SPRING CLEANING AT STONEY HILL CABIN

My friend Deanna painted this chair and wove the seat from strips of homespun. KEEPER!

I spent part of Mother’s Day re-arranging things in my backyard cabin, which feels like my own little playhouse. I never had my own room or even my own space growing up, so this is now my place and I’ve filled it with things I love - craft books and patterns, magazines, old stuff, homemade curtains, feedsack aprons, wall quilts, and other items that hold special meanings for me. Some I have yet to find ways to display - check out the photos.

Possibly, I did too good a job of filling up my cabin space. I’ve enjoyed having those things around, but now it’s time to unload a few items. I still like them, but I think I over-did it just a bit. Everything old that I found went into my cabin and now I’m overwhelmed and feeling cramped in there, so something has to go.

Recently I made new curtains for the cabin windows and I’m adding some brighter accents but I don’t want to buy anything. I want to use what I have. You know the adage – “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”. That’s what I intend to do. I was given about 6 yards of fabric by the women in the church sewing group. They didn’t want it and I was happy to have it. It has a cream background with yellow sunflowers and black crows on it. I used that for curtains.

And….I went "shopping" in my house. I rounded up a yellow splatter ware teapot with a black crow painted on it and an old Goodwill crock to which I'll add handmade sunflowers. I made the curtains and sewed two patchwork pillow covers for the cabin couch, and took a yellow bowl from the kitchen that I'll fill with rag balls. I didn’t start out to use yellow but that will be a nice cheery color for spring and summer. I prefer darker more mellow colors but I’ll add those back for fall and winter. I also found some small Ball jars I'd forgotten about having. They were already filled with old spools, vintage clothespins, buttons, and small crafting supplies. I took them to the cabin and arranged them on a shelf with the larger ones.

So, I cleared out some things I no longer use and either put them in the "give away" bag or re-purposed them. I often sewed in the cabin, but since I’m now sewing in my guest room, I took some fabrics and notions back inside the house. Some of the baskets I had hanging on hooks have been either given away or used as gift baskets so I now have fewer of them and that’s good. If I need more, I know where to find some.

I was thinking the outside of the cabin looked a bit cluttered - but then I added a couple more things. It's so hard to downsize when I keep finding good old stuff with which to decorate. This time it was three old garden tools I nailed to the front of the cabin, to the left of the door. I also added something to the side of the cabin....

We had an old whiskey barrel I used as decoration in my kitchen 20+ years ago. (See, I hardly ever get rid of anything.) When I changed decor, Spouse took the barrel outside, cut it in apart, and I planted flowers in each half. Well, the poor old things finally fell apart but I wouldn't let Spouse throw away the rusty barrel rings. Last night I had him hang them on the side of the cabin and I like how rustic they look. He dug up some ground on that side so I can plant sunflowers. I guess I'd better get busy.