Valentine's Day....or month?

I've been playing with paper...lovely, lovely paper. I got this collection of scrapbooking paper at Michael's and it's so rich looking. I punched out a bunch of hearts and ran them through the sewing machine and will probably hang them in a window of a room at the shop. I'll post a pic when I get them up. And then I think I will have to declare Valentine's Day to be for the whole month of February so I can enjoy them for a while.

Chalkboard Paint at the Shop

Since I already have a black and white and taupe kind of thing going on at the shop, I was inspired by this article in Cloth, Paper, Scissor's Studios Magazine to paint my office door with chalkboard paint. This is the studio of Kristin Krause. Check out her blog by clicking on her name.

So I got busy and painted a couple of coats of chalkboard paint on the door, and then used artists acrylics to paint details. You can see in the little sign above, I used chalk (clever, I know) to draw some guidelines on the door.

 (as always, click on the pic to see it larger)

I think it turned out kind of neat, and now we can leave notes for each other right on the door, too. This is a good technique if you can't draw a straight line...because straight is not necessary!

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.

Face Lift

The side of our building at the shop is getting quite the face lift! The city had Diaz paint a huge mural on the back of the Rt. 66 Museum (the old firehouse part of the building). Then this spring they installed a nice brick drive in front of it so you can drive your car up there and have your picture made. The drive even contains bricks from the old Rt. 66 highway. Very cool.

Now they have also brought in the wishing well and sign from the old Wishing Well Motel and installed them between the old city hall building and the fire house.


Here's the front of our building...the white rectangle is where the new streetcar mural will be painted. Can't wait to see it all done!

Pontiac is going to the dogs...The Walldogs, that is!

I'm very excited about the events going on in Pontiac this summer. Pontiac is hosting the Walldogs this summer! The Walldogs are a group of sign painters and muralists from around the world. Each summer they converge in one town to create wonderful murals. 160 artists will visit Pontiac to create 17 murals around the downtown area. This design will be painted on the side of Old City Hall Shoppes! Come to Pontiac June 25, 26, 27 and 28. In addition to watching the murals being painted, you can attend Heritage days on the square and the Hang Loose Car Show in Riverside Park. You can view more of the mural designs here.

Since I run Old City Hall Shoppes downtown, I get to see all the preparation going on...the buildings have been tuck pointed and the mural sites are being primed. Some new artwork has been added to downtown for the summer.... there are dogs of all kinds, decorated by artists, to be found around the square. Here they are in a nice little group shot... right under a "no animals allowed" sign. Now they are scattered around the square, near the shops. If you haven't been downtown lately, now's the time to take a walk and see the action.

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
  

Christmas Decorating.....what?

I know, it seems too early....


but our whole town is holding Holiday Open Houses this weekend. Sooooo, that means we decorate!


The good thing is that it's now done at the shop, and the day after Thanksgiving, I'll be in the mood again to decorate at home.

Joe is 50!

My hubby turned 50 this week. We had a birthday dinner for him last night where he took a lot of old age jokes in stride. I think he's pretty hot at 50!


Check out that cloud of smoke!


I started a new project tonight. I'm trying to knit a sweater for DD. If she doesn't like it, I'll have to make sure I lose enough weight to wear it. It will remain to be seen if either of us will like it though...I've knit sweaters for babies, but not for grown-ups.


Are you tired of my socks yet? I promise this is the last pic of them you'll see!


We just had an elevator installed in our building at work. Hawkeye loves to ride it. ...no matter who is going up, he will try to ride with them. He's a stitch.

Halloween Decorating...with Antiques

These pictures were taken at the shop...because I always have to get that done first and I have spent a lot of late nights there lately...changing seasons. These ideas are easily used at home too. My idea was to have old time movie scary...not evil or slasher movie scary. More along the lines of "The Birds" and "The Mummy." I searched around for all things witchy or amber or orange or harvest. I love the old shoes in the picture above...around Halloween they suddenly seem like witches shoes to me.


I have a lot of crows and blackbirds that I bring out each fall. Atop this display cabinet I stacked cages and orange pottery and some carnival glass.


This is a wonderful rustic piece....just layered up with gourd jack-o-lanterns and crows. Old lamps, and the best part....a very pretty chandelier. Pop in those flicker bulbs and it has an instant Halloween look. Now's the time to drag out quilt in darker colors too...they don't even have to be great shape. Just drape them around for color. Mirrors are great too because when you pass by you get that hint of movement.


