Paint transformation

Hello to all.  Between the boxes and my fumbling with needles because of my tingling arms, I haven't done much stitching. 

The BOAF Black Santa that I'm working on has been started over on another piece of linen.  That creep's head was a constant pain.  I have no idea what my problem was but there was error after error, even though I double checked my stitches, which threw everything else off.  It's just a freaking round face - what the heck was the problem???  So I grabbed another piece of linen and started over.  This time I made another face error but I just made the other cheek the same and it's good enough!  I decided to do all the buttons and extras so I can just speed along with the black coat.  I know.  Not a good idea.  

 And I finally snagged this chart - The Plantation Sampler!  It's one of the many that I sold years ago for 99¢, along with Hannah Lancaster and all of her friends.  I love it but just couldn't get past the pink flowers.  Easily remedied.  I'm changing them to a dark shade, something like 632 with the lighter parts a dusty shade of rust.  You can see Tanya's magnificent finish here.  I kept missing it on EBay and finally called The Attic in AZ and they came through for me once again!  It's mine!!   I will be listing And They Sinned along with Mary Slatter on EBay soon.  I know I will never do them - of course I said that about all the others I regret selling - but this time I'm sure - like I was then - when I was younger and knew it all - but I didn't realize how much more I would know as I aged grew older obtained my honorary degree as hormonal weisenheimer.

On to the paint.  A few shots of the little kitchen, but first the difference paint can make.  This is the original oak cabinet and the same cabinet with filler and paint.  I use Benjamin Moore's oil base because it is the best for self-leveling.  I had too much trouble with brush and roller strokes with acrylic.  These same cabinets were used throughout the bathrooms and here is one unfinished - and one painted.

I also like to finish off the bottoms.  Instead of the standard recessed toe kick, we cut 3/4" boards for a leg effect, attached to the outside of the cabinet, and added quarter round moulding to the top of the board for a finished appearance.  I plan on doing this to the kitchen cabinets once there are in place.  It's a small kitchen open to the family room with two walls having door openings so there isn't much I can do with it.   The room beyond used to be our garage but was turned into a little apartment for mom.  The cabinet alcove was for her dishes, coffee, and snacks.  Beyond that was her TV room and the bedroom/bath to the right which will stay as is, but the TV room wall and alcove will come down making the dining area much larger. 

The cooking area is changing.  It will either be floor to ceiling pantry storage, with the door opening and stove switched, or the stove area against the fridge wall, and just the cabinets and countertop moved up to the other side.  Either way, the door will be moved and the fridge wall will be flush with that opening.  Here's a few pics of kitchens that motivate me.

These two are from David T Smith. 

These are from Sunderland.

This last one is Kennebec.  I have been collecting kitchen and bath photos for several years and it's a good thing I don't have the room for some of these kitchens!  I really prefer the painted finishes and as much closed cabinetry as possible.  Behind most of these doors are refrigerators, ovens and dishwashers.

I'll probably be flooding posts with some of the pictures I've collected as I move along with redecorating.  I would love to list them all on Pinterest but I'm not sure of their origin and really don't understand all this copyright stuff.  How can all these copyrighted photos appear on Pinterest as long as credit is given?  I'm also afraid to go there for fear I will never return. 

I'm done.  I want to thank everyone for purchasing the boxes.  I sure hope you will like them.   I'll be showing off a win from Faye soon.  I can't believe it but I won one of her bags.  YAY!!  Until then, stay safe, be good, and thank you for visiting!!

Box update

Hello everyone.  I received a few emails asking that I not list all the boxes for sale at one time.  Several readers were not able to make a purchase because of obligations.  I have eight box sets shown on the Boxes page for you to view and I have two more unpainted sets that will be duplicates of the listed, or who knows, maybe something different.  My arms are really giving me problems and I need to stop for a day or two so if you are interested in a set, I will open comments allowing purchases for #1 through #5 on Monday night at 8pm, and #6 through #10 on Wednesday night at 8pm.  Hopefully, I will have the other two completed by then, and maybe a few 4" round A&E since you all seem to prefer the duo.  I need to suck down a bottle of Advil while bending from the waist to hang my heavy (full of knowledge) head.  Some times this helps relieve the compression.  So I will open the Box page for purchases tomorrow night, and then add the other boxes on Wednesday.  I don't think there will be a problem if some of you want a set - I doubt if they will all sell that quickly!!!  Have a great evening.

Thanks for visiting.

Just some stuff

Greetings!  If you are living close to the tornado and storm areas, I hope you and yours are all safe.   The May 31, 1985 F5's that went through several states, swept right down the road from us and took our best friend.  A surreal scene when going through the destroyed areas.  So whenever I hear of these, my heart goes out to the residents.

I've been working on boxes and will hopefully have seven sets for sale this Sunday evening.  Most of my time has been taken up with redesigning the kitchen.  I'm finally getting around to redecorating and will bore you with photos and details of progress.  This time, we will not be DIYers.   I also hired a young man (a gorgeous young man whose family adopted the dog I rescued) to make the cupboards and furniture pieces that I should be making myself.  I will eventually, but for now, this recent trade school graduate (carpentry) will make some extra cash.

I wanted to show you these baskets I got at Pat Catan's during their 50% sale.  I love the size and will find samplers to fit.  They hang nicely on doors or doorknobs and are really a good size  Ready....$5.00!!!  $4 for the smaller one.  So I bought several.  I plan on brushing them with paint and aging them a bit.  But a bargain, no???

