Bird/Tassel/Valance! I can do this!!!!!!!

Ever since I posted the other day about combining little birds with tassels on a valance I have been mulling over options trying to come up with a way I can do this at my current ability level.  And I think I have it nailed...

First I had to find little wooden birds that I could paint and I found them on Etsy,  Not only did I find them, I ordered them last night and received an email that they had been shipped this morning....

 

I did see lots of birds already painted in other materials ....mostly when I searched for bird ornaments.  But I didn't want just any old birds, I wanted birds from my garden.  Several years ago I put together this picture collection of the colorful birds that visit us. 

Now I just have to whittle it down to my eight most favorite...  Probably goldfinch, chickadee, red winged blackbird, grosbeak, rufus-sided towhee, hummer, flicker and bluebird....this will be hard. Maybe  I should have ordered a bigger batch of birds.

 

Then I started thinking about the valance sections.  I know I could still gather enough fancy fabrics to crazy quilt the sections but I hesitate to set myself up for frustration and ultimate failure.

After   I work at the new house I come home to the farm  sometimes I just go through my closet again and try to get rid of more stuff. I have been through it several times already but each time through I get rid of more.  Sometimes I put something in the "donate" bag and take it out and sometimes more than once.  

So last night when I was going through my closet once again I came upon this jacket that has gone into the donate bag twice before and I've taken it out.   I was going to put it in there again when I  really looked at it with a new vision. It's all pieced velvet and brocade.  It has been my holiday jacket for years and years and I needed to let it go as it was showing wear and was too big anymore.  I realized it would make a beautiful valance when cut up and there's just about enough material.  It was a sign for sure. I will cut it up tonight before I can change my mind. I even found a piece of burgundy silk to line the sections.

 

 

 

Then I thought why not make my own tassels with all this thread I have acquired over the years. They would not take that long to do and I could mix the colors and blend them and by then my mind was just was just racing with possibilities and I know I can do all this..

So the bird/ tassel/valance project is a go.  What's more I know just where I'm going to put it.

workroom moved up the to-do list!!

 I had planned to do my workroom last but all the other rooms now are waiting until we can move furniture and I'm kind of at a standstill for them. So the workroom is at the head of my list now that the kitchen is done. The room that I'm going to use for my work room is good-sized and really a blank canvas. My room at the farm just sort of evolved over the years. There was never any coordination between any of the pieces or the colors. It just happened. Now that I have this new space I want to give it more thought but it too will probably just evolve.

First of all it has a gray carpet. Whoever lived there before us had a thing about gray. At first I was going to take the carpet up and replace it with some kind of laminate flooring but after thinking about  the cost and was it worth it, I decided  to go ahead with the gray carpet. The walls are the same color as the rest of the house. Before we moved in they painted the same color throughout.  They left part of a can and  it's called "porcelain skin". It not really a pink and it's not really a peach and definitely not beige. It's almost a non color. It's certainly not a color I would have picked but it is growing on me. It seems to go with just about everything and I'm not about to start painting walls that have just been freshly painted.

First of all it has a lovely large window and that is where I'll put my painting table.  I paint by a window now and I love watching the birds and weather when I'm working. My new little garden will be just outside the window and I will put up a couple wren houses.




There is a large closet part of which I'll use for my clothes but there'll still be space for some supplies and books and whatever.

I had ordered kits for those tall storage units in the picture.  (I ordered several storage-unit kits during the black Friday sale with free shipping as well...a real deal) I'm also going to move three other tall narrow pieces that I have already. I use them for larger beads and supplies for jewelry.   I also splurged and bought a wall-mounted ironing board that I can lower when needed.  I have always wanted one of those.

I measured and my desk  and it is going to fit. I got some more pull-out shelves so that I can have my printer and scanner off the top of my desk.  I will probably make a cover for my old desk chair...  The lift mechanism has broken and I sit too low but it rocks and I love it.  Right now I am using my old laptop on a card table...
 


My computer table will face a blank wall. Right now I look into the living room as my desk is behind the couch so I know right away I now  want to have a long narrow low shelf for pictures of grandchildren and then above that I want favorite pieces of needlework.  

I'm dividing up all my crazy quilting supplies to give to friends.  It's giving me a chance to sort through and say goodbye to all my stash.   I will keep all my favorite laces as I can use them on other projects.
Purging as part of the move makes it a little easier to let go of some things even though I know I will never be able to use them again.

