Empty nest

It's hard to believe that after 37 years my youngest is out of the house! We took him to BYU-Provo last week. On our way we stopped to visit a son in Rigby, Idaho..... Now we are getting ready to move to Rigby! We are purchasing a house across the street from 3 of our grand-kids.
So the purge begins.....

A smaller home than we have now, but we want to retire near grandkids.
It has a full basement and a large room that my longarm AND my sewing will fit into. I have been  Quilter Upstairs; I will become The Quilter Downstairs. Those 2 windows at the bottom of the front of the house are to my studio. I can't wait until Spring!

Swimming

I LOVE HAVING A SWIMMING POOL! It was fabulous when we had all the kids at home and it is fabulous when the grand-kids visit. And it is fabulous when I can get in and exercise by myself.
Just sitting near it is cooling. Not that I can stand to sit near it for long.

 Even the 2 month old enjoyed it.

 Noodles make it even more fun.

This squirt gun was too much for him to handle but he played with it anyway.

They brought this 'blob' from Colorado and it was a BIG hit after Uncle Andrew blew it up for them.

Kitchen Island

We remodeled our kitchen in 2011.At the time I posted a picture of my dream island but never showed you it finished. We designed it with the stone top in mind but built it with butcher-block so the space is not as big as the magazine pictures.

It sits up on wheels (that way I did not have to decide exactly where to put it.) and we can move it when we have a party. The top of the cabinet is covered in cork board, I figured if cork can be used on the floor, it can be used on this protected counter. I did a google search and found a place that would custom build the butcher block so it would be wide enough to have an overhang on both sides. Then I ordered it longer so we would have enough scraps to use as the pseudo support.

It really just hides the metal supports.

Another;

The butcher block is the workhorse of the kitchen counters. The underneath part does not get used everyday but I slide in cookie sheets when the surface is covered, pies near the holidays, and occasionally it will hold junk that was on the top when I need the surface. Usually it has my big shallow salad bowl under it, but today it was bare.

I love love love my new kitchen.

If you want to do something similar, this is what I remember. The kitchen designer at Home Depot took an upper cabinet and altered it to fit our design, she said a lower cabinet couldn't be altered the way we wanted. We took a standard cabinet height of 36 inches and subtracted the counter height and the space height and then the wheel height. I would like the space to be bigger but it is 3 5/8". The cork is 1/4" thick.  I have an e-mail from http://www.butcherblockspecialist.com/ that is where I purchased the maple butcher block from. They were quick and it looks great.

Halloween

This is on my front door;

 Love the Happy Witch.

When I saw them at HEB (a grocery store) last year I couldn't decide which one I liked the most; skeleton or witch. This year the clear winner is the witch. I got them for a ridiculously low price, which now escapes me, but I keep thinking $.50, it WAS a week after Halloween. But numbers do not stay in my head, they may have been as high as $2.50. I thought I'd written it down but can't find it.
I try to stay on the light side of Halloween decorating, no spooky stuff for me.

powder room

So I saw this on pinterest 3?  days ago....... so I went to Hobby Lobby...and

 I saw these AND they are 50% off this week. The white ones were beautiful BUT BIG and the most expensive of the 3.

I liked the one on the right for it's British influence but decided the darker red would be better. (The water bottle is for scale.)

now my guest bath has a place to put T.P. I need a little more color in here but it looks better!

star mobile

I saw a star 'chandelier' on pinterest and adapted it for Jeffrey's 'not prom' decorations. I had the dates help me sew the stars and attach them to the wreath form that was spray painted white. Ingredients for mobile;

• 12" wire wreath form from Michaels
• white spray paint (to match the ceiling)
• cardstock, various colors 
• used a couple papers that had music on them (to reflect Jeffrey's music interest)
• found one paper with their high school name on it
• pages from a German reader's digest (to reflect Jeffrey's German interest)
• pages from a Literature (reflect  one date's English major.)
• die cut machine (I used the one at the scrapbook store.)
• sewing machine
• crystal beads
• fish-line
• push pin

Cut your shapes out, we did a die cut machine and then a star punch to use the scraps up. Set up your sewing machine with neutral thread, set stitch  length to baste. Pull a long tail, enough to tie to wreath, then sew through a star, pull it behind the machine and grab another star, we put about 5 stars on each length. Varied the colors and sizes. Tie the wreath with 3-4 lengths of fish line above the wreath and hang it where you can work on it. (ours hung from a ceiling fan chain while we were working on it.) Tie your strings on the wreath all around until it looks full enough. ( We did 12 strings on one and 10 on the other.)

