The kitchen

Hello everyone.  I'm finally coming to the end of the kitchen confusion.  It's very small.  The layout options are extremely limited.  It's ridiculously expensive to redo.  I have solid wood cabinets that are in great shape.   Taking all that into consideration (over and over again), I have decided that what I originally wanted, is not worth the expense.  Not in this market.  So I asked myself what I really want to achieve and it's a "look" more than a reno.  Oh.  BTW....just to show that I am still working on Lucy...

Yes she's wrinkled but why the hell should she look better than me?  If I have to put up with them, so does Lucy.  She's 21" wide and a big girl, too.  To give you examples of my errors (which are all because I'm not focused), take a look at the blue and gold border.  I did one color, and when I started the second, I was using the graphing from the solid blue border above it.  The lettering in the design is up and down here and there which threw me off but those errors are completely hidden.  I missed color changes.  When stitching a letter, I would pick up the next letter from the graph but I was in the wrong word!!!  Oh my.  I still love her.

Back to the kitchen.

I want a limited clutter, stark, clean look, with details of legs and hopefully a rat tail hinge somewhere.  They are pricey and these cabinet doors are 3/8 offset, not flush.  Since my Schmidt cabinets aren't available locally, I need to order the doors from them and have the cabinet boxes custom made to fit.  It would still be cheaper than having the set up charges for knives and profiles just to make a few doors.  The cabinets under the bar area on the left would remain the same.  Soapstone will probably be the counter, but it could end up wood or solid surface, and hopefully a copper sink.  Trying to use my current doors, the first drawing would be the best.  I would need to order 5 doors that go to the ceiling's crown moulding.  The kitchen people making the cabinet for the fridge could also make the cabinet boxes for these tops.

Keep in mind this is a rough rendering for the kitchen people.  If I run the cabinets down to the counter top, turning current cabinet doors on their side, I can create a garage door type opening for appliances - out of sight - but easy access with electrical outlets currently on the back wall and easily accessible.  I have the same cabinets as vanities upstairs and can utilize the drawers for paperwork which are the exact size needed.  I can add an different element to the sink base, extend it further out than the others, different color, and use the front from the current sink base as additional doors to use elsewhere.  I would really like this odd sink cabinet to be larger, more like a dry sink look, but the dishwasher can't move down any further.  For the furniture bottom - extending these to the floor without a seam requires a custom faced cabinet so adding the 3/4" board and topping it off works.  Rabbeting it to further recess it is even better, with a smaller trim piece covering where it meets the cabinet.  I may not even use that trim.  This other design is similar but requires quite a few more doors to be special ordered and the sink base stays as is.

Both instances require moving the upper cabinets away from the window trim which will allow a little wall space and room for sconces.  I can switch out the top and bottom layouts so I may use the bottom of #2 and the top of #1.  So there you have it.  It takes me so long to work things out - tooooooooo many ideas!  Believe it or not, this small space that is open to the family room on one side and has two doorways on the other walls, was rearranged into 4 layouts.  I LOVE doing this!  But like I said, too many other projects need $$$$ so it's just not the smart thing to do.  I think any kitchen can be transformed with paint, added trim, crown mouldings, details details!!!

That's it.  Just wanted to prove I have been preoccupied.  My poor brain has really had a workout.  This was a long process to make a decision (and I still have to choose one of two) and I'm glad to be moving on to another area.

Thanks for helping me get rid of the charts.  I will let you know when the others are listed on EBay so you won't miss something you may want to consider.

Have a great week all - thanks for visiting KitchenWorld!

Are you interested in these?

Hello all.  Just wanted to see if anyone was interested in these two projects.  I'm taking bird and floral design charts to Goodwill but thought someone may enjoy these ...

The Silk Experience -SOLD - includes instructions and the various silk threads by Kreinik to get a feel for working with types of silk.  No fabric is included. 








The second is an EGA project from 1997 for a darling little bag and includes the instructions for the open work, linen, and thread that matches exactly (photo doesn't appear to but it does).  They are $4 for either and includes shipping.  I didn't want to discard these and am hoping someone will enjoy them. 

I'll give it a few days and if no one is interested, they will be donated with the others.  
If anyone wants these, let me know.
Tristan Brooks Newport Flowers - gone
Ginger & Spice Mid Atlantic Sampler
Ginger & Spice New England Sampler-gone
Cricket Collection #11, #22, #42
Homespun Elegance Della Robbia and Charming Bellpulls

If you're interested in any of the above, leave your request in the comments and I'll get back to you. 
The others listed below will be on Ebay and not offered through the blog.  Too much confusion!

