Red, White and Blue

Hope you all had a super-fun fourth!

I intended to get this post out yesterday, but my camera and computer must have had a tiff because I couldn't get them to communicate with one another.  By the time I got the computer to be nice and talk to the camera to allow the pics to be uploaded, it was time to race out of the house for some July 4th festivities.  

Oh, I guess I could have planned a few days in advance, and had the post prepared to launch on the 4th, but it's been pretty hectic around here lately.  Son No. 1's college roommate flew up from North Carolina for a visit for a couple days.  Son No. 3 was in golf camp for most of last week.  For me, work got in the way . . . darn work!  So, as in pretty consistent CosmoGirl fashion, I'm a day late.  

Better late than never, right?!

I thought it would be fun to share just a few of the patriotic-inspired touches I have around the house.  I also threw in a few summery, beachy vignettes.  I'll let the red, white and blue fly a few more days, then I'll change a lot of it out for more summer-inspired accents.

Every year I tell myself I'm going to make a few more quilts like the one above.  It's a placemat-size table quilt.  How cute would the kitchen table be with a little quilted flag at each seat?

To show our patriotic spirit, I gathered all sorts of items from around the house that donned our flags colors, and used them here and there around the house.

Small accent pillows from Son No. 1's bedroom and Son No. 3's crib quilt I made more than a dozen years ago on a side chair in the kitchen.  It was nice having that quilt out again.  It's been buried under other quilts on a rack where I almost forgot about it. 

The shelf on the hutch, below, gets changed out all the time.  Whether it's seasonal or holiday inspired, I like to change it up a lot.

See Susan Branch's Summer book up there?  I love her books.  I have every one published.  I love her artwork, recipes and especially the personal stories she shares in all her books.  

Dishtowels in red, white and blue . . . 

Check out those cute solar lights stuck in the planter down there.  

Walmart ~ $1.50 a piece.  

I think they may have to stay out all summer!

Especially since the flowers in that pot aren't doing so well.  Maybe I should think of making plant change there.

The kitchen table centerpiece has been changed out to something a little more summer than patriotic.  

Small terra cotta flower pots painted and adorned with jute and sea shells hot glued to the pot.  Add a little sand and some votives.  Super easy and cute. (hummm . . . Think I need to add something more to that tray ~ more starfish, seashells . . . It looks little sparse in the photo.)

On a personal blogging note, I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for your readership.  I've reached 100 followers, and I'm so humbled by that.  With all the absolutely fabulous and wonderful blogs out there, I am so very humbled to know that even just a handful of people visit my teeny tiny corner of blogland.  

I do appreciate your readership, and if you have a blog, I appreciate you sharing yourselves.  Lately, I haven't had a lot of extra time to visit all my favorites as frequently as I'd like, and many times when I have visited, I just haven't had time to comment on all the wonderful things you post.  I'm hoping when things settle down a bit around here, I'll have more time to really visit with all my blogging friends ~ old and new :o)

Thanks for visiting!

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