I've Been Busy!

Well, I have!!!

I'm finally settling in to the Studio.  I've been working on a l
ot of projects.

I finished the Rainbow quilt for Billy in Las Vegas.  I still have to get it quilted...or I might quilt it myself.  I do want to get rainbow variegated thread to quilt with though.  I'll have to get a picture...I thought I had one :-(

I've made a couple of quilts for our local CASA.  One, I've already turned in and the second I finished up yesterday.  I'm not sure who pieced it but, I was asked to quilt it.  I think it turned out kinda cute.

I've also been working on a cat quilt.  It's MSQC's "Paws & Pins" pattern.  Once I got all the bits cut out it really went together quickly.

It's for a gal I used to work with. She's crazy about cats.

I have a new work station set up because I'm getting an embroidery machine.  I'll pick it up 10-30 when I take in my Tiara and Janome to be cleaned.  It's a BabyLock Flourish.  I bought it at the State Fair of Texas from Mr. Sewing Machine.  I'm really excited.  I've been watching tons of YouTube videos about machine embroidery.

Here is the station.

The top was purchased at IKEA back when I was buying my desk.  I wasn't paying attention and bought a smaller top than I wanted.  It was just hanging around until I decided to purchase the embroidery machine and decided I'd use it for that.  I had to buy legs but, that was only about 25-30 bucks.  I added the rolling Sterilite cart I had.  I think it will be good to store embroidery supplies.

Well,  I guess that will be all for today.  I have a couple of baby blankets I need to get started on but, I also have a construction guy coming over to quote on fixing our shower in the Master bath and then I'm meeting my cousin Mickey at the China Café for lunch.

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Lots to show!

Well, I've been busy!  I went to a quilting retreat and in addition, in my Studio, I've been doing a lot of projects.  Here are a few pictures:

This is the layout for a half square triangle quilt I'm working on

This is a quilt that was at the Ellis County Quilt Guild Show in Midlothian

Here is the detail of the quilt above.  The books were made from selvages of fabric...So clever!

Here is the block for our Gun Barrel Quilt Guilds Presidents challenge!  I've made 13 so far!

Here is the Christmas quilt I made from a kit from The Fat Quarter Shop.  It was made from Jelly Bars and using a special Dovetail ruler.

These are some of the squares made at the Retreat for a charity quilt.  Once finished it will be donated to  veteran who works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Here is the second Christmas quilt I made at the Retreat.  It's cutesy and I'll probably finish it off and give it to my Step-Granddaughter, Katie.  

Here is CiCi and the pillow case I made for her at the Retreat!  She has her very own camping pilly!

I'm headed out to the Studio to finish up on some of the projects I'm working on!  I'll try to remember to take pictures and post.

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Little bit of Nothing!

Late in July and it's HOT here in Texas!  About the only thing to do is hang out wherever there is A/C which is mostly in the Studio!  YAY!

This is the first completed "memorial" quilt made from my dad's shirts.  It's a bit wonky but like my husband said "Paw was a bit wonky himself"!

The darling husband wanted to make me a sign for "The Studio" but he wanted it to be a surprise.  Until he realized "why would I get someone to make the letters when Kim has a Cricut?!" So, he picked the fonts, the arrangement, I cut the letters on the Cricut, he painted and used Mod-Podge to attach the letters and even hung it above the door for me!  He's soooo sweet!

Made CiCi a coat from a pattern I found on Pinterest!  Used an old Texas Rangers t-shirt and lined it with Texas Rangers fleece!  It's kinda cute!

My newest acquisition!  It does have drawers!  It's a cutting table.  It's a bit tall.  It works well when cutting strips, I don't have to bend over. But, I like to see the fabric from above to make sure it butts up to all the lines on a ruler.  Darling Husband suggested I get a step up.  I can store it under the middle!

The president of our Quilt Guild issued a challenge to make as many of these flag blocks as possible.  The idea is to put them all together and see if we have enough to make a "Quilt of Valor" for a veteran!  I've made 10 so far!  Not due until Septembers meeting.

