Pages

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Tisket-A-Tasket, Making the Babies' Easter Baskets

Years ago I used to make a lot of oak splint baskets. I even taught some classes on how to make them. But when my local material supplier went out of business, my interest waned. Outside of a few grapevine baskets I haven’t made a basket in at least 15 years.

That all changed when Sis asked me to make Easter baskets for the babies that could be heirlooms for them.

I contacted an old friend who now has a basket shop up in the NE to get my supplies. I explained what I wanted to make and she sent me the supplies in the form of a couple kits she put together. And she sent some extra reed as she already knew I like to do my own thing when weaving.


The first basket I put together was for Little Hoss. I made each basket a different shape and his was square.

It came together fairly quickly. I was very happy that muscle memory took over and it was like I’d never stopped weaving.

 
I’ve always like putting decorative handles on my baskets, so of course I had to do them for the babies too. 

After finishing the square basket, I started Little Bird’s round one. 

This stage is always so aggravating!  I put a plate on the bottom to keep the form even. 

Her handle was pink on the top and teal on the bottom. 

Here is Little Hoss’ basket loaded up…

…and Little Bird’s too.

And a short time later, Little Bird was using that basket to hunt her eggs.  (Gotta have those eggs kind of obvious when it’s a 20 month olds first time hunting!) 




Thursday, April 28, 2011

Damage Control

While we were in Missouri for Easter, our home was hit by a series of storms.  LOTS of rain and wind.

Our rain gauge topped out at 11.5 inches. The weather service rain gauge site showed an observer near us measured around 15 inches over a three day period.

And we had consequences from it. For the first time, we had leakage in our basement. In the finished part… of course. Looks like my hobby room remodel just got shoved to the top of the list as we make the necessary repairs to prevent this from happening again.

 
Seems there was so much water coming down the hill it overwhelmed our French Drain (that is now a lot deeper than when we left!). It ended up pooled against the house. This hole appeared up against the foundation. The “courtyard” makeover just got pushed up in importance too.

(Guess you now know what my summer projects are going to be…).

 
The water also cut a canyon in the driveway.

It is around 10 inches deep!

And there is a lot of gravel in the yard, which needs to get back up in the driveway!

The wind knocked down some trees along the edge of our property.

And topped a maple in the front yard. (But that is OK, since we had that one slated to be removed soon).

But you know, in the light of what could have happened – I have nothing to complain about. My heart breaks for those south of us in AL, MS, GA, other areas of TN.

No… I’m feeling pretty blessed right now.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Season's First Auction

Not too long ago I went to my first auction of 2011.  This was a small farm estate sale.  They ran it a bit differently from what I am used to.  There were two bidding areas… one selling the household goods (furniture, kitchen items, etc) and another selling things from the barn and sheds.  I did not like this way at all, as there were things I would have liked to bid on in both areas! 

(See that iron bench in the bottom left corner?  I wanted it!)

But since I didn’t have a choice, I decided to stay over in the ‘barn and shed’ area.  It was much more interesting.  Even if I wasn’t going to bid, things were just fun to look at. 

This anvil was causing quite a stir.  I called a friend who collects anvils (yep… anvils – I’ll have to write about that some day!) and got the basic info on this bad boy.  It was an M & H Armitage Mouse Hole from England, probably about 100 yrs old and weighed 120 pounds. 

Wonderful metal milk crates… and I couldn’t think of a thing I would do with them.

This rocking bench went for $12.  The ‘puppy playpen’ leaning on it came home with me for $7.  Miss Sasha now has a safe place to hang out in my yard and bark at squirrels.

Loved these old wrenches!!!


The old gentleman must have had 20 tool boxes crammed with all sorts of “stuff”… some good, some pretty nasty.

This logging chain was fabulous.

I came home with a few treasures. Some really heavy duty buckets (used for feeding horses) at $1 each. An old heavy duty C clamp for $1. The puppy playpen. And several misc items that will be part of a future blog!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Spring In My Garden

Several years of digging in the rocky dirt (or maybe it is the dirty rocks!) is starting to pay off.  This year was the best yet for spring flowers!

