Stencils and bird feeder

After I did the blog on funky furniture Shirlee Fassell sent me this photo of a table she painted a while back.  It is almost the exact same style as the one I've chosen to paint...  I'm anxious to start mine but it will be a couple weeks down the road and there are just so many things that HAVE to be done and just when I think I'm catching up, something else happens to rise to the top of the list.  Today the frame rotted out on the chicken house door and it collapsed.. It was old when we bought the place 37 years ago so I shouldn't be surprised...but it just wasn't on my list for this week and it will take most of the day tomorrow to repair it.

But while I'm working I can still think about funky furniture.  I have always wanted to try something like this which is all  done with stencils.  I used a few stencils on my door and other things but it was hard to find some on this small scale.











But I did find some at this Etsy site:  Iris Mishly and ordered them... They said allow up to 28 days for delivery because they came from Israel but they were here in less than a week.  They had a lot to choose from and I chose mostly borders..  I want to use some on my table... There were so many that it was hard to choose.  Most of her stuff is for using polymer clay but the stencil selection is  delightful...

Most of last Friday was devoted to rebuilding DH's favorite bird feeder which was looking like this.  If you followed last winter you will remember the wild turkeys trying to get the seed put out for the songbirds.  Saturday was DH's 83rd birthday and I wanted to surprise him.












So using wood from the old barn and lots and lots of screws it ended up like this and hopefully stand up to the turkeys this winter.  Every part   was reinforced heavily.

Sweet treats for sweet hens....

Here are my sweet hens are eating their favorite treat right from my hand..  And if you were a chicken, what do you suppose your favorite treat would be.. above all else.?. If you guessed dried mealy worms you'd be right and I can order them  right from Amazon.  That's my lovely Maxine on the left.

I keep a bag in my apron pocket and when I let the hens free range a bit in the evening I can always keep them near by tossing a few mealy worms out after I "chuck -chuck"  That way I can keep an eye on them and get some weeding done as well.

Things are progressing better than I hoped although the old hens are still pretty bitchy..  I could see that the new hens were about to start laying and looking for somewhere to nest.  The old hens would not let them settle in the nesting boxes near the roost during the day.  So I took the door off this puppy crate and put it clear on the other side of the coop...added a couple golf balls as lures and sure enough one of the  new hens promptly laid her first egg.

But the old hens couldn't stand this new box being just for the new hens so they too had to jump in and lay their eggs there also..  Everybody is laying now in the puppy crate and they line up like women in a one-stall bathroom... Quite frequently the old hens still give the new hens a good hard whack just to show them who is still boss.  But no blood is drawn and that is good.

The last hurdle is the sleeping situation... I do get all of them into the roosting area at dusk but the old hens won't let the new hens on the roost.  There are 6 bars and plenty of room for everyone. It's a natural inclination for hens to roost as high as possible at night.  Not sure how I'll solve this little problem and may not be able to... At one time when I had 6 chickens, one was ostracized and spent her entire life sleeping on the bottom rung by herself.

But for now the new hens have to huddle in the old nesting boxes to sleep..  "Pecking order" is an incredibly ingrained instinct.  I may have to figure out a way to build an alternate  roost.  I tell you it is really tough trying to outwit chickens.....

Painting furniture funky!!!

Painting the kitchen counter really put me in the mood to paint something else much larger than a button.  I've been painting ugly furniture for years.. and there is a lot of it in the house.  But my favorite piece of furniture I painted is my nightstand in 2008 because I see it every night and every morning.

And the rainbow front door was fun... I love painting doors but this is my favorite because I see it many times a day and it is the first thing visitors see when they come.  Now that it has become a bit weathered and worn I like it even more...  I have painted other doors including the one to the bathroom which makes it easy for visitors to find..."just look for the green door."  I actually painted that door because it was so old and ugly and being an odd size, hard to replace.

As I was working around the house and barn I kept an eye out for what to paint.  I have a fabulous antique breakfront in the barn which was too big for the house.  I always thought that someday I would live where I could use it as a kitchen island as it is almost 8' long.  It would be fantastic as a funky paint job but I would never see it.




I already have a fun piece I never see and

probably will never live where I can use it.  It is this sunflower bench I built and painted and is now covered with a tarp for years.  I love the black and white check and will probably use that on my newest project...








So the criteria is developing...something I will see and use everyday..  I do have several stools that I could paint including my antique piano stool I use at my sewing table... It is high on the list.. The little roll-about stool from Harbour Freight really needs a facelift and I use it all the time.

Stools are a perfect subject for funky painting.

Some things I am too emotionally attached to so that painting them is not an option...such a case is my 100 year old typing table on the left which holds my featherweight... But the tall jewelry cabinet on the right with all the drawers would be a blast.. It came from the thrift store and has no real value.  I can see every drawer painted differently... It too is high on the list at this point.

