A Place For Everything

                              I have had three old shutters tucked away in the barn for years.

            Over Christmas Marty turned them into three shallow cabinets with shelves in them.

                                           And this evening, they were installed!

There were partial hinge pieces on them and we turned them into handles on each. I look forward to putting them to use.

Kitchen Mimicry

 I blogged this great find recently. The back of an old enamel and cast iron stove. I love how it tops off the Hoosier.

 We traced the outline of the cast iron piece onto some plywood and my hubby made me a little "sous chef" shelf.

It's the perfect spot to put regularly used  items close at hand, keeping the small stuff off the counter. What's up there? From left to right: pink Himalayan Sea Salt, Organic cane sugar, funky little measuring cups, my small mortar and pestle, salt and pepper grinders.
Yes, the fresh eggs reside on the counter. I really like the wire egg holder.

Sewing Machine Table Upgrade: Details

 It's almost done; Marty's work on the Singer sewing base upgrade to a hall table.  Here is the corner spline detail. He used some Ebony gifted to him by someone who spent years in Africa.

Here is a good shot of the spalted maple top. I love the grain!  The satin finish was wet when I took the picture, so the overhead lights caused some glare on it.  This weekend it will be all ready to put to use. Final pics to come.  Have a good week, Everyone.

Victorian School Desk Re-Build

For the last little while Marty has been working on rebuilding an old Victorian school desk. He was given the two cast iron end pieces and just a few rotten pieces of wood from the seat to guide him on his way. He chose to rebuild with white oak for its durability and strength. There is a groove cut into the back of each piece of wood and they all slide onto the cast pieces to make a curved seat and back.

It was a challenge getting the geometry right but in the end, it turned out great. The seat flips up too.
It has returned to its very happy owner, ready to be put into service again.

Leacock Tours Visits The Milkhouse Gallery

This is Mary Lou Leacock on the left and her good friend Gabby Morrison. Mary Lou and Gabby dropped by a few weeks go to see if I was open to having her tour group drop by today. Of course. Mary Lou has been organising tours for thirty-nine years. If you take part in ten tours you get a free one. How great is that?!

The buzz from those I chatted with was that Mary Lou puts together great tours!!
Well, this morning at 9:30AM the bus backed into the yard. Good thing we have all this space. There were thirty-nine people taking part! Plus the driver.
I couldn't actually get near the Milkhouse myself.
Folks enjoyed the apple cookies and fresh apple cider from Halls, in Brockville. Marty had some of his furniture in the workshop and the album of his work to share.
I found this old Heinz electric bean pot years ago at a yard sale. I paid fifty dollars for it, which is a huge amount of money for a yard sale find. It has however, more than paid for itself in its usefulness and fun it has provided to all who drop by.
Everyone loved Sue's wonderful quilted "Autumn" runner.
After some good visiting and looking around, they were off to the next stop on their "Mystery Tour" day- meaning those who had signed up for this tour, don't know where they are going. Each stop is a surprise. Lovely folk every one of them. What a nice way to start a busy weekend? Thank you Mary Lou for thinking of us.

Little Changes-Big Results

I'm sorry I disappeared for a few days. I was on the jazz, getting a big project underway. After all, isn't the perfect time for big projects when you should be tidying up loose little projects, cleaning the house and preparing the menu for the special guests on their way in just a few short weeks?
Well, this one has been on my mind for a while and after mentally going over it again and again, I was ready to get down to business. Above is the dining room set built for me by my best beloved husband. He first built the corner cabinet, not shown, while recovering from heart surgery back in 1996. Having survived that major trauma, he was determined to create things of substance for his family. Furniture is what he settled on. The corner cabinet was first. Then came the harvest table. (I sold our late Victorian dining room set so he could purchase tools and wood and we ate off a door suspended by the chairs you see in the above shot.) The back to the wall was finally complete in Nov. 2000. I love it! however, I am also ready for a little change.

I was thinking that, when we move I will stain it all white to freshen it up. Well, I have no idea when that will finally happen so I did it this week.


I started with the table base. Marty made me promise to leave the top as it is with the marks of family life visible. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I thoroughly sanded away after applying the finish so it would be in keeping with the hard-working nature of our table. I am debating whether to do the same to the pair of benches you can sort of see here. My grandfather built them for his five children.

Here is the back to the wall, almost done. The doors are now on it and today I can fill it back up. There is still the corner cabinet to do this weekend, and then I can return to what I should be doing.

Have a great autumn weekend! Market Day for Aaron today.

Show Time

Craft show time that is. Here is Marty getting comfy after the set-up is complete. We were in a corner which was nice and quiet but we didn't get missed by anyone either.
Saturday saw me making peanut brittle. I ended up with eleven packages of a half pound each. Sold almost all of it. When Sue and I had our invitation only Christmas sales years ago, I couldn't make enough of it!
Marty got the glass put on the little shadow boxes.
I also made up a bunch of Chocolate Peanut Raisin Clusters. We had free samples of each so you be certain you weren't going to be disappointed.
I got the racks from a local store that was downsizing. They are very handy. It was a good show at a very nice venue with a steady stream of people.
I'm all tuckered out now so will return tomorrow and introduce you to some of the other folks from the show.

Quiet Monday

The Milkhouse is all closed up for today, everything put away from the weekend. I even slept in this morning! It was a grand weekend with a steady flow of visitors both days. A couple of lovely women even drove down from west of Ottawa to check things out as they have been following my blog. Amazing. Then there was the enthusiastic visitor from Montreal. Even a few stated they would be back with friends as there is so much to look at. All very encouraging. Here are the links to my new-found fellow bloggers. So nice to meet Sheila Cain-Sample and then get to see her wonderful work on-line. Joining her was Wendy Southin who creates lovely jewelry and teaches workshops. What a treat!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to visit. We truly appreciate it.
After a day of rest it is time to get to work on Christmas items for a show we are doing in nearby Maitland in November.

