A few days at the Duck....progress

I spent several days at the Duck....and took hubby with me....for the first time in a couple years. he completed so many jobs and i felt totally inadequate.  but i am so grateful that he came and helped me out. and all i had to do was feed him. haha

Jim installed my stained glass window above the back door.

I....caulked it

Jim attached the door to my dressing room cabinet.

I...held it up

Jim cut my huge coffee table in half and installed it on the wall of the dressing room so i now have a bench to sit and put on shoes.

I...explained what i wanted.

Jim installed a garage light for me....the old one was a 6' flourescent that didn't work. i loved using my metal shade that i found at a thrift store. someone made that thing.

I...held the flashlight

Jim made a handrail for my back steps into the garage

I...drove him to the place to get the pipe

Jim installed baseboards in the office

I...painted them

Jim attached my office desk to the wall for me

I...helped pick it up....and painted the pedestals

I found these colorful discs at a church rummage sale and bartered the lady down from $5 to $2.  hahahahaha   when i told her i was going to glue them to the wall .... she looked at me like i was nuts. and then just sighed and said....sure, take them. hahahahaha  i have lots left.  and i believe i am going to put some sort of graffiti on the edges of the desk....something flat and colorful.

And i found a leather S....i don't know why i needed it. 

And the coolest thing that Jim did...

He is fixing my pocket doors. already have them all fixed up and in the slots. fixed the wheels on the bottoms...added a piece of board to the floor inside the slots.  had to bring home the hardware to clean off a hundred years of grime and grease and will re-hang next time.

I...admired them

So, this weekend was like....Jim - 52.....Shirley - 3     hahahaha  I am so happy he wanted to come and do a few things for me. he did much more than i had anticipated. i couldn't slow him down. but i think he is now happy to be home in his recliner.....till next time. he is already talking about the next visit...where he will....hang the pocket doors....make a door frame for the office door....and fill in a spot in the floor between the dining room and kitchen where i took a wall out.  the man can fix it all.

Oh, he also did a little window job for my sister, too. and she bought him an apple pie. he works for food. hahahaha

I did plant more flowers and put my glass flowers out.  but, Jim carried the bags of soil out there. 

And, the highlight of Sunday....Sandy came to visit me....and brought graffiti goodies....and selvages....and a little frig so i will have cold water. thank you for thinking of me, Sandy. and it was great to meet you and SweetPea. 

My sis is working on her game room at the Beast. she recently bought an embroidery machine and made the alphabet letters....all different fonts.....and framed them all in red and hung them on a dark blue wall. it looks awesome.

And there is a whole book case of games....and another book case filling up with jigsaw puzzles.

I dug out window and door trim for the dressing room and brought it home to sand and paint. and also dug out baseboards for the same room and cut them to fit. and brought them home for paint stripping, sanding and re-painting.  i have lots to do in the next couple weeks. 

But it does seem like a lot of progress is being made.  i did do a bit of sanding on the office floor. i will work on that floor and the dressing room floor as i go down there. i can get in a few more trips before it gets too cold to do anything. then there is a long wait till Spring.  sigh!!

Squirrel Bank

My niece, Jennifer Norwood, is a graphic designer for www.fredandfriends.com ...in Maine.

She now has her name as designer on a few items. i had to buy something just because her name was on it. hahaha

I thought this little squirrel bank was cute.

Just reading the info on it makes you chuckle.

There's the important part.....designed by Jennifer Norwood.... LOL

It even has keys and everything.  

Now i have a safe place to keep my millions. hahahahaha

If you want to look at some cutesy things...go to FredandFriends.com   and check them out. there is stuff for home and office and kids and everything. 

Glass flowers for the Duck

I saw this idea 'somewhere'....facebook? .... pinterest?  ....  don't remember. but i thought it was cool.

so, on the hunt for glass plates and tiny bowls at the thrift store.

A little glue, a little paint, some 2x4 pieces, some rebar....and viola!

Glass flowers

They are rather heavy so i hope they stand up ok. if you'll remember, my house numbers are yellow, orange and red, so i made the flowers the same colors.

Yellow poker chip in the middle, glass acorns around middle, glass floral 'rocks' around edge.

Orange graffiti doodad in middle, Light Bright pieces around middle, little erasers around edge..haha....the only orange thing that i had left that i had enough of.

