Black Cats!

Cards from years past.   A family friend sent Halloween cards to me (and my sisters) every year when I was a little girl.  I loved the sparkling green gemstone eyes  and the flowers!  (Can you tell this was in the 60's?)    These cards were both by Norcross.

Uh oh!   Look who's coming to check out the cats.

 Our real live Halloween kitty... Natasha!

Linking to:

Vintage Thingie Thursday at The Colorado Lady
Vintage Halloween Blog Party at Anything Goes Here

Blue Transferware Dishes At Thanksgiving?

So... I had this dilemma...

Many of the things in my house are blue.  Including almost all of my dishes.   I have some special guests coming this year for Thanksgiving dinner,  and I really want my table to look nice.  Blue isn't thought of as a Thanksgiving color, but I didn't want the expense of all new dishes.  I love my blue dishes and wanted to use them on the table.

So I talked to Nancy, at  Nancy's Daily Dish.  She always posts pictures of beautifully decorated tables on her blog, and I knew she would have some ideas for me.

Take a look  at what she posted the other day!!

(these photo's were used with permission from Nancy.)

Oh my!  Isn't this gorgeous?  A beautiful table for fall, incorporating blue transferware along with the browns and oranges that are usually associated with this season!!  

THANK YOU Nancy!!  You were so sweet to do this for me!

I have been out looking for table linens and centerpieces that will help meld my blues into fall.  Can't wait to see it all come together!

(Please visit her blog because she has a bunch of other photo's that show the table up close.)

Cider Mill

This weekend we visited the Louisburg Cider Mill.  

 Pumpkins and mums.

Hot apple cider  and cider donuts sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Apple butter!

Moo!  Oink!   And isn't this a nifty old stove?

Perfect ideas for holiday gift giving.

Sing A Song of Sixpence...

Do you know what this is?

A pie bird !

...Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.

Have you seen the latest edition of Country Living Magazine?

Mine arrived in my mailbox today.

It has an article about pie birds. (And pie-elephants, and pie-fruit, etc)

These fun little ceramic vents are used when baking pastry to let steam escape 

and prevent the filling from bubbling out all over your oven.

These three warblers usually perch in my kitchen window.  

1.Yellow beaked blackbird.

2. Hand painted with  blue flowers, by someone with initials C.C.

3. Brown drip bird.

Some day I hope to collect a few more. 

 I've got my eye on a cute little blue one over at the antique store.  

Snap, Hearts and Old Maid

Do you remember playing with these when you were a kid?

Or these?

Companies like Whitman and Russell created the cutest little card games for children:

Hearts, Authors, Snap, Old Maid, Crazy Eights and Animal Rummy.

This is my small collection of vintage children's card games.  

Most of these were games from my Grandmother's house.

I keep them in an old sewing machine cabinet drawer. 

Here is my sister's big collection.    She has five times as many as I do.  

I would love to find some  Racey Helps "Woodland" games for my own collection. 

Old Maid  is still my favorite card game.  

What fun illustrations!

Little boxes guaranteed to provide hours of fun!

Linking to:

Vintage Thingie Thursday @ the Colorado Lady

Tiny Frocks

A few years ago I found several of these little crocheted cotton dresses at a vintage shop.  Aren't they just the prettiest little things?  I loved them!  They appealed to the paper doll collector in me, even though they were not made of paper.

There were several more dresses, in reds and yellows, that I shared with one of my sisters who loves those cheery shades on the warm side of the color wheel.  She used tiny clothes pins and hung them from a small clothesline on the wall of her laundry room.  And they look really cute that way!  

I would like to do that, but I don't have a laundry "room".  My washer and dryer are down in the unfinished half of my basement.  Just cement walls.  I need help to figure out a way to display them someplace in my house.    You gals always amaze me with your creativity!  So... what would you do?   

I think they were originally designed to be potholders for the kitchen, but they really are not thick enough to provide useful protection from heat. 

I can't wait to hear your ideas!!!

Linking to:

Friday Pretties @  I Love Pretty Little Things

Favorite Things  @ Bargain Hunting and Chatting With Laurie

Courthouse Steps Quilt

This is another scrap quilt that my great-grandmother made.  As age and arthritis set in, she was no longer able to quilt by hand, so she tied the quilts.  (See other quilts from my great-grandma here.)

Although it has a couple threadbare spots and tears, I still use it on my bed every year when the weather starts to turn cold.

I know you are starting to think that Katarina (my cat) must follow me from room to room and just plop down right in the middle of whatever I am trying to take a picture of.   And you would be correct.  I had to shoo her off the bed to open the quilt up for a better photo. (She jumped right back up on the quilt when I was done.)

The quilt block is a log cabin variation, called Courthouse Steps.

With a name like that I think this quilt should be passed down to my son.   He was recently chosen as the Chief Magistrate for the residence hall governing board,  and has dreams of law school, post graduation.

I am linking to:

Vintage Thingie Thursday at The Colorado Lady
Alphabe-Thursday  (letter C) At Jenny Matlock's

Flowers For You!

I picked these up for YOU.

Thank you for reading my blog and leaving such sweet and thoughtful comments.

I truly appreciate each and every one of you. 

Now go and enjoy this beautiful day! 

Basket of Goodies

What a lucky girl I am!   Deborah @ The White Chair had a giveaway on her blog.  She asked us to share some of our favorite things about fall.  I had no shortage of things to say,  as autumn is one of my favorite times of the year!  To my delight, I won!!  And this wonderful basket of goodies arrived at my doorstep!

I love the shape and size of this basket!  It's a perfect color for autumn decor!  Ummmm, the apple spice tea smells lovely and sweet!  Can't wait to make my first cup today!   The toile notecards with the lacy edge are so pretty!  I love toile!  The beautiful autumn leaf table runner will look perfect on my dining table as the days grow shorter and the trees drop their leaves outside.   I will enjoy taking a little break from my hectic days to read the thoughtful devotions in the book.   A perfect pick me up in the middle of the afternoon!   The little transferware pitcher is just the right size for  cream or a small bouquet of flowers!  I love it all! 

Deborah, thanks so much for picking me!  You are a real sweetie and I look forward to getting to know you more through your blog!   I will truly enjoy all my gifts!  

Now... where is my kettle?  It's time to make some of this tea!