{Post 1,488} Waiting for Binding Fabric

Here is the baby quilt, quilted!  I like the design.  Next time, I'll be sure to get those pebbles traced exactly right.  But I don't think the baby will be very picky.  The design is from a book called Step-by-Step Free-Motion Quilting by Christina Cameli.  I bought the Kindle version of the book.  I like to many of them.

This design reminds me of several things...an abacus, a string of wooden blocks like ones a baby would string on a rawhide strip, etc.  It quilted up soooo quickly.

I ordered fabric to bind this one and the pastel one today on eBay.  

It measures 40" square.

Here is my guest room.  Still needs a lot of work, but my sister and niece are coming Friday to stay, and I had to get something set up down there.  Here are pictures of the side table and headboard in my process of painting them, then a picture of the room as it.  When we were setting up the box springs, mattress, sheets, etc., I forgot to put the bed skirt on.  I haven't planned anything for the walls or anything yet.  The framed star is something I made for my sister, and that is her reminder to take it with her when she leaves.

What we have so far.  The crib is leaving as soon as it's sold.  

In the corner is a twin bed with another twin mattress beneath it.  So the room could sleep 4 adults and a baby.

{Post 1,450} Newly Displayed Christmas Decorations

I love the Christmas season.  This weekend is one of my favorites in a frantic, hectic, loss-of-sleep kind of way.  We usually start the process of getting all the fall decorations down and the Christmas ones up the day after Thanksgiving.  My newly-married daughter (March of this year) asked for our lighted house display.  We had 5 ceramic lighted houses.  I had always put them in our foyer, but I was kinda tired of them, to be honest.  

Wes's grandmother gave us a piece of a crystal nativity every year after we were married.  I decided to put it up in my foyer.  Just found the perfect lights for it.  Need to find another set for the bottom level, where the wise men are making their way towards the baby Jesus with their bedecked camel.  I always set them up far away from the manger (after all, it took them two years to get there!

{Post 1,393} New Bed Frame in Place!

Today an exciting event took place.  I finally moved out my grandparents' headboard from my bedroom (we've only been using it 25-11/12 years) and put the one I recently purchased in there.  My husband had to make another support.  One of the ones that came with it was broken in two places.  I am thankful he can do about anything!

Here is Isaac removing the headboard from the Hollywood frame.  You would not believe the dust I vacuumed up from under there.  I'll spare you the picture.

All ready for the new arrival...freshly vacuumed.  Something tells me that those pictures are going to have to be moved.

Voila...the finished bed.  I love the way it looks.  Like a real piece of furniture.  

Now I need to get some new decorations for above the headboard.  This one is much taller than our previous one.

{Post 1,390} New Project on the Horizon

Trying something new soon.  Elaine over at Elaine Adair Pieces inspired me to paint a 24" square quilt block for my new office wall.  I am going to mark the lines between the colors with this tape and just leave the tape in place.  Forever.

I got it at Advanced Auto Parts.  It is a "detailing" tape, solid black, and it's 1/4" wide.  I am going to paint the sides of the board black, then lay the tape down to distinguish the different areas of color.  I'll paint the edge of the plywood black and hang it with "Velcro" command strips.  Forty feet for $5.  Hope it is enough.

{Post 1,386} Reveal of Pallet-wood Sign

Here is the hardware I screwed in by hand to hang my pallet-wood sign.  It worked wonderfully.  Especially since I already had two screws in the wall where I had hung a quilt previously.  They were in the exact right place for hanging this.  I just had to make sure I put the hardware in the right place.  I did!!  All by myself!

Here is the finished sign.  It has a layer of "darkening" on it that I would have made lighter next time.  It also has something you cannot see in the picture but is very evident in person.  A coat of paste furniture wax.  It gives it a fantastic luster.

While I'm showing guest room decorations...this is a wreath I made for the room a few years back.  I love grapevine decorations.  The curtains in the room are purple, cantelope, and sage plaid with a cream background.

The closet is on the right as you go in the room.  I got this "Bless This Home" sign at Hobby Lobby.  I like it because it's black print on clear glass that allows the wall color to show through.  Purple is my favorite color.

Always carry a 40% coupon if you get to go to Hobby Lobby.  I always see something I would like to have.

Last, but not least, in there.  My inside-the-wallbed decor.  I have been looking for something for this space for years.  When the ironware was 50% off last Hobby Lobby visit, I finally settled on this.  

For those very observant folks, the basket on the left is actually a shower caddy.  When the wallbed is down and in use, there is no place to put glasses, phone, alarm clock, whatever.  My daughter had the brilliant idea of attaching this to the inside wall.

