Crown Molding Shelf ~ On The Wall!

It looks exactly how I envisioned it would & I love how it looks onthe wall. I have not got ALL the pictures on it that I want...but I'll get there, I am sure.







Went to Lowe's this morning & bought enough wood to build the 4 smaller shelves to flank the china hutch in the dining room. The shelf in the bedroom does not have one, but the shelves for the dining room will have a plate groove in them.

Sam

E-Mail

My email got hacked & there have been some emails sent this week from my account. I have re-set my password & totally DELETED my contact list. I have had the same email adress for a long long time! Maybe since 2006? Possibly before that. At any rate, if you would like to be a contact of mine, you'll need to leave a comment on my blog so I can add you to my contact list in my email.

I have my comments set so that I have to approve or delete them. So if you DO choose to become one of my contacts again, I will delete the comment when I save your email address.

I dont' know what else to do & I am sorry if this caused any problems/hardships/issues. It happens......

I'm Sorry AGAIN

Sam

Crown Molding Shelf / The Beginning

After the master bedroom got painted I begged Prince Charming to build a shelf from Crown Molding. I have seen them all over pinterest & certainly on the Pottery Barn website...but PB does not make them this long.

So, on the fly, he built this for me today. I labeled this post "the beginning", becasue I don't hthink you can accurately gauge the size of this shelf. Once it's on the wall, you'll have a better idea. I wanted it wider than the headboard. so Prince Charming made it 12 inches wider than the width of the headboard. It's 72 inches wide. I don't know how tall it is.







It will hand on the wall with a ledger board, that is already cut (that's what it's hanging on off the side of the plywood), and it will be painted high glass white. It turned out EXACTLY how I wanted it to look & I am totally jazzed that he decided to tackle it this weekend.

I still have to paint it with the high glass white, and I won't hang it until we have a 3rd pair of hands so that THEY can hold it up against the wall & I can decide where I want it ~ heightwise ~ onthe wall above the bed.

Sam

Ikea Purchase for The Sewing Room

Tuesday QB1 & I went to Ikea. I found these curtain rods & buckets & baskets in the housewares section. I thought that they would be perfect in my sewing room!

These 2 photos show the wall above my ironing board that I intend to hang the rods & buckets.



This is after! Aren't they perfect? I relaly like them.



I love Ikea! next time I go, I want to take more money & a PLAN.

Sam

American Beauty Blocks

These are the 5 (15) blocks of the American Beauty Quilt (s) that I completed this week.

They are not in any specific order & I can't even tell you which block is which month. (I dont' care, really) but I am putting a HUGE dent in the red basket!!







Not pictured are the 4 blocks for the 2 Ladies of Inspiration Quilts that I finished this week.

Sam

Checking In

I feel like I have been neglecting my blog! But in my defense?, I have been BUSY!

Let's see............last weekend, Prince Charming & trimmed all the bushes around the house & picked up parts of trees that blew into or off our trees from the storm. We didn't suffer any storm damage. It took all day Saturday to do that. We had to trim downt he knock-out roses & the hydrangeas before everything is convinced it's Spring (we know it's not...winter is no way over, not in TN) Then we started to insulate the garage doors. He caulked all the areas around the garage doors that didn't seal (it's brick on the outside) and then we cut 2 pieces of 3/4" foam insullation sheeting to fit each panel in the garage door. There are 8 per door. Sounds easy? It wasn't difficult. It was very time consuming. And believe it or not, styrofaom dulls blades rather quickly!! We ran out of the sheeting & decided to finish the following weekend (which is today) So TODAY we finished the top 4 panels & it took nearly as long as all 12 of the others together because we had to cut out for the little windows. We also painted the wall that has the garage doors on it, as well as trimmed out the door & put baseboard in. Please don't ask me why we waited so long, but it's a project we can check off our honey-do list. I am tired & I am glad its done. It makes a huge difference in the temperature of the garage too. HUGE.

I have been off from work all week. Vacation. Of sorts. Y'all know I keep my grandson while my daughter is in grad-school. Well it's a break from school, so I took it off too.

