Something New From Old

My mom found this bathroom vanity, without sink, 

at a garage sale, in the 2000's.

She assembled the plywood top and used it for...what ever she used it for. Might have been for a microwave in one dwelling.  It moved in with mom, and has stayed in this room since.

Why yes it does have a drawer....full of storybooks, that will change. 

That is all that was in this thing.

Since Christmas, this has been the new occupant, the great big roasting pan [110 power] so we don't have to use the oven [220 power] when we want to roast something large. For hours.

So....that big pan takes up a lot of counter space when in use. I have the crappiest kitchen design, so counter space is limited.  

I asked for a cart for this roasting beast.  I looked at this un-used cupboard, and decided it would do. BUT....it needed wheels. 

Fast forward to last week.  

There, on top of a trash can, sat a broken furniture dolly.  Complete with carpet on 2 ends, and WHEELS on all 4 'corners'.  Dan decided to re-home this poor broken dolly, and Vicky knew exactly what to use it for.

excuse the blurr....dan does not like waiting for the camera to focus

See those wheels???  They are beautiful!!  and to the right you can see the wheels to the heater caddy....yes sir I love those wheelie things. 

Now I have a mobile kitchen island, that can be wheeled back to the sewing room when not needed.

Six, Wallies and Whales

Quilt top #6 is assembled!  It happens to be the top for this guy, who is now a whopping one month.  

Recently, like this last week, Dan suggested I move the sewing room into the dryer room. This used to be the 'playroom'.  We didn't heat this room, so we really didn't use it to hang laundry, nothing would dry. 

[except for July and August]

It's nice being in this bigger room.

the 7 for 7 grandchildren quilt tops are stacked on the left, under the table

the stack of blocks for #7 are on the left side of the machine

Look at all that wall space~!  I didn't put things on the walls in the other room, because Stephanie had painted them, so I just enjoyed her art. 

Guess I will need another foam board, like the one behind the iron board in the next pic.

Dan doesn't want to deal with millions of holes from pins, someday.

the stuff to the right is the laundry...oh and the basket.

I have a new view, of the garden.  

I will miss the other view of the birds in the hedgerow. 

But, there will be birds out there also, and the deer, Jane Doe, was out there as I stitched up the stack of #7's blocks.  

{It was the first stage, 

block 1 to block 2 X a bunch.}

Wallie 1 is cats. In the middle stage of completion 

I am also working on more Wallies, in case the grandgirls need fundraiser items.

We have 3 in Scouts [at the moment] and 1 earning for 5th grade Camp, not to mention any possible PTA doings. So far, 1 troop is brand new, so they are selling chocolates and nuts to earn.  And the 5th graders are selling donuts!

Grandma, she gives cash. OR....maybe these will sell. When they are done. I am hoping to involve the girls in the sales, learn to earn it yourself!

Wallie 2 is the yellow backed one, all kinds of things wondering "which way did they go?" Only basted down.

Wallie 3 is the top, smaller, bright bright one. Only basted too.

I was going through albums, looking for Steph's baby one, and found these pix.

My mom had put them together.  Click to enlarge. These were from the 1987 to 1989 album.  I posted the pix on FB, hoping the Orca Network will be able to ID these. My niece chimed in and said, "I remember going on that trip!"

These are phone pictures of the photos, since we can't take them out of the sticky pages without damaging them. 

I think these are from one of the Southern Resident Orca pods. The salmon eaters. The Transient Orcas usually have pointier dorsal fins. The T's, as they are known here in Puget Sound, are the big game hunters. They eat seals, dolphins, sea lions.  

So now you know, not all Orca's, or Killer Whales, are the same.

Camp Out with Grandparents

Three little girls came from not very far away, to stay at the home of their Grandparents, Vicky and Dan.

They were spending the night!! Of course they had their Mama with them, to join in the fun.  

There was BBQ burgers, homemade fries, forgotten corn-on-the-cob, ice cream and a fun game of I Spy.

And Then.....they got to go sleep in THE trailer!!!

Nor did they disturb the grandparents when they left in the morning.

I hope they had fun!

We were given another table/drawer/thing.  Dan remodeled it and added a funky cardboard type thing to the back for more support. Since THAT side would be facing MY chair, I asked him what he planned to do to it.

"Nothing," said he. "BS," said me. 

So I painted it, after discarding multiple other ideas.

After 2 coats of berry-purple, it still wasn't 'enough,' so I added some watered down metallic paint in 'copper'.  It doesn't really look like much, and it really doesn't show much, but it's shiny from my side.

Found this one morning, under the HB feeder. [humming bird]

The ants WERE all around the edges, like lions around the water hole. They weren't that way after getting my camera. Rats. 

But, I have discovered that the slugs, whose slime trails I have pointed to on the left side, actually remove the sugar stains from the trek decking boards. The 3rd arrow is pointing to a pine needle. Maybe they are actually called fir needles? Fir leaves? Lets face, "real" pine needles aren't found in this area of WA state.

Oh looky there....a Quilt Top!

The 3rd one is assembled, of the 7 for 7 Grandchildren.

This one is for #4. Middle of the above 3.

A Ladder On My Wall

I finally have the ladder on my bedroom wall. This ladder is old. Dan brought it home one day, decades ago. We set it up for the cats to use, to get over the dog fence and into the house. Now it holds...stuff.  I am still working on it.

⬇🔻This is Ken. He is decades old too. I have his other arm, it kept falling off. Ken needed something to wear. I figured he would not mind a pair of crocheted shorts...he is from that era, after all.

So as I was digging the yarn out, I  flashed on a 'new fashion statement', Rompers...for men

So I set to.  

It wasn't until I was working on the 'shoulder straps' that I noticed the 'cup'. 

