My Black Friday frugal find (or rather Saturday morning)

Thanksgiving is over but the excitement is still in the air around here and will be for a while. We will be decorating this weekend and getting a tree. Might as well get our money's worth, right?

I admit I went to Joann's yesterday during black Friday, but since I wasn't really running around to any other stores, I took my time and just explored. They had a good sale on flannels and other fabrics, thread, etc., and I took advantage of it! :)

The problem started, when I got home. I had no room for more fabric. What was I thinking? *sigh* Have I told you how much in love I am with fabric? Ah well, now on to the frugal solution.

I started at Target and looked on the website to get an idea of what they had in storage. Hundreds of dollars, no thanks. Then I moved on the Ebay. Same thing, too much money. I then decided to look at craigs list and check out the garage sales that were going on but didn't really see anything that sparked my interest. I decided against it because I would probably find other things to buy and we don't need any more junk, lol.

Then my brilliant mind thought of my sister and all the furniture she has in her house! So I called her and explained what I was 'sort of' looking for. I didn't really know myself actually and after perusing Pinterest, for what seemed like hours, I still had no idea. Anyway, she told me she had a cabinet that might work and to come over today and look at it. Deal. If the cabinet didn't work, she suggested the Salvation Army store.

So off to bed I went, dreaming of my new fabric cabinet! Ahhh, what a lovely night.

Well this morning I awoke to my mom rearranging her room, lol. Since I wasn't going to my sisters for a while, I decided to help her and work on getting rid of some things in my own room. We ran across some of those clear stackable drawers/tubs that had some Christmas wrapping & bows in them. I have a huge box I keep under my bed that has paper and other wrapping stuff in it too so we just consolidated it all together!

Sort of like this one

Now I have the drawers for my fabrics and I didn't even have to spend a dime! I love when I can find things to reuse and not have to buy anything. Especially so close to Christmas.

Do you have a budget for this time of year? Leave a comment if you like on a frugal Holiday tip. :)

Thanks for reading

Thanksgiving

So today is Thanksgiving and it is just about my favorite day of the year. Certainly my favorite time of the year! From now until after New Years is a wonderful time. We get to spend it with family, eat good food and just be appreciative of everything & everyone we have in our lives.

This week (and month) lots of bloggers have been stating what they are thankful for. I would like to do a little of that now.

1. God - without whom all things would not be possible. Thank you Lord!

2. Family - I could never be, without all of you in my life.

3. My new found love of fabrics and sewing. 

4. All of you who read this little blog of mine. Thank YOU.


I could go on and on, but I want to keep it simple today.

We have done all of our prep work for the wonderful meal and the turkey is cooking as we speak. All I need to do now is make a couple of loaves of banana bread for a wonderful couple that is bringing their new baby boy home today from the hospital!

I am going to get a Christmas tree & decorate the house this weekend and plan a cookie party for some friends that have kids & my niece. It is loads of fun! Messy, but fun.


Shopping? Already?

I have to confess, I did a little Christmas shopping online this morning. I used MyPoints, have you heard of it? I am a little familiar with Ebates and I think it runs along those lines. Anyway, after you sign up you can make purchases and get a certain amount of points per dollar you spend. Most major retailers are affiliated with them too. After accumulating a certain amount, I usually use mine for dining gift cards. I don't really have to money to eat out so I like to use them for that. If you plan on Black Friday (or any) shopping, sign up and get the rewards! (I am not affiliated with them at all, just love the program). Check them out, www.mypoints.com.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your family and the wonderful times together!

Weekend

This weekend was absoultely beautiful! The weather couldn't have been anymore perfect, there were lots of outside activities to do and time was well spent.


This being November and the Thanksgiving month, I wanted to post what I am thankful for.


1. God for creating such a beautiful world.


2. Family, for always being there. Never judging or mean.


3. A healthy little baby soon to be born and his wonderful parents who can't wait for his arrival.


4. My new found love of quilting.


5. My kitties.


These are just a few things that I thought of today. I know there are tons more, but for now this will do. Mom & I have a womens church group tonight to round off the weekend and then it is time to get ready for the week!


Hope your weekend was excellent too!

Let's get "scrappy"...

This is mom's new scrappy quilt. She likes it so it is hers...

It isn't very big though so I will make a couple of borders to make it a lap quilt. I am glad she likes it. Actually, she 'claimed' it. Mom's will do that ya know.

My Pinterest, interests...

ALL of these photos are from Pinterest. Check them out, it's crazy...

I would hang these all over the place in our trees...

This is an excellent idea!

No worries for your next dinner party guests...

I think I am going to try this...

I would love to hold a family meeting here...

This is just too cool...

quiet time anyone?

One of my new favorite foods!

Dream house. :)

LOVE this table.

Thanks for reading...

Linking up to the Barn Hop!

My posts

I don't know if you've noticed but my posts have been sort of sporadic & mixed up lately. No rhyme or reason, no set subject, just ramblings.

