meet m a r g a r e t

margaret and her all girl crew arrived today - she had a long voyage - getting pulled to her new home by the tractor - all the way down turner drive. her and the crew are currently camped out in our front circle, as the yard is too muddy for her to launch. she is getting many stares from the neighbors as they slow down to a creep while driving by - which i am taking as a compliment.
robert did a fabulous job building her and getting her sea worthy in his spare time and on the snow days we have been having. thank you, my love! she is beautiful!

-the crew: 4 reds and 4 white leghorns-

-margaret: the fortified vessel-

-and a very curious brain-

tomatoes, peppers and herbs are thriving under their lamps. i cannot wait for summer

saturday was a beautiful day for....

-....trimming trees out of the road to make room for dump trucks to bing new gravel- charles and robert on the tractor, me following behind trowing the limbs in the woods and picking up trash (which ended up being 3 bags full and i even had some neighbors come out to help me)....-

-...cleaning the old stuff out of garden, pulling up the weed barriers and some weeds...-

-.....reusing old weed barrier that was still intact- (still need to plow up the weeds on that sweet potato patch and get some hay)....-

-....exploring....-

-...cleaning out the raised beds and planting onions and leeks in this one.....-

-......and more exploring.....-

today - my second day of sanding hell - things were looking good when all of the sudden my sander bit the dust. it simply would not could not turn on anymore. i can understand that it was a little overworked and tired after all the hours we put in. trust me - i was tired, too - but to bail on me like that. not cool.

i ordered a new one during my lunch break today, but since it will be a while for it to get here, i borrowed Robert's to finish the job. its nice to have a husband who also has tools.

with all the epic failures of the past 2 weeks - at least i had some success and now have at these 2 crates of goods and a VERY dusty and messy shop to show for it. These items are now awaiting to be saturated and rubbed down with walnut oil. i will ignore the fact that it should have been 3-4 crates of goods and be happy with what i did manage to salvage.

happy birthday to my sweet love!

-Robert and his baby Gabriel-

-my version of a (so called) German Chocolate Cake-

-about to blow them all out! all 3 8 of them-

snow-covered snapshots

from lemons - to lemon aid - to firewood

today was a rough day.

this week i had a lot planned. milled a lot of wood that i so graciously received from my mother in laws friend over a year and half ago in exchange for some mild labour. it was her late husbands wood, and it was a lot of cherry, walnut, cedar and some oak. i have used up the best - it was frustrating to work with all along, as it appears that it has never been dried or stored properly.... so what is left is not the best anymore... i should have known...

i did the milling, ripping, and glueing up about 40 cutting boards worth of material and 6 sets of coasters earlier this week.

when running them through the planer to clean them up, i had a bunch of tear out in some of the cherry, and there were checks running through so many of the pieces that were revealed after this last round of planing. it was a sad and frustrating day.
of those 40 boards, only about 28 made it to see the end of today.... and some of them way, way waaaaaaay smaller than they should have been, trying to save what i could by cutting out and off some of the sections that were no usable. the same counts for the coasters - only one set survived.

i am so disappointed and down about it.

i guess the wood was pretty much free. yet the time involved feels so wasted.

and i wont get my goal done of restocking my inventory this month. but i suppose i will have enough for the first two shows coming up.

after this first show of the year - which will be in richmond on march 30th - i will turn around and invest in a trip to the lumber yard for some "real" wood.

and then will finish my restocking.

here's to a better day tomorrow.

in the swing of things

and the winner is......

thank you ALL for purchasing raffle tickets to support the fling family!
a total of 31 tickets were sold, bringing the total amount raised to $310!!

the winner is:

adrienne phillips, of piney river, va!      CONGRATULATIONS!!!

many special thanks also go out to:

corinna jentzsch - brooklyn, ny

elizabeth belz - stillwater, mn

zachary novarro - stillwater, mn

judy + sanford prager - jamaica plain, ma

tina caudle - rixeyville, va

gretchen archinal - point park, mi

sandra boy - berlin, germany

john boy - brooklyn, ny

anne + joel burleson, richmond, va

steve sutherland, warrenton, va

heather + ben biscoe, centreville, va

christie thompson, richmond, va

lifeware, richmond, va

charity montgomery, charlotte, nc

robert turner, madison, va

THANK YOU ALL!!

winter wonderland

after a very uneventful winter we finally had some snow today!!!

it was only about 8-10 inches, but it was beautiful. we also did not have power for the majority of the day - which was annoying, as i have so much to do this month make make make that inventory - lost 1/2 day monday taking robert's car to the shop and another one today due to power outage.... this does not bode well for the high volume production planned for march.

on the bright side, i cleaned our wood stove that is in the basement and made a fire in it to keep the house warm. i even attempted cooking on the top of the stove - the meal wasn't the best - but a good first try.

my that snow sure was pretty!
it snowed and snowed and snowed - but got too wet to play in it - which was quite the bummer, but got a surprise visit form friends who came to pick up buckeye. they love him.

green flames

generally, i am not the biggest fan of poplar wood. its kind of blaaahh. its great when you are planning making something that you will end up painting it.
today as i was milling a bunch of random wood for cutting boards, etc - this piece of salvaged poplar popped out at me: the green is so vibrant and deep - i have never seen anything like it.

unfortunately, it has a lot of wormholes in it, so i cannot use it for cutting boards. 

so i am not sure yet what this will become.

i could stare at that green flame for hours.

it is amazing.

buckeye is finished....

..... and enjoying the view from the studio

  

saturday shop-time

while i was working on "buckeye" today, robert started building a chicken house for us in his shop next door. it was nice having him there, as usually i work away by myself and often get a little lonely.

"buckeye" is almost finished: got glued up today and is mostly sanded. will need to do a little more sanding and then put a finish on after that and he will be done. 

march madness

starting monday morning there will be madness in the studio! madness i tell you
as the US is watching basketball this month, christina boy design will be restocking its inventory!!
fortunately, most of my inventory sold over the christmas holidays. which is wonderful.
craft shows and wine festivals and other events are coming up and i want to be prepared and have things ready to go.

on the list of making are:
cutting boards (ca. 75 ranging in price from $25-$85)
butcher blocks (ca. 25 ranging in price from $60-$150)
coaster sets (ca. 20 - sets of 4, 6, 8 starting at $25)
spreaders (ca. 150)
salad hands (ca. 30)
wine bottle holders (ca. 50)
small trays (ca. 20)
breakfast boards (individual boards and sets of 2 or 4)
small boxes of all kinds (ca. 25)
clocks (ca. 15)

these are the things i can think of at the top of my head.
if any of you can think of other fun items that could be sold at wine and food festivals -
- i am so totally open for suggestions!
its a lot to do - its pretty ambitious - i know. it will keep me very very busy.
yet it should also give me enough inventory to hopefully get me through half the year.
i know i may not be able to sand and finish them all in march, but even if i just have them constructed - it will be a huge advantage and help.
and if you get bored and want to do some sanding - come on over and help out. i will not say 'no'

let the madness begin!