Spring Show at Phipps

We managed to get to the Spring Flower Show at Phipps Conservatory the other day. I enjoy going there to spend some time with flowers and take some pictures. We ended up having to go on a Saturday, which I wouldn't necessarily recommend, since more people are generally out and about then and I'm so not a people person. But it wasn't too bad. The flowers were lovely, so here they are. Enjoy!

Dog Collars

I found a link the other day at another blog for Pattern & Paw, who has ribbon leashes, collars and harnesses for dogs & cats. Very cute. I am tempted to buy. I love this collar, but its too big for my tiny dog.

So I decided to play around and see if I couldn't make my own collar. I had to look around to find a clip for it, but Joanns had little parachute clips that I figured would work. I used 5/8" ribbon and backed it with twill tape from Martha's crafts line. I slipped in a small D ring and ta-da!

Its a bit big and I haven't fixed that yet. I was having a hard time measuring Dutch's neck, since he really hates collars and harnesses and leashes. Yeah. He's 8 months old and we never make him wear one. Gonna have to break him of that, aren't we? But its cute.

**edited to note that he's already chewed and broken the parachute clip. As I said before, it was loose and he got his mouth around it and took it off all by himself today - the first day I decided to make him wear a collar.

New Lights!

I've finally picked out some light to replace some of the awful old ones in the house. I am on a mission to eradicate all brass in this place. This was a small step, anyway.

This light was in both the bedroom and the hallway.

This lovely floral chandelier has four painted flowers - each a different shade.

I won't be missing it!

Photo from West Elm

This is what I bought. I love this capiz shell pendant from West Elm. It is a plug-in fixture, so for now, I'm going to hang it in the bedroom over the chair in the corner. I don't see why it couldn't be converted to hard wire sometime in the future if I want to put it elsewhere. It went on sale last week and I decided that I just had to have it.

Photo from Bellacor

This is the light that The Man and I finally decided on. Its ridiculously hard to find something we both like that isn't way too expensive. We finally stumbled on this one at, of all places, Home Depot. It wasn't available and I found it for a better price at Bellacor. They were on sale too, and the shipping was free. They said 2 - 4 weeks, but it came in less than a week. Pleasant surprise!

Photo from Bellacor

This is what we're putting in the bedroom. Its also from Bellacor.

These pictures are really lousy, but its gray and blah here today, as it has been way too often lately! I still need to get a hook put up over the chair, so this is where its hanging for now, just so I can look at it!

These lights are bigger than I thought I wanted, but almost all of the lights I've looked at are. It has two sockets, at any rate, and really brightens up the kitchen.

I actually think that the size fits just fine. Yay! I still have to get The Man to hang up the bedroom fixture. We can't possibly do everything at once, you know.....

Basement Blues

I'm still working on the basement. This is the room where everything was deposited after we moved in. I've slowly been working on cleaning it out and painting it.

I paint to reward myself and because I'm too impatient to wait until I finally have the room emptied. I'm down to one corner of the room and I just can't for the life of me figure out where to put the rest of it. I have a nearly empty attic, but I'm pretty sure that whatever goes up there will basically go there to die. I'm sure as heck not going to be dragging it up and down and out-of-sight almost definitely means out-of-mind for me.

Someday I'd like the one end to be a complete work area for me. The Man wants to make one end a workout area and the other to have a super comfy sofa with a fireplace and tv. We'll see. I am quite sure that I need a complete area for quilting, scrapbooking and whatever my little heart desires. We'll see who wins!

This is the awful half before. Well, not the very beginning, but you know, recent before.

The other half before painting. Notice that both ends do not have the same paneling.

After painting.

Half done

This is the remaining half. Well, I did actually did more work after this picture was taken.

Still. Ugh.

Dining Table Indecision

I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time trying to decide on things to purchase for the house like light fixtures, ceiling fans, outdoor light fixtures, paint colors, bar stools, and a dining room table & chairs. Eek. I'm rather annoying to anyone around me, I suppose, by overthinking every decision. But I want everything to be just right, and its just not. What can ya do?

Right now, I'm trying to settle on a dining room table. I really don't like most of the tables that I've found in stores. First of all, there's not a large selection in most furniture stores. There's usually tables that are more formal than I want and tables that are way too casual. There seem to be a lot of oval tables. Some of them are just too "finished." I want the darn thing to look like its real wood and I don't want anything I'm going to have to keep a table pad on. Most of them aren't the kind of quality that I'm hoping for.

I've been looking online for places that make custom tables and I asked my older brother for help. He thinks that perhaps I can get an Amish furniture maker to custom make one for a good price. I think he might be right, so I'm trying to put together a definitive picture of what I want. This is what I'm coming up with so far:

I think this is my favorite style. Its the General Store table by Great Windsor Chairs in Lancaster, PA.

