More thrifting and crochet...

Yeah, I've been at it again... *G*

The day after my anniversary, which was Saturday the 24th, Lee and I had to go out shopping. I decided we would go back to the Salvation Army store in our area. That was the last place Frank (OH) and I had stopped before we went out to dinner. I had seen a ceramic latch seal canister there with a removable label (it had a slot) that was haunting me, and I wanted to see if they still had it. I thought I'd have some fun changing the labels for the holidays to things like EYE OF NEWT, TURKEY WATTLES, and SNOWMAN BALLS. Ok, so I am a bit weird, but it sounded like fun. Unfortunately it was gone, but I did find a few more things I liked. I always find things I like...

Everything here is in the condition it came home in. I usually take the pictures as is. When you thrift, things are often dirty, taped together, and have price stickers to remove. Not everything is in like-new condition. You have to look past the flaws to see the diamond in the rough.

I had seen the relish dish below when I was there with Frank, and for some reason we didn't take it. It is so pretty, the designs are both molded and etched in. Not a chip on it. I grabbed it this time. I thought about making it a gift, but I don't think I will part with it.



Lightning strikes again...

Remember the French glass bowl I mentioned I got there last time? The one that was just like mine that I had for years and had never seen another one? Well, they had put out yet another one, so now I have three of them. They are really nice bowls too, deep and heavy. Mine has seen a lot of use, I was thrilled to get this third one. Two of them are now packed away for the holidays.

You can just barely make out the label here. This is quality glassware though.

I spied this shelf in the midst of a bunch of furniture and had to move a ton of stuff to get to it. It does need repair and I want a back on it, but I love the design, very country. I have a lot of little collectibles and am always looking for some way to display them.

This jar was originally side-by-side with the one I came back looking for, but was sitting alone and forsaken when I found it. It needs a serious cleaning, but I do like that cobalt color and the squat shape. It yells 'country' to me whenever you see wire bail closures.

And the inside was filled with old tea bags, so someone loved this thing at one time and it likely was donated after a death. No, I don't find that idea morbid, I think it would be comforting to know someone was going to actually want to make use of my worldly effects after I've left this mortal plane. Those teabags have been added to the compost pile with a prayer for whomever used to love tea and that little canister too.

Aren't these the cutest little canisters you've ever seen? They have some minor edge shipping that I will touch up, but I thought they'd be cute as part of a holiday display.

I really scored on books this time. All of these are for my personal library. Anything that turns out not to be memorable will be read and donated again or given away. I have a lot of reading friends. When you consider I paid under $9 for all of them it isn't such a bad deal.

Later on in the week, Frank and I went back to another Salvation Army where we had seen a piece of furniture we wanted a closer look at. That particular item didn't turn out to be what we wanted, but at his suggestion we did hit the rest of the thrift shops in that area again. We actually went to the restaurant supply place again first, as I wanted to see if they had more of the large bus tubs. The gray one I got previously had turned out to be very handy for mixing large batches of potting soil. I did a lot of repotting of what were once outdoor plants last week, and remixed the salvaged soil with fresh ingredients to keep it going.

As you can see, I did find more tubs. Only one has the drain holes, but that should not be a huge problem - I do my potting in the cellar. Yeah they are yucky with grease and kitchen gook, but some pine cleaner and a couple of good rinses took most of that off. You have to be willing to roll up your sleeves on some of this stuff.

Got this tray there too, it is very big (and also very dirty). I'll use it for moving plants in and out in the spring. I never have enough room under the plant lights in the cellar. I paid $5.50 for all three, and they remembered me and asked how the first tub worked out for my potting soil.

A hodgepodge of items from Salvation Army and Goodwill. Another ceramic canister with a wire bail, this one in black. I do have the cork to the Laughs & Giggles jar and the other one says Hopes & Dreams. The little lantern lady reminds me very much of a recurring dream, so I had to have her. The fairy was a find, she was buried in a tub of housewares awaiting me to release her.

Frank grabbed the Cornflower Blue Pyrex loaf pan because he and his mother collect that stuff. He also got the pitcher, which is very tarnished silver plate. The rest is mine. The clear glass Pyrex dish replaces one that blew up in my oven a few weeks back. The little stainless steel prep bowl will come in handy. I put the ovenware ramekins away for now but I can see them filled with custard.

The lighthouse candleholder does have a minor chip on the edge of the roof of the keeper's house, but I can make that less noticeable. That is going into a neighbor's Christmas basket along with a nice votive candle.

I found the shelf with the towel rack and Frank found the pumpkin sign. I will likely use the bar for something besides hanging towels, don't want wet stuff ruining the finish. Maybe drying herbs?

The floor lamp was Frank's big score of the week. He paid $20 for it but this is a very heavy, well made quality piece. We do lack good lighting in much of the older part of the house, so it was a welcome find. Please ignore my yucky floor and dust, that is in the older part of the house and everything is pretty tawdry in that section. The lamp was too heavy for me to carry upstairs and get you a purtier setting.

