Last friday my buddy Heather from Massachusetts and I took our girls into the big city for the Boston garden show. It wasn’t as big as the Northwest Flower and Garden Show we have up here in Seattle, but there was still plenty to see.
Seriously. How cute is this packet of Mexican sour gherkin seeds from Hudson Valley Seed company? Their packets are so adorable I wanted to snatch up one of each. But at $3-$4 a pop… a little self control was needed. But seriously. How cute is that packet!?
A six foot long horse trough planted with flowers and vegetables…. another winner. Our troughs are only about 3 feet wide. If I had the space I’d totally get the bigger ones and have towers of pumpkins and other squash growing from them.
One day, when I bust out of here and have a small barn or a sugar shack…. I’m totally going to get a copula like this. Seriously, what is it about whale weathervanes that make them so cool to look at? And the copper top. It’s going to have a beautiful patina in a year or two.
Wouldn’t a bunch of these glass blown jellyfish look dreamy hanging from a kitchen bay window with the light shining in?
Ahh the tiny house. For the longest time The Girl thought she might want to build a tiny house and live in one. Until last weekend when she toured the inside of one. 😉
The asking price on this particular tiny house was $55,000.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’d be more afraid I’d fall out of bed and land on my head in the middle of the night {or that the thing might blow away} than anything else.
Or that a small kitchen fire might burn the whole place down before I could get out. It was cute though, but I’d need something a little more substantial.
What is this type of lacework called? Anyone know? Isn’t it pretty?
I totally took the brochure for the glass greenhouse.
And isn’t this red woodstove dreamy? Those of you with woodstoves…. what brand do you own? Vermont Castings and Jotul woodstoves are the only ones I’m familiar with. The red and cream ones are my favorite. Do you love yours? Does owning a wood stove save you a ton of money on your heating bill in the winter?
Well, that’s it for now. Have a great Tuesday everyone,
~Mavis
Dara says
I believe the necklace is beaded crochet, although its hard to tell without closer detail. Love the photos from your travels!
Carrie says
I have a LoPi wood stove. It came with my house when I bought it so I’m not sure the age of it. It only heats the living room and dining area (front of my house). The back rooms are still cold. We use it mostly on the weekends and when the weather is really cold here in NC. We have to add wood every hour to keep it going. I think you need a blower to really make a difference in heating costs. We sweat in the front of the house and freeze in the back when using the stove. It also dries out the air. I get nosebleeds when we use it. This all sounds terrible but I love the ambiance it provides.
Michelle says
Looks like you had a great time! I adore the tiny house! We have a BlazeKing Princess woodstove and it runs us out of the house! With this long, cold, wet Northwest winter we’ve had, it has saved us a ton on heating costs.
Carrie ~ Put tea kettle water on the stove. It will put humidity back into the air and should help with your nosebleeds.
Carrie says
Thanks Michelle. I keep a mason jar of water on top of the stove and an electric humidifier is always on when we use the stove. I’ll keep an eye out for a kettle at the thrift store. I’ve been eyeing the cast iron humidifiers but they are costly!
Sue R. says
RE: wood stove–a ceiling fan helps move the warmth around. If you source your own wood–it’s inexpensive but lots of work! Ask me how I know! Turning on the furnace is mighty convenient… People tend to have a romantic notion of wood stoves/building a fire/etc but it is work and does tend to be dirty (carrying in the wood, taking out the ashes). But I’m sure it saves us some money. I agree with the comment above–use a kettle on the stove for moisture.
Pam says
We have that exact Vermont Castings woodstove and it is our only heat source, so we save a lot in the winter. It is so efficient and cozy…so much so I wear shorts and a t-shirt inside most of the winter!
Ellen in Clackamas says
Mavis, I grew those little gherkins a couple of years ago. They look like mini-watermelon but I did not care for the taste. I ate them raw — maybe if I made them into real pickles they would be better—but they were soooo cute!
che says
the lacework looks like crochet to me too. I think it is Solomon’s know also know as love knot, done with beads.
Earlene says
We have an outside wood stove so the mess is outside. It heats the house, our water, garage and a work shop. It’s a lot of work and we depend on it as propane is expensive. It’s a Taylor stove
Nancy says
Mavis, looks like the necklace may be made by tatting.
Mavis Butterfield says
That was the word I was looking for. I’ve seen British documentaries where they show little old ladies making it and the process looks tricky.
Suzanne says
Pretty sure it’s not tatting, but crochet. I’ve crocheted most of my life and dabbled in tatting. Plus I have had a few friends over the years who tatted and it looks very different.
Brenda says
We have the same stove but it is brown and a pellet stove. We only have an electric furnace, so it costs almost the same to run the pellet stove but soooo much warmer!!
Delores says
I love the tiny house movement-if I was single I could live in one. However since we can have tornados here, I might want a basement under mine. That one looks cute but I would definitely have a wall or something in the bedroom loft–it would be entirely too easy to misstep and down I would go. Don’t think it would be easy to maneuver with a broke leg in a tiny house. Great photos.
Jenny Young says
We paid $51,000 for 2 & 3/4 acres with a ranch house (1200 sq ft) all on lake-front property…..in 1989. We paid it off in 1999!
I have never had a desire to live in a tiny house, my little ranch is just the right size for me.
I’ve always wanted a Vermont castings stove. We do have a wood pellet stove. They’re supposed to be much more environmentally friendly & safer. After using it for about 25 yrs though, we’ve decided to take it out because our home owner’s insurance keep going up. We’ve priced around some companies won’t even insure a house with a wood or pellet stove!
Terri says
I’d like a tiny house the size of my one bedroom apartment. I’d want my tiny house on a foundation, too. Forget the compost toilet and wheels…I want utilities!
