A Couple of String Quilt Finishes

Hello! I’m happy to share that I have a couple more quilt finishes this week. It’s been a long, dry spell for me between finishes. Well, I just looked back and it was mid-June when I finished the last three. I guess it’s not *that* long, but it seems like it to me. But summer is drawing to a close and I feel prime sewing and quilting weather coming around the corner!

As usual, I can’t seem to place blocks on the design board in a level fashion. If the truth be known, I didn’t even hang the design board evenly. But that’s a story for another time!

So, I sewed 30 string blocks in aqua, turquoise, and teal. It’s the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for August, and I’m linking up, as usual, to Scrappy Saturday. These blocks finish at 6”. I give them to our local Quilts for Kids chapter, where they use both string and crumb blocks in sets of 15 to go into the quilt kits they check out to sewing volunteers. 

Maybe you have or have seen some of these prints. There is one interesting print in there that I got at the scrap tables at the last Worldwide Quilt Day in May. It’s a teal background with a sugar skull-like Darth Vader on it in black. Weird! Can you spot pieces of it? There are also some strings of the leftover panda print that I used in the flimsy I showed IN THIS POST. 

I also pin basted and quilted the first two of my quilts-in-waiting. These were both made from 8.5” string blocks, which I experimented with earlier in the year. After discussing it with the QFK ladies, we eventually decided that 6.5” string blocks work better for QFK quilt patterns, so I decided to finish these up myself. 

This first string quilt, which finished at 40x55” has a teal-colored floral print as the constant. It doesn’t photograph well in that it looks much more dull in a full shot.

Up close, though, it really is much more vibrant and happy. I did the standard diagonal line quilting, then stitched a half inch on either side of the seamlines.

The 42” width backing was supplemented by a strip of fabric given to me a couple years ago by a friend. 

The second quilt of 8.5” string blocks is also 40” across, but with only six rows down is 48” in length. Obviously, I pinned both quilts up sideways on the design board.

Oh look, another panda! 

This green fabric was a wider print, so I didn’t have to piece the backing. 

My sewing goal for the coming week is to layer and finish two more quilt tops and to sew up my aqua and teal crumbs. That will finish up my teal scraps for the month. If there is time, I’d like to sew together the Halloween quilt I’ve been working on all year, two blocks at a time. I’m more of a fall person rather than a Halloween person. But I have my reasons for making this one. Back in August of 2021, Cousin Kim and I and Cousin Carrie (Kim’s sister, who passed away last year) and Carrie’s daughter Jenny all took a road trip to Missouri Star Quilt Company. We stayed for a week and attended a fun workshop together. At the time, we all bought identical Halloween quilt panels. Cousin Kim finished hers in 2022, and I had a ball custom quilting it. I really want to do the same for myself. Cousin Carrie loved Halloween, so I know that putting it together and quilting it will bring back a lot of wonderful memories!

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I didn’t know whether I should bother to share these next pictures, but at least for my own personal records, I wanted to (finally) get a picture of our mostly finished master bedroom after the wall repairs, painting, new bedding and art, and new window coverings. When we bought the condo last year, the walls had cracks and small holes in its formerly-almond paint, plus white metal mini blinds at the windows with floor-length lace curtains. The former resident was 99 years old when she passed and had no desire during her last decades to update it. And who would blame her?

But we wanted to refresh and update it for us. The only thing we have left to do is replace the carpeting. I’m not sure if that will be next year or the year after, because our bathrooms need painting and some cabinetry overhauls too. Anyway, here is our bedroom. The color is Sherwin Williams Acanthus.

I was going to ditch the lamps, but once I removed the ‘90’s-vibe tassels from them, they looked so much cleaner that I decided to forego sconces. And this is Darla’s favorite spot - under the ceiling fan! I would like to make a bed runner for the bed at some point. 

And now for Truth in Blogging, the photo below shows the west wall in its real life messy state, our computers, an old IKEA table (used to be in my old sewing room), mismatched desk chairs and papers all over the desk. Just keeping it real!

Yep, that’s my exercise bike there in the corner. It won’t be getting any more use until I’m recovered from my knee surgeries this winter. 

That’s all I have for this week. I hope you’re enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Me, I’m so ready to be done with summer. And it occurs to me that I haven’t even been swimming one time yet this year. I’ll have to rectify that before the pool closes for the season in early September! 

