My latest "saved from the scrap heap" project

My sister came by a few weeks ago and was headed to the thrift store with some things she was clearing out.  In the middle was this old "retro" stool.  She bought it at a garage sale last year but didn't do anything with it.  Was missing one of the rubber feet. The vinyl seat had been mended with red plastic tape and the crome legs were spotty with rust.  But the plastic back was so neat and just needed a good cleaning.  So here is the before:

Next was the scrubbing and painting:

I then recovered the old seat and put it all back together!

Total cost for paint and new rubber feet was about 8$  Have it sitting at the end of an isle of books and have had one customer use it, plus I had my sister sit on it the other day on my little back steps at the store while I cut her hair.  LOL  we had several folks go by the alley and throw off their caps and asked to be next.  Can't get away with anything in this little town!

Thought for the day:Where ever you go, there you are


Just call me "the recycle queen"

When I look at somethin that has been discarded I tend to see a new use for it.  Usually it involves tools and paint.  Here is a "table" that I found being thrown out after someone had their garage sale this spring.  Originally it hung from the ceiling of a kitchen in an older house.  Hard to believe.  But imagine just lifting it straight up and attaching it to the ceiling over a big island.  It had florecent lights in it and pot hooks.
Here is a before pic:

I had to buy the piece of plywoodthat was put on it to make the top.  It was sanded along with the whole unit, then the painting started:

As you can see I moved it into my book store to work on it.  In the next photo you can see the final work.  It makes a good display table in my store and a place to stack my hand woven rugs that are for sale.

I ended up tacking tennis balls that were cut in half on those lower corners to keep someone from whacking their legs.  Have to admit I was the first victim!  You can see my upside down stool also that I think I mentioned before.  Put wheels on it and shelves on the rungs, painted it pink and there you have a display cart. 

Money

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/04/money-form-social-control-americans-debt-slaves.html

This is not a happy feel good site but maybe a wake up call to what is happening to our country.  Take it or leave it, thats up to you. 

Old Soul

Sometimes when you have to much to say you end up being unable to say anything.  Ever feel that way.  So much going on that I don't feel comfortable laying out here.  Just know that life gives us many lessons along the way and we need to be paying attention to our daily bits of happiness that we are given.  We need to learn to see something beautiful everyday of our life, even if it is just a tree in bloom or the smell of fresh turned soil in the flower garden. Take note and give thanks as there are no guarentees in life.  Seems that most of us have to have a few years of gray in our hair to finally realize that.  How much time is wasted in our younger years with worry about everything and competing to see who is right or wrong. 

I am a firm believer that some of us have old souls and some are new.  The new souls just never get it.  Its all about them at this stage and they never see the rainbows or delicate pansy. In their next life they will be better.  I think that is our progression to learn and then learn again. Sometimes it is our job to assist someone else along their path and that becomes our path.  That makes sense to me. That helps me to accept why life is so hard for some people and others seem to breeze thru life like they have a silver spoon in their mouth. I don't think they "get it". 

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”


― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

New Singer in the family!

About a month ago I bought this old Singer cabinet from my sister in law.  I had been looking for one for over a year.  This picture is after I cleaned and painted the metal work and had stripped the cabinet.  I next appled a wood conditioner, then a wood finish that was a clear stain and sealer.  After rubbing this in well and drying I applied 2 coats of clear polyurethane clear gloss.

The sewing machine belonged to my mother in law and in inherited it when she passed away.  It was purchased by her in the 50's and had been converted to electric.  I took it to a repair man and he removed the motor, cleaned it and sold me a new belt.  Now this old 1918 model Red Eye has been converted back to original.  So I am one happy camper and since I haven't "treddled" since I was 18 years old, I have to practice a little.  This will be a keeper for sure.  

My Denim has multiple uses

This is my second denim quilt.  It is my keeper for myself.

If you have a good eye you can see the patter that I had going here.  I used 3 shades of denim, all new this time.  Will add the other denim one I made out of recycled denim that I gave to my daughter last year. The pockets are regular jean pockets of assorted sizes and shades.

This one was fun to make as I could just use my imaginationa dn do what I wanted.  The reddish designs are a chenille technique.

By cutting fabric on the bias and layering 3 or 4 layers, lay out your design and sew down the center.  Then take a stiff brush if you don't have a chenille brush and as you brush the fibers you get the color and fuzzy look.  these were actually the same colors but it looks different depending on how you layer it. Could be used to put fun things on kids cloths or tote bags.

A little of this and a little of that

My denim quilt I started a year ago and just finished.

