More than Shopping, But Not Much Else

I didn't get anything done today but shopping. I was out until about one with the girls. We came home, but I had to fix lunch for the boys. I tried to get M to take them for thier haircuts, but he had his own errands to run. When I got home, I had to start dinner. I also fixed banana bread in my quest to find the a recipe that makes bread that tastes like Starbucks. (This one wasn't it. I'm also annoyed with myself because I was supposed to buy cake flour for this recipe and I bought bread flour by mistake because I got confused. It wouldn't have made a difference with this recipe, though.) The lasagna was good and I've got enough sauce left to make manicotti sometime this week.

I hit two quilt stores in my search for fabrics for the Log Cabin Quilt. I only ended up with two yards that won't work this time. ugh! I hate shopping for fabric!!

Below are the ones that made the cut:





I would have liked to start tonight, but I'm simply too tired. I was out late last night bowling with the kids and then up early this morning. Tomorrow is another day!

January Went Where?

This weekend is the last weekend of January. I know it sounds inane to ask, "Where did January Go?"....but I'm going to do it anyway--yeah, I I guess I just did!

I can't let January end without getting into the closet in my room, M's closet, and cleaning it out. M went in there tonight to find my bowling ball and shoes and he almost got stuck in there when he shut the door. He found my bowling bag so I can go bowling with Z and C's youth group.

I wanted to get more done this month, but it just didn't happen. We cleaned the kitchen and everyone was so exhausted that we took the next weekend off. Then, everyone got sick one person at a time. I've been sick with a cold for over a week. I'm almost 100%, but I'm still a little congested and still have an occasional cough.

I also plan to start the Log Cabin Quilt this weekend. I really tried to pull some fabrics out of my stash as my friend Brenda suggested, but after three tries I'm giving up. M didn't like anything I was going to try to use. He's my most trusted color advisor and I usually listen. Since this quilt is going in our room, I have added incentive to listen to him. Looks like I'll be shopping at the LQSs this weekend.

Quilt Photos: C, S, and Entryway

I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted quilts in every room....


I've had my eye on this quilt since last year. I believe it's from American Patchwork and Quilting, but I'm not sure which issue. I think it's neat how there aren't any outside setting squares or triangles. I want to make this quilt and display in the entryway of my house.


This is S's quilt. She picked out the kit herself. I found it very interesting that she wouldn't be swayed from her choice.


This is C's quilt of choice. I need to incorporate skulls and a little bit of lime green per her instructions. I actually am eager to try a setting like this one. I'm hoping that it will liberating and not too aggravating for me.

I tried to pull fabric for my room's quilt. I don't even know why I have a stash as I have such difficulty using it. I brought my tote of aquas/tourquoise or whatever you call THAT shade of blue and I couldn't find anything. Everything was too bright or juvenile. I may be able to use a couple of cuts, but I'll have to see if I can make them work with the other fabrics I'll need to get since I don't have enough.

Cleaning is More Than Just Throwing Things Away....

Cleaning is more than just throwing things away, but it's a good start.

I probably throw things away and give things away that I shouldn't. I grew up in the house of a hoarder and my experience affected me greatly. Has anyone ever watched Hoarders on A&E? I haven't because I think it would hit too close to home. I've seen clips and that's been enough. My mom is a hoarder.

I hoard fabric to a point. Sometimes I can't bear to use it. I buy more than I should even when I know that I won't use it. I feel a rush when I buy it. I still have a large collection of fabric stored in my basement. I can't believe how much I have left even after donating a ton of it a couple of years ago and selling a lot of it off to make ends meet a couple of years ago. I cried so hard!

Sometimes I think I should get rid of it all, but I can't even bear the thought. As sad as I get, as annoyed as I get with myself, as hopeless as I sometimes feel....a voice always tells me that I shouldn't be so drastic and that I would never recover. I have vowed to use as much as I can this year and to find some of the joy I've lost in my quilting by making quilts for my home and others. In addition to the home improvements I want to make, I also want to make as many quilts as I can and donate them.

I have spent the weekend going through my magazines and patterns. I love to buy quilting magazines! I keep them for awhile and then I get busy ripping them up, saving only the pages with quilts that I would consider making . I've regretted doing so in the past because sometimes I find that I've thrown a pattern away that I need back. I can't let that stop me. I'm considering better storage options. I've got everything stored from before in 3-Ring binders, but I don't have things organized better than that so the system I have is almost useless. I'm exploring my options.

