Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Quilt Top: The Whole Process!

This past Christmas I wanted to give Josie something for her truseau. She chose fabric for a quilt. This included a book with detailed instructions. I have been working on it off and on since the first of the year. I have made quilt tops before, but always from scraps. Nearly always they have been squares or rectangles. This was a fun challenge for me. Here is a little travel log of the whole process.
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What can you do with four pieces of fabric?

Pair them up...


Cut them into shapes...


Sew the shapes together...


(At this point, I felt like I knew how many a g'zillion really is.)

Place small blocks into a six and half inch stack, and sew together.


One completed block.


4 colors, 16 pieces per block, 80 blocks, 1280 pieces, two borders.
ONE QUILT.

Laying on Josie's bed.

Spread out over the clothes rack and couch.
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This is not just a pretty quilt. It is a work of love from a mother to a daughter. I love the end results. In order to give credit where credit is due, I really have to thank Eleanor Burns for creating this pattern "Gadabout" in her book, "Still Stripping after 25 years". (Yes, I got a kick out of the title). And of course, Josie for picking out such great colors to work with. With a few moments of blood, sweat and tears, we made it through. I am not even going to think of the quilting process. For now I will just enjoy the accomplishment.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Canine Before and After

This is a photo of our dog, Durango. He is fluffy, white, and absolutely adorable. He is a Maltese. His hair grows like humans, so occasionally he needs a hair cut. We usually get him trimmed in a puppy cut, which is shorter than in this photo, but still fluffy and cute.


This is Durango, the hairless wonder.
The Dalmation wanna be.
The straight haired poodle.
Okay. It'll grow so I know I shouldn't be too shocked, but he looks so funny and well, weird. Where did my doggy go?
I am most sad because I miss his cute little mustache, beard and side burns.

He looks anorexic. Poor thing. He is just happy to get to wear clothes like the rest of the fam.

Okay, his ears still perk up when he sees us, so I guess we will make it through these tough times. sniff!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Before and After

Over Spring Break, we repainted Jackson's Bedroom.
BEFORE:
When he was young, Jackson LOVED dinosaurs. One Christmas I made him this Dinosaur bedspread in bright, fun colors. (dog was not included at the time...)


To match we painted his walls in crayon colors and splattered the lower half. Now that he is sixteen, it seemed a little juvenile. We planned last summer to paint over the splatters, but never got around to it.

Jackson ROCKS!!
He was really excited to repaint. He cleaned and cleaned in his room. He move the furniture to the center of the room by himself, before we were ready.

It's true, he is my stud muffin! Jackson wanted Sky View colors... Blue and Yellow.
I stopped at the paint store one day and got some paint options to choose from that matched his new bedspread. We spent an afternoon narrowing it down.

The final choice was this beautiful yellow color. I painted the edges and the trim. Jackson did all the rolling. (That included 3 coats of primer to cover the splatters.) He really worked hard to get the new look.

The most fun is always pulling the tape off when the painting is done.

MEGA TAPE BALL!!! (eyebrows included at no charge...)

AFTER:
The finished project, view #1.
Hanging out with Durango after the work.
View #2.

We worked hard for 3 days. 2 for paint and one to put the room back together.
Afterwards... sheer exhaustion!!
... and complete satisfaction!
WE LOVE IT!!