Monday, October 30, 2017

house work goes on and on and on


Last week was exhaustingly full of house work,
but very little progress
by our own hands
was made.

~

One huge step forward
was the installation of the water line.

What a relief to have that done.

Of course, 
we still don't have any fixtures,
so we don't actually have water in the house yet,
but - soon.

~

Our cabinets are finished and awaiting pick-up - woohoo

~

We also hired a young man to sand the floors,
which was a job that Tyler was dreading,
and I wasn't positive I was up for physically.
(floor installation has added some new pains
to this already falling apart body)

Ordinarily,
I'd rather do the work
than hand over a check,
but in this case - I'll be pretty happy to pay.

~

We installed the final upstairs door
and my brother (and his sweet family) came back down
to teach us the best way to caulk, fill nail holes, and paint trim.

He also helped Tyler and Brandon install
another room's worth of trim.

After they left,
Tyler and I finished caulking and painting the trim
in the playroom
and the bonus (eventual) movie room.

the wall color is SW waterscape, mixed at (I think) 60% and then toned down a smidge with some of our main wall color

So pretty!!

~

Marin and I tackled the back porch,
(which was in desperate need of picking up,
thanks to a month of scraps and sawdust from floor installation)
while we waiting for our trim lesson.

~

We also began our hunt for the perfect stain color
(harder than we anticipated.
but then,
how long did it take to pick out that one color of paint??!)
(Incidentally - I love that one color,
and most people who've seen it love it, too)
(Clothesline Fresh, mixed at 40%.
so, 2 gallons worth of color
added to a 5 gallon bucket of paint...)

~

I guess we actually accomplished quite a bit
with our own hands
after all...

~

Today and tomorrow's focus
will shift to finishing up Halloween costumes.

My kids are always really big on accessories 
- are yours?!?

I keep reminding them they'll have to carry 
all of these extra things,
but those extras 'make' the costume,
so the kids don't care.


Thursday, October 26, 2017

circle-centered granny squares. the saga continues


Two weeks ago,
I could no longer quiet 


I tried to shush the old girl,
I really did.
But when she kept shouting at me,
making it impossible to ignore her pleas,
I finally sat down with my designing supplies
and drafted a circle centered granny square quilt block.


I figured that should do the trick.

but no.

She also wanted me to break the design down into a cut list.

So I obliged.

Then,
she wanted me to test the darn thing.


So I did.

And she finally shut up.


Except.

Except, she was too big.


She wanted to be smaller.


So two days ago,
I sat down again,
and shrunk her,
until her smallest pieces were cut at 3/4 of an inch!
And then,
I had to test that.



I am happy to report that the 
circle centered granny square quilt
is sufficiently satisfied. for the time being.


The blocks are an appropriate size,
my measurements are all correct,
and I can resume normal life
until I am able to actually make 
the real quilt.


For now,
I will continue to plug away
5 minutes here
and 10 minutes there,
which started this whole thing in the first place.

Monday, October 23, 2017

week in review


Not long after hitting 'publish' 
Tyler and I hopped in the car and headed to Everton Missouri
for a 'couples getaway'.

In a moment of utter weariness,
the word Get-a-way
and 
the low price of $150 for 2 nights
- all meals included -
totally suckered me,
and I texted Tyler, "want me to sign up for this?"

We were expecting that there would be hundreds of couples,
and we could just sorta hide away 
and be unnoticed.

Turns out,
there were only about 14 couples,
7 of them
from our church,
so hiding out was not really an option.

The speakers were great
and had a lot of wisdom to share
and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them 
to any newly married
or troubled couple.

I couldn't help thinking multiple times
that perhaps Tony and Kacy wouldn't be getting divorced
if they had sat under some of their teaching.
~~sigh~~

We skipped out early on Sunday,
because right after we got home
we were heading to Springhill to camp for a few days.


 Camping was wonderful.
Our site was gorgeous
and the daytime temperatures were pretty much perfect
though the nights were a bit nippy.

The kids rode bikes and scooters.
We played cards.
And kayaked and fished.
(I made circle centered granny squares....)


We ate yummy camp food.
We played at the park
and collected firewood.
We rested.


We could have easily stayed a few more days
but we needed to get back home
and work on the house.


Thursday night,
we finished installing all of the hardwood flooring
that we can install right now!!
(the rest will have to wait until the LEM is moved
and the other half of the library is built)


Friday,
Matt and Marin and Milo
came down for the weekend to help.

We decided that Matt helping with trim 
would pack the biggest punch,
and man, was that a good call!


While the guys worked on priming, painting,
and then installing trim (upstairs),

Marin and I worked on the upstairs floors;
I used the belt sander on the subfloor seams
(the one job I had successfully avoided up to that point)
and Marin followed behind me with the shopvac
cleaning up all of the mess I made.

We also spent some time just visiting,
which was every bit as nice
as having their help.

Somehow - they fit in spending some good time 
with our kiddos, too.

I always love 
when people love on my kids!

Speaking of the kids -
they were troupers, too.
They helped out in the house when they could,
(boys, especially)
fixed food,
(girls, mostly)
and enjoyed playing with Milo
(all of 'em)
when he didn't need his mom or dad.


And that,
is pretty much our week in review.

Friday, October 13, 2017

Traveler, a (little) finished (whole cloth) quilt



When I finished Alicia's quilt,
but before I started quilting Sojourner,
I made a little whole-cloth quilt,
by drawing
a 'sample' of Sojourner 
onto an almost 1 yard cut of Riviera Kona cotton
using fine tipped Crayola washable markers
so I could practice my quilting.


