Studio Time

"You're a businesswoman, a wife, a mom, a world traveler, and you're knitting socks. You've got it all."

A friend recently said this to me, and I loved it. It's a little off, since I haven't been out of the United States yet, but hey, I like it! Actually, what he said was that I am knitting him some socks, but I'm not, so I edited it. I may have to start on those socks now though, just to show him how much I appreciate this quote! Thank you Scott Langford of the Grand Rapids Press.

We were talking about having a lot of interests. I've always envied those who have a driving passion for a particular hobby, job or interest. It must be so much simplier and rewarding. Concentrating on one thing would enable you to really become expert in that area.

I'm a dabbler. I hate being pinned down and want to do it all. Right now, I'm trying to clean out my sewing room, and this tendency of mine is causing problems. I can't get rid of that soldering iron and such because I intend to make some collaged pendants under glass. How about the rug hooking supplies? Well, I'm still intrigued by that too. The journaling/drawing stuff (and there is a lot of it!) has to stay because I actually use it often. The sewing stuff must stay. The knitting stuff stays, but I can definitely get rid of all the acrylic yarn. I've become a yarn snob I fear, and I love the natural fibers. The vintage fabric stays, too. And then there's all the vintage book pages and ephmemera which I'm actually starting to use...working them into my drawings. The scrapbooking stuff....well, maybe I need to face reality there.

The good thing is that much of the supplies will be moved to the shop, where I'm setting up a little studio (in the picture above). When I'm done, sewing supplies will be at home and much of the rest of the artsy stuff will be at the shop. I only want to move what I will actually use though, and what inspires me. The rest will have to go to the charity shop.

Oiling Wood Floors and Knitting Socks

These floors are in our shop and boy, are they ever ever dried out! Believe it or not, the floor on the left is actually clean.... just dry as a bone. They seem to have no finish on them, and a floor man who was here for another part of the building told me I could just oil them. I decided to oil them little by little as I'm rearranging the shop for spring....ufff. What was I thinking?!! Anyway, they are going to look a lot better.


I'm using tung oil and it really isn't too hard, just a little time consuming. I clean the floor first using an all purpose cleaner in water and a microfiber cloth, rinsing often. Those cloths really pick up the dirt. Then I let it dry thouroughly.

Next apply the oil in a small area at a time...this floor is so dry, I pour some on the floor and then spread it around with a rag. Let it soak in for 5 minutes or so, and then buff with a different rag. Move on and do the same to the next patch of floor. I will apply a second coat tomorrow. It makes such a huge difference.

If these floors were in our house I would be trying to get off old paint when I come to it and really make it look more perfect. These floors are in the 100 year old city hall building in our town. I rent space here for our shop...there is a lot of traffic through the building. I just want to bring some life back to them and protect the wood a little. I thought I share the project here, because you could certainly finish the floors in your old home the same way.

eta: I've been reading on the web that this finish, while it says tung oil in the name, does not actually contain tung oil. Fortunately, many people seem to have had good luck using this on their floors even though the label says "not recommended for floors." I was happy to hear this, since I really don't want to put a poly over this wood. Poly can't be renewed without a lot of sanding and I think I can refresh this easier with out having to remove all my stock. I'll let you know how it works out!


I finished my socks and I love the Mountain Colors yarn. I will definitely be buying more of it...it was soft while I was knitting with it...but after I washed it, it is just the softest and warmest pair of socks I have.

Now I've started a new pair of socks for my daughter's best friend Kylie. Those are some pretty wild colors, but take a look at Kylie:

I think she has enough attitude to pull off wearing socks like that.



My friend Dawn passed an award along to me. With this award I'm supposed to tell you 6 things I'm thankful for and pass the award along to 6 other bloggers.

I am so very thankful for...

• My relationship with Jesus and that I have his word to guide me.
• My husband and kids and all our extended family.
• Having my parents living in the same town.
• Our home
• My dog
• My health...including my eyesight and the use of my hands because I love to make things. I don't take this for granted after seeing my grandmother lose both to her battle with rheumatoid arthritis.

