Happy St Patrick's Day

Hiya!  The sun is shining and it will be so warm today that I plan on sitting in my swing most of the afternoon, graph paper in hand, planning the kitchen.   My hub is out fishing with my cousin and thrilled!  He loves to fish and this is the first time for 2012.  He was golfing twice this week.  He's getting close to retirement so I told him to start making more friends cause he ain't hanging around with me all day!! 

I got the Plantation Sampler from the wonderful Attic and couldn't wait to try some changes.  This beauty graced a friend's dining room wall which was a pale peach, and deep teal carpet.  Stunning.  Perfect.  I loved this sampler for years, but sold it once because I wasn't stitching much, bought it again when I visited her, sold it again a few years ago because I couldn't take the pink flowers.  How strange to love something, and then have it become almost offensive, and then love it again.  Pink.  I couldn't stand it for years after loving it my whole life.  Ch-ch-ch-changes!   Like the neon car that I made fun of at the dealership and then purchased two weeks later at my husband's lament.   So now it's Plantation Sampler Revisited.  The colors required are shown in the upper right of the first photo, and my choices are all the others.  I don't mind pastel as much as the brightness so I chose toned down shades, and I think it will be wonderful with these colors.  I could very well be wrong so I'll stitch the border first.  But let's face it...I could be loving pink in another month and it will be stitched as it should be.  At least until a sweat bomb.

And since it's the day of the green, I'll leave you with four green kitchens!!!

 

Now we're all probably green!

Have a great weekend, stay safe, and a big thank you to new followers and everyone else that continues to visit.  I've reached the 300 mark and thought I should do something but what???  I've given away everything I could think of including a gift certificate!  Aren't you tired of box giveaways????

Back to Lucy

Hi everyone.  I found Lucy and discovered several counting errors when starting the next row.  I had to tear out the dark blue horizontal border and some of the upper border also.  It all started with the I on the left edge.  In the cover photo, the bottom is three stitches wide, but on the actual chart it is five. 

I looked at the photo and unfortunately didn't catch the error until I started the vertical border and it was running into the design.  The good news - the right edge is irregular and you won't see the errors.  I won't tear out the whole line but may move a few items on the left.  

For now, I found a spot for the Overshot Heart.  The Craft Fuse is so stiff that it actually can stand on its point!  Love that stuff.  I plan on cutting a piece of tin to fit this sleeve board and nailing the edges, adding a candle holder on the little ledge.  I saw an old wood sconce made that way - the tin protecting the wood from the candle flame.

We ran into a snag on the kitchen project.  I have Schmidt cabinets and the center that carried them here, closed.  I need to order a few more so I wrote the company to find the nearest supplier.   More kitchen photos!!  These are from the Caromal Colours site showing the transformation on an oak kitchen.  This paint needs no priming and can be used on laminate cabinets too.  It's not the smooth glossy finish - more primitive, rough, aged, and needs sealed.  They also have another type that is smoother with a satin finish.

And this one shows how ordinary cabinets can be made to look like a furniture piece.  See the bottom toe kick recessed behind the bottom trim?  And the curved pieces connecting top cupboards to bottoms give the look of a hutch.  Add top moulding and you're done.  This was painted a different color than the peppercorn on the other cabinets.

And these are my brussel sprouts.  Not my favorite vegetable.  But cut them in half, put the cut side down on a non-stick cookie sheet in a 450 oven for 15-20 minutes and they brown beautifully.  Throw them in a pan with some golden raisins, a little chicken broth and these babies are good!  Sometimes I add a little sprinkle of sugar.  Of course I do.

I'm closing with this post from Sherry. She lists her favorite verse from samplers and I thought it was a great idea. Recently I read a verse that I loved, but can't remember the name, designer, or the verse!  I'm really hoping these statins are to blame and I read a current report about the new labels having to mention the fact that they CAN in fact cause a memory problem along with a high risk for developing diabetes. Of course, they say the benefits outweigh the risks.
Our weather has been wonderful and so warm.  My swings are hung and the brat cats think they're a jungle gym.  I remember writing about Lucy being too large and cumbersome to work on outside so it's been that long ago that I started her!   I do plan on a push to finish but may also start a small for outside stitching.
So have a wonderful weekend everyone, stay safe, and thank you for visiting with me!!

The BOAF boys

Hi all!!  One more to go - Gold Santa.   These designs call for white stitches of snow throughout the background which I left out - not sure if I will change my mind and add them.  Another great thing about the envelope method - I can easily open the pillow if I want to make a change.  What?  Me?  Change my mind?  I'll do the finishing when I have a few more pieces instead of pulling everything out for only one.  What a great job Carol did on her St. Patrick's Day finishes, and Irene on her Thistlewood project.  I plan on sticking with Lucy (as soon as I can find her) for a while.  I tried having several projects going at one time and it doesn't work for me.  I always pick the smallest and easiest which is why Lucy hasn't had much progress.  I'm anxious to get my Plantation Sampler and was thinking of starting that instead, or Margaret Logan, or Sally Fiske, or Rachel Hyde!  No.  I will stick with Lucy.