Here's The Scoop

We have a wonderful local TV show called "Regional Contact" that covers creative folk in the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario area. I had sent them some info. regarding our local Autumn Artist Tour and of course included my blog with it. I got a call from the Hostess of the show saying how much she enjoyed the blog and wanted to visit the shop and see more of my work. How cool is that? She was also very interested in Marty's Mission Style furniture. It takes two days to do a shoot so the first to visit the other day was the cameraman. Jason was very patient with us and spent hours getting the shots that will eventually become a seamless presentation when it goes to air.
He started with Marty in the workshop. Lots of lighting equipment.
Here. Jason is shooting Marty in action. After lunch he finished up with Marty and then it was my turn. My studio is a little more cramped than the workshop and Joshua, the photographer here, was occupied keeping Odelia in his room while we worked. Sorry, no shots of that. However, we actually assembled a collage and then went out to the Milkhouse to get shots there. It was a long day, but fun too. Next week, the Hostess arrives with another cameraman to do more close-ups of the pieces we have created and to do the interviews. I have no idea when it will air, but it will be a little scary/ interesting watching ourselves, that's for sure.

Bookcase Update

Here is the refurbished bookcase. Marty worked hard to freshen up the finish without removing the original patina. He made new wood plugs to match the missing ones too. It's almost like new. I can't wait to show you his take on his own version of the rotating bookcase. All I can say is that it will be made of Maple and Oak.

Of Woodworking and Baking

It's apparently Pot-luck time again. With both the boys working and or in school there is a need to prepare and take food away. Many years ago a friend introduced us to the Pizza Cookie. Looks great, serves many, and is easy to make. Perfect. Oh, and they taste good too.
Marty had started these frames for the craft show we did recently but didn't get them done in time. I didn't realise how difficult it was to take decent shot of a mirror!
Anyhow, they are made of Oak and I don't recall the fancy joinery used to assemble them, but they did turn out very nicely.

Spring-Like Morning

This morning was warm and mild. More spring-like than wintry. Good day for my hubby's last day of vacation- if you call doing car repairs and getting called into work twice a vacation! However, the sky was once again beautiful with pastel colours and patches of sun shining through them. I'm afraid photos just don't do it justice.
In between the necessary demands of life my dear husband has managed to create a few items to bring to the big Christmas sale tomorrow. There are three different framed pieces of antique ceiling tin.
A few solid Maple rolling pins, in two sizes.
As well as two framed mirror pieces and some other framed things he had done earlier. I'll try to get photos of them before the end of the day. I'm off to get all my cards and other items gathered into one place and plan to "set up" the table here so I know exactly what to do when we get there. It's going to be a long day.

Moving Day

This is a bedside table my husband made for our oldest son. His specialty is Mission-Style furniture. As you can see, the snow is gone and autumn has returned once more. Our oldest is moving out to share a place with friends today. Old Rosie, our Beagle, is going to miss him as he is taking "her" bedroom with him.
I, on the other hand am moving my sewing machine up to his space so it is out and more easily put into service. The only constant in life is change.
Don't forget to move your clocks back tonight!

A New Sign and Shabby Chic Finds

When Meaghan and I returned home on Saturday from our yard sale adventures, we were greeted with the latest sign to grace our property. This one is over the door of my husband's workshop. Made the same as the Milkhouse Gallery one, the letters all cut out and applied to the background and finished with a frame around the border. It is seven feet long. (click on it to enlarge)
Here is another of the treasures I hauled home on Saturday. I was planning to keep the paint colour but it is peeling on the side and revealing the lovely oak wood the cabinet is made of. To strip or not to strip? My long-suffering husband is putting a back onto it and then it will be heading into the studio.

This sweet little Adirondack chair was another find. I will be putting a potted plant on it and it will welcome folks to the Milkhouse.

Spring Days

This is the last plant to be added to the garden. I needed something to camouflage the light post that goes up beside the Milkhouse. The glass balls are from my trip to Merrickville.
I just thought I would tuck in this shot of the Greene and Greene style end table that Mary built a while back. He did three of them. They are made of Maple.
While removing the Christmas garlands for the season, we discovered the sparrows had already begun construction of a nest in the one around the kitchen window. They are very protective of their little family and have three babies. I had to stand a chair and hold the camera up over my head and shoot, hoping to get a shot of the birds. This is the best one. They sure develop fast. It wasn't long ago that their eyes were still closed.

A Quiet Day

Today there isn't much going on. A good day to stay inside and putter. It's cold and snowing, again. So, I shall put my feet up on the footstool my hubby built and sip hot cider and watch an old movie.
This moment wont last long as there is cleaning and tidying to do, before my folks arrive Sunday, however, when you have a hairy dog, there's no point in cleaning too far ahead as you will simply have to do it again. Peace to All.

More Baking

I just realised that I haven't shown much of my husband's furniture so today I'll begin with a couple of turned Maple rolling pins. They are modeled after an antique rolling pin I found twenty+ years ago in Glengarry County. With the thistle-style ends they are very Scottish indeed. The old Heinz store counter bean crock still works and is perfect for warming cider in it. The old cutting board was my grandmother's. And while we're at it, I pulled the old enamel table out of Marty's parents barn, just after we were married, and made it our kitchen table. Marty and his folks thought I was crazy, but I love it to this day!
Today the peppernuts are finished! Tedious little spice cookies that look a little like kibble, but popular nonetheless. After all, who doesn't enjoy cookies by the handful?