Carrot Cupcakes and Snow

You gotta try this recipe for carrot cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen.  Moist, sweet, and they must be good for you with all the carrots and walnuts (and I left off the cream cheese frosting--she said smugly).

Meanwhile, we are digging out from our big snow . . .

Warm winter day

Some highlights from around here.

A sweet little baby quilt, now pieced and quilted.  I'm working on the binding and then will put it away until summer . . .

A new haircut for Pip . . .

And a recording-breaking warm day . . . which included a walk (Julie and me), a bike ride (Ben), and the urge to paint furniture (guess who).  No, I didn't actually paint today, but I did pull a lot of staples out of this ugly chair's seat cover.

Where it all happens

Do you remember a few months ago when I painted Julie's old room and set it all up for my own little creative space?  I love it, but the "layers" have quickly accumulated.  (You mean I have to clean up every now and then??)

Here's how it's looking now . . .

The laptop is between the sewing machine and iron so I can listen to podcasts and check my email while I sew.  The trash can is on top of the sewing machine table, so Pip can't knock it down and run off with scraps.  The bucket of my beloved paint brushes is next to the computer waiting for furniture rehab season.  And that's my design board to the left above the unorganized piles of fabric.

In the fall I switched from painting furniture to house projects and quilting.  I'm back to work on my New York Beauty quilt--and much closer to finishing.  Today I sewed the last of the paper pieced sections (there have been a lot!) and started appliqueing these round stars  to the brown squares.  I've worked very patiently on this quilt, but am ready to see it done.

And I'm still having trouble downloading photos from iPhoto to this blog--very frustrating!  It doesn't seem to matter which camera I use--or browser--sometimes they work, more often they do this:

Any suggestions?

Ah, biscuits!

I've been very neglectful about blogging the past few weeks, but not about eating!  Now I must share this wonderful biscuit recipe from www.plainchicken.blogspot.com.  They are very simple to make and have a great texture and taste.  I'd rate them right up there with KFC biscuits--and well above any I've tried to make over the years.

2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-Up
1/4 cup melted butter

While oven is preheating to 450 degrees, melt the butter in a 9-inch square pan.
Meanwhile, in a bowl cut sour cream into the Bisquick.  Add the 7-Up.  It's a very soft wet dough.  Sprinkle additional Bisquick on the counter and pat dough out.  It's very sticky, so I sprinkled more Bisquick on top.  The recipe said to cut the biscuits with a round cutter, but they squared up as they baked, so I thought it was easier and less wasteful to just cut the square of dough into nine smaller squares with a knife.  Put them into the pan on top of the melted butter.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Photo from plainchicken.com

Off to a Good Home!

It may sound silly, but I loved seeing our things go off to "good homes" on Saturday (yes, kind of like puppies).

Take the little blue dresser.  I didn't really want to sell it--BUT knew we just didn't have room in our little house to keep it.  I was so happy to see Kitty, who is an amazing cake artist and owner of
 Tasteful Indulgence, buy it for her shop!  Check out this photo she sent:

Lucky dresser!  Doesn't it look happy surrounded by all those lovely cakes?!!

Craft Fair

Julie and I had a great time selling at our local Seward Jr. Women's Craft Fair today! Thanks to everybody who stopped by our booth.  It was so much fun to visit  and you were so nice to buy things!  Thank you!

There was a lot of interest in the pretty aqua dresser (above), but without a way to get it home most people had to pass.  This means it's still for sale ($85.) and my handsome husband and son-in-law will  deliver it locally.  Let me know if you're interested in it or anything else you saw.  You can contact Julie at her blog (http://julieowens.typepad.com/the-cork-board/)

 if you'd like more of her cards, bags, or baby hats.

Again, thanks Jr. Women's Club ladies for a fantastic job putting together this event--

and to all of you who came!  

A Paris Break

Well, actually my break today was a thrift store run where I found a little bitty Eiffel Tower.  I painted its brassy finish a flat black and it looks very pretty.

Then I came across this YouTube video of a famous pastry shop in Paris.

Can I go now?

Felt Flowers

It's been a busy week!  With the craft fair just a week away, I've been finishing up a lot of projects--and starting a few new ones.  I don't enjoy mass producing anything, but with each one a unique combination of felt, fabric, and buttons, these flowers have been great fun to make.   I still need to get pin backs on them and attach them to tags, but should have them ready!

