Entries for the Feathered Friends exhibit and silent auction can be dropped off the Plattsburgh Public Library, 19 Oak St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, April 5, or Tuesday, April 6. The event runs April 7 through May 6.
PLATTSBURGH — The Adirondack Lodge has lilac-tree twigs as siding.
A tiny sprig serves as mounted antlers over the entranceway, which is painted a forest green.
"I plan to do the roof green, too, I think," mused Kathy Murnane, studying her work.
The quaintly decorated birdhouse is one of several she's creating for Feathered Friends, a fundraiser of the Friends of the Plattsburgh Public Library.
Feathered Friends, a new endeavor this year that supplants the group's usual Pretty Pots fundraiser, is a silent auction of creative bird-related items.
"We really thought it was time for a change," Kathy said.
STENCIL WORK
In a small photo album, she has pictures of the flower pots she prettied up for the former fundraiser. One, "Pot au Lollipop," was a small terra cotta pot decorated with cinnamon sticks and filled, of course, with lollipops. Others are made original with decoupage.
An example of her stencil work is the photo of an ivory chair with an Adirondack Bird's Nest quilt block painted on the seat. She donated that chair to the Arms and Legs fundraiser for North Country Cultural Center for the Arts.
Kathy, 79, first stenciled different quilt blocks on canvas bags, a craft she was encouraged to take up by friend Helen Ianelli. She made those bags to sell at various shops, naming her small enterprise KAM Enterprises. Printed on her business cards is a Flower Basket quilt block, representative of the woman who inspired the theme — Kathy's grandmother Katherine Ackerman.
Folded carefully away on a high shelf is the Flower Basket quilt Mrs. Ackerman made — completely by hand — for Kathy and husband, Tom, as a wedding gift.
Mrs. Ackerman's creativity lives on in her namesake Kathy — and in Kathy's daughters. In one bedroom is a log cabin quilt Amy Murnane sewed; in the small upstairs room Kathy uses as for her crafts, a ceramic Aztec head made by Hope Foley catches the eye — and makes a perfect receptacle for paintbrushes.
Two miniature bird houses sitting on the window sills with pots of African violets were painted by Kathy's granddaughters Kate and Liz Foley.
That a creative streak has traveled through the generations means a lot to Kathy.
"I love it," she said.
COMICAL CAT
The Friends of the Library is an organization close to Kathy's heart, for she was a founding member. With Helen Ianelli and other members, she started the tradition of the annual book sale. And 23 years later, she remains active, heading social activities such as the June luncheon and library staff luncheon.
Fundraisers such as Feathered Friends help the Friends help the library, and so it is with satisfaction that Kathy puts her creativity to work on her whimsical birdhouses. There's the lilac-roofed Tree Top Inn and a birdhouse with a comical cat sitting by the entrance called Kitty on Guard.
"I'd like to find a little bird to put on top," Kathy said.
There's a bird feeder named, appropriately, For the Birds, with delicate coral flowers painted on it.
She made a bird feeder by gluing a terra cotta pot upside-down on a shallow base. And she wasn't quite sure how she'd finish a birdhouse she'd painted in shades of wine and cream.
"When I set out to do anything," Kathy chuckled, "I do a lot, it seems."
E-mail Suzanne Moore at: Smoore@pressrepublican.com
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