More of the detail on the General Store table.

I really like this table, however, I think that we would really scuff up a stretcher bar.

It is also by Great Windsor Chairs.

I like this style of top (its the same table as above) .

A hand-planed plank top also by Great Windsor Chairs.

Detail of a table at Pottery Barn (don't remember which one??)

Detail shots from the Harvest table at Pottery Barn.

I like the way this top looks and the color of it. Its the Restoration Square Table by Craftsman Tables. His stuff can also be found here.

I like the look of this one, too, although I don't want a painted table. Its the Victoria County Farm Table also by Craftsman Tables.

Maybe someday I'll make a decision and I'll let you know what I come up with. I'm still wrestling over the size. I want at least a 6' long table, but I'm not sure if will fit right. Then I have to pick a chair style. Argh.

Frog Dog?

I love my little frog dog and his obsession with the sun. He's just plain silly.

Rug Lust

That may be a bit much for the title, but I do love these rugs. If only I could spend this much money on rugs........but a girl can dream.

All of them are from Mansour Modern. Lots of antiques at Mansour Antiques as well.

More stamps

I ordered some more stamps a few weeks ago from Sweet Papery again. This time, I bought for me. I got a self-inking address stamp to use on mail or whatever, and I got a "made by" stamp so that I can use it for tags on the occasional item I sell on Etsy. Yeah!

This is the packaging that they come in. Cute.

And these are the stamps (well, not my address stamp, obviously) sample photo from Sweet Papery

my stamp

Made these cookies a couple weeks ago after reading my latest Cottage Living. They were yummy, and now I'm craving them, even though I've never been a fan of peanut butter cookies, really. They filling is just yummy.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Prep: 20 minutes; Bake: 12 minutes.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets.

2. Beat together first 3 ingredients and 1/2 cup granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Stir in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly stir flour mixture into peanut butter mixture until fully incorporated.

3. Scoop dough onto prepared cookie sheets, 1 rounded tablespoonful at a time, about 2 inches apart. (Dough should yield about 24 cookies.) Press cookies flat with the back of a fork dipped into remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Sprinkle cookies with any remaining sugar, if desired, and bake 12 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Remove from oven, and cool 5 minutes on pan; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Spread about 1 tablespoon Creamy Peanut Butter Filling onto flat side of 12 cookies, and top each with another cookie, flat side down, to make a sandwich.

Yield
Makes 12 sandwich cookies

Creamy Peanut Butter Filling

Ingredients

2 (3-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
Preparation
Beat all ingredients until smooth.

Yield
Makes 1 cup

Sara Foster ,
Cottage Living, MARCH 2008

Dutch would very much like a sample.

Hello Spring

Ahhh. Hello, Spring. We've been waiting!

Crown

I mentioned the other day that we did get our crown molding put up. It only took us, oh, maybe a month from start to finish? Not that that is any commentary on the actual difficulty of doing it, but we only manage to work on things in spurts.

It wasn't terribly fun though. The Man hated doing it. We couldn't seem to get good angles to save our lives. I don't know if that is more our fault or if the rooms are wonky. Who knows? The inside corners after painting and caulking turned out just fine though. The only thing I wish we could have done better was the seams. There are two seams in the bedroom and one in the spare room. Those didn't quite join up right. Not sure how that should have been done differently. Its not terribly noticeable either.

I do like how it adds another extra detail to the room and in a way it makes the rooms feel a bit brighter to have that tiny bit of shiny trim at the top of a matte wall. I'm happy its up and done.

Where have I been?

I don't know what's up with the time. Sometimes it flies, sometimes it drags around here. Its somehow been two weeks since I last posted. Oops.

So where have I been? Well, not quilting. I am trying to make myself finish up some older quilts that I've been procrastinating about and I've managed to continue to procrastinate just fine.

I did, however, paint part of my basement, hang some curtains and shades, help put up crown molding in two rooms, and sorted through an awful lot of stuff in the basement. I know you're excited about all of that, so let me show you some of it.

I started in the laundry area and got rid of all the stuff that was there. Embarrassing part? I found old laundry, still in the laundry basket from the apartment. The Man just piled more stuff on top of it and I didn't even know it was there. I found my favorite t-shirt in the basket. I'd been wondering where that was!

Our basement is covered with panelling. Its all dark and I don't like dark. Like lots of things in the house, it doesn't even match. There's several shades of brown used in various parts of the basement. So I filled in the lines with spackling and put a hundred coats of paint on it. Okay, maybe not a hundred. I did from the laundry area over to the steps.

Before painting

Primer

The finished product. Doesn't really look like the paint sample, does it?

The basement doesn't have nearly enough light. Perhaps that's the problem?

Next up, the room in the basement that houses all the stuff I don't know what do with it! Ugh! Must do more sorting!