Breaking out the painter's drop cloth

There is a "pass through" window between the kitchen and my dining room.  The base of window is a ledge that extends 12" into the dining room.  It is great for setting up like a buffet and it saves some time when I have dinner guests and want to get everything from dining room to the kitchen quickly.  It is supposed to actually serve as a bar with room for two bar stools.  I had planned to get a couple of Pottery Barn-ish stools with high backs and use them for quick breakfast and lunch when the grandchildren are here.  Realistically, the youngest grands come to my house so infrequently it just didn't make sense to spend that money.  Since the space under the ledge is basically useless, I thought of a way to make a little extra storage area.  Enter the painter's drop cloth.

The space under the ledge is deep enough a couple of sets of plastic storage drawer units with room on top to store platters and large serving pieces.

I love working with painter's drop cloth fabric.  I picked up this one at Lowe's.  I washed and then bleached it.  I used a big bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the rinse water to counter the bleach molecules.  Because I am not crazy about the fact that you can see into my kitchen as soon as you walk in the front door, I decided to make a short valance to hide the sink area from general view.  It is high enough to do the job and still allow for plenty of light.

Do I feel terribly clever?  Why, yes I do!

Feeling crafty!

I don't normally do "crafts".  It isn't that I can't or don't like them, it is simply because I would rather sew than do most anything else.  I saw this really cute idea on Virginia's blog, Artsy VaVa, and thought they would make great Christmas gifts for my nieces.  I don't spend a lot of money on their gifts and usually make something by hand like a scarf or purse organizer.  Years ago I made a lot of jewelry so I had most of the supplies I needed.

Virginia used stretchy cord so I picked up some of that.  Turns out I really didn't like working with it because the beads kept slipping over even my double knots.  I could have gone to the store and purchased thicker cords but I had some thin leather cord that used instead.  That knotted up perfectly.

I didn't have any super glue so I used E-6000 glue to help secure the screw eyes in the cork.  I am going to pick up some glue to secure the knots at the end of the bead runs. Mine are a little "dangly-er" because I just got so caught up in stringing on the pretty beads.

 (I am very easily entertained!)  I may cut back on the beads a bit.  I did 5 while I sat watching tv.  I now have to convince my mother to use the prong type of wine bottle opener when she is cracking open another bottle of wine.  I found a few corks that didn't have any significant writing on the sides so I will run those over a stamp just as Virginia did.

These are so much fun to make and with my cork supply, I can make a whole lot more!!

The tomato plant that ate my patio

The plant had to come out today.  It made me a little sad because there are so many green tomatoes on it and it is still going strong.  We won't be having any more warm nights and tomatoes ripen best when the nights are warm and the days are hot.  Now it is time for pots of mums in the garden box that sits at the end of the patio.

This was my last harvest of the season.

Most are fairly ripe but will turn a much nicer shade of red sitting on the window sill in the kitchen.  This truly was the most incredible tomato plant...ever!

Today is the perfect day to be in the yard.  Low 70's, a gentle breeze and sun is warm.  Time to drag out the weed whacker and take down the flowers in the perennial garden.  The birds ate the last of the sunflower seeds and the seed heads of the cone flowers are long gone.  The only thing that would make today better would be if I could build a big bonfire in the backyard tonight!