Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Monday Morning Musings

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Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments on Don’s singing. (If you haven’t yet seen the video, scroll down to the previous post.) He’s read them all and is very touched. In answer to your questions, yes, he does sing around the house and he has indeed written songs for me. Love songs. They make my heart go pitter-patter. Allow me to brag a bit: Don writes and sings his own songs and is currently working on 2 different CDs of his music. He is a wonderful entertainer and a songwriter who writes from his heart. He’s also one of the best actors I have ever known. Maybe you’ll get to hear him sing someday!

The movie was filmed 2 years ago in New Orleans. We haven’t seen it yet. It has been shown at some film festivals, but truth be told, I don’t think it got very good reviews. It has been released in France (the director is Olivier Dahan who directed La Vie en Rose.) It may go straight to DVD here. Bob Dylan did the music for the movie. Bob Dylan heard my husband sing his song! So far, there isn’t a recording of the soundtrack….but you can bet Dylan fans are clamoring for one. Oh, and the beard was fake, by the way. They built it around Don’s goatee. The goatee whose absence I didn’t notice when Don shaved it off a few weeks ago.

Okay. On to other things. I want to share a photo of this vintage shoe bag made from a feed sack that I bought on Etsy. (The usual problem with shooting in this corner of my studio applies. It’s narrow and dark.)

It’s hanging between my cabinet and the mini-design wall. It will eventually be filled with treasured notes from blogging friends and fun things for creating. Here’s a close-up of the fabric design:

Love, love this cheery fabric. I had some creative time in the studio on the weekend.  I’m working on a couple of gifts and thinking up some new projects. And doing things like hanging my Mockingbird Hill Cottage badge on the cabinet door.

I really have grown to love the cabinet as is.  Since so much of my little space is pink, aqua and white, I’ve decided a little less matchy-matchy is in order.

I know many of you have been published several times, but me? Just once. It’s still new to me. So I went ahead and did what I’ve wanted to do all along. I framed the cover of Romantic Homes with my mention in “Setting the Sites.” The frame is vintage. I kind of like seeing it on display in my little work area. Ignore the ugly duster – I always seem to miss something when I take a photo. Don is an enabler, by the way. Now he’s urging me to hang things on the doors. He truly doesn’t mind me taking over this space. As far as he’s concerned, the more creativity on display at MHC, the better.

My friend, Beth Leintz of Gathering Dust, wrote me after seeing photos of my afghan-in-progress and offered to send me some yarn she found at an estate sale. She thought it would fit perfectly with the color palette I’m using.

It does! She also sent along one of her beautiful tags with a sweet note on the back. Thank you, Beth!

It’s a very cold and windy day here in the Hudson Valley. My potted plants on the porch bit the dust last week when we had two hard frosts in a row. Winter is on the way. Not sure how I feel about that, but then again, winter doesn’t care.

Nesting

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As we were carrying a tarp full of leaves to the woods yesterday, I spotted this perfect little nest on the ground. No doubt it was blown out of a tree during our recent windy weather. Both Don and I stopped to admire it’s perfection. How do birds construct such an intricate home for their babies? I think they are amazing little miracles. We have quite a few nests around the cottage. Each one has been lovingly added to our home after being discovered somewhere on our property.  (I added the teacup to the photo to indicate how small this little nest is.)

I’ve been nesting a bit myself. Because of the new addition of the cabinet to my little upstairs studio, things are being rearranged.  The bookcase has been moved to a new position on the opposite wall.

I added the lamp – actually I stole it from the bedside table in the guest room. One of the chairs from the kitchen has now taken the bookcase’s former position and I’ve added a jar full of seaglass, which catches the light from the window.

If I tried to tell you how hard it is to get a photo of the cabinet, you wouldn’t believe me.  If I had a trapeze which hung from the ceiling and I was dumb enough to get on it, then I might get a good photo.  So, that being said, here’s another attempt:

I moved the banner because, cute as it was on the cabinet, it fell off every time I needed to open the glass doors. If you remember, this wall used to be a design wall. I had 3 long flannel-covered panels attached to the wall. Two of them are gone. I kept the other and nailed it to the wall length-wise. Right now, my two embroidery pieces are pinned to it. And photos of Don and I when we were little kids.

Between the panel and the cabinet is my chalkboard. That may move eventually. I’m still filling up the shelves inside the glass doors. My wedding cake toppers have moved upstairs to their new home. I have a jar full of lace and trims, one full of ribbons, some vintage glove boxes and other little treasures. As I accumulate more, I know all of this will change.

The top of the cabinet: a photo of a rose taken by my late brother, a puff made by Lori Karla,  my sheep from another Lori (of Vignettes) in it’s Boite de Vignette, a sachet from Lizzie, my bunny from Rosemary, and my wire egg basket full of fabric hearts and crocheted pieces and a vintage headband.

I’ve had this three-tiered basket for years, since back in our San Diego days. It’s been hanging around downstairs because I had no idea where to put it.

Now, it has new home upstairs and is in the process of being spray-painted. Don’t judge too harshly. Only one coat has been applied.

I ran out of paint. By the way, I don’t spray paint often. Does anyone else get frustrated by the nozzle clogging up? I stuck a straight pin in that hole so many times, I lost count. And the smell! It still lingers in my nostrils.

One would think there can’t possibly be room for anything else in this hall-turned-studio. But I tell you this: when I find my vintage dress form, room will be made.

Through it all, one thing never changes.

Lambchop sleeps through it all.

A Hutch for the Studio

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Thanks for all your supportive comments on the newly painted table! I’m really loving the change. Since the kitchen and living room are open to each other and I have 3 darker pieces in the living room, this lighter version of the table makes a big difference. After the table, I moved on to touching up all the chips on the kitchen island. It definitely takes a beating. I’m throwing a couple of coats of Varathane on it, as well.

When I posted for Where Bloggers Create, I mentioned that I was on the lookout for a cabinet for my little studio. Today, via Craig’s List, I found one – just down the road from MHC. My thought was to find a kitchen hutch like the one I already have in our kitchen. Made in the 30’s and 40’s for kitchens without much storage space, they are compact and don’t take up much space. And that is a real necessity in my upstairs hall aka studio. This little hutch is quite interesting. My neighbor told me that it had been in her family for at least 60 years.

It needs cleaning up – and perhaps a new paint job? Husband rather likes the way it looks now. I’m going to scrub it more thoroughly tomorrow. There was ugly contact paper on the shelves, which I removed. Gosh, it is so hard to take a photo in this part of the hallway. I have to hang precariously over the stairway and it ain’t easy for this tired woman. Here’s a close-up of the funky handles on the drawer and doors.

Funky…but I rather like them. I’m going to paint a couple of pieces in the bedroom, too. Yes, I am on a tear. Something about Autumn and the crisp air brings the Supernester out in me. I also think it gives me a focus and keeps me from dwelling too much on other ‘worrying’ things.

Thank goodness, Don is rather good natured  about the whole thing. One minute he’s relaxing, the next we’re in the car on the way to buy a hutch. Later, he’s watching baseball and suddenly he finds himself helping me maneuver the hutch up our stairway. Tomorrow, I will ask him to help me move the craft table out to the shed. (Don’t tell him yet.) I’ve decided there isn’t enough room for it. I can pull the sewing machine out of the sewing table and use it as a craft table when necessary. Have a wonderful Monday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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