"It's My Potty..."

"and I'll cry if I want to..."  Oh, but those would only be tears of JOY!  

Thanks to our friend Dan the Man (as in handy), who put up the new light fixture, fan, towel bar, TP holder, and refurbished cupboard during the past week, the half bath redo is done!

I've got a little fine-tuning to do, and I'd like to do a bit more in the way of decorating (this is all I could cobble together today).  

Maybe some framed photos, and something else in the blue Red Wing dish, perhaps something soapy or seasonal.  (Check out these cute little fabric acorns.  Wouldn't that be cute?)

I love seeing my Royal Haeger swan (R-182) up there, and the clear Pyrex fridgie on the shelf!

So that's where all my marbles went...I thought I'd lost them.

Let's review the before picture:

And after:

Thanks, Elizabeth, for encouraging me to repaint the cupboard, and to everyone else who suggested it.  I was really on the fence, but you know, it was absolutely the right thing to do.  We had a little snafu with the doors, but Dan came through with a fix.  Whew!

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a date with my sewing machine!

Sunday Sundry - Vol. 13

Are you ready for some randomness?  It's Sunday Sundry time once again, so let's see what comes out my fingertips as I type this post.

They Say It's Your Birthday
Twenty-three years ago yesterday, I was rendered blissfully unconscious after a harrowing multi-day labor and delivery attempt, and our beautiful daughter M. was surgically assisted into this world.  It had been determined just minutes before the C-section that she was a brow presentation, which happens in about 1 in 1,000 births.  Thankfully, the bruises on her forehead healed and the blood-red whites of her eyes returned to normal within a week.  And look at her now.

I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this photo.  This was at a Halloween party a week ago.  Can you guess who she went as?  Hint:  She can see Russia from her house.  M.'s boyfriend T. was her Security Escort (Secret Service).  Nice touch with the ear bud in his left ear.  I am no fan of SP, but I am a huge fan of M. and T., and I thought this was cute.

So, Sewing
For her birthday, I made M. a couple of pairs of pajama pants, which she always appreciates.  I made a pair for myself too while I was at it.  Since I work two of my three jobs from home, these are also known as work pants.  :)

Long-legged gals can't just buy jammies off the rack.  Check this out.  This is my length adjustment for the PJs.

That is an additional 7 inches for M. and 7-1/2 inches for me.  And I just serge the edge and turn under about 1-1/4 inches for a hem.  We all have to do what we have to do, right?  And they sure are comfy.

Favorite pattern for these.  Is 1980 considered vintage yet?

Home Ick
I'm usually a decent cook, but last night's dinner went straight into the garbage can.  I am not even kidding.  Completely inedible.  Think shoe leather.  It was wild game, and despite 8 hours worth of marinade time, this fowl was just plain foul.  Looking to shed a few pounds?  This would be guaranteed to make you lose your appetite, if not what's left of your lunch.

Quick, a Palate Cleanser!
Let's change the subject to something more pleasant—Pyrex!  I posted about this week's reorganization project over on The Pyrex Collective, but here's a quick before and after:

Unpacked
Last week, I helped my dad go through some boxes he'd moved here in the spring, and there were some very interesting contents, much of which was my late mother's.  Lots of crafting and sewing paraphernalia, keepsakes from her family, old photos, quilts, various primitive antiques, all of them very humble but together telling a rich family story.

This, for instance, is a homemade cattle call that belonged to my grandfather, my mom's dad.  He made it out of a hollowed out cow horn.  It still works, too.  You blow it like a trumpet.

Here's my grandpa in the 1920s.

An old baby quilt, stained and tattered, but probably made by mom (or grandma) for my brother Russ.  It's just a simple 9-patch, made back in the days when you didn't know ahead of time whether it would be a boy or girl, so the quilt maker incorporated both blue and pink.

I'll probably talk more about some of the other interesting things in those boxes in the months to come, but I've run out of time and attention span this morning.  Hope you have a great day, a good week ahead, and thanks for visiting!

Favorite Things Friday - The Basics

(If you're looking for the Blogger's Quilt Festival post, it's here.)

Sometimes I get the best ideas in the shower.  Other times, I just get ideas— good, bad, whacky, fleeting.  This week's FTF idea came to me in the shower, and I'm not even going to think about what category it belongs in.

When it comes right down to it, we all use a lot of our favorite things before anybody ever sees us in public.  You know, the basics—the kind of face or body wash we use, our favorite makeup products, even our unmentionables (oh, you know I'm going to go there).

Actually, I'm kind of short on time again today, so I'll let a few photos do most of the talking.  And no, I'm not being paid to endorse anything here.  These are just some of my favorite basics.

I used to love Bath & Body's Japanese Cherry Blossom body wash, but then I ran out and shortly thereafter started reacting to other body wash products in a most unpleasant way.  So I've had to scale back on the scents and ingredients in favor of a bar for sensitive skin.  I don't like that I have become such a delicate flower, but I do like not feeling irritated.  Or, you know, any more irritated than usual.

My makeup routine is pretty minimalist, I think.  Well, I guess compared to no makeup, it's not, but I prefer not to scare people if I can help it.  And Bare Minerals?  Rocks.

I have very few requirements in hair products, but one most important is that it doesn't strip my color (L'Oreal Healthy Look + salon highlights).  Because I am somewhat lazy and don't like to color any more than I absolutely have to.  Fructis smells good too, which is a plus.

And, finally, the unmentionables, mentioned.  TMI?  I really only wear the knee-his once or twice a week.  The rest of the time it's Hanes crew socks, the shorty ones that come just above your shoe.  I didn't have time to run down to the clean laundry basket and find a pair for you.

