Less and Less Triangles

I am getting close to the end of the triangles. In the last 4 days I have made close to 120 broken dishes blocks! Those 120 blocks started out as 960 individual triangles! They are now all pressed and sorted into bags according to size - 

it is so much easier if they are sorted as they are made instead of when you want to use them!


I only have really big triangles left and I think I will cut them up into a square and 2 smaller triangles as I am not as excited about the look of bigger broken dishes blocks! That will probably happen today.


On Wednesday when I was done with my batch of triangles the weather wasn't too bad so I went out and started pruning the last two apple trees. I got as much done as I could without hauling the ladder out. Thursday was even nicer out so after some morning sewing I hauled the ladder out to the trees and finished the pruning! Yesterday after triangles I went out and pruned the grapes and after hubby got home and got the lawn tractor started (dead battery) we got all the apple branches and grape vines on the burn pile and disposed of them. So our big purchase on date night last night was a new battery! Such exciting times!


The shower door is now installed and today I will do the touch up painting and then hubby will caulk around the shower stall and we can call that project done! We still have trim in there to do but why should that room be any more complete than all the rest of the house?


I am plugging away on the frog eyes and now have 3 quilts finished. I would love to have the last one done this weekend but not sure that is happening. I want to get the labels on and get the quilts delivered!

Sand and Prime

The new shower stall project is moving along a little. I sanded the mudding yesterday and got a coat of primer on it. I am hoping it will look okay.

When I went out to get the primer, we also looked for the leftover paint for the bathroom and discovered that it had dried up. I was worried we might have to paint the whole room which would involve moving the washer and dryer but I managed to find a piece of the drywall that was torn out in the demolition and took it to Home Depot and they matched it awfully close to perfectly! I am hoping that if it isn't quite perfect, it will at least be good enough that we can just paint up to the washer and dryer and you won't be able to tell! I would much rather just paint where the patching was done, though.

Today I did the texturing (turns out I should have picked up another can yesterday so I wouldn't have had to make another trip to the store today) and another coat of primer and, in just one hour, I can do the first coat of color. Then I will have the final coat to do tomorrow and I will be done with my part of this project (except for helping to install the new shower door and maybe some other finishing touches).

Time to Clean

It's time to get busy around here. There was laundry that needed addressing. I got two more loads done today and even got three of yesterday's folded! One of today's was the sheets for our bed so at least I don't have to fold that!

When I was putting the first load in I was reminded that I need to work on the mudding in the shower stall so that was my next job. I was feeling a little discouraged when I stopped for the retreat and quilt show but when I got going again I realized it wasn't quite as bad as I thought. I might be getting close to being done with the mudding and ready to start getting the painting and texturing done.

After a shower I headed into the sewing room and started shoveling. This is the cutting table area before...

...and after.

This is the quilting machine area before...

...and after.

 

I know, it really doesn't look that much better but I can tell. I got all the finished quilts moved out of the room or put away. I am working on my scrap drawers that were all left out after the paper piecing on the Harry Potter quilt. It is just time to get them more organized again. I plan to continue with the cleaning, sorting and organizing until I can use the whole top of the cutting table (or at least most of it). 


Stay tuned for updates.

So what do you think?

Yep, the top is done and waiting for backing. Though I haven't gotten an email saying the backing has shipped so I might just have to go do some shopping to get a different backing fabric so I can get this thing quilted and finished! I am planning to make another Harry Potter quilt so when the backing does come I will just use it for that.


I ended up with a black tonal for a border. I had enough of the fabric to cut 4" strips to go around so that is what it got!


Yesterday I also did another coat of mud on the drywall so it is looking better though still not great - definitely not one of my favorite jobs. 


Other jobs for yesterday included folding the 3 loads of laundry that have been languishing in the laundry room while I sewed, going to my neighbors to cut numbers on her Cricut to put a new date on the quilt show sandwich boards so they can get put out today or tomorrow, and doing a little cuddling with an adorable little baby boy. The little guy is almost 3 months old and was not impressed with my skills - he wanted Mommy! When his daddy came home he said that it is the same way for him so I shouldn't feel too bad! I didn't because we did have a little while when he was happy!


