Monday, March 4, 2024

Spring Is Here!

Hello Quilty Friends!  I wish I had some quilty goodness to share with you today but no sewing happened last week. So I thought I would share a picture of my favorite fabric stash cabinet. Stuffed full of all my favorite bright fabrics.  Lakehouse Drygoods, Lori Holt, Pioneer Woman and so much more. That top shelf is three deep of fat quarter bundles. 


The kitchen project came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday evening due to a stomach virus. Before retiring to the couch for a much needed three day break I managed to get add three coats of the clear coat to the cabinet base.


I played around with the idea of white washing them before applying the clear coat.  After the first application of clear coat had dried I was regretting not white washing.  But what's done is done I'm not sanding them down again. 


Now onto an embarrassing topic, electrical outlets.  Hubby replaced the old nasty, dirty, yukky almond colored outlets.  He thought they were fine and it took a bit of shaming to convince him it was time to upgrade them.  A big thank you to his sister who without me knowing shamed him a bit more. His mom has also been cheering me on and letting her baby boy know he needs to just follow my lead on this project.


After my stomach issues on Wednesday Mr. Podunk jumped in and ordered some better sanding discs for the sander.  When they arrived I was still couch bound so he pitched in and started sanding the cabinet doors.


Today I will start the detailed sanding in the grooves of the doors, then use finer sandpaper to prepare the doors for the clear coat.  I should have these six doors done in the next couple of days. 


I'm working on the cabinets in sections.  Right now I'm sanding down section one.  When they are stained and back on the wall I will move onto section two.  After the cabinets are refinished I'll move onto the walls.


Last night I was feeling much better so I decided to take a walk around the property to see what needed to be done outside. The spring veggie garden planting starts this week.  There's so much to do before planting. Just like with the kitchen project I'll be doing it a little at a time.  Last year I cracked one of my vertebrae while working outside so a lot of things didn't get done at the end of the year.


All of last years plants still need to be pulled.  Hubby offered last fall to clean up the mess but I told him to leave it be and I would deal with it when I could.


The first thing to plant is snow peas in the row on the right.  I've cleaned it up a bit and will need to add a little compost to the dirt before planting. 


This circle flowerbed is last years back breaker.  I'm not exactly sure what cracked my vertebrae but it happened while working on this project.  I did trip over a rake and fell flat on my face. 


But I also moved a ton of rocks.  Oh well, my back is better now.


This years flowerbed project is to keep the deer from eating my tulips.  See the deer hoof print?


The deer have never bothered my tulips before.  I've read that castor oil, dried hot peppers and Irish Spring soap will all help keep deer away from plants.  We have all on hand so I'll give each one a try.


There's lot's to get done this week so I better get started.  Hopefully I can find time to play with fabric this week.  See you next Monday!












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Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Other Than Quilting

 Hello Quilty Friends!  Not much quilting has been going on out here in Podunk.  I did finish this little cutie a couple of weeks ago.  Now I can't decide if it needs a border, what do you think?


For now she is going to be put in the UFO pile because there's bigger things in the works.  As you can see below the quilt on the frame is covered to protect it from dust.  DUST?


Well, you see...I got a wild hair to redo the kitchen.  As much as I don't like sharing this part of my home I'm going to do it anyway because it is real life and YUKKY.  Our home was built in the late 60's or early 70's. Long before I came along, hubby remodeled every room in the house.  Mid to late 90's, which is very apparent by those lovely golden oak cabinets.  It's the only room I haven't changed and it's time to tackle this little ugly kitchen.  I can't make the room any larger and to be honest I'm so used to a super small kitchen I don't think I want it any bigger.  It's just me and him most of the time.  Sure we have company occasionally but we don't entertain often enough to worry about needing more space.
It's basically a hallway.  The picture below was taken from the dining room.  The red arrow is a small hallway to the pantry area.


The pantry area is one small pantry/closet(white sheet covering it, sanding dust protection) that holds my small appliances, storage containers and things we don't use much in the kitchen. 
Behind the tan curtain is my large pantry.  It's about 8' x 6' and is full of canned goods and home canning supplies.


Here's the view from the other end looking toward the dining room.  The arrow is pointing towards an "window".  It's not a real window it's a framed hole looking out into my sewing room.  We think my sewing room was originally a carport that was later converted into a room.  

As you can see I started ripping down wallpaper then decided to stop.  My thoughts was the wallpaper would protect the drywall when I started sanding down the cabinets.


This is what it looks like today.  I'm working a section at a time. When the top cabinets are finished and all the contents back in them, I'll start on the bottom cabinets.  Of course I'll need to cover the top while I work on the bottom.  It'll take longer to do it this way but it allows us to keep using the kitchen as I redo everything. The plan is to only work on the kitchen while hubby is at work. The evening time is slotted for making supper and doing other things like maybe some quilting!  


The plan is to update the blog every Monday.  One blog post to cover a weeks worth of whatever is going on in Podunk.  See you on Monday!













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Wednesday, February 21, 2024

A Tiny Dresden

 Hello Quilty Friends!  Take a look at this little cutie I made from 2 inch scraps.


I've not had a lot of time for sewing in the last couple of weeks.  So, I took a little break from the busy work and made the smallest Dresden I've ever made.  Piecing the tiny block requires my old fat fingers to work hard. Pressing those seams open was quite tricky and I had to pick out some stitching...more than once.


Hopefully I can find a little more time later in the week to make another one.  Next time I'm going to try to make one a tad bit smaller by cutting the fabric a little shorter.  Piecing them should be a good workout for my old fat fingers. 


I'll let you know how it goes.  Then I'll need to come up with a way to use them.  Yep, I have no plan for them.  I'm just playing with fabric and having fun!









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Monday, January 29, 2024

There's Something About Dresden's

Hello Quilty Friends!  Did I ever tell you how much I love the dresden quilt block?  If I could only make one quilt block for the rest of my life it would be the dresden.

No matter how big or small,  they are just too darn cute.  This little dresden measures about 7" across. 


It was made with the EZ Mini Dresden Jelly Roll Ruler.  As you can guess by the name, the template is two inches tall and is meant to be used with a jelly roll.  


I did not use a jelly roll.  I used scraps from an old Bonnie and Camille layer cake and charm pack.


The packaging says it comes with a pattern but it's probably one of the worst patterns I've ever seen.  They didn't even include a circle template for the center.  Not a problem for me but for a newbie quilter it might be.  I used the Karen Buckley Bigger Perfect Circles to make the center of my dresden.


Then added two little hearts using fusible applique made with Heat N Bond Lite.  Normally I would machine stitch the blanket stitch around the applique with Superior Threads Mono Poly thread.  This time I went a little wild and used pink serger thread from Wal-mart.  I'm not sure of the brand.  I love how it turned out.


I loved it so much that I cut a few more blocks.  I'm sewing without a plan.  Just making dresdens for the fun of making them.














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