Hopefully next week on Ebay..
Ewe&Eye Cottage House
Stacy Nash Peacock Sewing Roll
Little by Little My Wurk Sampler
Carriage House Elizabeth
Birds of a Feather Red Reindeer
Elizabeth Rowland sampler
Permin 153050 Adam & Eve
Needle's Prayse Virtue Outshines the Stars
Sheepish Designs Gone Fishing
Periwinkle Queen Knot Sampler
Mary Slatter Sampler (with paper people)
City Stitcher Weeping Tree Sampler
Just Cross Stitch Motif Sampler
Homespun Elegance Della Robbia
Alma Lynne Private Collection Elegant Father Christmas
Alma Lynne Private Collection Fantasy Father Christmas
And They Sinned
I've been at Lucy and we are not getting along.  Still continuing with errors but not noticeable with this design.  Making progress though!!! 
Thanks for your prayers for Patti.  She is home but will continue needing prayers as she begins her treatments once again.
Hope you are enjoying the weekend.  Thanks for visiting...talk to you soon!

Stella's quirky wooden people

Greetings!  What a gorgeous day today.  I received my order from Hannah's Pinkeep and I'm a happy girl.   I've been waiting for an order from another shop of two sampler charts for a while and I'm not happy about that.  Hannah's was quick!! 

I just love this Nash design and I'm anxious to start this or a few other smalls BUT Lucy is no where near complete.  At least I'm into the alphabet and only have one more wonky border to do.   I must have been menobraining again when I placed this order online.  I got a 5 yard skein of Uniform Blue, and then obviously changed my mind and ordered the 10 yard, but never deleted the 5.  That's OK.  Harry Tyler's Lion will use up the floss so it's a good thing I have both. 

I mentioned prior post about having Mom on my mind and thought I would show you the quirky items she treasured.  I have no idea how they became hers. They are all hand carved and painted and have been around for as long as I can remember.  The first is the key rack.

Then there's the wine cork and the gentleman greets you when you pull the cord.

But this guy is my absolute favorite!  The toothpick holder.

I also played around trying to make grummy/grungy candles.  I took the time and searched the web for instructions but most all involved melting wax and mixing with spices to coat the candles.  Didn't have any, so I just put them in a 150 degree oven for several minutes and then rolled them in the cinnamon, cloves, and coffee.  I did this several times and kept checking the candles for softness.  Didn't want to melt them, just soften enough for the spices to embed.   I continued adding spice until I was satisfied with coverage and then used the flame from a lighter to burn it more.

 

So there you have it.  Not much else going on since I am still working on the plan for the contractor.  I went to a vein center for an ultrasound before my sclerotherapy injections for varicose veins.  I've been getting the treatment for over 30 years and it's time again before they get bad.  It seems the new procedure of inserting the wire and laser up to the groin and zapping the entire vein is the latest.  I didn't think it was necessary but they are really pushing this new procedure.  Not sure if I will insist on only the injections or go for the zapping in the fall, followed by injections.  I can see how it would prevent future treatments but at 60, do I care?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I will be stitching Lucy as much as possible and using up another tablet of graph paper. 

Stay safe, and thank you for visiting!

A little bit of everything

Hello everyone.  Easter being  mom's favorite celebration, she's been on my mind more than usual.  Her favorite things are what I've been cooking and her simple food pleasures came to mind also.  One of her favorite snacks was fresh crusty Italian bread dipped in a good sour cream.  She was definitely a bread and sweets girl and I made bread often.  But her favorite (and mine) of store bought has always been King's Hawaiian.  OMG.  THE best for sweet breads and Walmart carries it in their deli section now.  I also came across some of her sweatshirts.  The stains from coffee and pies and chocolate were hard to keep up with and not wanting to discard her comfy tops, I improvised.  I started using fabrics to cover the stains and some really cool shirts were born.  This is all that's left and weren't the best of the bunch.  I've been doing this to my own denim and cloth shirts in addition to sweats.  Butter and grease stains are easily removed with Lestoil but I believe it was taken off the market.  She had matching sweatpants that had coordinating patches, when necessary! 

