Using scrap wood

I love the idea of using scrap wool to create something unique and different. Recently I found a website that has some amazing projects using salvage items. I originally found the post making an Open sign out of scrap pallets.  I have not made this items yet but it's on my to-do list. Pallets are easy to find in my area as I live in North Portland near several industrial buildings. I wanted to try making a sign for my garage that is the shape of a cupcake, using the lights around the actual image.

Here in Portland we have a couple of different places to get salvage items. One great place is Rebuilding Center, a non-profit business that accepts almost any type of scrap building material. They were founded in 1998 by a group of volunteers that was tired of seeing good material going to waste. So many companies and builders were dumping decent material after a job was complete because they had no other option. Houses were being torn down and dumpsters filled with wood that was still useable. Rebuilding Center keeps tons of useable material out of the landfills.

Another location to find fun salvage material is a business in Kenton called Salvage Works. Salvage Works does deconstruction of old houses and barns. A team of folks then prepares the material for resale. The top two photos above are from Salvage works before they moved into their new home. I really liked the way they used old legs from chairs, yardsticks, wooden wine boxes & photos to make the wall interesting. The bottom photo is from a wonderful hotel down in Astoria called Commodore Hotel. The wall is made up of books, shells, tools and other fun items. The Commodore Hotel has the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in, it's a very nice place to stay if you are in Astoria, Oregon.

I'm hoping to create a cross between the different walls in my sewing studio. I recently bought some old drawers from the Rebuilding Center and attached them to the basement walls...it's not exactly what I want but it will work till I get more material to cover the entire area. The problem is the electrical panel is on the wall as well as a couple water pipes, making it difficult to work around.  I'm thinking that some scrap pallet wood would be just the thing to fill in the open areas, currently I have sheets and table cloths stapled over the insulation in the walls. I like the idea if uing old drawers as shelves but since the wall is so uneven and strange I need to come up with an over all cover then reattach the drawers as a nice display. My husband is going out of town this weekend so I may go scraping while he is gone. He really hates it when I bring home strange scrap items, so I have to work quickly.

A trip to Astoria & some more 

Wonky Star quilt blocks

When I started this blog I told myself that I would post at least twice a week. I read a lot of blogs and I'm really disappointed with blogs that don't post anything for months on end. Then I started posting and I realized that some times life gets in the way and you really don't want to sit in front of a computer and write. Last week we got out of town for a couple of days and went to Astoria. My husband loves this restaurant called Drina Daisy, they cook a full lamb and you can get a platter of lamb with fresh fruit and vegetables. It's a wonderful place if you are every in Astoria. We stay at Commodore Hotel they have the most comfortable beads. The rooms are inexpensive because the bath & shower are down the hall, though they have some suites with a full bath and tub. My mother informed me that she could never stay in a hotel that the bath was down the hall, I let her know the bath was less than 10 ft from our room and the shower rooms were large, beautiful and very clean.  I guess she is afraid of running into someone in the hallway at 1am on her way to the bathroom, I let her know I never had a problem with that issue. But if you are timid (they provide bathrobes in all the rooms) that you should stay someplace else. We went to a couple of thrift stores where I found Astoria has a great selection of books. I usually look for paint by numbers, needlepoints, scrap fabric, books and then I look for a new butter dish (my husband broke my favorite butter dish a couple years ago, he blamed it on the cat!). I had the perfect butter dish it was an small old pyrex glass container that was red with a glass lid, it fit a cube of butter perfectly. Now all you can get are ones with plastic lids.  I can buy it on ebay but some times it's so much more fun to find one at a thrift store or garage sale. I digress. While we were out driving around we saw several interesting thing..at one house we saw an 8 point buck eating the grass a couple blocks later we saw a couple of deer walking down the street, we then passed a sculptural park called Garden of Surging Waves. Since we were heading to dinner took note of where the park was and went to look for it later in the evening after dinner. It has some beautiful pieces including a large mosaic of 3 fish. There is another sculpture of the Monkey and the Dragon, of which the story of the statue is as follows: “A fiendish mythical dragon stirred up the waves in the ocean. Using one hand the wise monkey stroked and calmed the dragon, the other hand held up an incense burner.” Across the street from the park is the Elks lodge. We talked our way into the building and had a beer with the Exalted Ruler of the Astoria lodge. He gave us a tour of the building that was rebuilt after Astoria burned down in 1922. The building is amazing, it has a huge ball room with some very impressive stain glass, there are some impressive sweeping marble stairs that are lined with past Exalted  Rulers and past members. When got home on friday it was wet and rainy, I thought I would post something about the trip then, but I ended up spending the afternoon in bed reading. The weekend came and the weather was beautiful and I didn't want to sit in front of my computer. I have wanted to show you some of the wonky star blocks that I have been making, I see a quilt from this block pattern very soon.