July Was a Blur

How can it be August already? Seems like summer still hasn't arrived in my part of the woods - almost every day has been cold, overcast, foggy, drizzly. But, my summer schedule is busy and I have long days, often on my feet for 12 hours or more at a time. Fortunately my son is very happy at day camp and goes Monday-Friday from 9-5. Still, the two of us find the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery around us. This is a photo of a herring weir down the street from one of our evening walks.

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Sewing wise - July was the month of curtains - I made curtains for 2 bedrooms (plus I did 1 bedroom in June), 1 bathroom and the laundry room. Phew. I've shown photos of all in previous posts, except for 1 bedroom... maybe sometime in August I will get a photo taken? But let's face it, curtains aren't as exciting as quilts so I am not really super motivated to go take a photo of that 1 curtain! I did finish a small baby quilt in July too.

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One thing that made July a bit easier for me... FINALLY, after 2 years of not having my own kitchen sink and counters - my own kitchen is usable! Not that I've been without a kitchen - I have a commercial kitchen, but it is inconvenient seeing how it isn't exactly in my house. It is so nice to have my own kitchen up at the house! Just basic - but certainly an improvement! My birthday was in May and I was adamant that all I wanted was a kitchen sink (which also meant jacking up the kitchen floor about 2 1/2" and adding the cabinets. My house is very uneven! The house was creaking and groaning away while being jacked up and finally the process had to stop or else none of my closet doors would open anymore. If you look very closely at the photo you might see how uneven the kick part of cabinet is, but the counter top itself is level and that is what counts. I have fabric to make curtains for the bottom shelves.

Moving right along into August... Current Projects: I am working on my son's school sweater - progress is being made. I've got the front and back now done and have cast on the 1st sleeve! Here's a photo from before the front was done.

I need 20 more string blocks to get this quilt up to the size I want, plus a narrow inner border of dark purple and a wider outer border of pink. Or maybe I will set the blocks on point as I like that look too. I finally decided to make it smaller than originally planned. I laid the blocks down on one of my favorite quilts for size fit - as I will make it this size. It is a good size for picnics, the beach, back of the car, travel, etc. I'm not sure the exact size, but it fits on the top of my queen bed minus the pillow area without an overhang.
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And, I've still got to find that missing row for my star quilt and fix the one incorrect segment.


I've got to cut out some new PJ's and pants for my ever growing son too. *
I figure if I get 1-2 of those things done, along with my daily schedule, I will be doing very well!

July Bits

Last week... well, last week was so busy that I figure I only can work less for the rest of the summer. I am so tired. The good news is that I knew it was going to be a busy week so I signed my son up for day camp... and he loved it! He is now signed up for the rest of the summer at his request. They have swimming lessons 2X a week, go to the pool just for free swim, go to the beach, library, out for icecream, play mini golf, do crafts... all sorts of fun things. Plus he has tennis lessons on Tuesday. I am so happy for him that he is enjoying it... and it gives me a bit of a chance to catch up on some of my paperwork during the day.

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Tonight, I actually got to sew for a little bit! I was all done in the kitchen by 9:30 so I had some time to just play with some of my on-going projects a bit.

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First up... my 6 pointed star. This spring I cut a ton of diamonds and this is how that project is looking. Because I didn't strip sew it, there was alot of matching up to do on those diamonds and although not perfect, I think it looks pretty good. The segments aren't sewn together yet. And yes, I do know that I made a mistake on one of those segments - it will be redone. Missing - the final strip of the last segment... so tomorrow I will try to take a look around and see if it turns up. If not, I have more fabric! No idea how to progress after I get the segments made - probably I will turn the edges under and applique it onto a background and add a top and bottom row of stars to make a lap quilt that is long enough to tuck under your feet. I only sewed 1 strip on the last segment today, but that is still progress.

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My little pile of string blocks... I have about 30 pieced so far. I am thinking I will probably need 90 plus to make a good sized snuggle quilt. Just using my pink/blue/purple strips. I sewed several of these together tonight and pressed them out. Not much, but a little bit at a time adds up.

I've actually been too tired to sit at the sewing machine and sew... when I've been on my feet all day and am tired - I like to just sit in my rocker and knit a bit here and there. Winter knitting usually hurts my hands due to the cold weather, but so far I've been fine with this project in the summer. Right now I am knitting my son a sweater for school - the back is finished and I've started on the front. The yarn is super soft so it will feel like a fleece sweatshirt, but will be a bit fancier. He likes it.

So, slow progress on everything, but at least each item is moving forward, step by step!

Laundry Room Curtains

Ta-Da! The door and window used almost 10 yards. Great green and white checkered drapery weight fabric from Marden's for $1 yard. The check looks pretty big in person, but when you hang it up - it all works out. Love it! And look how well it goes with my green AstroTurf carpet AND green linoleum walls. How could I resist? Every laundry room should have AstroTurf carpet - much cushier underfeet than cement and surprisingly long wearing - plus if there is a flood of some sort - well, it is ok. So, yes, I have a really green laundry room now. I am absolutely thrilled with these new curtains.
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Before curtains... besides the fact that the sun pours into the room and makes it really hot... look - you can SEE the mop bucket just inside the door. Yuck. I like to keep the mop bucket in front of the utility sink though because it is a logical place to put it! And those other curtains on the window never fit right - partly because there is a wall right built against that far window - part of the window is actually in another room (water tank room). Weird, I know. These things happen when you live in old, funky places. The last owners put them up and this room is so low on the priority list that I just tried to ignore them. But really, enough is enough!
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Here's a view from the outside with no door curtain and a crooked window curtain. Ignore my empty planter - I need to get some more mini shrubs which seem to do really well in this spot. If not this year - next year will do.

Here's a different angle of the room. My LARGE folding table which is actually fairly high because I am tall. It is just plywood with plastic table cloth material stapled on it. Makes a great cutting table and also, there is lots of storage under it - mainly I keep things under there to donate, camping supplies and my sons outdoor toys. Behind the door in the top left is my linen bookcase tower for all the sheets and towels. Behind the ruffly curtain (wish I had more of that green fabric, I would replace these curtains too) is a water tank room. 2 huge water tanks.

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I bought 10 yards of this fabric (if I go back and they have more, I will get enough to make the tank room door curtain). I used almost all of it in the laundry room and had a little snippet left over - perfect for this funky bathroom window. I call it a funky window because - well, have you ever seen a 2nd story window that goes down to the floor? When we moved here my son was crawling around and I had a carpenter climb up there on the outside and nail this rick rack over the window. MY son wasn't going to fall out of that window! Oooh - see my new deck out the window? It is coming along!

There is a small bit of fabric left - I am thinking it is probably enough to make a nice little tote bag.