Sneak Peek and Some Book Reviews

Here's a little something I've been working on but haven't finished yet.  I just love the 'word' fabric, found it at Hobby Lobby awhile back and just had to have a piece.  Not sure at the time what I would make w/it, but thought it'd be pretty w/the bright green fabric and maybe some rusty orange shades too.  But b/c I'm such a tease(LOL), I will make you wait to find out what it's going to be made into, ha ha.

You have to look really close, maybe even click on the pic for a larger view to see what I'm trying to show you in this next pic.
 I was out walking my dog the other morning, so had to take it from across the street, since there's no sidewalk on the other side of the street and I don't have a zoom lens on my phone camera.
 The people that live in this house 'decorate' w/pumpkins like the scarecrow is 'mooning' you and then they gave him a 'buxom' female by his side to boot!  It always makes me laugh when we drive or walk by.  They've put this pumpkin pair out for several yrs. now, but it wouldn't be fall in our neighborhood w/out them, ha.

And now onto the book reviews ~ I have been given these free of charge from Bethany House/Chosen Books in exchange for an honest review.
'Made to Last', by new author Melissa Tagg, is a cute, light-hearted Christian fiction that has a love 'triangle/rectangle' going on.
The main character ~ Miranda, is almost like a movie star, in that she has her own homebuilding tv show, which began w/a real fiance who ran out on her 3 yrs. before.  The homebuilding part of it really interested me because of my own hubby/son's construction business, but I still found myself learning some new things.
 She pretends to be married for the sake of ratings, then has to come up w/a real guy to play the part, which ended up being quite comical in itself.  That person, Blaze, was just a hoot and I found myself wanting to know about his character, hopefully in a future novel.
 Meanwhile, another guy, Matthew, is a handsome reporter follows her around, digging into her personal life to get a 'story', for his own personal reasons.  As she starts having feelings for him, she still has to 'pretend' she's married and then in pops the original fiance to make things even more interesting!
Overall, I felt it a very cute and endearing story, but it was almost a bit confusing in the beginning w/the story line and characters and there really wasn't much interaction w/the character's relationship to Christ.  Other than that, it was fun read and a great first novel.

"Unforeseeable' by Nancy Mehl, is third in the 'Road to Kingdom' series.  At first I wasn't sure I could get 'into' this book in the beginning. I had forgotten who some of the characters were from the first two books and  I thought it was going to be the same ol', same ol' as the other two, but boy, was I wrong!
The characters developed a little slowly at first, but as I continued to read, I was really drawn to them and their faith in God as the story played out.
The townspeople have another murder to solve and the main character ~ Callie is engaged to the new Pastor of Kingdom Mennonite Church. Levi seems to know some things that he isn't able to share w/her about the murder case, which puts a strain on their relationship.  They learn to lean on one another as the mystery unfolds and learn much about trust and faith.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book till the very end. There were several times when I thought the story line had a much deeper meaning.
 Nancy Mehl knows how to write a good mystery w/great characters and dialogue, but still focuses on the characters' Christian walk w/the Lord, which I find most charming.

This new book, 'A Bride for Keeps' by Melissa Jagears, was not your typical mail-order bride story.  I read it in two nights and didn't want to put it down!  The characters were charming and humorous and the storyline was adorable, w/depth.
 Everett  Cline had been jilted several times by other mail-order brides and vowed to never humiliate himself again, but his good friends go behind his back and order him another one!  Julia Lockwood is more than a pretty face, but most men don't see beyond that.  She is running away from her family back east because of some horrible things that happened to her and finds that a platonic 'marriage' would suit her just fine.
Only trouble is, Everett starts falling in love w/her and it isn't what she wanted, or is it??  He needs more than just a helpmate to run his farm and she agrees to the 'marriage' because she has nowhere else to turn.   She works hard to prove her worth, but keeps him at a distance, not allowing room for real true love to enter in their pretend marriage. She acts one way and he thinks it's for a different reason and vice versa, making for lots of humorous situations throughout.
But in the end Julia finds out that God's love is what proves her worth, not all of her hard work.  A simply adorable read and great story line w/strong Christian characters.