Debbie says
The beautiful necklace looks to me like a type of crochet called Oya. The technique originated in the Anatolian part of Turkey.
Vy says
That’s definitely a crocheted necklace, using thread most likely. And a very small hook. Making those little flowers are quite addictive.
Brianna says
My hubby grew up in a tiny house (400 sq. Ft. )with his sister and parents (who later divorced). It was all they could afford and it was beyond cluttered, lacked privacy, and caused family feuds. Him and his sister slept on makeshift bunks in a corner of the living room, even as teenagers. He constantly was sleeping over at friends houses just for the space and privacy. He rolls his eyes at the tiny house movement that is getting glorified on television. I think for 1 person it may not be bad, but for a family it is just a problem.
Mrs. C. says
Duraflame would stove. Saves money, feels warmer, but you have to get the wood!
Nicole says
Hi Mavis,
Can you tell me what the name of the seller of the jellyfish? They are lovely and I have a friend that loves them!
Lynn says
Is that a Rhodesian Ridgeback Heather has? I have been looking into that breed but have been told they are hyper. I was wondering how she likes the breed because everything else I have researched on them seems perfect… and I don’t know anyone who owns one.
Michelle says
My grandpa had a one. She came into his life as (young) full-grown stray and was a very loyal companion for him – he was in his 80’s. She never nipped or snarled at anyone and was playful, but not hyper. Definitely had an alpha personality around other dogs and was very attentive to my grandpa.
Preppy Pink Crocodile says
I meant to send this to you a few days ago when I saw our post of the Hudson Valley Seed Co packet. This is the post I did after visiting and touring the seed farm and meeting the owners. It was amazing! I get almost all of my seeds from them now because they are local to me. I will also be attending an art show of the art packs this weekend. Anyway, thought you might enjoy this little post. It’s such an interesting history! http://www.preppypinkcrocodile.com/2016/09/a-visit-to-hudson-valley-seed-library.html
XO KK
Linda says
We lived in Central Wisconsin and started out having a wood burning stove, but it did not heat our whole house. As noted before the living/dining rooms were cozy but the bathroom ,kitchen and bedrooms were quite chilly. The woodstove was also a mess with ash buckets and wood in the house. We sold it and bought a wood burning furnace in the basement which gave us wonderful steady heat to all rooms, but that assumes you have ductwork in the house. We also had a gas furnace for backup when we wanted to leave for a day or two or more. A wood burning stove is a very romantic wish we all have , I think, until we actually have one and are trying to keep the house warm in a cold winter climate. Insurance coverage also can be difficult and expensive if this is your heating source.
Tammy says
The necklace looks like crocheting to me. Tatting has more open work. But I couldn’t tell exactly, because I couldn’t see it up close. It is so pretty though!
Those seed packets!!! Adorable!
Linda Tibbetts says
We live in Preble County, Ohio where we get some pretty cold winters (not like New Hampshire, or Maine, where I’m from, but some years we’ve had 30 days below Zero. We have a Glacier Bay fireplace insert and that is all we use for heat. The house has zoned baseboard electric, which we turn on 50 degrees when we go away for more than a day.
The stove does very well heating the house- our main areas are warm, and the bedrooms are cooler for sleeping. I love the smell of a wood fire, and the heat is different than furnace heat. Occasionally, if we have a long string of below zero weather, I turn on the baseboard in the bathroom for showers.
We use about 5 cords of wood each winter (not this winter! it’s been very warm) and my husband usually gets the wood free by taking down trees, etc. But as he says, you get heat out of wood three times: by cutting it, by stacking and carrying it, and by burning it. It is hard work, and gets harder as you get older. There is also the need to clean out the ash regularly, and up until about three years ago we had to have a blower (a little noisy) on to circulate the heat (electric) but on a trip to Amish country found an Eco fan that uses the fireplace heat to run and is totally silent. We now have two, and they are great! We only run the blower on really cold days.
In the winters when we are heating, the house gets dirty MUCH faster. There is ash in the air that settles, so dusting is a regular chore. Wood leaves dirt and of course, you get ash when you clean out the firebox.
All in all, I love our wood stove. But if I were alone, I’d be using the baseboard heat and putting money into the pockets of big utility companies.
And the flowers are crochet, as someone said, done with a small hook and crochet thread. If you go on my Pinterest board, under Flowers, there are all kinds of patterns for them, some easy, some intricate. Even though you’ve just learned, the stitches are the same.
Christine says
Hi Mavis,
Looks like you had a great time on your trip!!
We have a Woodstock Firevew catalytic woodstove. It is soapstone and we LOVE it!! The soapstone absorbs and radiates the heat, warm and toasty! The catalytic makes it very efficient so we can load it up before bed and it’ll burn nicely all night.
We built our house with the woodstove in mind. Our home is basically a great room with bedrooms off each side. The great room stays toasty and the bedrooms a little cooler (great for sleeping with a cozy quilt!) The woodstove is centrally located with a big trombe (masonry) wall for safety and radiating heat. As others mentioned having a kettle on for a little humidity and a ceiling fan to circulate the air around the room helps. We have a heat pump too, but usually only need to use the woodstove as sole source of heat.
All the best to you!
Christine
Diana says
Mavis, did you see this? Would suit you like a glove!
http://www.independent.ie/life/travel/travel-news/wanted-someone-to-travel-the-world-in-luxury-for-9000-a-month-35576341.html
Julie in Bridgewater says
I have stove like that one except it has gas logs in it.
Sue R. says
One more comment about the wood stove–I’ve just come in from splitting wood (with a hydraulic log splitter 🙂 and want to bring to you attention say that bugs/spiders do come in the house on the wood. We don’t keep a lot in the house but little critters come in. If that creeps you out…