Oh, and I also had a little time to get started with cutting the pieces for the girl baby quilt. I would love to have the cutting done today so it is ready to take to the quilt retreat but my first job is to get the sign amendments done so they can be laminated so they last for 2 weeks in our lovely wet February/March weather!

Busy weekend!

Lots of stuff happening around this house.

Hubby continued working on the shower stall replacement. A little more drywall came out and we went shopping for a shower door (something I have wanted for that bathroom since we first put the shower in) and other materials for the project. As of this evening the new shower stall is in and is waiting for the drywall, after which my work begins with taping, texturing and painting.

While he was doing that my niece, Katie, was quilting the 4 quilt sandwiches that she brought over. Then since she had more time she also quilted 3 quilts for me and helped me get two more basted and ready for quilting.

And while she was busy at the quilting machine, I was busy at the sewing machine making 6 more Harry Potter blocks. The reason the Gryffindor Crest isn't finished is because it will be 'hanging' on the castle and I need the castle fabric to finish this off. 

The blocks are lots of fun but paper-piecing can be very confusing! Not something to do when one is tired at all!

OMG!

While I was trying to watch the commercials during the Super Bowl, hubby decided to rip out the shower in the guest bathroom/laundry room. There was lots of noise and dust coming from there! It went from this

 to this

and ended with this.

Yesterday evening we headed to Lowe's and got a new shower stall so once I have finished cleaning up the mess, we can start the rebuild. 

I finished up the last of the hats for the order of 5 last night.  

Yes, I know there are 7 hats in the picture. I made an extra to make sure I have the right sizes and had one on hand already. I hope to get them in the mail today. Over the weekend I got the other one crocheted and this evening I will get it put together and deliver it at craft night. 


I didn't get to work on the frog quilts on Sunday so I will need to get moving on those before I get going on more hats. 


Yesterday I made my first block for the Relay for Life Quilt and one for its twin. This is Hermoine's Time Turner.

I hope to get at least one more design done today and hopefully one more tree pruned and the clippings picked up since the rain is supposed to be back tomorrow. That means that work outside just won't be happening but I can spend the day in the sewing room! WooHoo!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

It is Super Sunday at my house and it has nothing to do with football OR commercials! Today the new medicine cabinet went up in the bathroom. 

One step closer to finishing the bathroom remodel. You can't see the boo-boo in this picture but the frames for the mirrors have to be redone. At least we can use the cabinet until they are done, though! We can now take our showers and brush our teeth, comb our hair, etc. in one bathroom. The next step is the light fixture above the cabinet which will be worked on when hubby isn't working on replacing the shower in the other bathroom.

The other change in the house today is that the Ironrite moved into the house. 

One of our customers gave this to hubby this past year. It does work but I haven't actually tested it for ironing. Now that it is in the house I might have to see how it goes.

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!

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!

Last one done!

Yes, I finished the last of the 5 Christmas quilt tops.

I also stopped and got some flannel to use for the back and it is currently in the washer. 


I am hoping to get the last bits of Christmas fabrics put away so I can take care of some other projects before I head out for the quilt reveal this weekend. 


The walls and the ceiling of the bathroom are clean and the holes are patched. Tomorrow I should get the sanding done and get things primed so I can do the spray on texture and get the painting done. 


I am already tired of using the laundry/bathroom for showers, etc.  after just two days!

Guild Quilt Show Part 1

But first, a bathroom redo update. The night before last Hubby got the bathroom sink drain all hooked up and it works! Last night he finished the rest of the cabinet work so today I can start loading it up so the drawers from the old vanity can get out of the guest room. He has some other ideas about customization but those will wait. We are pretty sure about paint color but today I will paint a larger area and do two coats of our favorite so we can be sure.

Yesterday morning I headed out to the fairgrounds to deliver my quilts (no one ever called me to drop off their quilts) and help with setting up the show. 

