Feeling Better and Ready to Get Back to Work!

I'm healing quickly and feeling anxious to get back to work downstairs on my sewing room! Sugarplum and I are tired of working puzzles.

 Just before the accident, I found these two end tables at a local thrift shop. I think that with a little work, I can turn them into an island for the downstairs kitchen. My husband is "dubious", so now I have to wow him with what I do! I will post a picture when I finish unless it is a big failure. I have a plan in my mind! (The boxes behind them are cabinets for my sewing room. I can't put them together until the floor is down in there because there is no place to store them in the meantime.)

 Speaking of thrift shops, I found something totally unexpected just Saturday. I was taking my time looking over the shelves and saw a big rock in a zip-loc bag.  I recognized it as a fossilized bone. 

 One person thinks it may be a whale bone. If any of you out there have any other ideas, let me know. Any paleontologists out there? It is very definitely fossilized and weighs about 2 pounds. The minerals in it look like the flint we have here among the limestone. Because this area of the hill country is a retirement area, there are all kinds of interesting things in the thrift shops. This could have come from anywhere in the world, although this part of Texas is known for it's fossils. There are dinosaur tracks not far from here, although I'm not saying this is a dinosaur vertebrae. If it is whale, it was brought here from elsewhere, which is probably the case.

I have not been able to go downstairs these last few weeks, but the underlayment is down, new air conditioning ducts and vents are in, and we are getting closer to being able to put down the flooring.

We're still enjoying the wildlife and it appears they are having fun at our expense!

We heard a noise in the garage and when we opened the door, this doe ran out! She found the deer corn and managed to get a new, unopened bag off a shelf and partially opened!

She just stood a distance away to see if we would feed her.

I hope to post pictures of my sewing room soon. I am SO ready for progress! 

Until then.....

 

Life Cycles, Recycles, and Remodels

Sugarplum woke from a sound sleep when something on the balcony outside caught her attention!

She jumped up to get a closer look!

 A Scott's Oriole had perched on the rail just outside the window. 

 The male and female have both been frantically racing back and forth with insects to feed a newly hatched brood of baby Orioles in the seldom used (thankfully!) light fixture above the balcony.

 They are a welcome addition to our wildlife managerie here at our hill country house which includes the deer, a fox, rabbits, squirrels, and many other birds and animals. We have been watching what appears to be first time swallow parents trying to build a nest. It has taken them much longer than we've previously seen swallows build nests, but they finally have it built and I think she is brooding eggs. 

Walking to the mailbox, I noticed this unusual bag-like nest in an agarita bush.

 It is about 10" long and covered with lichen. It was hard to get a photo without disturbing it, but I'm not sure it is still occupied! We tried to "shoot" and run! (With the camera, that is!)

 After researching the nest and birds common to this area, I believe it is a "Bushtit". (Yes, an unfortunate name, but a sweet, tiny bird that eats insects and sings songs!)

 It's so interesting to observe the life cycles around us. The mama deer are beginning to really bulge at the sides, so I expect to see fawns soon!

On the "Recycling" front, I happened to hit the thrift store during a time when they were gearing up for a move. Every clothing item was 25 cents!! I brought home more than I should have, but it was so much fun!! 

I am a "petite" (just over 5'1") so buying clothing off the rack has never been easy for me. I decided that for 25 cents, I could play a little with redesigning some of these clothes. 

 (Here is my attempt at getting a photo of myself in a linen short's outfit that was about 2 sizes too large.) (See my new summer haircut?)

I first took the sleeves out and narrowed the shoulders.

Then I removed the stitches in the crotch seam and made a skirt out of the shorts!

 Front

 Back

 A quick photo before hemming and final pressing. 

I don't know how often I will wear it, but the top and skirt together cost me 25 cents!

The remodeling downstairs is coming along!

I put insulation between the studs while my husband did other work. 

The sheetrock was installed and today we have men working downstairs taping, floating, and sanding. Tomorrow they will come back to texture. 

 This will be my sewing studio! I'm getting excited! I haven't gone downstairs to see how it looks today, but this was yesterday. The furniture will go in the media room, but we're having to move it around and keep it covered. They will take it outside tomorrow. I'm hoping the sun will continue to shine!

