About to leave for my last sewing class...I have learned so much and am really excited to keep on sewing. Of course, after I finally set up Turtle's mother's machine.
I bought the fabric for the quilt backing today, and some for the binding. Now, to sew up the backing (it's going to be 2 or 3 separate pieces) and to repair the front. Then the real quilting process will begin. The lady at the fabric shop was super nice and gave me some tips. Funny, it's right near my office, yet I never went there. They give discounts when you pay in cash, which is wonderful :)
Monday, February 28, 2011
I've never done one of these before (7 quick takes)
(I think you have to link up somewhere, but I don't really know the "rules," so just bear with me.)
Most of these thoughts came to me over the weekend or in the shower this morning.
1. I've never seen The Wizard of Oz. Even though I know the story line. Even though I played Dorothy in a summer camp play. It's like, why bother now?? I didn't see it because my mom was terrified by the witch as a child, and figured my brother and I would be too.
2. On Saturday, I bought a lipstick for the first time in....years. I think I bought one before my wedding (3.5 yrs ago) but the makeup artist picked it out. I hadn't purchased one for years prior to that. I am in a wedding in April, and needed something besides Burt's Bees for my lips for pictures. I wore it to Liturgy yesterday and am wearing it to work today...it's feels strange. Like my lips are STICKING OUT. I'm not a huge makeup person, and if my skin were a bit clearer, I wouldn't wear any at all. But it is a pretty color and looks nice.
3. We used to have like 5 or 6 travel coffee mugs/cups in the house. Now we have 1. I'd like to thank Turtle for losing them!!! =D No, really, he did. We bought a bunch at IKEA last year...and now they are gone. I am sure there's at least 1 in the depths of his messy car (I don't clean that) and a few at work. Sigh. When the ONE cup is not clean (I'm the only one who uses it), it's Dunkin Donuts, which means I end up getting a "snack," which does not bode well for the wallet nor waistline.
4. Lent is coming. I'm not giving anything up. I want to DO something. Need to think on that.
5. My birthday is also coming up--which is good that I'm not giving up anything for Lent. Actually my birthday has ALWAYS been during Lent, as are most of my family's, so any type of giving up of sweets fails, ha.
6. I don't want to go to work today. Yet, it's almost 8, so I should go. I know I should be thankful for having a job, but I don't like being reliant on 2 incomes. I even wish I could be a housewife, before having kids. That's kinda sad, no? There's SO MUCH that needs to be done and I'm always squeezing things into my lunch 1/2 hour, breaks, the way home, etc. I know a lot of people are like this, and I'm not the only one, but it would be easier if I didn't have to rush around ALL of the time. I haven't stopped working since I was 15. Well, I didn't work during the school year in college, but I had a scholarship to keep so I couldn't fool around then even if I'd wanted to.
7. I need to have my taxes done. I've had the stuff together for weeks, but procrastinate on calling the accountant. I usually have them done near my birthday (one year I went ON my birthday) so this year proves to be no different!
Most of these thoughts came to me over the weekend or in the shower this morning.
1. I've never seen The Wizard of Oz. Even though I know the story line. Even though I played Dorothy in a summer camp play. It's like, why bother now?? I didn't see it because my mom was terrified by the witch as a child, and figured my brother and I would be too.
2. On Saturday, I bought a lipstick for the first time in....years. I think I bought one before my wedding (3.5 yrs ago) but the makeup artist picked it out. I hadn't purchased one for years prior to that. I am in a wedding in April, and needed something besides Burt's Bees for my lips for pictures. I wore it to Liturgy yesterday and am wearing it to work today...it's feels strange. Like my lips are STICKING OUT. I'm not a huge makeup person, and if my skin were a bit clearer, I wouldn't wear any at all. But it is a pretty color and looks nice.
3. We used to have like 5 or 6 travel coffee mugs/cups in the house. Now we have 1. I'd like to thank Turtle for losing them!!! =D No, really, he did. We bought a bunch at IKEA last year...and now they are gone. I am sure there's at least 1 in the depths of his messy car (I don't clean that) and a few at work. Sigh. When the ONE cup is not clean (I'm the only one who uses it), it's Dunkin Donuts, which means I end up getting a "snack," which does not bode well for the wallet nor waistline.
4. Lent is coming. I'm not giving anything up. I want to DO something. Need to think on that.
5. My birthday is also coming up--which is good that I'm not giving up anything for Lent. Actually my birthday has ALWAYS been during Lent, as are most of my family's, so any type of giving up of sweets fails, ha.
