Framed finishes, kitchen update and more!

Happy Monday!  I have to say I am glad the weekend is over.  I'm worn out after getting ready for Abby's graduation party.  Not that I did a whole lot  but what I did do was tiring and by the end of the day yesterday, I was hurting pretty good.  Then having everyone in just 2 rooms (too much construction crap in the dining room and library) was a bit too close for me.  Dan tried valiantly to get as much done in the kitchen as he possibly could but we were both slightly disappointed that some things just did not come together.  But really, there were so many people you couldn't see anything anyway!  I didn't get to go to the graduation ceremony.  Dan said it was very nice though.  Now we just need to find the girl a full time job and life will be good.

I think I mentioned that Adam was going to be moving to DC.  Well, he left here last Wednesday to begin the drive and arrived there on Thursday in the late afternoon.  He called me from his local Safeway store to let me know he had arrived and he sounded so tired and stressed out.  In fact he told me that driving in DC and the surrounding area was the single most stressful thing he has ever done and the next time he drove his car would be the day he moves away from DC.   That about broke my heart.  I did my best to talk him down so to speak, told him not to make any decisions when he was so tired and already stressed.  Told him there would be an adjustment period, Omaha is a larger city but compared to DC it might as well be a small village.  That will take time to adjust to.  In the end I think he was feeling much better.  Things didn't get any better for him though.  He stuff was supposed to be delivered on Saturday and the moving company somehow mixed up the dates.  Instead of July 9th they had him down for August 9th.  As of this morning, he still doesn't know when his things will arrive.  He did however, make it to work on time this morning, via the bus and the metro and was feeling more relaxed about that.  Can you tell my family doesn't do change well?  I shudder to think what they would have done if we were military and moved all the time.

Before my surgery, I did my best to get as much framing done as I could.  On the last day I was finally able to frame a couple of stitched pieces.  This first one was stitched by Mary Ann.  She finished it up right after Halloween this past year if that tells you anything about how busy we've been.  I really love how it turned out and I think she liked it too.  Sorry for the poor quality picture.  I had one without the glass on it but it's on the shops computer and since I'm not there....I had to send Abby in to the shop last week to take pics for me.  It's hard to get a good shot when there is glass on it.  The chart is from Kit and Bixby and it's called Creep Sheep.

                                                                   
You can't really see the frame in this picture.  It's a distressed burgundy frame with beading on the inner edge from East Side Mouldings.  The top mat has a cool/creepy mottled finish that you can see if you click on the picture to enlarge it.

The second piece I was able to finish was my Jenny Bean Friendship Sampler.  I debated back and forth on the frame for this one.  On the one hand, I have used a black frame on the other 2 Jenny Bean's I have stitched and I kinda wanted to keep with that theme.  But in the end, I just loved this frame from Valley House Primitives.  Maybe, if I hadn't made that big mistake with the color on this piece I would have liked the black frame but stuff happens and I love how it turned  out.  LOVE.IT.

I want to thank everyone for all the get well wishes and comments.  They warmed the cockles of my heart and made me feel loved.  Thanks Everyone!  I had several who commented on the acrylic finishing technique. I don't know if there's a tutorial somewhere out there.  I kinda just did my own thing on it and happily it worked out!  The acrylic stands looks sorta like an "L" and the short end goes into a notch on the bottom of the package.  It's about an inch wide.  I'm not sure where you can find them locally, we order ours from one of our suppliers but if anyone is interested, you can order them from the shop.  Off the top of my head I think they run around $3.00  I can try to write a tutorial on it but please don't hold me to it anytime soon.  I'm still trying to fill bird orders!   

Finally, I will leave you with a shot of the kitchen.  I'm excited to see it finished but know that is still some ways off.

I need to sign off now.  Have a Dr. appt. this afternoon to get ready for.  This will be my first time out since surgery!  Of course there would be a heat index advisory so I won't be able to enjoy the outside as much as I might like, but it will feel good just to leave the house.

Take care till next time!

Julie                                                                                                                        

Feeling better and some stitching updates!!

 Now that I am out of my drug induced stupor  which might have allowed me to post things that shouldn't necessarily be out there in the world, I think it's safe for me to re-enter the blogging world!  Then again, the drugs would have given me a perfect excuse to say whatever popped into my head and you all wouldn't have held it against me because I was on some very strong painkillers.  Darn!  Missed a good opportunity once again.

My surgery went well. The nerve block that was supposed to allow me to wake up from surgery with no pain however, did not work!  I never wake up from anesthesia well and I'm told this was no exception.  I woke up in  a lot of pain and they were not prepared for that.  Luckily, Dan had filled the prescription for pain meds already and they were able to get me comfortable fairly quickly.  Surgery was at 1 and we got home about 6:30 that evening.  Later than they anticipated and I think they were happy to see me go.