 We used lighter fishline for the crystals and hung them from the wreath at various heights.

I like to sit on the couch and watch it flutter and spin. I imagine it would be wonderful in a babies room; but I do not think it would be easy to transport....

bar shelves

We moved into our home about 15 years ago and I dreamed of getting rid of the bar the whole time.

The space was mainly used as storage and was open to the living room. This is from the hallway, to the left was the 'bar'. Only attractive at Christmas time, occasionally it would get cleaned off and look good other times. It's been a year and a half since the bar was changed to a closet and the shelves are done!

Here it is in the process.

Here it is finished. Now what do I do? If I don't decide soon people will start stacking stuff on them and they will be as bad as the original bar. I have small stuff evidently. I need big stuff for the top shelves.

Help me.

errands

I'm sure you are interested but today I had to go and

• get a request for police report form for Roger (for VISA)
• analyze pool water for pool-Pool Warehouse
• white thick t-shirt for Andrew-Hobby Lobby
• Dawn dishwashing soap for white t-shirt-HEB; grocery store
• long underwear for Jeffrey-Academy
• Yarn for last hat-Park Avenue yarn (didn't buy it since I forgot to bring a scrap to match)
• lunch for me :) (barbecue at Rudy's)
• gas for car-Exxon

Unfortunately every one of those items meant a different store and 3 different towns; Friendswood, Webster, and League City...oops 4, gas was purchased in Pasadena.
Tomorrow will be more of the same....

While I was gone the contractor finished putting up the tile around our fireplace. :)

Halloween entry

I finally got my jars together....and put some Martha Stewart labels on them.

The plan was to do more jars...I had found some 'poison' labels here. But my boys did not like the idea of having poison sitting on the entry. So I looked for 'Magic Potion" labels but was not happy with the one's I found....so I was going to label my own. Ended up buying these at JoAnn's. Much easier.Got the lace there too.

Easy, now to fill the jars with candy.

Chaos

Why is it that when one area of your home is a wreck it makes it doubly difficult to keep any area reasonably clean? The kitchen is not directly effected with the massive, 'move everything except the beds out of the upstairs' to the downstairs chaos but it has not escaped. I find it difficult to function with the chaos and just want to leave. It's a good time to go...... shopping and buy....what? where would I put it? ...
The boys really need me to stay sane.
So I have them move what they can a bit at a time and by Saturday we WILL finish.

*We went to the mall and bought the boys new underwear and jeans for school. Then worked for the 40 minutes left on Jeffrey's shelves.

Little houses

I had a deadline for these 12 houses. July 31st. Now to mail them.

 The first one I did I reversed the door...I'll have to keep that one. ;)

 We are getting the carpet cleaned so Roger decided we should move out of the upstairs to be able to clean under everything.

...and these are the nice neat areas!  The battery died or you would have seen the whole chaos of the downstairs....
Now I get to clean the laundry room and bring the big things down.

my kitchen

My kitchen is almost 100% finished but my daughters wanted pictures so here they are;
unstaged but fairly clean;

 The refrigerator is where the stove used to be. The corner cabinet holds a lot of dishes.

 The stove is close to where the fridge used to be but is actually in what used to be the dining room.

I LOVE my kitchen. The island is in the garage; actually has been worked on this week! The cork is on....give us another week and it might be finished!

I'll do another post when it is 100% done.

Butcher block

I ordered butcher block, about 3 weeks ago,  from this firm. It came yesterday via the little brown truck; UPS. It is very heavy. Just what we ordered.

NOW my kitchen can be finished. Yeah!
Actually I have been using a kitchen table in the middle of the kitchen for the island and it has worked beautifully. I was not ready to stand and do the chopping/preparing of food and this way it was better to sit. Soon I will have to stand. I'm almost ready; I can stand at the long-arm for longer periods of time......