M reluctantly helped me measure the wall where we're going to move our bed. I want to start making our quilt so I needed the measurements. I've got the quilt drafted as 72x86. I need to check my stash for more fabric before I shop. I only purchased 1/4 and 1/2 yd cuts recently and so if I use those, I will need to buy more yardage. I haven't started S's quilt yet. If you will remember, she picked out a kit. I usually avoid kits because I don't like the restrictions they place on me because of yardage and recommended piecing methods, but she really wanted it. The fabrics were only available in the kit so I couldn't buy the pattern and fabrics separately. As it is, I may change the border since the kit only allows for a pieced border and I prefer a single length of fabric for mine. C has decided she wants a skull quilt. Oh, joy. I started collecting skulls on pink fabrics a couple of years ago, but she's decided she doesn't like pink now. The plan is to use the Beyond the Block book for her quilt.

I'm thankful that we have a Goodwill location just down the street. I always have a bag or a box going. M regularly rolls his eyes at me when I ask him to take a collection down for me on his way to running whatever errands he's on his way to completing. I'm in the process of going through the kitchen cupboards and drawers. I'm still trying to get M to go through the closet and his dresser. I may have to do it....

We're all still recuperating from cleaning the kitchen last weekend so I gave everyone, including me, the weekend off from cleaning. I hope to get back at it next weekend. I'm afraid to lose my momentum by slacking off in any way... Good news is that the kitchen is still in good shape except for the floor and areas I didn't get to last week. We've all been working together!

The Kitchen: After is ALL You're Gonna Get

The slideshow above is the best I can do. I took the pictures on Monday before the room could get too dirty again. hahahahahaha

The kitchen got cleaned....enough. The stove got delivered and I've been baking up a storm to make up for lost time. I still have a lot to do, like clean inside the cupboards and get the organizing done. M was nice enough to get me a new vent cover.

I've never liked my kitchen! White just isn't my color....

The white floor is the worst!! I've never been able to keep it clean with the dogs and the kids. Not only is it white, but it's textured so dirt gets imbedded in it only to come out with serious scrubbing. You can see that it's already dirty from the dogs tracking in mud from the backyard the same night I mopped. I feel like I need to have a Swifter velcroed to my hand. The floor got rips in the vinyl over the years in the main traffic area. It desperately needs to be replaced.

The walls in the kitchen have the same textured treatment as the rest of the walls in my house. What were they thinking?! Dust actually catches in areas of the wall. I enjoy my view from the kitchen to the dining and living room area. The stove is right under the opening. However, I don't have any type of exhaust system or fan above my stove.

Michael put the door between the back door area and the kitchen years ago upon my request. He never finished it. It will probably have to be replaced since it's so scratched. You don't want to see the other side--it's the side that faces that room where we used to keep the dogs while we were out before we had crates. They've scratched right through the hollow door to the kitchen side.

We're not sure what we really want to do in the kitchen to spiff things up. I'm more concerned about the rest of the house and if we have to keep replacing appliances, we won't be doing any major work in there any time soon. The stove this week, the fridge six months or so ago, and the dishwasher a couple of years ago. I know we will paint. M even said it's a shame we can't paint right away before things get dirty. I'd also like to take the tile up to the area above the open area by the stove. I think it would be easier to clean than the paint. We need to caulk between the tile and the counter in the worst way. The floor is the floor.... It's M's focus, but it's not mine except to say that he could pitch in and pick up a mop once and awhile. Oh, and he could clean up that junky counter! His other focus is doing something with the cupboards like painting or refacing them. Sure! Some of the drawers are falling apart so we definitely need to do something with THEM.

I'm happy that we cleaned in there. Anything else will be just gravy. Everyone helped so I'm hoping that we'll all be invested in keeping it clean.

Clean-a-Thon

Judy of Patchwork Times is hosting one of her Quiltathons this weekend.

I'd love to participate, but I'll be cleaning instead.

M bought a new stove last Sunday and it's going to be delivered on Monday. My kitchen is disgusting so I'll be working in there this weekend. My oven stopped working and there wasn't even a discussion about trying a repair. He kept asking me if I wanted to be involved in picking out a new one, but I said no. All I could say was that I wanted a basic stove. I don't need or want any bells and whistles. The oven could have picked a better time to stop working for financial reasons, but my home improvement plans for the kitchen didn't involve designing around the stove or picking a stove out based upon changes to the kitchen.

