Barter Remembrance Quilt Complete

This is the quilt I made for a guy from his grandfather's shirts. He wanted it as a gift for his mom. In return he put in a new tile backsplash in my kitchen.

Quilted with Halcyon pantograph.

Made from Bonnie Hunter's free pattern (website quiltville.com) bricks and stepping stones.

This is what I got from the deal.....

Love my new subway tile backsplash.

 

Organization tips

Most of my week off has been spent in organizing and cleaning. Two things I enjoy doing. I must not be that great at organizing because I find I have to take a day here and there to get myself organized. It is worth it to me. There is something about a clean organized home. It is peaceful and stress free.

There is a ton of info out there in blog land about organizing closets. I choose to keep my shoe boxes and mark them with a sharpie, stack them on the top shelf of my closet. The discipline is putting them back in their boxes after wearing. Simple, but it works and looks very organized.

I even have a box for running stuff. It holds my runners watch, foot powder, sport bag for carrying my clothes to the workout center, my running belt, race numbers and medals, and stretch bands. I don't put my running shoes in their box. I let them air out on the shelf.

When we built the house we had enough foresight to build in a spice rack. But I cook a lot. A lot. So I added a middle shelf and connected it to the existing rack with wire. The hubby had the bright idea of marking what each bottle was with a sharpie on the top.

One cleaning tip you've probably heard is to put your shower head in vinegar to dissolve the hard water deposits. Mine is dissolving as I type.

The hubby is traveling homeward from his big northern fishing trip. He has had a great time, and I have as well, cleaning, organizing, and NOT cooking. However, tonight I am cooking in preparation for his arrival tomorrow. I am making a favorite chocolate cake, to go with his welcome home meal of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and slaw. I cooked my favorite creamed spinach and roasted veggies tonight for myself. I plan to make the homemade granola cereal he likes and I've even got him some Moose Tracks ice cream, another of his favorites. I've made sweet tea and the fridge is full. Think I've missed him? Just a bit! You know what they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!

 

Another shirt quilt

I've got all the blocks made for the "barter" remembrance shirt quilt. Used Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern. They are just laid out on the floor. Still have to sew them together.

I used 136 of the four patch units and the same number of the bricks (3.5x6" pieces). The finished quilt without a border should be 68x72. Thinking of using the darker grey for the backing and binding.

 

Another day in paradise

Laughingly, I told a friend today was another day in paradise. I am the biggest homebody. There is nothing I love more than staying home and doing projects. I removed the old screened porch door and put up a new one. I thought of a clever way to measure the holes for the hinges....

Freezer paper folded on the corners and marked with a pencil for the screw holes. Worked great.

Does anybody do this anymore? I love the smell of laundry dried by the sunshine. I think using the vinegar fabric softener must help the towels not to be 'crunchy', they were pleasant and so fresh.

Spent almost two hours cleaning only two windows. I am amazed how nasty garage windows get.

And now, just enjoying my plants and the pleasant evening. Put in a mandevilla and a dipladenia today. Very similar plants. Love the heat. They are the only thing that thrives on our back deck throughout the summer. The mandevilla is in the background of the photo above. I love the red!

 

Rearranging Furniture

I know there must be many, many of you who like me, move things around every so often.  My good friend, who has an eye for simple, uncluttered design is helping me to make my living room look better. Here is a before picture...

And now, after....

The red chair has been replaced by my grandmother's trunk and stacked quilts.  The recliner is moved and the rug has been turned.  I also scored a great frame at the Goodwill store for $6.99 and JoAnns cut  and mounted the wedding print on a mat for only $3.00. Think it needs to be hung a little higher.  I removed the sconces and lowered the mirror a bit.  The room seems much more cozy now.  I still think I'll replace the rug with something more neutral and make some new pillows and quilt in some teal/greens/blues. The antique print in the first picture is my inspiration for colors, even though I've now moved it to our bedroom.  I hung my new Smokey Mountain print in its place

Not big differences, but to me, it seems better.

My favorite change is the addition of the trunk and quilts.

Grey Baby Quilt

I think this turned out really cute. And after I washed it, it was so very soft. I was surprised for all the quilting.

I did some freehand quilting. Of course the picture would show the worse place in all my border ferns....oops.

I did a machine binding. I thought using a grey thread on the solid color would blend right in. Not exactly. I think I've learned that for a machine binding to disappear you need a thread that matches and a busy print.

I pieced the backing with a little strip of green.

Anyhoo......I like it!

 

Charging Station

I saw this idea on one of my favorite blogs, Organizing Made Fun. I thought it was a great way to hide the cords while charging electronics.  So, this idea, got on my list of projects to do this week.

I bought a circular bit to fit the hub's drill and drilled this hole in the bottom of the back of my night stand.  Then the cord is fed through it up to the top drawer.

Then you just have to corral the cords to keep them orderly. Connect to the power cord, close the drawer and your electronics are charging but kept out of view.  A great idea!

Hard work

I've spent the day doing some hard work, but I love it. The hubby left this morning for his annual northern fishing trip and I have a few days off to do my favorite things.......clean, organize, sew, projects. Today, while my kitchen backsplash was being finished (pictures to follow) I washed four bed quilts, two sets of sheets, a mattress cover, all my throw rugs (7), freshened up two mattresses using baking soda and a few drops of lavender, and cleaned up the big dusty mess from the tile job.....

Love this white subway tile!

He has to come back and caulk the bottom and top edges. It wasn't bad before, but the white brightened it up and just has that old-timey look that I like.

Before

After

Before

And now after...

In the after pictures I didn't turn the under cabinet lights on because it made such a glare. but without those lights on the old tile, it was very,very dark. Our handyman also replaced three light fixtures today. Yay! Now we can see in the garage and the laundry room. The old fluorescent fixtures went kaput.

There will also be some sewing and quilting this week. I put this little one on the machine and am doing some custom quilting on it.

 

Option #2

 

I kind of like this one better.

I started a "barter" quilt today. Love those! The guy who is replacing my kitchen tile backsplash bartered with me to make him a quilt, for his mom, out of his granddad's shirts. Isn't that sweet? I think both of us are getting a good deal!

The pattern is Bricks and Stepping Stones, one of my favorites for a remembrance quilt. Free on Quiltville website.

 

Words or no words??

Need advice here.....should I do the words across the center or just try to do some fancy quilting on the solid gray???

 

 

Bright Boy Quilt

I finally started working on this one. It is called "Oh Baby" from Heather Mulder Peterson's latest baby quilt book, Little Quilts 4 Little Kids. The charm pack was an old one I had in my stash. I love the gray back ground. The center piece (green) is designed to use with the child's name appliquéd to it, but since I don't have a specific recipient in mind, I may try to find some other words for it. Any suggestions?

I've still got a bit more sewing to do to finish up the top.

 

Quilt Class

It has been a long time since I quilted using my little machine, but I wanted to do it because that is how I am teaching the quilting part of the class. I did straight lines in the ditch and about 1/4" on either side of the seams. I like the look. About 90% of the binding is sewn on. I didn't do it all so there would still be a little left to show them. I also started the hand stitching of the binding so they can see how that is done. I think I've done enough so I am ready for the next class. Yay!