Northwest Rain Flower

Not Quite a Sunflower... rain drops for petals.
Not the best image but its given away so...

5 X 7

Doll and Bird House

A while back another Granddaughter requested a shelf for her Bratz dolls, and Larry told her he'd make her a doll house. She and her brother were here Saturday and Larry started building the shelf/house. It evolved into something with a balcony & front porch. The kids wanted to paint it the same colors as our house (they helped paint a bit last summer) so we got out the paint cans and let them have at it. I decided it needed some flowers to spiff it up.































Click this one to see the flowers up close and personal.





















While I was at it, I hunted down an old battered bird house that has always hung on our front porch. I gave it a paint job. The chirping of many families of sparrows have given me cause to smile over the years.

Tea Party Chairsies

Some Little Ladies came to visit and we had a Tea Party. They don't really want tea. They just want to pour into the cute cups, spoon in lots of sugar, stir and stir. Then they are done.
Our itsy chairsies are perfect for tiny tea parties.



















2 granddaughters (on the left) and a friend.




















After pouring, stirring, sipping & spilling, bed jumping was just the ticket.

Little Chairsies At Home

Here's the Little Ducky Chairsies
At home in their places.

front porch

Bathroom
















TV room keeping Mini Me company
















Parlor

Old Newspapers

Some pieces of newspaper from 1942. These were used for insulation under our living room floor. I am contemplating how to use these. I don't want to just throw them away.

Click the pics to see some detail.

Water stained, cut, crumbling and dirty, but oh so cool!

Itsy Chairsies - Just Ducky

My girlfriend rescued 8 of these little chairs from the church dumpster. I've had them around for 10 years or so, painted various colors. They were in a sad state of disrepair, having used them in the yard to hold plants and I even left some of them out in the weather. It was time to give them little face lifts. Larry patched and glued them back together, getting them all straight and sturdy, and I painted them some bright colors that match the new colors we painted inside and out.

The red is for the parlor, to sit beside my Victorian Settee & love seat which are upholstered in red, gold & cream. The lavender goes in the spring green & lavender bathroom. The cocoa chair goes in the TV room which is 3 shades of cookie & cocoa brown, with my "Thinking of Chocolate" quilt on the wall. The final bright berry chair goes on the front porch next to my berry door (they are different berries but fun and bright) to hold a bowl of pansies.

Cyber Fyber Postcard Exchange

I had the Happy occasion to exchange a fiber postcard with Susan Lenz.

These fiber postcards will be on display at CYBER FYBER, an international exhibition scheduled for January 8th through 20th, 2009 at Gallery 80808, 808 Lady Street in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.

You can see all the fabulous postcards that she made, and the exchanges on her blog -Here- .

Here's the postcard I received from her.
















And here's the one she recieved from me. (Its one of my recent Sunflower series)

Sunflowers for the Postcard Exchange

Last Fall I joined a Postcard Exchange.
Click the title "Sunflowers... " above to view the whole gallery.
There you can click the images
To view each one individually .
Enjoy!!

My Piano Adventure

Last chance to Play :

Katharine Hepburn hands and Old Keys

In 1997 I inherited a 100 yr old Steinway grand piano. She belonged to my grandfather who was a musician all his life. He played at the Bohemian Club back in the 20's and 30's. My grandmother was a radio singer in the San Francisco Bay Area also. When my grandmother passed away, my dad got this piano. It's been in disrepair since the late 1960's. When Dad passed, the piano came to me.

I love the old gal, and agonized for these past 10 years about restoring her. She had a lovely voice even though she was in wretched shape. I pretty much stopped playing piano. I didnt have something to play and couldn't really afford to restore the Steinway.

Finally this year I was pressed to decide. We are putting new floors in the entire house and the piano had to go somewhere, it might as well go to the repair shop. I had a technician come look at it and give me an estimate. They wanted $18,000 for a complete restoration. Just the works would be $12K. Well. Never mind. I can't afford that.

At last Classic Piano in Portland gave me an offer to trade it in on another piano. I was so sad to let the Steinway go, but stoked at the new piano I traded for. A brand new Yamaha baby grand.

Here's some pictures of my Lovely Lady. There is even an old signature inside.

Porch Transformation

Our crooked porch has been transformed to a lovely welcome.

New Mailbox, and cute old doorbell ringer to be added.

Also refinishing my park bench! woohoo. Life is good.

Before & After: