Waiting at Luna's

No matter how long you've been away, no matter the management Luna's is still the same... Sloppy buttery Texas Toast and all!

Our Renovation Project Finally Begins

Over many years we have made plans for adding onto and remodeling  our home…

A little here and a little there was all there ever was time for…

with Mike’s job always so far away and taking all his time…

In the last month…

We finally started with some of our long over due plans…

Let’s start with the kitchen…

In the beginning the kitchen was a very small area sharing space with the eating area in one room…

Very few cabinets and NO counter space to speak of…

The outside wall, in the eating area was graced with two long windows…

which while affording you a “larger” look at the yard ate up all that wall space…

So, we tore out those windows and replaced them with a short one to match the new one over the sink… giving us one whole wall for counter and cabinets…

Then we

tore out the old cabinets…

added more electrical outlets…

picked a new paint color for the walls…

Before and after color change

Miss Bo sits atop new cabinets

And

got some help putting down new flooring…

We’ll come back to the kitchen with a sink installation and countertops later…

Mean while let’s look at the old garage room…

some twenty years ago we had it closed in to remodel into a den…

(“Best laid plans of mice and men”)

Instead over the years it became first the storage room then the JUNK room…

That thing was half full…

No, not from end to end…

that way it was full..

I mean from bottom to top!

Now, here is a true confession…

I have never, ever coveted anything of my neighbors…

oh, maybe a flower bush here and there …

But, there was a time when my in~law’s had a big blue dumpster brought out to their house and began throwing things out!!!

OH… How I wanted a

big blue bucket

of my own!!!

Guess what !!!

We got one!

Me and Big Blue!

Over many days that garage room was emptied…

Yes, we found things we thought were long gone…

including someone’s

Uncle Albert…

(No, not really!)

(Sure, we even had an

old phone booth…)

Then Mike tore out the ceiling and all that old insulation

(Note face mask pulled up on forehead)

the room had been totally gutted, cleaned out and swept…

So, what did we do next?

 

I’ll tell you this,

while every muscle in my body has been tired and aching I have been having the time of my life!

Nothing is more fun that to set some goals,

and work side by side with your best friend to reach them !!!

 

Join me next time and we will continue this old house renovation!

See ya soon!

Home at Last

 

I believe it was Twain who once said travel is broadening,

I have found this to be very true…

And

yet, it has never failed to broaden

my

appreciation of home.

Home

is where your heart hangs it’s hat…

and kicks off it’s shoes.

It’s so good to hear this old place

softly whisper

“Welcome Home”

♥

My Consumer Report…

Awhile back I found myself mesmerized while watching an infomercial …

You know one of those thirty minute deals that says

“BUT WAIT…

If you order NOW we will not only send you this but TWO more just like it!!!”

Normally I do not give these things a second glance much less sit and give it my undivided attention…

which is exactly what I found myself doing.

Now, you might ask what could have caused such a transformation in my character…

I will change the name but let me just tell you!!!

The Mmmm, mmm Bra.

Oh, they did a good job of selling it…

bringing up every downfall of every binder ever worn by woman… and how this wonderful invention of Miss So&so’s was,

for women,

equivalent to the invention of the automatic washing machine, dishwasher, and crock pot all rolled into one…

Now in my minds eye I see this particular under garment in the same category as the hated pantyhose…

Yes, only the devil himself could have thought up such a hateful contraption .

Every single day,

the wide world over, women are terrorized by these hateful binding nuisances…

And here they were promising a day without

digging, slipping, binding bulging, wiggling, worrying,

burping,waddling, fretting

on and on with promises that no binding or any type of under garb should ever make,

yet here they did…

But, WAIT!!!

If you order now you can have not one, not two but, three… for $60.

and if you do this or that we will send you 3 more…

White, Nude, Black, Pink, Purple, Green, Blue…

Your choice,

on and on…

Well, now the skeptic in me said

“Why would I send anyone $60 for something I have not tried on…

for something NO ONE has ever improved

no matter what they claimed!?!

Then the other day in the store what should catch my attention?

In my peripheral vision I happened to see a box

that said

“The Mmm,mmm Bra”

I picked it up and upon inspection saw it was one and the same…

just one,

just one color,

just $20.

Yep, it went into the buggy…

After all they had promised……..

world peace.

The next day…

first rattle out of the box I donned this new wonder garment…

Oh, Man!

The comfort was unbelievable!

I must have exclaimed the extraordinary merits of this

most exciting discovery a million times to my husband

and how thrilled I was with it!

(a man just has no clue!)

And now to share just one more thing about the wonders of the fit and comfort of this under pinning…

late that evening upon removal

I discovered that it might have even been more comfortable had I not been wearing it

Backwards!

New Horizons

~ ♥ ~

With each new dawn comes the new day.

With each day a chance for a new horizon,

and with that the possibilities of a tantalizing adventure!

Keep a twinkle in your eye,

a song on your lips

and

love in your heart!

~ ♥ ~

                   D.

Visit the Michael x2 Blog

Michael William is visiting with Papa and Gamma for a couple of weeks …

Feel free to

take a peek at their blog

www.michaelx2.blogspot.com

Sunday was a day for the beach…

who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Can’t promise a new post for each day…

But, Mommy wants pictures so there will be several postings..

and please excuse and incomplete thoughts and or misspellings all postings are done with a lot of extra help!

as of right now..

there is a pirate in my kitchen…

YELLING something about Captain Hook and making way with me mouse pad!!!