Now go on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas and have a look at what others are saying about their Favourite Things!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Shadowed Squares

I'm sliding in under the wire for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, but I am so happy to share this quilt with you just the same. I made this last year for my friend B., who lives in Germany, from a pattern she'd saved for many years.  It's an Amish style quilt called Shadowed Squares.  

B. said:

I tried to remember when I first clipped the directions out of some magazine.  The pages are browning with age.  I know it was before I moved to Germany.  It may even have been when I was still living in Southern California, which means well over 30 years ago.  I know I had spoken to my mom once about making the quilt for me, but when I asked her, she had transferred her handcraft focus from sewing to crocheting.  I had taken the pattern to the local quilting shop in downtown Munich to ask about maybe having it made up by a quilter there.  The price they quoted me was so astronomical, I immediately blotted the idea and the price out of my mind.

I told B. I'd be happy to make the quilt for her, and that there was a good chance I could have it quilted by a local Amish woman who had quilted a quilt for me previously.  (You can read about how I met the quilter, Mrs. Miller, here.)  B. sent me the clipping, and I was off!

This was the first commission work I'd ever done, and I thought it'd be fun to make a journal of the story of making B.'s quilt for her, and send that to her along with the quilt when it was finished.  According to my journal, I started the quilt making adventure on a 19-degree, sunny day in early March 2009 with a trip to the fabric store for some Kona cotton, which happened to be on sale!  B. requested a muted color palette for her quilt (she knows my penchant for bright, zinger colors).  I complied with her wishes, naturally, eliminating a too-bright pink from the mix after I'd sewn a couple of test blocks.

The pattern predated rotary cutting and strip piecing and called for individual templates to be cut for the strips.  I knew there was a better way!  I foundation pieced the blocks instead, sewing the various colored strips onto 11-inch squares of paper (removed later), then laying a black fabric square rights sides together on top of that, and sewing 1/4-inch seams along both sides of a diagonal line.  This block "sandwich" was then cut between the sewn lines along the diagonal, resulting in two half black/half strippy squares, which were then trimmed to 10-1/2 inches.

Mrs. Miller was indeed amenable to doing the quilting, and I took the quilt top, batting, and backing to her in late April.  We discussed how it would be quilted, per B.'s pattern.  In late September, a letter arrived from Mrs. Miller that it was done and I could come pick it up.

The quilting was beautiful!  Such lovely hand work!  Here are some close-ups, which I had to lighten in order to see the quilting on the black background.  Thanks, B., for taking all of these photos this week.  In my haste and excitement to mail her the quilt last October, I totally forgot to take any pictures of the finished, quilted quilt!

I truly enjoyed making this quilt for my friend and was happy that it could be hand quilted in a manner in keeping with its Amish inspiration.  In my final quilt journal entry, I noted the following:

There is one corner that is not quilted exactly like the others...I am reminded of a myth I have heard:  "Amish women put a mistake in each quilt because only God is perfect; therefore, it would be prideful to make a perfect quilt.  Yet it has been pointed out by some Amish women that making such a mistake would be prideful in itself, as it would imply the quilt maker believes herself to indeed be perfect.  Though some rare purposeful mistakes may have been for religious reasons, it appears for others it was more a matter of superstition.  In reality, all quilters make mistakes.  It's almost impossible to make a perfect quilt." [Source: Womenfolk.com/History of Quilts]

I put my quilt label directly under this special corner.

Upon "rescuing" her quilt from the Customs Office in Munich, B. sent me a wonderfully funny and touching email.  Here is an excerpt:

I sail out of the Customs Office smiling ear to ear...I am in the Wow This is Wonderful mood.  They sure don't see that very often at the Customs Office.  I force myself to leave the quilt in its protective plastic bag and box and put it in the back of the car, instead of ogling it immediately in the parking lot.  Home safe in the garage.  Into the apartment.  Open box, unwrap quilt.  Unfold.

I am overwhelmed.  The colors are different than I projected or how they looked in the computer pictures.  I like them better than either one.  These are real.  The fabric is alive, not an idea but real stitches and real material, real care, real knowing how to make something beautiful and functional.  It contains a value I hold sacred.  Generations and generations of women making, creating, doing with their own hands beautiful, useful, wonderful things for their friends and families.

That, my friends, is what it's all about, isn't it?

Thank you for visiting today.  For more beautiful, creative, wonderful things, be sure to visit the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.

Stepping Stones Quilt

As much as I like starting things—often multiple things at once—there is nothing like the feeling of finishing something.  Having gotten the binding sewn on Saturday, this Stepping Stones quilt is officially...dun-dun-dun...done!

You know what I like about blogging?  I can go back and read an older post to refresh my memory!  I had finished this quilt top back in February and mentioned it way back on one of my first posts, post number two, to be exact.  

I pieced this on Viv, my vintage Singer 301—a fact I had completely forgotten until I reread the old post.  Then the top went to live at the long arm quilter's house for several months.  

I selected an all-over panto from one of her samples, and I really like how it turned out.  It's about 90 x 90 square and fits nicely on a queen size bed.  

The backing is pieced, and I did a medallion in the center with an extra block and some flying geese. The colors are not quite true in these pictures of the backing. It's actually richer looking. 

It's pretty traditional looking, but that's okay; I like both modern and traditional.  Not sure yet if I'll keep it, gift it, or sell it.

I'm looking forward to finishing a few more UFOs or WIPs, or whatever you want to call them, in the next couple months.  Wouldn't it be nice to start the new year with a clean slate?  

Yeah, like that'll happen!