Tuesday Tutorial-No Sew Runners

No-Sew Table Runners. 

You will need materials (needs to be 2" bigger on the length and width then what you want the finished product to be. 

You will need your iron and ironing board. 

Scissors, hem tape and measuring device. I alternate between a ruler and a tape measure. I actually like the ruler the best. 

Lay your material face down so that the wrong side is facing you. 

Fold in all four sides 1" and press with iron.

Unfold the sides.

One by one, lay hem tape inside the fold. 

Press down the iron per instructions on the hem tape (directions vary per brand)

Repeat for each of the four sides. You will have this on the back.

Next it is time to make the points on the ends. Measure the width of your finished product and find the middle of the material. 

Fold each side in (on the back side) to make the point and place hem tape under the edges and iron it down as you did the rest of the sides.  Repeat process for each end of the length. 

Press the final piece and you have a beautiful runner or scarf. 

I make them in many different shapes and sizes. Just simply cut the material 2" bigger in both directions and repeat the above process.A special thanks to my niece Amy for showing me hers and telling me how she did them. I hope to see your results on your blog soon. 

When a sister comes to visit....

My sister and brother-in-law came to visit this weekend. We had an awesome time together (we always do). It is so great to have someone who thinks like you do and understands you like nobody else does. 

(L-R: Me and Rachel)

Rachel's birthday is in October and mine is in December (we are just a little over 13 months apart in age). So every year around this time, we try to get together for our birthdays and we always celebrate by having a little gift basket of items we have accumulated over the year to give each other. Here was the cute little basket I got this year. It is going on top of my kitchen cabinets with my other cute baskets. 

Here are the items that were in my basket. I adore stretchy bracelets. My basket had three new bracelets. I love them. They were made by a lady that lives across the street from Rachel. I wore the red one to church yesterday with my favorite red sweater and got a lot of comments on it. 

She also got me this cute little pill box with lavender flowers. This is going in the bathroom with my other little pill box. She made me this gorgeous dishtowel with the pumpkin on it. I'm going to hang it in the kitchen on the handle of the toaster oven. I loving having seasonal towels to hang there. 

She was in a pink theme on some of the items. We both love pink. I adore the candle and frame. I can't wait to polish my nails pink and wear my pink bracelet with it. She even got pink gum to keep with the theme. 

My kitchen is going to smell so good with the Paula Deen Vanilla Pound Cake candle. I'm going to burn it on Thanksgiving. 

She brought down some things Mom had accumulated for me this year. I love the milk glass vases to add to my collection. I didn't have either one of these. And this little pumpkin dish is so cute. I'm going to use it for some dip to go with crackers for an appetizer on Thanksgiving. 

And she brought me my birthday present from Mom. I was allowed to open it early since Mom knew I decorate for Christmas before my birthday. Don't you just love it? My mom made the stocking and the little mouse and then put some picks around it. I am so in love with this. I showed a picture to the ladies at church and they fell in love with it. One of my friends is going to try to make one herself. It is just too cute. 

All of that combined to make an awesome weekend. Then I went to church Sunday and my Secret Sister surprised me yet again with a little gift bag full of goodies. You know I love anything to do with tea. Check out the cute little tea books, a new cup for hot tea and some assorted teas. My hubby laid claim to the Blackberry Lipton the minute I took it out of the bag. We may have to fight over that flavor. But I would be willing to share with him. 

Then I stopped by my daughter's yesterday evening and she had been going through some drawers and found these cookie cutters and asked me if I wanted them. The Queen of Cookies? Do I want them? You better believe I did. She doesn't fool me though. She thinks if she gives me the cookie cutters she can ask me later to make her some cookies to take to work for Christmas. I know her game plan. 

As you can see it was a weekend chocked full of goodies. 

Our veterans.  The proud men and women who fought for our freedom and dedicated their lives to make our great nation what it is today. Some have passed on and some stand strong today. Nothing touches me more than to see our veterans proudly carrying our flag as they lead parades down Main Street across America. To watch other veterans along the route proudly solute that flag…the very flag that they defended on land, on sea and in the air.

My daddy, Luther (Luke) Garretson, fought in World War II. He was in the Navy and was stationed on an aircraft carrier. After his stint with the Navy was up, he spent a couple more year in the Coast Guard. 

I dedicate my page today to the loving memory of my father,

Luther Harden Garretson 1923-1999.

Today is the day to honor those proud men and women who stood for our country to protect our freedom. And I also believe today is the day to say thank you to those in our military who continue to protect us. My heart swells with pride as I look at this young man who is my nephew, Jacob (Jake) Garretson. I was honored to attend his graduation from Parris Island as a United States Marine just a year ago last week. 

I know his Papaw Luke would be very proud of him for serving his country. Here is one of my favorite photos of Daddy and Jake. Daddy was teasing him and asking him if his nails needed clipped and Jake stuck his foot up to the clippers Dad had been working with. He must have really trusted his Papaw.

One of my favorite military quotes actually comes from the movie A Few Good Men. It is when Commander Jo Galloway says: 

"Because they stand on a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch."

Happy Veteran's Day

My Friday Find

Hubby and I did our grocery shopping yesterday and we were just browsing through the Christmas Candy aisle at Walmart when something caught my eye. 