Footstool

While it may appear to some that I will paint anything that stands still, I actually do appreciate beautiful wood finishes, too.  I picked up this little footstool a couple of weeks ago, thinking it would be fun to paint and distress with all the carvings on those curved legs.  One thing led to another and after doing some sanding, I decided to see what stripper would do to the old finish.  It came off easily, so I stripped it, sanded some more, and decided to stop there.  The raw wood finish is very nice.  I reupholstered the cushion and called it done!

      

And here's the before:

I'll have this for sale at the upcoming craft fair, but will probably ask hundreds of dollars for 'cause I like it and want to keep it.  Ha!

"Pip's Pick"

A little break from furniture posts today to share Pip's new (and first) sweater.  This was designed by one of J's good friends from her working days in NYC.  Great style and perfect fit--thanks, Caroline! 

Dog Chair--Another 4 Legged Project

Just finished this one--the Dog Chair!  I stained and sealed the back before laying down the dog shape.  Then the whole thing was painted, the dog shape removed, and it was sealed.  I had been waiting until I found some appropriate fabric for the seat--how about this "houndstooth" check?!  It was a fun project and I'm happy how it came together.

This is the same style chair as the "Map Chair".  I found it the day after I finished that one.  I'll have both at the craft fair next month, but if you're interested before then, let me know.  This chair needs a good home and will provide hours of companionship with little or no barking.

Little Blue Table

I wish I could just look at a piece of furniture and know exactly what I should do (or not do) to it, but it doesn't seem to work that way.  In my hands this table has gone from black (way too serious) to white (way too much distressing) to its current and final blue color!  I mixed two blues, MS Rainwater and MS Duck Egg, then followed up with light glazing in the details and on the edges.  Then I decoupaged over the top with old book pages.  I'm happy to say it is finished!

I painted the French street sign and put together the little bottle/vase.  It has the prettiest old earring that I found at the thrift store (yes, just one) and clipped to the antique lace. 

More Signs

Signs are really fun to do and I sure don't look at scrap lumber in the same way anymore.  Last week I bought a wobbly coffee table at a garage sale just because I knew its top would make a great sign.  My good husband dismantled it for me within minutes after I carried it home, it's primed, and now waiting for good things to happen.

Here are a couple signs that I did last week . . .

Meanwhile, a table I've been painting is on its third color!  I think I finally have it figured out, so hope to finish it up by the end of the week and will post some pictures then.  I know it's not rocket science, but I do want it to look nice.

An Outing to the Country

We had one of those perfect fall days yesterday and I got to go with J and my Dad and Uncle Don to visit the farms where my great-grandparents and great-aunts and uncles lived when my dad and uncle were kids.   It was a great day to be out in the country--and it's always fun to get to hang out with my family.

This beautiful old barn was made of cottonwood and is currently home to a flock of ducks . . .

New Chairs!

I've been busy finishing up a lot of different projects (and starting quite a few more).  These two chairs were from a garage sale where everything was free (!) and after Ben rebuilt the missing seats, I painted and glazed them.  The seats got new foam, batting, and were then covered with Home Depot drop cloth material adorned with transfers from The Graphic Fairy.  Sorry--no Before shots, but here are some Afters.

Garage Sale Treasures

Boy, am I going to miss going to garage sales this winter!  Check out what I found Friday.

Pip is very impressed with these frames:

I have a feeling J will want this embroidered redwork.  Isn't it pretty?

I couldn't resist this silver crumb sweeper and the old file box marked 1953 (a good year).

And there's more!  A Chinese Checkers game board, sheet music from Porgy and Bess (10 cents), a globe (that I'll paint with chalkboard paint), and a funky old Christmas decoration (from a freebie box!).

I did well, don't you think?

Fresh Eggs

I'll finish up a couple more signs tomorrow (and possibly the aqua dresser!), but will go ahead and post this one today.  I wish I had a chicken who could have posed with it, but you'll have to settle for some less-than-fabulous photo styling with a Walmart egg carton . . .

Our Little Lumberyard

 I love taking something old and worn out and giving it a second chance, so I was really excited when Ben brought home some wooden pallets.  And helped me break them down.

This meant pulling out many long scary staples.  Thanks for doing most of them, Ben, and thanks for the use of your super hardy staple remover tool, Dad!

Now here's our little lumberyard:

I'll use these for painted signs, but check out some other great uses for them that I found on-line (apologies for my lack of photo credits):

And my favorite--this amazing floor!