Tuesday, November 1, 2016

A GHOST, SOME PUMPKINS AND A REALLY GOOD BOOK...










The Cottage Witch
 would like to thank you all 
for your kind comments and sweet visits
 during this past month.

  She has just simply
faded away for the time being but,
 if all is right with the world, 
she will return next year. 

 In the meantime, 
I hope you all enjoyed a Happy Halloween
 and I will leave you with 
a picture of Kai 
being a bit perturbed
 because the trick-or-treaters 
ate all the candy...






...and some warnings thoughts 
of what not to say 
when giving out candy:


It's not a sword, it's a light saber.
I'm not a bride, I'm an angel.
I'm not Snow White, I am Red Riding Hood.
 And on and on and on..

As the Cottage Witch 
you would think 
I would know 
these things!!  



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





I've never told you this before
 but there is a ghost
 at the Cottage.

 Not literally,
 I don't think, 
but the spirit of one 
who lived here long ago. 

 Her name was Elizabeth Garland
 but we, fondly, call her
Miss Lizzie.






She was the second daughter
 of the Garland family
 who resided in our Cottage
 from 1910 until her death in 1975.

 Even though 
there were some inhabitants
 before, and some after, 
including ourselves, 
the Cottage is forever known in town 
as the
 Garland House.






Miss Lizzie was a school teacher. 
 Above,
 she and her students, 
are pictured in a class photo 
taken around 1920?

 I know the date
was written on the back of the photograph 
but I scanned the front side only 
into the computer,
 and now I can't remember
 where I put the original! 

 This is the same
 elementary school 
that the Captain and I 
worked at, and then retired from. 
(Click on the photo. It is such fun to see these kids clothing and the expressions on their faces)






The reason we call her a ghost
 is that from the very first time 
we stepped foot in the Cottage
there was a feeling of
graciousness and of well being
within the walls.

 From everything
that we have learned about her 
this described how 
she lived her life.

Whenever,
 we can't find something 
that we are looking for 
and neither one of us 
will take the blame 
for misplacing it,
 we just say that 
Miss Lizzie 
must have been here.

Miss Lizzie never married 
and she retired from teaching 
in the late 1950's.

 A newspaper article 
at the time of her retirement stated,
 "Teaching 
'her children' 
the ABC's 
with a strong mind 
and a good heart".


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






Last week,
 good friend Kim 
posted about a pumpkin 
that she painted on a pillow.

 I have been looking through 
all the catalogs 
at beautiful pillows, 
designed for the holidays, 
and really cringe when 
I see the prices.

 When Kim 
talked so caringly about
how we all have an artist
 buried deep within us, 
I thought maybe 
I would try and bring mine 
to the forefront 
and come up with 
a version of my own.






Well,
 that didn't turn out too badly
 and cost nothing 
as I already had all the supplies needed 
so thought I'd take it 
one step further 
and do some 
sweater pumpkins...








...I had 
the lighter colored sweaters 
for years 
and a fast trip to the thrift store
 turned up the orange one.

  I had saved stems
 from last year's pumpkins.

  Good thing 
I only saved four 
or I would have sweater pumpkins
 coming out of my ears, 
they were that fun
 and that easy to make.











I even attempted
a free hand drawing 
of a pumpkin 
on my little blackboard..
Now I think 
I'm ready to tackle 
Christmas designs. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~







I pre-ordered
 Chip and Joanna's book
way last summer 
and finally received it last week.

 The Captain and I
 are both great fans of
 the Fixer Upper shows 
but especially of 
Chip and Joanna Gaines themselves.

 They have such strong
 family values
and seem like such 
fun-loving and honest people
 and after reading the book,
 I can honestly say 
that is how they appear 
in real life
 also.

  We both sat down
 and I read aloud 
and it was such a good read 
and was over way too quickly.

  They are certainly living 
the 'American Dream', now, 
but have put a lot of hard work 
into their life
 to make it possible. 

 They have had a lot of support 
throughout their journey 
but in the end
 it is because of 
their strong work ethics and 
Chip's sometimes devil-may-care attitude,
 along with Joanna's decorating skills, 
that has made them 
so successful.

We both hated 
for the book to end 
and now eagerly await
 the November 29th 
new season opener of 
the Fixer Upper
 on HGTV.


...Judy...






A cute, little wildflower seed card 
enclosed in 
"The Magnolia Story"
 book.


Sharing today at:






































20 comments:

  1. THAT Miss Lizzie is a lot better than Lizzie Borden! lol
    We believe there was a spirit in the last house my daughter lived in-many very odd things happened...nothing evil...just a sweet presence....a child we think.

    Love your sweater pumpkins and your painted pillow. You did a great job.

    Chip and Joanna are such good role models, aren't they? Their story is quite amazing about how they stepped back and let go and let God guide their lives. That took a lot of faith and trust.