I have missed my oven this week so it will be very nice to get the new one delivered. M has had to grill a couple of times this week because I wasn't prepared to cook dinner on the stove top and I like it when I have any excuse to ask him to cook. We had burgers on Monday and pork chops last night. I love it when he cooks! He mentioned someone at work talking about grilling pizza. I was over enthusiastic about him trying that so he probably knows somehting is up....hey, like I said, anything to get out of cooking.

So, since I have to be in the kitchen cleaning this weekend I might as well do a good job. I'll continue with my goal to get rid of the junk, organize, and clean until it sparkles!

My Room: Log Cabin Quilt

Above is the quilt I was talking about that is displayed at Great American Quilt Factory (GAQF). I needed a break this afternoon (more about that later....) and so, despite my better judgement in thinking I could go into a quilt store without finding something I needed to buy, I headed up there to get a picture of my quilt.

M liked it and so it's good as done!

Looking for ways to display quilts in your home? All People Quilt

I'm trying to figure out which way I like best:

My Room: Color Palette

I was out and about today. I feel a little guilty spending the whole day out because I did have plans to stay home and work on the closet and some other things. I spent the day out with my girls and we had a good time. Translation: went and had bagels at Einstein Bagels and I spent money on them.

We did look at home dec stuff for them at WalMart. The girls love the Your Zone teen line at WalMart. C is especially very anxious to get everything done as soon as possible. I told her we'd have to do a little bit at a time and that she was going to have work really hard. You should have seen her face when I told her she could start by cleaning her walls. It doesn't help that S isn't helping. Their room is going to be bright is all I know. C still wants her skulls quilt, but now wants black and neon/lime green rather than the pink skulls I've been collecting. She has recently developed an aversion to pink.

I also went to one of my quilt stores. I've been eager to get some FQs to show M the color palette I had in mind. He was leery of my ideas after I showed him the paint cards I brought home last week. He turned his nose up at the aqua/tourquoise-y shades I wanted to pair with brown. I thought I was going to have to settle on just...blue. He's had a change of heart based upon my FQ examples or I wore him down because he agreed to this:





I want a log cabin quilt behind my bed. I don't what the layout is called, but I'm sold on the layout of a quilt that GAQF has as a quilt sample for Eleanor Burns Quilt-in-a-Day Log Cabin book. I need to get in there to get a picture.


This is the bed we want.

Tomorrow: to at least start on the closet

My Room

I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe the dirt. (Shannon--may be you can see the build-up of dirt on the door frame of M's closet and laugh. A CSI-type test would prove it's M's dirt.) I have been after M to clean the bedroom screen for......years. I'm a horrible housekeeper, but the one thing I do try to keep up with is the cobwebs. Eeew! Part of not cleaning the windowsill is principal on my part.

The scratched drywall is a newer thing. The dog's scratch the heck out to the wall in their impatience to get out of the bedroom when M gets up to let them out during the night, in the morning, or whenever. I am so MAD!!

The yellow walls are my fault. They're the reason M refuses to paint for me again. I waited until he was done to say I didn't like the yellow. I like yellow, but not his shade and not this much. He painted the room for me before we changed bedrooms when I was pregnant with child #3....I think?

M's plastic roll-around nightstand is a new thing since last weekend. I hate it. He wanted something to put more stuff on since the dresser is piled high. I'm one to talk. My dresser is piled high with my clothes. I have none in the closet and I don't put clothes in my dresser. M's dresser is full with clothes he doesn't wear except for socks and underwear in the broken top drawer and a couple of T-shirts in the second. He won't go through his clothes and give anything up.

M says the room is 12x10ish, but I'm going to measure.

The plan:

1) Clean, clean, clean the dirt.

2) Clean and organize the closet (Use whatever means necessary to get M to get rid of some stuff so we can both use the closet). I will probably have to get some Elfa baskets for the stuff that won't hang.

3) Get rid of the dressers. (We can barely walk between the bed and the dressers to navigate the bedroom.)

4) Paint--still undecided on the color. M is being stubborn.

5) Get a new bed and mattress for us. I'm leaning toward a platform bed, but M is being difficult. (May be I can bribe him with a real nighstand?)

6) Curtains for the window

7) I want a quilt behind our bed and on it.

Michael wants to move the bed to the opposing wall that is near the door. One of us won't get a nightstand if that's the case. I see his point since our bed is in view of the window that faces the neighbor's house and we've never had a curtain. (Perhaps that's why he won't clean the screen?) In the summer it's not so bad since a leafy bush/tree grows lushly in front of the window.