Monday, December 30, 2019

My First Winter


DISPLAY

Hello sweet friends!
Yesterday it rained most of the day,
so in between working on more bunnies,
grabbing Bob some lunch,
I decided to create a simple Winter display.


I took one of my Child's chairs
which is Winter white in color.


Added one of my many wreaths.


Then placed my log cabin in front.


With my mom staying with us for
almost a week,
she reminded me that when she was little
she actually lived in a log cabin
for a few years until their farmhouse
was built on the property.

She said their first Christmas tree 
in the log cabin had all homemade
paper ornaments on it,
and gramma B's polish ornaments
which were handed down to her.
It was all they could afford.

I imagine that simple tree and even
though their tree was not ornate,
the love that was poured into
those ornaments was so special.

Simplicity at its best.

The new year is almost here.
What will your New Year's Eve plans be? 

Bob and I will spend a quiet evening
at home this New Years Eve.
A few appetizers which I will make,
whilst Bob whips up some frozen Margaritas.
We will try to stay up until the new year...
but one never knows if we make it or not. LOL

I want to wish all of my friends a
HAPPY and BLESSED NEW YEAR!

Be back in the New Year.

A Winter Display Blessings To All!
Janice 

Friday, December 27, 2019

Post Christmas Snippets


TGIF Friends!
Hope you all had a wonderful
Merry Christmas.
We hosted Christmas Eve with Bob's family
and my mom.
Christmas Day my brother and his wife were our hosts.

Both my nephews and their wives came up from 
North Carolina this year.
It was nice seeing them all.

My one nephew told us that his wife's
job was taking them to Phoenix,
and they would be moving soon.
She is a sports doctor and he is a teacher.
He will need to find a teaching job
 when he gets down there.

The grands came back with us
Christmas night
and spent a few nights.
We took them to the movies and saw
Spies In Disguise and then to dinner.
It was also fun catching up with them too!
Michael is 16 now.
Mikayla is 12.
They grow so fast.


Today I just wanted to show you
a few more snippets
of our Christmas.












Notice our investigator?
It seems Ace wanted to get in my picture.






That is it for Christmas 2019.

Hope everyone enjoys their last weekend
before the New Year.

Mine will be spent working on more bunnies.
Have 13 already completed of one design.
Need to make 15 more and then on to
another design.

Post Christmas Blessings To All!
Janice 

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Redware And Pineapples


Hello my friends.
I cannot believe it is Christmas Eve.
Mom and I made a total
of 15 dozen Pierogi's.
Some will be eaten for our dinner tonight,
while others will be given to family
as a gift from my mom and I.

Today will be my last post for
the Christmas season.
Hoped you all enjoyed 
the colonial tour.


Remember my colonial desk.
Today I show you the rest
of my un-traditional look
 of our back room this year.
Orange and yellows. 

Today's final story is
about redware and pineapples.


First off the pineapple.


Most of this fruit
would be rotten
by the time it reached the colonies.


Only the fastest boats
in fair weather were able
to provide this precious cargo
to the colonists.


Because of this,
pineapple was only affordable
to the wealthy colonists.
A hostess who was able to set
out a pineapple in the middle
of her dining table 
showed her position in society.
Thus they were considered a sign
of the highest form of hospitality.


 Redware history.


Redware gained its popularity
with the English colonists
who created this type of pottery
from red clay. 
Depending on how much iron
was in the clay determined the color.


Before the Revolutionary War,
the colonists were considered inferior
potters to those in England,
thus did not make their own until
after the war.


After the war, they began creating 
their own redware with each region
having a different take on 
the designs they chose as the potters
did with blue slip crockery.


The most prolific potters were from
Pennsylvania with many utilizing
solids and multi colored glazes.
A classic Pennsylvania design was
the wavy yellow lines.


Redware was made from lead.
Potters used lead foil wrappers
that drinking tea was wrapped in at the time.
They melted the lead and added it to
the clay creating an affordable line
of plates, cups and other objects.
Being made so cheaply, housewives
flocked to purchase these goods.
However they were also poorly made,
quite breakable and very harmful
unknowingly to both the consumer and potter.
Redware pottery fell out of favor
in the late 19th century with the hand fired
kilns being replaced with modern day
furnaces of the time.

Well that does it for another year
of our holiday home tour.

I appreciate and thank all of you for following
along with me on my blog journey.

Bob and I want to wish you all a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope Santa 
gives you everything
 you wished for.