The first job was laying out all the quilt stands and getting them hooked together. At one point we had to call in everyone so we could move one section with one person for each upright. Wish I had a video of that to post! Once things were set-up and straight we started distributing the quilts to their spots. We had great maps but it was so easy to get turned around!

Then the quilts started going up. There are spots for 12 extra long quilts (over 90") and my Out of the Darkness quilt was chosen for one of those spots. The funny thing is, someone else made one from the same pattern and the plan had them hanging back to back but as we were hanging them we made an executive decision to have them hanging side by side for comparison. Here they are:

Mine is the one on the right. The main difference is that she hand-quilted hers and I had mine machine quilted by my friend Deb Barth in Montana.


We had about half of the quilts hung by lunch time and after a quick break for a delicious box lunch we headed back to the quilts and finished the hanging. As the quilts went up it was hard for all of us to stay focused on hanging and not stop to examine the quilts!


Once things were up there were some adjustments. There were also about 4 quilts that never showed up for hanging so we found Community Quilts (charity quilts) to hang in their places. A last check for extra poles or empty bags, etc. and we were done.


There are a lot of great quilts in the show and I will be bringing my camera tomorrow when I will be there to do a couple of volunteer shifts. I definitely need pictures of a couple of great scrap quilts.

Installation

I don't know what happened yesterday but I didn't ever make it into the sewing room! I did get the garden roto-tilled one more time and finished the mowing so if I don't get those jobs done again this year it should be okay!


I did get the hanging sleeve sewn on the largest of the quilts for the show. I need to finish up the last two today since they need to be at the show tomorrow am between 8 and 9. I got a call from the guild member in charge of volunteers for the show and I am now signed up to help set-up the show tomorrow and then on Saturday I will be turning quilts (not sure exactly what that means) for 1/2 hour and selling raffle tickets for two hours. Then I think on Sunday I have to pick up the quilts again.


My husband had a slow day at work yesterday so he went to work on the plumbing and cabinet adjustments and by evening the new vanity was in place.

Now it isn't totally ready to go. The water is hooked up but Hubby didn't have ABS cement so the drain isn't finished. The top drawer needs one of its rails reattached and the vanity also isn't attached to the wall and the sink isn't attached to the vanity so that we can pull it out when I paint. We haven't been able to find a hickory medicine cabinet, just a mirror so hubby might replace the oak on our current medicine cabinet with hickory. 


Today I plan to get some paint samples to help decide what color we want and then we will start taking everything off the walls so holes can be patched and then I will paint! Then we need a new light fixture, shower curtain, drawer/door pulls, tp holder, etc. Oh, and there will be two new doors and trim that needs to be taken care of. We might have it done by the end of the year!

A Snag

So yesterday had its ups and downs. One up is that I finished the 4th Christmas quilt top. I even got a little done on #5. Maybe that will get finished today.

Once that was done I created hanging sleeves for the three quilts heading to the quilt show on Thursday. Now they just need to be sewn on.


I also spent some time outside and got all my berries weeded. The garden is looking good for fall, in fact, it is looking better than it has in years! I am hoping to keep it roto-tilled over the winter as weather permits.


The down came a bit later in the day, after dinner. Hubby and I were discussing the floor and whether we should get new flooring. Hubby said it wouldn't be too much trouble to take out our current 48" vanity and sink so we could put the new one in to make our decision. Famous last words! Got the old one out and there was the requisite 20 years of dust underneath. (A hidden upside to the night was getting the drain cleaned out so our current sink will drain better.) Moved the new one (36") into the room and here is what we  saw...

Yes, 2 of the 3 plumbing components under the sink run into not only the back wall of the cabinet, but the drawers themselves! Very disheartening. We headed back to Home Depot to see if there were any options out there. The answer was no, unfortunately. You can't order a cabinet that is a mirror image (which would work) and they didn't have a 48" option. The two guys helping us did give Hubby some ideas for adjustments. 