ARRRRRRRRRRG!!!!

The Bargello Top is Finished

The piecing is done…

Borders applied and mitered

To cut your borders …

measure the top of your quilt add the width of your border twice plus 2 inches…

this will be the length of your top and bottom borders

(the width is up to you)

repeat for your sides

Measure and mark with pins into fourths the quilt edge top and border…

match up pins and sew to within 1/4 inch of top edge

Apply all sides this way and miter.

Carrie’s Bargello was to be a “full size”

But, I don’t like not being able to tuck my pillows when making a bed with a quilt so I added enough for that..

Next the top will be pinned to the the backing and batting then it will be on it’s way to the hoop.

So with a lot of “supervision”

a little time and some gumption

we jumped in and proved my mama right

remember:

“You girls, can do anything you set your mind to.”

Not only could I …

but, I enjoyed it so much I’m already contemplating the design for my next Bargello!

Let’s build that Bargello Quilt!

From the Start

…

Using graft paper

10 squares per inch,

each square will represent 1/4 inch.

(The vertical dimensions of each square correspond to the width of the color run strips you cut for the tube… and vary from quilt to quilt… we’ll talk about that in a minute)

So, let’s plot our design…

On your graft paper “free hand” your curved line across the page…

this will take a little practice to get it the way you want and across the page which represents the width of the bargello…

Now figure out the size of each block it requires to imitate the direction your curve is taking. Fill in graft squares to represent the width of Bargello strips needed for the design.

1. Make steep slopes with narrow vertical blocks

2. Make gradual slopes from wide vertical blocks

3. Make points with gradual narrow blocks that change direction

4. Make waves with gradual wide blocks that change directions.

Now, let’s take a moment and discuss the width to cut your strips..

First decide on the size you want your quilt…

and will it have borders?

Let’s pretend the size of your “Bargello” will be

58”x72”

and you have 9 different colors you want to use

Repeating each color run 3 times…
That's 27 strips...

with me so far?

72”(length) divided by 27(total strips)=
 2 2/3” wide strips (finished)

Remember

to add 1/2 inch to size of finished strips for seam allowances… before cutting!!!

So our “pretend” strips would be cut

2 2/3 +1/2 = 3 1/6

 

*All fabric should always be pre washed and ironed…

this is to make sure any shrinking and fading is done before project is constructed…

It is not pretty when two or three different fabrics are sewn together and shrink different amounts …*
Now

 you have figured out what it will take to get the length.

What is the width of your shortest fabric?

(selvage to selvage?)

(If one is extremely shorter than the others you can add on to it after you cut strips before you sew them together,so the strips in your tubes will be close to the same... don't worry you are going to square and trim them)

Say, your strips are 45” wide and your quilt is to be 58”
 you will need 2 tubes to cover that width.

O.K. Lets cut the strips

Be sure and square up your fabric…

using your rotary cutter cut off the edge to get everything nice and straight…

be sure and check every now and again to make sure it stays good and squared. 

and cut your strips…

continue cutting till you have enough strips for quilt…

Now in the beginning when we first picked out the fabric and decided on what order that fabric looked the best

we made a cheat sheet …

so we wouldn’t forget…

It’s really nice to have to look around at from time to time

put a small swatch on your sheet in the order you like and number them

 

this is the order you will sew them together in…

starting with one all the way through 10…

sew your strips together using a 1/4” seam

at the end of each strip turn your sewing around and start the next seam on the same end you just finished…

I found it very helpful to place a pin on that end as soon as I was getting ready to remove it from under the foot…

Just in case Miss Bobo or Thibby talked to me ,
the phone rang or I got a text…
I would still know where to start when I resumed sewing!!!

 

then repeat as many times as you want the color run to repeat…

mine was four

I know, I know, ironing is

NO FUN

but it is a must to iron those seams all in the same direction.

Now, sew those strips

(my 4 runs of 10 = 40)

the very first one to the last one making a “tube”

or
big circle 
Be sure and iron…

next you will have to fold it carefully so that it will fit on your cutting mat and we are ready to start cutting our different sizes from the tubes…

trim off the selvage edges from the tubes

and

Square it up!

and check often!

remember, the curve you made on your graft paper? and all the different size blocks you plotted… ?

I cut each strip from my tube no more than 3 at a time so as not to get confused and pick up the wrong one…

SO let’s say I started with the 2” block..

remembering the seam allowances I cut the strip (tube) 2 &1/2”

then I cut the next one on the graft ...

So I have two tubes in my hand the first tube … and the one just to it’s right…

I’m now going to decide which block will be the top block and remove the stitching between it and the one above it..

Look

Now I have a long strip again…

the next cut tube according to my graft the colors will ascend by one…

So I will remove that stitching

and square the two strips up side by side… making sure my corners will line up and then stitch them together…

at the end of this seam I place my pin so when I cut the next one I will start at that end when I start sewing my seam…

Over and over, I check my graft, cut my tube,

check my graft, move the colors up or down, remove the stitching and pin…

sew a seam place end pin…

cut a tube…

and so we are building a Bargello

 

with a lot of company

and a few days

and a lot of close supervision

 

we are finally ready for

the borders…

but, now it’s also

the Fourth of July…

so construction will take a break and

after the fourth

(tomorrow) 

we will start on the borders…

Have I totally confused you?

Or is it clear as mud?

If it's as clear as mud... don't lose heart.. I was confused till I just jumped in with both feet.. and found out this way is really ... fun!

‘s…

                 and our kitten, too.