I'm awarding:

• Tiny Old House
• One Woman's Cottage Life
• The Cottage at Wit's End
• Creative Little Daisy
• Equus Villa
• Daily Yarns n More
  

Fall Colors....leaves, paint, & yarn

We've got a nice indian summer going on here. After the dew dried, Joe made some progress on getting that last bit of the house painted.


Fall is looking so good this year. Last year we didn't have much color for some reason, but this year is wonderful. The sun was not even out from the clouds when I took this late this evening. I hope it's sunny tomorrow so I can get some pics.


Margaret at Fabrics & Fibers & Frills was kind enough to wind my yarn into balls for me....aren't they yummy?!


My socks are coming along due to my obsessive knitting. I've been working on them in every spare minute and staying up way, way too late listening to podcasts on CraftSanity. If you like to craft and listen at the same time you will love Jennifer's podcasts...she interviews successful craftspeople and learns the inside stuff you always wanted to ask your favorite indie crafters. I worked at the shop today, and anytime we didn't have customers I was listening and knitting. Soon I won't be able to do that since we will be madly working to transform the shop for Christmas.

Primed

We're trying to get in some priming and painting during hours that it's not raining or too cold.

Paint, Paint, Paint.........

You won't believe what I did today!

That's right, and if you know me...you know how odd this is. I hate heights. I don't do heights. But, I'm determined to get this garage painted! If you could see my feet you would see my toes are trying to curl around the ladder...my feet were so tired when I got down! Last time I tried something like this I ended up in tears. So maybe I'm making progress, but I don't think I'll ever like being up high.


Here is the view from the neighbor's house....looks better, right? I still have a second coat to go on the side with the doors. And we need to do the other two sides. But the worst part is done...DS scraped them down and started priming them. Just in the nick of time, since he goes back to work tomorrow.


Here's Joe working on the front of the house again.


He's very safety conscious...I'm glad he wears the mask. We want to keep those lungs healthy for a long, long time.


Making progress on DD's sweater. Tomorrow I have to go get more paint and I'm going to go by a yarn shop in Btown. I'm hoping to pick up some more colors of sock yarn-maybe one of the self striping ones.

Painting, Painting, Painting.....

Here you can see why it takes Joe a long time to do a paint job. He is a perfectionist. And he does do a great job! It just takes a long time. We have literally painted somewhere on this house every year for 10 years. Arg. Joe also works a ton of hours at high stress job to support us, so this gets done in his spare time. Sometimes I wish I could convince him to hire it done, because I'd like to see him spending his spare time doing something he likes...like biking. The man is a cycling machine. But he isn't sure we could find someone to do this good of a job. Well, he has a point there. LOL


And of course he is doing the gingerbread...the hardest part for sure. He's a good man.


Usually I'm a perfectionist too...although through the years I've been learning that sometimes done really is better than perfect. Because of housework, kids, shopping, working, and balancing so many different things, I think most women come to that sooner or later. And besides I painted the garage last time the same year we painted front of the house, and it lasted just as long. So see, both ways must work. Anyway, he does it his way and I do it mine. And we are still together 26 years later.


Maybe it's partly because we are both the oldest child....we're used to being the boss. Here's how we compromise.....we usually work on a completely different areas. We both do it the way we want and we still get along at the end of the day! That's why you saw that I did the inside of the porch and now I'm working on the garage. DS got some more of the garage primed so I'm working on getting some top coats on. As you can see we are not doing the garage doors in two colors this time. That's because the doors are on their last legs and will be replaced next year anyway by solid white doors (that you don't have to paint!).


And here is the sock update...I finished all the decreasing and now I'm knitting the foot. I'm trying to lose some weight and think getting back into knitting in the evening is going to help. Keeps the hands busy and I don't want to get that pretty yarn dirty.

It's funny to see the reactions of people when they find out I'm knitting a pair of socks. Most of them look at me like I've lost it. And I can see their point. I don't know why I'm driven to make some things that you could buy for very little. But I am. Everyone has their quirks!

Second Sock and Painting the House (does it ever end?)

