Hello everyone!! How are you all? I hope these almost fall days are being good to you. Did you see on my counter how many days until fall officially starts? Except for one warm and muggy day over the weekend, there has been a decidedly fall feeling in the air Behind My Red Door – both inside and out! The swamp maples are turning, the poison ivy and sumac along the sides of the road are red, and the underbrush is golden and brown. They are always weeks ahead of the rest of the riot of color we so enjoy in New England, but I liken them to a promise of what is to come – and I just can’t wait. Inside, I have been enjoying making fall type meals and in fact I have Turkey Sloppy Joes in the slow cooker right now. And in the oven, roasting asparagus to have on the side. And later tonight I will enjoy some of my favorite spiced chai tea! That is a sure sign that fall is here!
I know it’s been awhile since I wrote a full post so this one is just chuck full of all kinds of stuff. I have been quite busy lately and I had some things I needed to do and some things I wanted to do before I sat down to get this all together. Thank you for your patience.
Well I did it again and I could kick myself! Last year I rushed and got my bittersweet way too early. It was not the right color. So this year, I was determined to wait and I did – another 12 days. But as Mr. Red Door and I were gathering it last week, a little voice in my head kept saying that it was not going to be ripe enough this year either. Come to think of it, maybe it was the voice I kept hearing coming from his directions saying “honey, this is kind of green. Are you sure you still want it?”. Because of that, I didn’t get as much as I wanted or needed because I had a feeling I would be going back for some more … and indeed, that is what I will need to do! But as promised, here are some more fall decor pictures, some with the very pale orange bittersweet, and some without. I am sticking with my less is more theme even this fall!
You can really see in this picture below how pale orange the berries are. They should be much darker. 
I still have more fall decor pictures but since this post is already long enough, I’ll save some for another time.
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Thanks to everyone who asked about my shopping trip and day spent with Jill last Friday. Despite the wonderful cool crisp air leaving and the damp pouring rain arriving, we had a wonderful time. First we went to some shops not too far from my home. Some prim, some not so much – but still fun. I got a few small items for a gift and Jill got several goodies. We were getting pretty cold and wet so we headed back here and had a nice bowl of my homemade Swedish Meatball Soup! Then fortified, we took off again for Sturbridge where I watched Jill spend HER money. She got some wonderful seasonal items, and some other colonial and prim goodies. I only got a few square cut nails and beeswax taper candles. I truly am getting more selective when I shop – maybe because I am running out of room for anything new! And with both of us happy with our purchases, we made the drive home in the pouring rain and enjoyed a wonderful roast pork and winter squash dinner. YUMMO!
By the way, have I ever told you how much I love beeswax candles? I have such difficulty with scented items – cologne, scented soaps, shampoos, potpourri, and especially wood smoke and many scented candles. They cause my face to burn, my eyes to run, they make me cough and wheeze – or all the above. Even if I love the scent and it is all natural, it still can be a trigger. So because of those problems, the only tapers I use are pure beeswax candles. And when I want to burn something scented, I only use the soy candles my friend Karen makes. Amish Harvest is my tried and true scent and I know I can tolerate it. It has a clean spicy smell that I love all year long, but especially at this time of year.
So since I don’t have any purchases from Sturbridge to show you, would you like to see the wonderful hostess gifts Jill brought for me? Even though I keep telling her it isn’t necessary, Jill always shows up with something special for me. She tells me it is because I do all the driving and feed her so well. I keep telling her that I am happy to do that for my friends! So first there was this soft wool pumpkin – it’s perfect here….
and this sweet butter mold for my collection…
and the piece de resistance…. a wonderful early coat rack.
Jill said she was “whipping one up for herself” so she decided to “whip one up” for me too! Isn’t she amazing? The deal is when she makes something, she does the woodworking and I do the painting and finishing. Pretty good huh? I used a black base coat. Then I used crackle medium in a few spots. Then I top coated it with Benjamin Moore’s Valley Forge Brown. Then used my heat gun to bubble it in a few places. Then some sanding to expose both the black paint and bare wood and pop the bubbles and a coat of stain and a sealer and it viola!! I have to give credit to my friend Mary over at Gettysburg Homestead for reminding me about using heat to bubble the paint. Check out her post all about the technique HERE. And check out her wonderful prim home while you are there!
And because I know Jill didn’t have many fall decorations, I made her a little wool pillow with a Candy Corn design like this,
and gave her some seasonal goodies too. And then when she oohed and aahed over a pumpkin pillow I made myself last year,
I “whipped up” the TOP of one for her but with a black background. She likes to sew more than I do so now we have a system with those as well. I will make her pillow tops and she will take out her machine and sew it together. Pretty good huh?
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Over at the forum on APP we had a little sale of handmade goodies that other members made and I was thrilled to snag this wonderful sampler by my sweet prim friend Tara. It’s perfect in our entryway! You HAVE to see Tara’s wonderful Salt Box house that she and her hubby built. Click here for some eye candy!
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And I can’t make a post without showing you some of the absolutely precious pictures of our sweet Liliana. Angela decided to have some pictures made at Target 2 weeks ago as a surprise for Jay and she invited me and her mom Lori to join them. The photographer was soooo good with her! She had her smiling and cooing up a storm! But when she clicked the pictures, Lili would be dead serious. It was a hoot. Despite that, she got some wonderful poses. I just melt looking at them!!
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Well that’s it for today folks!! Oh wait, I think I forgot something? Humm.. now what could it be?? OH yes, it is my Fall Giveaway!! I have been so blessed to have won several giveaways and been the recipient of much good will that I decided to put together a Giveaway for my FAVORITE time of the year! In order to win, you must leave one comment on this post before Sunday, September 20th at 9 PM E.S.T. At that point, I will shut off comments and then I will draw a number on Tuesday September 22nd and I will post the winner that day.
Please do not post this on your blog. And remember, I must have a way to reach you – either through your blog or an email address so please make sure I have that info in your comment. I will cover shipping to anywhere in the US or Canada. If you are International and want to pay upfront for the additional cost of postage should you win, please feel free to enter.
And here are the goodies you will receive….
Three ears of prim Indian corn made from old chenille…
A bittersweet colored pip berry candle ring…
A pumpkin shaped candle and black candle plate…
A homespun towel with a scarecrow appliqué…
One bunch of prim “sunflowers and greens”…
A handmade mini wool pumpkin picture…
And last but not least, a tin maple leaf peg hanger!!
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Phew!! What a long post. Thanks for sticking with me this long. So start leaving your comments and I’ll be back next week with the winners name! Good luck everyone!
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!
Until next time – hugs, Grammy Linda
