As August Draws to a Close ...

... all I can say is “thank goodness!”   We had some incredible heat this month, but luckily the last several days have finally given ‘way to cooler temps. While I can’t exactly say that fall is in the air, it does feel as though we have turned the corner and left the worst of summer behind. The mountains are beginning to show bits of color, and evenings are pleasant enough to open windows and let in fresh breezes. I expect that even the kitties will be showing signs of growing thicker furs soon!

As far as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge goes, August was a bust for me. The colors of muted/misty purples and hazy/fugly greens were already incorporated in their prior respective months, so I concentrated on the alternate color of gray, which I expanded to mean any gray/black neutral.  The only thing I have to show for this week (and it was really sewn a couple weeks ago) is a light purple “crayon” (missing the contrasting white to finish it into a block) that I decided to make from light purples to get a start on one of next year’s colorful projects.

Since the pattern for the crayon quilt calls for two purples; a light/lavender and a dark purple, I did this lighter one with scraps I scrounged in boxes that were going for donation to a crazy quilting “Stash Dash”. I added a few light purples of my own... and a crayon was born.

So, my totals for this month were only my 12 RSC sampler blocks plus one crayon block. And I did sew together 50+ HSTs, but they are now put away for some future use. And I did a table runner out of black, white and orange for Halloween.

In mid-month I began stitching along with Lori Holt’s Cozy Christmas sampler. This week we made the second block, the Cozy Cottage. The beauty of this sampler is that you cut all the center pink pieces out at once, as well as the strips that surround it, and then you can make all the flying geese and HSTs for the block borders ahead of time. I did a lot of cutting and sewing, and got those done, so that future block construction time will be cut in half. As the blocks are completed, I am sashing them and will construct the rows. By the time I finish the 12th block, all that will be left is adding the quilt borders for an easy finish.

In other sewing, my Aria blue/orange top is done except for the final borders, which I am wrangling with now. And I am almost done constructing the monstrous back. This will be delivered to a long-arm quilter next week, so I don’t expect to see it back in time to add the binding and call it a finish for the 3rd quarter Finish-Along. This is only the second quilt I have ever farmed out for professional quilting, but I`m a wimp. I don’t feel like wrestling it through my Bernina; it’s about 86x102” (but I know Cathy L in Iowa could do it!)

Finally, DH is going to use his electric sander to finish up the door frame around the new basement door. I have caulked and hand sanded it (and given it all a base coat), but it needs a smoother, more professional finish. When he does that, I can paint the final coat and he can add the hardware. No news on the start of the living room remodel yet, which is OK. We are harvesting and doing yard maintenance.

Next month I will be spending a week in Missouri at a Crazy Quilting retreat. This is the 10th annual Crazy Quilting International gathering, and I have been to every single one. One of my dearest friends, who always used to come from Canada to spend a week with me before or after the retreat, passed a year ago. I still miss Diane. But many sweet friends from Florida, Washington state, Nebraska, The Netherlands, and Kansas will be there. In fact, three of us will be making an afternoon jaunt up to Missouri Star Quilt Company the day before the retreat officially starts. I was there last year, but haven’t seen the main shop since its remodel. We can’t wait!

I think that’s about it for now. Today I will get that border sewn on Aria and finish piecing the back. Then I need to begin focusing on packing up my lace (etc) inventory to sell at the retreat so I can finally close up my Etsy shop next month.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy.

Kitchen Done! And Other Stuff

This is going to be a post with a lot of pictures, because I have a lot to catch up on. So, let’s get started.

To start off, this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge I am working on my gray scraps, such as they are. All I really did on them this week was sew together a bunch (like 50+) half square triangles in 3.5, 2.5 and 1.5”. I have no immediate plans for them, but they’ll be of use sometime down the road, I’m sure. Over at Angela’s So Scrappy blog, the ladies there have more misty/hazy purples and greens and grays - why not hop on over?

The front porch columns are done! The kitchen is done! The living room demolition has not yet begun (thankfully) because I need a break for a week or two. I am so tired of painting, cleaning up, painting some more, sanding, cleaning floors, dusting, painting, etc. etc.

So, here are some pix:

We do plan to seal the front walkway before winter. It is concrete; embossed and dyed to look like flagstone. Our house faces north, so the porch area is in shade all winter and gets a lot of water, ice and snow.

Yeah, so I didn’t paint the columns crazily after all. I started to add colored stripes, but it looked so bad that I couldn’t paint over it fast enough.

