but I am still a pack~rat...but at least I am trying to have style...

Quilts waiting for a chilly eve...

Chippy, peel~y, rustic 'ol tool box of flatware delight...

And just for giggles...add a couple of old spindle~y things...remember...outside the line~olas...

This is called a 'salt pig'...I love it...very decorative AND very usefu and a tad unusual...

Gigantic jar of kitchen tools...

I have done this for years...very useful and I love how it looks...AND....it's not normal...thank goodness!

I hope that you find ways to color outside the lines daily.

Smiles ~ Ramona

House

"A little house,

a house of my own,

out of the wind's and

rain's way..."

Welcome friends stopping by from Julia"s Hooked on Fridays fun~ola.

So here is what I am forever and ever~more hooked on in the biggest 'hooked on' way possible...anything 'HOUSE'.  The classic shape of a house is so appealing to me...conjures up ideas of family and friends, pots of soup to stir, lawns to clip, shelves to lovingly dust...a haven for rest and place to gratefully nurture those we love...yep, I am hooked on 'house'.

A child's dollhouse is a whimsical shelf for items gleaned...

Baby bird house...enough said...

A house might contain more than people folk...how 'bout pine branches and cones of pine...

I will be making these 'house' drop cloth pillows filled with buckwheat hulls...till the cows come...and I love, love making them...I am hoping that those cows NEVER come home...

You know how you have something you love and feel a kind of addiction to that item?  You see it in a catalog or in a shop and you go weak in the knees and you think ~..."can't afford it...but can't live without it...but what the hay~ho...we will eat macaroni and cheese for a week...I must have this in my life...you know what I am talking about...but then after a year or so it passes and you grow wearing of looking at the do~dad...sick of seeing it around every corner and in every catalog???  Well, I am here to tell you...I will never tire of the classic shape of a 'House"...cha, cha, cha!

Thanks again to Julia at Hooked on Houses for making us all hooked on houses!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Hooked on Fridays ~ Old Ladders...The Rusty~er, The Better

lad'der n.  series of rungs framed by two sidepieces for climbing up or down

~ that's what you think....

Julia's Hooked on Fridays party continues over in my ol' neck of the woods with my ongoing obsession with old ladders.  And as you will all agree, ladders are not just for climbing anymore...and when I discovered this...my decorating was never the same....AMEN.

I am totally hooked on old, rusty, paint~chipped, faded, history~filled, laying on the side of the big red barn....done~fur ladders...love it.

Yep, there is a ladder under there....functional gone wild...

Three rung, chipped red paint love of my life in the family room...

Cracked sun bleached wood...be still my heart!

My baby...found last fall...it stole my heart....oh brother... the stories it could tell...

Ahhhhhhhh.....

High above in the kitchen...

The real love here is the fact that my Hubs hung this bad boy for me the first time I asked...

Now...that's true love.....smile...

See...HOOKED!  Thanks for stopping by....enjoy the party back over at Julia's...aren't we really all hooked on her blog...lucky us!

Smiles ~ Ramona

Useful Vignettes

"The ability to simplify means

to eliminate the unnecessary

so that the necessary may speak."

~Hans Hofmann

Simplify!!!  What a wonderful idea...and believe me friends...I have tried and tried again...but alas...no can do.  I do, however, partake in what I like to think of as a type of simplification...I put my stuff~ola in thoughtful vignettes. 

I love little vignettes...usefully placed here and there and what the hoot...everywhere around the house.  Sweet little vignettes for my amusement are fun and great for the ol' soul...but lately I have come to enjoy small gatherings of useful items....thoughtfully placed together...in place sight...ready to go at my fingertips...I call these "useful vignettes".

Here in my kitchen...for your consideration...is one of my favorite "useful vignettes"...

Tarnished~y old tea set...love it...filled with tea bags, tea spoons and butter knives.

What useful vignettes have you created in your home?

Smiles ~ Ramona

Back In The Saddle Again ~ Kinda...

"Reflect upon your present blessings,

of which every man has many..."

~ Dickens

Happy New Year Friends ~ 

It has been such an amazing~ly slow process to get back into the swing of things again....it even snowed again last night...a lot...and our daughter thought she might have...yet ANOTHER...snow day...what!!!!  She had the whole week before the Winter break off because of snow...but, much to her delight {not} she went back to school today...with her bottom lip hanging low and sporting the saddest face the West has ever seen.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we had sooooo much snow that stayed around for days and days and then some...so we were unable to get around town to do our usual family traditions...but they were delightfully replaced with snowboarding down the street, and trekking out to see Christmas lights and drinking mugs and mugs of hot chocolate...yum!

To add to the festivities I had a root canal in mid December and my dentist discovered my un~diagnosed high blood pressure....200/120 ~YIKES....I have never had high blood pressure....so now I am in the process of getting this under control and calming the heck down and letting life flow over me...and start putting myself back onto my To~Do list...I just heard Oprah say this on the telly...but it is so true.

Let me share some shots of our holiday antics...ho, ho, ho!

An evening out with the Fam...

Oh my good golly...my husband is wearing his SLIPPERS at the movie theatre!!!

My reaction....he says that they are his Man Uggs...whatever!!!

Meanwhile...

JANUARY 5th~ola!!!

What the Who~Ha....time for Christmas to go beddy~bye...

Awaiting the decorating magic...

Projects to be sewn...new pillow covers for the couch...and the shocker:  not drop cloths!

For my Etsy shop...

Valentine goodies...life goes on...and on...and on...

I cannot believe that I am looking at Valentine what~nots in the stores...and I even saw Easter Peeps in Joann's today....CHIRP!

Have a wonderful week....I am really looking forward to a wonderful year...how can it not be here in blog~ville with all of you to share it with.

Smiles ~ Ramona