I think I'm on my way to avoiding "second sock syndrome." Today I finished the ribbing on the second sock, knit the heel flap and turned the heel. It's all coming so much easier to me on the second sock. Short rows for the heel turn and all the decreasing and picking up stitches, etc. is new to me in this project. In the future I can use these techniques to make sweaters that fit a woman's curves. That's the hope anyway! LOL And they are a small project that I can finish relatively quickly.

Now, on the house. Joe and our son fixed our garage door (again) and hopefully it will make it through one more year. Then DS worked on priming some more. He had to quit for a while there because it rained for a few days. Now he's gone for the rest of the weekend visiting some friends at the university. Tomorrow I'm going to put the first coat of paint on the first side he primed.


Joe got back up on the scaffolding to scrape the gingerbread on the last bit of the front of the house that needs painting. I'll have to take some pics tomorrow. It's supposed to be nice this week and we have to make hay while the sun shines. Or I should say we have to paint while the sun shines. Then we can pack up all the paint for the winter. I sooo hope we get this last bit of the front finished and the garage all nice and freshly painted. Then I will feel good going into the winter.

Painting the Garage and Fireball Run

I painted the garage about 8 years ago. It was definitely time to do it again. Our son has been home lately because he is laid off from his job for, hopefully, just a few weeks. He is an apprentice pipefitter and the slowdown in construction in this economy is coming home to roost. Here the garage is...he has already scraped it.


This is the backside which never did get painted the first time. We keep ladders stored by hanging on this back side.


He's got it this side primed today before he had to leave for school. It's looking so much better already.


Tonight Joe and I gave Hawkeye a haircut. We clip him short...and then he gets more and more lamb like as it grows back. The haircut lasts longer this way, and the burrs are a lot easier to get out after romp in the country. I hate using a flash on dogs....you always get that doggie "red" eye.

Here's another fun thing we did lately. The Fireball Run stopped in our town for lunch. It's a scavenger hunt done by people who have some really awesome cars. It's kind of like "The Amazing Race" but across the US and done to publicize the plight of missing children...and hopefully find them. One of the goals is to pass out flyers with missing children's photos in as many places as possible. This is my son and Dot's son by the car from the movie Back to the Future II. Our little town was full of Jaguars, Lamborginis, Ferraris, and all kinds of cool vehicles.

Tomorrow's Project....Radiator Cover

This radiator cover is in our living room. We have lived here 20 years...and yes, it has had those holes all that time. Time to wrap up some of the stuff on the original to-do list. Tomorrow I'm planning on sanding and priming this cover and the window sash in this pic. Someone antiqued the window sashes and it is peeling. I will be painting it an antique white. We painted some of the upstairs sashes white and left the trim natural and it looks nice. I'll also be taking that broken mesh out and investigating what kind of material to use to replace it.

Bedroom Progress...Tackle it Tuesday!

For "Tackle It Tuesday" I'm still working on our bedroom. These things always take longer than you think they will. But here is a peek at how it's going. This is the top of my hubby's dresser. As you can see we will be having more of a shabby cottage look (I hope) than true shabby chic. My furniture has great shapes that would look adorable painted white, but like Jan, I can't bring myself to do that....it's really nicely finished, good quality oak. So I'm going with the wood with some white accents. Like this great vintage beveled mirror. I've had it a long time and it has the perfect, authentic worn finish.


I love the color. It's a Dutch Boy color from walmart called Little Bluebird....I like Ace's paint better though, so I had them color match it.

One of the great things about redoing a room is getting all the clutter cleaned out. When I was cleaning under the bed I found this cross stitch floral. Maybe I knew I was going to go shabby chic one of these days. Isn't it pretty? There were two and I sold one. What was I thinking?! If I had two I could hang the pair over the bed.

There is nothing under our bed now. Hallelujah! I threw away several big bags of stuff.


See, wouldn't that bed be pretty painted white? Well it's not going to happen. I'll just have to keep tweaking until I get perfect cottage look....with some wood. After all, most of the old lake cottages I've been in have a mixture of wood and painted furniture, so surely I can make it work.