6. I don't want to go to work today. Yet, it's almost 8, so I should go. I know I should be thankful for having a job, but I don't like being reliant on 2 incomes. I even wish I could be a housewife, before having kids. That's kinda sad, no? There's SO MUCH that needs to be done and I'm always squeezing things into my lunch 1/2 hour, breaks, the way home, etc. I know a lot of people are like this, and I'm not the only one, but it would be easier if I didn't have to rush around ALL of the time. I haven't stopped working since I was 15. Well, I didn't work during the school year in college, but I had a scholarship to keep so I couldn't fool around then even if I'd wanted to.
7. I need to have my taxes done. I've had the stuff together for weeks, but procrastinate on calling the accountant. I usually have them done near my birthday (one year I went ON my birthday) so this year proves to be no different!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Bathroom update
The wallpaper is GONE and the ceiling has been treated with 2 coats of Kilz, as I posted last week.
Yesterday I painted the ceiling, and will do another coat today.
HOPEFULLY I can start the wall color on Tuesday? Maybe??? (Monday is my last sewing class :( ) I am SO excited to crack open that can that's been sitting in the bathroom for a week now.
The trim is troubling to me though. I'm not sure if I should prime it. It's dusty rose or pink or whatever heinous color. So is the door. I want those to be white. I'm wondering if the white paint will "lay" better on primed materials...hmm...
Thoughts?
Yesterday I painted the ceiling, and will do another coat today.
HOPEFULLY I can start the wall color on Tuesday? Maybe??? (Monday is my last sewing class :( ) I am SO excited to crack open that can that's been sitting in the bathroom for a week now.
The trim is troubling to me though. I'm not sure if I should prime it. It's dusty rose or pink or whatever heinous color. So is the door. I want those to be white. I'm wondering if the white paint will "lay" better on primed materials...hmm...
Thoughts?
Monday, February 21, 2011
It's over
For this bathroom at least.
The wallpaper in the half bath has been removed. What a mess that made! Who knew that a few feet of border would come down in teeny little snowflake sized pieces? Or that they'd "travel" all over the house on my feet? That's always fun...
I don't think I shared this project here--I might have alluded to it here, but here's the story. I wanted to re-do the half bath that's just off our kitchen. Like the eternal procrastinator that I am, I waited forever to do it. Finally on Saturday, I started.
The ceiling was first, since we'd had some leaking in the fall due to a clogged gutter, which left some fun looking pond ripple-like stains. The two coats of Kilz that was applied covered the stains very well. If you look closely, you can see a bit of the ripples, but the ceiling paint should cover that without a problem. There were also some taping issues, but I was able to smooth those out with some spackle.
Then came the wallpaper border removal, and like I posted yesterday, it was not pleasant. Took longer than I'd ever imagined. Growing up without things like wallpaper, sheet rock, and paint, this is a whole new world for me. Turtle just laughs when I get SO EXCITED! about a project, then 20 minutes into it, I'm regretting starting it. He grew up with having to help paper and paint; he knows how badly a project can be.
After I paint the ceiling (which should have been done today, but that didn't work out), I will move on to the good stuff. THE WALL COLOR. I ended up going with California's Floating Feather, which was a good match to Glidden's Dapper Tan. We don't mess around with paint here, while there are cheaper brands, we prefer to spend a little more to get a better look. We like California because despite their name, they are a New England company and are low VOC. Plus Turtle's mom swore by them, and since I know nothing about paint, really, I'll defer to her (via her son) for this stuff.
Oddly enough, when I googled "Floating Feather" to see if anyone else out there had used it, I found an entry about this painting on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Floating_Feather
While that's interesting, it looks NOTHING like this Floating Feather, and our half bath will look NOTHING like this painting!
Then when the walls are done, it's back to the (boring) trim and door. Bye bye pink, hello crisp bright white! Then up goes the new curtain, out come the new towels, bring back the trash basket and pictures...and the mirror. I'm not thrilled by the mirror--it was left with the house, so I might be on the lookout for something new, soon. I'd love something very simple--a rectangle shape with a white frame. Maybe I can thrift hunt for this and paint it myself?
This is the mirror we have now. No thank you. It's frosty and flowery and just not us, nor will it look right in the bathroom once the rest of the re-do is complete.
Now I'm kicking myself for basically wasting my day off when I could have been painting the ceiling and getting ready to do the walls. Procrastination rears its ugly head yet again. (At least I got dinner made and dishes done though. Be thankful for small miracles, haha.)
The wallpaper in the half bath has been removed. What a mess that made! Who knew that a few feet of border would come down in teeny little snowflake sized pieces? Or that they'd "travel" all over the house on my feet? That's always fun...
I don't think I shared this project here--I might have alluded to it here, but here's the story. I wanted to re-do the half bath that's just off our kitchen. Like the eternal procrastinator that I am, I waited forever to do it. Finally on Saturday, I started.
The ceiling was first, since we'd had some leaking in the fall due to a clogged gutter, which left some fun looking pond ripple-like stains. The two coats of Kilz that was applied covered the stains very well. If you look closely, you can see a bit of the ripples, but the ceiling paint should cover that without a problem. There were also some taping issues, but I was able to smooth those out with some spackle.