I have one tiny spot of paint to touch-up in here, and then I think we're ready for company Tuesday.

{Post 1,287} Mantle 2013

If you've been reading very long, you know I recently painted the bricks around my fireplace.  I could barely wait for time to decorate for Christmas.  Here is my 2013 mantle.  I just finished moving the garland up on the top of it instead of hanging down in front and ADDED WHITE LIGHTS.  I love it.

Here's last year:

{Post 1,286} Christmas Decorations...Something New

Some new outdoor decorations.  Our front door is recessed.  I have had these lighted snowflakes for years and never had a good place to put them.  Here is Rachel (who I've had even longer than the snowflakes) modeling our new front door look.  I like how the colored lights are reflected in the side lights of the front door as well.

{Post 1,228} New Caulk Around and Shirts Abound

Do you have home projects that you procrastinate about and procrastinate about...???  I do.  Did.  Thankfully I knocked 4 of them off my to-do list today while I was home alone.

1.  Sewed and hung a new everyday shower curtain.
2.  Arranged a new bathroom flower arrangement for my cone (replacing the Christmas one--embarrassed).
3.  Scrubbed the oil stains out of the carpet in my bedroom.
4.  Replaced the caulk in the master bathroom sinks.  Getting the old stuff out was a bear.  But so worth it!

Sinks before and after.

I also sewed ALL the dark sections of the remaining Shirts Abound blocks as well as sewing the light sections on about 12 units, trimming, and removing the papers.  Productive day!

{Post 1,216} Old/New Quilt Display

My son was away at his aunt's last week.  I vacuumed his room while he was gone.  I spotted a ladder that goes to his bunk beds along a wall.  He has not used it for the beds for years.  So I took it to use for this in my room:

These are 3 quilts that are always in my room.  I am going to put one more piece of wood across the top and stain it to match the ladder so I can have one more quilt on there.  I'd like to find one of those old ladders that is taller, but this will do for now.

{Post 1,181} Catching Up

I haven't been posting a lot for several reasons.  The primary reason is that my camera broke.  I thought it was just needing a new battery (the old one was purchased in 2009!).  So I ordered a new one, and it came in after a few days.  Still not working!  I ordered a new camera Saturday.  Of course, that means learning a new camera.    I don't like learning new things that previously were second-nature.  But I shall learn again!

Last week I started putting out patriotic decor.  In January I bought a very faded wooden flag hanger that had potential.  Problem was, I couldn't find it.  Hmmm...

Found it this AM in the storage cabinets in my laundry room.  Oh, yeah, why didn't I look there in the first place?  Well, truth is, I did.  I just didn't see it.  There were a few things in the way.  So I purged and reorganized those four 6-feet tall cabinets this AM.  Here it is on the wall outside my front door.  Picture taken with my Acer tablet (another new skill!):

The search for the missing flag sparked a clean-o-rama here at the Parker Ranchero.  I started with our "under-steps closet".  You know, the one under your steps that has an awkward diagonal receding back wall and little storage space?  The one that you stuff with so much stuff that you can't get to the shelves at the back?  The one where the pile of new return vent filters are sliding all over a shelf?  The one where the box of your paints and brushes has spilled all over the floor, but you can't reach them because you'd have to risk life and limb to collect them again?  What--you don't have one of these?  Well, I do, and now ours has...wait for it...EMPTY shelves and floor space!!!  

The transformation was so inspiring that Saturday I did the next biggest trash heap--my walk-in closet.  My husband and I both have walk-in closets.  They are not huge, but they are there.  Mine would more accurately be called a lean-in closet, because I literally could not step one foot in there.  I grudgingly pulled EVERYTHING out of it (except my hanging clothes) and went through each and every item.  I went through each item on my hanging rod as well.  Ended up with 2 garbage bags of clothes to donate to Goodwill.  

My other reason for starting with these two closets was so I could move some of my seasonal wreaths and non-quilt wall hangings to the understeps closet.  That would keep them all together, and I can turn around in my closet without fear of losing an eye to a grapevine end or a wayward pine branch.

This AM I sewed a little while.  I have my Shooting Star blocks laid out on my design walls.  I put both walls together so I could spread out the whole quilt top.  I have two rows completely pieced and have the third laid out and partially sewn.

On the left side is a signature quilt I am making for a wedding that is in a couple weeks.  The cream has a little print in it.  I'll show a close-up later (after my new camera arrives and is used into submission).  It will be 14 x 16 blocks (4" finished) with a 4" border all around.

