If you see a faded sign...

Remember the B-52s song? Love Shack! Love that song...well this is not the Love Shack, baby, but it is the Snack Shack!I made the counter this weekend. Popsicle sticks for the front. Microwave, toaster, "lemonade" dispenser, cash register....we are in business!

I just realized the final date for submitting my entry into the contest is May 26 so I got cracking this weekend. With the nice weather I have been digging in my vegetable garden and planting peas and beets. Around here Patriot's Day, April 19, is considered the best date to plant your peas if you want peas for the 4th of July. My veggie patch is in a low spot so it has been too wet until this weekend. Delicious snap peas, I can hear them growing already. Also, beets, yummy beet greens with rice vinegar. Potatoes were planted when the dandelions started to bloom a couple of weeks ago. I am growing those near the house where I had a little pond for a few years. Pond is gone, but the soil I filled it in with is loose and should be lovely for the potatoes. Since it is close to the back door I should also be able to spend some quality time picking off the potato bugs.

My Other Obsession

Here is my other obsession: quilting. I have been an avid quilter for the past twenty years. This past week I have been working on this wall hanging from Louisa L. Smith's book Strips 'n Curves. I'm just crazy about this woman! She was on Alex Anderson and Ricky Tim's The Quilt Show recently. I followed the instructions for one of her simpler patterns. You create strata, her term for the strips of inch and a half fabrics sewn together, then cut them out in either an L shape or a quarter circle.

Piecing was relatively easy, which was a surprise. The curves are fairly gentle and you only sew a strata section to a piece of solid fabric, for the most part. I was a bit heavy-handed with the iron and stretched some of those bias edges more than I should, which caused some distortion. I have lots of leftovers to play with. Still need to layer the quilt and do the quilting. I will probably just do straight line quilting on my sewing machine, right down the center of each strip.

My children are coming home from college in a couple of days so I have had to move my dollhouse supplies out of my daughter's room. Once they are home and now that the piecing is done on my wallhanging, I will get back to my beach shack.

She Sells Seashells By The Seashore

Shells, shells, shells. I had a fun day with my friend on Sunday! We walked to the beach from her house on Orr's Island and visited a beach our kids dubbed "Sea Soup" years ago. What a fun time we had there while the kids made "soup" from all the ingredients on the shore.


Here are the two parts for the roof. I painted them this luscious blue, then let them dry.


My original plan was to smash the shells and make a mosaic. I didn't like the way that looked. Lots of shells to choose from. Think we picked enough? I have a few periwinkles to add later.


I really had to hold the roof tightly for some time before the glue held. The weight of the shells made the roof heavy and it wanted to slide. The cupola needs to be added, but I will do that later. Not sure about the original blue with the blue of the roof. I want to add more shells, more periwinkles, and that will cover up some of the brighter blue. I like the fantasy effect of the shells. It doesn't have to be too realistic, which has been difficult for me to accept in the past.

I have seagulls to add later. I think one on top of the roof or on top of the cupola. I am toying with adding some realistic white drips for you know what, let's call it "guano". Just a touch, nothing too disgusting. I only have two gulls, so I may put one on the cupola, one on the roof, or have one on the roof and the other elsewhere.

I made a stove and refrigerator out of cardboard today. Still have some painting to do, but they look good. I also made a counter. I ordered a few more things today. I feel like I am really making progress. Once the order comes I will have just about everything ready to put it all together. I've got a bag of sand the kittens have been very interested in...all those delicious salty aromas!

Just a little shack

Here is the old shack covered with weathered shingles. I painted the walls dark gray, as you can see on the doors, then added the shingles with white paint. I cut a notch in a foam paintbrush to get the effect of shingles. I used a ruler and pencil to mark the rows and just dabbed on the paint. It must be realistic enough because my husband recognized what I was doing right away with no hints from me. The gray-blue trim looks like it has suffered from the salt spray for a few years, too.

After the inside was painted I started gluing on the trim. That is a lesson in patience as each piece must be added one at a time and allowed to dry one at a time. I am enjoying the process and am quite happy with the way it is turning out.

       Next job is to finish the roof. There is a cupola on the roof that was a fumbly thing to glue together, but I got it done. No photos yet. 

      I've ordered some things for the inside and went shopping locally on Saturday and bought a few more goodies, too. I'll wait until my order arrives to decide what will really end up in the house. My ideas are running way ahead of what can actually fit in this tiny space!

     Don't you love the view from the door? Can you tell where I am going with this? I'll let you know soon.