Recent Finds....

Over the holiday weekend, I managed to get some antiquing and flea market shopping done...here are my finds.....

Two large plates and two large soup bowls in the Melbourne pattern by Gildea and Walker, dated 1881-1885.....in perfect condition with only mild utensil marks......!!!

I love anything in the brown, sepia and taupe family, can't wait to do a tablescape this Fall!!!

Next, I found 2 plates, 2 soup bowls, 2 little berry bowls and 1 oval vegetable bowl in Purple transferware by Clarice Cliff........

Is that berry bowl tooooooo cute???

These are also in perfect condition, am on the look out for cups and saucers now.......

I also found 2 cups and saucers in brown, called Wild Turkeys, Windsor Ware by Johnson Bros. to go with the brown transferware pieces.....inside the cup is a turkey with purple on its wings and body, forgot to take a pic of those!!!!  They will go with both sets.....the brown is so close to the purple color, no one will notice!!!

I've been busy with gardens, lawn care and general stuff so have not visited in here as often, but will be back soon!!!  Thanks for stopping by..........

Sweet Lupines

Flowers have started to bloom around here......finally!!!  The lupines self seed every year and I never know what color they will be......this year there is a peachy pinky color.......very pretty!!!  And the lavender is about to open , pretty soon the purple cone flowers will also bloom along with the yellow coreopsis and purple campanula......!!!

l

The bare sticks you see in the pics are my hydrangea bushes.....they are trying to come back to life after the harsh, long winter we had and the s.l.o.w. spring.  The other foliage are my white violets, remind me not to fertilize them again.....!!!

Pileated Woodpecker

This is special for Susan at BNOTP........my woodpecker is here almost every evening, working away on this old tree stump!!!

This is my little garden with tree stump in the center to the right of the bird bath.....

He arrives at about 20 min. to 6..........

He has tired of that spot and mover to another.  Every now and then he goes to the top of the stump and flaps his wings at the pottery bird there......

A large chunk falls off......

Very busy.......

Robins in the bird bath and not bothered by him......

All done for today.......he flew away about 6:15.    The quality of the pics are not the best, taken through my glass door, afraid to make noise and he would fly away!!!

Interesting the amount of damage in a short space of time!!!  But so fun to watch!!!  So, Susan, this is what happened to your bird house..........

Phase II

The new shelf units arrived and I assembled them, bulkier that I expected but will nicely do the job!!  After all, this is now a storage room......

Just wanted to get everything off the floor and out of my studio/sewing room, will organize later....

Got the windows washed and fresh curtains pressed and put up......notice there are NO leaves on the trees yet!!!

Set up a temporary table in the center for sorting and organizing files.

Hopefully my dear nephew will come by next week and take the bed and extra stuff down to the basement.  Now, after doing all this I have a slipped disc in my lower back and have been laid up or down as it may be.......taking drastic drugs for pain.........will continue when I am better!!!   

Thanks for stopping by......hope Spring has erupted by you........it is soooooooooo slow here........

Spring Cleaning

My Easter was wonderful and hope that yours was too!!  I spent a whole week cleaning the 1st floor and re doing the main bath......lotsa work but feels good to have it done!!  Just waiting for warmer weather to wash all the windows down there.......I have no Easter pics to show you, was so busy cooking and getting it all on the table while its still hot!!!  Do you have trouble with that too???

Anywho,  now to start on the 2nd floor.  There are 3 bedrooms up here, the large master is my sewing studio, a small back room is my bedroom, and the other small bedroom is a guest/storage room.  And that little bedroom has become quite a mess!!!

No one has slept in there for more than 12 years!!!  So I decided to make my house more useable for me and my life style.  I am a crafter/artisan, have an Etsy shop and website........the product has to be stored somewhere!!!  This is a small patio home, not a lot of space!!

Today, I started taking that room apart.........too ashamed to take the real before pics, so these are the work in progress........

As you walk into the room this is the sight to the left......

Took the bed apart and my nephew will take it to the basement for me and the bedding out to the garage to be donated........love that little bed, was my son's.

That's his bookcase , rocking chair and teddy....I can't seem to part with these things so they will stay for now!!

This is straight in from the doorway....

His dresser.........and my stuff!!

View out the double window, things are just starting to get green out there......

My studio where everything got deposited......whew!!!  Can't believe I'm actually showing you these pictures!!!

The sorting process has begun and I hope to get through it over the weekend.  I ordered 2 tall plastic shelf units in a gray color to hold it all.  Then will tackle the closet in that room.  I set up a table in the center to sort things on and washed the windows today, ironed fresh curtains and hung them up.

I'm pretty pooped out so will close for now........check back for more progress!!