It's a Shower Curtain!

Yesterday morning I put the grommets in the shower curtain, hung it on the wall for a quick picture,

 and then hung it in the bathroom in its rightful place.

Unfortunately, the bathroom isn't big enough to get a very good picture but I think it is great!


Today I am doing painting at the church's rental and if I have energy left this afternoon I will work on some frogs!

"Mahusive Giveaway"

Just a quick post to let you all know about a giveaway over at Lily's Quilts. If you like Kona solids this giveaway is for you! She is also posting gift ideas for quilters so you can send the link to your friends and family and they know what you might be looking for under the tree or in your stocking.


I am heading in to put the grommets on the shower curtain and then I can post pictures!

Sixteen Dancing Bullfrogs

Here is the first quilt top before borders. I managed to get the last four frogs done this morning and got the blocks all together.

I was in a hurry to get to an appointment once it was done though so I only managed this shot of it hanging on the ironing board. 


After taking care of all those things that keep me from my sewing room I got the borders sewn on the shower curtain and got the sheet I am using for the back prepared to lay it out tomorrow when I am fresh. I would love to have that project off my list tomorrow!


This evening I will do some work on the bindings on two quilts of my niece's that she quilted this weekend on my machine. She quilted a total of 6 and I think she has a couple of others at home that need the bindings hand-stitched also so I figured I would help her out with these two.

Frog-stitch

Almost a whole week since my last post! So much has been happening but not much to show. 

In the bathroom we now have the toilet paper holder and towel ring installed. I also picked up a toothbrush holder, soap dispenser and shower curtain hooks. The new shower caddy got installed today so we can start using that shower again. I did find a border fabric for the shower curtain and grommets but I haven't gotten it finished. That is on the list for this week, for sure! Hubby got the main body of the new medicine cabinet made and at least one coat of finish on it over the weekend. Maybe I will have some pictures for my next post.

On Friday I decided I was going to roast and shell all of the chestnuts I picked up in the yard. My soup recipe calls for 1# and I had 10#! It took me 9 hours to get them all done and my thumbs were so sore! But the soup was delicious and I have soup and more chestnuts in the freezer because of all my work!

I have done a lot of fabric shopping this week. Besides the shower curtain border fabric I was hunting for background fabrics for the baby quilts I need to get made. Do you know how hard it is to find two blue fabrics - a light and a medium - that go together? And you don't want to buy one at one shop and hope you find the second at another shop so you drive all over!!!!! I did finally get suitable fabrics and also got all the frogs cut out. I am using a pattern called Bullfrog Boogie from Time To Quilt. Today I cut out backgrounds for the first quilt and started sewing the frogs. I had finished my 3rd set of 4 frogs when I discovered I hadn't put the last 4 together right so I had to do some 'frog-stitching' (you know, rip-it, rip-it) and put them back together the right way. Luckily, it was only 4 seams per block. What do you think of the first 12 blocks?

The eyes will be appliqued later using some method. Not sure if it will be yo-yos or just circles appliqued. I plan to get this tip finished tomorrow morning and then I will probably finish up the shower curtain and then get busy with the next 4 frog quilts. I need to make quilts for 5 babies - 4 boys and one unknown. I will make 5 frog quilts and one butterfly quilt and I should have it covered.

Pleased

It has been a good day. I accomplished what I hoped for and managed to get a few other things done too!

First and foremost I got the main body of the shower curtain put together. What do you think? It still needs a dark blue border but I don't have that fabric yet. 

Here it is pinned to the shower liner. (It is so hard to get a good angle in this bathroom!)

My husband isn't too sure about it because 'nothing stands out' which is great because that was the plan!


In addition, I managed to get two loads of laundry washed, dried and folded! This evening we got the new door inserted into its pocket, the trim on that little section between the tub and the cupboard and I sorted through the junk that was in the old vanity and loaded into the new one.

Weekend Wrap-up

I did scrub the tub and floor but the tub is going to need something stronger to get it clean. You know, that dried on film that just doesn't want to come off. Got some product for that problem so I will head back in there tomorrow.


Meanwhile, we got the vanity moved back in, the tank back on the commode, a fancy new seat that doesn't slam shut and has a removable potty training seat, the shower curtain rod up and new switches and outlets. I also got the new door painted and Hubby has gotten started on the new medicine cabinet.


I did a little shopping on Friday and found a few more batiks to go with the ones I had.

The one on the bottom is the background. I didn't find a dark blue for the border so I will have to do some more shopping I guess. Oh darn! The fabrics went in the washer Friday afternoon and on Saturday I got all the cutting done and started on the sewing.


