Dish Cabinet

When I saw this tall painted cabinet in a junk shop I was immediately interested. 

Could it work in our dining room?

My friend Beth gave me those pretty Staffordshire knives.

It was not made to hold dishes. 

 Originally it was a gun cabinet. 

Someone built shelves in it.

It's narrow profile works in this walkway perfectly.

The whites, red transferware, and David Austin roses seem at home.

One huge negative to this cabinet was it smelled terrible. 

I have worked on this issue relentlessly. 

I might do a post on removing odors from cabinets if y'all are interested.

What do you think?

 Is it a keeper?

To see our kitchen island filled with transferware go here.

linking@Wow Us Wednesday's

joy and peace

Olive

Rose Quest

I am not a grower of roses. 

Truth be known I am a little afraid of growing them. 

But then here on many of your blogs I was introduced to

 and then encouraged to grow David Austin roses.

 David Austin is a British hybridizer of roses with a USA location in Texas.

First I ordered a catalog from the Austin farm in Texas.

 Then I mulled over it for one year.

Finally I placed an order, by phone, in January of this year. 

Three bare root Princess Alexandra of Kent roses arrived at the end of February. 

I soaked them in water and placed them in a bed I had prepared with my own compost. 

The roses are shipped at the time that is appropriate for your zone.

This rose has 160 petals per bloom. 

Amazing.

Each rose bush is covered in buds and the scent is exquisite. 

My rose quest was more than worth it.

Thanks to all of you who said I could grow David Austin roses.

Now I am hatching plans for places to put more roses next year.

 It is perhaps a good and beautiful kind of madness.

linking@Wow Us Wednesday's

Olive

Porch House

The "Porch House" in Madison, Georgia.

It has one of the prettiest southern porches. 

 The residents can usually be spotted on the porch. 

And why not?

That is certainly where I would be.

The porch wraps and hugs the Craftsman style house. 

It is furnished in brown outdoor furniture that compliments

 the yellow exterior of the house.

I cannot have a house in Madison but I could 

duplicate this arbor and climbing rose in my garden.

 All the Madison historic houses have gorgeous yards. 

The spring home and garden tour is May1-3. 

I am not advertising for them. 

They do not know me.

Behind the splendid iris bed you can see a picket fence and

 three car garage for the "Porch House"

More posts on Madison coming soon.

 Madison Christmas home tour post here.

Linking@Wow Us Wednesdays

joy and peace

Olive

Olive Out News

Hello friends.

Above our Broome Closet window booth at Ridge Antiques in Ridge Spring, S.C.  is pictured with our beloved blue mantle. Frankly if we do not sell that mantle any time soon I will not mind. We have filled it with bunnies and items that bring spring to mind.

 I also have this affinity for galvanized metal so watering cans and radiator water cans have made their way into the booth. Buckets are populating the floor. Right now all items are 50% off unless marked firm. We are cleaning house for spring.

In Olive Out news we are at 30 truck loads of limbs and trees to our second lot from the ice storm. Along with that clean up I have been doing my February gardening. February is a huge gardening month for me. I am getting behind as it is March! Joe helped me plant three David Austin roses.   Spring is upon us whether I am ready or not.

Joe mowed that large section of  green monkey grass (lilirope) on Saturday. It must be done before the green shoots pop out. You can see some debris in the foreground. Small stuff like that we are leaving for now.

Saturday I was resting in the chaise for a minute and heard a chain saw very close. A man was in our oak tree sawing away and throwing limbs in our clean yard. It was a FEMA crew. They said someone would be here in two days to pick up the limbs. Our neighbor astutely said "And I believe in the Tooth Fairy."No pick up crew yet and they cut limbs that did not need cutting. Oh and they cut an electric line and our power was off for five hours that night. It is exciting here but not in a good way.

I cannot recall a time when I was this fatigued except perhaps after childbirth. Maybe that analogy does not hold. However I am sore all over and fear I have torn my left rotator cuff. Not to mention my back is hurting and I seldom have back pain.  I know you are not here to hear my whining but this is our life at the moment. Joe is about the same and has to go to work.

I miss blogging and wish I could get into some sort of routine once more. I thank my new and loyal followers. I am thankful for the kinship found here.

joy and peace

Olive

Needlecraft Reboot

Hello friends and happy Friday.

I have not done embroidery in twenty years but have started again.

 I enjoyed this needlecraft from age fifteen until age thirty. 

Having a premature baby and working as an R.N. did not leave me creative time.

You can read about my outlandish embroidery, for my aunt, here 

in the Hold Everything Lightly Series.

This is the finished runner, blurry though it is, thanks to my assistant Gremmie. 

I found several embroidery kits for three dollars. 

