You all know how I love my free road scores… cool things found on the side of the road.
Facebook Marketplace has changed the game a little… because now I don’t have to just chance upon things. People put them on the side of the road and the advertise that they are there! So I can find road scores from the comfort of my living room.
Last weekend, I was scrolling through the marketplace, and came across a post advertising free end tables on their front lawn. I’ve been looking for some decent end tables since we finished the living room, so you bet I hopped in Dory right away in the hopes of getting there before anyone else!
I gotta say, I do miss my old convertible, but nothing beats Dory for cargo space!!! Not only did I get the two end tables…
But also two nightstands!
As you can see, they are all in need of refinishing, but Dave and I love bringing old things back to life!
I said we were taking the winter off from house projects, but Dave has other ideas.
On the weekend, my kitchen and dining room looked like this:
While Dave was at his Grandma’s, I was painting a small fortune in plywood, so that when he returned he could transform my garden shed from this:
To this:
We don’t know what happened to the shed door, and part of the wall, but they were missing when we bought the house. Dave wanted to get it closed up before the weather got too bad and the shed ended up full of snow.
Come spring, we’ll paint the whole shed up, so it will look all bright and shiny and new.
I’m happy to report that everyone’s favourite fluffbutt…
… has been very good with the Christmas tree. In fact, after his first day, he hasn’t bothered with it at all!
However, we have had a couple other recent “adventures”…
The other week, I was coming down the stairs, taking a wee break from work, when I passed Burton who was headed up in a very determined manner. As he ran by me, I noticed he was carrying something. At first, I though it was one of his toys (he likes to bring toys to play fetch while I work), but then my brain registered that I saw dark feathers hanging out of his mouth. None of his toys have dark feathers!!!!
I ran back up the stairs after him…. and yeah… you guessed it.
Burton caught his very first bird!!!! We built the catio partly to keep the cats safe, but also to keep the birds safe from the cats, as well. But that doesn’t work when the birds fly right into the CAGE OF DOOM!!!!
I am very torn between being proud of my babyfluff’s first successful hunt, and sad for the bird. Hopefully word gets around and the rest of the birds have learned a lesson.
“Adventure” number 2 took place on the day I was hanging the Christmas decorations out front. The day was relatively warm (9C/48F). The cats were out back in the catio enjoying the sun, and I was going in and out the front door.
I came in to grab a pair of pliers, and when I came back, the door was swinging open. It didn’t latch when I came and the wind pulled it open. I didn’t think too much of it, because as I said, the cats were out back in the catio… or so I thought.
I finished my decorating and went out back to check on them as I do periodically. But only Rupert was there!
I came in and checked the house… no sign of Burton or Relic. I tried not to panic. I grabbed the treat container and shook it. Relic quickly emerged from whatever dark corner he’d been napping in.. but still no Burton.
So I took the container outside and began shaking it and calling his name. As I got to the one side of the house, I saw movement behind the overgrown holly bush. I looked closer… there was the fluffy jerk! But he wasn’t alone. One of the neighborhood cats (a fluffy tuxie) was there too. Burton, the big bully, had the poor tuxie backed up against the house. As soon as tuxie saw me, he went running (I’ve tried to make friends before, he’s very skittish). And Burton went running after him!!!!!
I went running after the pair of them, shaking the treat container hoping to distract Burton before they got too far.
Happily, it worked, and Burton stopped a couple houses down and waited for me to catch up and carry him home. (Tuxie just kept running!).
Hopefully that’s the LAST of his adventures for a while!
I was hoping to be further along with these socks, but work has been pretty darn busy lately.
Usually, I have time to do little things around the house while I wait for colleagues to send me what I need to do my job. But work has kept me hopping from log-on to log-off. That means I’ve been doing all those little things in the evenings, and on the weekend when I’d normally have time to sit and knit.
Still… I’m closing in on the toe, and it’s the only Christmas present I have left to knit. I’ve got time.
This technically should be an FO post, but it’s not really my FO.
When I was at Mom’s I mentioned that I needed to make a couple runners for the tops of our antique radios. She kindly offered up some of her practice pieces from some of her first free-motion quilting classes. They just needed some binding but we made short work of that.
I should have taken pictures of them before I put them on top of the radios, but I’m too lazy to move everything again, so this will have to do.
That will help keep the dust down!
Since she had quite a few, I snagged a third one for the cat’s spot on the plant stand.
The cats like to sit here in the morning and watch the birds at the feeder. This will make it a little more cozy for them.
You saw the inside yesterday, now for the outside.
I was in need of a new Christmas wreath, but I just wasn’t loving the ones I was seeing in the stores (or there prices). So the night I got my Christmas tree, I also hit the dollar store and bought a pile of Christmas flotsam.
A little time and some strategic hot glueing later…
And it was hanging on my front door.
But I couldn’t let it hang there alone. It needed some garland and string lights to keep it company.
And a few strategically placed ornaments.
Now we just need a little snow for some extra sparkle
Those who have been around for a while will recall that we didn’t have much of a tree at the townhouse. There just wasn’t much room, so I had a little two-foot prelit tree that fit on top of our computer desk. It was ideal for that place, but since we had more room here, I wanted to go bigger.
Still, it’s just Dave and I, so I didn’t want to go TOO big. Also we have cats. They never bothered with the little tree, but it wasn’t really accessible to them either. I decided a 4 ft tree would be a good place to start. Walmart had one that fit my budget, and I figure I can always go bigger in the future if I want.
Most of the ornaments I havewere mini ones for the two-foot tree. They’d get lost in this one. Happily, Dave found me a trove of simple balls at one of the resale stores we frequent. It was just $5 for the two bags
It’s way more than we need, because the tree is still on the small side. So I pulled out the smaller ones, and I’ll save the rest for decorating outside. (More on that another day). Another plus, is all of them are PLASTIC!
Which is ideal. Because … CATS!. Burton was right on top of things as soon as I started decorating, and one of those balls is already under the Philco unit, where it will stay until we have move it one day, because I can’t reach it.
Once they were on, I started adding in some of my favorite ornaments.
Our old tree had a little Santa topper, but I wanted something new for this one.
I splurged a little on this pretty poinsettia. Although it’s still small, I think it’s the right amount of festive for our little livingroom
Burton seems to think so too.
I’ll report back on how long the tree stay standing…
Today is the unveiling of the last of the three gift quilts. (And probably the last quilt for 2021!) It is of course, going to this guy:
My Dad, pictured here with a wee little Jem all those years ago (around 4 years ago, I think). And after seeing that picture, I think you’ll agree this quilt is pretty darn appropriate.
I wasn’t planning on making my Dad a quilt for Christmas this year. I made his rag quilt last year (which he uses all the time), but when I saw the Wiggle Butts panel, I knew he had to have another quilt.
I was able to get some fun coordinating prints, and plot out a designed that all worked together.
Like the outhouse quilt, this one is just so much fun!
For the back, I got some fun flannel that matched quite nicely (and was on sale)
The only thing that could have made that back better is if those dogs were black labs. But still, I’m not going to be too picky, it’s a pretty perfect quilt!
Wandering Cat Studio 