Lavender-scapes

The Lavender Festival is coming up soon and I've been working on paintings for my inventory... I call them lavender-scapes.

They are simple paintings... just lavender bouquets in vases...

...vases of all shapes and sizes and colors...

Some have already sold, so I'll be painting even more to restock before the show.

I'll also have some lavender block printed cards and lavender silk ribbon embroidered pillows.

Maybe I'll see you there?

Country Living and Making Do, Part 3

When you live out in the country, 30 minutes from a small town or an hour from a city, sometimes you have to make do with what you have on hand. Or maybe sometimes you choose to make do with what's on hand. Either way, you usually end up with something unique... like the cedar log garden bench at the top of this post! This log was the other half of the one I talked about here. It just happened to be long enough for 2 benches!

Roger and I had been talking about how nice it would be to have a bench near the garden to sit and take a break from pulling weeds or picking vegetables. So... what did he do? Roger had carpal tunnel surgery last Friday, but he was determined to get the pillars for this bench made Thursday evening. The blocks and stones were leftovers from a recent job and they just happened to be perfect for this project! Roger had his surgery, and then Monday afternoon he supervised while our sons notched the log (compliments of the ice storm) and placed it on the pillars. That's Michael, below, making a final adjustment with the chainsaw for a perfect fit.

Roger gave it his approval... along with Buddy, who had CCL surgery (similar to ACL surgery for humans) on the same day as Roger's CTR surgery. Both are doing well. :)

Milo came over with Michael and enjoyed seeing Buddy and riding on the 4-wheeler! You can see the bench in the background behind Michael.

We have a nice view of the garden when we sit on the bench... and we have lots to see this year... onions, peas, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, brussel sprouts, eggplants, squash, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, bell peppers, and jalapeno peppers!

And we can see the blueberries and blackberries at the end of the garden...

I have plenty more to share and will try to be back by Saturday to share the finished fire pit.

Blessings,
Lana

Country Living and Making Do, Part 2

Last week I shared a rustic cedar log bench that Roger made. We've been getting some use out of it already. If we get up in time before he has to go to work, we walk down to the patio by the stream, sit on the bench, and drink our coffee. It's beautiful and peaceful... we listen to the birds sing, hear the squirrels chattering away, and see the sun begin to peek through the trees. We also go down there in the evenings after he gets home from work and we are finished working in the yard and garden.

This week I wanted to show you the little herb garden... well, it's not an herb garden yet... but I see it in my mind! :) We haven't had chickens in several years and we decided to tear down the old chicken wire fence and attach the log fence to the chicken coop... which will make the perfect little garden shed!

The little overhang on the back and the cage will be taken off soon.

Roger's looking it over after we removed the chicken wire.

Roger used several small cedar trees to make a rustic fence for the garden. The photos above and below are in progress shots.

Just a little more work and the fence will be finished!

My sweet autumn clematis has had a rough time for several years, getting moved numerous times, but it's finally in a place where it can stay and thrive

What you don't see yet is this: Roger has tilled the topsoil in areas where we want a walkway and I have shoveled it out of the path. We will pour a walkway using a Quikcrete Walk Maker form. I'll have more photos of that later.

We are having to take a break due to medical necessity... Roger's having carpal tunnel surgery tomorrow and will be out of commission for a while. When that hand heals and a few months have passed, he'll have surgery on the other hand. Then, when I can, I will most likely have the same surgery on my hand. I already had it on my right hand several years ago and my left hand is getting much worse recently.

I still have more photos to share of other lawn and garden projects we've recently done. I'm just filtering them through a little at a time.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,
Lana


P.S. Due to so much going on, I won't be opening my own website as planned (at least for a while longer). Instead I am re-opeing my Etsy shops. Links may be found through tabs at the top of this page.

Country Living and Making Do, Part 1

Remember the damaging ice storm in February? I talked about it here. And it happened just after we came back from a wonderful trip to Florida that I shared here. After Roger got over that horrible bacterial pneumonia and everything finally thawed, we set to cleaning up the mess. And we are still cleaning up the mess. The photo below shows about 1/2 the firewood we have cut and stacked, many more trees in the background to cut up, and a huge brush pile to burn. I lost count of how many brush piles we have already burned over the last few weeks.

If you know me and my folk art, you know I like to recycle and repurpose items quite often. Roger is the same way... he is always thinking of new ways to repurpose something or make something out of what others would think was a total loss.

For example, see the cedar tree smack dab in the (top) middle of the photo? That's how it looked on my birthday in February. It's starting to lean toward the road.

This is how it looked 3 days later after the ice storm... blocking one lane of the road. See photo below.

And... drum roll please..........

this is how it looked after Roger made a rustic log bench...

Don't you love it? I do!!!

The log was long enough to make two benches. He'll make the second one in another week or so.

So, even though the ice storm was rough and there was a lot of damage to our trees, we did what we could with what we had. I think that's all part of growing up in and living in the country.

Wait till you see what Roger did with smaller cedar trees and my old chicken coop. I am really excited about that project!

There's even more to share... more projects done using mostly things we find on our property. Be sure to come back and see the rest.

Blessings,
Lana

Cloth Rabbits, Velvet Carrots, and Mini Quilts

I recently joined Early Work Mercantile and will be listing new items the 1st of each month. For May, I finished 2 hand painted cloth rabbits, inspired by the Arnold Print Works lithograph printed rabbits. I figured they'd need some carrots to munch on, so I made up a few more velvet carrots. These are made from vintage velvet and recycled wool. They are filled with sand to mimic the antique pincushions that were filled with emery.

You may find all of them here. Email me if you are interested in purchasing.

I also made a mini quilt sampler... sort of a patriotic prim look. The make-do hanger was made from a piece of vintage frame, clothes pins, and steel wire.

It's also available here.

Come back later tonight to see all the things we've been working on here at home...

Blessings,
Lana