Talia Likes to Help

Of course I can't sew and paint and upholster by myself. Lucky for me, Talia likes to help. See, she's holding down the drapery fabric, lest it float away:

I could not have sewn these drapes without her:

It was Talia's idea to paint that cabinet black -- I think it's striking, don't you? Remember it used to be green -- nice enough, but it would have clashed with these walls and the new drapes.

Thank goodness for Talia, who simply wears herself out helping me. After her nap she'll be designing and working with me real soon.

Where Have I Been?

Hello, hello, Bloggy Friends -- thank you all so much for checking in and checking on me. I've been very very busy -- my business is growing by frightful leaps and bounds AND I am trying very hard to pull together my first floor. So when I am not working I am sewing and staining, sawing and stapling. Yikes. I didn't mean to be away this long, but actuially I've had little to say other than, "I'm still working on the Great Big Cabinet," or, "I squeezed in an extra client today and I'm pooped," or even, more commonly, "I am still looking for a china cabinet/hutch/buffet, round four." None of that would have made very interesting reading. And less than no pictures -- but as soon as I figure how to photograph paint drying...

I have made a bit of progress, though. On our way home from Cumberland we stopped at an odd little flea market and tucked in the back corner, behind booths of new merchandise, socks and gems, pet food and tools, was one lady selling antiques. She was closing out one of her booth spaces at some mighty attractive prices. So I got this for a song:


This is near the front door and as soon as I decide if it should get a mirror or that beautiful piece of art above it -- framing that print was a Christmas present from My Sweetheart.


This is the spot where that hideous radiator once stood!!! Remember?

This doesn't work like those TV shows where the whole house is revamped by a crew of worker bees in 25 minutes or less. All this work and all these decisions and all this money is coming from me -- in drips and drabs.

This is where I have been, partly and very soon I will have some Oh~So~Nice finished photos. But for now back to work with me -- today I am sewing drapes. Hooray!!!!

Christmas Cabin in the Woods

Merry Merry Christmas!!! I am hoping each of you enjoyed a warm and lovely and peaceful Christmas.

Our joyous holiday was spent at a cottage in Cumberland Falls State Park for what we have referred to as "The Christmas Cabin in the Woods". Oh, it was lovely ~~ kind of idyllic, like camping, except with heat and electric, running water and a kitchen. And a fireplace.

We had such a nice time -- my son, daughter-in-law, grandson, boyfriend and me. The weather could not have been nicer. It was a little cloudy, but warm enough. We enjoyed a lovely outdoor lunch on the deck of our cabin...

This was such a nice relaxing way to spend Christmas together ~ we went hiking -- or rather, the way we do it it might more accurately be called "tramping" through the woods.

My daughter-in-law, practically perfect in every way, is a pastry chef and a dazzling cook. I'm a fair cook myself. We much appreciated having the kitchen. Of course we brought way more food than we could ever consume... just in case. (Adrian has been trained from the cradle to help and he's very artful at it.)

And because we are the sort of people we are, there was crafting. The plan was to craft ornaments for the tree, but the only good craft project was designed and brought by my boyfriend, Gordon. And it was so simple -- play-doh rolled out and cut with cookie cutters. We blended colors, embedded gems and stamped the clay with pine branches for texture.

With all that cooking and eating and hiking and crafting, we just about wore ourselves out. Baby Kai looked after things while we napped. (He looks like he is telling a bedtime story... and maybe he is.)

But I think it is just a clever ploy to get the grown-ups to fall asleep so he can peek into all those presents.
Merry Christmas Everyone.

Will Work for China

Does everyone know I have a china fetish? Not of the very large, faraway Peoples Republic of, with billions of bicycling citizens and pandas that romp in the wild. Not that China. But rather china. Dishes, porcelain, ceramic, pottery, crockery, if you will. Have I mentioned it here before? If I haven't, well, there it is -- I'm now outta the closet. "My name is Jenny and I am a china addict."


I didn't even know I had china leanings till I was on my fourth... or fifth set. This is because they are not full sets. I've been a dabbler, a social addict. A few plates here, a service for four there, add on a serving piece or two. If you are a china addict then you know how it is -- you see a few pieces, half a set... Or an event crops up that warrants all new plates. It happens.