Recovery has not been too terrible.  Yes there was/is pain but with the meds it is tolerable.  I think the complete and utter boredom is worse than the pain.  One can only do so much from a seated position and crutching it isn't working so well.  My left hip does not like bearing all my considerable weight so I am pretty much stuck in my recliner chair all day long with the exception of  those times when I transfer to the rolling chair and roll around in the kitchen.  Everything I do is a process that has to be thought out because the last thing I need is to fall and break a hip or tear the sutures holding the tendon together.  It really makes you appreciate the little things in life.  Like washing your bum.  Hard to do when seated.  Nuff said.

 I also apparently act out my dreams as I found out the other night.  My dear dear wonderful husband had installed a plastic spider in the ceiling vent of Amy's room and she discovered it before going to bed the other night.  Amy and I both have an irrational fear of spiders.  Just talking about them can bring on a nightmare.  And that night I had one where the floor was covered with the little buggers and I was stomping on them.  With.my.right.foot.  The foot that had surgery.  As I was stomping in my dream I was also stomping with my leg IRL.  Can we say OUCH!!  Even though I wasn't stomping on the actual floor just the action was enough to cause considerable pain.  I cursed the man a blue streak once the pain subsided and if parts of his body should happen to fall off in the next little while...he deserves it.

I go back to the Dr. on Monday and I think they take the splint off and cast the leg at that point.  I'm hoping to get the green light to go back to work at this time also.  Won't be able to do a ton of framing but I'm sure I can do some things.  I miss the shop and all the people.

I'm getting some stitching done but not as much as one might expect.  The first week I couldn't see well enough to focus on the stitching.  Good drugs will do that to you. LOL!!  I'm doing better this week but I gotta say, after 6 hours I'm pretty much tired of it and want to do something else.  Never the less progress is being made.  I stitched up this Blackbird design from their book A Stitcher's Journey and will mount it on a wood pedestal base.

                                         

                                         
And I've stitched on Tuscan Rose too.  Finished all that back stitchy crap for now and am happy to see the end of it.  For now.  There's another band of it further down.  I had to frog some last night so I didn't get as far as I wanted to.  Rotten frog. I don't think he should visit people who are recovering from surgery.  Do you hear that Frog!  I don't need any more stinking visits from you!!!  Go see Doreen or Connie!!   Sorry girls.  I had to send him somewhere.  Forgive me?

                                       

                                       
Before surgery, I finished up these two cuties for a customer.  This was my first time using this particular   finishing technique.  It's not a flat fold, it uses an acrylic stand and I really like how it turns out.  The customer did too and now she wants to finish the series.  

I could go on and on today but most likely you have tuned out by now.  I'll have to post again sooner than normal so I can get it all out.  I have kitchen pictures and more stitching pictures and on and on.  Anyway,

Take care till next time!

Julie

 

And the winner is....

Catherine from Bramblewood Stitches

 Catherine said...

Best wishes with your surgery!

Love your kitchen - the cabinets look great!

Your giveaway goodies are great - I'd love to give the bird a new home! Thanks and congrats on all of your followers!

June 28, 2011 9:28 PM

Congratulations Catherine!  If you could email me your snail mail address I will do my best to get Dan to mail your package in a timely manner!  If I don't hear from Catherine in 5 days I will draw another winner.   

Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway and thank you all for the comments on the kitchen and my surgery.  I am doing well, I quit taking the heavy duty drugs 2 days ago and the pain is tolerable so that is a good thing.  I'm bored out of my mind and to be honest, kinda tired of stitching!  So today I have been scooting around in a rolling chair and sorting through paperwork that has piled up and paying bills that really should have been paid before I had surgery!  OOPS!  My bad.  Also fighting with the insurance company regarding a charge from the Dr. that they are not paying on a bill for Amy.  I hate insurance companies.    

The Kitchen is coming along nicely.  No pictures today but maybe the next post.  I'm running out of energy now so will keep this short and go take a quick nap.  

Take care till next time!

Julie

For the Birds Giveaway

Today is the day!  I have procrastinated long enough and as you know...The early bird gets the worm!  I am finally posting my giveaway and let me tell you folks, it's for the birds!!  Something to crow about!  This goose is cooked! He flew the coop!  And if I continue this you'll be madder than a wet hen so without further ado, let's feather your nest with a little giveaway that's for the birds!!!!  Sorry, I couldn't resist!

To celebrate and thank the awesome 200+ followers I have and you are all awesome putting up with my long stretches of silence,  let's take a birds eye view of what you will be receiving if you are the lucky duck that wins this little prize.  I hope you will think it's something to crow about!



First up is a Shabby Chic Scissor Beak Bird made by Yours Truly.  Your bird will arrive Naked as a Jay Bird!