Maybe its the weather. It has been so beautiful here lately. The windows are open during the day and I get to have a light blanket to sleep with at night. My very favorite time of the year for sure! 

I am finding myself taking new directions lately. I am not gardening so much but I am quilting a lot. I have found a few new hobbies.

I spend way too much time on Pinterest.

I love to blog about cooking, finances, quilting, my family & I love reading all of your blogs on gardening, homesteading, your animals and homeschooling. The Barn Hop is my favortie and I try to read every single post. Sometimes it takes me all week and into the weekend though.

We will have a baby around here in about 10 weeks, but I promise not to inundate you with that. My daughters baby shower was this past weekend and it was wonderful.

Anyway, if there is something you want to know, pictures you want to see or just plain have any questions for me, just let me know. I will be happy to answer what I can.

I am looking for a new camera too. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it very much. :)

Thanks. Happy Week!

My Garden

I am not planting anything this fall. I am taking a little break. I had a horrble Spring/Summer planting and am discouraged. All is not lost though...

I met some new friends that have started their own suburban farm. So I did the only thing logical (to me) I gave her my rain barrel and some soil. We have lots of plants around so I offered some of those too, lol. Frangipani anyone? How about a bromeliad? I forgot to give her the seed I have, but can drop it by her house soon. I couldn't possible use it all if I tried. She has her own blog http://organic-gardening-adventures.blogspot.com/ check her out. She is on FB also.

I will be ready to plant tomatos next Spring and maybe some herbs and I have learned a lot. I will continue to buy organic and at least local from the farmers we have nearby. This is the time (in Florida) for lots of farmer markets to open in the area. I love going and checking out all the good veggies, breads and homemade products.

Thanks for reading. :)

Fall

Fall is my all time favorite season. The wood smoke and chill in the air. Pumpkins and the beautiful colors of the leaves. Yeah.

We don't have any of those things here in Florida. Well, the pumpkins of course. Chill in the air? Maybe December. If you're lucky November. You get the picture, right? I love it though. I can sit on our dock in shorts, in December...can't get better than that. ;)

So, to get my 'fall' fix we usually head north in October. My oldest sister has a cabin up in the north western part of NC, and we usually head that way, but my youngest sister is looking for property and this time we headed towards the Asheville area. She is feeling a "pull" towards that area and I don't blame her, lol.

Anyway, I love going to NC in the fall. This year we went a little early for the leaves but the weather was beautiful during the day and chilly at night. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy.

This was in Leicester NC. It is called the Medicine Wheel House at

Spirit Mountain Sanctuary. It was totally round, had a bedroom in the loft, a very nice wood stove and the bathroom rocked (for all 5 of us, lol)

this is the view from the deck...

beautiful vista!

hot tub

lots of paths to meander

Quiet places to meditate...

woods to explore...

This was in Franklin NC. The kids wanted to go mining, lol. This is the view from the balcony of the house we stayed in for a few days. Way down in that pasture, there were some cute little cows. The man who owned this house had a ton of bird feeders so when we got there we loaded them up. The little birdies were so much fun to watch as we sipped our morning coffee.

panning for Sapphires & Rubies. The kids did not want to go to the 'salted' mines so this one took almost all day to do. It was fun though.

This was in Georgia at Tullalah Falls park. This is one of the falls,

I believe there are two. :) So pretty

Tullalah Falls Gorge

And that is pretty much it. There were lots more pictures and even some video of my sister letting loose, singing and dancing to Abba's "Dancing Queen". It was hilarious!

Thanks for stopping by...

This week

This week I have been working on a quilt I started last week. We had a baby shower here last weekend so I had to put everything away. Out of sight if you will. The dining room is my sewing room. I had also borrowed a cutting mat and gave it back to the person I borrowed it from so I really took my time getting my sewing things back out. I really wasn't in to this quilt you see so I was in no hurry. I didn't like the way it was going. Didn't like the way it looked no longer appreciated the colors. *Sigh* not a good place to be. You see, I don't like to start a new project without finishing the one I am on. So, that is how my week has been.

Until yesterday.

I went to Wal-mart and bought myself a new cutting mat and ruler. Next I got out the sewing machine. Today I actually got the fabric back out. I started sewing. Next thing I knew I actually had a kind of vision. Then things started to look ok. The fabrics were meshing. I held them up and laid them out; turned them around and all of a sudden, I liked them. I could actually 'see' where I was going with this.

Maybe it was because I didn't have a pattern when I started (never do). Mostly I watch tutorials on You Tube. I really should take lessons I think, but for now I can't afford it and will just wing it. The quilts I am making are for me and my family and they won't mind if they aren't perfect.

This is the finished top. It measures 52" square. :)

I just have to drop it to the quilters house and wait for it to be done. :) I am also going to have her do 2 baby quilt tops. :)