Nesting...

Hello

I woke up this morning with frost on the pumpkin... and on all my urns, morning glories and tomatoes not to mention ice in the fountain. Cold weather has come early to the Midwest. I hate saying goodbye to all my flowers. 

I am still hoping for an Indian Summer...

With the colder temps my nesting tendencies kick in and I turn towards the home. Projects I have put aside to be outside in the sunshine. 

I started painting the family room and got as far as all the woodwork and put it on hold to work in the yard.

 I spent most of the summer playing catch up in the yard, years of neglect will keep me busy for a few summers. I so enjoy it.

See all that ground cover, it has taken over my entire yard!

Hard on the back, cutting and hacking away. I even found an old cement statue that got tipped over and swallowed up in the Euonymus!

Forgot I even had it...

One of my highlights this summer was seeing Fifi Oneil and
 Mark Lohman again. 
They were here shooting for her new book coming out soon 
Prairie Style Weddings.

I loved having some girl time with Fifi, chatting and 
getting to know her... such a lovely lady. 
Thank you Fifi for this wonderful post...

Back to the family room...

I still haven't come to a decision on the shade of gray/brown I want, but with Thanksgiving fast approaching (although it is late this year) I will need to finish it. My family comes here for Thanksgiving and we fill this old house to the brim.

Since we are not here for Christmas, I like it festive for them.

I am not fond of either of these, I think the middle shade with a little more brown in it. I like warm colors and this room gets a lot of light.

Right now I have another project in this room and that's a large painting. I was hoping to bring it to Tn but time got away from me. It turned out for the best as I wouldn't have had room anyway.

It is a 6 foot canvas... in acrylic and oil.

(there is blue tape around the outside to protect the wood)

It is a large wing sculpted in artist clay. It is based on Psalm 91.

These verses are near and dear to my heart and has become very real to me in times past. I did a post on it in
my other blog here

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be they shield and buckler.

The painting is in its early stages and still evolving. I will keep you posted on its progress.

Nesting always involves baking for me...

With fall and now feeling a bit of winter in the air, I even feel like cooking... or at least baking. 

Last night I decided to make my grandmother's apple cake, a must for fall baking. It is wonderful...

I threw in a few more apples because I chopped more than needed so baking time was longer.

What makes this cake so delicious is the caramel topping. 

My grandmother poked holes in the cake and poured the caramel over the cake. I prefer to pour it warm over each piece.

Topped with whipped cream or ice cream will do in a pinch.

Leaving you with my grandmothers recipe topped with love and whipped cream... for me they are one of the same.

Blessings

Rebecca
PS... I decided there was enough white in this post to link up to TimeWashed
Thank you... 

Vintage Living in Tennessee

Hello

I am home. It has been a fast and furious week, traveling first to Indiana and then down to Tennessee for the

City Farmhouse Barn Show.

Thank you to David and Kim for putting this all together and producing such a beautiful event.

My dear friend Donna, of Homecoming and I decided to travel and set up next to each other at the show. I loaded the trailer and headed to IN to meet Donna, she loaded her stuff and then we headed to TN. 

Her daughter April and son in law Russell helped us all week end. A big shout out to them for all the hard work that they did...

 Thank you!

It was a lovely show, held on the grounds of the Idyll by the River Farm. The vendors were all spectacular and I enjoyed seeing all the great displays and wonderful antiques.

Donna and I wanted to do a herbarium/greenhouse theme in our booths. 

Donna built a structure that looked like a greenhouse and her inspiration for it was the movie Practical Magic, her post is here. 

I have always loved the set design of that movie and since I sold to them for that movie years ago when I had my shop, it sounded fun.

The lovely Donna

And the beautiful Ms. April, who by the way is expecting a baby girl!

Donna has such a great eye for display!

My booth was not so ambitious...

My theme was more nature study/apothecary/herbarium look...

I had some technical problems with my walls because the ground was so uneven, I couldn't do what I had originally planned. 

My son made all the industrial lighting out of found vintage.

I made the stag out of felted white wool and a taxidermy form

We called him Charlie...

French linen pillows

 The bust was a store display from 1930 

Journals

Salesmen lace samples from the turn of the century under glass

and old books with watercolor paintings on the front page.

I painted "Leah" the cow in oil... Hebrew meaning for Leah is wild cow. The fern paintings are on burlap and made to look like fossils. 

Bottle Blessings

Nature studies on old book covers and herbariums on 

old album pages.

Watercolor on old book pages on slate clipboard

Pressed fern from my garden under glass with soldered frame

Blessings in a bottle and angel bottle

Leather cuffs embellished with old hardware

Watercolor on old book and ledger pages

I really enjoyed getting ready for this show the last few weeks. Sitting in my studio watching the birds drink from the fountain outside my studio and enjoying the beautiful weather.

The very best thing about shows is meeting up with wonderful old friends, meeting new ones and seeing women you have known through blogging or fb and giving them a big old hug around the neck!

This alone makes all the work worth while...

I want to thank all of you that came out to the show and especially the gals that stopped by and said hello and told me how much they appreciate my blog... Thank you. I will try to post more often :)

And a special thank you to Donna for all her hard work.

Blessings

Rebecca