Monday & Tuesday QB1 & I went to North Carolina & visited with Joan. We also went to Mary-Jo's. Spending time with Joan @ her home & having her show us her quilts was a BLAST. I am so glad I was able to see her! She took us to Mary-Jo's & I didn't buy ANY fabric. For quilts! Not 1 piece for any quilt. But I dropped a boatload of money. I bought 10 yards of a green/blue plaid for drapes in my dining room. I thought that the green was going to be too bright. But it's a perfect match!! YAY!! I also bought 15 yards of a blue denim & 3 yards of red denim. The last 2 are for a slipcover for our family room couch. Prince Charming likes the denim but really does ot have an opinion (which means he does not hate it...) on the green for the dining room!

Before we got to Mary-Jo's we went to Ikea in Charlotte. #1 I did not have enough money to go hom with everything I wanted from Ikea. That's the plain simple fact. I bought an easel & train set & some cars for the baby & I got a curtain rod/bucket thing for my sewing room. Got a new shower curtain for the hall bathroom, and 2 hurrican lantern type things....I have already put up the rod/bucket thing in my sewing room. It looks great & holds a LOT of stuff. Yah, stuff. I'll post pictures if I can take one in natural light.

On our way TO North Carolina, QB1 & I stopeed at 3 fabric stores. 2 were open. Loose Threads is a nice little shop & the lady that was there could not have been MORE helpful. She was just so sweet & very chatty. I am sorry I don't know her name, but if you're ever in there, tell them I complimented them on thier customer service!! We went to MawMaw's Thimble in Knoxville. Nice lady too! Lot's of nice fabric & she has many free/easy patterns. Lot's of nice Civil War fabrics!

Driving through the mountains was awesome & breathtaking. Stunning. We had beautiful weather to be driving in too! No rain.

We got back late on Tuesday night. Wednesday I stayed home & sewed. Thursday my freind Deb (from Collinsville...remember back then? ONly Deb now lives in GA & was in Frnklin to visit with her daughter) We sewed. I have been working on the 2010 American Beauty BOM. Well 3 BOM's......I started with 2, QB1 hated the templates so bad, she gave me her quilt kit.So that's 3. Oh, and I started the 2012 BOM from Garnny B's. It's another quilt with templates by Marti Michell. I think this year's quilt is called Ladies of Inspiration. Oh, yah, I am making 2 of them. So if you're following closely and doing the math, that's 5 quilts. Right now, I am caught up with the 2 for 2012. The shop does not have the March blocks cut. Thank goodness for small blessings. And I have 4 blocks completed for the American Beauty Quilts. So , again, if yo're doing the math........that's 14 blocks that I have made this week. All 14 of them use those dinky little templates. The joints in my fingers are killing me. But! I am determined. Determined. DETERMINED to do them! (if you think I am trying to convince myself or brainwash myself into doing them, you would be right!)

Friday I spent sewing more of those BOM blocks. That's why I have 14 ~ people!!

Today ~ Saturday & this is where we finished the garage doors.

I am really hoping hard, that other than having breakfast OUT, that there are no more plans for home improvement projects. I would like to see if I can put the other half of my Irish Stars together!!

Well, that's what I have been up too. When I get aournd to it? I'll post pictures!!

TTYL
Sam

Saturday Sew In

Just me.

And it's all Joan's fault! I started a quilt. Yes.....another one. Y'all can roll your eyes here becasue we all know that I do NOT need another project. But I started one anyway!

I am no good at linking stuff from other blogs with that click on the word technique (so I am not gonna do it & if I do, remember, I dont' do it enough to make it work properly!!) Joan was looking for a pattern for a quilt that she saw on line or at a show...It is called IRISH STARS. I have a pattern in my extensive quilt book library. But it was not the same. Looked similar, just not the SAME. The pattern is from A Pieceful Gathering in Cary IL.

Saw it on THIS blog. And the quilt pictured below is HERS and it was what inspired me to wnat to make the quilt too:
"

I like it. So I went to the website of A Pieceful Gathering:
And bought the pattern. I think that was 2 weeks ago? Maybe....Bought BEFORE I started my painting spree. So I know its more than 3 weeks ago.

