A Few Projects

The past two days have been icky weather, and, rainy or cloudy, so we've kept close to the house. There's no shortage of things to do inside, certainly! And then the workroom and the back porch are always full of projects so weather doesn't mean we're bored with nothing to do.

Here's a few things we've been working on.

I had this wood box in my booths for a long time. It was just rough unpainted wood; so it came home for a make-over. I used the transfer technique for the graphic.

 The same story with this little basket. It was black, with gold trim and the paint was all coming off. I almost tossed it, but the green velvet inside and the velvet ribbon trim were perfect, so it got a paint job and a transfer too.

Then I filled it with vintage sewing supplies. Let's see if it will sell now.

Another back-from-the-booth item. This table was natural finish on top, white below. It didn't sell in a year, so it came home and became a lady in red.

Besides furniture, there are the usual spring cleaning projects. I've been taking down my glass and washing it all while we give the house a good dusting.

Of course, there's storytelling work too. I'm planning my summer programs now, searching resources for story ideas. This is a fun activity, can't really call it work! It becomes work soon, though, as I start homing in on the stories I want, and planning how to tell them. I also want to make a crankie for this summer's library programs, and that will take some time in the coming month.

A larger project has involved both of us. We took an old door and sanded it down, finding the nicest layers of paint as we worked. We painted a shelf to match the door,

and built a boot box/seat to go on the bottom. The seat will have a hinged lid, and we'' add hooks under the shelf for coats, etc. We're close to being finished with this one.

Under the door is another Hoosier cabinet project. Larry removed the side because it was in very bad shape; he'll put a new one on, then the whole thing gets sanded and painted. That yellow is a little much! The top is also yellow, so we've got a lot of painting ahead on this one.

It's time to add supers to our hives, so Larry has been getting the boxes ready.

The supers are resting on  one of these; we bought two wheelbarrows last month, and they're both getting new paint as they look pretty rough. We will take these to the big Ripley On Sale event at the end of May, where we will have a booth set up.

A slower project: this old window frame was a lot bigger but so rotted that we had to cut it down and make it three frames instead of nine, daggone it. I am planning to paint it, then tack part of a cutter quilt into it. I think (hope) it will come out well.

A small project that fills time as I wait for paint to dry on other things.

And other time-filler, repainting this from dark navy to white. I think it's a lot prettier now.

Another frame that will get a quilt piece in it. I hope.

Six woven seat chairs that were in poor condition are getting some color and will be sold at the Ripley On Sale event as decor/flowerpot chairs. The seats on most of them have some damage; you can still sit on them but I don't want to sell them as seating due to their fragile condition.

Ebay continues to be part of almost every day's work. Yesterday I finally listed these two framed art pieces; the first is a Japanese wood block print from the 1920's. The second is called Prayer in the Desert and has a handwritten date of 1916. Both were thrift store finds, and are fairly valuable. Not like thousands of dollars, of course! I should be so lucky!

And last, cooking. We're picking fresh lettuce and asparagus now, and I am trying to use up some of the food we've stored in the freezer and cellar, so we've been eating well, and yet both of us are losing a little weight. Probably because we've been so busy. Today I wanted to make bread, something I haven't done in over a year. I made whole wheat honey bread, and it came out so nicely. I do love my KitchenAid mixer! It does a great job on mixing and kneading for me.

So that's some of what's kept us hopping lately. This is one busy time of year, and I admit, I love every minute of it. Except the dusting. That I could live without!


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