Well, that's about all for now!

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Sorting and Decorating!

I feel accomplished!  When I first moved in to the studio I sorted things by craft...sewing, beading, scrapbooking.  Some things were even sorted a bit deeper like tools and supplies.  Well, they were just sorted into blocks in the cubes of the Kallax shelves I bought from IKEA.  Now I'm getting down to the nitty gritty and sorting them even deeper and getting rid of a lot of stuff that I haven't used or think I won't ever use.

As I've been sorting, I've found things to do with the stuff.  For example, my Dotees.

Billy put a hook in the ceiling and I tied a bit of jute on it and clipped all my Dotees on it.  I will need more space as this piece is already full and I currently have 4 open swaps! 

Billy made this!  He had the piece of wood and asked me if I would cut out the letters on my Cricut.  He picked out the fonts for the wording and the spray paint color for the board.

It looks very nice against the gray wall above the door!

It's been nearly two years but, I've started working on Paw's (my dad) quilts.  I'm making three quilts out of my dad's shirts.  One for me, one for my cousin Mickey and one for my daughter.  This on is ready for quilting.  There are nine rows down and across.  I have one with all the rows sewn together in pairs and the third has all the nine rows sewn together....I ran out of blue dotted fabric and had to order some but it should be here by Friday.

Happy Crafting,

Kim

We've Been BUSY!

Well, it's been nearly 3 weeks since my last post.  But, Billy and I have been quite busy in the back yard.  We have been spray painting everything!  If it stood still long enough we spray painted it!  But, now we have three nice little sitting areas around the house.

This set came from a neighbor.  It was his Mom's who has passed.  He told us this set was over 50 years old.  I think the orange looks great!  Behind it on the left is the sedum "Hen and Chicks" from the cast iron pot from my mom's place.  

I bought a bunch of plants at Lowe's from the clearance rack.  I've learned the regular petunias don't grow very well.  

This set was on the back porch where the orange set it now.  The wind chimes were on my mom's porch.

These great chairs are tractor seats we got from our friend Joyce.  Billy and I were at an antique store this weekend and saw just a seat for sale for $70.00 bucks!  WOW! 

I planted some okra in a pot...need to thin it a bit.

The "wave" petunias seem to grow pretty well.

This is the new set we bought to fill the spot where the hot tub was.  The cat likes to hang out here.

This is the sitting area outside the studio door.  These chairs and battles came from mothers porch too.  

Studio Updates

The DH (Darling Husband!) and I have been busy this past weekend.  We took this old Singer sewing machine treadle my mom had (she didn't sew, she put a glass top on it and used it as a table) and added wood to the top.  I then added Insulbrite, batting and fabric to make this ironing table.  

 I finally put up the "design wall" I made from sheets of Styrofoam insulation I bought from our Lowe's.  I covered these with batting using a spray on adhesive.  I stuck them to the wall with Command hooks (the Velcro kind).  I think they were for hanging pictures.

The strips on the board are some of the strips I made from Daddy's shirts to make quilts for my cousin Mickey, my daughter Heather, and me.  I worked on the project for a while the summer after he passed but, put it away and am just now getting back into it.  I'd like to have them finished (at least the tops) by end of summer.  I do need more FABRIC!!!  Woot!  I get to go shopping!!

I updated some metal plant holders for the back porch by just adding a little spray paint!  We had to get rid of our Adirondack bench...it was starting to rot a little in important spots.  But, we received a lovely table and four chairs from our neighbor.  It was his mother's and he inherited it when she passed.  They had no use for it.  I was glad to take it off their hands.  We are going to paint it orange like the bench.  I'll post pic's of this area when it is complete.

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Finally Crafting

So, the craft studio is ready (enough) to start serious crafting.  I just haven't done any serious crafting!

I did make two Dotee dolls for upcoming swaps.

This little girl is for a 4th of July/Americana Dotee Swap

This is for a Christmas in July Dotee Swap

Here is my Stampin' Up stamp sets in the DVD (Media Stix) holders I found on Amazon.  They work great for this size ink pad.

