{Post 1,691} Pumpkins Galore!

A week ago today, my daughter-in-law and I went to a class to knit large pumpkins. Here we are at the end of the class:

I am holding two. The orange one is a wrapped version. 

A few days later I started making these from upcycled sweaters. They are so cute. 

A long-time friend bought five of them from me and created this on her dining room table. Is it obvious she stages homes for a realtor for a living?

My husband was gone Monday through Friday for work training in Texas (we live in NC), so it was a lot of free time for me to create pumpkins and quilts. A customer brought over two vintage quilts. I started machine quilting the first one after spending six hours attaching a border on it to make it square. It is so beautiful. 

{Post 1,690} Hoping the Temperature Will FALL

We have finished phase 3 of the foyer/living room switcheroo. I put up all my fall decor tonight (except for a missing quilt) in hopes that the climate would take the hint, and the temperature would fall as well.

Phase one was relocating the quilt hanging rod to the opposite wall in the living room.

Phase two was completing the new table top for the console table, seen here, now decorated for fall.

Phase three was removing the coat hooks from the foyer coatrack/shelf, adding a carved rope piece to hide the screw holes, then painting the whole thing “Turkish Coffee” brown, which obviously is in the same color family as our leather couch.  Voila’!! Here’s a before, just for fun, with the shelf resting ON the couch...

Here is the after:

Last, but not least, is the table one faces when they come in the front door...

Phase four is building then hanging a new coat rack in the foyer.

{Post 1,689} Table Top Is Nearly Ready!!

Last night and today I worked on staining and sealing the finished console table top. Here are some pictures that I hope end up in order. First is the original table:

Here is the top as I started applying the stain:

In my limited experience, staining is a crap shoot. Every type of wood receives stain differently. This one (although it looks even and sweet in the above picture) did not take the stain evenly. You will see what I mean in the next picture. There were a couple spots that for no reason, did not accept the stain.

This would not have been a problem since it will probably always have a runner of some kind, but it was right near the front edge of the table.

Here is the after. I ended up using acrylic, cheap, craft paint of a matching hue. It was still touch and go, but it looked much better.

And here it is after four coats of Polycrylic. I am going to bring it upstairs so I can decorate it tomorrow. So excited to put some pumpkins on there!!

{Post 1,688} I Love It, Part 2

{Click on any picture to enlarge it}. So here we are with dad’s wide poplar. It was still rough, which means it did not look like you see it at Lowe’s. Dad has a custom-built-by-him wood shop that is super simple, but deluxe. He has a power sander, planer, and a huge cutting table (I saw many correlations to my quilting space.).

Basically, it was planed several times (taking off 1/32” at a time), sanded multiple times, cut to length (4” longer than final size), glued to a less wide piece that had gone through the same process, planed and sanded again, then ends cut square and a one-inch piece glued under on 3 sides. Then it was routed on the edges to make them rounded over, then sanded again. Then it was finished. Here are some pics of the process w/o words.

Blogger keeps getting my pictures out of order. Help!! Here is the finished product at my parents’ house. I need to stain and seal it when I get home.

{Post 1,687} I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

I am on day 12 of 14 at my daughter’s in PA (day 14 is actually an early-AM leaving day, so it doesn’t count for fun). She went with me (and baby, too) to my parents’ from this past Sunday until this afternoon. They live about 3 hours away from her. We had a great visit. One of my objectives while I was there was to build a cover for my console table tabletop. Here is it. From the front you see the sliding barn doors? They slide to the center to reveal bookshelves. I have these stocked with books for my grandchildren. I think books are very important for children. The picture from the side shows an important component of our time spent with our children...playing cards or games on the hidden card table. For all I like about the console table, there are two things I don’t like. One is that the card table is clearly seen, even though it’s mostly hidden. The other is that the table has to be fairly far from the wall (too far to set decorations on it that lean back against the wall like a mirror, shutters, or pictures). It has to be that far out to slide the card table behind it.

I had a brainstorm when I realized we’d be visiting my father. Among many other talents, he is a master wood worker. So I designed a table to that would go back to 1/4” from the wall in the back, have plate grooves to keep decor from sliding forward, and completely cover the original top without damaging it.This is yet-unstained, but it is completely built at this point. One of the first items of business for me after unpacking from the trip will be staining and sealing it for use. I. Am. So. Excited.

It was fun to have part in the assembly. This type of work fascinates me. Dad had a wide plank of poplar, but not enough for the whole top. Our day started with stopping at one of dad’s friends to borrow another piece. I hope he doesn’t hope to get it back, because it’ll be living at my house forever.

Here is the front and side view of the original table.

I’m going to start another post for the assembly process because it is heavy with pictures.

{Post 1,686} Pumpkin Time!

I saw a picture on Pinterest of these sweater sleeve pumpkins. They are addicting. I am visiting my daughter in PA, and we made a couple thrift store visits to look for sweaters for these. As I make them, I am finding what I like about them more, so they are being slightly revised all the time.

I put my phone in the picture to show the size of the pumpkins. I like these sooo much, but then again, I am a card-carrying pumpkiholic.

{Post 1,685} Heading North

My husband and I are at our daughter’s in PA. The trip started off horribly, but ended up being quite nice. We left our house just 30 minutes after planned (that is rare...usually it’s much later). We got about 30 minutes away, and our car broke down. It had broken down two days before. We had it repaired, and now it was acting exactly the same way.

So we limped back to the mechanic’s (we did not want to wait for a tow...we were eager to start our long journey). We packed everything into our van. As we were driving along, my husband told me he needed to stop at a Fed Ex store to mail a package for his work. We arrived there 45 minutes later. As he ran into the store, he reached back for his wallet...and realized he left it in our car at home. Bummer. For real.

So back to the house we went. By now it was over 3 hours past the time we originally planned to leave. I just could not believe it. But we made good time and had a good rest of the trip.

We are now visiting with this little 2-month-old fella and his parents. My husband is flying home in the AM, and I’m staying until a week from Friday. My daughter and I have so much planned for the rest of my days here.

He looks so grown up. I half expect him to walk up and ask me for a sandwich or something. He. Is. So. Cute.

I basted, marked, and hand-quilted over half of my pumpkin pillow on the way here. I am working on it in my free time. I brought several crafts to do. I hope to share some pictures.