Basement bathroom improved

We have been improving the basement bathroom, sometimes called "The Swimmers' Bathroom". Our basement walks out on the lakeside--so it is where the swimmers go in and out of the house. But all year round the basement is also where the guest room and family room are, and Charlie's new "office" space is part of that.

This was always a complete 3/4 bath, but not in the greatest condition. So we had it all re-painted a neutral beige color.
And we had a new, water-efficient toilet installed. Doesn't it look strangely narrow? There are two buttons for the flush, one regular and one strong, for #1 amd #2.

And a glass door on the shower, as well as tile on the shower floor [which had badly pealing paint before this].

After 24 hours we will be able to try the shower out. Hooray for the Swimmers' Bathroom!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Various grasses to contemplate while walking the labyrinth

Soft rain most of the day

Found a non-dairy ice cream

Peonies in the house

Some on the dining room table.

Some in the bathroom, duplicated in the mirror.

Sara

Gratitudes:
Wonderful fragrance brought into the house
Hymn that alternated Spanish and English
LAMBurgers Peter grilled for us, juicy!

Twelve Apostles?

Some time ago I played with some scraps and white muslin. I made most of them into 3.4" blocks. Yesterday I found them under a pile of other scraps, and still being tired of Yellow, I played some more.

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Last night I chose the border fabric, layered it and went on to finish the machine quilting.

Today I picked out binding fabric, made the binding and applied it. Finished at 17" x 18", an odd size. Can't see that it is of any USE at all, except as an instance of "project improv". And I like it.

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There were 12 scrap pieces to start with--so Twelve Apostles? I think the three pieces I added outside of the 12 ,"in the margin", are Three Women, as usual not included among the apostles, but holding the whole together!

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Also there are a couple of "Invisible" apostles in the quilting.

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Sara

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Gratitudes:

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Brats on the deck for supper

Peter and Lynne came over last evening to play bocce

dogs thought we were playing "fetch"; hilarity!

Grocery Totes

I needed a break from the yellow, yellow, yellow.

So when another Blogger pointed me to Lazy Girl Designs [not Lazy Gal, Tonya] for a free tote pattern, "With Love Tote Bag", off I went to see if it was as easy as she said. Well, it is. You need just one yard of fabric to make a tote, a lining and the handles. Of course, you could change something around to your own style.

I made one. According to all the instructions. Looks fine, but quilting fabric is a little flimsy for this application.

I made a second one [of a better, heavier fabric] with two minor changes.

I made a third one because #2 was so perfect for a grocery tote [Vegetable Fabric!], that I wanted to make another--so I could HAVE two, or I could give one away, or at least I would finish up that fabric!

I would say the second and third only took about 30 minutes each.

So a completely different project for today; and they are all completed. Wow, when has that ever happened? Haha, I can list this as a One Project A Month completion!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Leftover rhubarb crisp

Charlie gone to Chicago with pals to see the Tigers/White Sox

Painting progress in the swimmers' bathroom

AAA came in 15 minutes when my car wouldn't start

Yellow on BOTH sides

Tuesday I made a white spiral to fuse into the middle of my Sun. When I cut it out, it produced another spiral almost as big. Decided to fuse that one onto an extra block that is going into the backing for the quilt.

Spent the rest of yesterday and today putting strips together for the back of Summer Sun, trying to use up most/all of the leftovers from the front of the quilt. Tonight one half is together, and the other strips are sewn. One side's strips will be perpendicular to the other side's strips.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Got a comment that "gratitudes" are contagious!

Found some basil plants to put in the herb garden.

Green, green lovely day; dinner on the deck

Summer Sun mostly together

I going to call this quilt "Summer Sun" because if is all yellow. Last night I finished sewing my blocks into two long rectangles--and I'm not sewing those two together until I have done some quilting.

Since this is going to be a summer quilt, I am making an indication of the sun in the middle . I made one Snowball block for the sun itself, using a lighter, mottled yellow fabric. Then I slashed some railfence blocks and inserted a 1.5" strip from side to side. One the first four, I carefully alternated the way the rail went before I cut the pile of four. Then when I decided to add some more, cutting on the Real diagonal, from corner to corner, I didn't think that was necessary. Wrong! I couldn't get them to point in the direction I wanted and still keep the rails going in the right direction for the design. O, well, use them a little further out. Certainly USE them.

