Under a Blue Moon

Monday

Happy Monday. I trust everyone had a lovely weekend. My best friend drove up on Friday and stayed the weekend. The conversation and the wine flowed quite freely so I'm moving a little slower this morning than usual.

She and I have been friends since our early 20's. She was introduced to Rick and me when she started dating one of Rick's friends. They ended up getting married and then divorced and she got to keep us in the divorce settlement.

Daisies are her favorite flower so I always try to have some daisy-like flowers in the guest room for her.

We hit up a couple of antique shops while she was here but the pickings were rather slim. I did find a footed milk glass bowl to add to my collection. I also picked up a vintage tablecloth and a brass candlestick.

Before she arrived on Friday I was working on my lounge chair slip cover but my sewing machine is giving me fits. It keeps skipping stitches like the top thread isn't catching the bottom thread. I've rethreaded, rebobbined and changed out the needle but to no avail. I think I need to take it in for a tune up.

Well that's all I've got for you today. It's time to get dressed and head into work. Have a wonderful week!

Friday Favorites

evie-30-4 ◊ white tufted chair ◊ 35/365 ◊ Trio

Couple of new Instagram feeds (to me, anyway) sorrythankyou79 Vintage books. That's all I need to say. Garden Lovers & Friends Mostly cottage type gardens, which are my most favorite kind
Gorgeous details in this LA home tour. I can't even with the bathroom and the kitchen. I wouldn't change a thing. And I'm loving the black French doors.
I have had such a bizarre work week. There are things happening at a much higher level than I have control over so I just keep reminding myself to step back and look at the big picture I had a boss once say, during a time of much uncertainty, to always trust in your abilities. Your job may change, it may go away, but always trust in what you have to offer.
Such a lovely song. Anderson East: What a Woman Wants to Hear. I just love his voice

Oi oh oi. What a week. I am refusing to participate in the negative this week had to offer and will only look on all the lovely positives. My very best friend is coming for a visit this weekend and I am going to just recharge in her presence. She is so creative and so chill and all that goodness always rubs off on me.

My replacement fabric for the outdoor lounge chair slip cover arrived from France today and I am so pleased with it. I cannot wait to get going on that project. It has a very 80's, over blown floral look to it. In fact it looks just like a big over-sized floral shirt I wore during both of my pregnancies. I swear I kicked off the whole leggings, big shirt look in the mid-80s. I'm going to have to dig out a picture for proof.

I hope you have wonderful plans for the weekend. I know I do!

The Infirmary

Except for a final coat of paint the Infirmary is done! It turned out pretty cute, if I say so myself. Just how I envisioned it. We needed a quiet, calm place for plants to recover or get shelter from the cold and this will do the job nicely.

Oh. We still need some kind of shelving unit in there. I have a vague idea of what I want (some kind of metal mesh situation) and I'll know it when I see it.

Get ready for a slew of progress pictures. Of a not very pretty part of our garden. The green house is situated behind the shed in an area where we store unused pots and various garden detritus.

I did tidy this area up after the picture was taken. What a mess!

The side walls were made using the French doors we replaced in the sitting room. We cut the top at a slant to create proper sloping for the roof. The actual doors to the green house came from a lovely gentleman in Benicia, CA. We had gone to a couple of architectural salvage places looking for French doors and windows and everything was so expensive. Rick had seen a Craigslist ad a few days earlier for a set of French doors and as luck would have it they were still available.

The windows on the sides were a little trickier because they had to be narrow to fit our dimensions. We found them at a salvage place in Sebastopol and the price was right.

Gratuitous hydrangea shots. They are starting to wane so I need to capture how lovely they have been this Summer.

One of these years I'll figure out how to make them blue.

The roof of the greenhouse is made out of corrugated plastic and we used sliding closet door hardware for the doors. The door knobs came from the doors out of the sitting room but they aren't original. Real vintage ones would be nice but we had these and they are pretty so they'll do.

I do love a glass door knob.

I am so happy we were able to find all the components and get it assembled before the cold season. And thank you Rick for all the work you did to put it together for me.

I am so lucky.

