Needles and Pens

Well I needed a break from house projects, and boy, did I get one. We've had a lot of rain lately, and this week experienced the worst flood in Duluth's history . Not to mention the flooding in Superior, Wisconsin and so many small towns and rural areas surrounding the twin ports. I'm so very thankful that our home was not affected and that there was no loss of human life, but so very saddened by the deaths of several zoo animals and the devastation of the homes and property of so many all around us. Duluth, on a better day... Staining the deck has not been an option -- and getting it stained? Suddenly, not such a big deal. My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are suffering as a result of the floods... Minnesota Public Radio has some good coverage of the flood in photos here . KARE-11 News Coverage What I have been doing during these rainy June days is catching up on my baby quilts. I have two finished (one awaiting baby's name for the label) and a third i...

Well June is half over already and I haven't even started on my June project... BUT, I think today may be the day. I plan to get outside and start some scraping and painting on the deck railings, weather permitting. Wish me luck for a day without rain... I do, however, have some progress to report on the kitchen. It's really coming along. Since my last update, I stripped the rest of the wallpaper, patched and sanded lots of dings and nail holes in the walls, and finished the painting -- and we got a new light fixture! Here's our old fluorescent light with the missing cover (and ugly, to boot!) And here's the new light installed and a freshly painted ceiling. What a difference! Just SO much better. And no surprise here, but deciding on a wall color was tough. I had a vague idea in mind of "purpley-gray," and gradually collected every purpley-gray sample in existence a few samples to mull over. Finally I decided on "Vintage Vineyard,...

Sorry I'm a little late with this (story of my life these days), but the challenge project for June is #12 -- on my list, the front porch and back deck. With any luck, I can tackle this one with some help from my hubby and still play catch-up in the kitchen at the same time. So here's the front porch, from the front of the house. It doesn't look too bad, but it's definitely time to repaint the rails and stain the deck. A little landscaping wouldn't hurt either. And this is the view walking up to the porch from the driveway... Yikes. The railroad ties supporting the walkway are beginning to rot and the whole thing has a definite tilt these days. My husband just mentioned this today, so hopefully I can get him on board to work on it soon... (And I think the snowboard can safely be put away now, too.) Here's the back deck, which gets lots of use -- and it shows. Coming up the stairs from the back: View from the sliding glass door: View fr...