Now I am studying it, trying to decide if they are TOO wonky.
Hmm, now there's a concept.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Got through exercise class

Smell of bread baking this afternoon

Plumber started work on downstairs bathroom

Some Lighter Yellow

I took my extra darker yellow strips and sewed them end to end, as preparation for the binding of the Sunshine Yellow quilt. Maybe it will be long enough.


Then I sewed the little "waste" triangles together and made little patches. And I sewed Them together and end to end to make a strip of leftovers that can be pieced into the backing of this quilt.

But I was really thinking all day that 70 blocks was not going to be enough. You see, somehow I have begun thinking of this as MY quilt for the summer. And my bed is queen sized.

So last night I made 10 more blocks of lighter yellow fabrics that I still had (and had earlier rejected as "too light"). Here's a photo of the new blocks on the left and a bit on the others on the right.

80 blocks is supposed to be enough to make a top that is 80" x 100". But is THAT going to be big enough? Do I need another 10?

So now I only have to wait until Monday for the next set of instructions.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Guided walk through the Wege Natural Area
Yummy lunch [and conversation] at Sue's house after the walk
Also great to see Kim and the Sikes at the walk

Sue's begun QUILTING!

"Split" Rails

In order to have enough "rails" for the golden yellow fences I have been sewing together the leftovers. This gives me some extra strips for my blocks, and I hope will add a little "zip" to the final look.

So today I have 70 "regular" blocks, some of which include the scrappy strips. These will be set Rail Fence style, though mostdo not have a dark rail on one side. My plan in making so many is that I will have NO borders! Yes! Borders are always a problem. Recently I have seen several quilts with no borders, and they look great. What a solution! However, it does mean more blocks to get the quilt up to size.

This is enough for a 7 x 10 set, which should be almost 70" x 100". However, they are not all pressed yet.

Looks like it's going to be a summery, sunshine quilt. I'm feeling energized by this project right now, and they isn't going to be any more instruction until Monday. Should I go ahead and start compiling rows? What else could the next instruction be after all?

Hmm. Out of energy for tonight, so I'm going to knit or read.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Visit by Carol Ingells

Dinner out: plate of 3 different salads

Five "Living On The Edge" ten minute plays tonight

Trail Volunteer and Rail Fence blocks

Charlie has signed up to be a Trail Volunteer for our Kent County trail system. He has been to the class, had his "record" checked, and received this splendid costume which he is to wear on the trail.

His assignment is to walk at least two hours a week and report the condition of the TRAIL. If there are any problem with PEOPLE, he is to use his own cell phone to call the sheriff.





I'm working on the Rail Fence blocks, which seem pretty big. But then, that will make the quilt top quicker! Here are some of the blocks to show how the colorway is looking. Looks like Summer or July Sunshine!



And here is the wastebasket with the slivers of trimmings from cutting them all to my PPM, 10.25" square.



Sara

Gratitudes:

Easy picking out new tiles for basement shower floor
Progress on the Rail Fence blocks
Robin chicks have flown away (or disapeared anyway)

Double Delight done, done DONE

Yesterday afternoon I finished the extra quilting that I thought my Double Delight needed to balance what Catherine Martin had done. Then I washed it, and put it in the dryer. When I get to that point with any quilt, I think it is DONE. I can mark it down as finished in May, on the very last day! [Counts for One-Project-A-Month plan.]

I have shown this before, but here it is washed and dried, with all the bumpiness of the quilting really showing up.

And today I started the "Quilt-along" offered by Dana at http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ .

Step 1 was choosing your fabric--and after thinking hard about GREEN, I decided on yellow. When I looked into my Yellow Box, I saw a lot of orangey/goldish fabrics I would be glad to use up--so THAT's the kind of yellow I am using. My idea is a summer quilt--maybe with all the yellows: "Summer Sun."

I cut some 2.5" strips as directed in Step 2, and sewed some together. I could see by the Sample that this was going to be a Rail Fence quilt. But I don't have the new fabric she is planning for, so I wasn't able to cut Width-of-Fabric strips. I wasn't going to cut my strips from my scraps until I knew how long they had to be.

Today Step 3 gave me that information, and her particular plan is not going to work for me. I have changed the plan to a FIVE rail block instead of six rails, therefore I am making my blocks 10.5" instead of 12.5". I think this will still work out to a twin sized quilt. I can make something over 50 blocks, so that will make a 60" x 90" center section.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Quiet, rainiy day, good for sewing

Leftovers made dinner easy

More iris in bloom