Beautiful, busy days.....

It's such a beautiful time of the year and it seems a constant effort to appreciate every minute of it instead of worrying about all that needs to be accomplished.  Seems there's this small window of opportunity to get things done -- yard, garden, taxes, winter clothes put away, summer clothes brought out, all those fix-it jobs around the house that have been neglected plus a million other things that keep popping into my head (I've tried to keep a note pad with me so I don't have to leave it to my memory).  Besides all of that, I've been going to physical therapy 3 times a week for a case of tendonitis.  Oh, and did I mention keeping Leola's stocked!!!!

 

The next project I'll be attempting will be placemats.  This weekend several of us took a trip to Kansas City and I had already decided to check out a couple of my favorite stores to look for table linens.

 

Geez......I couldn't believe the prices so decided to try making them.  One set that I loved would have been around $250 for 8 placemats & napkins.  Yesterday, I made a quick trip to F.M. store (my favorite fabric store) and spent $7.99 per yard for the greatest fabric.  When I finish one, I'm going to post exactly how much fabric it took for each one and how much time it took.  We are constantly amused at people insinuating our prices are high.  They need to get out and compare (& please not with Walmart).  I've just learned to make things that I like so then if it doesn't sell, I can use them or give them as a gift.  We also have no desire to compete with China or Bangladesh.

 

We had a wonderful trip to K.C.  We went to see our friend, JoAnn, off to West Virginia where she and her husband are moving.  We'll miss her but she promises to come back frequently.  This is JoAnn with her daughter, Alex......

 

With JoAnn as our tour guide we visited all of her favorites.  We all loved the City Market.

 We were able to tour a loft in this building that was amazing.  I wanted so badly to take pictures but he's an artist and asked that we not.  It was such a treat to just be able to see it but so wanted to share it.

These were the doors in the back entrance.  We had to get on a freight elevator with no sides to ride to the third floor.

 

It was such a treat to get away for a weekend.....especially with this fun group......

 

Guess it's back to reality (taxes)!  I've vowed to have them done by Thursday so guess I'd better get busy.

 

Hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday (it's beautiful in Mo.)!

 

 

 



A beautiful day in the neighborhood....

It's been such a beautiful few days in the Ozarks and I've been able to get so much accomplished.  I love being able to work on the back porch.  The bad part about working in the back yard is that I keep seeing weeds that need to be pulled and a garden that needs to be tilled.  Oh, well, next week my good friend/lawn guy, Trenton, will be back from his mission trip he took for spring break & again, he'll save me.  Thanks God for Trenton!

This is the chest/buffet that I've owned for years & have always wanted to paint.  I've never been a big oak fan.

I am so happy with the outcome.  The handles kind of bothered me because they were so large but I ended up liking them once it was painted.  The locks were painted over but when I hit them with the sander, the brass showed just a little.  Here's the finished product.  What do you think?

I love these days when I can just stay home and work.  A customer had me meet her this morning at F.M. Store (one of Springfield's great treasures) to pick out fabric for her porch furniture.  So after we got our fabric and had lunch with Brenda, I headed back home to get some more work done.  It's just been such a difficult winter.  Normally, we have breaks in our winter where you can open the windows and work outside but we've had none of that this year.  There just seems to be a lot of catch-up work.

Hoping you're having beautiful weather too.