The same kits sell for twenty dollars online.

Now I am working a white runner with a rose on each end. 

My stitching is improving with each piece (yay).

In Olive Out news I am doing embroidery again to relax because

 I seem unable to get myself together these days.

 I adore blogging and miss all of you. 

The connecting with you part of blogging is what I miss most. 

 I will blog when I can.

 Perhaps once to twice a week. 

I continue to have an issue with my ear.

 I had a minor surgical procedure on it about four weeks ago and it has not healed.

The bone is exposed which puts that area of the ear canal at risk for infection.

 If it does not heal I may require a surgical graft in the operating room. 

I am busy pricing Christmas items for our antiques booths.

 Christmas decor is bursting forth all over our dining room.

I'll photograph the open house for y'all. 

joy and peace

Olive

After The Rain: Raindrops

Rain has a cleansing effect.

 Making the flowers glisten. 

Capturing raindrops is a little bit like chasing rainbows. 

There is a small window of opportunity.

 I am not proficient at either task but that does not stop me from trying.

happy gardening

Olive

Spring Hearth

Pink roses, from our flower garden, on the stone hearth today for your viewing enjoyment.

I have only sharpened the images and the pinkness of the roses looks a little odd. I am not brave enough to fiddle with hue, saturation, and light or contrast on a new editing program. Not today. My learning curve is stretched super thin.

The vintage European watering can is an estate sale find from last year. You all have seen my white pottery scads of time before and the chippy white wood pedestal.  I found the reproduction tin tile at a garage sale. 

Please follow me on Bloglovin

linking@Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesday

joy and peace

Olive

  

Garden Blooms

Phlox, or I have always called it thrift, has finally made it in my garden. 

I have lost several in our heat.

Sweet William

This snapdragon has bloomed all winter and quadrupled in size.

A chickadee has built a nest in this old birdhouse. 

We can observe her from the kitchen window.

The Knockout Roses will be blooming next week.

Bridal Veil Spirea is one of my favorite bushes. 

It holds many childhood memories for me. 

This one is still small and difficult to photograph but I am overjoyed 

to see these mini white clouds of flowers.

The aloe vera in the twig wreath made it through the winter in the lawn mower shed. 

I have been outside for about three hours this morning combating weeds.

 It is a fine day. Today's high will be 80 degrees. 

Perfect weather to sit on the deck, read, and listen to bird song.

What's blooming in your garden?

You might be interested to read about The Rust Goddess and I

 finding an Opium Bed on Saturday while out junking.

Linking@Wow Us Wednesday's

Be Inspired

happy gardening

Olive

Cabbage Rose Kitchen Curtains

I made these cafe curtains from a twin sheet for our yellow house kitchen. I do not sew other than hand sewing and embroidery. I used fusible webbing to hem the raw edges. I found the twin sheet, with cabbage roses, at the Catholic Thrift Store for two dollars. My previous Ikea black and white cafe curtains were also from that thrift store. I find terrific new and vintage linens there. These curtains are perfectly imperfect and will be  fine here for a while.

The blue painting I had here did not work so I hung this floral oil painting I found at another thrift store for ten dollars. Forgive my lack of sun as I quickly snapped these images in the little bit of sun we had yesterday. It has been raining for ages here.

A view from the kitchen island. It looks as if I am running a china shop. A cake pedestal for twenty dollars anyone?

I had fun with .99 cent pineapples from our new Aldi's. I place the rinds and core in a jar with water and refrigerate it and drink the juice after a couple of days.

 I found the cafe curtain clips at an estate sale on Saturday, new, for $1.50 a package.  I left the curtains this longer length so that I can raise and lower them. We watch birds and can easily see them when the curtains are in the middle of the window. Total cost for the simple sheet cafe curtains was five dollars.

Thank you for your encouraging comments on my food story in the last post.

 I shall post another food story this week.

Clovis and I traveled to the old house yesterday and all things here are tricky. 

It is difficult to post, comment, heck it may rain in the bedroom or pantry any minute.

 Life sweet life.

Linking @ Be Inspired

joy and peace

Olive

Spontaneity

The spontaneity of Instagram photos cannot be resisted by me.

Snap the image.

 Hit the quick edit (or not) and share it. 

No fussing like I do over this blog.

Shelley Puppy watching his daddy mow the lawn. 

This shot is my wallpaper for my smart phone.

One person I follow, on Instagram, is now on holiday in Thailand. 

She is sharing the loveliest tropical beach images.

 It is likely I will never see Thailand but she is taking me there

 pebble by pebble, with a coconut thrown in every day.

 Thanks to those bloggers who started following me on Instagram.

Also to my new followers here on Olive Out.

Happy Friday My Darling Friends

Olive