Still struggling with Blogger.  Won't let me navigate around as I type, and won't let me load but one picture at a time.

I am browsing for a new computer,  this one is about 5 or 6 years old and thinking I want one of those tablets, or something along that line.  Just don't know what would be best for me.  So that is my goal for the first of the year.  Would love to hear what others are using and if they like them. I like the idea of the one that snaps apart and key board is separate.  Could just take the touch pad computer with me and light weight.

Hope this year brings blessings to all my blogger friends.  Looking for some for my family as well.
Happy New Year!

Winter is here

Boy I have gotten lost in the shuffle here.  Also I see that the blogger.com is still acting up for me.  Won't let me move my curser once I start typing, other that I can back space.  So if I want to change something back very far, I am out of luck. Will attach one of our winter pictures, although I can't match Mad City Mikes pictures for sure.  We just got our first snow of the year, about 4 to 5 inches.  Enough to make the roads, especially back streets a little slick to get about.  So just staying home, but I think hubby is having Walmart withdrawals so I see a trip in the morning, so might as well make up a list.



Where have I been?

Guess there are several reasons why I haven't blogged much lately.  One being that my blogger dashboard here is giving me fits.  Won't let me in to type unless I change my alignment of type then won't let me back in to correct.  Weird.  Maybe it will fix itself like my YouTube volume thing did. 
Also I didn't bring my computer to my store with me this last month and I have been more productive in my sewing and weaving.
Guess I want to tell my thoughts a little about all this electronic stuff that we are so addicted to.  I just finished reading a book by Jeffery Deavers, called The Broken Window.  It is about a huge data collection company that has a bad guy working for them.  He goes into alot of details that really should be scaring the pants off of us. Did you know that you leave an electronic trail everytime you use any piece of electronics? Not to mention your credit and debit cards and all the automated E-Z passes for your car and hundreds of other things.  Unless you buy something with cash someone can collect the data of such things as what you buy and when.  Did you ever wonder why alot of stores want your zip code even when you pay cash???  Data collected us fed into huge computers and then sorted to be sold to companies that do marketing to target certain demographics to sell their products. 
Another HUGE pet peave of mine is all the prescription medicines that are marketed to us on TV?  But I digress and that is another topic for future use.
So am I nuts to think we are being Watched??  Do you do FaceBook?  Wonder how that copany is making so much money??  I think alot of it is in this very same tracking us and selling our information to companies to market us.  You know all that crap that we see on FB that "reminds" us to be sure to share with our friends,  of course some of them are so darn "cute" we cant resist. (I have been guilty myself)  or the receipt looks just to dang good to not share.  Why do you think that language is in there to "share it so you will have it on your site to save"  Duh!!!!  We are dribbling cookies everywhere we go on the computer.  Thats probably why my poor little 6 year old laptop is having a hard time getting around.
So I don't know for a fact how much of this blather is really true or if I am just being paranoid but it is food for thought.  We are being lead down a trail that is taking away our individual rights and liberities and that is probably another post.

So aren't you glad I am back??

I will leave this with a picture of my little Random flower garden that I planted last spring to cover up roots of a tree that we had to take down due to our May snow storm damage.  I have plans to plant some more stuff in the spring and see where it goes.



Free Apples!

Pure unadulterated apple sauce!  Thats how I like it.  Had about a bushel of apples, I think Granny Smith, given to me so I cooked up 2 kettles and when finished had one kettle full.  Made 6 quarts to freeze.  I just quarter and cut the core out and cook them till soft and run thru my food mill.  Very little waste and minimal effort.  I add a little cinnamon but sugar not needed.  Had to make a batch of apple crisp while I was into it.  The sauce will taste good this winter.  now I still have half a box left! 

My Random Garden

Awhile back I posted a picture of this stump.  It was what was left of a huge tree

This picture is of it last summer, the pretty one in the center.  Our May snow storm took one whole side of the tree down. Anyway, I decided instead of trying to dig all the roots out or paying to have them grubbed out, I would plant some ground cover around the roots.  One thing led to another and now I have my Random Garden that is taking on a life of its own.  I will take a picture this week and update this, as I have several things blooming and bought a couple Russian Sage plants that were on sale to give it some more life.  Next spring plan to plant that bank in creeping phlox.  Hubby keeps wanting to help but I think I have made it pretty clear that this is MY spot to play with and everyone else is to stay out!  I think he got the message.  We have very different ideas on gardening so I pretty much leave him alone to do what he wants with the tomato plants and watering the shrubs and such.
Hey a girl has to have her space!



