Dahlias and Gourds

Before I say anything at all, I must thank you!  Wow!  You have truly spoiled me with all of your sweet comments!  I am terribly sorry that I have not been able to respond to them all.  I am way behind, but please know that it is always a treat to read each one!  You are very much appreciated!  Thank-you!

My aunt and uncle's garden was abundant with gourds this season so they gave me a few!  I was so excited to get them as I didn't grow any this year.  I only had enough room for pumpkins in the garden, because the vines can overtake each other and they can cross pollinate.  I think next year I will try gourds instead, who knows maybe every other year.  

I piled them in an antique French soupiere.  I collect these French soupieres and I love their simple white lines.  I am currently looking for a tall primitive hutch to display them.

I plant dahlias in my garden every spring and I love how they make a showy appearance in the fall.  I picked a couple of the bright red blooms for my table.  And just in time too as we have had several hard frosts the last couple nights.  They are delicate and didn't survive the frost.  They look so sad and black now in my garden.  I will soon dig up the bulbs to store for the winter until next spring.

My growing season is officially over but at least I can enjoy these blooms for the next couple days!

In my last post, I showed you my table centerpiece of bittersweet and ironstone milk pitchers stuffed in an old apple basket.  When these dahlias fade, I will move the basket back to my table.  That is one thing that makes bittersweet so grand, it lasts a while!

Thank-you for the gourds, Uncle Duane and Aunt Ellie!  Also a gigantic thank-you to Lucy of Craftberry Bush for featuring my fall decor on her lovely blog...

and Kristin of My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia...





AND  Jennifer at Social Salutations!





Thank-you, THANK-YOU, ladies!  You made my week!  I will be back soon to highlight two of my favorite gals and more touches of fall around our house!  See you soon!



Have a wonderful weekend,




Maria ~Rusty Hinge




I'm joining these parties:

A Splash of Fall Inside and Cottage of the Month!

Today, I want to share a few splashes of fall I added indoors this week!  I love seasonal decorating and fall is no exception!  Pumpkins, gourds and bittersweet vine galore ..does it get any better?  

An old wooden apple basket corrals vintage ironstone creamers that have been stuffed with bittersweet vine.  It sits as a centerpiece on our kitchen table.

 I love using bittersweet vine here and there throughout our home in the fall.  It adds a natural touch to the decor!

This old apple picking and hayrides sign was found online.  It hangs in our entry room. 

  

Karl fashioned together this bench out of old barn beams from a knocked down barn on the farm I grew up on.  He presented it to me as a birthday present the first year of our marriage.  It is very special to me.

Even one of my dress forms gets a bittersweet necklace!

On another note, I am oh so VERY excited to be featured as the October Cottage of the Month on Jennifer's blog, The Old Painted Cottage!  You can see these fall photos and take the complete tour of our home if you head over to her Cottage of the Month page.  While you are over there, feel free to check out her blog or some of the other COTM features!  But be warned, once you enter the archives, you won't be leaving anytime soon!  They are filled with so many gorgeous homes with heaps of inspiration, so settle in and enjoy!   

Thanks so much, Jennifer!  You made my day!  Thank-you to all of my new facebook and blog followers as well.  All of you are so appreciated and I just love hearing from you!   

I hope you all have a wonderful fall!




Maria ~Rusty Hinge





I'm joining these parties:



Finding Fall with Folk

One Last Hurrah and a Winner!

Fall is definitely in the air.  We had a storm blow in Wednesday night that brought the cold with it.  I awoke to a chilly, rainy morning.  Yup, it was one of those mornings, the kind where you want to stay snuggled under blankets all day with a hot cup of coffee and a good book.  

Strong winds and rain snapped off some of my large hydrangea blooms in the garden.  So I gathered them up in a French enamelware pitcher.  The pitcher sits on one of Maria's French bistro chairs.  They are one of my favorite things.  I also added them around our kitchen farmhouse table.

There are rumors of frost this week so I want to give one last hurrah to the garden and share a few photos with you.  Four hanging baskets on hand-forged iron hooks decorate the front of our deck.  We added the deck last summer.  If you missed the post, you can catch it  *Here*.  We hope to stain it white yet this fall.   

Sweet Autumn Clematis is in full bloom now!  I love it's delicious fragrance, it's like perfume in the air!  

Thank-you for sharing all of your fall decorating ideas!  They all sound wonderful and I wish I could see them displayed in your homes.  I haven't yet begun to decorate for fall, but with these cooler temperatures and all of your inspiration, I am getting the itch.  You can bet that by my next post, there might be a pumpkin here and some bittersweet vine there!  

So now without further ado, the winner of the print copy of Homebound is Becky J!  She stated that she likes to decorate for fall with layers...layers of color and texture such as burlap, rusts, barn reds and browns; layers of scents such as pumpkin {her FAVORITE}, vanilla and cinnamon;  and layers of fall itself such as acorns, colored leaves and twigs...what splendor we are blessed with in autumn!  Becky, it sounds wonderful!  Please inbox me your information so we can get your copy of Homebound sent right out to you!  My email is mgmarcusse@gmail.com.  

Thank-you to all my new and old followers!  You guys are the best!



Have a wonderful weekend,



Maria ~Rusty Hinge