When I got the pattern, I read it front to back. As I do most patterns. Now, that being said what I am about to say/write is MY own opinion. So if you want to know MY OPINION then keep reading, otherwise stop.

I like the pattern. I like that they show you how to cut your fat quarters with little inch marks & diagrams. The pattern is also in COLOR (hear angels singing???) I REALLY like that. But!...Yah, y'all knew THAT was coming didn't you???. If I was a beginner, I could NOT do this pattern. I feel like I am a pretty accomplished quilt maker. I imagine myself as ADVANCED. The pattern shows you how to cut the peices & assemble the 2 major units for construction. But it does not give any kind of diagram or setting OR layout information of the sub-units. And there are no pressing instructions. So, if YOU decide to get the pattern, know in advance that these things are missing from the pattern. I feel confident that I can figure it out & get it done. I sure hope so, as I cut up enough fat quarters for TWO quilts.

I am currently working on the DARK 2 pc sub-units & the LIGHT 2 pc sub-units. I already have the CHAIN blocks completed. I used all different reds for the chain part of the quilt. Since I cut enough fabric for 2 quilts, I have more variety in the selection of strips for the chain blocks. I was able to make all 52 chain blocks without repeating the dark strip or the red chain in EACH block! I was NOT able to do that with the light parts of the blocks. Pick your battle & I decided not to bother trying too hard on the light parts of the blocks.

So...here is a rather chaotic view of my progress:

This picture is a view of my sewing space. You're seeing multiple projects in progres here & I am NOT going into detail of what is what....:(though the red basket holds 3 BOM's from 2010 that I determined to cut out & complete this year...)


And here are 52 blocks for quilt #1:


And....THIS is my attempt at trying to mix up the dark strips (when I cut strips out, I stack 2 or 4 fat quarters up & cut together - saves time- i assume everyone does this? But the fabric sticks together - so I throw them in a box & mix them up!):



I am hoping REALLY hard that I can get the body of the quilt done this weekend. We shall see! I will be making the blue stars all from the same color blue & the gold stars all from the same color gold. but the red blocks are going to be scrappy. While I have LOTS of blue to choose from, the same can not be said for GOLD. So That's why I'm doing it that way. Also - I don't know (at this point) if I'll use the exact same blue & gold for quilt #2. We'll see how much I use of what I have before I can determine that step. So far? I have bought ZERO fabric for BOTH quilts. 100% from my stash! Whoo-Hoo! That always feels good.

I'll show you more when I get there.

Sam

Now, it's Sunday morning & I have work to do for my REAL JOB, but before I get started on THAT work, I got all the sub-units completed.

Here is a photo of all the sub-units. This is, effectively, where the instructions stop. I have all these units & a photo (computer generated, it seems) of the completed quilt & thassit. I wing it from here. I wonder if MAYBE there is a page of the instructions missing????? Who knows, I am this far & I am not emailing to ask whether or not there is.



Here is a photo of half the sub-units laid out on my family room floor! See? I tolla you I could figure it out!!!

More Painting

You'l have to search thru old posts to see the BEFORE pictures of the bedroom. The walls used to be a dark green. I just don't DO dark colors. These pictures seem a little more yellow than it actually is, it's less yellow & more towards the tan side of yellow. It's called SUGAR COOKIE and I LOVE it.

Prince Charming is goingto build a crown molding shelf to go on the wall above the headboard. A really WIDE one too.

We painted the masterbathroom too. It makes a difference in how much lighter it seems.

I am glad it's done & I hope I am NOT painting for a few weeks. Maybe a few months....maybe? Hoepfully!!

Sam

Painting The Dining Room

I love Red. It's my favorite color. But it's been really hard to live with in my dining room.

Before:



After



Sam

PS - 2 coats of primer & 2 coats of color. We didn't repaint the lower part of the room. Left it the high gloss white. I still lack getting the fabric for the curtains & the chair seats. We'll be making a cornice box that I'll cover witht he curtain fabric.