As I said this was going to be last on the moving agenda.   but winter has interfered with my plans as we don't know from day to day whether we will be snowed in...and I am flexible so I am moving what I can fit into the SUV.

accidential or unintentional collections

Sometimes I buy something I like and then I see another similar and buy it and  then another and before I know it I have a "collection." That is what happens with my white pitchers, vintage tins and marble cutting boards.  But I didn't realize I had been  doing it with tassels until I started this move and finding them on windows, curtain rods, lamps, etc. around the house

As I came across them I began just hanging them in the laundry room at the new house and suddenly I had a bunch of them.  When did this happen?  I wasn't consciously doing it.  Just one here and there over the years at thrift stores and really never noticed how many I had hauled home.

But I realize I love tassels. Tassels are so elegant and opulent. I began thinking that after this move is all over that it would be fun to start embellishing them and looked at some on line...

There are a lot of really cool tassels online,

I love them all beaded and fitted with fancy braids and I certainly have a lot of that left over from CQ and I think I could do it...

 

 

 

And I absolutely fell in love with these  little tasseled birds.  I have to do this!!!!

 

And not all tassels have to be used on window treatments... Look at this cool use of them?

 

 

 

 

 

And I saved the best for last... How about this valance of crazy quilt squares combined with tassels.  What a great theme for a round robin.

My style is color and clutter......

 Years ago I had a friend whose style was definitely midcentury modern...very clean lines, simplistic with touches of raw wood or hand turned pottery and abstract paintings.  I  loved to quietly sit in her house and just feel the serenity, It was so soothing,  It reflected her personality as well.  She was elegant, unruffled,  quiet. organized, and straight forward.  As much as I loved being there I knew for certain that if I lived there it wouldn't last a week without being cluttered.  I really missed her when she moved away.

Another style I look longingly at in magazines and on the internet are the all white shabby chic rooms.  The shabby I can relate to and I also think  the white   would be very soothing...There's a simplicity to having just one color even though there is a LOT of clutter...  But if I lived there I would be adding just a touch of color here and there, here and there, and everywhere. 

If I had to choose between color and clutter I know for a fact I would choose clutter.  I love stuff... not just any stuff...my stuff...my memories and I want it all around me. Down sizing these memories is the biggest problem with this move.  I have actually had a  woman tell me that I had too much stuff in my house.  It made her uncomfortable.  Made a point to never invite her  again...  I am going to try using a lot of white in my office/studio thinking it would make the small room seem larger.   We'll see how long that lasts.

So I have to admit my inner self craves color and clutter. That defines my style... color and clutter..  And I am not using any restraint in the new house. I'm taking more stuff than the house can hold and hoping I can find a spot for everything. It may very well end up looking like this... I find color energizing and uplifting which I must need more than soothing.

3 near finishes

Had a good week but couldn't quite finish the three projects I had going.  Best and first is the kitchen island cart. This was a kit I got from Wayfair at a  great price on Black Friday.  I prepainted all the parts before I assembled it. I just love it and all went smoothly until I tried to secure the top and couldn't. 

The back side has the drop leaf.  I plan on keeping my kitchen aid mixer, bread machine, food processor and blender in here along with smaller electrical items. for the kitchen. So just stopped until I have help. It needs someone adjusting at both ends at the same time. Remember my goal is to fill this house with color, color, color.

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So just stopped until I have help.  Then I moved on the console table on the entry wall.  It too was a win.  The metal supports and tiled top gave a whimsical touch and I even used old shutters for the ends.  Looks great but it needs another shelf so I had to stop until I could bring another piece of wood from the barn.. Cost was just the shelf supports.
Not only do I see this as storage for mail, keys, gloves, sunglasses etc.  but also storage for dog grooming supplies, games and playing cards, etc.  .  It is only 12" deep but 5' long.

 Then I tackled the old shutters to fill the gaping hole in that wall.... They come within 1/4" of a perfect fit and I need to trim the edge of one shutter.  I have to set up the table saw in the garage to do that but I just ran out of time and energy.  Next time ...a quick finish then.. Cost - $0

If you look closely at this picture of when we had a booth at flower shows, you will see part of one of these vinyl shutters behind DH's left shoulder.  They were part of the backdrop for our booths and have been languishing in the barn for 20 years.  Great to put them to a final use.

Now I' m moving on to the door to that bonus room and I did get it primed before I had to go home to the farm.


And I had to add a box under the old trunk but by golly Morris has a grand view of the neighborhood as it all passes by his perch and he loves it.  I think I will put a sign in the window that says  " If Morris is watching, give him a wave!!!"