Needles and Pens

Previous Posts on February's Project: Project Overview and "Before" Pictures Mid-month Update Heads Up (Ongoing Suspended Ceiling Project) February has finally come to an end, and I can't say I'm sorry to see it go! We were hit with all the typical cold viruses and stomach bugs this month, and the last couple of weeks felt like slow motion. It's a wonder we got anything done at all, but I'm happy to say we made definite progress on our February challenge project, the basement rec room. Here are a few pictures taken this morning. The view, coming down the stairs, looking over the stair railing: Believe it or not, that floor is clean. I washed it myself just yesterday. On my hands and knees. My kingdom for new flooring! Despite the many things I didn't get done, my goal of making this a usable game room was accomplished. (As evidenced by the gamer who would rather be in all my "after" pics than stop playing his game.) Isn...

It's been awhile since I've posted an update on my February Better Home project, and with only three days left, I've been taking stock of what's been done and what can still realistically be done in these last few days. I think I was on target awhile back when I said I'd be happy just to have the area de-junked and the floor washed. Well, I have three days left to get that floor washed... LoL That's kind of how things have been going here this month. Aside from some major de-cluttering, we did get a start on a long-put-off project in this room -- the ceiling. Though the two bedroom ceilings were finished when we bought our house in 1998, the rest of the basement still has the heat duct-plumbing-wiring-and-beams decor overhead. In the area I've been working on, this is the basic ceiling view. Years ago, we purchased a suspended ceiling "starter kit" for the room, but never got around to so much as opening the box. This challenge has, if no...

Apparently the recent change that Blogger has made to the comment verifications on some blogs... is driving a lot of people totally CRAZY! LoL I've struggled with it a few times myself (taking multiple tries to get the "right" words), so thought I'd better check and see if I was one of those blogs... I couldn't find anything about it in my settings, so I did the next best thing (I thought) and did a test comment on my blog, and was NOT asked for verification. I thought I was in the clear. Wrong. Luckily, someone who did fight the "prove you're not a robot" fight, asked very kindly in her comment if I'd consider turning off my verifications... huh? I thought they were off! Sure enough, when I checked again (while logged OUT of blogger) there they were, those fuzzy gray words you can barely make out. Grrr... evidently you only see the verification words on your own blog when you're logged out of Blogger. I looked again in my settings (I use th...

Well, almost finished. We still need to find out the baby's name for the label, but for the most part, the Sweet Hearts baby quilt for my niece's friend (and my first attempt at quilting with this minky-type fabric) is done! The quilting was as challenging as I expected, but not for the reasons I had imagined. I planned to do simple cross-hatching through the minky squares, to keep it as trouble-free as possible. Once I had that part finished (or so I thought), I realized that there was all kinds of stitch skipping going on on the back of the quilt and had to completely UN-sew everything I had done so far. (All of the diagonal lines you see here.) Isn't this a gorgeous print? ("Fabulous Finds," a Stonehill Collection by Donna Wilder for Fabric Traditions © 2011) My niece chose all of the fabrics for this quilt. Such a unique and pretty combination! (If you like her style, I'm sure she'd love to have you check out her interior design website here ...

I've been a little under the weather for the past week or so, but now that I seem to be bouncing back a bit, I wanted to share one of the brighter spots in my week -- my scrappy baby quilt is back home! This is the quilt top I made for Marcia's Scrappy Quilt Challenge back in December. I was so excited to have my name drawn and to have my top quilted by Marcia. It was a cute little top, but nothing special really -- until Marcia worked her magic... It's gorgeous! I'm loving every detail, such as the little butterflies that she incorporated into the swirl design... I had asked her to stitch her name into the quilting, but she really surprised me with this, "Made by Heather, Quilted by Marcia, 2012." And as if the beautiful quilting weren't enough, Marcia also sent me some of her lovely note cards and postcards . Aren't they pretty? I have been truly spoiled. The quilting photos above are only a few of the many Marcia took through...

Pat Sloan is having a Valentine Link Party (and a giveaway!) at her blog today, so I thought I'd see how many heart quilts I could find in my pictures for a little Valentine quilt show. Starting with the most recent, my current WIP, which I blogged about yesterday. The borders are on now, and it's pinned and ready to quilt. Nora's quilt, 2011 Orphan Block Sampler, 2011 Grandma's Hankies, 2008 A Work of Heart, 2007 Gathered Hearts, 2006 Mackenzie's Quilt, 2005 Scrappy Valentine, 2005 Haley's Quilt, 2004 Brooke's Quilt, 2003 The photo quality gets worse and worse, the further back you go. Wish I'd had a better camera back then! But I guess a bad picture is better than no picture at all. They still bring back lots of fond memories. :o) Happy Valentine's Day, all!

Back in September of last year, I made this little baby quilt for my new great-niece, Nora, and I received one of the sweetest thank you notes from her mom that I've ever read. She left no doubt that she really loved the quilt, and I don't have to tell you how good that made me feel. :o) Sometime around Christmas, she asked if she could hire me to make another one for a friend of hers who is expecting in March. Of course, I said yes! So a couple of weeks ago, I received a package in the mail with the fabrics she had chosen for the quilt. Here's what I have finished so far: Piecing that bubbly chenille has been a bit of a challenge. It tends to creep around while you're sewing, so lots of pinning is required, but it seems to be working out okay. I think the overall effect will be awesome with the varying textures, not to mention how soft and cuddly it will be for the baby! I just wish these pictures did justice to the chocolaty richness of the fabric. This week...

Thought I got lost in that basement mess, didn't ya? LoL I've spent an awful lot of time down there, for sure. Between that, working on a custom quilt order, and doing some major computer overhauling, it's been a hectic couple of weeks (and I have the overflowing inbox to prove it -- I'm SO behind!). But I thought it was time for a little project update on my basement rec room, so I put together a few "before" and "progress so far" pictures. The first thing you'll notice is how bright the room is now (aside from the wall color)! My hubby and I went shopping for some much-needed new fluorescent light fixtures on day one, and he had them all installed that night. That improvement alone was like night and day -- literally! Looking better! The blue Hoosier cabinet you can barely see in the before pic has been moved to our upstairs entryway. I have plans for it later... Lots of junk has been moved out of the way, and now you can really see ho...

February is here -- time for a new Home Challenge! Did you finish your project for January? If you made any progress at all (even if you didn't quite get it all done), give yourself a pat on the back. Progress is what it's all about! If you've blogged about your January project, remember to link up at the end of this post so we can all come and see what you've accomplished. :o) As for February, the lucky number is.... number 10! On my list, that's the basement rec room. Heaven help me. I was really hoping to get out of the basement this month, but that's the luck of the draw. And after making the guest room over, it would be nice for guests to get there without first walking through the technicolor junkyard. Wondering what that looks like? Beware. It's not pretty. Here come the "befores" ... The view as you come down the stairs: Turn to the right, and there's the guest room, straight ahead. So far, not too overwhelming... until...