My mind is buzzing with ideas for my new space, but I have to wait a little longer! After I paint it, I will still have to wait for flooring and that will come after the bathrooms are tiled. 

In the meantime, I'm trying to stay patient! 

Upcycling Fun!

I found a striking red top and skirt in the thrift store last weekend that I bought. When I got it home, the skirt was a size smaller than the top and I couldn't wear it. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but didn't. It had a red print shell with a solid red linen skirt. The skirt had embroidery across the front bottom hemline.

I decided to make a little sun dress for my niece, who is about to turn 5. 

Although I had a couple of patterns, I didn't have enough fabric to make them. I decided to just come up with a design of my own.

I used the embroidered front to make a little "sewn in" apron. The top became the bodice and sash, and the solid linen became the rest of the dress.

 It cost me $3. 

My niece's favorite part is the apron!

 My husband and I married our Junior year in college (university to my British and European friends). We were "dirt poor", to say the least, paying for schooling and trying to manage on our own.

Several times I went to a thrift store and bought dresses that I could take apart and use as fabric. It gave me a chance to sew and have something new on a pauper's budget!

So....next time you start to throw out that beautiful piece of clothing that no longer fits or is no longer in style, rethink it as fabric! 

 

The Hill Country House in August, 2015

It's hard getting a photo in a small space! This room is about 12' x 7'. This is the pantry space we have been working on for the last few weeks. We have several names for it:

Prep Kitchen

Butler's Kitchen

Dirty Kitchen (I think we've nixxed this one!)

My husband has been calling it the Prep Kitchen, I have just called it the Pantry. 

It is designed for the prep work, the "dirty" work of cooking. This type of room has come about because of the openness of new homes.

I've divided it into areas:

This is the baking area. I have emptied all bags into air tight containers and labeled them. The drawers and cabinets under the counter hold measuring cups, measuring spoons, bowls, etc. The vintage cannisters on the top shelf hold my collection of cookie cutters. They were stored at my parent's house and survived the fire! Each cannister is labeled to hold different types: Holiday, Animals and People, Shapes, Molds, etc.

This is the coffee/tea center. The k-cups for our Kuerig are in the drawer. (I didn't get a photo, phooey! I have divided the drawer into sections for different types of coffee.)

The coffee pot conveniently rolls out for use and when not in use....

...the door can be closed!

Beside this you can see the toaster oven. Above that on the shelves are coffee cups, breakfast cereals, and other breakfast foods.

 

My spice jars (8 oz. canning jars labeled) are on stair step risers that my dad made for me according to my specifications. Actually, it is one piece that fits exactly between the shelf supports and is a lot like stadium seating!

You can see in the panoramic picture that I have interspersed cookbooks and baskets (for things like chips). We use fresh vegetables as much as possible, but cans are beside the spices so far.

I'm sure I will make changes when I start doing more cooking in this area. 

I have my bread machine out in the picture. I prefer baking bread in the oven, but it was wonderful smelling baking bread as we worked! 

We have a wooden screen door on order that will be installed between the pantry and the main kitchen. 

We picked up a couple of trays for our coffee table when we were at Home Goods last week. I'm sure the display will change, but for now I have some succulents (not real but they look real!), antique books, and a pair of my husband's great granddaddy's glasses sitting on the books.

I found a large Mexican blanket at an estate sale and I threw it over the dining room table for that elusive "you know it when you see it"  Texas hill country look.

 

We also bought a few antique
"milk of magnesia" bottles that I have soaking. $1 each! 

These predate the Phillips brand of my childhood.

Things are coming along! We have tons of little finishing details to do, but I am having so much fun cooking in my new kitchen now.

 There is still a LOT going on behind the scenes right now. My life will calm down some day, I'm sure! Nothing bad, only busy!

Until next time.....

 

 

 

A "Bad Chair" Day and More Progress!

Now this is what I call "Fixer Upper" chairs! They were only $5 each, although some people think I should have been paid to haul them off!

 I tightened them up with wood glue, fixed a small split, and removed the old seats.

After a little sanding, they were ready for their makeover!