 Remember the scary armless boat woman from Virginie Cochepin? 

Some inquired about the design and amazingly, I knew where it was.  The magazine photo of the sampler is very dark but something caught my eye that hadn't before.  Take a look at their arms.  They indeed have them!  The scary woman's arms even extend into the apron part.  Here's the chart.

Since it is sewn to a muslin backing, I can remove it and add the arms but hers won't extend into the apron area (it's smaller than the original) and I will try to give the gentleman on the right his appendages also.

While working on Lucy, I made the mistake of not noting my color changes so I am just checking the symbols to the completed stitching to verify the color.  When doing this, I found something that surprised me.  I didn't catch it before, but there are two X symbols, one is darker than the other, but not enough for me to see that difference in the chart itself so I am following the chart's color photo.   

This is all the further I am, mainly because I hate squiggly borders.  I'm really anxious to get back to something smaller but know that if I do, Lucy will be put aside.  I am definitely putting And They Sinned on EBay soon along with a few other charts since I have no desire to tackle a project that size. 

I came to a decision on the kitchen.  After seeing how much I would like to change throughout the house, the logical plan would be to update without an overhaul.  Instead of messing around with layout changes, I think I can get the look I want with added features, such as the bottom trim/legs on the cabinet fronts, changing depth or height, and adding more cabinets.   I do want the door opening enlarged which is still much less costly than moving it. 

Thinking of making the stove area a different color with different cabinets and adding side pieces to mimic a hutch so I added cardboard wings to see if I could live with it.  The left end cabinet will be gone.  See my slot for cutting boards?  I'm a good designer.   Now I just have to rearrange a few cabinets and get the right people to complete it.  Then paint.  Not looking forward to that.  I'm getting a new counter top and vanity top for my sis and it's always easy for me to choose for others, but I'm indecisive for my own home. Hope I don't change my mind again!

Two more things.

 I had a pleasant surprise.  I forgot I recently ordered new sampler charts and came across them yesterday.  This has happened before and I'm sure it will continue, and if I misplace them again, I'll get to exprience new purchase excitement a third time.  That's bang for your buck.

And I'm asking for your prayers for a very sweet friend named Patti.  Thank you!

I'll leave you with the brat family enjoying their daily cream.  Junior is as big as his mom now and although she rubs and purrs, she still draws blood!  She also doesn't like my petting Junior and takes a swipe at him.  My hub says she's right at home here!

 Hello and a big thank you to new followers.  Honestly, if it hadn't started this blog and felt the encouragement to continue, I doubt if I would have started stitching again.  I've got so many projects of various mediums roaming in my head and it's very difficult to focus on one, which means none get accomplished.  Is that a sign of great intelligence or menopausalness?  Can't we have both????

So thank you to all - have a great week!

MIADD

Menopause Induced Attention Deficit Disorder. 

Good day all.  As usual, this post will be all over the place.  First up, I want to wish a joyous Easter to everyone who honors this day.  It was Mom's favorite holiday, and I have her childhood rosary on my SIL's stitched bunny in memory of them both. 

The only other rabbit I own is my very old gourd that I painted depicting our first Lab pup.  The gourd is unusual because of the split and I thought a rabbit would do its form justice, but I just can't paint those ears properly.

I've been working on Lucy and started the right side after a bunch more errors.  Thank goodness nothing lines up on this or I would be really frustrated. 

And I received a fantastic package from Bertie.   Isn't her blog fabulous?  Such wonderful photos. (She also included two Cadbury with fruit and nut - guess why they aren't in the photo.) 

Thus, the MIADD.

She stitched a Stacy Nash and aged it perfectly, which started me on a path of total chaos.  I slipped into my muddy garden shoes to walk down for the mail and got so excited with the box that I forgot to take them off.  After opening, I started going from room to room, thinking of so many places to display my new treasures.   The huge Cadbury bar was going with me.  I would set it down, place the pinkeep, snap the camera, and move on. 

Next room.....where's my candy? 

Go look for it.  Ah.  Back to the other room to play.  Where's the camera?  Go look for it.  Wait!  What about displaying it here?  Where's my candy?  Wait a minute.  Where was I?  Did I leave the pinkeep in the other room?  With the camera?  Where's the camera?  Ah.  Here we go.  Wait! 

