Vacation Home Refresh - Dining Area

I've been a little lax in sharing the changes we made to our new place in Florida. Today I will share the dining area with you. 

This shadowy picture is my best before shot of the dining room, which technically is more of a nook off the kitchen. Behind me as I hold the camera, is the door to the house, so we enter into this space. The kitchen is to the left upon entering and this space is to the right. That lattice arch behind the table has a mirror in the center with one behind it, too. We opted to remove them and leave the space open - sorta' like a pass-thru. The counter under that arch is built in, so I suppose it might end up serving as a buffet.

The table became quite a work space during our two-week stay. Here, my cousin Terry, is attempting to fix a chair with a loose arm.Of course, all manner of clutter impeded his work, but he persevered.

The chairs have wheels which made it easy to roll them out of the way for painting or whatever other work needed doing.

This "during" picture really shows a lot of activity. The walls are paneled, so the grooves all needed to be prepped before rolling; that accounts for the striped look here. The mirrors have been removed from the lattice - they are the gray rectangles leaning against the back wall. The ceiling light is staying and the jury is still out on whether or not we will paint it. We will make that decision on down the road sometime.

You can see how much stuff is piled on the counters - in the foreground are dishes from the kitchen cabinets that I washed and later arranged in the china cupboard in the family room. (See this post.) The buffet counter became the painting supply headquarters. All the things: paint, brushes, stirrers, rollers, tape - you know all the needs. 

Our finished dining area looks like a blank slate at this point, but the job and the clean-up are finished. I want a nice rug under the table. I envision some cool art or decor on the back wall. I have already made a curtain for that window (it looks out onto the lanai). The chairs are solid, yet the upholstery is rather dirty, so we are cleaning them; bit by bit they are looking better. We will continue working on them when we go back.

That about sums up our dining room efforts. I have 2 bedrooms to share with you yet, so stay tuned for that. I will combine them into one post. 

The house has two baths, but we didn't change anything in them; just cleaned them rather aggressively. Bathroom re-dos will take place next winter.

So, since I am supposed to be blogging about quilting and sewing, what on earth have I been doing since being home? Not quilting and sewing, that's for sure! We have had a gazillion errands and appointments and dates of one thing or another. Plus we are hosting Easter dinner, so I am thinking more about stuff like cleaning and prepping than about quilting and sewing. Such is life.

Evenings are for stitching, so here's another GFG flower for my ever-growing bouquet. I've also begun the outer row on another.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quick Baby Quilt Update

A day or so ago, I had a text from my niece featuring her youngest son showing off his Aunt Jayne-made quilt! I love getting these unexpected surprises! Thanks, Elisa!!

Say hello to Benjamin who was born in August, if I recall correctly. He is about 2 months older than our Cate. We had a whole bunch of babies in the family this last year, so I have to work at keeping birthdays and ages straight!

Do you remember when I made this quilt? Check this post to read its history. I found the frog fabric in a clearance bin and grabbed it for use in baby quilts. Guess what I did NOT know when I bought it?

IT GLOWS IN THE DARK!!!

Isn't this just the coolest thing? I hope he enjoys his extra special quilt for many years! I always tell the moms to "wear them out!" That would be the quilts, not the kids!! *smiles*

We are off this evening to see our own sweet girl, baby Cate. *more smiles* We cannot get enough of her!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Celebrate Spring!

 I was away and without internet on the actual first day of spring, yet don't for a moment think that I am not enjoying the wonderful reawakening of springtime treasures!

Soon after returning home, I cut these daffodils from our yard to enjoy indoors while we had a few rainy, dreary days.

After all these years of being retired, I still find things I enjoy teaching. It was always my practice to share this Wordsworth poem with students when daffodils were blooming. I thought I'd share it here with you today. Enjoy!

You might have to click on the image and enlarge in order to read it.

Today I am spending time with two long-time English teacher cohorts! Lunch with Sharon and Dee is on the agenda. We always have such great conversations when we are together!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Fun With the Frankfort Girls

It has been simply ages since we last checked in with the Frankfort Girls to see the pretty makes they produce. Let's remedy that today! These ladies are some of the dearest and most encouraging friends; seeing all their gorgeous creations helps me maintain my energy to create.

I missed a couple of gatherings in late January through mid-February while we were in Florida for the extended stay. We left for the second trip south after a meeting at Terry's and I will present those pretties first. Let the quilt parade begin!

Don't you agree that these quilts would without doubt keep a quilter motivated? These gals are most prolific!

I will gladly share any pattern names with readers if you are interested. I didn't write down any details, but I can easily get them if anyone wants to make these quilts. That gingerbread man quilt at the end was  completed with backing of the gingerbread man fabric in the final picture. Dontcha' love it when happy combinations like that sometimes occur!

Last Friday we met at Sheryll's house and these next two quilts are her creations - finishes of UFOs, if I recall correctly.

Brown and red quilts are so appealing; you all probably recognize that last one as a Primitive Gatherings pattern. It's one I've lusted over many a time!

Since I have nothing to show in the way of finishes, the next best thing is to share the finishes of friends. Hope you enjoyed the little quilt parade.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Diving Into a Monday Morning

Now that we are back home in Ohio, I need to reacquaint myself with my goals for the month. My compass point is way off kilter. 

 I've reread this post from early March and laugh at the loftiness of my goals. I knew when I wrote those that we would be going back to Florida; what was I thinking?

From that ambitious list, a couple items can easily be accomplished. Quilting the baby quilt should be simple and fast. I'd really like to get that done and delivered to its new home.

Also, finishing that floral diamond quilt top can be a priority. I am so near the end of it and it makes sense to complete it. Besides the time away, this squaring up stage I am in has slowed me down a bit, but I will persevere.