Coaster

I have wondered at the usefulness of a little cloth coaster. When my coaster looks like this:

I layered 3 small pretty thrift store plates and put them next to my bed. It looks nice and keeps the dresser dry.
It beats using a magazine, or a small coaster.

It's fall!

Even though it is 98 degrees here we were told that fall has started so I got a new door decoration. I love sunflowers and Joanne's had several to choose from.
Yes, I took the photo at night. It is not on the apartment, since no one ever visits here...and I never see the front door since I enter through the garage.

Wednesday's post

I know it's Thursday; but Wednesday just disappeared!
Christmas panic is setting in; I have no idea how I will get all the projects done that I'd like to let alone do some housework and get the clutter buster for this week done but if I don't challenge myself I know it won't get done. (Also those projects I mentioned will be easier to do IF I can ENTER the sewing room.) So here's a picture of the sewing room:I do not think I'll get the whole sewing room done. I'm planning on just tackling the area by the door so it is easier to enter. A bonus would be the cutting table since I'll need it to finish a present or 2.
There are 3 projects stacked there but with no room to work they won't get done.

new dresser

Our room has had this trunk at the foot of the bed forever. I decided last week I was tired of sitting so low to put my shoes on so I went hunting a bench. I was surprised to find about 5 that would work at one of those Antique co-op stores. This is what I came home with:
A very low dresser that is just the right height to sit on and put shoes on... On the way into the house we stopped here. I like it here. It may never make it up the stairs; maybe one of those other options would work upstairs and then I wouldn't have 5 dressers in 1 bedroom.

The quilts are going to a Women's shelter this evening.

Bookshelves

Thirty years ago I had 2 small children and no shelves. I designed 2 bookshelves and my husband made them for us. They started out as shelves for the toys; they have been heavily used. Our daughter wants to make some now for her house of 2 small children so I'm posting this picture and some dimensions for her.

• lip at the side and back top shelf is 1.5 inches
• the side piece is 11 1/4" (the size the wood came) by 29"
• The shelves are 11" apart
• 41 inches long shelves
• the bottom shelf is 3" off the floor.
• The back is 3/4 inch plywood dadoed in. (Reaching behind the shelf it is smooth so I know that the shelves were trimmed to fit the back in. The back is also invisible from the side.)
• The shelves are dadoed into the side boards.
  

If they had been made out of oak they would not have as many dings on the edges of the boards, they are made of pine. I can see that they need to be sanded and re-varnished but they have been absolutely the best shelves. Now one resides in the hallway with books, the other in the 'hotroom' (sunporch) with children's books still on it.
Thank-you, Roger, for building them!

condiments

How often do you need to go through your refrigerator and throw away the accumulated packets of catsup, sour cream, mustard and mayonaise? I decided that at least once a year...before Thanksgiving is a good time. It'll give us time to accumulate more before the next camping season starts...Roger hunts down packets of mayo to take on hiking trips...but there is no way of knowing how long 1 has been in the fridge.

I threw out the spicy hot mustard that I made for Liz's wedding... 2007. At least I don't have 3 jars of bacon grease; but it's close, well actually, I have no bacon grease but I've accumulated other things. Like walnut oil... What am I going to do with walnut oil? Mustard; nobody eats mustard here, but it's on the list of things you must keep at all times. Now horseradish is important to have, at least to put on my smoked turkey sandwich that I have once a year!

What's in your fridge that you never use?

centerpiece

My nod to Valentine's day. One centerpiece in the middle of our coffee table. The pillar candles are one's I made for Liz's wedding and the heart garland was crocheted for me by my niece. I made the quilt with exchange blocks and hand quilted it with hearts; one of my few hand quilted items.  the silver cake plate I got at a thrift store for $3.00 and the pearls came out of my wedding supply drawer. Inside the coffee table I have a few old valentines and a few reproduction valentines and empty heart shaped chocolate boxes. I'd like to figure out where/how to get a rhinestone pin in there and find another candle for that empty candle holder. I do have a Heart quilt up but I blogged about it last year.  If you like pretty table's check out the links at 'My Romantic Home.'