The missing block in my Shooting Star quilt is under the foot of my sewing machine.  I'm using the parts for leader/enders while I sew the wedding quilt.

{Post 1,115} Changes and Painting

Another one of my chicks flew the nest earlier this week.  I wish her well.  Things are really a-changin' around these parts.  

I'm sure many of you have heart failure just thinking about having 8 children at home at the same time.  That was my everyday life for years and years and years.  Now I have 3 sons and 1 daughter.  

As the rooms changed hands so to speak, it ends up that my poor, lonely, left-behind daughter gets a huge bedroom.  

Her sister who just left did the cutting in on the new paint job (thank you!).  Today I painted all the grooves (it was paneled ages ago) and rolled the primer on.  I had Kilz tinted.  It wasn't the color of the chip we agreed on, but it was pretty close. Rachel decided she liked the color of the primer better than the sample of paint we picked, so I'll take the paint stirrer in to have wall paint matched to it soon.  I am kinda sore.  A sign of my advanced age. 

Here are some before and after shots.  I can hardly wait to help her get everything back in a semblance of order.  

{Post 1,111} Spring Mantle Finished

It is no exception that everything I do takes way longer than I think it will.  This simple scene took so long to get together.

Here is the finished product:

My new friend, Kath, asked for more info on making the wreath.  Here are abbreviated directions.  A styrofoam wreath form, fabrics cut with pinking shears (I used a pinking blade on my rotary cutter) into 2-1/2" squares, a metal knitting needle to push the squares into the wreath about 1/2" apart after applying a dab of hot glue at the point.  I made a row along where the "flat" of the wreath would be, leaving the back uncovered then filled in rows up to the top.  I put the right side of the fabric towards the center (although I picked a fabric that would look good from both sides on purpose).  I pinned the ribbon into the back when I was ready to hang it.

Here are a few pictures of the wreath in progress:

I like the wreath because it looks so fluffy, like cherry blossoms or a hydrangea blossom or something like that.

Here are some shutter/window pictures.  I got all of them at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in town.  A dollar per piece.  I broke the single-pane glass out of the window, sanded it just a tad, removed the weather stripping, and painted it with several coats.  Then I asked my DH to add a horizontal piece to give the wreath more stability after it was hung.  The shutters took 3 coats of paint.  I'll likely do another one later.  I just put a tiny nail in the back of the window frame to hang the wreath from the back.  Some in process pictures.  Notice the brown shutters lying on the shelf behind the window frame (under the whisk broom--nice, I know!).

{Post 1,106} Foyer Table Redecorated

This is our foyer table, the first thing one sees when entering our home.  I just de-Christmatized it, and it was looking very bare.  Here is the "new and improved" top.  I still need to find something decorative for the opening in the bottom right as well as replace the wall quilt with something non-Christmasy.

My husband noticed this right away when I arranged it, and that's always a good thing!

I like the way the "rag balls" in the wooden box and the "threads" on the table topper match.  Both are homespun/shirt fabrics.  

{Post 1,096} JOY to the world!

Here's the finished product on my new mantle idea for this year.  We have a big, long, mantle.  I am no decorator.  I combined a couple ideas I saw here and there.  Wes cut out and nailed everything all together for me.  That's my pine cone tree on the left side (by the J) spray painted gold.  

Here 'tis...

And, what would my blog be without a close-up?

{Post 1,095} Pine Cone Tree

This is what I started working on tonight.  I got a pine cone piece splinter, and let me tell ya----it hurt!!  I had to stop.  Since my adventure, I have found a better way to remove the pine cone pieces.  Here you can see what I tried tonight...pruning shears, scissors, CHISELS!!  None worked too well.

Here I am gluing them onto my poster board shaped trees.  I could wait no longer.  Even though I'm not finished covering the base (due to the aforementioned splinter), I spray painted the bottom of this tree metallic gold.  It.  is.  amazing.

Pic of that to come tomorrow.  This was tedious, but will look so cool when it's finished.  And it was nearly FREE!!

{Post 1,094} Bedroom Update Part 1

While I am not completely finished, I have made great progress.  My desk is completely cleaned off and organized. I even set up my charging station for my iPod, phone, camera, and tablet (back left corner).  I have always set my lamp up on something, and the station itself is the perfect height.  All things from the top have been put away.

Before and after (and notice in the before that my computer isn't even on the desk):

Here's a better picture of my bathroom with the flower arrangement:

I went through all my wall quilts that are not hanging right now and got them rolled up and put in the cedar chest in my room.