Joan~ I think you hit the nail onthe head. I think the red was overwhelming in that space, and the furniture looked SO crowded in the there. The whole time we were painting, I kept telling Prince Charming that it looked bigger to me! He said it was my imagination, but this morning after we moved all the SAME furniture back in, he siad that it looked less crowded. And it's all in the same exact spot! Nothing less & nothing more! And he likes the color too. It looks washed out in these pictures, but it's a gray green color. I love it. Now....to paint hte master bedroom & m-bathroom!

Mine Mine MINE ! Quilting for Me.

This weekend, I decided to make a list of things I wanted to accomplish. Not one item on the list was SLEEPING IN. Seems (recently) that sleeping in is a luxury & when I do sleep in, it's usually past 8:30 in the morning before I ever roust myslef out of bed & then it's 9:30 or 10:00 before I ever get moving & get something started. Needless to say, that is a terrible waste of valuable TIME. One item on my list was to paint the dining room. That is going to be another post later...but quilting my finished Ladyof The Lake / Belle Meade quilt WAS on the list. Here you see it half way done.




I am always excited when it's my very own quilt that is getting quilted. Oddly enough? It takes me FOREVER to pick out a quilting pattern. Why is that? And thread too. Takes me forever to decide on a color.

My good friend Mamie (whom I miss dearly) and I would always try to pick a contrasting thread, so that MAYBE the quilting of the pantograph could be seen. Well, on this quilt, I chose a red thread. Blood red. It's actually called STRAWBERRY but it was a deeper red than the cone of thread I had that said RED...so strawberry is what I went with. Same color red as the Thimbleberries border fabric. I have a cream colored backing & the red thread is glaringly bright! But on the FRONT of the quilt? Not so much..........Amazingly? You can barely see it. But there's a LOT going on in this quilt.

This is the pantograph that I am using. I knew ahead of time (experience maybe?) that the panto would not be seen on the front & since I was using red thread & the backing is cream, I wanted something really pretty that I COULD see on the back! This pantograph is called MARIPOSA and it is by Urban Elementz. It is a busy , detailed panto. The butterflies look a lot like flowers. That's why I like it!


Here is a shot of 3 more quilts of mine waiting to be quilted. From right to left: Ocean Waves (been finished since AUGUST !!!!) Second Hand Clothes, and last is a floral quilt that reminds me of a rug. (I don't like the floral quilt & after I quilt it, I am going to donate it to my guild. Someone will love it one day, but that person is not me)It really looks like ther are more than 3 quilts here, but I have 3 backings hanging up too.


Lastly - Here is a picute of my dog Bourbon. I had the radio cranked up & I was jamming to a bunch of rock, I could hear him snoring over the machine & the radio! He does this everytime! It's comical. I can't figure out what lying on his back accomplishes for him, but he does it all the time. Especially when I sew.


Talk to you all later!!

Sam

Quilted Blankets

These are fluffy blankets from Target that I quilted to sheets. As you can see? I monnogrammed them BEFORE quilting them, so that they could tell them apart! I monogrammed the pillow cases too. (I only monogrammed ONE pillowcase , of the 2 in the sheet set, for each blanket)




this shot gives you an idea the SIZE of the monogram. MICHAEL had 20364 stitches & only took like 12 minutes to stitch out! I love that machine...


And just because he was HELPING me take pictures!


These are going into the mail & on thier way to Iowa, where I hear the snow is pretty deep.

Sam

Warning BRAG Post!

I have 2 wonderful daughters. They are both VERY talented. I am proud to say that I think they will both end up crafters or sewers.

This is my Christmas gift from my oldest daughter. She crocheted this afghan for me! It is super warm & I have slept with it every night but 1 (it was 60 degrees the night before last...) since Christmas.





#1 She made it in my favorite color combination

#2 She set the blocks in my favorite barnraising pattern

#3 She made it in QUILT blocks!!

Isn't she talented???

I think so, but I am biased coz she's my daughter!!

Sam

Doubts....

I know...I know....you don't think that I have been doing any quilting...You would be wrong. I am not doing LOADS of it, but I am sewing!

So? What HAVE I been doing? Piddling more than anything. Ihave been sewing blocks for my ON EAGLE'S WINGS quilt. I am 7 blocks away from having HALF as many blocks as I need with black flying geese. Did you catch that? I still lack sewing just as many blocks with white flying geese. It's gonna be beautiful.