As for the kitchen, when we moved in in 2003 (left picture below), it was stuck in the 1980’s and had blue/pink indoor/outdoor carpeting in the kitchen to match the white with pink and blue wallpaper. Our refrigerator didn’t fit.  In 2006 we did a full gut and remodel, adding hardwood floors, new cabinets, etc etc. (middle picture).  It has served us well, but needed fresh paint and some new window coverings. While we were at it, we added a new fixture because the old one was too dark, and replaced the dishwasher.

Here are the pictures looking east:

Left: 2003  Move-in                    Middle: 2006 Remodel                   Right:  2016 Refresh

And these are looking west:

Left: 2003 Move-in                 Middle:  2006 Remodel                   Right: 2016 Refresh

We still want to replace the table and chairs with a farm table, chairs and bench. But that will have to wait until next year. And, obviously, I need to get some things up on the walls...

With our new refrigerator (from February) and dishwasher, the cats can’t knock toys and things underneath. When we replaced the refrigerator, there were 19 straws underneath (they LOVE straws). I thought that was bad, but the dishwasher was replaced there were 34 straws!! Unfortunately, I still have to do a monthly fishing expedition under the stove/range to get things out. Yesterday there were no straws, but 2 shriveled apricots, 4 catnip mice and one of my wool pincushions. Actually, I was hoping to find a flash drive that has gone missing, but so far no feline is talking! (It has our wills and foundation information on it. Bruce is convinced the cats hid the flash drive to protest not being included in the wills).

So, in preparation for the living room demolition chaos to begin next month, we are choosing paint colors, hardwood flooring (since we cannot match the kitchen floor exactly, we will go darker) and pick out a fireplace gas insert.

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As promised, here is a picture of the quilt that my cousin Kim finished this month. She has been working on it about 2 years BY HAND. She finally used my Kenmore to sew on the borders. I did the quilting (simple loops) and she attached the binding by machine, then finished it by hand. I think it turned out beautifully! Way to go, KIMMIE!!

Aren’t the colors gorgeous? It’s for one of her granddaughters, Trini (who used to sew on Sundays with us).

Kim so enjoyed sewing on the machine again, that she had her old Kenmore serviced and will be using it to work on a quilt for her other granddaughter, Zoe. We expect it could be done by Christmas!

I have been working on sewing the rows of my Aria quilt together, and am 80% done with that. Pictures of that next weekend. I also hope to begin quilting Notting Hill during the coming week.

Finally, I bought the kit for Lori Holt’s Cozy Christmas Quilt, and am participating in the quilt-along. There are 12 blocks, each with an appliquéd center and pieced borders. I am not a fan of appliqué, but I loved the fabric line. So one block a week is do-able.  This is the first block, called Cozy Bell:

That’s it for now. Thanks for dropping by!

Play Misty for Me

Catchy title, but please DON’T play Misty for me, LOL (I love the song, liked the movie, but dislike Clint Eastwood). This month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, we are supposed to be working with “misty” purple and “hazy” green. But not having been told to save the misty/hazy/muddy purples and greens (IF there were any even in my scraps), I have none to work with.

Luckily, we were also given the option to work with gray, and I have some of those. But not enough to do all my regular blocks (cats, Dresdens, etc etc). I am doing the RSC Sampler block - twelve 6” bullseye blocks. When those are done, I am going to piece a table runner for my kitchen. Maybe add some oranges in to make it Halloweeny.  And from there, probably some improv blocks.

So for now, I have my 12 sampler blocks cut out and ready to chain piece. Should be quick and easy peasy. I’ll show my finished blocks next week.

The silver (or gray) lining to this month’s color choice (and my lack of scraps) is that I get to work on finishing up two almost-done quilts. Here is Notting Hill, which is now a flimsy. I even prepped the backing and it is ready to baste. I’ll do that on Sunday when my cousin comes over to sew so we can baste it together. It makes for a shorter time down on our knees for two old broads....

And then next up is Aria, which is now back up on the design board and scheduled to be finished over the next couple weeks.

On the home front, I have started painting some of the nooks and crannies of the kitchen work area. Today I also took some chalk paint to some old maroon-colored vases and they are now aqua. Will look much brighter when the living room is done.  We are prepping the new basement door and frame (sanding, filling) and kitchen walls for painting by me this coming week. Also, the front porch pillars are ready, too, so I will have no lack of painting projects. And of course, our 11-year old dishwasher picked this week to die a screeching death (motor bearings). We didn’t even consider repairing it because the inside prongs were rusting away. So, on Wednesday I bought a new dishwasher and it was installed Thursday. Goodbye Kitchen Aid, Hello Bosch. Goodbye Budget.