A Wonderful New Treasure

Once or twice a week, I waste some time online by checking the new arrivals posted on the web site at the Old Covesville Store ... an antique store about two hours southwest of here.  Late last week, as I was scrolling and oohing and aahing at all of the wonderful new stuff, I was stopped in my tracks at the sight of a small watercolor painting.

The description simply said, "Original signed watercolor of a lady.  Probably early 1900s."  The lady in the painting is holding and smelling what appears to be a China rose.  (Ya'll know how much I LOVE China roses.)  It would be a perfect addition to my collection of rose-related items.

Old Covesville Store has an option to buy their items via PayPal.  I contacted them, they sent an invoice to me via email, I paid it ... and, just that quickly, the little painting was MINE.  The price for such a treasure?  $20.

I took a roadtrip earlier today to go to Covesville to retrieve my painting.  While I was there, I perused the place, marveling at the unique items that the owners manage to bring in.  Rick and Sarah, the owners, work very hard to have an incredible array of mostly-American antique furniture and other items.  Things sell quickly, because the items are that special and the prices are almost too good to be true.

If you have some time to waste, click HERE to see the most recent items on the store's 'Just In' page on their web site.  New items are posted on or about Wednesday evening and sometime on the weekend, and other times when new things arrive and are unloaded.  If you are in the area, I guarantee that you will not be disappointed if you stop by.  If you can't go there in person (and I can't do it very often), you can do what I do ... check in and ogle the new offerings online.

Hollywood Cemetery Rose Work Day

It is time for me to shift gears and begin to think about this year's Rose Work Day at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.  Last year's work day was a huge success ... making every bit of my days and days of preparation worthwhile.  This year, with the roses located and mapped and in fairly decent condition, only a day or two of on-site preparation should be necessary ahead of time.

My super-talented husband designed this ... isn't it awesome!!

If you are local, or plan to be in the area, we would love to have you volunteer to give us a hand.  I promise that you will have a good time, learn a few things, and meet some other rose lovers who feel the same way you do.  No experience is necessary ... we will teach you what to do.

Feel free to share this, to spread the word.  More hands make lighter work, and more fun!!

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Painting Progress

The Husband sometimes questions my choice to paint a particular piece of furniture.  In the case of this one, a large, heavy, dark pine linen press, he wholeheartedly agrees with my decision ... and he even concurs with my choice of colors.

The door on the left is all finished ... painted Duck Egg with Country Grey on the raised panel (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint), very lightly distressed to accentuate the contours of the door, glazed with a wash of custom mixed chocolate brown chalk paint, and clear waxed.  The unpainted door is nothing special.  The painted door looks SO much better.

I disassembled as much of this cabinet as I could, and I brought the pieces upstairs to work on them ... two large drawers, two small drawers, and the two doors.  The rest of the cabinet will have to stay in the garage until the weather is warm enough for me to work out there.

Maggie and Winnie, my trusty assistants, are already in position, so I guess it's time for me to get to work.

Getting Back to Painting Projects

It is difficult for me to muster up the energy to work on painting and furniture projects in the winter.  My workshop is in our basement, which only has heat in two of the four rooms ... one of which is not my workshop.  The temperature down there can get as low as the high-50s, and the floor always feels clammy and cold under my feet.  Those aren't great conditions for applying paint.  As a result, projects stack up and I end up putting stuff off till the last minute.

Add to this the fact that Winnie, our new dog, has only been here for two weeks and is still getting acclimated.  She follows me everywhere, whining when I'm not in sight.  We don't need to interact for her to settle in and relax, she just has to know that I'm close by.  (We don't allow the dogs and cats into the basement ... there is just too much stuff down there for them to be safe without supervision.)

On Monday, I had an idea ...

I covered our dining table with a clean moving blanket, and I'm painting things up here for now.  Winnie is here, though you can't see her there in her pink dog bed.  She has completely covered herself up with her flannel blanket ... it's her favorite way to sleep.  Maggie is here, too, in position on the table to be my quality control inspector.

This change of venue has been a great motivator.  I have already distressed and waxed and reassembled a vanity desk, that I started last month and was languishing in the basement.  A child's rocking chair and a director's chair frame are painted and ready for distressing and wax, and I am starting to paint the pieces of a large linen press (that's one of the doors that you see on the top of the table.)

