I finished the range this morning...the refrigerator isn't done yet.
Both my husband and daughter asked me if I was going to give it a few more coats of paint, they think the front looks a little rough. They rolled their eyeballs at me when I explained that I roughed it up intentionally because I didn't want it to look brand new.
My latest acquisitions...
From Abasketof, in Turnbridge Wells, England.... (I love the ease of buying from artists who live all over the world...if you had told me twenty years ago I'd be buying handmade art from Europe while sitting in my pajamas in front of a computer I'd have scoffed.)
A coq au vin prep board, trug of veggies, peppers, and a dish of candy. It's all so realistic looking...
I purchased the prep board and the trug of veggies...she had multiple trugs listed, so I asked for the one which was the closest match to the prep board. When my order was shipped Lucy said, "I added a few peppers and mushrooms to the trug to match as far as possible the prep board and I made a few more peppers to put on the table - though these will need to be varnished - they were hot when I packed them. The little dish of chocolates I put in is an early taste of Easter!"
Isn't that awesome? Lucy is so nice. Almost all the etsy sellers I've dealt with are...I love being able to purchase directly from craftsmen.
My second acquisition of the week is really an acquisition from January. From LizBrownLovesArt, some blueberry muffins, peaches, peach tarts, and a cup of cocoa.
The package she shipped me in January, when I placed the order, never arrived, so she made my order again. Liz refunded my shipping and added the hot cocoa to my replacement shipment as a gift. I told her she didn't have to do either, as it wasn't her fault the first package didn't arrive, but she insisted. I was overwhelmed by her graciousness.
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What I'm working on....
I'm making a range and refrigerator for the kitchen I'm going to build next. This is an in-progress picture, obviously...I'm not even close to being done yet.
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The new kitten update...it's been an exciting week...
I took Ester to the vet last week for her first round of vaccinations, a check up, and to schedule an appointment for her to be spayed. The veterinarian told me she was not four months old, as the humane society told me, but seven months old...she's just a small kitty. All of her adult teeth are completely in and though she may fill out a bit in the shoulders and hips she's not going to get any taller...stop feeding her kitten food, she's done growing...she's a happy, healthy, friendly, well-behaved, gorgeous cat.
I scheduled an appointment for her to be spayed on April 2nd, to coincide with when the second round of vaccinations are due. Ester, being a cat and not a kitten, with total disregard for my schedule, went into estrus (heat) last weekend. Wakefield, our tom, who was neutered as a kitten, was all of the sudden veeeerrrry much more interested in Ester than he was the day before. Though he couldn't get her pregnant he certainly gave it his best effort...again, and again, and again.
He didn't know what he was doing, it was a bit funny...he'd pin her down with his teeth grasping the skin on the back of her neck, then stand over her marching in place with his back legs...left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, as if he were standing on a hot plate. Poor frustrated Ester squirmed around underneath him trying to get them lined up right, but he was standing too far forward. It was as if a bad cat porno was being filmed in my house for days....mew, mew, meow, mew, mew, meow. I didn't get any sleep last weekend (separating them only made things worse), so stopped at the vet's office on my way to work Monday morning to beg them to move up her surgery.
Ester was spayed on Thursday morning and returned home Friday evening. Wakefield slept the entire two days she was gone...he was absolutely exhausted, the poor guy.
They were not yet friendly before she went into estrus, Wakefield had just begun to tolerate her intrusion into his house, but it seems their relationship has changed now....they were sleeping on the couch with me while I read this morning, curled up next to each other. I suppose three or four days of, let's call it "closeness", changes a couple.
We have to restrain her from running and jumping as much as we can while she heals, so I'm staying home with her today even though I have a mountain of paperwork at the office I was planning on catching up on. I think I'll work on the range and refrigerator while she naps.
A week's worth of small posts all lumped into one...because I've been busy making kitten videos for my best friend Susan instead of writing blog posts.
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Last Sunday I transformed a handful of odd and end plastic and metal pots and pans from this...
to this...
I finished the 1/24 scale cookware as a bright and shiny set, but made the 1/12 pots and pans mismatched and aged, so it looks as if they've been collected one by one over many years. I put holes through the handles and added wire loops in case I want to hang them on a pot rack.
The brass pan wouldn't take paint, so I treated it with a patina chemical...I didn't expect it to turn into something worth putting in a kitchen, I just wanted to see how the solution worked. I'll wash the patina off then try blacken-it instead....I haven't experimented with that chemical yet either.
I need to buy some more pots and pans so that I can add some stainless and aluminum pieces to the mix. On my list of things to do is to inventory the kitchen accessories I've collected so I can determine what else I need to either purchase or make.
Also in the photo is a gorgeous afghan, some potholders and a mat, crocheted by the very talented Majorie Williams. The table and chairs are relatively new too, I put them together from a Chrysnbon kit a couple of months ago.
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I received a couple of packages from overseas recently...
From Australia, crafted by Carrie Lavender, a half dozen kitchen towels, four napkins, a ceramic grains crock, a glass flour crock, and a darling teapot.
From Spain, made by sisters Maria Jose and Monica of LugartPetit, an apron, two towels, an oven mitt, the cutest felted wool teddy bear ever, and a four pack of yogurt.
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I'm starting a hectic work schedule for a while...my assistant, Shannon, is having surgery on Friday so will be unable to work for several weeks. I was offered a temp, but, quite frankly, what we do is so complicated it would be far easier to work extra hours myself. A couple of my very sweet co-workers have volunteered to put in some extra time too, if needed. So...you may not see many blog posts from me for a while, not that I've been posting prolifically this past year anyway. Remember when I used to post every day? Life was less complicated then.
I will also be unable to attend the Bishop show in Chicago in April...so I'm tentatively planning to drive downstate for the Three Blind Mice show in Ann Arbor in May. I was contemplating flying to Seattle for a week (last week) for the show there, but there was too much to do to prep for my assistant being gone. I'll take a week or two of vacation time once Shannon is settled back in at the office. I should have the kit to build the kitchen by then...some time alone in my studio will be very calming.