Another Quilt Finished On The Handi-Quilter

Advice to self...don't buy 30 pounds of ground beef at one time again.  Ever.  I mean it.

On my way home from the Y, I stopped to get a few items at a locally owned grocer.  They had 85% lean ground beef for $1.50 a pound.  It was only good for another couple days.  So I declared today beef day.  Several of the kids helped me off and on, especially Rachel.

So I fed the freezer with semi-prepared meals...9 batches of Salisbury steak (I grill these on my contact grill, so I just mixed them and formed them into burger shapes), ten pounds of BBQ meatballs (shaped and ready to bake after adding sauce), 6 pounds of porcupine meatballs, and 10 pounds of browned burger for sloppy joes, spaghetti, chili, etc.

Made home-made chicken fried steak (from cube steak), mashed potatoes, and milk gravy for lunch.  It.  was.  perfect.

Susanna pinned her rail fence quilt on the Handi-Quilter frame, and I quilted the whole thing after 4:00, off and on.  I did loops and hearts.  It is adorable.  It's twin-bed size.  She used up all my '30's scraps.  The back is pieced.  I will get some pics later.  My camera died today.  I do mean completely dead.  Just last night my husband asked if I wanted him to buy me a new camera.  I told him I didn't want him to spend the money on me...mine was working just fine.  That was, until it died this AM.  He said my new one should be here in a couple days :)

Going to go read for a little while then collapse.

Will be quilting the Texas Braid soon!!

~Joan

Treadle Machine Top Being Upgraded!

My darling girl is upgrading the top of my treadle sewing machine base.  Years ago I saw a treadle machine base at a friend's house.  Her husband had made an oak table top for her.  I loved it. 

My oldest daughter, knowing my love for sewing, found and bought me a base at a flea market.  It had no top at all.  Bless her heart, she hoisted that thing all the way to the car by herself (with a recliner under the other arm).  It is made of case iron, so you know she looks like Hercules.

Today I took the plunge and started repainting the thing.  My husband had sawn the legs off an antique rickety table that used to grace our foyer.  That table was seriously a danger.  I kept expecting one of the legs to give way and have all the decorations come crashing to the floor.  So today I sanded down the bottom edge of the table where the legs used to be and painted the sides.  Rachel is painting the top.  And doing a marvelous job.

In this first picture, I had already removed the drawer and painted the front and sides.

This top seriously needs help.  Will a coat of paint be enough?  The wood is rough, the beveled edges of the top even worse.  I did not want to sand it because it was so wavy.

In my defense, I always had a quilted table runner on it, so all that was exposed was the nasty edges.

Here it is with the top half painted.  Looking better already, eh?

My lovely assistant (get a load of those curls, will ya?).

Finished!!  Now I need to entice her to wash off the cast iron part...it's very dusty.

This might be foyer-worthy again!  For now, it's in my bedroom.

~Joan

Updated Bathroom and Checkerboard

 

We had a new shower/tub put in our main upstairs bathroom over the past couple of weeks.  At times I thought it would never be finished.  But lo, and behold!  Old wall color on the left (cashmere white) and my new bold bluish/green (mostly bluish) that I cannot recall the name of.  I like the new color a lot.  Couldn't take the painter's tape off yet.  My DH also installed the shower head since the picture.

Check out my secret blog for some sewing pics.  I'm making this from the leftovers.  I think it will end up being a square table topper for my RED kitchen, but time will tell.  In the meantime, check out my other blog (email me for the addy if you want).  Here is where I got my inspiration.

~Joan