Life From My Front Porch

                    CHALK PAINT......................................MY FIRST 3 PIECES  Chalk Paint, being all the rage now, I have been wanting to try it.  So after hearing that The Hen House Chicks in Colfax has classes every Saturday, I went in with a few pieces to try it. Why all the rage?...well, it is easy to use, adheres to any surface, fast drying, and my favorite, NO sanding involved. But there was a HUGE problem in my world, and that was the $38.99 per quart price.  But I would have to deal with that later. 1.  LAMP Here is a lamp I brought in.  It cost $3.00 from a 2nd hand store in Pullman.  I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint color  Aubusson Blue, over French Linen.  Went and got a $8.00 lamp shade from Shop-Ko and all done.  Fast and easy.            ...

Finished The dresser right out of Skip's barn Love the detail in the top drawer. Might be the only reason I bought it.  Now the work. Always more then I think needs done.  I wanted legs, so Jeff had to put supports and 1x4's in so I could screw the foot plates down. Then since the drawer tracks were broke and very wobbly we got new ones and he had to anchor a strip of wood to secure the tracks onto.  Now no more movement in the drawers, nice and smooth. After a few coats of primer, it is ready to paint.  If it looks a little gray, it is.  I had gray primer for some black pieces I painted a while back and it worked just fine.   (See 2009 Blog for black pieces) I did very little sanding to the top before I started and that was it. White paint & a few top coats. I did have to fill in and make new holes for the handles.  They don't make that size anymore. All done are ready to use. Still love t...

Finally, only after about 15 years I got Wyatt's quilt done.  I started this eons ago, with the intent, of course, to finish it quickly then get onto other things.  Where did all that time go to.  I tacked some flat buttons as a way of tieing the quilt together, thought it would be too much to run through to machine. Then machine quilted the borders & edge.  Sorry I couldn't get pics to stay rotated after I uploaded to the blog, Irritating!   Here are some of the denim squares I embroidered The windmill, dirt bike & tractor I recently made.   Some of these squares I barely remember doing,  it's been so long ago. The backing is a cool wildlife print. I recently purchased my backing and boarder prints at The Quilted Moose in Colfax.  They are so very helpful with my projects. Quilt finished May 15th, 2012

Another old becoming new project.  This one didn't take too long.  I had confiscated some old, soon to be discarded mailbox many years ago.  With the intent of someday using them.  I think one or two of them were given away.   Well finally a project came up for one that we could use.  Jake &  Tracee's Wedding reception.   I think they liked the outcome.  Again another joint effort. With Tracee's or my idea, don't remember which now.  And Jeff & I cleaned it up.  I bought a can or spray paint at Ace.  Jeff painted it.  Then off to Heathers for letters from her Cricket machine.  Then off to Washtucna Grange Hall for the reception.

I can finally write about another repurposed item. Actually this is only my 2nd one. You will have to read my Sept. 2009 blog for the other one. The recipients of this item, Paul & Bridget finally were given their wedding gift. There is a story behind this window: I retrieved this window some time ago from upstairs in my parents garage, where all old things go to retire. This window I could tell from the hinge holes and various colors of paint, green & pink mainly, that if came from my Grandma Cameron's house in Washtucna. It was in their bathroom but I couldn't tell you when it was removed. The process was relatively easy with Jeff and I both working on the frame. We removed the original glass, scraped and cleaned up the panes, along with the frame. After a few coats of white spray paint, we reinstalled the glass with putty. It then went to daughter Audra to put the finishing touches on it, as it was a gift from her anyway. As with any g...