No politics on my blog!

I just deleted my last post.  It was a political deal about ObamaCare that I thought was very good, but I have decided that I don't want to make my blog a place to share political views.  Thats not what I wanted here, so if anyone is looking for that sort of blog you will have to move on.  I have a good friend that I had to unfriend on FB because there were numerous spiteful things on there daily about our government.  Enough said!

So it will be back to boring stuff like what I am doing and thinking.  LOL  That won't take long to read.  Actually I usually have a lot to say but usually keep it to myself to keep peace with everyone.  Does that make me a peacemaker?  I have been accused of being the "keeper of secrets"  by a niece.  I think that is true.  I know stuff about several people that I would never share.

So unless you want to hear about my plugged up ears or pain in my thumbs, I better stop for today and be back when I have something smart to say.



Junk Mail

I am sure many know someone who is a junk mail magnet.  We have one that lives in our house, (its my 89 year old sister in law)  She answers these questionnaires that she gets plus donates to various organizations, most of them political.  She thinks she will understand everything and save the world.  Then when she gets 15 pieces of mail a day (I am not kidding), she groans that she doesn't know why they keep sending her stuff.  She spreads it all out on the table and reads every bit of it.  She brought me one that she wanted me to read the small print on the back, and said, she guessed she wouldn't donate to them any more.  It was a breast cancer research place.  On the back it has to release the facts of where the money goes.  Last year they raised almost 12 million dollars, with 63.5% of it going to FUND RAISING, 4.2% to administration, and 29.6 % to education and a lousy 2.66% to research programs. 
I have a feeling these statistics are average for most of the places looking for your money. 

If I had my way all her junk would go in the trash but she is of sound mind and it sure gives her something to do.  Then all the "stuff" they send usually gets mailed back to the sender.  Like little sewing kits for the soldiers,  they are sent to her then she can return them with her donation so they can be sent to the soldiers.  All they really want is her money.  Who knows if they send the kits on or not. I got tickled a couple weeks ago Huckabee got bumped from his Sat. night slot as there was some major news event going on.  She did get to watch him Sun. but she was going to call FOX and complain to them because she had made donations to them and it was like they would be taking her advice for their programing.

When I have asked her about why she reads all of the stuff, she just says it was sent to her and she needs to read everything.  There is often money in the envelopes too and she feels guilty if she keeps any of it so it usually is sent back along with another survey.

What really worries me is that I know these are all the work of high paid marketing people and often they are doing a demographic thing that focus on the elderly.

Shoot we probably should have an 89 year old grandma running the country, they know more about what is going on than the average 30 year old.

Back from my Iowa Get Away

I spent a week with a friend that I went to high school with.  She stayed put while I was the one to move all over the country.  So now I envy her for her stability and success.  She and her husband have a good business in a tiny town on the Des Moines River in Van Buren County.  You can google the county or the town, Bentonsport and you will find your way to her shop, it is called Iron and Lace.  Her husband is a very talented blacksmith and she is a potter, weaver, and much more.  Her signature pottery has the imprint of Queen Anne's lace (a common weed)  and you will see from some of the pictures how beautiful it is. 

The first pic is of their shop. A picture taken at an earlier time.

Second pic is me weaving a rug on her loom in the shop.  This is the first time I have gotten to weave on a big heavy loom like this.  Quite different than my little Baby Wolf.

This picture is of Miss Betty!  She just whipped up this "little" bowel while I was weaving on the rug.  I really felt I was in my element and enjoyed it so much.  It was Memorial Day and she likes to have demonstrations going on for the customers.  She would tell them that I was a friend on a working vacation.

This is Ginny, who is an artist that works in the shop with Betty. In her spare time she ties off rugs as you can see here.

This is just a small sample of their work.  They hold classes on a regular basis to teach their crafts.  The county has a program that is very successful that I will have to talk about another time.  But they are deeply involved in this.  Retirement?????  Not on their radar. 

The river was above flood stage while I was there.   This old bridge has been preserved as a walk bridge now rather than be torn down.  The new bridge is about half mile up stream.

The last picture is taken from the porch of her store.  So you can see how close to the river she is.  They have had to sandbag in the past.