All of this is in preparation for this year's Lucketts Spring Market in May.  May is a super busy month for me, always crammed full of rose events.  This is the case again for 2014, and I am trying to get as much done for Lucketts as I can ... well ahead of time this year.

Getting better organized, trying to work more efficiently, and clearing some of the stuff out of this place ... as Martha says, "It's a good thing."

Sunday Snapshot: Feedsack Quilt

On Saturday, The Husband and I got out early to be among the first ones at the Big Flea Market at the Expo Center here in Fredericksburg.  This show has 300 dealers (according to the advertisement) with a great assortment of things to see.  Even though our house is full and we have just about everything we want, we still go to shows like this to look and learn and see what prices things are bringing these days.  Every once in a while, I find something that I have to have.

As we were going through the second or third aisle, I spotted this quilt.

It is made entirely of feedsacks, hand pieced and hand quilted, and it is so, so soft.  I checked it over thoroughly.  It is in wonderful condition, with only a couple of small worn places in the top.  There was no price on it, so The Husband hunted down the dealer and asked, "How much?"

The man replied, "$35."  I gave him a thumbs up sign, because I was shocked and would certainly have either screamed or squeaked if I had tried to talk ... only $35 for this piece of art???   I kept my cool as The Husband pulled the bills from his wallet and paid the man, all the while I wanted to clutch my treasure to my chest, jump up and down, and giggle like a little kid.

The rest of the show was interesting, with much better stuff for sale than I though there would be.  This quilt was the only thing we bought, though.  

To learn more about patterned feedsacks, click HERE to read a great article suggested by a quilter friend of mine.  (and click HERE to go to Kelly Ann's blog)

On another subject, here is a dose of Winnie for you ... to add some adorable cuteness to your day.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you very, very much for all of your kind (and embarrassing) comments about having finalized our adoption of Winnie last week.  I have no doubt that she is supposed to be here ... her transition from foster dog to full-fledged member of the family has happened so easily.  I choose not to dwell on her past life, which was certainly a difficult one.  Her experiences were part of her journey to our family, her forever home.  A friend of mine said it best:  

"We save them once and they turn around and save us back every day."

Making It Official

1.  On Tuesday afternoon, I made the 45 minute drive, two counties over, to the Orange County Animal Shelter to fill out the paperwork and officially adopt Winnie.  Winnie is home, as I hoped she would be.

This little Chihuahua has already made a huge impact on our household.  She is happy, and scampery, and oh-so loving.  Her ability to adapt and trust seems infinite, as she learns that we are now her family and she takes her place here.  She is learning how to get around in this big old house, and she has no problem hopping onto one of the big dog beds by the radiator in my husband's office to take a nap.  Her favorite place, though, is wherever I happen to be.

2.  Winnie had an appointment with our regular vet on Wednesday, for a check-up and to follow up on the various things that she was being treated for when I got her last week.  Her spay incision looks good and her mouth has healed well from having her teeth pulled three weeks ago.  The infection in her right eye is completely healed since she finished her course of antibiotic drops, though the resulting scarring has compromised her sight in that eye.  Considering how dire her neglected condition appeared to be when she was found in December and taken to the shelter, she is in extremely good health for a gal her age.

My vet knows me very well.  She said that she did a TRIPLE take when she saw our appointment on the schedule ... it said, Chihuahua Hilker.  (Connie has a CHIHAHUA???)  Once she was told that Winnie is a rescue dog, she understood perfectly.  Like I said, she knows me well.

3.  After we finished at the vet's, Winnie and I made a stop at PetsMart to get her a collar and leash.  Winnie was wearing a collar and I was given a leash when I picked her up last week, but I returned them to the Shelter when I was there on Tuesday.  They can save them for another tiny dog in the future ... I wanted Winnie to have her own collar and leash, chosen especially for her.

I was surprised to see that all of the extra-small sized dog collars in PetsMart were either too long (requiring them to be adjusted almost to their smallest point) or too stiff to be comfortable.  So, Winnie and I checked out the cat department of the store.  Discovered that cat collars are also too big for her ... KITTEN collars, however, were a perfect fit ... but the kitten collars don't have a ring on them to attach the leash.  I bought one anyway, to use as a tag collar.

