Dog, Doll, and Furniture

For months now I've worried about how to fix the worn seat and black dirty arms on our big leather chair in the living room.  

You may remember how that big leather chair became Eli's chair from the very start... 

Oh it was funny. We called it Eli's chair, and told him we would "whip anybody who tried to sit in Eli's chair". :)

About a year after our log cabin was built, Poppy and I went out shopping for just the right living room suit. We wanted leather, big, soft, supple, leather...real cowhide, and a creamy rich color, no matter the cost, and this is what we got. It was beautiful, new!

Oh, it was cute, and fun, playing Teddy Bear in Eli's chair...

but lots of wear and tear...

and lots of drooling, as he mostly likes to sleep with his chin resting on the end of the attached leather pillows. Black stain and cracked leather, after four years.

So, instead of relaxing in the living room or watching a little TV, I sat and studied about how to cover the arms and seat of that chair. The upholsterer said it would take a cowhide for each cushion! Expensive!! Here's what I came up with...

The covers on the arm pillows I made with elastic all around, so they can be taken off and washed, and so can the cover on the big fat seat cushion. Too bad I didn't think of this when Eli was a puppy.

Some time ago I found several yards of this nice heavy upholstery fabric in a thrift store for nearly nothing. So glad I bought it...

and a couple years ago I used some of the fabric to cover the throw pillows on the couch. The color blends perfect with the leather.

Sorry! I just go on and on about anything! Here's something sweet...

Do you remember this sweetest baby doll I found at the thrift store some months ago? Well, I simply love her.

Holding her is almost like holding a real baby...almost. :(

I found this precious "Beatrix Potter" Collection, newborn size gown at the thrift store. It fits her perfectly and the little cap and booties too.

Adorable little feet!

Can't help but think about my friend Sandy from New York, a blogging friend. She doesn't have a blog but we visit through emails and found that we both loved dolls growing up. We both had a Tiny Tears doll and grew up with much the same things and interests. 

Blogging friends are the best! I appreciate you all so much. And I have a new blogging friend and follower, Maria. Thank you.

Good grief! This is a post and a half. Bet most of you have signed off!  And this post was supposed to be about aprons. Oh well. :)

Love,

Henny

PS   Look what I just found...

On Henny Penny Lane today

Poppy was out fishing in the rain early this morning. He said back in 1996, when the little pond was built, that one day he would catch a ten pound Bass out there. We shall see. 

A tired and sad little bunch of guineas gathered under the kitchen window...

They seem to be grieving the loss of the only little female in the group and staying close to home these last few days.

The little female went missing a couple of days ago. Thinking she might be sitting on eggs hidden in the woods, Poppy went searching. All he found were her feathers down near the pond.

Something wrong up at the house, Mrs. Duck inquired.

I spend more time at that kitchen window, but it seem there is always something going on there.

and lately we can't keep the hummingbird feeder full...

aren't they fun to watch? 

and we had to laugh at this little one...

instead of eating, he took up guard duty on the big old ladder, looking first one way...

then the other way.

Guess that's about it for now. Well, except for old sweetie pie, asleep on the couch...

Love,
Henny

Who could ask for more?

Mother Nature was teasing us yesterday...

when she gave us both rain and sun, together. Isn't this neat? It was pouring down rain and all the while, the sun was shining bright.

Searched the sky over for a rainbow but didn't find one. Then my neighbor Ann called and said, "Mel, on the way home from town, I saw the biggest most beautiful rainbow".

Oh well, on to the teeny tiny garden...

which is winding down after that long dry hot spell.

and let me tell you about the corn we were so proud of...

Two short rows of green healthy corn and the ears are not fit to eat. Seriously! It has absolutely no taste, and the kernels are, are, well, unusual...stick to you teeth kind of texture, and did I say it has no taste.

This has also been a bad year for green beans. Why, anybody can grow green beans, but not me, not this year. A few years back I canned 64 quarts of green beans, all from the little garden. This year we've eaten green beans twice and once, I've given Nellie a bag full.

Don't you just love zinnias? A little garden is not complete without a row of flowers, no matter how small. 

I do love the wreath of tiny yellow flowers inside the pink petals.

and a big old sunflower with lots more buds to open.

This is way too many pictures, oops! and this one...

might as well add it too. Maters and stuff from the garden. :) Oh, I've told this before, but years ago, down home...

Billy stopped by to see mama and my step-dad Bill. They were in the kitchen, where most of the visiting took place, and mama said, "I sure wish we had a good ripe tomato from the garden".  Billy said, "ain't aunt Rache got'ne maters?"  Good old hillbilly slang. (Rache was short for Rachel.  Aunt Rachel lived down the road a piece.)

Need to get back to work. I've cleaned and vacuumed and mopped, even moved the dining table and chairs to get to all the dust!

Hope to be back soon!

Love,
Henny

The big event on Saturday

Have you ever seen a prettier place for vendors to sell their crafts? This is the "Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts" event at the Duke Homestead in Durham that Shelby and I attended on Saturday...

We're there, under the first white tent on the left. It was such a fun day, and we were busy! Very busy! We hardly had time to speak to each other...but the sells were good!

and way, way back there, where you can see folks milling around is the Duke homestead, the old wooden fence, and tobacco growing in the field. Back there too was where the barbecue cook-off and pie competition were being held.

I really wanted to walk around and take pictures of the homestead (now can't you just see me doing that) but we simply did not have time, so I borrowed a picture off the internet. It took all the nerve I could muster up to walk far enough away from our table to get the two pictures that I did. Seriously.

