Valentine Banner Giveaway!!

Don't you just love it when the parallel in your life goes and gets perpendicular??


I have so enjoyed making my LOVE banners for the very special holiday coming up that I realized that I really needed to 'share the LOVE' amongst my faithful...


And as fate would have it, I have developed a need for some new, fresh ideas for my tired living room. That is where you come in, my friends!  Let us give and take on this little venture!


Rules for the Giveaway!


1.  Leave a comment on my blog from now till Friday, February 4 at 9pm with a new decorating idea for my living room.  Color, pattern, style, furniture, paint, you name it; it's up to you.....Your favorite new decorating thing!


2.  Get creative.....On a budget (of course, silly!)  I have been given a stipends for The Living Room Remodel of $500 so keep that in mind....


3.  The best idea, that I will utilize and feature in my redo, will be the winner of the most festive
mama's collection Valentine LOVE banner!


See? Easy as 1-2-3!!


Now, get thinkin'!!  Get Sharing!  And thanks so much for reading!!


Woohooooooo!!

Spring Forward

New things around me are making the prospect of Spring that much enjoyable...

1. New windows! Clearer views and warmer rooms...
2. New curtains made last night to celebrate new windows...
3. And most importantly, my friend Crazy Dee is home from the hospital, awaiting a triple bypass next month. In the interim, my time here may be sketchy as I care for her nutritional, social and most importantly, humoral needs of the day while her hubby is away from her side.

So why should this matter to you, most noble reader??
Because all this newness has made me pine for another......

"Summer Tote Bag Giveaway of the Grandest Kind!!!!!!!!'

Yes! You read it right!!
Come April, mama's collection will reveal the latest design for summer wear!
Thanks to Tennessee Trish for her helpful input and the hour or so spent loitering at the basketball game last night, watching all the young girls and their stylin bags, I believe I have come up with a pretty dandy tote to carry into summer!!!

Okay.
I can just see you now figuring out how to wangle this grand creation out of my thread stained hands.
Here is the deal.
In 721 words or more, let me know while you need mama's collection Free and Fabulous Summer Bag.
Send it via mamascollection127@gmail.comGive it your best shot.
Make things up.
Plead with me purse bankruptcy.
Send photos of your most pitiful summer purse and why it really needs replacing.
Tell me why owning a mama's collection is so important to you.
(Not that what you write will have any bearing on if you win or not; I just like reading!)
The drawing will be based on comments left on my blog in the month of March or fore mentioned email essay. The winning name will be drawn at random, probably by my Faithful Sewing Room Assistant, Dixie. Last drawing was conducted by The Hubby and he's probably still tired from all the hoopla....

So, get those thinking caps on!
Prepare you plea for the purse!
Bring on summer prepared and really stylin.......

Happy Springing Forward!

Day Six , tick, tick, tick....

Day Six of Giveaway Bag week!
Day Six of Hubby's Week Off!

So, we are off to Indy to visit Eldest Son and Lovely Wife.
Much to report on this Big Gathering of The November Birthday Girls Celebration but today is all about the Birthday Girls....

Can't wait till tomorrow night and the drawing~~~~~ :D
See you then!

Day One of Giveaway Week!

Thank all of you that left comments yesterday!
The cogs are turning and the Giveaway Bag is brewing in my mind....

But firstly, I had some other businessy things to take care of before I could treat my mind and hands to the GB!

Below, is a tidy little bag I made for an eleven year old friend.
She is fond of purples and blues and is on the cusp of junior high hood, so I dare not go too sweet, yet not too grownup either.
Found this material on the discount rack and it really screamed for my little friend.
I thought that a bracelet that Baby Girl received, way back in the junior high days, would make a really nice embellishment/weight...And will probably make enough noise and distraction that her fifth grade teacher may have issues with me!
Like the little bag alot.

I've been painting my guest room.
Thanksgiving Company is coming and a bit of sprucing is always in order.
Even if company is my own progeny. Funny how one day your children are home and doing chores, then one day, they are guests; guests that I clean like mad for and cook like the Queen Mother has scheduled a visit. Interesting, huh?
So.
Painting a room sounds so....practical.
I have to make it more interesting by challenging myself to redecorating a bit, but redecorating completely on the cheap (read: no cost). This little old table has wondered around my house and cottage for nearly ten years. Never been updated, just providing a utilitarian need wherever..
Thanks to my blogger friends especially DottieAngel (click on her link on my blog list) I look at my old furniture with an eye to usefulness and fun via paint.
Don't you think Little Table looks happy in this shade of blue? Almost matching the blue in the quilt but with no intention of doing that? LOVE it when that happens!
Anyway.
More pics of the redo as it progressess...Look forward to a discarded, curbside crib becoming a quilt rack.....!!


And now here my friends, is what you've been waiting for!
A peek at the beginning of the Giveaway Bag!
Nice autumn colors with the rich copper embellishments that just make the colors pop!
Tomorrow, we will begin to cut and plan the course of action of this grand prize bag!!

Tell your friends and get them in on the fun!!

Tick, Tick, Tick....

Saturday night, Dixie and I took in the sights downtown..
This is the Commercial Tent. Full of businesses eager to share with consumers just what they do. And hand out lots of things. Sacks worth. Saturday night, it was just a huge tent in the middle of 7th street, approximately 200 steps from my home... Here's the tent that will host suppers from churches to a few non profits. Lasagna, ham and beans, fish all specials that will have to taken advantage of this week. My particular favorite is Ham and Bean Night. Corn bread and persimmon pudding. With gospel music on stage. Don't particularly like any of it normally, but for some bizarre reason, I love it the week of Persimmon Festival...I told you it is fascinatingly weird.....

The Main Stage. Right on Main Street. All week.

It will host a Lip Sync contest, Queen contest, Gospel singers, a flash from the past band. And I can hear all of it from my front porch. Did I mention I can also hear all the squeals of delight and false fear from the rides? Funny.

And this is one early bird. Right next to Bren and Jerry's, a carport that had some plywood added, an air conditioner, several doors and called a 'Trading Post'. Jerry's handmade signs are a hoot. There is one currently that says, 'Save a business; buy more here'. Other slogans have been photographed by me as well. I must add that I have purchased several things from Bren and Jerry's and have not been disappointed. Maybe I'll help him stay in business....

Tomorrow it starts in full swing.....

Off to rest up for the week!!!!!

Calm Before the Storm....

So. Things look quietly calm.
For now.
Starting Sunday, this little town of 5000 becomes a carnival.
Literally.
It boasts the second largest parade in the state.
For a solid week, contests, rides, fair food infiltrate this tiny town on a really big scale.
And school is still in session. For years, the statewide ISTEP evaluation tests, were done the same week. Imagine the scores of children over done by late nights at the carnival and overdosing of overprocessed, sugary treats. Craziness.
And I've been a part of this insanity for most of the years that I've lived here, in one way or another. Guilty as charged.

For the following week, I doubt if I get in my sewing room much, but you betcha I will be documenting all the little nuances and interesting sights and sounds. Every year I am amazed that all this goes on just a little over a block away from my home. Oddly curious and magnetically drawn to it, I still am trying to figure out my love of it. Craziness.

Persimmon Festival.
persimmonfestival.org
Persimmon Capital of the World (really?)
My new hometown.....