Thanksgiving

Welcome to the Farm.

Tia's parents joined us for Thanksgiving this year.

Meeting Daisy's goats.

Waiting:

The schoolhouse was full – almost 30 people joined us for dinner.

"Rejoice always!

Pray constantly.

Give thanks in everything,

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." [emphasis added]

– 1 Thess. 5:16-18 HCSB

Happy Thanksgiving!

Coffee in the New Almost Kitchen

Clara and I spent much of the day on our hands and knees scrubbing the stone house floors--a sign that most of the major renovating work is done and it's just about time for some furniture.

That's some hard work. 

We took a coffee break in the kitchen which is poised for cabinetry first thing Monday morning. Wednesday it fills up with guests. 

Cashmere Capelet

Most of this super-soft sweater has gone for other projects--but the top of it makes the coziest, most beautifully shaped little capelet. All I did was cut it off right above the underarm seam, leaving the top of the sleeve intact, then finish the raw edge with a zigzag stitch.

And then sew on some bugle beads, of course. That was the best part.

November Sunshine

A Line in the Sand

Clara and I have managed to reupholster the couch to this point--it's only lacking the bottom fabric and the fronts of the arms. Meanwhile, I've been making the cover for the seat cushion, but today the sewing machine drew a line in the sand. Stopped me in my tracks. Said it simply wasn't capable of sewing through six layers of upholstery velvet where the piping has a seam and is being sewn to two panels.

I was almost immediately okay with that, and found a shop in town that will finish my cushion cover at a very reasonable price. I got it over there today with a huge feeling of relief. No more green velvet to sew for the forseeable future.

An Out-of-Season Sprig

Honeysuckle in November, who knew?

Hey, A Kitchen Floor!

Remember back in August when we had to take the kitchen floors in the stone house all the way back to the joists?

They stayed like that forever while the invisible but important work of plumbing, wiring, and ductwork went on.

Finally we got to close up the space, and the Composer and Nick, our darling carpenter, threw those subfloors down this weekend. Hurray!

Then the tile crew came in this morning and did all this: wow. 

Tomorrow the same thing happens in the two bathrooms!

Alabama Chanin: Beaded Magdalena Corset

This is made from two layers of medium-weight jersey, stenciled with the Alabama Chanin "Magdalena" stencil, and then each shape was stitched around with bugle beads.

It is such pleasant work.

Woodpile, Still Waiting

We have a large and lovely woodpile all ready to go . . . and we're still running the air-conditioner. 

Head Above Water, Barely

Whew. This is just a busy, busy season. Travel, wedding, giant party, whole-house renovation, work. My idea is that all of it will be finished by January, and then I will sit down with Sister in my arms. 

Eightieth Birthday

It was that time last weekend--my father in law's birthday. And this was a big one. Eighty.

We kept it on the quiet side, since my step-mother-in-law was still recovering from an ankle replacement. In fact, the most exciting moment of the evening was the stair climb.

I lifted the menu straight out of my 1936 cookbooks, which was fun. And I included some insights on the menus.

As is so often the case, the appetizer plates were the most interesting. I followed the cookbook to a tee, and served "radish roses, a mound of coleslaw, an olive stuffed with almond, an olive stuffed with celery, and three shrimps marinated in French dressing and served on a lettuce leaf."

Not That It Needed It

Today I borrowed the neighbor's power-washer and started in on the front deck. To my knowledge, it's never been washed in thirty-five years. It took a long time to do a little bit, so after a couple of hours I decided I'd do better working at my desk, billing for my time, and hiring a professional to do the rest. He'll be here Saturday morning.

New Walls in the Stone House

The living room is painted! Still waiting on the new slab of stone that will be the mantel above the gorgeous fireplace.

The small bedroom is painted! All that's left to do is hang some curtains and clean the floor.

The hallway is in the process of becoming Enchanted Forest Green. With lots of white closet doors.

The kitchen still looks like this, sadly, but will receive its subfloors this week. After that, it's full speed ahead with sheetrock repair and tile floors. The cabinets will arrive in mid-November.

And turning back around, here's the view out onto the front porch!

Last Apronful of Tomatoes

Clara and Daisy and I went to New York this weekend to meet up with our kids there--it used to be the boys, but now it's Giles and Tia and Felix and Molly--Felix was able to join us for the weekend. Actually, we were a secondary consideration. He was there to see Molly, and boy was he happy.  Bella couldn't get off work but plans to make the trip in December.

We met Molly's parents, shopped for bridesmaids' dress fabrics, and looked for special tea and chocolate croissants. 

We got back really late last night and Clara had to plunge right into teaching her classes at 8:00. Daisy and I eased into things a little slower, and I found time to check the garden for one last apronful of tomatoes.

Foliage in a Gray and White Room

Foliage looks good anywhere.

Sister, No Caption

The End of the Work Day

Afternoon light; time to cook dinner.

A Palette for the Stone House

Oh, it's fun to see these coming together! From top to bottom (and these are all Benjamin Moore):

Decorator White--for all the trim, and for the kitchen.

Green Tint--for the master bedroom and the hall bathroom.

Gray Cashmere--for the living room.

Wild Aster--for the small bedroom and for the lady's bathroom (clawfoot tub).

Enchanted Forest--for the hallway, which runs from the front door straight back to the kitchen, and the tiny study.

Joys of small-town life--Daisy's piano teacher is doing all the interior painting and acing it!

Fun with Linen and Stitches

 I'm thoroughly enjoying just making things up on my new quilt. Random colors, random patterns, and apparently a constant dropping of thread. I've had people call me after two separate meetings saying they found floss under my chair and would get it to me. The hazards of quilting on the go, I guess.

First a Quilt, Then a Painting

This is the first of at least two abstracts I'm working on that come straight from my quilts.

You can see that the painting is much warmer overall, because of the red-brown underpainting. I'm not sure I like that, and I may try again with a cool underpainting.

Before the Reupholstering

The girls and I found this couch a couple of weeks ago (for the stone house, of course). It's very old, dating from the 1920s, and used to be horsehair! It has some very sturdy springs.

I started the reupholstering adventure today by taking the fabric off the bottom and back. Bottle green cotton velvet coming up.

A Spur-of-the-Moment Quilt Top: Urban Renewal

Like someone who eats the whole package of cookies so it will stop tempting them, today I pieced this whole quilt so it wouldn't sit there distracting me from things I should be doing. I'm calling it Urban Renewal.

I had the pieces cut out--it's simply garments cut into as big of rectangles as I could get out of each shape. If you've ever taken a random assortment of rectangles and tried to piece a quilt, you will know what a miracle it was that this went together like a dream with no measuring at all. The force was with me.

Before School

White Birds: Two for One

New for me: a double-decker rendition of the ubiquitous white bird. 

Sea of Chairs

Clara and I have been scouting around your junkier antique stores for affordable furniture for the stone house. A while ago we found a dropleaf dining table and six chairs--all orange wood and terrible fabric on the seats.

It's been a primer-and-three-coats kind of project, but we're to the point where we cover the seats with ticking now. 

The rising tide of furniture here is going to swamp us all if we can't get some of this into the other house soon.