Random pics of the week.

It has been raining all day and bringing down a lot of leaves with it. We have a lot of yard and Jeff has been riding the lawn tractor around picking up leaves this week and it does not look as though he has touched them. I watched it rain all day at work and finally after being home for a couple of hours I was able to take Bug out for a walk. Jeff had told me that the little tree outside the back door had lost enough leaves to give us a glimpse of a hidden wasp nest. It is huge and must have been there all summer without us knowing it. I took the camera out with me to take some pictures but the sun was starting to set so they did not all turn out real clear. You might get a better view if you click on the pictures.



I am putting this close up in just so you get an idea how large it is, not because it is a great picture. I think I will have to try and get a shot in during the day but it is suppose to rain for the next few days and brave hubby is hoping to find out if he can take the nest down or not because it is right outside our door.

We have just finished priming the hen house that the best partner in the world has finished building. He will be putting in the nesting boxes and perches next spring. He is also waiting to cut the doors for the chickens to move in and out through in the spring so we don't get any unwanted critters moving in this winter. Here are pictures of the finished building before the grey primer. The paint is going to have to wait until spring. There is a lot of rain predicted over the next few days and then I am sure it will be too cold to paint outside. I do have a pretty red paint I bought from Lowe's called Cooper Molera Fandango Red. I'm sure you can tell it's not your normal barn red.

This is the front, there will be a little door to the left of the people door. Jeff is over to the side getting the primer ready for us to start priming.

The window side of the building. After a lot of studying, Jeff decided to only put windows on the south side for warmth. The door under the smaller window is where the nesting boxes will be so we can gather the eggs without going in.

Here is the back and side view. Another chicken entrance will go on the back with a fenced enclosure. I am hoping to free range but we do have fox and really large hawks so we will see. I am thinking about a shelf on the long side to put pots of flowers on. What do you think? I am not a winter person and here I sit in Michigan dreaming of what I am going to plant next year. Well I have months to dream and I will post the finished pictures next spring for all to see.

Wizard of Oz

It is that time of the year when I need to get my dose of the Wizard of Oz movie. I grew up in the decade of black and white TVs. My family was one of the last to get a colored TV in the group of families I knew as a grade school age child. So little did I know, that the movie started in black and white and ended in color. But once a year I needed to watch it with my family and once a year I would hide behind my dad's chair when the flying monkeys came pouncing down. I am not sure how old I was when I saw it for the first time on a colored TV and was astounded when all at once everything was in color. Wow! It is still one of my favorite movies. I actually have a collection of the little dolls that McDonald's gives out in their happy meals, thanks from the help of daughters and granddaughters. I even bought a couple for myself. My middle daughter also bought me a vintage book that I have my little collection in front of on a cupboard shelf in my work room. I just ran across Funky Junk Interiors blog and she is having a vignettes party so I am going to link up to it tonight. Mind you, I do have some prettier or more countrified vignettes but as I said it's just that time of the year. I do not really celebrate Halloween. Do not decorate for it either. I do have a granddaughter born on October 31'st so I am sure there will be some pictures of children in costumes on here in a week or so. As Carol Burnett would say "Here's to the memories". Well I think it was Carol Burnett.



Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Our oldest grandson is visiting for the weekend so we just enjoyed a pepperoni pizza and bread sticks! Yumm! Thanks for stopping by!

Crochet, reading and just too many projects in progress.

Hi everyone! I thought I would show you another project I have started. I started working on a Crochet along from the Lion Brand Notebook. As normal I am behind with this. I have 5 blocks done and the instructor has all hers done and put together. Here are the pictures of what I have done and where it is when I am not working on it.

