{Post 1,674} Asher is Here!

Let’s just jump right to the pictures, shall we? He is a week early. This is my daughter’s Instagram post from this AM.

She was blessed with a wonderful delivery (honestly—she made it look easy). Her son, Asher Christian, was born at 11:33 PM on 7/12. 8 lbs. 4 oz., and 20” long. I have never seen hair like this little guy has. She and the baby (and daddy) are doing well. I’m gonna hang around to help her for a couple weeks. 

{Post 1,673} Weekend At Lake

My MIL is living in a log cabin she just had built. My husband and his brother are doing projects for her there when they can to cut down on construction costs. They installed a light in the loft bathroom on Independence Day. Then my BIL went home. My husband and I did several projects for her, with breaks for good meals and lovely visiting times in between.

I painted a trestle table for her that was purchased at a local thrift store. My husband had made it narrower and routed the top edge to round it over. I sanded it down and painted it green (Canadian Fir Green, to be exact) and then sealed it with polycrylic. She plans to have it up against the cabin outside between her entry door and the grill. It will double as a grill table extension and a put-my-stuff-down-so-I-can-unlock-the-door-and-can-make-one-trip-in-from-the-truck place.

Next up was sealing her deck. There is the same decking that runs on 3 sides of the cabin. On the long sides of the house, it has a roof over it. At the front, however, it is completely exposed. It was looking all dried out and not very nice-looking, so we helped her seal it. She cut in from the edge of the cabin and around the roof support posts. My husband and I rolled on two coats of sealant. Now it looks like a fine piece of furniture. The tape line demarcates where she cut us off so she could still get into the house. It is not supposed to be walked on for 48 hours.

Lastly, but not leastly, was tiling a small wall and an area between her sink counter and bar counter. It also had been painted Canadian Fir Green. She did not like the green, and my SIL helped her select these adhesive tile sheets. My MIL was not thrilled with trying to put them up. I volunteered. What could possibly go wrong? I was quite nervous, but got the hang of it pretty quickly. Unfortunately, we realized we would be two sheets short. I pieced together the rest like a scrap quilt, from small pieces. You would never be able to tell, and we saved an extra trip to Lowes. Win-win!!

{Post 1,672} Independence Day

We are at my mother-in-law’s for the holiday and then a couple extra days. This has been my view most of today. First, hand quilting, and second, the lake, on whose shore she lives. It is so peaceful.

{Post 1,671} Painted Faces...and Arms!

My husband’s company had a family day (picnic) yesterday. It was so much fun! They had a clown company come to the site, and one of the things they did was paint faces and arms. Here’s my granddaughter.

My grandson:

While they were off with Poppa, I had a little work done myself (think of it as freckle enhancement):

I only did it to surprise my granddaughter. When she saw me, she gasped, and her little fingers flew to her mouth. “Oh, Grammy Jo”, she said, “you look lovely!” Worth it!!

{Post 1,670} Catching Up On Life

I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged when I have to look at the pictures of the last post and see what’s happened since then. We’ve been busy with grandchildren, vacation Bible school (we always teach a class), and a little makeover. I inherited a one-gallon glass butter churn and wanted a nice place to display it.

I have had an antique sideboard for years that belonged to my grandparents. It has a matching china cabinet. I have toyed with the idea of painting them. I never did because they are antiques, and if I didn’t like them, I could not unpaint them. I was gobsmacked and smitten with this picture I saw on Pinterest:

As in, I L-O-V-E-D everything about it...the gray color, the blue accents, the baskets...

...if only I could just wave a magic wand and have it in my house. I don’t know what the jar of green things is on top. I could live without that.

Anywho—fast forward. One of my friends had a yard sale. I did not know about it until I saw some pics on Facebook that she was using to advertise the sale. She lives about 15 minutes from me. One of her pics was of a matching desk and hutch. They were separate in the picture. I had the idea of putting her hutch on top of my sideboard. So I texted for measurements. It looked tiny. I flew right over there and bought it after making sure the wood color matched mine. It fits my sideboard perfectly. I lived with it just sitting on top for a while.

It was nice, but then I would go back and pine over the Pinterest picture again. To paint or not to paint??

Then I had what *I* thought was a brilliant plan. The bottom part of the hutch had an interesting and somewhat charming cutout on both ends. Could I persuade my husband to cut the hutch off right above the bottom shelf? Would it look stupid? Maybe! Then I thought of adding the top piece of curved wood to the back of the shelf to add a charming detail. 

So he cut and screwed and stapled. Then I took over staining and decorating. Here is our finished product. I am sure the decorations will change from time to time.

Here is the process from plain sideboard to what we have now.

{Post 1,669} Where in the World is Joan??

I’ve been absent a long time again. The days are just flying by. We have had lots of company. I have had 3 of my grandchildren 24/7. I. Am. Exhausted.

These are my little 3-1/2” square churn dash blocks for the Kim Diehl quilt along. They are soooo small. I think this coming Monday is the last week for the reveal and completion instructions. This is through Instagram.

I have had so little time for sewing. One of my friends brought over a large top for me to quilt.  I want to make a couple runners for my sideboard and console table. 

That’s about all of my news here.  I’ll leave you with these pictures of two of my granddaughters that I am currently keeping. Warning: they are incredibly cute!  First is my son and his daughter that I am keeping right now. Much resemblance?  Ha ha...her expression!! Next pic is his older daughter.

Another pic of baby when she realized she could see me in the reflection of the ExerSaucer. I had felt eyes on me and glanced down from my seat at the kitchen table.  Ha ha...eyes everywhere.

Big sister:

{Post 1,668} Two Coming Along

I was reminded by a local friend that I have not blogged in a week. Well, life has been flying by. One of my sons wanted to have a baby shower/get together for his sister this past Sunday. The baby was not due until June 6. She unexpectedly had the baby early Sunday AM. So we had the shower without her, then we all went to the hospital to see her and the new grandson/nephew/brother.  My eldest son’s family was visiting and staying at our house. This is the first time in a couple years that all four of my boys have been together, so I had my husband grab a quick picture for posterity.

Upon seeing this picture, my sister asked me if I was shrinking. I could only hope she meant in girth. My son in the red shirt is my baby. He is 6’4” tall. Oddly enough, from oldest to youngest, they are shortest to tallest!!

We have friends with whom my eldest is close to that we rarely see, and my son even less. They are missionaries on deputation (raising support). They were unexpectedly in town, so we invited them over for Sunday night supper. We were up late carving watermelon baskets and eating delicious homemade veggie soup. We were so tired Monday AM.

A couple quilt pictures to catch you up on where I am with the customer baby quilt (blue and gray) and a quilt to match my living room rug (HSTs). I think I’m going to sew these 64 blocks together, then add a gray inner border and a blue outer border. The blocks finish at 4.5” square for the baby quilt and 4” square for the living room quilt. I am thinking of adding some plain muslin squares to add some more lightness in the living room quilt.