Aww, that's my sweet daughter Lynn. She stopped in to see us.

So, now I've got plenty of catching up to do, not only blogging, but sewing and doll making. All my little country dolls sold on Saturday. Yay!

Would you believe that Poppy now has a "to do" list? He sure does, and has been steady marking stuff off.

One item was putting up a new clothesline for me. He got that done first thing this morning. 

He put the new line way up high. Said it needed to be high to hold the heavy stuff. Why, I had to stand on my tip-toes to hang this little load of whites. Oh, by the way, MK, that's one of my many white (thrift store) skirts on the line. MK blogs at throughaglass,darkly.blogspot.com  and like myself, she loves white skirts. I love her blog! Is there still going to be a white skirt club?

The little goat barn has been leaking lately, every time it rains...so Poppy got the new tin roof put on. Something else marked off his list.

Guess that's about it for now. Oh, I was surprised to see two new followers, Debra and Beca. Thank you so much. So, I'm hoping to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

Little bit of everything...Pickles to spiders

Looks like I am getting worse and worse at replying to comments. We simply need more hours in the day, don't we?

All of sudden we are bringing in enough cucumbers from the teeny tiny garden to make pickles, and I'm not much of a pickle maker. Going through some old recipes I found one that mama used years ago:

Kosher Dill Pickles

To each quart jar add 1 or 2 heads fresh dill

2 or 3 cloves garlic

1 green hot pepper

wash and leave cucumbers whole

pack in jars

Bring to rolling boil:

2 qts. water

1 qt. vinegar

1 cup salt (non-iodized)

Pour this over and seal

Back then folks made pickles like these without processing them. Guess the boiling brine causes the jars to seal. I just may try a jar...or call the real pickler in the family, my sister Shelby, and asks for her advice.

I did make this one jar of cucumber delight pickles that will keep in the refrigerator for three weeks. 

Oh, about the recipe for that delicious eggplant parmesan. The recipe is on line at www.allrecipes.com under Baked Eggplant Parmesan. It's wonderful, and simple! But you know what...the picture I posted of my eggplant parmesan...

looks better than the picture shown on the recipe, well, I think so.  Check it out and see if you agree. :)

Good gosh! I don't even like being in the kitchen and here this has turned into a recipe post.

Let me get out of the kitchen...

Dumperoo was curious. Why is this pan in the living room, he asked.

Mama's fixing to give you a bath, he told Dumper. Poppy likes to worry Dumper that way.

and this sweetie pie! Couldn't you pick him up and squeeze him? This is one cuddly kitty cat.

and here's the opposite of cuddly...

Poppy was way up high on the ladder when this huge scary spider crawled down the side of the house to meet him. Poppy said it was probably 4 inches wide with it's legs spread out. When Poppy backed down the ladder, the spider backed off too, but as Poppy went up the ladder, the spider crawled down. Makes me shiver!!!

Poppy decided to leave filling in bee holes and go fishing.

Then along about supper time, I found him vacuuming the shop. We have really cleaned out and hauled away a ton of stuff lately. I'm almost afraid to go in Goodwill or the Safespace thrift store...afraid I will buy back something we donated.

It's getting on near 9:30 and I need to sew some tonight. Shelby and I will be vendors at the Duke Homestead "Pork, Pickles, and Peanuts" event on Saturday. Been a long time since we did a big craft show together.

Goodness, I didn't mean to go on and on. Guess I've scared you all away. Hope not. :)

Love,

Henny 

Around Henny Penny Lane

It's been dry as a bone around here lately. The rain clouds seem to fizzle out before reaching our little patch of real estate.

Last night, however, well at the edge of dark, we had just started to eat supper when it thundered real loud. I jumped up and looked out the window...not because of being afraid, no, not this time! I jumped for joy. 

After the thunder, then came the rain...and it poured! Simply poured! Leaving an inch and a half in the rain gauge before moving on. 

So this morning there was fog on the pond.

and fog up at the playhouse.

and did you notice those puny looking stargazer lilies flopped over in the birdbath?There go my big plans for beautiful lilies growing all around the birdbath. I give up. First it's red lilies with six foot stalks, and now it's little spindly stargazer lily stems that can't support the bloom. That's okay. What difference does it make? 

Maybe I should move on and show you what the teeny tiny garden is giving us...

and this...

and see those two eggplants...well once again I made "Baked Eggplant Parmesan" and once again Poppy and I came close to a big argument. Mark my word, eggplant parmesan is going to be the end of our marriage yet.  Poppy says his mom always fried eggplant...why did I have to make something fancy like eggplant parmesan? :(

So, I can understand an argument after my first try at making eggplant parmesan, a few years ago. You see, it was a very difficult recipe...one that called for fried eggplant slices...oh, it was mess! I was hot and tired and mad at the recipe and then for it to not even taste good! 

Anyhow, would you just look at this...

Oh my gosh, it was delicious! That mozzarella cheese! and the eggplant slices are dipped in egg, rolled in Italian bread crumbs and baked until crispy...before putting them into the casserole. He ate a small serving without any comment. Me? I finished off a good size square from one corner of the pan. :) 

Okay, moving on out of the kitchen...

the pond is taking on that nice dark "July" color, which is so much prettier than that winter muddy look.

Guess I'm about done here. Thank you, well, if you're still here. 

Oh, a special "thank you" to my new follower Lisa. Thank you Lisa.

Love,
Henny 

Oh, and before I get into any trouble here...I am kidding about my marriage breaking up over eggplant parmesan. :)