After church today, I raked up the first trailer load of leaves from the yard and tidied the house a bit before a lovely visit with a good friend I haven't seen for a couple of years. She is one of those friends that even though you don't see them for long periods of time you can pick up right where you left off. The visit was too short and makes me want to go spend some time in Virginia!


When I got home I did a bit more sewing and now I have these little piles waiting for me on the sewing machine to get started with tomorrow.

Painting done

At least the wall painting. There will be a good bit of trim to do yet but first the trim needs to be purchased and cut. There are also two doors, one of which is a special order so we won't have it for a couple of weeks. Today I 'get' to scrub the tub/enclosure and the floor. Then either this evening or tomorrow we will start putting things back in. 

Yesterday evening Hubby and I went shopping for accessories for the bathroom. We got the toilet paper holder, towel holder, shower curtain bar, hooks for on the door, light switches and outlets and their respective covers, and various other things. We also bought one of the doors and ordered the other.

The other night as I was working on falling asleep I had an epiphany. I was thinking about the bathroom (as if there is something else to think about around here right now) and I realized I could have the perfect fabrics to make a shower curtain. The batiks my 2nd daughter brought me from Alaska for my birthday a couple of years ago. The next day I pulled them out of their hiding place along with the other batiks I bought to go with them and held them against the new paint and it works! Here are the fabrics I have.

So then it was down to what pattern to use. I have been looking for the right pattern as it needs to have some bigger squares to highlight the salmon on the two fabrics from my daughter. Anyway, I went to my quilt guild meeting on Wednesday evening and for the first time ever, I won a door prize. It was Atkinson Designs Slide Show pattern. The large squares are cut 8" which should be great for the salmon. I drew out the pattern on the computer last night and colored it in as well as I could using the colors available.

I think it is going to work out well. I do need to get a fabric to use for the background and border. I think the background might be a kind of medium batik and I might get a couple more batiks to add in there. Darn, I guess I have to go shopping!


Anyway, as I said, I need to do some scrubbing so I guess I had better get busy!

So Revealing!

What a fun evening! Lots of laughing and catching up and the quilts were awesome. 

Once everyone was there and settled in, we drew numbers to see what order the quilts would be revealed. I was lucky because Linnea drew #1. I headed out of the room while Linnea hung my quilt on the wall. Look at what I came in and saw on the wall! The colors are perfect for my living room and each of those circles is machine sewn into their respective cut-out. I need to find out more about how she did that!

Next up was Nadine. She made this quilt for Linnea, her sister. 

She is a bit of an over-achiever and had this quilt done in February! Nadine was a little stressed for the past couple of months while Linnea was working on my quilt. Linnea evidently (I wasn't allowed to know) was going on and on about not liking appliqued circles and Nadine was sure Linnea wouldn't like her quilt so she was considering making another quilt for her! In the end she didn't and here you can see Linnea examining these circles. She loved her quilt!


Next up was Sally who made a quilt for her best friend, Nadine. She bought a kit a few years back thinking that it would be perfect for Nadine so this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

I think she liked it, don't you?


I had drawn #4 so Sally headed out of the room for a few minutes while this went up on the wall. 

She had requested neutrals with maybe a little color. I bought a huge pile of neutrals and found this pattern in Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett. It is called Snail Takes a Detour and is an adaption of the traditional Snail's Trail block. I had the center done and started looking for a border fabric that worked and suited Sally. I was fabric shopping with my niece, Katie, in June and found this mushroom fabric. It was just perfect - the right colors and Sally and her husband, Jay, are avid mushroom hunters.


Next up was Mary. She made this quilt for Cindy. 

Cindy asked for brights and this is definitely bright! Mary didn't get the quilt finished for last night but the top is done and she has a great backing fabric so it should be done soon. I think she deserves a break though since she designed this one herself and it has 529 3.5" squares separated by black strips. Each piece was sewn individually! Cindy was so happy with this one!


Finally, it was Cindy's turn to hang her quilt for Mary. Mary asked for red and white and this is just stunning!

Cindy did such a great job on this! The points are all perfect! I also love how she added smaller blocks for the border corners.


After delicious treats, we drew names for this next year. We will be celebrating our reveal on November 12 next year and I will be making a quilt for Nadine this time. Not sure what it will be but she did say she likes red or purple and has always wanted a quilt with blue bear paws. It has given me some ideas but that one will have to wait till after the new year!


Today my goal is to get two coats of paint on the bathroom walls. Yesterday I did the spray on texture and primer so I am good to go first thing today!