For more Tackle It Tueday posts click here.

Busy day....started bedroom

Today started out with a big gathering on the square in support for keeping the Pontiac Prison open. Our governor is threatening to close the prison to save money. This of course would be devastating to our local economy as well. Our prison does have some very old (even historic) buildings, but it has all been recently updated and serves as a model of how to incarcerate very tough criminals. Hopefully the closing will never happen. If the state could find the money, they could reduce the overcrowding by opening another prison (which is already built), solving a problem and creating new jobs. Of course, money is the big factor here. A large group of citizens turned out....the crowd actually goes further to left and right but that's all I could get in with my lens.

People always ask me what it's like having a prison so nearby. Mostly it's like having any other big facility or company nearby...it does not make alot of noise or create a problem in the community. And it provides a lot of good jobs to the area citizens.....and a lot of workers who support the local economy.

This is Senator Rutherford getting in place for the photo. He's working hard to try and keep the prison open.


The photographers are are way, way up there in the ladder truck. Yikes. Not me.


And I got started on the bedroom. I'm writing this on a break. I'm painting the ceiling white. I had it painted a honey color before. I think this alone will brighten up the room a lot. As you can see some previous owner put ceiling tiles up, and we have never taken them down. This was done in several rooms of our house. We'd like to put it back to plaster ceilings someday, but for now a nice fresh paint job will help.

Front Porch Done

The inside of the front porch is as done as it's going to get this summer. The porch floor needs repainting, but it still looks passable. The window needs to be reputtied too, and we might get that done yet. I'll try to get a better pic of the color tomorrow. This was taken early this evening through the screen door. We bought the chairs at last year...they bounce, which I love. Someday I might recover the cushions in a more fun fabric.
Here's my sweet doggie peeking out at me.
The roses by the back patio are starting to put on a show. I think they are some kind of floribunda or rambler. They go everywhere, so this year we put an arch over the walkway so they can lean on and ramble over that instead of the sidewalk.
Dawn posted some pics of what our formerly flooded town looks like now, so I thought I'd do the same. Here is the pedestrian bridge in January and now...quite a difference!
Earlier in the spring Dawn gave me this beautiful planter as part of a blogland Pay It Forward. Thank you Dawn! Now it is my turn to pay it forward.

How does it work?

Here are the rules: I will send a gift (of my choosing) to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this "PIF" exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blog.

The only thing you have to do in return is PAY IT FORWARD - on your own blog.

So, if you want to get a goodies from me, and are willing to do the same via your blog, let me know!
(Note that you'll need to give me your real (snail mail) address... which you can do by private email.)
Just leave a comment and I will get with you.

Painting Progress plus a little scenery

As you can see we are close to being done with the front. Joe has been reputtying the windows and replacing bad wood as he goes along. We still have to scrape and paint the front of the porch and the left side of the bay area. We did scrape and prime the porch posts before the party because they were peeling so badly. Also, the inside of the front porch is done. I don't know when I've seen a spring when it rained so many days....it rained again this afternoon, so we didn't get to paint today.
Here is a scene from the Illinois countryside. This is a big garden junk project! A farmer put a toy horse in the field to mark a vent that they kept hitting with the tractor....then people started donating more horses and pretty soon he had a little herd. It makes me smile whenever I drive by this field.
This sign is outside a local nursing home to warn drivers to watch out for pedestrians. It was designed by a local artist and I think it's very sweet. It also makes me smile whenever I pass this way.

And the winner is.....

I never dreamed I'd ever get 98 comments on a post! It's a testament to the power of Kim's blog and I thank her for sharing her readers with all of us. I hope some of you who found me through the giveaway will continue to visit. I know I'm trying to visit the blogs of everyone who posted on the giveaway....I'm finding so many neat places to visit!
The winner is Kim from Simple Needs. I hope she enjoys the goodies!
On the home improvement front: Joe scraped the whole center section of the bay area yesterday, and put new glazing compound on the large window. Today he primed the whole section. It's looking great. I got 2 coats of yellow on the inside of the porch and still have to do the white trim.