It's very warm here and will stay that way for a few days so I'm cleaning the garage today and meeting with contractors this week.  I just found out the cedar cost for the siding and my word!!!  We may end up with James Hardie boards.  I think they look great, but the house will have to have paint instead of the weathered look that we are used to.  Oh no.  I would have to pick a paint color, which isn't good, since I've been trying to do that for my interior for four years.  My husband will tell the painter - better start with just one gallon... she will have a flash and change her mind.  Count on it.  If you see her fanning herself, might as well just get down off the ladder, clean your brush, and close the paint can.

After putting the corn and bread out for the herd yesterday, we found that someone else enjoys a slice!  That's all for now.  Hope you have a great week!  Thank you for visiting and welcome to new followers!

Somebody..........stop me!

That's it.  I have a lot of work to do and contractors to line up and I'm screwing around with the computer.    I haven't even opened the box of my new one yet.  I'm done playing for a while, at least until I make some progress on Lucy or the house.  Better both!  I'm putting all the paint and boxes away.  There's one set left and if it doesn't sell I will change the labels!  There may be another one also - if I don't hear anything by Wednesday, it will list again.

**************

Many of you emailed about the bat and I want to thank you for your concern, and post the outcome of the sad situation.  

  Unfortunately, he died by the time Mark got home.  He checked his nose and didn't see any white at all so I don't know what sent him out of hibernation.  He was the smallest we ever saw, only about 2 inches.  I wonder how many others in his colony are gone.   I wish they could hit on a remedy for this disease or the cause to prevent the decimation of a creature so necessary to the environment.

Hopefully I will have time tonight to check out all the blogs I'm missing.  My list has become so long that I can't even visit them all at one sitting!  Some iced tea, my bottle of Advil, and seeing how much others are accomplishing while I screw around with boxes, is on my agenda tonight.  Hope you've had a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

Thank you Faye!

Hi everyone.  Santa is coming along and I'm going through charts for another project.  I should concentrate on Lucy for a while before starting anything else and just may do that. 

 I mentioned that I was the lucky recipient of Faye's generosity.  And what a perfect win for me - I had this fabric and tried making a large sewing bag, burned it, but saved from the flames were the two strawberries that matched.  So I now have my bag in that fabric along with the berries!!  Thank you again Faye!  I'm thrilled!

Just a few other things. 

I went to my local antique store and purchased this bench with dried paint drips!  I can easily make these but even though I have a new and wonderful saw, I don't.  So I bought it instead.  A lot easier!  Not an antique, just beat up, and that's OK with me.  It will look great outside with pots on it this summer.

That made me happy, until I got home.  When backing into the garage I noticed a dark object on the front siding and thought it was a huge moth.  I went to check it out and found that it was a tiny bat, clinging to the siding upside down and not moving.  So I grabbed a box, gloves, and used a container to gently remove him from the siding, and emptied that into the box.  He was motionless and I'm sure very ill.  When he slid into the box he made a little squeak.  This stuff tears me up.  I can't stand for anything to suffer and I know most of you want nothing to do with saving a bat, but it's a creature and that's all that matters to me.  I believe we are judged by how we treat His creatures.  All of them.  I should have extra points for that *#%! woodpecker.  I called Mark to tell him and he said it probably has that white nose disease that is killing off the bat population.  A travesty to the ecosystem and nature.  They are awakened from hibernation and try to look for food.  It is too cold for them and they eventually die a slow death.  He's in his box in the garage and I have never been able to put an animal out of its misery, so I have to wait for Mark to come home.  He's not happy with me, but I took precautions and there was no way I could have been bitten, and I was afraid the brat cats would see him and start torturing him like they recently did to a poor chipmunk.  But he will have to end his suffering.

Moving on - my kitchen.  I obviously misled everyone about my cabinet painting.  They were painted a few years ago and the kitchen was never completely finished.  Now I will be picking another color and rearranging the cabinets and layout.  The stove area will be a different color and further out than the base cabinets, and the fridge will be behind a cabinet made to look like a cupboard, also a different color.  My husband is an oak lover and it was a process of gathering photos to show and kitchen showrooms that finally convinced him.  Now he agrees totally and sees that the darkness and especially the grain, cluttered the look in a small kitchen.  Much neater, cleaner, crisp, and soothing now.  Oak is a beautiful wood and unpainted kitchens are best sellers, but not for me. I wanted to show the difference painting made and how it saved me from considering $$$$$$ for a new kitchen.   Most older cabinets are worth the effort.   I'll leave you with a few more photos, the first is Bryce Ritter's. 

Last night we ate the final dozen of my sweet cottage cheese pierogis from the freezer.  No one around here carries dry cottage cheese anymore so I haven't made them and probably won't ever again.  I may try using the regular cottage cheese recipe as in the cheese blintzes but it won't be the same at all.  I finally found a fabulous dough recipe that includes sour cream and the pierogis were so much easier to wrap and pinch with it.   Beautiful satin dough!   Oh well.  I guess the sweet cheese crepes/blintzes will have to do. 

Mark will be home soon and I'm getting nervous about what will happen so I will close.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.  Thank you for visiting!

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!!