i have a tendency to pick up pieces of furniture off the side of the road in which i see potential. it could be for any reason - be it its lines, the design, the form, the texture or color, etc.... i promise that i will give it new life.... one day.

somewhere - i think its been over 2 years now - i picked up this rickety beat up table and it had been sitting in my friends barn ever since. i've been planning on painting it and using it as my folding table in the laundry room.

today i finally got it out and started sanding it down - and i discovered that the top is made from solid cherry - very cool. now i am torn whether i want to sand it all the way down and keep the natural cherry - or still paint it......

i have not made up my mind about the top yet. it has quite a few gashes which i am not sure will come out without leaving unevenness behind. i also could embrace the gashes as part of its history when leaving natural... oh decisions. what do you all think?

all i know is that the base is definitely going to get painted. i am trying to new "driftwood" colored milk paint i just scored a few days back.

score!

i scored on some milk paint!!! generally this purchase would have been a good $120 - i got it for $38. i went to the store to get the small pack of "pumpkin" color for a project i will be working on soon - and walked out with the largest bag available for just $2.50 more.... and got a few more colors along with it. could not pass it up that deal. good thing milk paint never goes bad. i think i have quite the supply of "pumpkin", "driftwood" and "slate" to last me a good while. yeah!

the BOOTH at the Gnarly Hops and Barley Festival

-i think i need a banner of sorts-

many thanks to everyone who came out and supported me!!!! 

happenings:

this past week i have been wrapping up a few more things for the Gnarly Hops Festival and the Mystery Mart #2 that are both happening this saturday. 

Gnarly Hops and Barley Festival 
is in Culpeper in the Spencer Street Parking Lot from noon - 6PM.
i will personally be there all day - so come on by, have some beer, and say hello!

the Mystery Mart #2 will be in Richmond in conjunction with the Bourbon Cru release at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery from at 2-9PM. unfortunately, here i will not be in person, but the great ladies of the Mystery Mart team will be there selling my wares and those of 30 other talented artists and designers. so go check it out for some early mother's day shopping - and get something for father's day while you are at it!

-coasters in the making-

-beer tasting flights-

-getting ready-

clocks with dots

wood-shop-archaeology

today i cleaned my shop. and by cleaned it - i mean CLEANED it because i really really needed it: blew off the walls, took everything out of the shelves, benches, walls, vacuumed everything out,
threw stuff out, organized, but things back, swept, vacuumed some more.

its still a little in disarray, but i did take one picture of layers of different wood dusts that were revealed behind my chop saw cart..... love seeing the layers and seeing what wood i used when. i feel a little like an archaeologist.

unexpected kindness

my friends and neighbors were in South Africa/Swaziland over the winter months. while they were gone i checked their mail, organized bills, deposited checks, etc.... it was maybe 30 min - 1 hour of work every week, which was no big deal at all. they have done a lot for me over the past few years, so it just seemed natural to do them this favor. therefore, i was so pleasantly surprised to receive this awesome addition to my shop upon their return last week:

Thank you SO SO much!! its greatly appreciated and sure will add a bunch of glorious dust and noise to my shop. cannot wait to use it!

edible landscaping

today, on a very rare saturday off, robert and i took a little trip into the mountains to go to edible landscapes greenhouses in afton after i cleaned the house and he built another raised bed.
not only was it a gorgeous gorgeous drive out there, but the place itself is a little slice of heaven.

they have eveything from berries and fruit trees, herbs and citrus to other exotic types of plants and it was purely delicious walking around and looking at all they had.
2 paw-paws trees, 2 fuzzy female kiwis, 1 fuzzy male kiwi, 1 red gooseberry, 1 black velvet gooseberry, 1 lavender provence, 1 rosemary, 2 black muscadine grapes, and 1 thai ginger root are now in our possession..... guess planting day is tomorrow for most of them ...... we'll have to build a trellis for the grapes and kiwis ...... so excited!!

and last, but at no means least, we stopped at belmont BBQ in charlottesville on the way home. YUM YUM YUM - slop bucket, i love thee.

chickens ahoi!!

yesterday morning before work i reinforced the sides of Margaret with some smaller chicken wire, as a few days ago when i cleaned the coop and let the chickies out - the wee ones were able to get through and i had to play catch.
when i had finished, i opened the door for them and let them explore.
it was so fun to watch them, as one by one they came to the open door to see what was going on.
it took them about 30 minutes to get over their fear of the new wide open world and come down the ramp into the grass.... but boy - are they loving it out there now!
so far it has been such a delightful experience. i really enjoy being a chicken momma, and robert and i could be out there watching them for hours.

  

     

good looking, ladies!

new stuff ::three::

boards boards boards - besides the cutting boards and butcher blocks, now there are also breakfast/snack/espresso boards in various sizes and woods:

new stuff ::two::

the ol' balancing bottle holder

currently available in these woods:

local cherry, ambrosia maple, salvaged walnut, salvaged red oak, salvaged poplar

new stuff ::one::

some shallow dishes i made

these and several more will be for sale at the Gnarly Hops & Barley Festival in Culpeper on April 27th come on out, visit, buy some local crafts, and have some beer!!!

making hay

after a really hard start this year financially, April seems like a very busy month....

- work at the restaurant has been picking up again, so i am getting more hours in there,
- i have picked up some work with another food joint in town,
- i am still doing book-keeping work for Turner Construction,
- the designer i have worked for in the past has new clients and i am doing the drafting for her,
- my friends are going to a convention in Vegas, and i get to office sit and answer phones.

i am also going to have a booth at the "Gnarly Hops and Barley Festival" in Culpeper the end of this month, so i have been busy in the studio getting ready for that - also making some new items - will definitely be posting about that in the next few days

so -yeah - that is 6 different jobs in 1 month.... some months there is nothing - now there is work galore.

as my dear husband said: "you gotta make hay when the sun is shining". so i am trucking away.

if there aren't as many blog posts this month - you will know why - i'll be out running between jobs - making hay - to buy some wood.

spring......

......you had us waiting - and i sure hope you are now here to stay for a while.....at least until summer gets here....... ok?

here are a few shots from yesterday - after a very very VERY long Easter weekend of working in the restaurant (1 rehearsal dinner + 2 weddings + 1 Easter Feast = 36 hours and 1 tired Tina) it was nice to go for a little walk around the yard and see how things are springing up and starting to bloom.
I love daffodils. they are so very triumphant and, in my eyes, the perfect flower to announce spring.
we have a big batch of them in the yard and they make me happy whenever i see them.

Robert did a lot of work in the garden while i was at work: new raised beds, plating of yummy things to come

the chickens are growing and i am pleased to say that all 8 of them are still alive. after getting new gravel for our road yesterday and doing some maintenance on it, i cleaned the coop and had a blast watching these little ladies for a while.