Tuesday, October 26, 2010

This Little House: The Front Room

I spent some time last week uncovering the stairs leading to the sewing suite. I was hoping I'd find some hard wood treads. Instead, I found this dark-finished pine. Not a problem. I like them anyway.Removing all that carpet made such a difference. I'm really glad I got it finished. It was mostly prompted by the floor finishing upstairs. Since the flooring continues across the landing, the carpet had to give at some point. Somewhere down the road, we'll have the stairs refinished to match the rest of the house.
Look at all those boxes. I'm really starting to dislike this unpacking business.
Aren't those hardwood floors pretty? Now, to get those guys in here to put down the baseboard trim.
Okay, so here is the front room when I started. Some boxes, no real window treatments and a bunch of space. I didn't want to this to be our room for watching television. I read somewhere that if your television is in the first room in the house you are common. To avoid that (yes, I know, I'm plenty common, just look at those chairs) I decided we would put the dining set in the front room to create an area for entertaining. It's not like there is any room in the kitchen to put a table and chairs.
You will have to forgive the chairs for being green. It isn't their fault they don't match the window treatments. Maybe I should have gotten the brown curtains. Oh, well. I like the orange. You can just see past the table to the matching pillows on the lower shelf unit. I'll unpack a few more boxes to get something on those bare shelves and we'll call this room done.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Summer's End

What good is a sewing suite if you don't get some sewing done?
Here is the newest quilt, all laid out for basting. It's wonderful to have enough space to actually baste a quilt without having to crawl around on the floor.
All quilted and the binding added. Time to watch some DiY network to finish the binding off.
After many hours sitting in front of the television with needle and thread, I've finished the binding.
These fabrics are from Summer's End by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda. I had six charm packs that I worried to death to make these two quilts. This is the crib-size quilt made with the reds, oranges and the creams. Everything left over was used to make the larger quilt above.

I decided to go with a larger meandering quilting pattern for this one. I think they both came out wonderfully. Overall, a great way to say goodbye to summer as the weather shifts to a crisp autumn.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

This Little House: The Sewing Suite

Over the last couple weeks I've been working on getting the sewing suite finished so I can completely unpack all of those moving boxes full of fabric.Step One: Pull up all the stinky carpet. Look at that wonderful floor! Someone tried to tell me it was "Art Deco." Whatever it is, it will soon be covered with something much better.Here it is as a work in progress. I love my home improvement experts. They make everything easier. Last night, they finished up the trim. The trim will need a coat of primer and paint, but that can wait. I have to shift everything from the other side of the level so they can continue the wonderful flooring all they way across the level.

Today's project is to finish the baseboard trim throughout the main level.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Truly Awesome

While I was cruising around this Awesome fabric from Moda came in the mail. I couldn't wait to dive right in and create a new little quilt.
Ingredients: Two charm packs, five 2.5" wide strips of border, five 2.5" wide strips of binding, about 1.5 yards of flannel and batting to fit. Add thread to match and get sewing.
I found a great multicolor thread that was in the same warm, fall colors.
Yield: One Awesome quilt!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Joey & Nina

Last Saturday, we were in Massachusetts for the wedding of an old friend. It's been years (more than ten, for those of you keeping track) since we have seen Joey and several other friends.
Here is Joey's Mother, Joey and his beautiful wife Nina.
The ceremony was wonderful. Catching up with friends at the reception was great.
The best man Tim and the groom enjoy some wedding cake.
It was great to see everyone again. Time flies. Here is to not losing track of friends.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic





More pictures of Santo Domingo. These were taken the third day we were there. Throughout the day the sky would open up and douse the streets with rain. Several times we had to duck for cover. Sometimes we would find something wonderful.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Next stop: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Apologies, all of these pictures were taken while my camera lens was fogged from the humidity. I'm going to call it a special lens effect and carry on.
The walls of Santo Domingo. The age of the structures here is rather humbling.
Columbus Park.

I have some much better pictures of this area. (Without special lens effects, even.)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Colon, Panama

The Panama Canal is surely a wondrous sight. Since we didn't get that close, I don't have any pictures of the Canal.I was unable to capture some of the massive ships waiting to enter the Canal. Even if I'd taken video, I'm sure I couldn't have shown you the tons and tons of ships waiting in the queue.
That's pretty much it for Colon. It was a "working portcall," which means we worked, we didn't go see anything.