Needles and Pens

What? Two posts in one week??? I haven't managed that in awhile. But before time gets away from me again, I wanted to get in an update on the scrappy cowboy quilt I was making for my niece, Annie (of Decorator in a Box ). She had chosen the fabrics and the scrappy layout, and the top was almost finished when I last posted... And just in time for a 4th of July visit from Annie and family, the quilt was finished! She'll be giving it to her friend back in Texas, as a special gift for her baby boy. I ran a little short on the cowboy print for the back, but had just enough of the buffalo plaid flannel left over to piece in the extra length: It's quilted with a gold thread similar to blue jean stitching, all diagonal crosshatching, except for two "blocks" that seemed perfect for quilted cowboy boots. Can you see the boot? I had a hard time getting a picture to show it off. Here's a closeup that shows the borders: And some of the crosshatching: ...

I know, I know... I'm SO behind! I have to apologize to anyone who has been following along on this challenge. My May project (the kitchen) dragged into June and my June project (the deck and front porch) barely got started before it was July. The July project should be #8 (in case you've been wondering), the garage, but I think I'm going to pass on that one and try to get the kitchen finished before I dig into anything else. Meanwhile, I do have a few progress pictures to share. I'm still working on it. Really, I am! Last week, we finally got our kitchen floor done. Here's the "before:" It doesn't look so bad in the picture, but it actually had lots of nicks and cuts in it, a seam right through the middle of the room, and the surface was so worn down, there was no getting it really clean anymore. Here's the new tile: Such a big change, it's taken some getting used to, but it's definitely growing on me. And... we got a new o...

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...

Well, it was bound to happen eventually... no "reveal" post for this month. May is always a super busy time at our house, so I'm really not surprised. And there were a lot of extra goings-on this year besides. So I'm still working on the kitchen, slowly but surely. At this point, I plan to keep at it into June and hopefully squeeze in my June project, too. Or not. We'll see. Life happens. I do have a few progress pics to share at least. Cleaning out and organizing the cabinets seemed to take forever . I was seriously NOT in the mood AT ALL. I was overcome with such overwhelming lethargy over the whole thing, I was doing well to finish one a day. Hated, hated, hated cleaning out the cabinets. Like pulling teeth. Seriously. At any rate, I finally finished that miserable job and got around to painting -- which pretty much destroyed the kitchen. For a week or so, it looked more or less like this... But it was so worth the mess. The color is off in th...