A Pumpkin Mat and Some Goodies to Share

This pumpkin mat has always been one of my very favorite items that I stitched over the yrs.  It was a fun design to work on and I used Pearl Cotton #5 and also Watercolours thread by Caron Collection.  They are a 3-ply thicker type floss, equal to Pearl Cotton in thickness, but have a much more variegated look to them.  It was stitched 'over two' on Anne's Cloth, (nine-square) that comes w/that 'square' already stitched and then you just stitch the design within the square, sort of using it as a guideline.  (Have I confused you yet)??

  It was from a Dutch Treat Design from yrs. ago. (you can click on pic to make it larger so you can see what I'm talking about, if you're not familiar with this fabric).

 I added a little pumpkin holder in the center square.

 I have it on my little drop-leaf table in my craft/sewing room.  Gives the C.R. a little bit of fallishness, is that a word???  It measures about 21 inches square.  I used to sell of lot of this fabric when I owned a cross stitch shop yrs. ago.

 Recently, I received a sweet little box in the mail from Danice of Homespun Hannah.  She made me the cutest rustic can w/my blog name printed on the label and inside was a cinnamon candle (my favorite scent) and some vanilla potpourri, along w/a very sweet note.  I wrote her back, thanking her and telling her that I needed to do more RAK(random acts of kindness), which she replied to that I had already done that w/her earlier this summer!  I had totally forgotten all about it!! how funny!  anyway, thanks again Danice!!

 Last week we had some family come to town from out-of-state that don't get to visit very often, so we had a big family gathering 3 nights in a row, and two of them were at our house. There was enough food to feed an army!!  I tried a new recipe for dessert and everyone LOVED it.  Can you say 'Pistachio Cake'??  Oh my goodness, was it ever moist and had the most wonderful flavor.  I sprinkled pecans(boy are those babies pricey) on top, just like the recipe called for, giving it that 'over-the-top' rating!!  I used Cool Whip instead of Dream Whip or whatever and I tinted it w/green food coloring, which I got all over my hand!! LOL    I found the recipe from 'South Your Mouth' blog.

I also made a few loaves of Pumpkin Bread earlier in the week(forgot to take a pic of them), which I took to our Women's meeting at church, where everyone was supposed to bring a baked good and then we all BID on each other's baked goodies to raise $$$ for missions.  There were 3 long tables end to end, full of baked items and boy, do those ladies know how to bid!!  I think a few hundred dollars were raised that night.

 Also, I've been on the hunt for the perfect homemade PRETZEL (don't ask me why), but just got a hankering for them not too long ago, so tried a couple of recipes in the same week.  Here's how a few of them turned out.  You should have seen me trying to get the 'knot' just right ~ what a hoot!!  Anyway, they tasted pretty doggone close to the kind you find in those pretzel shops at the mall.

I'm always glad you stop by, thanks for your sweet comments!  Enjoy the rest of your week!  It is finally getting a little cooler here and feels a lot more like fall.

I still need to write a few more book reviews, so I'll try to get them in my next post.  Until then, happy fall crafting!!

Announcing the Winner........

LYN is the winner of my Give~Away!!   Congrats to LYN and I already sent her an email.

Stop back soon w/more pics of my fall decor and a few more things to share as well.

Thanks to all who joined in!! 

Tanya

Give~Away Extended

Hi everyone!  just popping on real quick to let you know that I'm extending my GIVE~AWAY till midnight Sun. night, Oct. 6th.  It was supposed to end Fri. Oct. 4th at midnight, but we are having company in from out of state for the next few days and so I thought a little ol' extention would work better for me, PLUS give all of you an extra couple of days!


This is the little candle mat I made and you can read all about the details on how to enter on my previous post.  I'm sure I'll find a little something extra to throw in the package to go along w/it.
Any follower of my blog can enter!

I will post the winner on Mon. Oct. 7th and will get in touch w/whoever wins.

Thanks again and good luck!!