Here is the chest of drawers before and after:

I had to do a slight repair on my December "Count on It" quilt.  Where baby Jesus' neck and "shirt" touch, the red showed through the flesh-colored fabric.  I held my breath and cut into the quilt from the back, feeling like a textile surgeon.  The operation was a success.  AND I have a cleared-off chest of drawer top.  This and the cedar chest are my two hot spots in this room that attract clutter.

Off to do 48 hours worth of dishes (we've hardly been home) and make a dessert for a luncheon tomorrow!

~Joan

{Post 1,093} Update Around Here

One of my sons and I have been sick for a week.  Miserable existence, but it could be so much worse.  I was feeling a little energy last night before bedtime, so I made a list of a few things to get done today.  Then, drats, I only slept about an hour and got up until after 4:30 this morning.  

The 3rd thing on my list of 21 (I stopped making the list at that point because it was becoming depressing and overwhelming) was to finish arranging the flowers in the cone in my bathroom.  Here is what the bathroom sink area looked like after we took down the big mirror and installed medicine cabinets WITH STORAGE!!  After much deliberation, I purchased a floral cone made out of a thick wire-looking stuff that had been aged to rust and looked good.  I had a dickens of a time getting something to look good IN it, however.  This is what I came up with this AM:

Then I topped it off by scrubbing our bathroom from stem to stern.  Whew!  Now on to our bedroom (which I constantly feel guilty about because it's my "dumping ground" instead of a restful retreat).  New purchase of craft supplies?  DUMP.  New-to-us clothes from Goodwill that need washed?  DUMP.  Paperwork?  DUMP.  Bobbins, thimbles, etc.?  DUMP.  Christmas decorations (finished or in process that I don't know where to put)?  DUMP.  Box for broken blender waiting to be returned?  DUMP.  I'm sure you get the picture.

I took some before pictures.  The afters are always so inspiring.  Off to tackle the first area!

~Joan

{Post #878} New Foyer Table Runner

Today we took down all our Christmas decorations and got them in the attic in about an hour.  We had already taken down the tree a few days ago.  I put a table runner on my foyer table and put up my apple quilt.  The runner did not look good.  It also had apples on it and together the quilt and the runner...they just looked...looked...stupid!!


I was downstairs doing laundry, so I whipped up a runner I had in mind.  I had seen this style a long time ago, and it just seemed like it would match the table and quilt better.

Here is my sad little tree.  This is a new little sign I just got a few days ago.  I like it.  The tree might have to go.

This was a quilt-as-you-go, so it worked up very quickly.  I sewed the binding down while Isaac and I finished watching a movie we started last night.  This seems to work and look better.


~Joan  

{Post #877} New Wall Art

I am not a good decorator.  If you have been to my house, you already know that.  But I do buy what I like.  I might not like it where it is, but I like it!  The bulletin board two pictures down is the result of several things.  Realizing I did not need a bulletin board in the kitchen where it was.  Wanting a way to display lots of pictures with the ease of changing them out at will w/o major headaches and time involved.  Wanting to hang a sign I bought sort of on impulse.  


I saw this sign and liked it better in that same spot...above Rachel's school desk in the corner of our kitchen.  I had seen similar signs for lots of money.  This one is about 16" x 22" and was $10.  Sold!!  I also love the way it stands out on our red walls.

I am not a huge Pinterest addict, but I have seen some things that I'd like to make for my house.  The inspiration for my board was an empty picture frame that had picture-hanging wire strung along the back and photos hung from tiny snap clothespins.  My very thoughtful daughter pointed out that if I wanted a pic of each person in my family, I'd either need a huge frame or very tiny pictures.  I do have eight children and now a son-in-law!!

She was SO right.  As usual.  :)  She knows who she is.

When I took down the bulletin board, I realized I could spray paint it to match another item in our bedroom and end up with THIS:

It was very difficult to get a picture without glare somewhere.  The paint is a puzzle to me.  It is milk chocolate brown and has tiny terra-cotta-colored sparkles in it.  How do the sparkles stay uncovered by paint enough to show up?  Here is a close-up of my favorite part, a picture of my dear husband and I, and a picture of our hands forming a heart.

My husband pushed flat-headed thumb tacks through the tops of the snap clothespins, and I painted them brown to match the frame.  Our walls are sort of a Wendy's Frosty brown color, so this looks great.  I plan to add little embellishments such as putting a piece of paper behind the pictures, buttons, etc.  This is just the basis for the rest.


~Joan