I knew one of the things that my client loved 
was the quilting. 


And even though I had warned her
that my quilting would be nowhere near the level of Kathleen's,
I still wanted to do my very best.
(which is pretty much what I want to do with every quilt... ;-)


I'm really glad I made this little practice piece,
because firstly,
it really boosted my confidence


and secondly,
there were a few motifs that I ended up 
not being real crazy about,
so I knew not to use them in the real quilt.


I wish I could say it helped me figure out 
how to best work my way around the quilt,


but sadly, I still struggle a good bit with that.


(although - I recently took Judi's progressive quilting class,
and one of my take-a-ways was
travelling
is inevitable.
Still, I think I could eliminate *some* of it...)


And thirdly - it's pretty darn cute,
and delightfully soft!


I backed it with the same fabric that I used for Out of the Blue
and bound it with a yellow/gold zig zaggy fabric 
I bought on my birthday trip to the Rag Barn last year.


Plus
it's got wool batting,
so it's nice and light and soft and drapey
but warm,
and it breathes like Egyptian cotton.
(Points if you know what that line is from ;-)


After quilting and a tumble through the washer and dryer
it's approx 30x37 inches


and -  it's in the shop
😊

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

lately


There really isn't a whole lot going on here,
except for work on the house
and ordinary life.

We got to babysit Hadley over the weekend.


She was much grumpier than usual,
but we still had some fun times.


She loves her Mimi, Aunt Lily, and Uncle BranBran the most.


and bring home all sorts of trash and treasures.

meet Pepper. Our river cat...

I'm not sure what we'll do as it continues to get cooler.


It's been the highlight of our weeks,
and each time
feels a little more restful than the last.


Last week, 
we thought we were going to be rained out,
but I checked the weather around 11,
and it wasn't supposed to rain until 1:30


so we quickly got our things together 
and made it to the river before noon


and got to enjoy a peaceful hour and 10 minutes 
before it started sprinkling.


We stayed another 10 minutes or so,
but left before the sky opened up.


I've had very little time to quilt,
and my machine is getting increasingly belligerent,
making what time I do have not as productive as it could/should be
so it will need to go back to the shop,
but what I've managed to get done,
I'm very pleased with.



I'm especially happy with that heart motif, as that is my own design!
And - I didn't even test it first - I just quickly drew it out on paper
to make sure it would work like I thought it would.
and it did!

Our new porch has been seeing some use
as the temperature drops a bit.


We play backgammon out there with our weekend coffee
and it's Tyler's favorite place for Bible study.


We are sooo looking forward to being able to move in
and slow down just a bit 
(though there will still be quite a bit of work to do for a few years)

The kids worked together to make dinner last night
so Tyler and I could get a little more done on the floors.

People tell me often,
"I don't know how you do it all."
It's very simple.
I don't.

I so totally don't.

the bonus of our yard /property being overgrown:
lots more wildflowers - which means lots more bees and butterflies

p.s. just a reminder - I'm now on Instagram.
I tend to post a bit more often there, as it is much quicker than blogging,
and I never post exactly the same things as I do here,
so you might want to follow me there.....

Monday, October 9, 2017

flooring, still...


Brandon's bedroom, Saturday afternoon

It's still nothing but floors 
on the house building front.


When we left off 2 weeks ago,
and were moving into the dining/kitchen space.

This picture was taken when we called it quits on Sept 30th

We were a little nervous 
about meeting up properly
on the other side of the bar.

We ended up being almost 3/16 of an inch off,
but were able to fudge around a few boards
 that will be under cabinets,
and met up quite nicely.

We got to this point on Oct 3rd, but photo wasn't snapped til Thurs am

We are super glad we don't desire perfect, pristine floors,
because we've had plenty of minor screw-ups.

Each time, we say, "There's some more character!"
and move on.

I don't know if I've mentioned it,
but our theme/style for the house
is
Simply Gracious
and 
Graciously Simple.

Every decision that we make
goes through that filter.

I think it's also helped us to be gracious with ourselves...

This is our first time doing so many of these things, after all!

Anyways.

Floors.


Besides the work of actually installing the floors
(and the extra prep work we had - grrrr)
there's a lot that goes into creating a floor.

Board length is a major factor,
also the color of the board - is it more reddish? or white-ish?
gotta keep those spread out...
And of course each individual board's character,
or lack thereof,
comes into play.
As do potential traffic patterns
and 'furniture' areas;
I have to be careful that the character in a high traffic area
is strictly from grain patterns and coloring,
and save some of the really 'pretty' pieces
(read: distressed / damaged / knotty etc)
for low traffic areas
(that won't be covered by furniture)
and still keep everything balanced.


Fortunately,
I've got a few years of quilt making under my belt to help with that part.


We finished the kitchen 


and dining room


and the pantry
(Tyler did this all by himself)


and the mudroom.


The hall closet is almost done


and we've got about 2 hours left in Brandon's room.


We're hoping to get that finished by week's end,
but we have a super busy week, so not sure that's going to happen.


After that,
we've got the office
and the hall on the other side of the living room,
going into the library.
(The library itself will wait until after we've moved the LEM)


(all pictures we just snapped with my phone 
at various times,
and I didn't bother with editing,
so coloring is what it is - based on lighting at the time.)