Then came the wallpaper border removal, and like I posted yesterday, it was not pleasant. Took longer than I'd ever imagined. Growing up without things like wallpaper, sheet rock, and paint, this is a whole new world for me. Turtle just laughs when I get SO EXCITED! about a project, then 20 minutes into it, I'm regretting starting it. He grew up with having to help paper and paint; he knows how badly a project can be.
After I paint the ceiling (which should have been done today, but that didn't work out), I will move on to the good stuff. THE WALL COLOR. I ended up going with California's Floating Feather, which was a good match to Glidden's Dapper Tan. We don't mess around with paint here, while there are cheaper brands, we prefer to spend a little more to get a better look. We like California because despite their name, they are a New England company and are low VOC. Plus Turtle's mom swore by them, and since I know nothing about paint, really, I'll defer to her (via her son) for this stuff.
Oddly enough, when I googled "Floating Feather" to see if anyone else out there had used it, I found an entry about this painting on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Floating_Feather
While that's interesting, it looks NOTHING like this Floating Feather, and our half bath will look NOTHING like this painting!
Then when the walls are done, it's back to the (boring) trim and door. Bye bye pink, hello crisp bright white! Then up goes the new curtain, out come the new towels, bring back the trash basket and pictures...and the mirror. I'm not thrilled by the mirror--it was left with the house, so I might be on the lookout for something new, soon. I'd love something very simple--a rectangle shape with a white frame. Maybe I can thrift hunt for this and paint it myself?
This is the mirror we have now. No thank you. It's frosty and flowery and just not us, nor will it look right in the bathroom once the rest of the re-do is complete.
Now I'm kicking myself for basically wasting my day off when I could have been painting the ceiling and getting ready to do the walls. Procrastination rears its ugly head yet again. (At least I got dinner made and dishes done though. Be thankful for small miracles, haha.)
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Wallpaper...
Should be banned.
That is all.
(One more thing--I'm just really glad it's ONLY border, and ONLY two rooms in this house. I don't know what would have happened if it were more...)
That is all.
(One more thing--I'm just really glad it's ONLY border, and ONLY two rooms in this house. I don't know what would have happened if it were more...)
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sneak peek at what's next...
Here's a look at the quilt that I mentioned a few posts ago. I found it in a trunk of things belonging to my great-grandmother. (That line sounds like it was pulled from a book, but I swear, that's where I found it!)
It's pretty big--probably full or queen size? I couldn't fit all of it into my shot, so what you see is what you get! :-)
This is the back side. No batting, no backing...just the front part was completed.
Well, almost completed. A few of the pieces disintegrated or ripped--my sewing teacher couldn't figure out what happened. I removed those pieces and will be adding some other old fabric I found into the holes.
Hopefully I'll be posting updates sooner rather than later!
ETA: That's my left hand in the picture. I just realized that I do have a "band" from my rings. I'm so pale and never tan, yet the skin where my rings lie IS a bit lighter! Funny ;-)
It's pretty big--probably full or queen size? I couldn't fit all of it into my shot, so what you see is what you get! :-)
This is the back side. No batting, no backing...just the front part was completed.
Well, almost completed. A few of the pieces disintegrated or ripped--my sewing teacher couldn't figure out what happened. I removed those pieces and will be adding some other old fabric I found into the holes.
Hopefully I'll be posting updates sooner rather than later!
ETA: That's my left hand in the picture. I just realized that I do have a "band" from my rings. I'm so pale and never tan, yet the skin where my rings lie IS a bit lighter! Funny ;-)
Finished my apron...
And here it is!
I laid it on the dining room table, then stood on a stool to get a good "aerial" shot. (Wow, my table pads actually don't look so bad from this angle. I'd pulled back the tablecloth since it was kind of dusty and furry [yay cats] and laid the apron on the pads.)
And here's a close-up of the fabric. The main part is green with watermelons and black dots. The pockets, trim, and ties are a "hot pink" with white polka dots but it's not THAT hot of a pink.
I did press it in class, after I finished it, but it got a bit wrinkled on the way home, while it was tucked in my sewing box.
Next up--the quilt!
I laid it on the dining room table, then stood on a stool to get a good "aerial" shot. (Wow, my table pads actually don't look so bad from this angle. I'd pulled back the tablecloth since it was kind of dusty and furry [yay cats] and laid the apron on the pads.)
And here's a close-up of the fabric. The main part is green with watermelons and black dots. The pockets, trim, and ties are a "hot pink" with white polka dots but it's not THAT hot of a pink.
I did press it in class, after I finished it, but it got a bit wrinkled on the way home, while it was tucked in my sewing box.
Next up--the quilt!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)