That was it for the last two thrifting trips. We spent some money for sure, but had a ball. It is hard to get Frank enthusiatic about anything, he works so many hours he is always tired. He is so psyched up from these adventures now, he is talking about possibly hitting one of the indoor flea markets on Sunday. I am glad to see him getting his mind off work and onto something else for a change. Lee and I do this as often as the opportunity presents itself and we can afford to browse. It is cheap shopping and you never know what you will find.

This is the second mermaid doll, who has yet to be named. The colors are just a bit different from the first one and I cut her hair shorter by accident. I wound up sewing the pearl into her hands to keep them turned the right way, since I messed up and made the thumbs on the wrong side. I'm not thrilled with her face, but I tried... I like the crown she has, notice the beaded falls in the back? All told, I think she turned out rather well even with all the goof ups. The pattern I wrote seems to be working just fine.

So that is it for this post. I have a new crochet project I am working on, and some other show & tell to do and we have also had the sad loss of a beloved pet - all things I will write about next time.

Did You Write? November First, two thousand and Nine.

Did You Write? November First, two thousand and Nine.

Greetings and salutations on this ominous day. It is the time to announce to the world on one's productivity or lack of it.
This note is to prompt you to write. You know the note is coming at the same time of the week. You want to say you accomplished something and would rather not confess a failed week, so you will sit down for a few minutes and write, to produce something, to brag that you are a writer.
What is writing, will always be a debate. How many words one must produce in order to say you wrote, will also be up for debate. I will admit, as many of you have seen, that producing a paragraph of new text counts for me as writing.
Editing, even if it is someone else's work, is also writing, along with poetry, Blogging, technical writing, world and character building as long as something gets on paper. Even E-mails can be writing if it is wordy and pertains to writing or story. It is really up to you.

I can say I did write. I added four pages and 2,707 words to my waxy birth story, all new scenes and most everything here after is also new. This is exciting writing. A lot of it is being worked out as I write it. One thing I really should do, but don't know if I will, is to create a map of the land. It would help.

I finished last month's story ideas with the requisite 31 story ideas for the month. I wrote 45 pages of drivel, equaling 26,798 words. The beauty of all that is that it is never the same piece of work. It is hard to get tired of it.
I finished the month doing those story concepts where I converted my activities into story ideas. There are several more good ones to do, and a bunch that can be posted but likely won't as they are so close to others I did do. I won't do a compost pile count, but I do know that my source of my new ideas have been fairly dry.

I have finally started on my carved Christmas ornaments for the year. I have had some of the blanks already made, just waiting to be carved, for a while, but just had other projects to do first. They have to be finished by the end of November so I am forcing myself to get my act together.

Taking the above concepts and turning them into story ideas, I had used old notes and turned them into story ideas.
This new concept is that He works for an old company. He spends most of his time in records. The bosses say the company is in trouble, and they need some new ideas to save it. Well, since he is in records, he looks at the records of the meetings over the century of the company's life. At the meeting, others are telling all the same old ideas that have been tried and failed. he finally speaks up and describes an idea he read about, but he does not tell where he got it. He explains what might work. Everybody either thinks it is too far out, or a brilliant idea. The idea gets implemented, with changes. There is already signs it is working.
One thing he starts doing is comparing explanations used at different times, and also does historical research on other companies to see if they used it. The ideas he presents after that, are less shocking or wild, and better explained and developed. he even brings up where such ideas worked and actually points out where it failed. They start thinking him of as a genius.

AS to the question of the week
Yes, I did write.

Did you write?

Week 512 Wood Working

year 9, Week 42, Day One (week 512) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 10-31-09 Saturday

86 degrees, light breeze, lots of blue sky, some wispy clouds floating by, Very comfortable for wood working. The sun at noon was fairly low on the sky and my lathe was only partly in the sun, when the inside end was in line with the awning on the north side of the building.
This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department Of Tourism.

Yesterday, I went to the antique shop to check on my stuff. He had a cartoon like butler figurine, about four foot tall, and it needed a plate to hold. He took one of my saucers to stick on it. He sold that, then brought in a second one and took another of my saucers. He paid me for both of them. I told him a lower price than I could, but it is money.
I showed him pictures of the face vase. His first words were "that is one ugly face." I asked him a design question and a planned change won't happen.

I picked ups some Sea Urchin shells. These are those spiny balls. the shell is a hollow ball. I got three, as the price was pretty good.

Mom is visiting that people trap created by a rat so I worked alone today. I got a lot of work done, but little of what I really need to work on.

The cat started a bit irritated but calmed down quite a bit. I ended up giving him a lot less attention than he wanted, and I gave him a lot of attention.

I took the pine wood I got last week, and made some finials for the sea urchin shells I picked up yesterday. I had seen Christmas ornaments made this way and decided to give it a try, since I was right next door to the place I got them.
I am having one of those good times on wood turning. The skew chisel tends to be a tool that either sends wood flying, or digs in and really messes up the surfaces. I was making the finial, which are really long thin pieces of wood, and I grabbed the skew chisel to do the wood removal. I was on my second finial when It dawned on me what I was doing. I do have the advantage and knowledge that I used it on some other projects over the past couple months without digging in once. The skew chisel tends to be a tool that you either can use, or you cannot.
The skew chisel was pealing the thin layers of wood off with each pass while the bowl gouge, which I normally use, was having problems (needs to be sharpened).

