Somebody..........stop me!

That's it.  I have a lot of work to do and contractors to line up and I'm screwing around with the computer.    I haven't even opened the box of my new one yet.  I'm done playing for a while, at least until I make some progress on Lucy or the house.  Better both!  I'm putting all the paint and boxes away.  There's one set left and if it doesn't sell I will change the labels!  There may be another one also - if I don't hear anything by Wednesday, it will list again.

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Many of you emailed about the bat and I want to thank you for your concern, and post the outcome of the sad situation.  

  Unfortunately, he died by the time Mark got home.  He checked his nose and didn't see any white at all so I don't know what sent him out of hibernation.  He was the smallest we ever saw, only about 2 inches.  I wonder how many others in his colony are gone.   I wish they could hit on a remedy for this disease or the cause to prevent the decimation of a creature so necessary to the environment.

Hopefully I will have time tonight to check out all the blogs I'm missing.  My list has become so long that I can't even visit them all at one sitting!  Some iced tea, my bottle of Advil, and seeing how much others are accomplishing while I screw around with boxes, is on my agenda tonight.  Hope you've had a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

Thank you Faye!

Hi everyone.  Santa is coming along and I'm going through charts for another project.  I should concentrate on Lucy for a while before starting anything else and just may do that. 

 I mentioned that I was the lucky recipient of Faye's generosity.  And what a perfect win for me - I had this fabric and tried making a large sewing bag, burned it, but saved from the flames were the two strawberries that matched.  So I now have my bag in that fabric along with the berries!!  Thank you again Faye!  I'm thrilled!

Just a few other things. 

I went to my local antique store and purchased this bench with dried paint drips!  I can easily make these but even though I have a new and wonderful saw, I don't.  So I bought it instead.  A lot easier!  Not an antique, just beat up, and that's OK with me.  It will look great outside with pots on it this summer.

That made me happy, until I got home.  When backing into the garage I noticed a dark object on the front siding and thought it was a huge moth.  I went to check it out and found that it was a tiny bat, clinging to the siding upside down and not moving.  So I grabbed a box, gloves, and used a container to gently remove him from the siding, and emptied that into the box.  He was motionless and I'm sure very ill.  When he slid into the box he made a little squeak.  This stuff tears me up.  I can't stand for anything to suffer and I know most of you want nothing to do with saving a bat, but it's a creature and that's all that matters to me.  I believe we are judged by how we treat His creatures.  All of them.  I should have extra points for that *#%! woodpecker.  I called Mark to tell him and he said it probably has that white nose disease that is killing off the bat population.  A travesty to the ecosystem and nature.  They are awakened from hibernation and try to look for food.  It is too cold for them and they eventually die a slow death.  He's in his box in the garage and I have never been able to put an animal out of its misery, so I have to wait for Mark to come home.  He's not happy with me, but I took precautions and there was no way I could have been bitten, and I was afraid the brat cats would see him and start torturing him like they recently did to a poor chipmunk.  But he will have to end his suffering.

Moving on - my kitchen.  I obviously misled everyone about my cabinet painting.  They were painted a few years ago and the kitchen was never completely finished.  Now I will be picking another color and rearranging the cabinets and layout.  The stove area will be a different color and further out than the base cabinets, and the fridge will be behind a cabinet made to look like a cupboard, also a different color.  My husband is an oak lover and it was a process of gathering photos to show and kitchen showrooms that finally convinced him.  Now he agrees totally and sees that the darkness and especially the grain, cluttered the look in a small kitchen.  Much neater, cleaner, crisp, and soothing now.  Oak is a beautiful wood and unpainted kitchens are best sellers, but not for me. I wanted to show the difference painting made and how it saved me from considering $$$$$$ for a new kitchen.   Most older cabinets are worth the effort.   I'll leave you with a few more photos, the first is Bryce Ritter's. 

Last night we ate the final dozen of my sweet cottage cheese pierogis from the freezer.  No one around here carries dry cottage cheese anymore so I haven't made them and probably won't ever again.  I may try using the regular cottage cheese recipe as in the cheese blintzes but it won't be the same at all.  I finally found a fabulous dough recipe that includes sour cream and the pierogis were so much easier to wrap and pinch with it.   Beautiful satin dough!   Oh well.  I guess the sweet cheese crepes/blintzes will have to do. 

