the floors, they are finished! also - all about ME

When we set out to build a new house in our back yard,

I really had no clue

how,

exactly,

this was all going to work.

Obviously,

based on the bank account,

I knew that we would be doing a lot of the work.

But I sorta thought that 

"we"

meant what it's always meant

in these sorts of things;

"we"

meant Tyler and big kids,

with me holding down the fort,

and doing all sorts of running around 

and buying things.

Support.

It isn't that I thought woman can't build,

it's more that women don't build.

(as a general rule, mind you,

and certainly all of the women in my small circle...)

oil will continue to seep up,
so we'll go out 3-4 times a day for the next week to wipe it up

Tyler has a full-time job

(duh!)

and not only that,

he got promoted 

and moved to a new department

right around the time we started building,

which left him even busier at work than ever.

He simply wasn't home enough 

to do all of the building we thought he'd do.

and so,

I stepped in.

Every time there was a job that needed doing,

and I was the one available to do it,

I did it.

I worked with my dad,

whose graciousness and generosity towards us

knows no bounds.

I've worked with Brandon.

I've worked with My Love.

I've worked with all 3 of them together,

and with just my two men.

I've worked with Jeannie, and Eva, and Marin.

I've worked with all four of the younger kids,

together,

separately,

and in every imaginable combination.

And I've worked alone

far more than I'd have ever thought.

I've learned so much!

We've had some laughs.

and a few arguments

(really - only a few)

I've shed tears on many occassions

because I was in so much pain.

Or so overwhelmed with all we had left to do.

And let's be honest,

I've had some

'why do I have to be the only one who is working so hard'

pity parties.

(yes - I know how ridiculous that is.
just keeping it real, folks)

I've also had moments of euphoria

at a job well done,

and earned gobs of imaginary badges.

I'm not uber skilled or talented,

or knowledgeable.

I'm just a freakin' hard worker

(and I am highly motivated to get out of this house

and into my new one!)

From Friday afternoon to Tuesday night

I worked over 37 hours 

out in the house

on the floors

(sanding, staining, finishing with oil)

None of those hours were leisurely,

it was all hard, quick moving work.

Once you start putting stuff on your floors,

you can't stop 'til your done...

A lot of those hours were with Tyler,

some with the kids,

some with the whole family,

and a good chunk - alone

All of them added up 

to a pretty spectacular

(though quite far from perfect!) 

rustic floor.

At some point, I'll post a little more of the process
- what we did,
and what we wish we'd done -
both for our reference,
and also for anybody who is looking to 

stain and tung oil their floors
because there is surprisingly very little info
on the world wide web.

quilt labels on memory lane

Rachel started a conversation about quilt labeling,

and since I'm taking it a bit easy today 

I decided a small trip down label memory lane might be fun.

Unless I make it into the back,

or tuck it into the binding

I pretty much always cut a piece of very lightweight batiste

the same size as the label

and sew around all four sides, right sides together.

I cut a slit in the batiste

and use that slit to turn the label right side out.

Then I press it well

so that you can't see any of the batiste, 

then glue baste in place on the quilt back

and hand-stitch. 

usually with invisible stitches,

but occasionally with big stitch quilting.

If I'm on top of my game and plan to tuck it into the binding,

I sew up 3 sides, 

and leave the side that will go in the binding 

for turning the label right side out

with no need for the slit in the back.

You can see though,

that I only had the foresight to do that

once.

This one is from Matt and Marin's wedding gift quilt,

made into the backing.

I was so tickled with how their wedding date turned out

 that I totally forgot to include

the name of the quilt,

and who made it

when I made the rest of the label.

This one for my niece's quilt was squeal worthy.

That tiny star!

I ordered embroidered labels from a friend

for Out of the Blue

and Faith and Freedom

Here

we have another teeny tiny star label

for Simply Luscious,

 Which is one of my favorite quilts to use

and the most fun quilt to make.

I *think* this was my first label,

made for the quilt I made for my man 3 1/2 years ago.

Oh. Nope.

That wasn't my first label.

This was my first.

It was actually part of the back of the quilt.

But it wasn't actually finished in the Spring. oops.

This one is the label for my baby sister's quilt

(oh - do follow that link - the coupon code is still good!!)

A very simple 'slip in the binding' tag

was made for Covered in Love and Prayers,

a quilt I (quickly) made for a friend undergoing chemo.

Of course,

there are many times 

that I either chose not to,

or simply forgot

to make a label, too.

Here are three that I especially regret not adding labels to

Diamond Mosaic

On the Wild Side

and Orange Explosion, 

the One Block Wonder quilt I made for my mom.

~

So - makers and quilt snugglers,

what's your take on labels??

the house, a week in review

Let's see.

Not a lot of progress on the house-building this week.

Monday and Tuesday all available minutes

were dedicated to costumes

and going to the Fall Festival at our church.