Redware And Pineapple Blessings To All!


Sunday, December 22, 2019

Gingerbread Men


Winter Blessings all!
Yesterday my mom  and I 
made 9 dozen cookies.
Today is Pierogi day.
Cannot wait!
It's been fun spending time with mom. 


Today while I show you my 
Gingerbread kitchen area,
I will tell you the story about
Gingerbread Men.


Queen Elizabeth I was the first
known person to have
Gingerbread men.


She asked her baker
to make ginger cookie men
to resemble those men on her court.


It was the English then 
who brought over this tradition.


In Colonial times
Gingerbreads were made into 
men and animals. 


It was not until 1875


that the Gingerbread man


we know of today was created


and passed down from


generation to generation.


My Gingers were made
from salt dough. 


I purchased them from the artist
who sat next to me at my mom's
craft show.


My last post on Christmas Eve
will be of our Non-Traditional 7 1/2 ft tree

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.
I know I sure am!

Gingerbread Blessings To All!
Janice

Friday, December 20, 2019

A Colonial Desk


WOOT WOOT
On vacation now.
Will enjoy my time with my mom.
Not only making Pierogi's
Am being told we will 
be making cookies too.
YUM

Today am featuring my colonial desk area.
Although it is not from the 1700's,
it looks like one.

The history piece is about the 5 types
of furniture styles that originated
or were in the 1700's. 


Early American (1640-1700
Ornamental carvings, raised panels,
and woodturnings were from this period.
These pieces were made from 
the woods of apple, pine, cherry, maple,
oak, and birch.


Colonial (1700-1780)
These furniture pieces were influenced
by England's William and Mary,
Queen Anne and Chippendale.
The dovetail joint started in this period.


Pennsylvania Dutch (1720-1830)
The Germans influenced this period.
Straight lines and tapered legs
made from pine, oak and walnut.


Federal (1780-1820)
Fluting and inlays of various woods
came in this era.
Hardware was in brass in shapes of nature.


Sheraton (1780-1820)
These furniture pieces were named after
the English designer named Thomas Sheraton.
Wood carvings and dovetail joints
were the hallmark of this period. 


I apologize for not being able to show
you all the entire desk...
but that would have given away my 
final untraditional tree,
which I want to save for last.
So sorry.

Well off to take my car in for an oil change
and then off to the market we go.

Do you make Christmas cookies?
I have not in a few years,
so making some with my mom will be a treat!

Colonial Desk Blessings To All!
Janice


Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Bluebird Of Happiness


Good morning friends!
The countdown begins to my vacation.
WOO HOO!!
My mom is coming down tomorrow night
and will be staying until Christmas.
We are going to make homemade pierogi's
{polish dumpling filled with potatoes & cheese}
Other variations are sauerkraut or just cheese.
We will be also going to the Polish market
for some homemade Kielbasa.
My gramma B use to make her's from scratch,
as did my mom...but I did not learn how.
Any hoot, that will be both our 
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meal.



Before I start my history story today...
aren't these hooked Indian corns
the cat's pajamas!
I made these for my lil tree.
Cannot wait to make more in reds for Autumn.


I made my bluebirds from blue cardstock,
which again I printed colonial writing on
and then cut into this bird shape.
Now for my Bluebird story.


The Eastern Bluebird or nesting birds 
as they were called in Colonial times
were just as or even more prevalent as
the Robin back then.


The colonists enjoyed putting up birdhouses
made from clay or gourds, and many
birds including the Bluebirds were flocking
to them.


This was a time where most folks raised
 their own food to survive.
Forests were cleared while fruit trees were planted. 



Even though many trees were cleared,
this did create a new habitat for the 
Bluebirds, as they then started roosting
in the overhangs of the colonists log cabins
and many of their farm buildings.


Before the colonist came along,
the beavers tenacious appetite of chewing
down trees allowed bluebirds 
the ability to nest in these fallen trees.


Once trappers realized the value
in beaver hides,
the bluebirds were much more
vulnerable and only those who thrived
were due to our colonial farmers
who hung hallowed gourds and erected
their buildings for them to nest.


Thank goodness they did.
As what a shame it would have been
not to see a gorgeous 

B L U E B I R D



By the way I chose orange lights
for this lil tree.
It's in our back room...
which I called my non-traditional room this year.

Are you all getting ready for Christmas?
Can you believe It is a week away now?

Bluebird Of Happiness Blessings To All!
Janice