{Post 1,694} New Project in the Works

We have made a few changes to our living room/foyer (2 separate spaces) recently. My husband custom-built me a coat rack for the foyer that I have since painted and put above our couch to represent a mantel (ours was removed about this time last year along with our fireplace). I wanted a coat rack that was flush to the wall instead of jutting out like our previous one (although I loved it). I had my eye on something like these from Pinterest...

We have a church pew on the opposite wall. It was made when my husband’s grandfather was a young boy. His dad helped build a church. When the church was torn down, many descendants from those folks got to take a pew. My MIL gave me hers. It is perfect for that space, which otherwise would be a waste of space, IMHO.

Tonight I painted the wall where our coat rack is going to go. Here are the two walls in the foyer.

The kitchen chair is only out there because I stood on it to cut in the wall I painted. 

We are using some of our own old fence pickets to make the coat rack. More on them tomorrow.

{Post 1,693} Second Vintage Quilt is Machine Quilted

A couple weeks a customer brought over two vintage quilts. This is the second one I’ve quilted. It has so many interesting vintage fabrics.

Here it is hanging over the edge of my quilt frame:

I am curious about the seamstress. It is all sewn by hand. I think she started at one side of the quilt and assembled the rows. The reason for this is because all the blocks with an odd piece are in the last two rows to the right. Here’s what I mean:

See the fabric substitutes? Also, her work fell off in the last two rows. The rest is virtually perfectly pieced. Then there are many blocks in the last two rows where the piecing is (while still lovely) less than stellar in quality. It could be that two people pieced the quilt...a teacher and an apprentice. If only fabric could talk!

Here is a block that is so ugly it is beautiful:

The middle square finishes at one inch square. But there are several places where a background fabric is pieced. I have done this in my quilts, but it is because I am frugal. I guess that was the case back then, too.

{Post 1,692} Craft Obsession

So, probably due to the recent pumpkin overload, I am obsessed with crafts. But I have enough self-control to redirect that, because I NEED to be obsessed with laundry, meals, and other parts of life!!

I had seen a tutorial for making cards from napkins. On a recent trip to my daughter’s, one of her friends, who is one of my followers, gave me some napkins with pumpkins on them. I wanted to make some note cards, but I did not want to buy the envelopes. Yesterday I was at Aldi, and I got a box of 50 cards with envelopes for $1. I didn’t like most of the cards, but 2 cents for an envelope? Yes, please!

Today, I took one of the napkins and turned it into a note card. I did not find the tutorial very helpful. You know how it is...you watch a tutorial on YouTube, and it looks so simple. But when you go to start it, you suddenly have all kinds of questions that were not addressed on the video.

But, it was so simple. I cut white card stock to the finished size I wanted (that would fit into my nearly-free envelope). I used a bone folder to make a fold line and folded it (duh!).

I had already cut my napkin and Cling Wrap (hello, Dollar Tree) a little larger than the front of the card. Next, I layered Cling Wrap on the card stock card.

Next, the napkin (only the decorated ply...most napkins are 2- or 3- ply...remove the white layers) was centered on the Cling Wrap.

Then lay a piece of white copy paper over the whole enchilada and iron with a dry iron until the Cling Wrap melts (it will stick to the copy paper. This is after I trimmed away the tiny bit of napkin and Cling Wrap. It looks so cool...like linen. I love it! Thanks, mystery friend who donated the napkins.

Sometimes I wonder about me, but I have a compulsion to reveal at this time. I l-o-v-e seasonally decorated napkins. I had an aunt that would buy me sets when I was first married...Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving...no holiday was safe. We used some of them, but I KEPT THEM ALL!!! I see a long and glorious future of making my own cards. Vintage Easter Card? I got you, girl!!

{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.