    Happy November 1st. xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
  2. Judy, what a wonderful post about Miss Lizzie. Very interesting facts and the photo. Your house has a lot of history. Love your pumpkin pillow and those sweater pumpkins are so pretty. What great projects. Thank you for sharing at DI&DI.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Judy, I love that Fixer Upper show too. I like your cute crafting things you have made. Poor Kai...looks kind of sad..he must have wanted one of those tootsie rolls for himself. :):) Blessings, xoxo, Susie

    ReplyDelete
  4. How fun to know the history of your home, Judy! I wonder if Miss Lizzie and Kai play trick on you and the Captain?? How fun that you have been testing your creative hand, looks like it's been a Wonderful and productive adventure! Have fun creating more delights! Love Chip and JoAnna, wish I had a good book, jury duty tomorrow! Blessings, Cindy xo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Judy...you sure have been busy making wonderful things! I love Kai's little disappointed face. I looked at the close up photo of the school kids and Miss Lizzie. I think she's related to Margaret Hamilton or Jay Leno- what do you think? Like Diana said, I'm happy that she's not the Lizzie Borden type! LOL Maybe Kai will find the stash of missing things. I'm sure he sees what she's doing. Although maybe not telling because he's mad about the candy thing. ;)
    I haven't read Chip and Jo's book yet, but I do love them and their show. I'm thinking about heading up to Waco when it cools off around here. You wanna hitch a ride?
    xo, T.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Judy, Kai is so sweet and those eyes say it all.
    Love this post and seeing the vintage photo from the 20's. The kids don't look too happy do they? Not many smiles going around. haha
    Your pumpkin pillow turned out fabulous. Love it and what a special addition to your home using what you had on hand. I know it's fun. I've painted on fabric for years and love it. Your sweater pumpkins are adorable too. Really fun aren't they. The thrift shops are a great source for finding sweaters to cut up.
    I want to read the Magnolia Story too. We visited Magnolia Market in Waco and hope to drive back during the Christmas season. My hubby and I love the show too and looking forward to the 29th when the new season begins.
    Have a wonderful rest of the week. xo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, I love a good ghost story!!! My house was built in 1859 and I hope we have some happy spirits around here too! I've tried to research the man who built our house, but uno every little.....
    Cute pup! ;)
    Rebeca

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Rebeca. We love our Miss Lizzie, although she does get up to misplacing lots of things around here! I have more stories that I have researched about the Garland Family, but they are hiding along with the original pic of Miss Lizzie's class. OH, maybe she doesn't want her family history spread around!!..Happy Wednesday..Judy

      Delete
  8. Wonderful and fun post Judy! I loved it. Love your pillows and the painted one is awesome. I haven't tried painting on fabric, though years and years ago I did make a little pillow for my mom and think I used sharpie pens or something! There are so many fun things to make..... and your sweater pumpkins are darling! You have inspired me to get out my plaid flannels that I bought YEARS ago to make some pumpkins... and never did make them. One of these days........... I'm glad your house ghost is a happy one and that your sweet little home is a happy and well loved place with a good positive history. I lived in a Victorian house up in Waitsburg, WA years ago. It was 100 yrs old at the time. My son swore there was a ghost living there also.. that he could see it now and then. He was very sensitive to those things, but I think the ghost was friendly as it didn't seem to scare my then 8 year old son! Take care....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marilyn, I love to hear stories about seeing or knowing ghosts are present. Sometimes I think the dog, looking off into space, means that he IS seeing something that we don't. There are alot of ghost stories up in this area where the gold miners lived so long ago..Happy Wednesday..Judy

      Delete
  9. How fun Judy about your sweet ghost Miss Lizzie. Little Kai's face is too adorable. I had that same look when the last kitkat bar was gone out of the bowl of candy!!!! I love Chip and Joanna too and loved their story. So inspiring and uplifting. Have a great rest of your week.
    Hugs,
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  10. What an interesting post!

    I love your pillow and your sweater pumpkins. You most definitely are an artist. Keep creating and have fun.

    FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am playing a bit of catch up this week, Judy...all the Halloween festivities had me on the ropes! Your pillow is absolutely gorgeous (of course, I had no doubt that it would be!). I am so glad that my post inspired you to try it on your own. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. And now the inspiration will be reciprocal, as I am going to try to make one of your sweater pumpkins! I may have to steal a few stems from my pumpkins to do it, but I think they'll be ok with it! ;)

    We also live in a very old home...built sometime in the 20's. The original owners lived here until the mid 1980's and then the cottage was rented out to a guy with a lot of animals. We heard that there was a monkey living here at one point. Sometimes, when my kids act up, I say that it must be that monkey ghost...although I have no actual proof that he died here, I do know that he was given a bath in our tub. Shudder!! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. You have had a great season. I love all of your decor and picture. It's so cool you still have trick or treaters. They don't trick or treat in the country. Isn't that crazy. Been here 3 years and I can't get 1 trick or treater. Now we do it all at church. Trunk or Treat.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh great post Judy. Poor Kai, he wanted some candy, but that is so bad for dogs.
    For some reason your not on my list of bloggers. Will have to go back and put you in again.

    Have a wonderful weekend. The history about your home is very interesting. Love Chip and Joanna.

    Your pillow is beautiful and so are your pumpkins. Looking forward to seeing your Christmas pillows.

    Hugs,
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  14. Judy,
    Loved this post!! So many pretty things!! Thanks so much for visiting!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a lovely post.. I read top to bottom.. I've always a dream of living in a cottage.. I try to decorate my home in cottage style, but yet to fulfill my dream..

    Please visit: http://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. You are so sweet.. Loads of thanks and love for your lovely comment.. I'm following you.. will you follow me back...

    ReplyDelete
  17. It is nice to have a friendly ghost about.

    Your pillow painting is wonderful - such talent. And the sweater pumpkins are just darling - you always fill your house and our hearts with the very best things.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Judy, what a cute story about Lizzie and the ghost. Your cottage is so incredibly charming and cozy who would want to leave it? I really enjoyed your Cottage Witch posts. Kai looks so cute!
    Have a great weekend,
    Gina

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are so special to me...Judy