Wooden Quilt

A fellow blogger was talking about quilts painted on barns and wood and it reminded me of a piece I was making years ago.
I had decided to paint a quilt, onto a full piece of plywood, and hang it over my entry way.
I did most of the painting and then put it aside and never finished it. I planned on using black to outline and give it the look of a quilt when all finished, but all it got was musty and spills from something and someone. So, it sits in the cellar and I told my husband to throw it out, but he said he can still use the board, for what, I have no idea;)

It does inspire me to do something similar on wood, but in smaller versions.

Christmas Nativities

One of the things that killed my arm, was a lot of sanding. I do have a small sander, but you can only do so much with those without taking off too much, so most of my sanding is done by hand.

Years ago, I made a few nativity sets and kept one for me, now I am trying to recreate them. I had to use my set to work from, since I have no idea where I got the pattern, I thought it was from an old BHG Christmas issue. If you happen to have this magazine or book it came from, please let me know which one it was, so I can see if I can get a used copy.

This is the set I made. I love it's simplicity.



This is the first, new set that I attempted. I made it smaller and use brighter colors. It was not what I wanted, and I got carried away with the black. It does look better in person, the flash makes everything stand out more. Now I am working on 4 sets at a time, still in the painting stage. I have to do a coat and then go over again with a second coat. I guess trying something over again, is not smart when you are making a few at a time and rushing to get them done. They will not be exactly like the first set, but hopefully the recipients will like them.

Kitty Kapers

Today is what I call a lazy day, which means I only worked half the time I normally do;)
Yesterday I decided I was going to sand the sets of things, I am making as presents.
That is a lot of sanding and then I had to clean the house and spent the night punching wool into weavers cloth.
That did it for me, now my whole arm is in pain, so I could only paint a little today with braces on.

This week I received a fun package from my friend Joanne. She sent me lots of kitty goodies, including a mouse. She said her kitty dropped it in my box, so she took it as a sign that he wanted to give the girls a present. Dora could care less, she is not into mice, but Izzy just loves it. She really loves to play and she even sat on the bench watching me paint today. She has come a long way, since the psycho kitty stage.



Later on, she discovered the box that it came in, which still has the wool she sent. Izzy loves to lay on things and it was a great place to relax. That was until Dora came along and decided to do a sneak attack.

Cat baths and contest

First of all, I want to tell you about a wonderful contest hosted by Amanda Atkins. She is the daughter of Donna Atkins who had a great contest of her wonderful folk art prints and I won! I will show you the pictures as soon as I decide how to frame them and some are going to be gifted, but you can visit her site and see all the wonderful art she has and epatterns if you like to paint your own.

Amanda has her own style, but is a very gifted artist herself. I love her fun and unique style. She is giving one lucky winner, a painting of the winner. I would love to have one done in character style, what a neat prize.

Now onto Dora. Dora has two modes, non stop action or out like a light. She spends her waking hours patrolling the house looking for trouble and always checking to see if I am watching. I assume she does it just to annoy me and then I get that big grin of hers. Taking a bath is no different. The minute she hears the water running, she is there to help. Making sure the bubbles are just right.



And making sure the water temperature is not too hot or cold. I keep waiting for the day when she jumps in with me;)

More decorating from old items

I have been in a mood lately to clean and organize, so one way I do that, is to rearrange things.
I hate cleaning, but it has to be done and by changing things out, I get the cleaning done too;)

I decided since i have some old books, I would make a book and toy display. Of course, I had to use what I have, at least until I can find or make some items to add to it. I think some small samplers would look nice and have some ideas floating about.

My favorite book is the Aunties poems. My grandmother gave that to me. She won it in a spelling bee when she was in school.
It is dated 1892, so it is special to me. Unfortunately it has worm holes in the pages but is still in good condition. The Easter story was my dads. It is signed inside, giving as a gift from Sunday school, in 1938.

The stuffed kitties were my first ever cat dolls, as you can see;) The chalkboard in the back is one I painted years ago, who knew my bad painting would be called prim some day, lol.

The tins are repros, a TJ Maxx find. Kitty cucumber is not prim looking, but she is a school one, so thought it was good enough for now.

So, that is it for now. I do love the idea of finding an antique noah's ark, but that is doubtful. Maybe I can get my husband to make me one and then I can do the animals.