NEW DOOR

Did you ever, in your entire life, get from your sister-in-law a gift that left you completely and utterly speechless? Did you ever, in your entire life, expect to get from your sister-in-law a gift that not only left you completely and utterly speechless, but also wondering "Heavens to Betsy, what ever am I going to do with this ... this ... this ... THING"? Because you know full well that this gift from your sister-in-law is supposed to be put on full display for the whole world to see and that if you don't put it on display, snarky comments will be made about how she goes to the trouble and expense of buying gifts that no one appreciates. And how she's never buying anyone a gift again. And it turns out that two other people are getting something similar and you get to see the reaction of only one.

Jeepers Dale, you say - did you get a Shamwow for Christmas? And I say "No" - then I change that because yes, if you break down "Shamwow" to its parts, it is a "FakeWow" and that had to be our reaction - fake "wow". As in "You shouldn't have" and really mean it. "You shouldn't have. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE" - now or ever.

And here is a little taste -

but you already saw this picture on my Facebook page, didn't you? So, here is another taste ... (maybe "taste" is not the right word - perhaps I should have used "snippet")

We need to rewind back to October, 2008 for a bit of pre-amble. Her brother (Frank) and I decided that we had enough stuff. Make that we had enough stuff that other people had either bought for or given to us and that we could buy our own stuff. Ergo ... (don't you love that word?) it seemed like a good plan to discontinue the practice of exchanging Christmas gifts with grown adults who also have a lot of stuff. So we tell SIL "No gift exchange for Christmas anymore". And SIL says "But I already bought you a gift". I should mention that I wonder about people who have their Christmas shopping done in October, but I'll save that for another time.

I just bet that by now you are starting to get the picture, aren't you? Turns out that this THING was hand-made just for us - a custom order if you please - by a motor-homing friend who makes these for other motor-homing people who use them as decorative pieces by their motor-home doors ...  

Our niece got one with horses. One in a very interesting position that defies description. Her brother got one with dogs, but I have not seen that one.

These THINGS are bound together with recycled nylon rope. The wood posts look like normal wood. The figures look like other normal resin/acrylic figures. But wait! There's more. Not only are they decorative, but they are also useful! They aren't just a custom-made THING at all! They are, in fact (and unbelievably) solar lights! How very environmentally friendly. Because now, while we are saving electricity, we have to look at one of the fugliest things on the face of this planet. And we will even be able to see it in the dark!

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. William Morris

In the background is our new door to the garage bathroom - isn't it useful - and beautiful? 

MY ROSEWOOD BOOKCASE

Today I took photos in my my sewing room to post on the NING group I belong to and after I looked at those photos, I started to think about the things I have in this room and where they came from and how much they mean to me. Most particularly, my rosewood bookcase.

The rosewood bookcase where (funnily enough) my needle-related books are was one of the first pieces of furniture Frank and I bought when we moved to North Vancouver after living in Prince Rupert for five months when we were first married. It's about 34 years old. I still think it is a lovely piece of furniture.

Stored in the bookcase are:

Recipes collected and and saved in a 2lb chocolate box by my mother-in-law, Cora Abeling. A lot are written in Dutch or cut, very carefully, from the newspaper. Aunty Mary Richmond's recipes are in a plastic file card box. Most of hers are low-calorie and low fat or are for Colonel Blimp Chutney. One day I will make a collage for each of them. Just because.

A little book called "Little Sally Mandy and the Shiny Penny" which was given to me in 1956 by Mrs. Dorthea Fountain - a friend of my grandmother Ada Georgina Shoemaker Richmond. Mrs. Fountain was one of the first female doctors to graduate from the University of Toronto. Sadly, both of her sons were killed during WWII. Mrs. Fountain used to send us scratchy socks and Barley Sugar Sticks for Christmas and a $2 bill for our birthdays until we turned 16.

A small pink cup and saucer that Donna and Rob Laydon (Leighton?) gave me when I was born - way back in 1951. My father Charles Herbert Battison and my cousin Sydney Carol Dean broke it when they were throwing a rolled up sock around the house many years ago. It is held together by imbedded Scotch Tape residue and is one of the very few things I own that came from my life with my father and mother. Another item from my life with my father and mother is my father's camera which he left with my mother (Ada Margaret Richmond Battison Smith) so she could take pictures. She didn't bother very often, so there is very little documented evidence of my existence between the ages of 7 and 25 and even then, its spotty!

A handcrafted pottery bunny that my sister Ann Margaret Battison gave me. A cat pushed it off a shelf and broke its ears which have been Crazy-Glued back in place. I know Ann won't mind that a cat broke it, because she likes cats too!

A little Grecian villa, two stuffed desk ornaments, rock bookends, an 'earthquake indicator' and three Russian figurines that were actually purchased in Russia by a Steele & Co. client and which remind me of some of the finest men a girl could work for!

A plaster of paris carving that I made for Aunty Mary when she was Director of Nursing at Vancouver General and I was in Grade 10 at Royal Oak Junior High. A piece of driftwood that either Ann or I cleaned and varnished for Aunty Mary for Christmas back when our mother was feeling 'artsy crafty'. Ann says she made it; I say I made it. Doesn't really matter. I have it.

