The Abandoned Cabin

I have an overwhelming urge to rescue things and bring them back to life.

 I am sure that is part of the reason why I am forever rescuing furniture and other junk.

 This is an abandoned cabin in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
I was smitten with its quaint charm.

My brother's family has been renting the log cabin next door for a week or two each summer.   

My brother Dave loves old junk and he has been telling me about this cabin for over a decade.

I was excited to finally see it for myself.

I visualized a log cabin not a quaint red and white cottage. 

I was amazed to see the vibrant red paint.

The paint looks fairly new not decades old. 
From a distance it looks like someone just left it at the end of last season. 

But on closer examination you can begin to see the decay.

The front porch is gone and some of the windows are boarded up.

The front and back doors just stand open to the elements and the animals.
I could see a little antique washstand inside the back porch. 
It still had the traces of green paint but
we could see that animals had taken up residence in the drawers.

I heard from my sister in law that the 

family left one year and never returned. 
I guess the owners became too elderly to vacation in Colorado.

 The taxes are paid every year but the heirs haven't been to visit the home nor have they made plans to sell it.

I peaked inside but didn't want to go in. 
The floors looked rickety and there were mouse droppings everywhere 
but
the living room looked like a 50's or 60's time capsule.

 The cabin is buried under the snow in the winter.

 In the summer it is surrounded by breathtaking views. 

I can visualize what this cottage could be 

but it will probably fall down or will be torn down at some point. 
I think the rodents have made it inhabitable.

It is sad that something so cute is just wasting away.
Some day Bill and I hope to fix up a cottage or a cabin. 
  The cottage of my dreams is 
 a cross between my grandparent's lake cottage and a farmhouse.
I hope for a cute white house with a tin roof. 
Bill wants a log cabin with a green tin roof. 
Who knows if either dream will ever come to be
but, 
I wouldn't turn away from a red cottage with white trim deep in the woods. 
What do you think?
Do you feel a pull to rescue a forgotten home?
 Katie  
                            My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia                             
Between Naps on the Porch 
Savvy Southern Style  
French Country Cottage

Easy Ruffles For a Table Runner

Ruffles are back.
They were such a big thing in the 80's and early 90's that I didn't think that I would ever incorporate them into my decorating again.
I got very tired of making ruffles because they were on everything!  
I like them again so I needed to refresh my memory on how to make them the easiest way.
I think they look wonderful along the edges of drop cloth canvas so I put some on a table runner I made for my breakfast room table.

 
 How do you like Frodo's closet?

Read where I have expounded on my love for 
drop cloths-here.

I learned two different ways to make a ruffle.
The hard way and the easy way.
I am going to show you my easy, goof proof way to make a ruffle. I wish I had a ruffle attachment for my sewing machine but I don't so I use a method that I learned from one of my ancient sewing books.
Do you remember when we had to read books and magazines to learn something instead of looking on the internet?



I made my runner 20 inches x the length of the table plus 12 inches. I wanted at least a 6 inch drop on each end. 
I hemmed each length.

I cut 2 pieces of 8 x 40 inch fabric to make two ruffles. 
You want your strips of fabric twice as long as the edge of the width of your runner. It will make a pretty full ruffle. 

 I folded each piece in half and pressed the edge.

  Lay a length of string or twine along the edge.
My string is coated with something that makes it smooth so it glides easily to create the gathers of the ruffle.


Set your machine to the widest zig zag stitch that you have. Mine is K. 

I also set the length of the stitch to the longest setting possible-4.

Make sure you use the appropriate presser foot. Notice that I should use C. 

 
Tie a knot on one end of your string and sew over it with the zig zag stitch, making sure you don't stitch it down. 

 If you accidentally sew the string in place you can clip that stitch. Don't clip the string. 
Hold the knot and gently pull the string and your fabric will start to gather.
If your ruffle looks too full, you can ease the gather a little. 

Sew the ruffle string side up along the finished side of the table runner.
This is what the back side will look like after you have stitched it. 
I sewed several seams with a running stitch to ensure my runner will not fray on the back.
 
I trimmed off any excess ruffle on each end and hemmed. 

I sewed a 5/8th inch topstitch to help hold the raw edge of the ruffle in place. 
Repeat for the other end of the runner. 
A friend of mine said she had seen these in a shop for $60.00. 
You could make 2 with one $6.00 drop cloth.