As you can see I am using my new sewing basket to stash my yarn away from Ladybug. I got the yarn on sale from Herrschners. I have found that if I shop on line I get things started a lot quicker than driving an hour away to get yarn and still not find the colors I am wanting. This is a wool blend that normally runs 5.50 a ball and I got it for 1.99. It is very soft and I am using Pale Sage, Light Lavender, Lavender and Deep Purple. I am making this for the bedroom that my computer is in and where my grandchildren sleep when they visit. I am hoping this will give me the push I need to go buy paint for the walls and paint the headboards I have for that room. I just have too many projects going at once and I need to force myself to finish some before taking on any others. I actually am very irritated with myself on this very bad habit. How do all of you who enjoy doing a lot of different things keep yourselves on task? I make lists. But they are for those everyday things that I just have to do. And how many of you out there have multiple books that you are reading. I do not usually do that but I have four going right now. I am listening to Love Mercy by Earlene Fowler in my car, I really am liking this one. I am listening to Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke in my work area. I am also reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice along with Kitty Scraps but I expect she has finished by this time. This is included in a book of seven of her novels and is really heavy so I usually just read it at the table for half hour or so at a time. And on the light side I have been reading Debbie Macomber's Between Friends. This one I started a couple of years ago and it got packed when we were moving and I just found it again. It is a different kind of book as it is letters and journal entries written by lifelong friends. I really started to like it after the third or forth chapter. My husband and I are quite different in our reading choices but the one thing we have in common is that after starting a book we have to finish it. In my case I always think, maybe this is one of those books that is a slow start and I need to give it a chance. I am liking all of these books and would recommend them all. Thank you all for listening to my ramblings. I hope you are having a good weekend and blessing to all of you that have stopped in for a visit.

New light for old.

I decided to add one more post today and show you a new/used light fixture I bought a couple of weeks ago. It is a copper fixture I bought from a resale/antique shop for our breakfast area. It was too small for that area but my mom in law pointed out another area she thought it would work in. Here is the fixture we replaced. Check out 2nd Time Around at A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words.

This is the replacement.

Two Projects One New the other Old

I had some shells and small pieces of driftwood that I picked up off the beach while on our vacation this summer. They were not significant because the Great Lakes have really pretty rocks but not so pretty shells. But I wanted to do something with them so I started off with an inexpensive frame from the craft store.

I next painted it white but not a solid white.

Next I used some distressed paint that I bought from my good friend Cindy's shop http://www.stampingscrapping.com.
Looks like a bad camouflage job!
Then I spent about three evenings gluing on the beach finds.


This is what the finished frame looks like. I was hoping to have it look like I took an old frame with chipping paint and just glued everything to it. My projects do not always look exactly how I envision them but this one works for me.

The other project I want to show you is a shadowbox I completed a few months ago. I do not have a before picture of the old type drawer I used, only the finished project. I had used this to display my thimble collection along with other small nick knacks for years and was tired of the look. So I decided to use some distress paints, scrapbooking papers, stamps, buttons and decoupage to give it a new look.

The following pictures are some close ups of this same shadow box. I have it hanging in my work room by my sewing area.

Rednesday and other various pictures.

Hello all! I decided to add another post today. I took time out from my house cleaning this weekend to do a little flea marketing/antique shop shopping. The flea market I went to is usually huge and I have not been able to go all summer. It only happens once a month and this was the last one. But the weather has turned chilly and it rained most of the weekend, so not only were there not many customers but there were not many sellers. I got a tablecloth that I thought would work for fall, a lock with key for the one missing in a cupboard I have been painting, (I'll show you that when it is done), some cinnamon almonds for hubby and two red Fiesta bowls, (not old). I didn't spend much and had been saving my spending money for a couple of weeks so I headed for my friend Angie's antique shop in town. I got this red rocking chair just in time for Rednesday at http://suelovescherries.blogspot.com/

I also bought this sewing basket that I plan on doing a little painting on to work it into my living room. I needed something I could leave close to me to store whatever I am working on. My Ladybug steals things right out of the open basket and off the top of my end table so I have to hide things from her.

Finally here is what Ladybug does not do often. DREAM, she usually leaves that for me.

And with my grandson who does not do a lot of this sleeping business either.

Nope, this is usually how Miss Bug acts.

We have to sit our grand children up on stools in front of the TV to be able to eat their popcorn with a movie. There she is, Ladybug, waiting for every little bite that might hit the floor. She is just a puppy you know. A spoiled puppy that is.

Butterflies and more Butterflies

I have finally finished stitching all the antenna's onto the appliqued butterfly blocks. Samantha's quilt started out as a queen size 84X92 but they have switched to a king size bed now. When I laid it out as the queen size version I was one row short of having butterflies in all four corners or a empty block. To make it work out I had to remove 2 of the outside rows. I believe a king bed is longer than a queen so I wanted to keep the length. I am planning on using the leftover fabrics from the butterflies to make a patchwork boarder and maybe work in the extra butterfly blocks into that corner. Should I first border it with strips of one fabric maybe what I pick for the back and then another boarder with the scraps and add the butterfly blocks. This is the largest quilt I have made and I want it to look good in the end. Hopefully you will share your thoughts and I can bring it all together.