The Week That Was.

Here are small snippets of some of the things that have gone on here during the past week ... none of which seemed to warrant its own post.

1.  I have been painting a really cute hutch in my new work space (the dining room).  This change of venue brings some challenges ... Alice and Dorothy.

"This is like a big box with different compartments, Mom."

Alice:  Whack, whack

Dorothy:  Bite.   Alice:  Dodge.

Alice:  Whack, whack ... you get the idea.

2.  On Friday, we went to our friends Kim and Andy's house for dinner and game night.  Ruby and Winnie went with us ... dogs are always included in the invitation.  Winnie did really well, considering she has only been here for just shy of four weeks, and this was her first away-from-home visit like this.  Ruby loves visiting her Auntie Kim, and she can get really silly while we are there.  At one point, she was sitting upright on the sofa hugging with The Husband while we all were chatting.  I'm really glad that Kim had her iPad on hand to capture the moment.

3.  You may already know that I am a big fan of ice hockey.  Saturday morning's Olympic hockey game between the USA and Russia was one of the very best games that I have ever seen.  Both teams were evenly matched ... the hard-fought game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation ... no one scored in the five minute overtime period ... and the USA finally won the game in the 8th round of the shoot out.  I was on the edge of my seat for most of the action.  Winnie ... not so much.

4.  After the hockey game, I spent the rest of the morning making a big batch of dog stew.  The result was 20 containers of stew in the freezer (600 grams each), which will supplement Ruby and Winnie's meals for the next two-and-a-half months.  Ruby gets kibble with water and stew added ... Winnie eats canned food mixed with stew.  My recipe for this varies, depending on what I have on hand.  Yesterday's batch contained rice, ground beef, ground turkey, pork liver (simmered and ground in the food processor), and lots of colorful vegetables (carrots, peas, lima beans, green beans, broccoli, collard greens, canned pumpkin, and butternut squash ... simmered till tender then whirled up with my hand blender.) ... stir the meat and rice into the blended veggie mixture.

5.  Speaking of food, the morning dog and cat feeding dynamics here are still evolving.  For the first couple of weeks, Winnie would wait just outside the boundary of the kitchen in the dining room while I prepared her food.  Now she comes into the kitchen with Ruby, wagging her tail, following me from cupboard to fridge to microwave.  This isn't freaking Dorothy out nearly as much as I thought it would.  I'm assuming that this is because canned cat food is involved and Dorothy rarely misses a chance at that.

Winnie really likes her big sister Ruby ... but she continues to growl at the cats.

Today started with another early morning Team USA hockey game (a 5-1 victory over Slovenia!) and now I am getting ready to paint the bottom portion of that hutch.  It's cold outside and we still have almost all of our snow from last week's storm.  Weather Guy says that temperatures here will be in the 60s by the end of the coming week.  It's enough to give a gal whiplash.

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Snow Day

Wednesday night at bedtime, as we were letting the dogs out to do their business, it started to snow.  This storm has been in the news all week, so it was not a surprise.  When we woke up this morning, there was a LOT of snow on the ground.  No idea exactly how much, however, because it had blown into drifts ... it looked to be anywhere from six inches to two feet, depending on where you looked.

At lunchtime today, Thursday, I bundled up, grabbed my trusty snow shovel and broom, and cleared our porch, steps, and a path through the sidewalk.  I also swept the snow off my Jeep ... not that I was planning to go anywhere, but you never know.  The snow was about 10 inches deep on the sidewalk, and it had drifted into a mound covering our porch and front steps.

While I was doing this, The Husband was in the garage working on our snow blower.  He could get it to start, but it wouldn't stay running.  I called our neighbor next door at Hartwood Winery and asked for some help.  He sent The Cavalry, in the form of Dan, their vineyard manager, on the tractor with a blade.

Dan on this tractor with its grading blade, and The Husband on our tractor with the front-end loader, had our driveway relatively clear in only about an hour.

All this snow must affect my judgement.  Here's an example:  a friend issued a dare on Facebook ... make a snow angel, take pictures, then post them for all to see.  Ruby joined in, too. 

As of now, 5:00 pm on Thursday, it is snowing and blowing again.  I wonder how much more we will get before this is all over later tonight ... please let it be over later tonight.  (edited to add:  We only received about an additional inch of icy snow overnight, which I have already shoveled and swept from the porch and steps and front walk.  The Husband is at work on the driveway.  I am thankful.)

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."