Monday, March 18, 2024

The Job's Done.....


 The newly created back piece for the chest of drawers is doing what I wanted it to do. When arrangments are place on top there is a background.



I applied a layer of paste wax using a fine steel wool to create a better finish.  I spent a lot of time polishing then I attached the back piece permanently to the chest. I added designs that were from my own creative period of style as I had nothing carved or any curved molding. With the stain and finish being an exact match it looks like it was always been on it. I have an oak chest of drawers that has a fancier back piece and that is what inspired the making of this one.


We woke up to 26° F. this morning.  It is a hard freeze and I could see the hollyhocks were not pleased with it. It takes a good winter coat with a hood as we also have good wind chill.  Outdoor work is on hold for now but by another month I will be back to doing outside projects.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Sunday Times....


 There was only a slit at the horizon between the sunrise and the clouds. I have become familiar with all the trees and the houses are my man made mountains in the shot.


The evening before had a display of clouds all around. The temperatures cooling is creating our ever changing sky formations.


The spring weather of last week seemed early but it really wasn't compared to all the different springs we have had in the past. I remember having ice storms that coated my tulips and days later it all was thawed and gone.


The crocus are at their ending time as they are now pretty weathered. This shot take two shots ago captures their true glory.


The second coat of finished was applied yesterday.  It will take two days tor it to truly be dried and then I can start the attaching of the back piece to the chest. The varnish material requires so much of my patience and I can't work with anything that has a sticky finish. It has to be dry. Hurry up and dry really doesn't work, Hurry up and wait is the reality. 

We are having a quiet day. We watched church on live stream and had a light lunch. It is a cold day and I don't have any reason to venture outside.  It is a good day for resting and healing.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Friday, March 15, 2024

Friendly Friday....


 I usually always think of pussy willow bushes to be a bush. We inherited this tree and it is big and is a pussy willow variety.  The small buds are now opening and putting out a fuzz into the air. 



During the fall I was thinking I would hire someone to take the tree down. It has a dead branch in it and it seems to lose big branches every few years. As of today when I look at the tree I am glad I did not take it down. I can get a power saw out and take out the dead branch.The tree does hang over to the one neighbor's yard, just one branch. I have another neighbor to the northeast that has no trees in his backyard.  In a way it is to his benefit to see it and not have to maintain it. 


I am still working on the backsplash.  It has its coat of stain and final coat on it now, even though I may still add to it.  I decided that I had to wait for that to dry and then I will figure out the bracket that are needed for attaching it to the whole body. 


Last year at this time we were so busy that we didn't remember to get out our bunnies un Easter day. We are ahead of the game this year and we put them out. I took lots of pictures but I see I haHave only two that made it in the downloading process. I will have to go back to my camera and reboot and reload more. 

I am having a slow day today, still adjusting with the time change and my diabetic medication. I think I am on the schedule now and  yet I am still reacting to the change. We are having a great sunny day and the temps are a little cool. We didn't get any more rain even though some of the state did. I guess a half of an inch is the blessing we appreciate.  Thanks for checking in today.



Thursday, March 14, 2024

Thursday's Things......


 We had a light rain early this morning. It might help to cause the rest of the buds to open. The miniature daffodils are fun to see alone with the crocus. 



The drought continues and it shows in the lesser number of  stems of grape hyacinths. They don't look very healthy at this point. I transplanted a lot of these this year but they don't look like they will bloom this season. Maybe next year the new ones will get established enough to put our blooms.




I did get all the pieces to the backsplash glued together.  I am happy with one piece that I glued but the top piece is not right. I will have to do a redesign on it to fix it. I guess I could cut the whole top off and recap it. It is frustrating when wood has so many uneven and twisted qualities that makes things show up out of line and uneven.  When things look accurate but then you glue it and the curve in the wood shows up. It is so frustrating.  I will fix it.  Thanks for stopping by this Thursday.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Work in Progress....


 This morning's view looked like this. The sun is still filtered by the cloud as it seems to be a gentle, hazy day.



This is the same scene exactly one year ago today. I had it on Facebook and they are good at reminding me of memories. Our winter last year did seem to last a lot longer than this year's did. 



As I work on projects that I design, I usually let things cure for a while in my mind. This is what it looked like yesterday, backsplash for the chest of drawers. 



Twenty four hours later I changed some things. I first shortened the height by two inches. Secondly a made a piece for the front bottom to strengthen it when I attach it plus it is traditional in the design as I looked at other antique pieces that I have.  Thirdly I shrunk the size of the top cap a little.  I don't have walnut wood molding but that will have to be the substitute. 


It took me all morning to make the saw cut changes and then I sanded everything with two grades of sandpaper with my power sander.  Perhaps tomorrow I can get everything glued together with clamps and let it dry.  I have to research the finish that I used on the chest of drawers. I know I have written it down in one of my blogs or on Facebook.  I do think I can remember it even though I have a dozen different cans of stain on my shelves.  I really like my redesign and am excited to get it finished up.


I will finish off with a set of indoor flowers. I like the colors and they have lasted a longer time than usual. Thanks for stopping by today.