On my most recent trip to Portland, I bought this painting from the artist with whom we stay. Leah Kohlenberg is a working artist who also teaches. I fell in love with this painting and just decided to buy it. I have never done that before and it was a novel experience.
Tag: Home Decor
Cha Cha Cha Tablerunner #2 Ready for Quilting
I quickly finished this project, which was great.
The top is pretty subtly shaded, e.g. very little contrast. I guess that is ok. The nook where the buffet is located is a little dark, so I hope what light there is will reflect off of the light colors.
I am sending this to Colleen to quilt.
Cha Cha Cha Tablerunner #2
I have wanted to make another tablerunner for our buffet for awhile. I found the charm pack I used for this project at Sunshine Quilts in Medford. It was an impulse buy, but I was determined not to let the pack sit around.
I cut the pieces for this project at Sew Day and started sewing them together last week.
OMG! I can’t tell you how much I loved just sewing pieces together – no applique’, no fighting, no drama.
Finished: The Lobster
I know I finished pretty fast considering the quilts were returned to me not that long ago, but, yes, I finished the Lobster. It is now on my dining room buffet protecting the surface. It also brightens up the space.
I want to use it for the July timeframe, but I still have so few non-holiday tablerunners that I will use it for awhile and then switch it out for another. I guess I need to work on tablerunners for all the holidays like I made napkins for many holidays.
Thanksgiving Embroidery
Because our family is growing, I thought I might need more Thanksgiving napkins for Thanksgiving. I bought some new embroidery designs for my SIL, though I think they were too big.
The turkey on the platter is, I think, a test embroidery. I am pretty sure we didn’t use that one before. I didn’t buy white napkins either. I think the design is amusing now.
Fortunately, I didn’t need them in November, so this project could be shoved off until her Christmas projects were done. I went over during Craft Night the other night and started work.
SIL #2 sat me down in front of her computer and I selected colors for some of the designs. She is pretty well organized and had recorded the thread colors. I was able to select from that group so the napkins will all, pretty much, match.
She always has to reduce the number of colors, because she doesn’t like to switch threads once the machine has started. I think her machine can handle 6 threads at a time. I always forget to look at the number of colors and inevitably buy a design with 25 colors!
I really like that pumpkin motif and I worked to make it really pretty. I think it looks great on the blue napkin.
I started changing colors so they didn’t have the issues that bugged me. There were some black threads that looked too dark to me. It may be that the shading was removed, because of the limited colors. Regardless, I am thinking about greys and, maybe, even some browns to soften up the hard blacks.
On the mauve (dusty rose??) napkin, the blue really shows up. I used that blue thread, which I really like, only on this one. It would have been lost on the blue.
Choosing embroidery threads is hard work. I’ll go back when we have Craft Night again and choose some more.
Quilts Return: The Lobster
Colleen sent back the three quilts, a tablerunner and two pieces of foam -soon to be future bags – that I brought to her in October. What a bonanza!
Also, I have a LOT of binding to do, but soon I will be able to add a lot of quilts to my ‘Finished’ list.
The Lobster looks great and it is first on my list for binding since I can use it right away. I know I thought about it for July, but I am sick of looking at the Cha Cha Cha tablerunner. I want something lighter and fresher.
As usual, Colleen did a great job quilting all of the pieces. She took particular care with the Lobster. On one hand, she quilted with two different colors of thread in some places as requested.
She was really careful around the embroidery I already did as well as the beads. Of course, she had an incentive to stay away from the beads since I am sure they would have done some damage to her machine, which I absolutely don’t want.
The Sawtooth Star blocks also look good. Sometimes those basic blocks can be super boring to quilt, but I like what she did.
NYE Napkins
I had some leftover fabric after making the New Year’s pillowcases for the nephews. Since I’d still like to have napkins for every holiday, I decided to make some New Year’s napkins. I had just enough to make two napkins, which is enough for us, but no guests.
I don’t know when I bought this fabric, but it has been awhile. I picked out some fun backing fabrics and whipped these up pretty quickly. We used them right after I made them and I am pleased.
Blue Bowl Cozies
I have a former co-worker who is super kind. I wanted to make him and his new wife a gift. I know mug rugs and some other fabric gifts quiltmakers give to each other are a bit strange to non-quiltmakers. I decided to make some bowl cozies because they are universally useful. I was able to finish them relatively quickly after I ripped out the same mistake I made last time. My error was to sandwich one piece of batting between two pieces of fabric and sew. Instead, I need to layer ONE piece of batting and one piece of fabric then sew. I need two of these elements (top and bottom) for each bowl cozy. Either I assumed or it was hard to see on the instructions. Using the blog post works better for me than just the PDF instructions.
Once I got that cleared up, the project went quickly. I am pleased with the results and need to send them off.
Easter Napkins
The Easter fabric I bought at Just For Fun in Vancouver, Washington (haven’t written about it yet, but have photos) was intended for masks. I bought all the other fabric at Pioneer Quilts. I decided to make napkins instead, because most places want us to wear N95 masks.
I don’t like making napkins, but I made it a little easier on myself by 1) adjusting my attitude and 2) rounding the corners. Rounding the corners meant that I didn’t have to pivot while using a fancy stitch, which made the whole process go faster.
I used the 2.5 inch circle from the Creative Grids Circle Set** to trim the corners of a fat quarter to a round shape. I would have done well to also use a rotating mat** while I cut using the circle, but I didn’t have mine handy. Acrobatics were required.
