Memorial Day - On top of Ol' Whiteface

...covered in black flies. (Sung to the tune "On top of spaghetti")

But at least the views were spectacular.
Here's the view from the top, looking at Lake Placid

And here's the westerly view.

Visibility was the best it had been in weeks - 40 miles. 

The weather was a breezy 59 degrees. Now for those black flies...

Memorial Weekend

 Sewing:

• Make summer pillow shams - scrapped this idea for now
• Add-on curtain hem
• Measure black sweater vest for replication

Painting:

• Finish painting linen cupboard - inside done, external trim done.
• Spray paint knobs and misc. items
• Touch-ups upstairs
• Strip vintage utensil tray
• Strip bench in front of futon

Household stuff:

• Books to book sale
• Wash shower curtain and liner
• Heavy-duty scrubbing of tub
• Dust and vacuum upstairs
• Make shelf for over desk
• Grocery shopping
• Make chili
• Bill drawer/pay bills

Fun stuff:

• Blog - well I was hoping for more than this list...
• Drive over to Whiteface Mountain with the CatMan (remember the camera!)
• Call Mom and Daddy
• Starbucks!

My new addiction

Moving along

The new linen hutch is stripped, primed, and (after this picture was taken), the first coat of the interior paint has been applied.

This weekend, my plan is to second coat the interior, 2 coats on the exterior, spray paint the vintage knobs I found, and maybe actually get stuff on the shelves. Stay tuned.

Needling

Work continues on the crocheted stars (using this tutorial) -

I'm thinking of felting them and stringing a garland.

And I finished the Jelly bean scarf.

Hangin' around

It's raining (still) and a bunch of projects are mid-point.

But there's always some kitteh (in)action happening.

Stealth [Funny]

Linked up to today's

I felt something brush my foot as I was about to get into bed. I looked down and saw nothing. Tried again. Same thing. Interesting. I'm pretty sure it's not a mouse.

Gifts

Here are a few gifts I've been working on the past few weeks.

This is for my friend L. who is battling cancer. It is a vintage embroidery hoop, topped with natural muslin and embroidered with floss, felt, and vintage buttons. I wanted the effect of a garden rendered in a primitive style, similar to the rugs found here. 

My niece,H. graduated from college this past weekend. She is the first in my immediate family to have finished a four year school and I'm so proud of her. She's also getting married at the end of this year, but I didn't want this moment to pass by unacknowledged. I found the leather journal and pen online, and had some fabric in my stash that united the 2 greens perfectly. So I whipped up a little book bungee/pen holder based in part on this tutorial and this bookmark. (Unfortunately, the weather and the lighting were not cooperating in time for me to get a good picture AND get the presents off in the mail!)

In my craft room [Happy]

Linked up to this little party -
Here's a follow up to this post.

My crafting chair: a recycled flannel pillow case, shortened and slightly tailored to fit over the back of the chair. The doily was Plattsburgh thrift mall find: isn't the donkey cute?

Here is the Ovenex cookie sheet done over as the bulletin board.

The bumper sticker says, "What happens here, stays here. But nothing ever really happens." The genie card is a birthday card from the CatMan. On the front, the genie is saying, "You have one more wish", and the dog is saying, "You may want to give this some thought" with two shiny balls of yarn in front of the cat. The inside of the card shows the cat ecstatic over the third ball of yarn. The fortune cookie fortunes say "Generosity and perfection are your everlasting goals." (yikes, they nailed that one!) and "You have a house with beautiful gardens in your future." (I believe it's an eternal one.)

On top, the photo in the black frame is a teenage CatMan, complete with um...crazy hair. The little turtle pin is the first piece of jewelry I remember getting: my grandmother gave it to me when I was 6 years old. There's also an vintage, 3-sided wooden ruler (my parents still have one in their junk drawer at home), and a little orange ninja (orange is my favorite color, and I tease the CatMan all the time about 'being a ninja').

The other items just make me smile: a little forest-y Christmas ornament, Adirondack chairs that look similar to the one in an old photo of my grandfather, a friend's herd of llamas, and a happy little boy with the caption "Jump In."