First to come up were my daffodils. 




I have several types planted so far and I’m going to keep adding new ones each fall.

Next to bloom was my patio peach.  I bought it last year after it had flowered.  I had no idea it was going to be such a beautiful double pink!

Himself’s wisteria decided to bloom this year.  It hasn’t done a thing since we planted it as we moved in.  Guess it decided it likes it here.  Next project – build something for it to climb on!

Last year Little Bird and I went to a nursery where I purchased 4 different types of lilac bushes. Two have bloomed this year (so far).

This one is an ‘ever blooming’ type.

 
And I forget what this one is, but I love those flowers! So do the butterflies and bees.

Now I need to concentrate on planting some summer blooming perennials!











Monday, April 18, 2011

Encyclopedia of Moi: F

Finally!  I Found time to Focus on a blog post that doesn’t look like I Floundered around writing something that Flowed off a Factory assembly line.  It’s a Fact for a while it Faded from memory.  But I’m back now to have some more Fun!


Fall This is my favorite time of the year. Hot, miserable summer is over and won’t be back for 8 or 9 months. YES! The trees are beautiful; the mornings are crisp and cool.

Fencing No… not what keeps the varmints out of your yard. Fencing as in sword play (tho that would be pretty good at keeping varmints out too!). Never have had an opportunity to learn tho. Maybe someday.


Feathers  I was one of those kids who picked up any feather she could find.  I don’t so much anymore (what to do with them?) but I now enjoy taking photos of feathers. 

Funky Junk   If I could only go to one decorating blog, Funky Junk Interiors would be it.  Donna has a wicked sense of style and a sweet personality – making for some truly ‘funky’ and cool designs.  (Even if she won’t let her son paint his room black!  LOL)   http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ 


Farmer's Markets   Love, love, love a good farmer’s market!  It stretches every sense and is a treasure hunt too.  It just gets to me something awful when we are in developing countries and go thru a wonderful, vibrant market and I can’t buy & eat any of the produce!!!  I have been known to buy anyway and share my bounty along the way. 

Foodie   If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, it is no surprise that I am a total foodie.  I love shopping for food, cooking food, and eating food.  If it is from another culture that is even better! 


Fog   Except when I have to drive in it, I love fog.  Living on the river, we have many foggy mornings.  I like to take my cuppa out on the deck and wrap up in a warm robe, to watch the world in black and white.  Sounds are muffled and soft.  The light is gentle.  It’s incredibly peaceful. 

Frugal     Not cheap… not stingy.  Frugal.  That’s me.  Dad says I am a good one for sniffing out a bargain.    I’ll spend good money where it will make a difference.  But if I can get a good deal; well -- I’m all about that too!   


Feeding birds   Himself started feeding birds about 5 years ago because he had a huge window in front of his desk.  I didn’t pay much attention until we moved out here to the ‘sticks’.  I was amazed at the different types of birds there were… some I had never seen before.  Now we are working on a “bird garden” with flowers and plants that are attractive to them and all sorts of feeders to bring in even more.   

Franklin Graham    He’s someone I really admire.  The son of Billy Graham, it took him a while to find his place.  His book “Rebel With a Cause” showed me that strong Christians don’t have to be meek and mild all the time.  It was a turning point for me, and helped me to find my place.  He is the president of Samaritan’s Purse and several other things. 

Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Shelf By Any Other Name…

I have a question--


Is this a shelf?


Or is this a shelf?


And if you mean this… then do you say “a shelf from the shelf”?

Is it a ‘bookshelf’ if it has other things on it?


Sometimes there are more knic-knacs than books. 


And sometimes there are no books at all!


What do you call it if it is a part of a piece of furniture?


Or if it hangs on a wall? 


If it has doors, is it still a shelf?

Oh this is giving me a headache! I think I will just shelf this line of thought for another day!!