When I left Mom's house, I stopped at the Woodcraft shop to ask someone about the finials. while talking, I showed it to a customer and he was impressed by the finials. I will say that I am not. I have seen better. It is refreshing to have a second opinion on the work done.
The finials have to be sanded and varnished and a hook put in. I am not complaining about the results. Of course, now I wish I had purchased more sea shells.
Maybe I can make my own....

I had a square ornament, that originally had a lid on it, but it was rather dumb. I made a finial for it. It is better than it was, but not spectacular. Got to finish it and might donate it to the Fort Lauderdale Museum of art, for the festival of trees. They let people decorate some Christmas trees with donated ornamentation. They then sell the trees and the proceeds fund the museum. The clubs involved in the WoodCrafts store donate wood ornaments to the tree.
I unloaded the worst of my ornaments last year and have not made many this year. I don't have much to donate.

I carved on one of the swan ornaments today. I carve it with a knife, then go to dremmel to finish it off. The knife rough carves and gets it into a condition that the dremmel can finish off.
I have a bunch of blanks made with the band saw, but now have to carve them. I have until the end of November to get twelve of each kind finished up. I have worked on other projects as of late.

Tomorrow, I will be doing more of what I did today. I have one sea shell ornament to finish up. I must carve on my swans and owls. I also need to come up with a fourth type of ornament to make, preferably not birds.
It does take some time to carve each one and I only have a few weekends to work.

For tomorrow, I will work on the Christmas ornaments. I will turn a couple finials for the last shell ornament, and might sand on the face vase, but my main attention is the ornaments.
I will see how tomorrow really goes.

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Bottom view


year 9, Week 42, Day Two (week 512) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-01-09 Sunday

88 degrees, blue skies, sporadic breeze, thin puffs here and there, never blocking the sun. A nice, comfortable day to lounge around or work on easy projects. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of tourism.

I have ways to deal with Daylight Savings times. I changed all the clocks in the house except the alarm. I was up and about for a while, napped, and got up at my normal time for Sunday. The idea is that when I go to work Monday, I will still have the early waking habit and not be thrown off by the time change.
When going back to Daylight savings times, I adjust the clock to get up fifteen minutes earlier, several days in a row so the Monday early morning shock is not there. I am ready for it.

Since my Mom was out of town, and I had to feed the cat, I went to a different plan. I did not mess with the computer, but instead headed out like I did yesterday. I went directly to breakfast rather than Mom's house. After that, I went to Mom's house.

The cat started being his normal Grinch when he had his first serving of food, but quickly became so nice and sweet. I was petting him and forgot he has an attitude. He stared at me for a long time before he got up because I was not stopping what I was doing. After five sessions of petting, he actually fell asleep between my feet for a good half hour. If I had a book in my hands, I would have sat for a couple hours easily with him there.

I dug out the lathe first thing and started making a finial for the last of the Sea Urchin shell. I stopped to measure the hole in the top I added yesterday to hide the break. I realized I had it way too thick. I set the shell into water to help loosen the glue. I ran into a small problem with the finial and stopped. I checked the shell. I put just a little bit of energy into seeing if there was any movement in the wood and the shell broke apart. I tossed it.
A bit later, I took out a piece of Slash Pine branch and started turning it. I made the tenon a bit too small and it started spinning in the chuck, which was cranked down to minimum. I broke the far end and it started wobbling around all over the place. I stopped and took that out of the lathe. That was the total of my wood turning.

I sat and carved for a while. I was shaping the swan blanks with my knife. With one, I squeezed too tight while holding the piece for a cut and cracked the neck. I glued that together and set it to the side. I was going good on a second one and cracked the wing. That is also glued.
I did carve two of the swans. They need dremmel work and touch-ups, along with details. They are coming along fairly nice.

It was a very good day overall, slow, relaxing, I got some work done. Nothing I had problems with were permanent. I can continue on them later with a slight change in the setup.
The cat was nice and the weather was perfect. I wish it was like today, every day.

I stopped at the Woodcrafts and talked to a couple of our turning club members that were there. I got a better idea on how to design the finials for the shell ornaments I did. That will help on other pieces I do.

I also got an idea on how to finish the face vase. I need to cut a couple tests pieces to see the proper substances I am after.
The face vase has three faces around it. What I would like to do to make it stand out, is to apply a glue or finish on the faces so they remain the light wood color. I then would darken the rest of the bowl, likely by soaking it in oil. The faces would stand out against the really pretty tones of the Norfolk Island Pine.

Next weekend, I must work on the ornaments some more. I should cut some Norfolk and do some finish tests. I will use white glue, varnish and super glue and see what gets the right effect.
Beyond that, I have a lot of stuff that needs finishing. I should get on that during the week. I will have to see if I do.

Will see what I actually do next week.