And there are a few tables.  The little folding green one on the left is used all the time and since I have used it to iron on, the finish is pretty bad.  DH is always snagging it to put by the couch to hold his coffee or wine.  But it is not very stable and is an accident waiting to happen...  The one on the right is darling and a perfect subject but it too is in the barn because it was  too large for the house.

So I settled on another smaller one from the barn that could be used by the couch and other uses when the leaves are up... It needs a good sanding before I paint it but is in great shape otherwise....very stable... hard for husband or dog to upset.


















And as a bonus it
has great legs... and boy do I have visions for those legs..... check out these legs that Pinterest sent me under funky furniture...

Latest on Harley

You have to love a dog named after a motorcycle and Harvey here is indeed a real cutie.  When I get all the basics blocked in I lay the button on the picture and take a photograph.. Many times the camera gives me a better perspective.  I not only want to capture the image of the animal, I want to capture a personality.  Things started off well with Harley...  Here his nose is still just a blob and I haven't even started on the fur on the muzzle.

When I'm closer to being done I will scan both the button and the photo and put them on the computer screen and leave them there for a while and keep looking at all the details.

Sometimes I find I have to remove or replace one or both eyes or a nose but here the changes to be made are very minor and I'm happy.

I'll tell you what I see:
Change the shape of the left ear
Forehead a little higher
Several tiny changes to left eye
Reshape the neck area.
The very last step is fine tuning the fur..

It feels good to be painting again and I must start regularly as my supply of buttons for sale is so low.  I have to either do it or give up Etsy as it has been so long they have changed the site and I had a devil of a time figuring it out.  I have been making a list of new ones to paint... I just painted a special order for a clown and now I'd like to do a few more...  I have one more special order to do then start on my list.

As promised a picture of the table.

As promised a picture of the table.  This dinner had been scheduled since March and I was so glad that the roses obliged and bloomed on time (barely).

I started collecting this pattern of vintage Vernon Rose pottery (c. 1965-1975) years and years ago and it has become a tradition to use it when the roses are in bloom. The pink goblets and salad plate are French and also a long ago purchase... But the  ruffled hobnail bowls are a new addition to my collections.  They are from the 40s by Anchor Hocking and called "Moonstone Opalescent"  I couldn't believe I had never seen it, but I had lunch at my cousin's recently and she had a set.  I fell in love with it and was able to find some bowls and dessert dishes on Etsy for a very reasonable price.  It will go with everything which is great because almost all of my dishware are not complete sets and having something to fill in my bits and pieces is nice.

We were having a beef dish so I got out my crystal knife rests to help protect the vintage lace and embroidery tablecloth. Since I never buy tourist-type souvenirs, I always try to buy something for my table or my kitchen as reminders of a trip.  I bought these gorgeous antique crystal knife rests in Amsterdam in 1992.  They came in this beautiful leather box lined with silk... It was the best bargain I ever got and a great reminder of the trip every time I use them..

But even though I love to cook a special meal and set a pretty table, the real joy comes with sharing it all with friends.  We rarely  go out to drink or dine so having friends for dinner is a major part of our social life.

All in all the evening was a great success and DH helps with all the dishwashing......

A Good Morning

I had a great morning.... I know it will sound silly but I got to go grocery shopping all by myself.  I've always like to shop for groceries as I like to dawdle over purchases and fuss over the veggies, and make impromptu decisions about menus or add something spontaneous because I have a whim.. 

Since I don't drive anymore DH has been taking me grocery shopping for months.  He never complains and takes me whenever I need to go....but.... he has a tendency to hover or shift on his feet if I'm too slow or the very worst ...wants part of the list and makes his own decisions about brands and prices
.

Today he had to get his driver license renewed which is a lengthy process here and he dropped me off at the grocery store and I had a whole hour and a half  to shop alone.  I was in heaven.  We 're having a fancy dinner party tomorrow night and I had a long list.  We always shop at the same store so I'm comfortable getting around and am not the least embarrassed to ask for help with reading labels or finding things. I had just finished and checked out when he arrived and apologized profusely for being so long... I just smiled..

I did need a LOT of special items as here is the menu... The theme is "Everything's coming up Roses!" I get to spend whole the afternoon making the duck pate and the cannoncini.  It's a rainy day and since I can't play  outside, the next best thing is playing in the kitchen.  I will post a picture of the table tomorrow.

Flowers feed my spirit.....

What a difference a year makes... This is my bed of rescued peonies that I was working on last year.  It was all overgrown with weeds and my lovely granddaughter Leigha helped me clear it out so I could put down a weed barrier and bark mulch...  Photo from the same spot as last year.  All the peonies in the foreground have already bloomed as they are very early varieties.. Added many more peonies this spring.  There are close to 50 plants now in this bed...most still small.

My garden is filled with secret places of bloom that no one but me ever sees.  This huge pink dictamus and beauty bush are a good example...