Red bug in the middle, Light Bright pieces around middle, glass 'rocks' around edge.

If these hold up over the winter, i shall probably make more. they were fun.

Floral table runner

One more table runner.  i used some floral fabric i had in my stash...but once i got it cut out i decided it blended TOO well.  so, i added a little bit of blue and that seemed to help.  what do you think?

Probably get some swirly quilting on it.

Will have to find a home for it since i don't use table runners.

Right now, it will live in the to-be-quilted cabinet.  there is lots of company in there.

This was made with the 60 degree ruler. i can see becoming addicted to this method.

Last crumb quilt

The two crumb quilts i have made had 500 blocks, but this one just has 360.  JUST....hahahaha  i decided i am done with crumb blocks and saving those tiny pieces.

I made these blocks by color....and then made a bunch of 9 patches...and it all worked out. it's about 82x92"

Row of black blocks on top and bottom so it wouldn't be square.

A few little surprises in some blocks....like this snake.

It is now headed to the to-be-quilted cabinet to be resurrected another day.

Cat wall hanging

After i made a cat table runner i had little pieces left over....so, i made a little cat wall hanging.

It's about 25x30"

Just the cutest little cats

Don't know what i will do with it...but for now it is headed to the to-be-quilted cabinet.

Sorry the pics are fuzzy...i seem to be getting shaky in my old age.  haha

More progress at the Duck

Well, some things are getting finished.....and some things are getting started. kind of like quilting. hahahaha

The graffiti office walls are now finished... left side of one wall...

I glued some keys to the wall inside those black boxes...old fashioned keys.

Right side of that wall

Can you see the bingo cards at the very top?  it was hard to get a good pic that wasn't blurry. and those black cards under the alpha blocks are some kind of bingo game also.

I found 4 little foam puzzles in frames that filled large spaces

I found these plastic necklace beads. they remind me of M&M's. they are so cute...about 1 1/5" wide.

And i found a Pooh alphabet and had to add it, too. it is going around the other 2 walls, since there wasn't room on the original graffiti walls.

And i cut enough saved base boards and brought them home to scrape, sand and re-paint. and i started sanding the floor....at least at the edges....so i can put the baseboards up when i go back down there. and i took down the scaffolding in the office and moved it to the living room...that was a job in itself.

All but 2 pieces are finished and hung on the wall in the dressing room. i just have 2 corner pieces to do...and they will go up the next time i go down there. i guess i need to start putting the boards back up around the windows and door also. 

And i started sanding the floor in there, too. i have about a 2'x4' section finished. that is an addition, so a newer room, and takes longer to sand than the office floor, which is pretty worn.

I hung a couple new things in the dining room...

A colored star that was in the studio that i thought needed to live at the Duck. LOL

And a Farmers Market sign that i found some time ago finally got hung.

I cleaned out all the debris from the front flower bed

And planted a few day lilies that i brought with me. i tried to dig up more of them at home but they were not coming up. i will need to try that again.

And...my new project.... the chimney shows in the living room and a bedroom. i finally figured out a way to cover it up. here is the living room corner.

The chimney....a space about 10" wide....all the way from floor to ceiling....11 feet. i thought of painting it and several other things but decided it was just ugly. 

So, i finangled a piece of drywall in there. on the right....it is behind the piece from that wall and secure. on the left....i glued it to the piece there...and put in a few drywall screws to hold it in place. i figure if it is still standing up there when i get back down there....then it will work. LOL

I have been saving legos....all sizes. I am using the large ones....sometimes called Dupo blocks. putting enough together to cover the seam of the 2 pieces of drywall coming together. These are just standing there right now....a little over 5' tall. i put the milk crates next to them after i took the pic, so they wouldn't just all fall down. i will start gluing when i go down next time.

5 fat rows and 1 skinny row. this spot might use up most of my legos....so i will still be on the hunt for more....since the chimney in the other bedroom is twice as wide as this side.

I think i got a bit accomplished on this trip. it is getting cooler now, so i might be slowing down. i still don't have heat down there. 

But i do have a guy going to build me a little front porch in a couple weeks, so i will be going down to check on that. and do a few other things.

I have a couple other ideas after the chimney......so surprises are yet to come.