As I have needed more strips for the OEW Quilt, I have been cutting blocks for the mini spools quilt that I have going too. The spool blocks finish @ 5", I figured I'd need around 300 of them, I think I have 264 cut out. I do NOT have that many sewn. No where close. I had been wanting to ask Joan how many SHE needed for her Spool Quilt, but I think I am afraid to ask. What if I need 400? Ack!

I, currently, have 4 quilts hanging in my longarm studio waiting to be quilted. All mine. I already have the backing & the batting for all of them, I don't know why I take forever once I get at this point. Pure procrastination.

I have a blanket on the rails for my daughter - it lacks MAYBE 2 more rows. Once I have that one done, I will make a blanket for my daughter's fiance. I say BLANKET because it's a sheet on one side & a fuzzy snuggly blanket on the other. I am quilting them together with no batting. Oh! They are yummy feeling. I think the one using a flannel sheet is going to be the best one of the 2. I also am embroidering thier name on the fuzzy blanket BEFORE I quilt them. Really nice looking.

Gotta go!

Sam

Door Garland

I accidently deleted the FIRST picture that shows the base thing called the WORK garland. It's basically a wire with garland pieces about evey 9 inches. Each work garland is 9 feet long. I wired 2 together for the whole thing.

Daughter #1 helping me make our creation


I don't even know what the red twisty stuff is. It looked like glitered up boning! Felt like it too.


Close up of the Deco-Mesh, the Gold Lame & the Red twisty stuff.


Another view.


I added gold & red all weather plastic balls. I resorted to using zip ties to attach them to the garland.


I had multiple rolls of ribbon, but only 1 that made the cut. So I made about 9 bows (that's all I could get out of 10 yards!) and I wired them tot he garland with (again) Zip-Ties!


You can't see it, but I also wired 4 strings of the mini-lights to the backside of the garland.


Here is the door before I put anything up. You can SEE the command hooks.....I had plenty of them.


My intention was to have the garland hang around the door, but the command hooks kept popping off the vinyl. I think the vinyl is too textured.......that or it's too cold. (the garland is LONG, but it's not too heavy...) I don't know. Either way, I just hung it over the light fixtures.


Even though it did not hang close tot he door like I wanted it too, it did come out exactly like I wanted it to!


Merry Christmas.

Sam

Quilting

I have not done too much quilting lately. Not my own & not for others. Not sure why. Mostly Want To, I guess. I have so many projects going that it's hard for me to decide which one I want to drag out.......silly me! I even THOUGHT about starting another project. Not happening. I have 2 quilts to get quilted for QB1 - they are christmas presents for some of the kiddie members of her family. I actually had to turn down a quilt this month. I wish I hadn't but I did. My long arm quilting is limited to edge-to-edge pantograph quilting. the quilt that needed quilting had a design feature in it of a flange between the body of the quilt & the outer border. Do you know what I'm referring to? I can't quilt over it. I don't see my quilting as limited, but I didn't think "this" was the time for me to branch out & try custom quilting. I'm no where ready to do that type of quilting & maybe I'll never be. Who knows. I actually spent some time in the studio tonight quilting on some sheets (I need a blanket for the car for the dog...quilting on sheets is not such a good idea, the thread count on sheets is so high & tight that the needle skips stitches.......ANYWAY...) I was doing a pantograph that I did earleir this month. Bubbles! It's a CUTE pantograph, and I wanted to do it on soemthing I'd see a lot. Well, I decided to TRY some feathers & such...and some fillers...boy I really am rotten at it. I'll stick to pantographs! Brown thread on white sheets isn't such a good idea anyway....but hey, i was looking at STITCHES, and the dog don't care no way.

I think I'll get Devan's Quilt (niece #7..) out & try & finish it. I did not promise it as a Christmas gift, but I'd feel better about my progress if I had it done & quilted & shipped to California. Before she outgrows the color scheme. (Lime Green & Hot Pink, I don't think I could sleep with that!)

Just wanted to check in & let "all my followers" (tee hee, like there's a million...) know that I have not dropped off the face of the earth. I'll post pictures when I have something new.

Sam