First, let me say that I have loved M & M's as far back as I remember. I have a jar that is always filled with M & M's. 

Another love of mine is orange creams covered with milk chocolate. I just love orange and chocolate together. I even eat a handful of malted milk balls when I have orange sherbet. 

So imagine my delight when I found these. 

They are actually a little thicker and bigger than a normal M & M and the chocolate center has a taste of orange flavoring in it. They are by far the most divine flavor M & M has come out with in years. Best invention since peanut M & M's. If you like orange and chocolate, you need to try these. You will fall in love with them. 

Frolicking Friday

Frolicking: Play and move about cheerfully, excitedly, or energetically.

That is what my mind is like by the time Friday rolls around. I have 1001 ideas thoughts plans just plain "stuff" floating around excitedly in my brain.

I made my Thanksgiving menu out the other day and then last night I broke it down into a grocery list and checked off items we already had in the cupboard. Let the Thanksgiving feast shopping begin. I get so organized for Thanksgiving it is hilarious.

I actually make an Excel spreadsheet of items needed, what we have; what we need to get and where we will get the best deal. I've been clipping coupons for a few weeks preparing for this. My hubby thinks I'm nuts, but hey, we never miss an item for the BIG DAY!

Santa (the one that lives next door to me) has his Christmas lights up and added some displays yesterday. He also has a fully decorated tree on the porch. The lights are gorgeous. I don't ever decorate until after Thanksgiving. But I guess when you are Santa you gotta do it when you have the time. I don't expect to see much of him and Mrs. Claus after Thanksgiving. I was able to get him and the Mrs. to be in our local Community Christmas Parade in December. 

I can't believe that there are ads posted on Black Friday and I haven't had a chance to go look at them. Yikes! That is so not like me. But that's okay. I may have some time tonight because there isn't anything good on TV.

Speaking of TV. I didn't get to watch Hawaii Five-0 this past Monday. When we went to bed at midnight on Wednesday, I decided to find it On Demand and watch it. What a major mistake. It was their Halloween show and it was scary. I don't do scary movies and can't believe I watched a scary Five-0. Hubby said he couldn't believe I watched it since it was so gory that night. My response..."It's McGarret. I couldn't NOT watch." But I had nightmares all night. Worst night sleep in a long time. No more scary episodes before sleep.



I am tired of pink and blue and yellow in my office. It wasn't what I had planned. It just fell into place because I had a few blue and pink pieces to sit on shelves. Then I found a pair of curtains at a yard sale in those colors and next thing you know, I had a pastel office. Which is not really me. I am more into hunter greens, burgundy, deep blue. I think I will look for a new pair of curtains in those colors and rearrange some things around the house to bring those colors into my office/craft room and do something else with my pink and blues (which are mostly candles and tea sets).

I was also wondering last night if Pyrex will be coming out with clear bowls with Christmas designs since they did for Halloween. I'm going to keep a check at Target to see. If anybody sees any, let me know. If they don't I may end up getting some of the ones with just red or green lids.



I guess I have rambled on enough for one day. Hope everybody has a great weekend. 

In the South

I saw this sign last night on a friend's Facebook post. It tickled my fancy. It made me start thinking about what it means to be Southern.

Apparently the first thing that came to mind is that we have the ability to laugh at ourselves. Why else would we love a sign like this one? But it is so much more than that.

It is a spirit of living. An appreciation of life. It is knowing that when you screw up you don't try to cover up, you run laughing to your best friend and say you'll never believe what I just did.

It is faith and family and friendship.

It is courage and caring.

It is love and laughter.

It is a way of life not a location on a map.

It is taking each day as it comes, daring to dream and finding joy in the everyday moments of life.

Here in the south, when life hands us lemons we cut them up and put them in our sweet tea, set on the porch and swing in the sunset.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

I had four of the five grandchildren yesterday. Garret was hunting with his dad. I missed having him. I can't wait till Thanksgiving to have all 5 of them here at one time. Of course, if Garret had been here, I am not sure if I would have gotten any pictures. He is at that "I'm a teenager, don't take my photo" stage of his teen years. This was the last picture I got of him back in October. 

Of course, I couldn't do a wordless Wednesday because I had to make a few comments. But here are some pictures of the grandkids that I was able to get yesterday. 

He has got to have one of the cutest grins ever.

These two are not camera shy at all. They always like to pose. 

I absolutely love this one. Those beautiful blue eyes.

And little miss rotten with her big brown eyes. I have yet to figure out when I say look at the camera she turns her head to the camera but her eyes get sidetracked off to the side. 

Very, very unusual to get one with him smiling a natural smile. They grow up so fast. 

Colby was attached to Caleb all day. Every time Caleb laid down on the couch, Colby would go veg out on him. 

At one point, Caleb hollered for all of them to come to him a minute. Next thing he knew, he was at the bottom of a pile of kids...and loving every minute of it. 

We got to talking about Christmas and they wanted to go to www.ReindeerCam.com to see the reindeer  online. From there we found an interactive site with Santa's workshop. Then they got in a Christmas mood and want to go to Bass Pro Shop to look at the Bass toy section. So I bundled them all four in the car and off we went. It was a great trip because I got a lot of Christmas ideas for the hunters in my family. As we were leaving, they had to "test drive" one of the ATV's. 

It was an awesome way to spend a day off.