April Showers Bring New Carpet

Hi! How was your week? We were sure busy here at Chez Kizerian. We’ve been talking about starting up some of the home improvements we’ve put off over the last year or more because of Covid. It’s true that we have an eye toward downsizing in the next couple years, but these improvements are things we want now for ourselves even if only for a couple years. Plus we need to maintain the home and put its best foot forward when the time to sell does come.  

When we moved in, most of the house was carpeted in a fairly nice (quality and condition-wise) grayish-green carpet. Think eighties dark seafoam green.  It’s been replaced by hardwood floors upstairs. However, the stairs going down to the basement level, my studio (a former family room), and our office (pic at right) still have the fugly green carpet. The other spare bedroom downstairs was carpeted and painted (and new window and window coverings installed) about 5 years ago. While we love our hardwood upstairs, we really need the insulating qualities of carpet (and a thick pad) in the basement. The old green carpet has seen two basement floods (we have since fixed the drains indoors and outside that caused those issues) and decades of traffic. 

So, on Monday we went to Home Depot and selected new carpet. They came to measure on Wednesday, and we had a quote on Thursday. We went in and paid for it on Thursday and then got a call from the installers that same day wanting to install it next week. Wait, WHAT?!? I’ve got whiplash from the speed! (Two years ago when we ordered new doors for my studio it took them over five months to deliver and install). I pushed back the installation a week until Tuesday the 27th, which will give me time to move all my fabric and sh*stuff into the spare bedroom. The installers will move the furniture out (tables and bookcases and a desk in the office) and put them back. Needless to say, I have had a lot of work (1) decluttering the spare bedroom to make way for things to be temporarily moved in and (2) starting to move books, fabric and all the sewing paraphernalia from the studio into the bedroom.

But for now I’m still sewing away! A week from today is our next Quilts for Kids workshop, and I will have somewhere between 16-18 quilts to take to them, depending on what I can finish up in the next week. Three of the quilts were made and donated by my friend Terri, and the rest are made by me from scraps. 

I finished up some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for Blue April and am linking up to the Scrappy Saturday link-up party.  First, 24 “chips” at 4.5” square:

And then, since I still had so many scraps, I decided to start sewing 6.5” string blocks in the RSC color of the month plus white-with-black strings. I made 9 of those. No plan for these yet.

And then I used up a pile of 2.5” squares to sew these 18 4-patch blocks. They’ll go to live in the Parts Department for now until called upon to give themselves in service of a Future Scrappy Quilt. 

But there was more Light Blue nagging me to sew it. This little flimsy got sandwiched up and quilted with curls and loops. Sea Scraps is a little donation quilt for Quilts for Kids that measures 40x45”. 

At that point I decided to change lanes and finish up the four-patch posy quilt whose blocks I showed last month. The blocks are all sewn together with sashing and cornerstones. Then I pieced a backing of mostly the solid lavender fabric with a leftover chunk of the floral to make it wide enough. Now that it’s been sandwiched, I can get to the quilting over the next few days. 

I’ll keep the quilting simple, as I always do for donation quilts. Besides, my Bernina is having some tension issues and I may have to take it in for servicing. I’ve tried adjusting the tension myself and have switched threads and needles sizes, but nothing is correcting the issue. It’s the first time in the almost nine years that I’ve had this machine that I’m going to have to take it in (other than its annual servicing) for a mechanical issue. 

In the meantime, I’m going to start on sewing these Twisted Twin Sisters blocks together. This is about half of the 120 blocks, and I’m just sewing them into pairs for now.

I still can’t decide if I want to make it into one quilt that would finish at 60x72”, or divide the blocks up and add borders or something so I could get 2 donation quilts from them.  Stay tuned.

Mini-Reunion and Walk in the Woods

Welcome Autumn! The cooler temperatures have hit us and it is absolutely delightful. The days are clear (no fires anywhere!) and warm, the colors vibrant, and evenings and morning are cool and crisp. The furnace even kicked on last night - and we have it set at 66 degrees.  Life is good!

This is just a miscellaneous post (no quilting), but it’s all good stuff that I want to share. If you’re here just for the sewing and quilting, there’s nothing about that. Except that friends
Marilyn and OD, who are visiting from Kenya, loved the Baby Safari quilt I made for their son S (see earlier post this month).

Last night Bruce and I went out to dinner with Marilyn and OD and their son, plus my son Ryan, DDIL Kim and DGD Lauren. We had a great time! The baby is so jovial and was just the happiest little man. And my, he’s grown in the 2 months since we’ve seen him!  Bruce had already met Marilyn last summer and was looking forward to meeting OD. They enjoyed each other and sat by one another in the restaurant, talking about food, beer, animals and more. We all just gabbed and gabbed, catching up.... It was so good to see them again!

