Faux file - before and after

I ended up doing a soft gray, mottled with a lighter and darker. It isn't a huge difference from the natural concrete, but I think it is a big improvement.  The hubby has this thing with his concrete.  He was totally against me putting real tile on the porch, but finally agreed to letting me do the faux tile with paint.

The before.

And after

That was a ton of work for such a subtle difference.  Days like today and yesterday make me feel my age.

Door - before and after

Thought I'd post a comparison on the door.  I am definitely loving the black.

Off work Projects

One thing on my to-do list was to paint our front door.  Going black is a lot harder than painting white.  After 2 coats of primer and about 3 coats of paint.  Here is the final product.  I like it.

Another project was to faux tile our screened porch floor.  Here are pics from today's work.

Had to wash and etch it first.

Then tape up the side walls, mark it with chalk, and then tape over the chalk.  I used 1/4 inch painters tape; had to order it, no one around here had it.

Definitely a hard days work here.....

But it is ready to paint in the morning.  Below is my practice board for what I plan to do.  I am using concrete paint in three colors - a weathered concrete color, a darker gray, and a bit of adobe clay for a touch of reddish. My squares are 18" set on the diagonal.  Hope it turns out.

He is missed.

The parents of the young man who passed away this year stopped by tonight to pick up their quilt. His momma cried, and so did I. I can't imagine how they must feel, but I do know His ways are not our ways, and one day we will see the bigger picture. We will know and be known as we are in heaven. They will see their son again.

Remembering Chuck

Everything is done but the label. Hope his Momma and Daddy will be pleased. I know how much I love the two quilts I made from my own son's shirts.

I used the Stars and Loop pantograph by Linda's Electric Quilter.

 

 

Happy Memorial Day

In honor of the Memorial Day holiday, I've put my patriotic quilt on our bed.  It was made from a block of the month kit called American Heritage.  I purchased it from the Cherry Pit in Sevierville the first year I was quilting.

Remembrance Quilt

Finally got this one done and on the machine. Did one row tonight. The goal is to finish it this week while I am off work.

 

 

What's for supper?

Grilled kabobs!

 

And they were good.

Garage - before and after

You'd never think I spent over two hours cleaning, tossing, sorting, and organizing just on that one wall of the garage, but I did.

Before

After

Didn't get to do a real makeover with new shelves, but that is ok. Cleaner and more organized is definitely an improvement.

Sunday

Lazy day at our house today. After church we all just relaxed, napped (Jim, not me), and read (me, not Jim). Pretty nice after our busy day yesterday.

 

Jim will be going on his annual fishing trip in a few days, so he did spend some time in the boat garage, getting his stuff ready.

 

Jesse loves his daddy. I think he wants to go with him.

 

 

Saturday Work Day

I've spent most of the day doing some cleaning around the house.  Power washed the front porch (again), this time with a cleaner, another cleaner, and a broom to scrub it.  It is better but still not what I'd like.

It really doesn't take much to make me happy.  The hubby hung some hooks for me so I can hang my ferns.  Yay!  I much prefer them hanging as in planters or on the ground.

I finished power washing the front sidewalk too.  Amazing how dirty it gets.  And speaking of dirty, I spend an hour or two on the garage windows.  They get so nasty. The garage gets so nasty. There is so much more that needs to be done out there, but I do have a feeling of accomplishment just for getting those two windows cleaned.

I plan to be off for a week soon and am anxious to get my list ready for all the stuff I want to do while I am off work.  Call me crazy but my favorite kind of vacation is one where I work around the house doing projects.  Yeah, crazy.

I've put on a few pounds since my surgery so I need to try to take them off.  Got to get back to walking.  Speaking of......think I'll put on my tennis shoes and try to do a little bit on the trail before a good supper this evening to end a good day.

Look what was on the walking trail!

We saw him before we stepped on him.

Progress

I am still at this remembrance quilt. I took almost all the leftover scrap pieces out so that left it with only one fabric piece that isn't his own shirts and jeans. I thought I was finished then decided it wasn't big enough, so I made more blocks. I've got the top left done and the bottom right....just the middle to put together. I am thinking about a burgundy border, about 5-6 inches.