I found the 2.5 inch circle to work really well. It looks pretty good in terms of shape and size and, as I said, made sewing pretty much a breeze. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.
I used different fabrics on the back, so we can tell them apart. We use cloth napkins all the time, but only change them out about once a week unless something happens.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
Finished Tools Bucket
I worked on covering up the previous blue with some magazine pictures.
It didn’t like the way it looked. If I had had more cakes and dots, it probably would have been fine, but I didn’t. I thought it looked bad, so I went back to fabric. The good part was that the magazine paper covered up the blue pretty well. After this 3rd layer dried, it made a good base for more fabric.
I finished decoupaging my Tools Bucket in a way that I can live with a few days later.
As you can see, it is in use next to my sewing machine. I don’t notice any difference from before I decorated it. I think it looks better, though.
More progress! Creeping along, but workroom progress.
Tools Bin Again
I worked on the Tools Bin again on Saturday. I decoupaged paper on top of the blue described in the last post on this topic.
I found some pictures I liked and decoupaged them over the blue paint. I was still not thrilled. For some reason, it wasn’t working for me.
I am building up nice hard layers, however.
Workroom Furnishings
We went to IKEA the other day in order to get the bookshelves. I just go expecting to be able to get what I want. DH, being the smart shopper he is, checked the website in advance and found out the Billy bookcases are out of stock until the end of August. 🙁
Yes, that means the project is at a halt until the bookcases come in. 🙁 I am kind of shocked that another company hasn’t copied the Billy bookcases. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t approve of copyright infringement, but if someone is going to infringe on IKEA’s copyright, I might take advantage. I looked for tall, plain white bookcases and nobody else had them. Leave a comment if you know of a company that sells them and has them available.
We looked through IKEA anyway, which is sort of obligatory. I thought, perhaps, they might have another option for bookcases or some other storage that might work.
I almost bought this cart to replace the brown cart that I gave away. I decided to wait because I am sending tons of stuff to donation places and I just want to be sure it is the right storage solution.
I probably just need a designer.
Refreshing Storage
I want everything to look good in my refreshed workroom. This is a tools bucket I use. It sits next to my sewing machine.
I thought Collage Pauge** would work. I pasted (painted??) fabric on to the outside of the bin. While the fabric was hard as a rock, the look was not ideal when it dried. It was too see through. That was not the look I wanted.
Lil Sissy suggested I mix Collage Pauge** and white paint. I didn’t have white paint so I used turquoise. It didn’t work. I should have gone and bought some white. Thus: I still don’t like it.
I am not sure what is next, but I may collage over it with some text paper. Collage Pauge** is really made for paper and covering what I have done with paper might be the best thing.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
Closer to the End
I know the whole project seems never-ending. Guess how it feels from here? It is getting better.
The painting is done. I have some furniture in the room, but am still waiting on the bookcases.
We (meaning DH) pulled up the carpet and the floor is in pretty good condition. We didn’t take the time to redo it, though I did clean it with Murphy’s Wood Oil soap. We really didn’t have the time to do a full scale floor update.
I am starting to put things back in the green bookcase, not that you can see that in the photo (left). I am forcing DH to go through his books before I reshelve them. I am not putting books back on the shelf that should be donated. He doesn’t have to give any of them away, I made that clear, but if he is going to read them, I have other uses for the shelves.
My sewing machine is going against the wall that used to have my new design wall, as mentioned. That is one of two walls with an outlet. I wanted to minimize the number of extension cords required as I kept tripping over them. The last thing I need is another broken foot or torn ligament. I took the opportunity of all of the furniture and stuff being out of the room to have the electrician expand the available to outlets to ‘fours’ from ‘twos’. One reason I had 200 extension cords in use was that there were a total of 4 outlets in the entire room. That was nowhere near enough. While 8 is better, it is still not enough, but an upgrade nonetheless. We have outlets on only two walls and if we want outlets on all the walls, we have to rip out more of the walls than we want to and that is too big of a job for us now. The outlet covers are nice and fresh. You can see the difference between the phone jack and the new outlet.
Finally, I got new door handles as well. I don’t know that they are my dream door handles, but they are fresh and clean. I am really happy with them.
This weekend: bookcases, I hope. The YM is coming for a flying visit and it would probably be nice if he could actually get into his room.
DH is talking about painting our bedroom now.
Nearing the End
What this post should have been named is “Nearing the End of the Life Sucking Beige”, but that is too long and it makes for ugly URLs.
The white is definitely dominating and only the baseboards need to be painted. The room really looks fresh. Today it was pretty foggy and the room didn’t look as depressing (which I try to ignore since it is my own space) as it has in the past.
DH also ripped up the carpeting, which I wanted. The floor is hardwood and in good shape except for one spot. I call that a win. The dirt we swept up from under the carpet was amazing. It looked like a sand drift. That blue is the old pad, which DH is using to keep the paint from hitting the floor.
The house stinks and I have had a headache for two days from the paint fumes. We have the windows open as much as they will open and there isn’t much else that I can do except stay away.DH isn’t allowing me in the room anyway since I may hit some surface that is still wet.
This is a picture of the wall where my new design wall was hung. The door is the door of the fabric closet. The furniture lumps in the center of the room are my work desk and my sewing table. They are the only two things we couldn’t get out of the room. They are too heavy for the two of us to carry.
I also bought new door handles. Ours were sort of functional, but I thought I would just go for broke and replace them with new fresh ones.
Yay! It’s looking good.