I've enjoyed it with different table settings since I made it in the fall.

 We've washed it many times and it looks like new.  

I hope I have captured all the details of this project. 

  

Let me know if you give it a try. 

Katie
Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground  
French Country Cottage
The Brambleberry Cottage  
Beyond The Picket Fence  
I Gotta Create 
That DIY Party
                                                                                                                         

Rose Dishes

I've started some Valentine's Day decorating.

Really it is more like un-decorating.

I like most of our rooms to give a subtle nod to the holiday.

Rose dishes are a perfect way to bring in the spirit of Valentine's Day.
I acquired my first floral dish with this little Bavarian sugar bowl from my grandmother. 

I dropped it at some point and it has a hole in the bottom but I love it and I have never found another one quite like it.

It has a delightful, naive charm.

There a couple of types of floral dishes that I love and prefer.

Bavarian (like the little sugar bowl) 

and 

Limoge.

Both of these types of china have a translucent and delicate look.



However,
I won't turn down another type of cute little
plate, pitcher or teacup.



I found the little daisy bread and butter plates at the resale shop.

I gathered more dishes from all the nooks and crannies in this house.

I have sprinkled them around the downstairs.

I love the bit of romance it adds.

  

I got the rose towels from Ikea.

How do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

Katie  
Linking with,
Tuesday's Treasures
Debbie Doos  
Savvy Southern Style  
 The Brambleberry Cottage   
French Country Cottage

Facebook Fan Page

Good Morning!

I hope you will click the "Like me on Facebook" button on my side bar or you can click this here. I will update my status on my Facebook Fan page when I have a new post. I don't always like to promote new blog posts on my personal Facebook page. I want my friends and family to read my blog, but I don't want to bug them on their wall.

Blogging is a weird deal sometimes. I want everyone to join and read and promote but I forget that I am not just writing to cyberspace. I forget that friends, family and co-workers actually read my blog.

It cracks me up when someone mentions something to me that I know I didn't tell them and I realize they must have read it here. I have even thought, "How do you know that?" I have to laugh when I figure it out. My memory is slipping with age. ;)

So why the Facebook fan page? Am I all about self promotion? Not really. That side of this feels a little uncomfortable sometimes. I really like to inspire with my frugal finds and decorating projects. I love to teach and blogging is a way for me to do that. 

Make sense?

So how can you help promote?

"Like" me on Facebook. 

"Pin" to your Pinterest boards. The more I get pinned the more "Let's Add Sprinkles" gets into their pinmarket. (If I understand that correctly.)

You can also hit the red "g+share" button at the top of the blog.   

I am sure I will share "Let's Add Sprinkles" news on Facebook and I will give sneak peaks at what is going on around here. 

Thank you!

Sprinkled with self promotion, (haha)

Katie

Why Drop Cloths?

I made this table cloth in December.
This ruffled tablecloth is made out of drop cloths.

I got questions about it from my sister in law.

I  realized that I have neglected to adequately explain my love for drop cloths on this blog. 

So this is for all the non-bloggers out there that haven't really fallen in love with drop cloths.
(How many times can a person say drop cloths in one post?)

I saw my first package of drop cloths at Lowe's last year.

I was instantly smitten.

It looked like linen. 

It was a lovely oatmeal colored canvas.

It was only $5.98 for a 4x5 length of fabric.

I went back and forth in my head about it.

I couldn't get over that I was about to buy drop cloths to use in home decorating projects.

But I bought one anyway.
The next time I went to Lowe's, I bought two.

Since then I have used these for tablecloths.

Scrunched up table runners.

 Tailored and ruffled table runners.

Pillows

Cushions

Slipcovers and Upholstery

A window valance

Bill used one as a liner for my Easter basket.

Neutral pumpkins

A cover for tender bedding plants.

And my favorite?

A well washed drop cloth makes a perfect cloth to cover up the island when I roll out pie crust.

Oh!

 and now I actually use them as drop cloths for painting.

These are inexpensive and they come in many various  sizes.

They range in color from off white to  
 taupe or gray white.

If you are wild about neutrals, give drop cloths a chance.

Katie 


Linking with,
Funky Junk Interiors  
I Gotta Try That  
French Country Cottage
The Brambleberry Cottage
Savyy Southern Style