Probably still not done with this. The piano has purple lights inside it...but I need a stronger light to get it to shine out....a haunted piano is what I was going for.



This case is filled with everything I could find that was amber or carnival glass or orange.


Old photos are great at Halloween too. The sepia color is wonderful and they have almost a ghostly feel to them.

I know some people have strong feelings against the whole Halloween thing...but to us it has always just been about dressing up, hay rides and spooky decorations....and of course candy. We have friends who go all out with their costume party and it's a ton of fun.

Home Again, Home Again

To market, to market to buy a fat hog.
Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

To market, to market to buy a fat pig.
Home Again, Home Again, jiggety jig.

That little rhyme is how my shop got it's name. We say that little rhyme whenever we come home from a trip. And I like the idea of all the vintage treasures finding a home again.


Today I spent the day rearranging to make room for new merchandise. It's challenging and fun since most of the things are one of a kind to our shop. No multiples.



This week I've got some great girls helping out in the shop so I can have some time off. I'm going to spend some time at home catching up on things and some time out and about. I'm hoping I'll even get to visit the shops of some of my online friends.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and make some more progress on getting our bedroom done! I'm doing a better job of keeping up at the shop than I am at home. I loved staying home, and I know it sounds crazy to all of you who work and seem to keep up with everything, but I'm still struggling with it. Maybe one of these days I'll get the hang of it, or maybe I'll start setting it up so everyone else can help more. Or maybe things will remain messy until I stay home again... Ack! I'm pretty sure that's not a good option! LOL My sister and I were talking about this the other day. She says since she's started working again, deep cleaning just doesn't happen as often...but she neatens and straightens and spot cleans much more. I think that's what I need to do: get rid of my all or nothing mentality. Any hints on how to find a nice balance?

Heritage Day on the square

Today we set up a booth on the square to bring a little of the shop out where people could see it. If you'd like to see what I was up to today, and see our Heritage Day celebration look at this post on the shop blog.

Thanks for all the suggestions on the last post about my windows....I'm definitely going to look into roller shades for the living room.

Auction Time

I went to an auction today and bought a load of goodies for the shop.


I've unloaded it into the driveway to sort it out. And to take pictures like a good little blogger.


Right now I'm in the middle of washing the linens, and cleaning up everything else. But I'm kind of pooped. I love going to auctions, but standing all day, trying to pay close attention, and making decisions about what to bid on and for how much just leaves me drained. So I thought I'd take a break and write a post.


I want to get it all cleaned up and priced and in the shop so people can see it. That's the fun part. I love it when someone finds something I loved enough to buy...and it really trips their trigger and they want it too.


I got a bunch of these trays in wonderful shabby chic-like colors.


I love the aluminum spice set and the red handled utensils too!


And here's the clincher. This is the most gorgeous little platform cradle. I can't decide whether to put it in the shop or keep it to rock my grandbabies in. Now, I don't actually have any grandbabies yet (thank goodness), but someday...........

Joe says put it in the shop and when our grandbabies get here we will run across another.
I guess I will.
Maybe.

Vintage Embroidery

These linens are part of an estate that I am cleaning up to sell at the shop. I don't think the towels above have ever been used though a couple are yellowed from age. There are quite a few collectors of black Americana. I know that they are not politically correct images these days...but history and vintage items are what they are. They show a glimpse into a past we need to remember. It makes me wonder what the images we choose to decorate our goods with today will say about us in the future.
These two little girls are rather worn but still charming. They are embroidered on pillow slips and hand colored beneath the stitching.
I'm taking these home with me to wash them while I try to get my sewing room/studio straightened out. What a mess. I'm still moving the stuff from one room to the other so we can get Mike moved in this weekend.

Recycling for the shop

I've been buying those white merchandise tags, but lately I've been thinking about what a waste that is. After all, when I go to an auction I buy dollar boxes that have odds and ends in them...usually there is neat stuff I could use to make tags: old books, wallpaper, string, wire, greeting cards. I just need to spend the time. The red floral paper is vintage wallpaper that my aunt got in an auction box. I've been using it for shelf liner at the shop. The string came out of my auction finds. I think these tags are much cuter than those plain white ones and all I had to do was dig around in my supplies.

I'm making some progress with my sewing room and I may even have a picture to share later on tonight.