What about here?  Where's my chocolate?  Where's all this mud coming from?  OH!!!  What about HERE????   From room to room and back again, misplacing, searching, finding. This went on all afternoon until the entire bar was gone and the camera batteries died.  My husband came home and said "what are you cooking?  That's an odd smell."  Well.  In the oven were fabric pieces I tried drying after staining and forgot about in all the excitement, now burned.

Hmmmmm. "You're drying cloth in the oven, which is for cooking, instead of in the new dryer.  May I ask why?"    "Yes you may smart ass.  It's because your dinner is in the dryer."

 And look at this!  I've been searching for a place to hide my baby Rolodex with all my passwords and such while keeping it close to my laptop.  TA-DA!
It's a perfect fit.  I plan on doing a larger box for remotes.

The final project on a dizzying day was to age my little natural color beeswax pineapple.  Instead of searching the net for instructions, I just continued on in my chocolate induced stupor.  I held it over a flame to soften and then sprinkled the spices.  OK.  But not enough and it didn't stick very well.  So I covered it with more spice and used the flame again and it burned the spices.   It only took a second to blacken and if I messed up I just scraped it off and started over.  I like it!

Since Easter is a time for baskets, I thought I would show you my very first attempt at basket weaving some 20 years ago. 

That about wraps up what I am willing to share about my day of MIADD.   I'm embarrassed to say that I spotted a box during my frenzy and realized that I forgot about the new computer I purchased months ago.  That damn fish oil better kick in soon or I will be increasing the dose to a quarter cup. 

 If you made it this far, I want to thank you for enduring my ramblings.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and joyous Easter.

Blessings to you all!

What I've been doing

Hello everyone.  It's a beautiful Sunday and I woke up ill so things I planned on accomplishing today will not happen.  What a week.  One good thing - one of the five cats that my brother rescued (he neutered and found homes for three stray litters), came home injured after a week of absence.  Peanut is his favorite and we thought the little wild girl was gone for good.  She looks like a round brush, long hair stands straight out in all directions, with legs WAY too short for her body. one of which is broken.  You can barely see them!  She will be fine and we are happy, but one of mine - the big male that I can't trap - is not doing well. 

On the stitching front, I finally finished the Algerian eye alphabet on the left side and will start on the top right now instead of continuing the left to the bottom.   This stitch wimp can't wait to return to the basic X's!  I also worked for days on creating a few new labels.  Nothing painted yet, and not sure when or if they will be listed, but I was in the mood to play on the computer and here's a preview.  The smoke detector hasn't gone off for a while so you know the edges haven't been scorched yet. 

Remember the oranges I am drying?  Here's a snap showing their progress.  Five are already hard and I poked holes in the stem to help the inside dry completely.  The others are still soft but I poked those too.  You can see how some are perfect, some are misshapen, and some will be mottled.

And I've been cooking.  One of my favorites - kugel.  SO easy.

It's kind of like cottage cheese pierogis or blintzes, but not.

Low-fat cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and a little cream cheese blended and mixed with yolk free cooked noodles and baked.  I held back on the crushed graham cracker/butter/sugar topping.  OMG.  TOO good.

We have so many of these noodle recipes, another favorite is with cottage cheese, egg, crushed pineapple, and walnuts.

The next is the standard with fresh fish - macaroni and cheese.  Another very easy dish to make from scratch and great because you can use your favorite cheese.  White cheddar, cheddar blends, swiss and hot pepper, Jack, anything.  Hub likes buttered bread crumbs on top.

You just melt 2 -3 Tbsp butter with 2 - 3 Tbsp flour in a saucepan, cook for a minute, add 2 cups milk (any), whisk, and add at least 8 oz of the cheese of choice, cook till melted, pour over cooked elbows and bake.  We like cheddars mixed with Jack or hot pepper and I usually add more than 8 oz.

Speaking of whisks, am I the only one with arthritis that can't whisk well?  I have always used the tool in the palm of my hands and rolled back and forth like a beater to prevent the fatigue and pain in my hand.  That's it.  I was tied up most of the week so nothing happened with kitchen plans but hopefully this week will bring a decision.  A few other things - I found this thumb pincushion and think it is so neat for a sewer.  I also found a sampler pattern I plan on ordering - it isn't new - but I just found it!  Eliza Low Pumroy.  Long and skinny like I used to be.

Thank you all so much for visiting and taking the time to read.

Have a wonderful week, talk to you soon!