Well, that's all the crafting I've been doing.  We did get a new grill and patio furniture for the back porch.  I potted a bunch of plants.  There are rack after rack of "tired" plants in the Garden Department at Lowe's.  I was able to buy a bunch of stuff for very little.  Some were on $.25 for a flower.  All they need is a little love and care.

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Mini Vacay!

I decided to visit my dear friend Marla at Holly Lake Ranch.  I arrived yesterday.  We went to the grocery store, went to two garage sales, played "Hand and Foot" card game with some of the ladies from the "Ranch" and ended up at Marla's sister's house for dinner of schnitzel, green beans, and mashed potatoes.  After dinner we played Farkle.  I'm staying until Monday morning.  Here is a picture of me on her patio.

Tonight we are going to the volunteer Fire Department to play Bingo.  Tomorrow we are going to have rib eyes and asparagus at her sisters!  

Happy Crafting,

Kim

F is for * Dotee

My latest Dotee is for the Swap-bot.com group swap "F is for * Dotee".  I have made an all (well, mostly all) felt Dotee.  My first!

Even her hanger and tail are felt.

Last year, I started a quilt for the bed in the travel trailer using this Crosswalk Quilt pattern from MSQC (Missouri Star Quilt Company).  I ran out of thread and stopped on the project.  Well, now that the Studio is ready for creating I decided this would be the first project to pick up.  Not that we will need a quilt on that bed for a while...

I really, really feel like I bought the thread I used at Walmart.  But, I have checked two Walmarts and they do not carry this thread any more.  Now it's time to do a little more research and find some on-line so I can get back to work on this one.  If I can learn how to use my quilter I just might make this the first quilt I do myself.

 Billy and I love Las Vegas.  And when we go to Las Vegas we have a bar we love to go to.  It's the "5 o'clock Somewhere" Bar in the Margaritaville Casino/Flamingo.  This is where our favorite Flair Bartender Billy Zurisk works.  He's a great guy.  Last July when Billy and I were in Vegas I mentioned to Billy Z I was retiring.  BZ asked me what I was going to do and I told him I like to quilt.  He said he had a girlfriend that turned him on to quilting and he wanted to try to make one.  (Note: He has since made a baby quilt for a friend of his)  He has a VLOG I follow.  One day I was watching one of the videos and was inspired.  Billy wears a lot of rainbow tie dyed shirts and I thought a rainbow Jelly Roll Race quilt would be cool.  Sooooo.....I bought this Kona Solids jelly roll with the intention of making a quilt and giving it to BZ when we go to Vegas this December.  I hope to have it completed before the July retreat with "Sisters Break Free" but, if not, I can make it then.

On a side note...I was going to mow yesterday afternoon and happen to see Biscuit (our cat) having an afternoon snack of a little garter (I think) snake.  

GOOD CAT!!!

I forgot to mention, I joined the Gun Barrel Quilters Guild!  They meet the 2nd Wednesday of every month and this month was my first meeting.  They just had their quilt show and there were several other new members to join.  They do several "meetups" a month and today, I'm going to "Proquiltinators".  This is a group that meets up at Cassy's (a member of the Gun Barrel Quilters Guild).  She has a place that sounds like my Studio except she just has room for folks doing hand work.  No sewing machines. I'm excited to meet more new folks and maybe learn a lot.

Well,

Happy Crafting,

Kim

Dotees!

I've had a horrible sinus infection and allergies for the last week.  Yesterday was the first day I've felt like doing anything.

I started in the Kitchen sweeping and mopping.  Everything is finished but, the floor has bowed at the entry to the bathroom.  The flooring folks are supposed to be here today to fix that.  I have hung the shower curtain, put up the shelving unit over the toilet.  Still need to hang the towel ring but, I'm going to wait and let Billy attack that!  I laid the new rug in front of the shower and the door was too low and would not go over it.  I'm going to see if the trim guy or the cabinet guy can trim off the bottom of the door a bit so it will close smoothly.