We made a stop at Lowe's before heading home just to see if they had anything different. They did have a 48" option but because bathroom vanities/sinks are now a couple of inches deeper than they were 20 years ago that would cause problems with the door trim and would make the bathroom even more crowded feeling than it is currently.


After sleeping on it, Hubby has come up with some fresh ideas that might work for adjusting the 36" cabinet so we will see what comes of that today.

Looking nice

I still haven't finished top #4 but there has been progress in the bathroom. Yesterday Hubby took care of that small leak and then covered the wall with hardy board and with some finagling we were able to get the cabinet in place. Doesn't it look nice?

In the evening we headed into town to get some supplies and decided to pick up the vanity and sink/counter top so we could pick a paint color that will go with it. The top is granite and the vanity is hickory. When the box came off Hubby discovered a few modifications that will have to be made to accommodate our plumbing under the sink. 

We are pretty sure about our faucet but haven't picked that up yet. I am not sure about how the granite will look with our current floor. The color is okay but this is kind of fancy and our flooring is commercial vinyl like you would find in a hospital. It is still in good condition but we are a little tired of it so we might decide to redo the floor too. I think we will be going with a greyish paint for the walls with our usual white trim. Before a final decision is made on paint I will have to get a test sample and put it on the wall.


Today after church and grocery shopping I got everything put into the cabinet that we installed yesterday. It isn't as deep but it is higher so it is about the same amount of space as we had before. We will see if we like how things are placed but I think this will work. 

Since I got the grocery shopping done today and a couple of other errands I hope to be able to stay home tomorrow and get some gardening and sewing done. I got the garden roto-tilled last week and mowed some grass but there are weeds around the plants that should be gotten rid of this week before the rain starts again. I am not sure if Washington's nickname of the Evergreen State has to do with the trees or the weeds!

First Step

We have started redoing the bathroom this week. The first step is to install the cabinet we bought last week. Here you see the shelves in the cubby where the cabinet will go.

I am being kind and not showing you the frightening monster dust bunnies that were on the floor! You see, we have had a fire safe here in the bottom of the cubby for the last 19-20 years. It just fit so it hasn't been out since it was put in there and the dust under there was scary! 


Well, we tried to just slide the cabinet in but it is probably about 1/8" too big so we pulled it out again to think about how to get it in. My hubby decided that taking out the drywall on the left side which backs the bathtub was the best choice. He took that out a couple of nights ago with minimal mess (and he cleaned it up himself!) and this is what it looks like now.

A small leak at a soldered joint was discovered in the process which will be fixed first and then some thinner material will be put over the opening and hopefully the cabinet will fit in and then the rough edges will be covered with trim wood. Maybe by Monday I will have pictures of the cabinet in place. I need to be thinking about paint colors for the bathroom so I am ready when it is time for that step.

Wednesday afternoon during a break in the rain I headed down to the garden to bring in the last of the produce. I pulled all the squash, pumpkin and bean plants and got them hauled off. I also pulled the last of my carrots and the few kohl rabi that grew to a size worth eating. Here is the haul.

There are 5 pumpkins weighing in at 39, 32, 16, 15 and 15 pounds! I am pretty amazed at the size of these pumpkins especially since I planted them and never gave them any fertilizer at all. Just water! I am hoping they will orange up by Halloween so the grandkids can use them for jack o'lanterns. There are 9 acorn squash and one of those is huge! Also got my last picking of green beans. The onions that are drying there were planted last year but never did much until this year. This year's garden produce has gotten me more excited about gardening again and I am looking forward to last year!


Yesterday morning I finished Christmas quilt top #3

and got started on #4. I am looking forward to being done with these tops so I can move on to the next project. I think that will be getting the hanging sleeves on the quilts that are heading to the show and then I can get started on the baby quilts I need to get finished. Two of the babies are already here with two more coming in December.


Yesterday afternoon I headed over to the church and helped tie 11 quilts that will be heading out into the world through the work of Lutheran World Relief. There were only 5 of us working yesterday but the fellowship was wonderful! Just like the quilting bees of yesteryear.