It's ok to snort when you laugh...I did!

click to enlarge....snort

It disappears when I put the rompers on Ken. 

Did I mention I do have his other arm???

ꜜ⤵⤹➘⏬I am also creating an elephant...made all in one piece, starting at the trunk. And yes I probably should have stitched up the legs differently, but I can't change it now, it's a lot further along than you see here.

Driftwood Decor and Trinkets

We hung the wood by a wire tucked up under the molding at the top of the cupboard, and thumb tacked out of sight.

We have lots of driftwood and I use some of it for hanging things on or from. This time we hung a piece just for its own shape.  The twigs on top are squiggly wiggly willow branches. Not the formal name by far.  When Dan cut them off the tree a couple of years ago, I formed circles with a few of the pliable branches. I made circles with the idea to weave in those circles.  I haven't....yet.  Now that they are out in the open, so to speak.... 

Here is another piece.  I replaced the other drift wood I had originally placed on the 'door knockers'. 

Whew....I had to scroll back to 2009 to find the 'old' picture.

face on of the drift

Below on the plain wall I put up our road trip map.  There are all sorts of things attached, like pins and stamped/smashed pennies.  With pins from Maine, The Quilters Cache, to the Pacific Ocean, where the Hoffman Challenge 2005 Pin is stuck.  I entered a quilt that year to earn the pin.

I have been going thru stuff.  Mom would give me Woodstock things, because I thought he was 'boss'.  The small one hung from the heater knob in Mom's Honda Civic for many years.  She saved it for me when she replaced the car in 1985.  The 'cookie' is rubbery, it was on Mom's key chain for YEARS and all 3 of my children teethed on it.

For needlework, I have started the next 2 items.  On dyed batt again.

front

back, click to enlarge

My blueberries are changing with the season.  The nasturtiums, however, are still growing and flowering.  There have been bee's in them, still!

My cherry tree.  It had fruit on it this year, but I guess they hadn't been pollanized? because they all fell off with out ripening.  (i know, it should say 'pollinated' but i like my version) 

Toast

So I do have some needlework in the works.  But just in case one of the kids should stop by here, I will wait to show you.

For now, Toast. Grilled to a tasty charcoal flavor.  

And check out the Honey Do...↓

Supply List

~ misc saved parts from other lamps/light fixtures.

~one broken floor lamp.

~one good table lamp, but a bit short.

~one pen lid. Dan has learned to look on the kids "activity table" for tid bits.

Cost~ nothing was purchase for this lamp in particular.

Put it all together, with or without swearing, and TA DA...You have a floor lamp that FITS your needs. Well, in this case, my needs.

See the pen cap?  I think he chose a lovely color for it!  And it is big enough to grasp easily. 

Blue and Yellow Shirt Days

Today is wear blue for Law Enforcement.  This is daughter Ashley and her 3 girls...

...and so is this one in yellow shirts.

The yellow was Wed. for  Wildfire Firefighting support.

.....and here are all the granddaughters and mama/aunt Ashley...

↓

We are teaching the girls that All Lives Matter, no matter what color your shirt is!

Onto some other things....

Another Texture picture.  This is dog fur, right out of the brush.

My husband's fantastic fence! {so far} He wants to separate the patio from the road.

We have planted the decorative grass we got last June or so. And mixed in some of the rocks that came with the property.  They are part of what once was a very LARGE rock according to my neighbor.  She said the previous owner set a fire over it to bust it up into smaller pieces. I think they need to be displayed, after all that hard work! 

Some bits from my garden...except that squash. That is from someone else's, shared with me.

Hummm....someone was nibbling....

This crow.  It was eating something orange...maybe an orange peel???

Last....stitching is happening....finally.

The top piece is from Deb L.

She dyes linens....the old school kind, tablecloths and such.  I have had this piece for years now waiting for the moment I needed to bust out of my rut.

It Works!

My first customer is a Robin.  

Prolly the same fella, or this one the female,  who  has been enjoying my blueberries.

Finally....A Homemade Birdbath!

We are having a heat wave here in the NorthWet West, so I want to make sure the birds have water too.

I got the plastic pipe from the neighbor, the flower pot tray I had, the rocks I had, the fish tank pump I had.  So far the only thing brave enough to visit it on the deck is a wasp. I will be moving it to somewhere in the yard. Hopefully I will get it [the pipe] painted gray-ish first.

opps...how did that slip in there....my middle child and her equal half. 

She was homemade too, now that I think about it.

After I think I vacc'ed up a feather, I decided to encase the other 3 in net...

here, let me zoom in...

...those 3 teeny-tiny feathers on creamy white fabric....

I understand you aren't supposed to keep feathers...I am just safe keeping them should the hummers ask for them back.

Dan brought me a length of moss, I shaped it into a moss-a-pillar.  It will get replanted. In the meantime, I just water it where it is on the fugly , but oh so handy, table outside.

I was looking at this driftwood one day and wondered what it would look like as a rubbing. 

On fabric.

Not as great as I had hoped, but maybe it's the blue crayon I used....I want to try again, different crayon, different fabric sample.

Another homemade item....new tank tops.  Dan had a bunch of T's where the neck was frayed from beard scrubble.  So I cut off the neckline and sleeves.  Now we both have a bunch of tank tops! And no I didn't bother 'hemming' them, we aren't out to win a beauty contest. 

To see this better, you probably have to enlarge.  Ashley, in the pic above, worked in the hot sun yesterday to get the pavers all nice and level around the blueberry plants.  Thank You Sweetie!  

A robin has found the plants.  I will share with him, but if he brings 42 of his friends....well....first I will be flabbergasted to see 43 robins in my yard...then I will put net up around the plants....next year, because obviously 43 robins would strip the berries off completely!.