{Post 1,080} Master Bathroom Face Lift

My husband is just THE best.  I have been asking him if we could take down a big, flat mirror in our bathroom (behind the double sinks) and put up some mirrored cabinets (for storage, you know).  He asked me if I wanted to go look at them (again) last night.  I had resigned myself to not getting them for at least a month (we are acting our wage, incidentally).  To my great surprise, we brought two new mirrored medicine cabinets home last night.

Another great surprise was the answer to the burning question..."did I paint behind the big, flat mirror when we moved in here, or did I go the easy route and leave it green?"  Wes (being the eager beaver that he is) took down the mirror while I was taking Rachel to the flea market to peddle her biscuits and coffee.  That explains why my "before" picture does not have the ugly, flat, too-small mirror in it.  Yes!  I HAD painted behind the mirror.

ANOTHER great surprise was that we had nearly a gallon of our original wall paint in the garage.  I had it re-shaken at Walmart while I was out this AM, and we were ready to go.

Here are before and after shots of "the wall":

The smoke signal in the middle is where I burned a candle and had it set too close to the back wall.  The smoke will not scrub off.  I tried every cleaner I had plus an extra-large dose of elbow grease, and no change.

Here is the after:

My sweetums also fixed a drawer in our bathroom that up until today never closed.  See second picture, second drawer down.  That's nearly 7 years of not closing.  

Instead of just standing around and waiting for the paint to dry (ha ha), I scrubbed the white window blinds that are to the right of the counter above.  One spot of cleanliness does surely lead to others.  

Future plans include painting the countertop and backsplash (yes, I am giving it a try), recaulking the sinks, and painting the cabinets in there.  Very ambitious, but I am loving the improvements already.

If I get my new red valances lined with light-blocking fabric today (and that's the plan), I am putting up my new valance and Christmas shower curtain today.  It will be our reward for working so hard on the bathroom!

~Joan

{Post 1,079} Shower Curtain Finished - No Picture

My Christmas shower curtain is finished.  Lined, buttonholed, everything!  No picture.  I have been piecing a backing for my first Christmas quilt gift.  It has been coming along swimmingly.  Check it out on my secret blog.

{Post 1,078} Shower Curtain 6/7 Finished

Making up for all those days of not posting, yes??  Here is my progress on the shower curtain:

I just have to add the last printed piece on the right and then line it.  There will not be any batting.  I will sew 3 sides and then turn it right side out.  Then I attach binding to the top of the curtain just like a quilt (only on one side).  Then 12 evenly-spaced buttonholes.  No quilting either, so I'm nearly finished!

~Joan

{Post 1,077} Three Panels Together

My Christmas shower curtain is coming along.  I have 3 of the 7 verticle sections sewn together.  You can get an idea of how it looks here, pinned to my existing curtain.  I have all the panels sewn, just need to sew them to each other, line it, and make those 12 crucial buttonholes.

I'm pretty sure I like it.  Finished is good, yes?

So, I'll have another pieced panel, a print panel, a pieced panel, then end with a print panel.  This uses up every last inch of the Christmas print.  

I just started using a new system for remembering about a week ago.  It's collosal...it's life-changing...I'm calling it "writing it down on paper".  I was trying to remember how big different runners and wall hangings that I made my girls were.  So before I gave Elisabeth this wall hanging to take to Wisconsin, I measured it AND WROTE IT DOWN.  I wrote down the measurements of Emily's table runner.  Even when making the shower curtain above, I am constantly having to make calculations then remembering them.  Funny thing...the weakest ink is stronger than the greatest memory.

~Joan

{Post 1,076} New Shower Curtain Construction

I knew I'd have a little more sewing time today.  So I am starting (and possibly finishing) my Christmas shower curtain.

Recently I was shocked to find out that my husband LOVES Christmas decorations at our house.  He even said something like, "I'd leave them up all year if I could."  

I made us a Christmas bed quilt this year (just finished recently) that has its own story (click the underlined words to read all the posts about the quilt).  That led to buying inexpensive but perfect red valances to match the quilt.  Few know that our shower has a quilt for a curtain!  I patterned it after one I saw in a magazine years ago.  I made it when we moved in here 6-1/2 years ago.  Here it is...

My current bedroom and bathroom valances are made from the fall print that is the large alternate block.  

Here is a peek at what I'm doing for a new curtain:

I needed about 70" of the focus fabric (which is not pictured).  It was still on a bolt foundation on my shelf.  I didn't know how much was there...it didn't look like much!  72"!!!  Just enough!!

Stay tuned...I plan to sew, sew, sew on this puppy today.

~Joan, who is making her own design and holding her breath that it looks good

{Post 1,075} Lone Star Quilting Finished

Finished the hand quilting on this mini.  I quilted it to death.  I like to use matching thread when possible and in certain instances.  

I am including a picture so you can see where I quilted the straight lines since they are in matching thread and difficult to see.

Emily sewed the binding on her last quilt.  I think she'd like to do this one, too, wouldn't you, pumpkin?  ;)

~Joan (or Mom if you're Emily!)

{Post 1,074} Mini Lone Star

Here is a little UFO I picked up recently to finish hand quilting.  I bought it on eBay from a woman who made mini quilts a long time ago...I'm thinking about 5 years ago, at least.  I had to remove and reapply all 3 borders.  She was so precise in piecing the centers, but must have just sewn on the borders w/o measuring (you know--just sew as you go?).  

Nearly finished with this.  The backing fabric has the words to the pledge of allegiance.  It's about 15" square!  The yellow thead is my basting.