L-R: Lauren, Marilyn, Kim, Cathy, Baby S and OD

After dinner, we went to Kim and Ryan’s house, where the baby could play and crawl around (and maybe some grandma person did too).

And here is OD (“King Dangerous”) in his favorite chair of Kim’s. He remembered it from their visit last year. Anyway, he’s holding the walking stick that Kim bought for herself while we were in Kenya this summer. OD’s mom did the beading on it. So, I snapped a picture of him holding it so that he could show his mom, whom we all adore, to let her know that the walking stick with her beautiful beaded handwork was safe and loved!

And the irony of Kim having a walking stick is delightful; she’s a physical therapist. But still, if she ever needs a cane or walking stick ...







We ate apple pie, laughed, took pictures and talked until we all regrettably decided we’d better get home and to bed. We have tentatively planned another family trip to Kenya when Lauren graduates from high school in 3.5 years.

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Today I’ve started a bit of autumn decorating. Here is my favorite vignette: I was able to find a new raven this year to replace the old one that had lost its beak, and will NEVERMORE sit atop the Poe book ......  (get it?)  Oh, BTW, “karibu" - with the emphasis on the last syllable - means “Welcome” in Maasai.

We also replaced our porch light, house numbers, mailbox and doorbell. The old ones were original to the house, built in 1963. The light is motion-sensor and doorbell is lighted. I’m tickled that even small things like this can update a look and generate so much enjoyment.

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Often on Wednesdays, Cousin Kim comes by for a visit. We go walking, out to lunch, and then sew for a couple hours. These pictures were taken about 2-3 weeks ago when we went walking at Wheeler Farm, a county-owned park/historical homestead a block away. I’ve talked about Wheeler Farm many times over the past, and worked there after I retired from my career. For one summer I was a Summer Camp Counselor (the Arts & Crafts Counselor), then was the bookkeeper for the farm for 4 years. Check out the Wheeler Farm label for more Wheeler Farm posts.

But here are the pictures from our walk this month. So many changes, and all for the better! They’ve added a native meadow and native woodland, botanical walk, teaching gardens, beehives and so much more.

 

Cousin Kim

Beehives

And of course, we visited the animals...

I think this horse was getting a vet check.

The ponds and creek were lovely, as always.

Below is the Ice House near the north pond. It’s where we used to hold Summer Camp. I would get there early in the morning to open up and sweep the floors. Often I stood out on that back porch, looking out on the grounds, the ponds and the wild geese and ducks, trying to imagine I was back in time.

Yep, Autumn is definitely on its way!

Living Remodel Done - Before and After Pix

Usually if I blog mid-week, I prefer to do it more Wednesday-ish. But here it is Friday, and I decided to just go ahead and blog today even though I will have my weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge post tomorrow. Besides, the remodel may not interest a lot of the quilters, so they can come see this or not, as they choose.

We have lived in this house for about 14 years, and this remodel of the living room was the last really major thing we have attacked. I do still want to update the laundry room, but it’s nothing that we can’t handle ourselves in a weekend. But the living room...... that was a major project.

When we moved in, the living room (and indeed the house) was immaculate, but very dated.  It was built in 1963. The sage green carpet was almost everywhere in the house except for the bathroom and kitchen. But the kitchen had blue and pink indoor/outdoor carpet, so that was even worse! We gutted and remodeled the kitchen in 2006, and refreshed it last summer with white paint, a new light fixture and some sliding shutters for our sliding glass doors. Major improvement - and you will see parts of that in one of the pictures.

Here is a living room BEFORE photo, taken just before demolition began. Underwhelming. Obviously, a lot of the knick-knacks, etc. are already removed. In previous years, we had already replaced the large living room window with double pane windows (that open on the sides), insulated the ceiling, and added shutters. Infrastructure/basics first.

Before

When the demo began, we removed the bench hearth and had intended to remove the brick and mirror as well, but the brick was mortared to the exterior brick, so we brought the wall out in front of it by a few inches instead. That gave us the room and opportunity to insulate the wall. And as an engineer, DH was able to add in all the specialty wiring for electricity and media. Note that the 2x4’s around the fireplace are metal to meet code for a fireplace.

During

The former wood-burning fireplace had a gas line, so we converted to a gas-burning fireplace insert so we could enjoy the clean-burning fireplace often (due to environmental regs, we rarely ever burned wood). We were also able to make it smaller, shifting it to the right a bit so it would not be as noticeably off-center. It still is off center, but much better.