 Major guilt is setting in over my lack of attention to Lake Effect - I really need to redirect my brain on that little project. I was so gung-ho on it at the beginning; now I've lost my verve. Laying it all out and doing a big-picture reassessment will help me get back in  my Lake Effect groove.

Now, let me return to our vacation home for another installment of before-during-current. You saw the family room in this post. The front door enters into the kitchen and dining area; the front room shared on Saturday is just beyond the kitchen.

Do you get a mid-century vibe looking at this kitchen? The curved bar and those "belly-button" door pulls are hard for me to get used to. The curved bar is staying, but I plan to paint the pulls so that they are not so dominant. (Opinions yay or nay are appreciated.)

Every cabinet above and below had stuff in them - pans and dishes, mostly. Naturally, all had to be emptied, washed and sorted - some items were donated; others we kept. Get a look at that really old wall paper in the back of these cabinets - it remains. We washed everything, whether I planned to keep it or not. What a task without a dishwasher. And before anything went back in the cupboards, shelf liners were cut and placed. Time consuming, but necessary.

 

I used this nearly-complete set of china found in the kitchen cupboards to fill the china cabinet mentioned in Saturday's post.

So here's the best "current" shot I could find on my phone. I wasn't as diligent about photographing our progress as I had hoped.

The green walls are gone; they and the ceiling are now painted 'Snowbound' by Sherwin Williams, the color we used throughout the house. The bit of green still showing around the counter is where we will be hanging a backsplash, so we didn't bother with the tedious work of painting that area. Also to be done later - the cabinet doors and the pulls. I have put down more colorful rugs, too, but don't have a picture of them.

The only way I can think to end today's post is to share that our granddaughter Cate is - as of today - 5 months old! She continues to warm our hearts and fill us with loving devotion. What a blessing she is!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Sunday Stitching

While I've been slow stitching today and for the past several days, I find myself thinking about the scraps I am using to make these hexie flowers for an eventual Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. 

One appealing aspect of making these flowers is that I am using lots of scraps. From just a two-inch square of fabric, I can make one hexagon. Once center piece; six center surround pieces; 12 outer surround pieces. Period. Not much required to make one flower; and perfect for using scraps.

This particular flower has an added bonus in that the outer print is a scrap from my grandmother's fabrics. Isn't it great? Grandma has been gone nearly 8 years now, yet I still am so frequently reminded of her as I work on various projects. I have no idea what quilt she made using this fabric, but I do know that she was exceedingly partial to blue. It's a sweet memory of Grandma when I come across pieces from her stash.

That pink center fabric is a leftover from a 2019 make I called Memoire a Paris, the same name as the line of fabric. Here is my introductory post. The fabric was rather pricey, and even though I took advantage of a sale I am glad not to waste this usable bit of it.

These two flowers have a very special pink fabric that I am pleased to be using in this quilt. When we learned that we'd be grandparents to a little girl, I went wild for buying pink fabric. I made our darling Cate a simple 9-patch quilt using this pink as the darker fabric. (see pic below) Matching the fabric with other colors has been sorta' fun, and I love seeing how the total effect works.

I am currently working on another flower in which I am using both of these fabrics. Fun! Someday years from now, I can tell Cate that her little 9-patch quilt has bits of leftovers sprinkled through the GFG quilt.

Each flower has the potential for another stroll down memory lane with whatever various remnant I happen to use next. 

Making hexie quilts obviously isn't the fastest way to use all the scraps, but it is one slow and enjoyable way to make them work. Like so many quilters, I have more scraps that I will ever be able to use, so you can be sure I employ some faster methods for using them. A balance of fast and slow sewing works; those gals at Slow Sunday Stitching see the value in slowing down every once in awhile, right? Go have a look at what everyone is working on this week. Thanks to Kathy for her weekly link-up!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Let's Catch Up

It's been over two weeks since my last post and so much has been going on. In a nutshell, we returned to our Florida vacation home for 10 days of intense cleaning, painting, decluttering, and redecorating. I did take a lot of pictures, and I will share some of the updates over the next several days.

First, the family room. In a double-wide, this main room could also be called the front room. We are replacing the 3-piece furniture set (couch, loveseat, chair), painting ceiling and walls, changing window treatments, and adding a big room-sized rug. Some of this was accomplished; some will wait until we go back for an extended stay. So in the before-during-after progression, no picture represents the after; it's just current. More will be done when we next get down there.

This really nice, formal-looking china cabinet sat against this wall and I was prepared to get rid of it, as it seemed out of place in the room. I changed my mind when we moved the cabinet to the back wall. Maybe the wall color had something to do with my original dissatisfaction with this piece; whatever the reason, I sure do like it better now.

I will share additional rooms and their updates in upcoming posts.

Now, knowing that my time would be spent on the house, I only took one tiny bit of quilting. I spent a couple of evenings stitching hexie flowers. These three were completely finished.

I had a couple near-completions that needed additional hexies - I had not prepped enough. I proceeded with these knowing (hoping) that I had more of the fabric at home. As you can see, I did!

And now these are finished.

I am trying to be as random as can be when I select the three fabrics for each flower. I envision this becoming a very large quilt, so what will the minor decisions matter in the grand scheme of things? Not much, so don't fret. There are some oddball combinations, but they will be fine in the end.

No more for now. I am glad to be back home so I can catch up on all the blogging I've missed. For the 10 days we were in Florida, we didn't even have internet at out house, so maintaining this blog became futile. We centered our focus on the house, and got more done as a result. We will make internet decisions later.

Happy Quilting, Friends!