Framed petit-pointed pansies made for me by my friend Kass who also made the framed cross-stitched butterfly and my own silk-on-silk embroidered flower kit that Frank gave me for Christmas the same year he gave me a calligraphy pen and some Henkel knives - which was the same year his sister got gold-plated faucets for a house they don't live in any more. I still have the knives and I can do calligraphy.

Pieces of decorative china and magical, wondrous sewing things that belonged to Dorothy Peacock and her half-sister (my father's cousin) Kay Peacock Little. Decorative bone china sent to my mother by her uncle George Richmond (Nr. Swindon, Wilts., England) for Christmas over the years.

My precious collection of thimbles - gifted to me by my husband, a former employer, friends, family and Aunty Mary (Helen) Battison Dean who gave me some of Dorothy's and Kay's sewing treasures.

Not one, but TWO cases containing the feet and some other (but not all - by a long shot!) attachments for my Bernina Artista 200 sewing machine that I bought just for me in memory of my mother who taught me to sew and my Aunty Mary who encouraged us in everything we did. (My old Bernina 830 is stored behind my sewing table and my new Pfaff is under the stool that Aunty Mary bargello-ed.)

My rosewood bookcase is a very special piece of furniture.

And look - I have a project underway on the ironing board! It's a scrappy log-cabinish type of quilt and I have actually used some of my stash, including one spool of thread!

And another look!! I have another project in waiting - the floor needs to be vacuumed!

I'll do that sometime.

Stay tuned for things mentioned, but not elaborated on, in this blog! May be tomorrow - may be next week!

UPDATE: Because of this post, I was contacted by relatives of Mrs. Dorthea Fountain's! It's a small cyber-world! Thanks Leslie!

IF YOU HAVE TWO AND USE THEM BOTH IS IT USING THE STASH?

Wallpaper stripping continues. The wallpaper from the main entry area and hallway is now in the trash. The area by the front door was decorated with silvery/flocky/ridgey flowers in a mauve/pink/shiny combo (quite frankly, not my taste at all) and the border print that went down the hall, across a doorway and back up the other side of the hall was another flocky/ridgey floral, but in completely different colours (blue and yellow) from the door area. The remaining border print is in the room I have named the aquarium/cookbook librarium for lack of a better name. Since all the other rooms have names that are indicative of their function or contents, it works for me. 

The stash that was used the past few days? Well, you might think it doesn't count, but if you have two of something that you bought a couple of years ago and plan NEVER, EVER to buy or need again (a.) because all the wallpaper will be gone, and b.) because you will never, ever hang wallpaper again in your entire life), and use both of them, then it is using a stash which, in this case, is wallpaper stripper solution. I must question the instructions on this product. The solution is in a 650 ml bottle. (I assume, but the instructions don't say) The solution is to be poured into a bucket large enough to accommodate the 650 mls plus the required 7 litres of hot water (I ended up with over 1/2 bucket full) and to apply with a paint roller to the wallpapered walls, wait 15 minutes, reapply, wait another 15 minutes and scrape off the offending fugly wallpaper. The instructions say to "USE IMMEDIATELY". I do not understand how this could actually happen, unless one was trying to remove wallpaper from the floor and was able to dump the entire bucketful of solution on the floorpaper, swidge it about an area exactly large enough to use all of it, wait 15 minutes (while waiting - make more) and reapply, then scrape of the fugly floorpaper. I think I need to email the manufacturer and I am just in the mood to do so.

Dale, you say. However did you get yourself involved in the Great Wallpaper Caper when it is so much more gratifying to loll about in your sewing room with paper, coloured pencils, heat tools, that new package of Tyvek ... etc.? Well, I answer - can you read back to the blog about the dumpster bin? I am not going to refresh memories here - just look for the pictures of the blue dumpster and/or the guy on the ladder and you will get the general idea. Think sledgehammer and about 3 tons of bricks and marble.

After the painting of the dining room and living room (and cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, polishing, washing, putting backing, etc. associated therewith), the new roof and associated removal of the fugly fireplace and associated cleaning, dusting, vacuuming ... (and some other improvement project, but I can't remember what), it was (almost mutally) decided that more work was required. Since I am not a carpenter, I let Frank do the filling, sanding, hammering, sawing, ladder-climb-past-three-rungsing, lifting, and drywalling. In return, I got to whine and complain that I already cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, polished, washed, putted backed, etc. from the previous home improvements, make lazy dinners due to the fact that nothing has been cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, polished, washed, putted backed, etc. because this is an ongoing project and I have learned my lesson.

Since Frank has little (or no) patience with finicky work (hence his lack of skill at quilting, pattern drafting, wedding-dress making, embroidery, cross-stitch, artsy-quilty-melty stuff, calligraphy, etc.) (or two periods of 15 minute waiting) to strip the wallpaper from one area, I thought I can do this as long as I only have to climb three rungs of the ladder. So I said I would do it. So I am.