{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.

{Post 1,684} Pumpkin Seed Pillows

I am going to see my sister soon. She lives very far from me. I saw her when my latest grandson was born less than two months ago. She mentioned a random comment...”You know how much I love pumpkin decorations.” Until that very moment, I did not know she loved pumpkin decorations. I L-O-V-E pumpkin decor. So I decided to make her a thing or two. First up is this pillow. The pumpkin area is hand quilted with a quilting pattern called “pumpkin seeds”. The actual pillow pattern is the same name. Pumpkin Seeds. I love the way this turned out.  Click on the picture to see a close-up of the quilting.

So much that I made another one for my family. I pieced it tonight because I’m going to have a lot of hand-quilting time on my hands in the next two days.

I plan to quilt this one in a very similar fashion.

{Post 1,683} Had My Doubts

After I complete a quilt top, the greatest challenge faces me.  What quilting design should I use, and what color thread? I purchased two different orange threads for quilting, one solid, and one variegated. I have some pumpkin quilts in the works. I planned to use one of them on this quilt, but they just didn’t speak to me. I used white. This is a machine quilting pattern I found years ago and have adapted to my own style. I L-O-V-E the texture it gives, but it is very time intensive. The quilt is made from muslin and upcycled men’s shirts. it measures 68” x 76” Very modern for me. I tend to lean towards the traditional patterns, but this is for our newly made-over living room, and it will help bring out the orange, blue, and brown in the rug (also pictured for your convenience).

{Post 1,682} Time Flies

I got together a big box of novelty prints (14 pounds’ worth) to send to a friend who makes charity kids’ quilts. While I was doing that, I came across a stack of triangles (4-1/2” cut in half) of I Spy prints. I had another small stack of bright yellow triangles the same size, so I started sewing them together. I ran out of yellow before I ran out of prints, so I grabbed some purple tone-on-tone. Same. The came orange, then blue...throw in a little greeen...

I didn’t have a plan originally, but here is what I ended up with. That gave me the idea of starting this as a Christmas gift. I will add another border or two.

I also came across a small stack of bright pink squares while I was hunting.  Same plan (no plan). Here is where that stands. I am using the pink and white 4-patches as leader/enders for my third spontaneous project.

Here is my third project. A table mat in the making.  Pieced, but not trimmed yet. This will also get a cream then colored border