 

I also wanted to show you this grapevine tree.  I've seen them in shops this size for several hundred dollars.  Are you kidding me?  So if you would like one, here's how to do it cheap.  Decide the height you would like your tree, and purchase two heavy gauge tomato cages that size.  Stack them on top of each other, wire the loose ends to a point.   You can wire cross members of scrap wood on the inside but I don't.  I put a few rocks on the bottom of the cage to secure and then started wrapping the vines.  You'll need a lot!!  I used fresh and stripped the leaves as I was wrapping.  You can use them in the fall after the leaves drop too.  Secure with wire where you think you need to as you move up or down the cage.  I don't think it matters where you start.  I've made small ones, and this is the largest.  You will need to put felt or tape on the bottom so it doesn't scratch the floor, or set it on a rug.  I added the lights, but it's not necessary.  This was made for my front porch and it may make it out there this summer.

Oh, one other thing.  Here's my new ort bag.

There's no room for threads.  I really need to stop this chocolate addiction.

Hope you have a great weekend.  Hopefully, I'll have the time to catch up on your blogs tomorrow.

Thank you very much for taking the time to visit.  I'll be back Sunday evening. 

  

Until then, here's the herd enjoying the nice weather.

Sweet little Thread Catcher

Hiya!  I've been seeing these little quick stitch bags on several blogs and decided to make a few.  Here's mine.

Of course, mine is the version for those of us with the least patience,

too lazy to thread the machine with matching thread,

 and carrying a bottle of Liquid Stitch.

That's right. I glued it. 

And of course I had to use a lightweight fusible interfacing.  I'm really hooked on it.

 The tutorial can be found here and here. 
When I got to the part of topstitching the edges and sewing the sides, I realized my sage green thread was somewhere it shouldn't be. 

So I glued the area left open for turning with a tiny line of Liquid Stitch directly on the edge, and proceeded to glue the sides to form the shape.  The lazy lady's ort bag. 

On the green one, I used a tiny dab of glue at the base of the flaps so I could stick my seam ripper and tweezers in the roll.  I may add another drop of glue to make the flap's opening a little tighter for the tweezers.  I can never find them when I need them so this will work well for me. 

On the other, I used safety pins and would like to hang a few charms from them, when and if I find the tiny box they chose to hide in. These flaps aren't glued and the more I look at it, I think buttons would be nicer on them.

Quick and cute little project.

 If anyone is interested in Prairie Schooler Santa or Christmas charts, there is a nice lot coming up on Ebay here.

That's it.  Just wanted to show this project in case you haven't seen it.

Hope you're all having a good week - talk to you soon - thank you for reading!!!

Surprisingly easy finish

Hello people.  Thanks for all the great comments on Overshot Heart.   It sure didn't look this small when I was stitching so I'm glad I used the 28 count for that reason also.  The linen shows through the floss just enough to resemble a woven fabric and I'd like to do another in black and a lighter mustard.  I can't believe I didn't have more trouble with finishing since heart shapes usually make my hair curl.    Here's what I did - which is probably the same that you do!

First of all, I had to extend the design to make a rounded top.  You can see this on the left side compared to the right.

I decided on Craft Fuse and I gotta tell ya, I am so glad I'm storing the interfacings in these folders.  They were always mixed up along with the wrong directions.  The last one I used was dry iron - no movement, and this one was circular motion and steam.  Go figure.  The craft fuse really gives a stiff look and feel and is quite heavy.  After fusing the linen and the backing, I ran my finger nail along the stitched edge and it created a line for my machine to follow since I wanted no linen showing.

I stitched around the entire heart and made the point square by one stitch instead of a sharp angle.  Then I slit the back open!   I couldn't use the envelope method with this shape and for more primitive pieces I some times would slit the back and use a muslin patch.  The heavy fused facing prevented the fabric from tearing open even more when trying to turn it right side out.  Before doing that, I pinked the seams instead of clipping/notching, and I cut a piece of quilt batting to fit inside the stitches, and then cut the edges on an angle to bevel the bulk.

Once turned right side out, I inserted the batting and used a few more pieces where needed, made a patch, and used the double fusible (Trans-Web) to glue it.   

You can see that it's not very puffy, but enough, and I steamed it when completed.  So where do I put it now?  I still may attach a hemp cord and hang it but started playing around to see where I'd like it. 

Why I did this, I don't know.  But if you have some beautiful smalls you want displayed, this may not be a bad idea.  Fill a glass cylinder with the pieces and something pretty in the center to hold them.  Those large glass beads used in floral arrangements?  Wood somethings for rustic?  Honeysuckle vines and pussy willows?    Too bad I like beat up dirty looking primitives cause I'm picturing some beautiful displays!

I'm working on Santa now, stuck on Lucy, and will pick another sampler.  I saw a few must haves that just came out and Threadwork Primitive's Chelsea's Pinkeep is certainly one.

I'll leave you with the two little devils sticking their heads out of their cat condo.   The baby has a white spot on his mouth that I always thought was a piece of the styrofoam box they live in.  It's not.  He's an odd little guy.  I never saw round eyes on a cat before.  One more thing - Bath&Body Works' candle sale is today.  I got my Aromatherapy Orange Ginger - amazing fragrance. 

 Have a great week - a big thank you to all who participated in the drawings - and for taking the time to visit with me.  I will have a few of the small oval sets for sale probably the end of week and will let you know.  Thank you again! 

The last winner - for a while!

Hi everyone.  Just a quick post - my internet is going in and out.  It started right after I used the Random generator and before I could print the results, I lost the service.  Sooooo.  The winner was #39 and the generated random list gave that number to Rugs and Pugs.  To Rugs and Pugs - I will try to email but if it doesn't go through, please email me with your address. Thanks to everyone once again for participating!

I want to quickly show you my finished heart - I just love it.  The rest I will post tomorrow - right now I have company but wanted to get the winner posted between the service interruptions.  

Thanks for visiting - be back tomorrow!!