Mark will be home soon and I'm getting nervous about what will happen so I will close.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.  Thank you for visiting!

Paint transformation

Hello to all.  Between the boxes and my fumbling with needles because of my tingling arms, I haven't done much stitching. 

The BOAF Black Santa that I'm working on has been started over on another piece of linen.  That creep's head was a constant pain.  I have no idea what my problem was but there was error after error, even though I double checked my stitches, which threw everything else off.  It's just a freaking round face - what the heck was the problem???  So I grabbed another piece of linen and started over.  This time I made another face error but I just made the other cheek the same and it's good enough!  I decided to do all the buttons and extras so I can just speed along with the black coat.  I know.  Not a good idea.  

 And I finally snagged this chart - The Plantation Sampler!  It's one of the many that I sold years ago for 99¢, along with Hannah Lancaster and all of her friends.  I love it but just couldn't get past the pink flowers.  Easily remedied.  I'm changing them to a dark shade, something like 632 with the lighter parts a dusty shade of rust.  You can see Tanya's magnificent finish here.  I kept missing it on EBay and finally called The Attic in AZ and they came through for me once again!  It's mine!!   I will be listing And They Sinned along with Mary Slatter on EBay soon.  I know I will never do them - of course I said that about all the others I regret selling - but this time I'm sure - like I was then - when I was younger and knew it all - but I didn't realize how much more I would know as I aged grew older obtained my honorary degree as hormonal weisenheimer.

On to the paint.  A few shots of the little kitchen, but first the difference paint can make.  This is the original oak cabinet and the same cabinet with filler and paint.  I use Benjamin Moore's oil base because it is the best for self-leveling.  I had too much trouble with brush and roller strokes with acrylic.  These same cabinets were used throughout the bathrooms and here is one unfinished - and one painted.

I also like to finish off the bottoms.  Instead of the standard recessed toe kick, we cut 3/4" boards for a leg effect, attached to the outside of the cabinet, and added quarter round moulding to the top of the board for a finished appearance.  I plan on doing this to the kitchen cabinets once there are in place.  It's a small kitchen open to the family room with two walls having door openings so there isn't much I can do with it.   The room beyond used to be our garage but was turned into a little apartment for mom.  The cabinet alcove was for her dishes, coffee, and snacks.  Beyond that was her TV room and the bedroom/bath to the right which will stay as is, but the TV room wall and alcove will come down making the dining area much larger. 

The cooking area is changing.  It will either be floor to ceiling pantry storage, with the door opening and stove switched, or the stove area against the fridge wall, and just the cabinets and countertop moved up to the other side.  Either way, the door will be moved and the fridge wall will be flush with that opening.  Here's a few pics of kitchens that motivate me.

These two are from David T Smith. 

These are from Sunderland.

This last one is Kennebec.  I have been collecting kitchen and bath photos for several years and it's a good thing I don't have the room for some of these kitchens!  I really prefer the painted finishes and as much closed cabinetry as possible.  Behind most of these doors are refrigerators, ovens and dishwashers.

I'll probably be flooding posts with some of the pictures I've collected as I move along with redecorating.  I would love to list them all on Pinterest but I'm not sure of their origin and really don't understand all this copyright stuff.  How can all these copyrighted photos appear on Pinterest as long as credit is given?  I'm also afraid to go there for fear I will never return. 

I'm done.  I want to thank everyone for purchasing the boxes.  I sure hope you will like them.   I'll be showing off a win from Faye soon.  I can't believe it but I won one of her bags.  YAY!!  Until then, stay safe, be good, and thank you for visiting!!

