HAPPY FALL and Christmas Eye Candy!

My Giveaway is officially closed! I am shutting off comments for that post. Thank you to everyone that entered.

It is also officially Fall in New England!

WOOHOO! Mother nature gave us the most perfect weekend ever to usher it in. Sunny, not too warm, the bluest sky ever, a light breeze, crisp cool nights. A true blessing!!

~~~Edited Monday morning – well my old counter said fall started last night but upon doing research I find it doesn’t start until tomorrow! LOL I added a different counter! It sure was fun celebrating fall early! ~~~

Mr. Red Door and I took some time out today and went for a long drive in the country. An adventure as we call them now. We have had our GPS system for about 5 years now and we love to go off the beaten track since there is no fear of getting lost. I just touch the picture of the house and it routes us home. like to choose LEAST use of highways. Mr. Red Door likes to choose MOST use of highways so we take turns. Today we headed north towards NH – which is less than an hour away even when staying off the highway (yup – I won today!)

Wherever there was water, we saw the early swamp maples turning and even some just by the side of the road. I opened the sun roof and stuck the camera out and got several great shots!

The best part is that it is only going to get better and better over the next month or so. Did I ever tell you how much I love Fall in New England??

I had my NH Country Register in the car just in case, and after we were driving for awhile, I realized that we were near The Pickering Farm Quilt Shop so I plugged in 19 Fitzwilliam Rd. Richmond, NH 03470 and we found our way through the quaint and picturesque town of Fitzwilliam to Richmond. The shop is in an old home – this is from their website:

Pickering Farm was built in the 1790's in Richmond, NH by
Timothy Pickering who was known as Squire Pickering. He was a
house wright and along with other homes in the town built the brick
church that abuts the property. The property passed out of the
family upon his death and had many owners over the years. Some of
the home business that have graced the homestead are Blacksmith,
Cobbler, Farmer, Antique Store, Real Estate Office, as well as the
towns first Post Office. The home is listed in the Historic Homes of
Cheshire County.

Click here for some pictures of the shop inside and out because my battery was dead by then. But I have to tell you, they do not do this shop justice!! It is so cute – gorgeous fabrics, wool, notions, books, patterns and prims too! I found myself two pieces of wool and some fabric to use as pillow backs. I am sure a quilter could do some real damage in there.

After we left the shop, we headed back through more picturesque towns stopping for some apples, and made our way to my folks house to spend some time with them and my brother Allan, his wife Cindy, their grand daughter Gracie as well as my niece Erica, her boyfriend Carlos, and her 2 children, Julius and Averie. They don’t live close by so we don’t see them often enough. It was wonderful to spend a little time with them, and just a great afternoon to be outside.

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Now I know we are just starting fall so Christmas is not for 3 more months, and I love fall SO MUCH that I certainly am not rushing it, but would you like to see some Christmas eye candy?? Of course you do!!

Anyone who reads Country Sampler will recognize this GORGEOUS home from the fall issue. Linda Harris and I have chatted and she was so very kind to send me some CD’s with additional pictures of her home and she very generously gave me permission to share the best ones with you all. She wanted to make sure I knew that she is not a professional photographer. I think you will agree with me that it doesn’t matter. Her home is so pretty and with the red woodwork, it is so well suited for Christmas. When you see these keep in mind that their home was in a Holiday Home Tour and it snowed that day so you can enjoy some exterior pictures before and after the snow. ENJOY!!

You can close your mouth now!! Isn’t it just gorgeous??!!

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Liliana loves bittersweet too! How do I know?? Well this little angle spent time with me here on Saturday. After her belly got full, she was talking up a storm. At one point I had her in her little seat, and the seat was on the kitchen table right under my chandelier which is wound with bittersweet. I bumped it and it started spinning and she saw that and she started chatting away at it. I would spin the light and she’d start up again. It was so precious! For those that are interested, you can click HERE to get to 2 videos I took with my little Sony Cyber shot digital camera. Just ignore my silly voice chatting in the second one! Now you know why my battery went dead today. When Lili is around, I keep it close by!

And yes I know bittersweet is poisonous and you can be very sure there won’t be any around where she can get at it next fall.

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I got several requests for more information about the soy candles my friend Karen makes. (Some of you know her as PrimKarlee). I asked Karen if she was going to make more candles and she is happy to for for a limited time. The scent I use is Amish Harvest and it is a clean soft spicy scent that is like someone backed spice cake or cinnamon rolls. She has other scents as well. For a complete list and details about shipping costs etc, you can email her directly at

karlee0930@yahoo.com

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That’s all folks for this first day of fall (woohoo!!) Sunday. I’ll be back Tuesday with the winner of my Fall Giveaway. I will be using a random number generator to pick the winner.

I hope that you are enjoying fall in some small way in your neck of the woods. And thank you as always for making a stop over here during your busy day.

I am off to make a cup of my favorite decaf spice chai tea. YUMMO!

Until next time – hugs, Linda