So you can see why I ended up not traveling over the county like I usually do.  I did go into town once but got caught in a tornado!!!!  Really.  It rained off and on while I was there and I had made plans to go into the nearest town about 6 miles away to visit some other friends and the sky looked like rain, well the closer I got to town I saw a white wall of water and knew it was going to be raining like mad in a couple minutes so I stopped at a church that was on this road and parked under their overhang and it hit.  It rained so hard that I was running my wipers while under this overhang and the little car I was in was rocking.  I have to admit I was a little scared.  When it passed I went on into town and there were trees down all over town.  BIG trees.  After supper the friends and I went for a drive and saw the damage.  About a mile up the river there were alot of big pine trees snapped off about 15 ft off the ground.  At first they said it was straight line winds but a few days later after better evaluation it was classified as an EF1 tornado.  OK that was close enough.
Well I am caught up for the moment.  Got to teach my friend and her daughters a different technique on the loom and came home and am now making tote bags on the loom.  Got 4 done so far.  Will have to look at my other blog if interested.   Its

http://readagainbooks.blogspot.com/

Till next time: Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself-----Chinese Proverb

When you are given lemons, make lemonaid

In my last post I showed the picture of the tree that the snow badly damaged.  It was a Branford Pear tree that had been allowed to get way to big.  We ended up having it taken down and they left me a stump.  That is a pot on top with wave petunias planted.  I also am planting alot of ground cover plants along the roots and on the outside of that chain link fence.  It is to rough and rock to mow so I am making a garden that will only need a spray of water from time to time.  Have some small starts of ornimental grasses to plant, hen&chicken, and some others.  I will follow up later in the sumer when it actually looks like a garden.

Spring Snows do damage

This is what happens when you get 4 inches of wet snow in May!  This big tree had bloomed and was all leafed out.  Had the tree guy out yesterday and guess the whole thing is going to come down.  Always hate to see a tree go.  We were lucky it didn't fall on the fence. 
Saw my orthopedic guy for one last time (did I mention that he is a cutie?)  Anyway I have a couple more sessions of PT to finish, and my surgery is about all healed up on my upper arm and think I will be just fine.  Will always have some restriction with my shoulders but need to learn to not reach out away from by body when lifting anything and reaching behind me.  Hopefully I will remember to do the exercises they are teaching me to help strengthen the shoulder muscles.  I asked him about my thumbs hurting so much and he assured me it was "just" osteoarthritis.  It flairs up when I do to much hand work like I did last week wrapping alot of small rope to make my fabric baskets.  He said I could still do it but just not so much at a time.
Oh, did you say you would like to see one???  Well here it is.  This one is about 13 inches across and 2 inches deep.

I made a set of 4 mug rugs to match.  Not sure I can sell this one though as I sort of like it.  Have fabric left, maybe I could wrap some more.  TEE HEE  Now where is my heating pad?

Spring?? More like April Fools Day!

This is how I felt when I woke up this morning!  Here is a pic from our deck,  the big pots have wave petunias that I planted the other day,  now covered with coffee cans and bricks, oh, and 4 inches of snow!  We double covered the tomato plants so think we are OK.

That tree is actually still in bloom too!

This is a pic of a tree in the front yard that was totally leafed out so caught the snow and broke off several big limbs.  It will look pretty sad.

The last pic is of hubby pushing snow.  IF you click on the pic you can see the blooms on that tree.
Welcome spring huh?  But we are getting moisture and the winter wheat in the area looks really good.  Glad we got the yard all mowed about 4 days ago!

Thought for the day:  Creative clutter is better than idle neatness   (I think that sums up my life)

Missing in action?

Haven't written in a few weeks.  Guess good intentions don't count for much.
Lets see the 29th of march I had the egg size fatty tumor removed from my right upper arm.  The rascal was under the deltoid muscle and was causing the nerves to be stretched and they didn't like it much.  The surgery went smooth and after the first couple days sitting around in a daze from taking the percocet I cut that out and stayed with some tylenol and felt much better.  Don't know why people want to take that crap and feel like that. 

Any way was back to my little store in about 10 days and doing a little PT for the little rotator cuff tear in same shoulder.  Think I mostly need to learn how to do some of the things I love to do without causing any more damage as I DO NOT want any more surgery.

Hubby is doing very well and still on coumadin till June.  Been out mowing the yard and I try to help where I can (and where he will let me)  We are finally getting spring or maybe it is a taste of summer as it went from the 40's as a high to over 80 yesterday.  Have had some nice spring rains and finally got the tomato plants out yesterday.  Poor things were sitting in the window for over 3 weeks (we potted them up into gallon pots) and they grew way to much, so when we set them out they sure look droopy.  Hopefully they will perk up soon.

So that's it for now.  Trying to catch up and you can follow me on my book store blog if you can figure out how to find it from this page?????????

Thought for the day: Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back.