After

And here is the “after”! We didn’t get the leather couch and ottoman until the second week of January, but we were patient. The custom bookcases were painted white by the builder, and we (meaning me) painted the walls Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams. The cabinets on the right side (as you look at it) house all our media stuff, from DVD player, turntable, etc etc. They are remote controlled (as is the TV and fireplace) by DH when he sits in his leather recliner. The left cabinet contains grandkid toys for now, but eventually (as they grow up) it will be for extra quilts and seasonal pillows, etc.

The dark hardwood floors are a really elegant-looking contrast to the white and gray. The rug covers the seating area.  Sometimes I use the ottoman as a coffee table, and sometimes I drag it a couple feet over to my chair and use it as .... an ottoman!!

The cats prefer the cloth couch, which is no surprise. At least, they prefer it if our laps aren’t available, LOL. I still need to get something for the wall on either side of the clock (that I can finally SEE when I am in my chair!!) I’m thinking of a couple wall plants or sconces or something. Something that will contrast texturally with the hardness of the wall and clock. But that’s the decorator in me talking. 

This is the view looking back towards the entry (which would be behind my striped chair) and the dining area (through the left opening). The door (replaced last summer when we refreshed the kitchen) goes down to the basement. You can see how the dark of the new hardwood floors ends at the top of the stairs. We were pleasantly surprised to find the original hardwood - in excellent shape - throughout the upstairs, so we kept it. That meant we had extra dark hardwood, but our contractor really wanted it for his house. So we traded for labor and other expenses, and it was a win-win. The only repair on the floor was filling a few tiny carpet nail holes area across the threshold into the bedroom. Then it was swept and buffed. Done and done! The hallway and bedroom still got their new baseboards, though.

We are still looking for the perfect coat rack or shelf with hooks for the wall above and to the right of the vintage radio. All things in time. The above pic looks down the hall (this is just a small tract home) and into the library/study.

The plain floor of the bedroom required a rug, of course, and we opted for this sisal-type mat to go with the African theme (most of which you cannot see) in this room. To make it non-slippery, I Googled for an answer and Martha Stewart came to the rescue.

Here is Alfie showing how I used the leftover caulking to apply strips to the back of the rug. Let it dry for a few hours, and voila!  I may have to add a few more strips later - we’ll see.

And, that’s the end of the tour. I’m so thrilled that it’s finally done! It will be awhile before we tackle anything else, that’s for sure. Thanks for dropping by!

Until tomorrow,

Footstool Revamp

Finally back!  I had to buy more storage space from Google to get blogging again. And I understand that happened to a lot of you, too.  I won’t go in to the circles and wild goose chases Google led me on in hopes of maintaining the status quo. Ended up paying more than I wanted to because I am also an administrator of the Crazy Quilting International blog, so those pictures count toward my allowed quota. (I wonder if they count against EVERY administrator? That certainly wouldn’t be fair. . . ) But I digress….

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?  We did, but I forgot to take pictures. And if I don’t, it seems that no one else will!!  The grandkids were all here for Fiesta, which is our Mexican food celebration on the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving.  It’s much better not to have to fight the ex-spouses and the in-laws for our turn with our grown kids and their families.

Now, down to business.  A couple years ago I bought a decrepit footstool at the thrift store for $5.  If you are like me, you see all sorts of potential in this bad boy:

Before: Dark and Dirty. Really dirty.

Top Before: Outdated fabric worn down to the wood

Solid wood, good hardware.  “Good Bones"

After:  3 Coats of white paint, new fabric, padding and rotted top board replaced.

After: Inside

After:  It matches my chair (and my couch, not pictured)

The fabric I used is a print from the “Indie” line by Pat Bravo for Free Spirit Fabrics. It only took a fat quarter.  But because it was not of home dec weight, I did use an iron-on interfacing to give it some sturdiness.  I purchased a foam remnant on sale at JoAnn’s for cheap.  The inside fabric was an old piece of batik I had that coordinated nicely with the cover fabric.  DH decided the top piece of chipboard was too rotten to use, so we replaced it with a piece of wood left over from several years ago when we re-did our patio chairs (no picture).

The original hardware was reused, and I added some little felt pads to the bottoms of the feet.  It was a cute re-do for cheap.

I also re-finished a mahogany doll bed (you can see part of the “before” in the second picture above).  This will be for London when done; I have to do some paint touch-up still. But the little doll quilt and pillow for it are done. I will save that for another post.  :-)

I’ve also finished another quilt and done some CQ stitching to share.