Kitchen

Bit of a late start this morning. Normally I do Monday's posts on Sunday but yesterday got away from me. We had a very productive weekend.

We are nearly finished with the greenhouse. We sorted out the door hardware and got the roof on and I did a primer coat of paint. All that is left is to finish painting and get some door knobs on. It's turning out just the way I had envisioned.

I did have some time yesterday to tick off one of my long standing to do items and that was to replace the under sink curtain. If you are a long time reader you may remember I made a curtain for it when we first moved in. It was looking worse for the wear, after five years. The lace was coming apart and it was getting stained.

Like the previous one, I made this using vintage pillow cases. One of the pillowcases in this pair had a tear in so I used that one for the shorter tier. I'll try to explain my construction method.

I start by cutting the cases to the lengths I need. For the bottom tier I cut it three inches longer than the finished length so I can fold over the top and make a pocket for the curtain rod to fit through. These cases have a pretty tucked detail that I didn't want to lose so I cut the shorter piece about a inch above it and then folded it over twice to hide the raw edge.

I then seam ripped the sides which really is the part that takes the longest. The reason I cut first, then seam rip is so I have less to do. I sew a hem on all the sides, create the rod pocket on the longer piece and then attach the shorter piece on top.

Grace approves.

I think the previous owners removed the cupboard door when they installed the farm sink. I do like the look of the curtain and despite how delicate the lace looks it actually holds up quite nicely. Well for five years anyway

On Wednesday I'll try to get some green house pictures up.

Friday’s lack of motivation

button collection ◊ Old Button Card ◊ Untitled ◊ No.350

Okay guys – I am just not inspired this week. I don't know if it is the heat, weird goings on at work, or what, but my blogging and creative mojo is on vacation. Instead of forcing it I decided to cut myself some slack this week and just relax a bit. Hence no post on Wednesday and no Friday Favorites today.

I did have a lovely break during the week where I took Tuesday off from work and watched my Granddaughter Gwen. She really is the light of my life. We had a lovely afternoon together where we cooled off in her wading pool, sat in a tent together, watched some Netflix (Grandma needed a breather!) and just generally had a great time. It has been a bobillion degrees out so just cooling our feet in the pool was pretty fabulous.

My son, his wife and aforementioned wonder child live in Ben Lomond which is a small town in the Santa Cruz mountains. It's about 20 minutes from the beach but situated in a lovely forest setting. I arrived in town about an hour early so I could stop in at an antique store nearby that sounded intriguing. It is called Ivy's Porch and was really delightful. It is set in an old house and each room has a theme. There is a mix of antiques and newer decorative items. They also have a good inventory of vintage outdoor furniture and decor. It was one of those places that kept going and going. Every time you turned a corner there was another room to explore. I bought a smokey, sparkly table runner that I am so going to incorporate in my Halloween decor and I almost bought a green cake stand that I have since dreamt about so I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting.

This weekend is one of those nicely unplanned ones. We may pick up work on the greenhouse if we can sort out the door hardware locally. I think we have a solid plan and if we do – then expect a blog post about that next week.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Monday

Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. Ours wasn't relaxing, per se, but it was productive.

We started on the green house "lean-to" on Saturday morning and made great progress. We need to sort out the door hardware and then get the roof on. It will require a little touch up paint and then it will be done. I think we are going to have to order the hardware. The doors will be barn door style but the available hardware (in store) is very bulky and decorative and not what we need. I think we have found another solution using sliding closet door hardware.

While we were out there constructing I tidied up the area behind the shed where we keep all the unused pots and various garden related stuff.

Ever watchful. And goodness are our window sills dirty.

On Sunday I had grand plans to work on my lounge chair slipcover but after pre-washing my material I realized I didn't have enough. I'm either going to have to find something else or order additional material. It was kind of pricey for what I intend to use it for so I may try to find something else and save this for some other project.

It has been so hot here. In the upper 90s and low 100s and it doesn't look like it is going to let up anytime soon. Our garden is looking a little parched. I really need to get out and deadhead some roses and divide the irises but if I don't get out there before 10:00am it just gets too hot.

Well I hope you all have a lovely week!

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