And as it happens, I like to mix and blend pieces -- all of mine have a pink, green, blue, yellow "theme". In fact I have Fiestaware in each of those colors. I have a set from Pier One Imports that are white with with pink, green, yellow and blue stripes around the rim. A set of Pfalzgraf I once stalked and snatched up on sale have pink and green and yellow and blue featured in fruit and flowers. Chintzware, bless it, goes with everything. So when I put all these pieces on my table, a few plates here, a few serving pieces there, they absolutely are fitting with one another.

But every china addict has their "Holy Grail" -- a certain pattern... Staffordshire's Welcome Home or Pfalzgraf's Grandma's Kitchen... the pattern that one desires above all others. For me that pattern is Franciscanware. The old stuff. the real stuff.

And yesterday... a client bartered my service of cleaning and organizing for the thing I want more than... a new car, diamond earrings, a bigger table saw or grass mowing for a year.

The thing I want, the pattern I most covet, is Franciscanware ~ Desert Rose:


Need I say more?

Dying to Play

If you've been reading along a bit then you know I am finally rehabbing-updating-decorating the living room/dining room portion of my abode. Rather than continuing with the disheveled hovel look, I am reaching for something more ... cleaned up.

So now that I have ripped out the radiator (not me personally, but I cheered heartily), replaced the carpet (again more cheering), painted (me) and upholstered (me too), I am moving on to the drapery aspect of the new decor...

This was a hard step for me ... because I am funny about fabrics. By "funny" what I mean is I LOVE them. ALL. My heart races, my breath comes in short bursts. I could grab any fabric, sew it up, stretch it on the window... and even if it is the "wrong" fabric for the room, what I would see is a beautiful fabric for which the room is wrong -- don't change the drapes, change the room. WAIT.

This time I decided to go slow, hold my breath, put blinders on if need be, but choose drapery fabric very carefully, very cautiously. Whew -- it was hard... it's a mine field out there. There are florals and checks and stripes and toiles and sheers and wools and, oh my, a girl could get dizzy.

But here is how it worked out:


Yards and yards and yards of tone on tone white floral jaquard. Now, white will work... but it won't be what I want. With three windows, 6 feet tall, in a small room, the draperies will loom large. And what I want is for the draperies to be a feature... but not too much, I sure don't want the drapes to be the biggest freakin' thing in the room. I want them to blend in with the walls... I want to dye.


I LOVE to play with dye. Can you tell? Have you ever dyed anything? Do you mix and blend dye colors? A little wine with a little tangerine and brown and you get burgandy. A bit of orange and a smidge of fuschia and you get peachy-shrimpy-melon. Hip-hip-hooray for dye. I even dyed the fabric for the dress I wore to my son's wedding. Any excuse to play with dye. Any excuse at all.

And here it is -- from yards and yards of white to yards and yards of medium green:



Doesn't it look like the paint is leaking off the walls and flowing onto the sofa. That is it -- my singular skill -- I can match any color, be it in paint, dye or clay. And now, the only task left here is to get the fabric up from lounging all over the sofa and make it stand straight and tall at the windows.... I'll get back to you on that.

Keeping Busy

Because I haven't enough to do, what with chasing fishes and cabinetmaking class and working a bazillion and a half hours a week, I needed a little something to fill the empty hours of my quiet little life. Sooooo, after having the hideous behemoth radiator ripped out (wasn't THAT fun?)and painting walls, and then having carpet laid, I selected new colors for upholstery...

And then I ripped into the sofa like nobody's business! Can I just mention here how very much I HATED that old upholstery? I love the shape and size and scope of this sofa... but the medium blue that went with nothing and always looked dirty. Blech.



I'm liking this black and white check. The idea for black and white check came from a ribbon poppy pin I made once. The ribbon poppy, pretty enough, needed something... a background...

See, the black and white just goes...


And it goes with everything... and green, the color of leaves, goes with everything too ... hmmmm, a Decor Is Born, almost.


And there it is, awaiting drapes and pillows and pictures, behold, the sofa, because I just didn't quite have enough to do (but truly because I could not stand that dirty medium blue that didn't go with anything another minute.) Up next... something purple. Who doesn't like purple?

Got 'im

It was a fight to the finish -- could'a been anybody's game, but I was brave and determined, with single-minded focus, and only one wet shoe -- I am the winner. And so's the fishy!



Isn't he pretty? You can see that this gold fish isn't so much gold... he's rather bronze. Against the black liner of the pond he disapears entirely and is known as The Great Invisible Fishy. (We're given to hyperbole here.)



Whatever his color, I am much relieved to have them all together. For a while there I was worried.

And look, Bailey like's him too.



She likes them all.