Wow! The End of the Year is Coming Up FAST!

 A while back I stopped by the Kiwanis Antique show to have a look. 

I'm always on the look out for cool things, plus Christmas is coming! Never know what I'll see! One thing I noticed, EVERYONE has some Pyrex/Fireking glass to sell.

There could be a whole booth of junk and they still have a Pyrex bowl or pan there too. It must be the trend right now.

I saw a couple of Jadeite pieces, but too much!!!!

I came home with a few ornaments and a cute pair of tiny scissors. 

It's also time to get the Christmas décor out! 

My total fave, the ceramic Christmas tree, plus the tiny porcelain nativity. 

I am using a new to us tree this year. It's a 9 footer with an adapter to make it a 6 1/2 footer, which is a really good thing because a 9 footer isn't fitting here!

I just got out he 3 piece nativity this year.  Mary & Joseph are enjoying the light of the Scentsy warmer! 

Santa is making his appearance this year on the desk instead of the fireplace.

And those ornaments I bought are here too!

The tee is a little bare on the lower level-what's known as tail height around here. A dogs tail can fling an ornament like a shot across the room!

I'm not too sure about this tree-it's one I got used from a gal that was moving and it has good looking branches, but they are really hard to get spread out.

I used a lot of the vintage ornaments this year. There are more, but I got tired of hanging them!

And I got some new tiny multicolor lights. 

Just a few of the vintage ornaments. 

I just love them all. 

Here's one I just got last week!

Well we're all set with the festive decor, and Santa is tied down on the front step too! We had some high winds the other day, so I decided to keep him in place with an extra safety tie!

Late addition!! Look at this adorable sparkley tree collar!

I ordered it from Amazon and I love it! It looks fabulous! 

With Dogs and Bob shedding and swooshing paws and tails, I didn't want a tree skirt, but I sure needed something. And then I saw tree collars! Who knew there was such a thing! It just came today and I'm so glad it did!

Kalona Shop Stop

SO DD and me made a stop at the Dollar Store in Kalona and also HAD to visit Willow Creek Quilt Shop. I'd never been in there before. Look how pretty their displays are.

 I really like that ornament quilt....

 We had to chuckle at the fire extinguishers stacked waiting for their proper installation!

 It was such a nice day outside and the town of Kalona is just made for tourists to walk around downtown.

 So after Willow Creek

 We walked down the sidewalk-with cement quilt blocks no less...

 to The Shop. Look BEN was waiting for us!

 They have lots of unique vintage things and are just crammed with fun ideas!

 What do you think of this lighting?

 

 I loved these books cut into letters. It's hard to cut books-I mean not hard to actually cut them, but hard to get over a lifetime of not tearing a page, and treating books nicely.

The Next Project

My Mom sent me this wonderful vintage quilt top. Thanks Mom!

Isn't it awesome? I can hardly wait to get going on it. I don't know what I'm going to quilt on it, but I think it will be so pretty when I'm done! I love the scrappy patchwork, when you look at the back side, some of the blocks are hand pieced, and some are machine pieced. Mom said she got it at an auction so it's anybody's guess where it came from or what the story is about this quilt top. I think it will be happy when it's all done.