Speaking of cats, this is what my lap looked like last night.  I was watching the hockey game and knitting a sweater for Winnie.

4.  With Winnie's new collar in hand, I have already ordered her ID tag online from Boomerang Tags.  I have used these tags on all of our dogs, and I love them!  They fit flat on the collar, so there's nothing hanging down to get snagged or jingle around. Ruby's 1-inch-size tag is large enough for her name, complete address, and two phone numbers.  Winnie's tag, as you would expect, will be significantly smaller (3/8 inch size) and can only hold four lines of info, 14 characters per line.  The chances of losing her are slim and none, but I fully believe in being safe rather than sorry when it comes to keeping ID on my animals.

A tag like this lasts for the life of your dog and it only costs $9.99.

4.  I went to Richmond yesterday, and one of my stops was at Trader Joe's to stock up on supplies because we are having friends over on Sunday (football related, of course.)  Petco is next door to TJ's ... I went in to see if they carried dog collars that are little enough to use on Winnie.  They had a small selection in the tiny size, and I chose a plain pink nylon collar with a snap buckle ... perfect, or so I thought.  Brought it home, tried it on Winnie for size, and it was too small.  There's a Petco right across the street from my dentist's office (where I will be later today), and I plan to exchange the pink collar for a larger size ... as long as the next size isn't TOO large.

This was the scene to my right ... both of them are sound asleep.

5.  It feels wonderful to say that Winnie is now officially our dog.  I loved her at first sight, as did my husband when he got home from his trip on Saturday.  I still can't believe that I brought her home without telling him first.  Fortunately, he concurred with me that she needed to be part of a family ... and he agrees that her home is here with us.  Ruby accepted her very quickly ... the cats are making progress and I hope that things will work themselves out within another week or so.

Welcome to the family, Winnie!  It's only been ten days, and I already can't imagine this place without you.

Make a Sock Into a Tiny Dog Coat

I figure that there may be other folks who find themselves in same the situation that I faced last week when Winnie came here.  She needed something to wear to keep her warm, the roads were too icy for me to go out to get anything, and it takes time that I didn't have to knit or crochet a coat for her myself.  After thinking on it for a minute, I realized that she is about the same circumference as a sock ... and I certainly should have an orphan sock in the laundry room that could do the trick.

Before I get to the tutorial, here is an observation ... I took this photo of Winnie a few minutes ago, as she was sitting and being completely adorable.

This sweater that she is wearing was given to us by a friend who used to have a tiny poodle.

It's too big for her, but it does the job for now.

Striking resemblance, don't you think.

This is a photo from a post I did in 2010 about catching mice.

Anyway, back to the sweater....

I used to wear these socks a lot.  They were always a bit baggie on me, though they were warm and comfortable inside boots, and good for wearing around the house.  This sock has been in the orphan sock pile for a LONG time ... so I didn't feel too bad about sacrificing it for the benefit of a tiny, cold little dog.

I cut the sock off at the heel, to have as much length as possible to keep Winnie's back warm.  (Discard the foot portion, unless you can think up some other use for it.)

I measured the distance between her front legs and cut two small slits in the sock.

The leg holes needed something to keep them from unraveling ... I decided that crochet may be perfect.  With some cream-colored yarn from my stash and a small crochet hook, I loosely worked one row of single crochet around the slits to form finished arm holes.  (For those of you who don't crochet, overcasting the edge with blanket stitch would work just as well.)

That's all there is to it!  The tail of the sweater raveled a bit, but it wasn't bad enough to worry about.

This boot-sock-turned-dog-sweater served Winnie well for a few days, keeping her warm during our arctic cold spell last week.  Just like these socks did when I wore them, the sweater is all stretched out now and needs to be washed and dried before I can use it on her again.

In a day or two, Winnie will have a new sweater ... I'm knitting one for her.  I looked all over Pinterest for a pattern, and I only found one that was free and was practical for a dog this small.   I'm still having to modify it a bit.  I will show it to you when I'm finished.