Quiet but Busy: Painting and Canning

Besides planning for our trip, I've been canning and painting, not necessarily in that order.

 Pickles and vegetable soup have been the order of the day this week, along with some frozen squash medley. I have discovered that if I saute' squash, onions, celery and peppers together the squash is delicious and not squeaky like frozen squash usually is. We have had an overload of yellow squash this year, after having none last year, and a person can only eat so much squash! This mix is delicious with a little garlic and red pepper tossed in and put over rice, or mixed into pasta sauce and put over spaghetti noodles or macaroni. I expect I'll find other uses for it too.

Larry planted late green beans and they've provided enough for seven pints canned, and for adding to vegetable soup. I've got about 30 pints of veggie soup put up now, and will probably get a few more before we're done.The late corn is just about ready, a small patch of turnips and other greens is getting going, and the late onions are also coming on now. Despite the terrible heat this summer the gardens have done well.

As for painting, I've been rolling out some small projects and Larry got another dinette set ready to go. Here's a look at some of what we've been doing:

 This little desk was just ugly--it had been badly painted in the 70's, I guess, with one of those antiquing kits. I planned to paint it all-over red, but the top was rough so I gave it a good sanding. As I sanded, this finish emerged, and I loved it.

 We have a stockpile of chairs, so it wasn't hard to choose one I thought would look best with the desk.

We've been putting this set together for a while. We started, actually, in February or March of 2015, when we found the table. It was in a small, non-electric log cabin that had belonged to a 95-year-old man. We bought several items from his estate. The table had no chairs to match so we began looking for some we could have re-upholstered. We had the two cream ones already done, and then found two others that were not really matches but we went ahead and had them covered in turquoise to make this set. Some elbow grease to clean up the table and here she is:

I have had this table in my booths for 3 years with no takers, so it came home and got a coat of paint. Maybe now it will sell? Fingers crossed!

The little decorative sled just needed a coat of paint and some white glaze; the table was another one of those "let's sand this and see what happens" moments.

This is a work in progress. I can see I need to take it apart--again--and paint the inside of that bottom piece.  It will also get some prisms hanging from each light holder and a crystal bead chain to hang it. I put timed candles inside the light holders.

I call him Don Carlos--he's made to hold a bottle of wine. He had some chips and scrapes so I did some repainting and touch-up to spiff him up. I think he's pretty cool.

Little lamp got a coat of teal to brighten it up.

Larry has been working on old fans lately. Somehow we ended up with a half dozen of them, all needed some TLC. He's done some rewiring, cleaning and even fixed one so it rotates properly.

An upcoming project. We've had this in the workroom for a while and finally pulled it out and put it together. Sadly it's missing two of the glass doors that swing up and under. It's a Wernicke lawyer's bookcase and in perfect condition they bring good money. This one, with the missing doors and the damage to the top, won't bring anything like the usual price. We will repair the base and remove the veneer from the top, which will then have to be repainted. The rest will get a good wipe-down and then we'll see if it needs more work to make it look good again.

It looks like the top got water damage at some point. What a shame.

I had so much fun re-doing this bed lamp. It was a plain brown metal, and needed to be re-wired. We teamed up to find a good cord for it and got it re-done, then I painted and stenciled it. Kinda wishing I could keep it but I really have no need for it.

Little magazine rack is ready to go. I am so bad about taking before photos, but try to imagine it dark brown stain, scratched and scuffed and dirty. There is such pleasure in transforming a piece from junk to keeper.

That's a few of the things I've been working on. In progress are a coat rack, two little tables that will be painted with a Coca-Cola theme, a wood box with a floral transfer on top, a mirror frame, some candleholders, two lamps...what else? Stay tuned to see the finished results.

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