Chalk paint and a little selective distressing and they are ready for a seat!

I had pieces of upholstery left from other projects, see here, and I combined the scraps for the two seats I needed. I had to pay more for the foam used for the cushion than I did for the chairs or upholstery! 

(The Morris chair is still in the background, but will be eventually moved to the sewing room.)

  

My husband got all my shelves up in the "Butler's Kitchen". I cut out the brackets for the shelves, then stained and sealed all the pieces. I still need to fill the screw holes.  

 

 It is taking a LONG time to get this house the way we want it, but now that I can see progress, it is more fun! We still have a lot to do, but the main floor is close to being finished!

 

Still Working, But Enjoying the View!

We were at the Hill Country house this weekend, enjoying steaks my husband had grilled (YUM!!!) and also enjoying watching the wildlife just outside the dining room window! This sweet doe saw us and was curious about what we were doing.

 We did get some work done. The first photo below shows the installed countertop before I put the hand rubbed finish on it. The second shows it after.  The difference was even more noticeable in "real life"! The countertop is red cedar. I put a finish on it that is a mixture of beeswax and mineral oil. It feels silky and smooth after rubbing.

We installed a built in trash can in the working pantry. (I still need to do a little touching up where we removed the hinges on the cabinet door.)

We replaced my scroll saw (lost in the fire) and I will be cutting out brackets this week to hold the pantry shelves.

I've started playing around with the breakfast area. I found a couple of old farm chairs since this photo was taken, but they need to be painted and the seats recovered. ($5 each, so what do you expect?) The chairs seen here are extras from my dining room. This was my 1930's farmhouse table, chalk painted again in a brighter color than the gray I ended up with last time.

We did manage to attend a couple of estate sales on Friday and Saturday. I bought an old Navajo blanket. (Hand woven from wool). This is a LARGE blanket.

We also found a turn of the century Morris Chair. It was the first type of recliner sold. If you look closely, you can see a bar behind the seat back. That bar can be moved back on wooden "cradles" and the seat rests on it. The farther back you moved the bar, the farther back the seat will recline. I will recover the seat......some day! The original casters say 1894, but the chair could be a few years older.

My oldest son will be coming in a couple of 

weeks to help me organize my kitchen and pantry drawers and shelves, so we want to have all the shelves up before he gets here.

My sister and I still have some sewing news in the works, but we're waiting on some paperwork to come in before we can finalize it all. All that to say, I have been sewing, but I can't show you just yet! Stay tuned!

In the meantime, have a wonderful week!

A Happy Place!

I've been in the beautiful Portland, Oregon area for the last week. Wow! What gorgeous views! Beautiful yards! Breathtaking horizons!

 In the photo above you see Mt. Hood as it appears from Vista House at Crown Point, east of Portland. We could also see Mt. Hood from Portland because the skies were clear. In fact, they were having a freakish heat wave and it was hotter here than it was back home in Texas!

I had been sent a month's supply of HCF to try in exchange for an honest review and I finished it during this trip. I have to say that I could really tell a difference. I was warned that it might be a gradual thing, but I guess my body really needed those amino acids this supplement supplied. I have some serious food allergies and I think this supplied some things I might be missing by avoiding those foods.

 I am always a nervous wreck going through the entire airport experience, but I was calmer this time around. I also felt that it helped with the occasional depression I have always fought.  I consider myself a happy person, but that doesn't mean I don't sometimes deal with anxiety and worry.  I would certainly take it again! It is a little pricey, but you can save by enrolling in their auto-ship program. Even without the savings, it is cheaper than the gym or doctor! You can also get a free 14 day trial on their website. At least check it out. I was impressed.

I will have a lot to share in the next few weeks about progress in the hill country as well as some exciting sewing related news that is on the horizon. My year has been a whirlwind of travel and renovation work, but I still have my sewing machine humming during those quiet moments!

Speaking of sewing machines, look what I found for $37.50 at the thrift shop (they were having a 50% off sale)! It runs beautifully, too! (You can never have enough sewing machines, right?) It didn't come with any extra feet or accessories, but I know I can find those online.

I'll be back soon!