 

Sometimes I feel like I just have to finish something, so I put together this little cathedral window pillow this afternoon. It is the piece I made in the class when I was learning. I started over for the quilt. I know it may sound weird but I kind of like the way the block points show through the white.

 

Strawberry Jam

We love the freezer jam recipe.  The Sure-gel recipe is easy and quick. Usually I make one run at a time.  I saved time this year by doing two batches at a time.  Seemed to work fine.

The husband prefers the regular (almost pure sugar) recipe, so I made four runs of it today.  I like it too, but I may try to do another run or two of the low sugar recipe.  Strawberry freezer jam is awesome on a peanut butter sandwich. One of his favorite fishing lunches.

Friends

I am loving these Friday visits with old friends.  My friend Pam and I had a nice drive to meet our former workmates.  Excellent food at Cheddars and so good to catch up with our friends Kathy and Nancy.

Kathy

Nancy

Pam, trying to hide from the camera.

Sweet Nancy giving me a hug.  Humm, that is the same shirt I wore last Friday on my Sparta adventure.  Guess you can tell what my favorite casual shirt is these days.  By the way, for all you thrifters out there, I picked it up at Repeat Boutique in Knoxville.  A great repeat clothing store with fabulous prices on expensive brands.

Today's Goal

Hope to make a few runs of strawberry jam today.  But first, going to meet up with some old work friends at Chedder's.

Friday Day Trip

I went to a quilt show in Sparta on Friday and was able to visit an old family friend who lives there.  We had a great time.  It was a beautiful drive in the country there and back.

They have a beautiful home on a seven acre lake.

I have always admired Terrie.  She is spunky, outgoing, and likes to try all kinds of things. Here she is using her BB gun, trying to scare the geese, who like to poop in their lake front yard.

Their home is near a fabulous overlook.  We stopped there for a few pictures on our way to the quilt show. In our younger years, when we both had very dark hair, some people would say we looked like we were family.  We were in a way.  I used to be married to her brother.

 She toured me around the little city of Sparta, where they have a town square, murals on the fire station building and other places in town. They even had some quilts hung up down town for the quilt show.

In the rural setting around Sparta there are many barns with quilt blocks painted on them.  At the quilt show, I was given a map showing how to get to all the ones in the area.

Terrie has taken art lessons, piano lessons, and she is on the Board of Directors for the annual White County fair. She also does cross stitch, a bit of quilting, she gardens, and she makes the absolute best coconut cream pies.  She let me pick out one of her paintings. They were all so good!  I loved the light in this one and it is the one that came home with me.

I can't imagine a better way to spend one of my Friday's off work - a drive in the country,  reconnecting with a dear friend, seeing beautiful quilts hung in a rural fairgrounds setting.  I was even able to do a little outlet shopping in Crossville on my way home.  A great day.  A really great day.

Blogger Format Has Changed

The Blogger formatting has changed.  Argh!!  After three years I was just getting comfortable using it, now I get to learn something new.  I hope you don't struggle reading my blog as much as I am posting and setting formats.  The blogs I follow are on the right hand side, along with the shortened "about me," followers, blog archive, and a place to subscribe.  The tabs are barely visible, but if you move your mouse to them, they will pop up.  The new format isn't working well with the ipad.  I've attempted to contact Google, but noticed they have 1000's of folks having trouble.  On the ipad, when you click a post, and it comes up in a new window, if it has more than one picture in that post, you can't just use your figure to scroll through the post.  I've been able to get it to scroll, only if I use two fingers.  Weird, yes.  In the current dynamic view I am using, you will only see the first picture attached to the post in the little preview.  You will need to click on the post to bring up all of it.  I also can't get most of the tabs to work on the ipad, however, they work fine on our desktop computer.

Please bear with me as we work through these issues.  I want to continue the blog, so I'll be diligent to learn what I need to in order to make it easier for you to read.  If any of you other bloggers have any advice PLEASE email me!

Thanks,

Rachel