I've done a bit of sorting but, there is still a lot of work to do.

I felt so good yesterday I actually made two Dotees for swaps.   I made the H & I for the alphabet series of Dotees I'm hosting on Swap-bot.com.

H is for House

I is for I

Happy Swapping!

Kim

P.S.  I don't know how I turned on the underline!  LOL!!

Kitchen & Bathroom Updates!

Here is the finished Kitchen!!  Took all of about 3 hours total to finish!  Got a deal too!  The original guy that flaked on me quoted almost $100.00 more than the two guys that did it.

Close up of the tile and countertop.

Got the Toilet and Sink in. 

Here is the shower head in the shower.  I still need to get a shower curtain and rod for this.

I'm so excited to be done with this....but wait....the floor is buckling!  Awww shucks!!!  Called the flooring people.  "We will call you within 48 hours.  Guess what???  It's nearly 48 hours and no word.  I guess I'll be calling them back this afternoon. 

The floor needs a good sweeping and mopping but I'm going to wait because there will be some bit of mess when they come fix the floor.  *Sigh*

Good thing is I can still work even with the floor debacle.  Even better thing, I can drink coffee and work in the Studio without worrying about running to the house to potty!

I'm waiting on a guy from a new internet company to come by.  He's going to check to see if what he can install will be accessible from the Studio.  If so, I'm going to get that sucker installed.  Then I will have YouTube videos and my SIL mentioned something about an Amazon Fire Stick.  I don't know about that but he says it will work for Netflix and such.  That will be great!  I might never leave.

Have a great day and

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Today is a Great Day!

On Saturday, April 29th, there were devastating tornadoes in our area.  Luckily we were spared with the only loss being our electricity and a plant trellis.  We were without electricity for almost 48 hours.  With this loss comes another loss...our freezer goods.  Most the stuff in our deep freeze was still frozen but, the stuff in our fridge-freezer was lost.  First thing I did was hop in the shower.  Whew!  I feel fresh as a daisy after a spring rain!  I'm making a pot of coffee and it 3:14pm....I haven't had coffee in a couple of days.  I can't wait.

AND!!! The plumber is here!  I still don't have a kitchen countertop but he's putting in the toilet, sink, and shower door and we can handle the counter top and sink later!

I'm just sooooo glad things are seeming to move again.

I hope to be crafting soon!

Happy Crafting!

Kim

P.S. On 4-26 I took my cousin to Dallas for a Colonoscopy.  While we were so far north I took advantage of it and went to IKEA to pick up my desk top and to the Container Store and picked up a work chair! 

Back from Vacation!

Yesterday afternoon we got home from a week long cruise on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas cruise ship.  From Galveston, TX we went to Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico.  We had a grand time.

Now, back to reality and working on the Studio!!!

So, when we left, I was waiting on this guy to install the kitchen countertop and backsplash.  He wanted to do it the weekend we left for the cruise.  I told him I wouldn't be available until today and would he still be interested in completing the job.  No response yet.  I'm going to wait until 4pm (time he gets off work) and if I don't hear from him I'm going to start looking for someone else.  I have all the material...just need the labor.  Plumber is due on Thursday.  I'm going to go ahead and let him do bathroom but, I'll just have to get someone to finish the Kitchen sink hook up later.  *sigh*

I'm going out to the shop to sort buttons by color! 

Happy Crafting!

Kim

Stenciling

Picked up a stencil at Michaels to decorate up the front of the drawers for the old "Home Interiors" cabinet I bought at a garage sale.  First I used gray chalk paint on the unit and the drawers.  The stenciling was done in white.  I just picked up Waverly chalk paint at Wal-Mart and it works just fine.  It's a smooth creamy paint.  It was really easy to work with and covered really well.

I made a Dotee for the Swap-bot group "Dotees for Everyone".  I've been hosting an Alphabet series.  This is "F".  It is Fluffy Flowered & Fairyed Flutterby.

Happy Crafting,

Kim