Wednesday was full of 

recovering from the Fall Festival

(so.many.people!)

and making food for 242

and then,

of course, actually attending 242.

Thursday,

you might remember

 I spent over 5 hours finishing the front door.

Thursday evening and Friday were spent 

testing various stains / stains with tung oil combos

(and running around town,

obtaining said stains)

and then doing several hours of research

regarding the use of stain 

under tung oil.

(It's trickier business than we'd initially realized,

but we are pretty set on the tung oil

as we feel like it will give us the look we are wanting

with maintenance that we can handle.)

Friday night,

Tyler and I started on the installation

of luxury vinyl planks

in the upstairs bathroom.

(we also totally forgot about a birthday party

Jeremiah and Josiah were supposed to go to,

and felt like huge heels

 when we saw pictures of the party on FB Saturday night

😩)

methinks my tub protection isn't terribly effective all smashed into the tub, instead of covering it 😑

We babysat Hadley over the weekend

(she was soo much happier than last time - yay!)

so not much at all got done on the house,

but we did manage to finish the bathroom floor

(a little tip - if you have access to a saw,

don't follow the instructions

and cut the dang flooring with a utility knife.

Use the saw!)

and we started making stain.

(an outdoor kitchen would be very nice for this)

There are only 3 wood prints in a box of 7 planks - what the heck?!
I was expecting all 7 to be different, and even then, wasn't sure how I felt about it...
Tip #2 - install your fake wood before you install the real deal

Oh -  I also added one more coat of teak oil to the door

while Baby Girl and Pops were napping.

The 2 coats I had on it probably were good enough,

but now there is no doubt

that it will be protected for (at least) a few years.

Hopefully we will be able to make significantly better progress

this week,

because there is still soooo much to do

before we can move.

And we are all so ready to move!!

ah, nuts!

It's official;

we

are

 nuts.

Nuts for a dark walnut stain,

that is.

So
when we couldn't find a stain locally
that will work with the tung oil finish we want to use,
we set about making our own.

Have we reached a new level of crazy??

(I'll let ya know....)

the door

Not long after we bought the door,

I bought a can of teak oil

to put on it.

And then the can sat in the wall in the garage

for well over a year.

We would take turns

remarking on how we really needed 

to oil the door,

but then we'd tackle some other project.

When Matt was here last week

he said, 

"You're really going to want to get that oil on the door before winter."

It wasn't as if I didn't already know we needed to do that,

but the way he said it,

I interpreted it as

'It would really be best for you 

if you got the door done soon'

and for goodness sake,

it'd been installed for over a year,

I knew I just needed to make 

'oil the darn door'

a priority.

entirely sanded, L side cleaned and oiled

One of the problems with the internet

is there is so much information.

That's a good thing, of course,

but I tend to over-research

and then convince myself that 'x' will be hard

or worse,

I'll screw it up

with my inexperience.

1 coat on everything

Matt assured me that nothing was permanent

and if I did

by some strange chance

really mess it up,

the door could be sanded 

and we could start over again.

So  - I checked the forecast,

and determined that Thursday was the day.

And because I am so good at forgetting things,

I set a reminder on my phone.

2nd (heavier) coat on L side

It took longer than I antcipated

(and my arm is absolutely killing me.

As in - I asked Tyler for 10 ibuprofen.

(I normally have to be forced to take them)

Don't worry - he only gave me 2)

but it wasn't hard,

and I didn't screw up at all.

First I sanded everything,

giving extra care to the areas the neighbors' dog had peed on,

then I wiped everything down with mineral spirits

and gave it 2 coats of teak oil

and now

we have a
 gorgeous
protected-from-the-elements door.

ta-da!

no sewing is happening,
but this is a major finish anyways,
so I'm linking up with the other finishers at Amanda Jean's

Halloween 2017

(not sure what is up with that huge space! so sorry!!)

No time for writing today,

but I wanted to get these pictures off my phone 

and on the blog

asap

so all we have are quickly captioned photos.

On Monday, Brandon helped with the festival for Kistler Center - he's an anonymous Kid Central worker 

Old Man Jeremiah. He said he had the comfiest halloween costume ever

My little Asian girl

Lily and Lex' made Lexi's poptart costume months ago!

Brandon as Ben, our Children's Pastor
(and a major investor into Brandon's life)

Our pastors and their Impastors 😂

pretty little poptart

a Ranger, from The Ranger's Apprentice book series.
(though mostly it was assumed he was Robin Hood)

💜

I do love these (not so little) people!!

He was willing to trim his beard extra short to be Ben,
because today starts No-Shave-November

Silly Goober!
(That fabric for his candy bag was only a loan.
Am I a nice mom or what??)

Knowing she wouldn't want to keep her box on all evening,
I whipped up a quick under-costume poptart costume, too

Bow was made by Brandon, painted by Josiah.
Pretty sure Jeremiah and Josiah made the sword type weapon

Lily and Josiah made the sheath and Momma made the quiver and cloak