Box update

Hello everyone.  I received a few emails asking that I not list all the boxes for sale at one time.  Several readers were not able to make a purchase because of obligations.  I have eight box sets shown on the Boxes page for you to view and I have two more unpainted sets that will be duplicates of the listed, or who knows, maybe something different.  My arms are really giving me problems and I need to stop for a day or two so if you are interested in a set, I will open comments allowing purchases for #1 through #5 on Monday night at 8pm, and #6 through #10 on Wednesday night at 8pm.  Hopefully, I will have the other two completed by then, and maybe a few 4" round A&E since you all seem to prefer the duo.  I need to suck down a bottle of Advil while bending from the waist to hang my heavy (full of knowledge) head.  Some times this helps relieve the compression.  So I will open the Box page for purchases tomorrow night, and then add the other boxes on Wednesday.  I don't think there will be a problem if some of you want a set - I doubt if they will all sell that quickly!!!  Have a great evening.

Thanks for visiting.

Just some stuff

Greetings!  If you are living close to the tornado and storm areas, I hope you and yours are all safe.   The May 31, 1985 F5's that went through several states, swept right down the road from us and took our best friend.  A surreal scene when going through the destroyed areas.  So whenever I hear of these, my heart goes out to the residents.

I've been working on boxes and will hopefully have seven sets for sale this Sunday evening.  Most of my time has been taken up with redesigning the kitchen.  I'm finally getting around to redecorating and will bore you with photos and details of progress.  This time, we will not be DIYers.   I also hired a young man (a gorgeous young man whose family adopted the dog I rescued) to make the cupboards and furniture pieces that I should be making myself.  I will eventually, but for now, this recent trade school graduate (carpentry) will make some extra cash.

I wanted to show you these baskets I got at Pat Catan's during their 50% sale.  I love the size and will find samplers to fit.  They hang nicely on doors or doorknobs and are really a good size  Ready....$5.00!!!  $4 for the smaller one.  So I bought several.  I plan on brushing them with paint and aging them a bit.  But a bargain, no???

 

I also wanted to show you this grapevine tree.  I've seen them in shops this size for several hundred dollars.  Are you kidding me?  So if you would like one, here's how to do it cheap.  Decide the height you would like your tree, and purchase two heavy gauge tomato cages that size.  Stack them on top of each other, wire the loose ends to a point.   You can wire cross members of scrap wood on the inside but I don't.  I put a few rocks on the bottom of the cage to secure and then started wrapping the vines.  You'll need a lot!!  I used fresh and stripped the leaves as I was wrapping.  You can use them in the fall after the leaves drop too.  Secure with wire where you think you need to as you move up or down the cage.  I don't think it matters where you start.  I've made small ones, and this is the largest.  You will need to put felt or tape on the bottom so it doesn't scratch the floor, or set it on a rug.  I added the lights, but it's not necessary.  This was made for my front porch and it may make it out there this summer.

Oh, one other thing.  Here's my new ort bag.

There's no room for threads.  I really need to stop this chocolate addiction.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Hopefully, I'll have the time to catch up on your blogs tomorrow.

Thank you very much for taking the time to visit.  I'll be back Sunday evening. 

  

Until then, here's the herd enjoying the nice weather.

Sweet little Thread Catcher

Hiya!  I've been seeing these little quick stitch bags on several blogs and decided to make a few.  Here's mine.

Of course, mine is the version for those of us with the least patience,

too lazy to thread the machine with matching thread,

 and carrying a bottle of Liquid Stitch.

That's right. I glued it. 

And of course I had to use a lightweight fusible interfacing.  I'm really hooked on it.

 The tutorial can be found here and here. 
When I got to the part of topstitching the edges and sewing the sides, I realized my sage green thread was somewhere it shouldn't be. 

So I glued the area left open for turning with a tiny line of Liquid Stitch directly on the edge, and proceeded to glue the sides to form the shape.  The lazy lady's ort bag. 

On the green one, I used a tiny dab of glue at the base of the flaps so I could stick my seam ripper and tweezers in the roll.  I may add another drop of glue to make the flap's opening a little tighter for the tweezers.  I can never find them when I need them so this will work well for me. 

On the other, I used safety pins and would like to hang a few charms from them, when and if I find the tiny box they chose to hide in. These flaps aren't glued and the more I look at it, I think buttons would be nicer on them.

Quick and cute little project.

 If anyone is interested in Prairie Schooler Santa or Christmas charts, there is a nice lot coming up on Ebay here.

That's it.  Just wanted to show this project in case you haven't seen it.

Hope you're all having a good week - talk to you soon - thank you for reading!!!