Meaning it WILL NOT have scissors or valdani balls or old wooden spools when it takes roost at your house.  You get to have the pleasure of choosing your own accessories,

but here is a picture of the bird all tricked out to give you an idea of what it will look like.



Next we have a wonderful Bluebird chart by Blackbird designs.  Too cute!



To go with the Bluebird design, I am including a lovely piece of White Swan 30 count linen and one skein each of Crescent Colours Blackbird and Gentle Arts Blue Jay Overdyed Floss because as the wise old owl would say, what's sauce for the goose might not always be sauce for the gander. That owl is wise because a little bird told him some people might prefer a Blackbird instead of a Bluebird.  Right?

And finally I'm sure your eagle eyes have spotted the swan song of this giveaway, that lovely piece of bird print fabric in the background.  Use it for gilding your cage or your pincushion, or whatever makes you proud as a peacock!

So here it is all ready to go to it's new home.  All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to be a follower/become a follower and leave a comment on this post only saying you would like to be entered.  Leave me some way to reach you if you should win.  No email address or blog means you don't win.  For a second chance to win, please mention the give away on your own blog and let me know you have done so.  The giveaway is open to everyone!   I hope you like it!!


Finally, a quick glimpse of what the kitchen is looking like.  Progress is slow but steady.  The color of the cabinets is actually closer to the the top ones than the bottom cabinets.  The flash made the bottom look whiter.


I can't get blogger to cooperate with centering the pictures today so please forgive me.  I am out of time as I need to be at the hospital for surgery in a half hour and want to post this before I go.  I will draw the winner of the giveaway on Tuesday, July 5th.  Gotta fly!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Stitching and Kitchen progress!

Well dang, where did the time go?  I just realized how long it has been since I last blogged and I’m shocked!  I knew it had been a while but certainly not this long!  Once again it seems I must apologize for being a bad blogger!  I.am.sorry.

Let’s start with some stitching progress pics.  We had second Saturday stitching this past weekend and I was able to snap some not very good pictures of the Double Dutch stitch along.  My camera battery was about to die so please forgive me for the crappy photos.  

Mary Ann's progress.  She hasn't had much stitching time so not a ton of progress.

 

Mary's progress.  She's has been working on other things lately.   Progress has been made though!

I cheated a bit and didn't take this picture until after I have had a chance to stitch a bit more.  The others were taken last Saturday.

I am having a hard time fitting stitching into my life at the moment.  Between work,   regular house stuff and this kitchen re-do, stitching is falling way to the bottom of the to do pile.  Not for long though.  I found out last week that I am having surgery on the 28^th and will be non-weight bearing for 6 weeks.  Should leave me with plenty of stitching time!    

The kitchen is coming along slowly.  Dan and I have spent a considerable amount of time looking at counter top options, back splash options, sink options, faucet options, hardware options and paint options.  We found an incredible deal on granite counter tops but after looking at everything else that still needs to be done and paid for, we have decided to go the laminate counter option and have Dan do the install.  In a couple of years we can always replace them with granite or whatever might trip our trigger at the time.  I have put back splash options on the back burner for now along with hardware options but need to seriously decide on a sink and the faucet.  Dan finished up the pantry drawers last night so I can now start to wipe all the dust and debris off of the foodstuff and start putting it away.  That will be a huge relief!

I think I will pull him off the pantry and have him finish off the cabinet to the right of the dishwasher so I can put the silverware and such away.  The appliances arrived last Friday.  I'm sending the refrigerator back though.  It arrived with 4 dents/scratches in the side and although they are not bad and I could have lived with them given the right amount off, they would only cut the price by $100.00 and I figured for that I want a dent free fridge! Of course they were out of  stock on it so I am waiting for a new one to arrive, hopefully Saturday.  The delay on the fridge is also causing a delay in the microwave.  When we bought the fridge, we received a gift card for $150.00 but can’t use it until we have accepted delivery of all the appliances.   I plan to use the gift card towards the new microwave so until the fridge arrives, no new microwave.  Appliances sans the microwave.  Oh!  and the floor was installed last week also.  Love love love it!!! Btw, ignore the white thing under the dishwasher, Dan hadn't installed the kick plate yet.  My dishwasher is uber quiet.  It's  Awesome!

I must confess to feeling a bit of panic over this renovation.  Did I mention Abby is graduating from Radiology Tech School on July 9 and on July 10 we are having her party at our house.  And let’s not forget that I will be off my feet during this time.   I’m a little anxious about being able to pull the whole thing off.   Dan is only one man and although he is an incredible one man he is still only one single male specimen trying to do all this work by himself.  My mother-in-law said…Julie if it’s not perfect it’s not a big deal and I am trying very hard to think that way but it’s not working so well.  I find myself biting my tongue so I don’t harp on Dan to hurry it up a bit.  I am a horrible person!    Please keep us in your thoughts and wish us luck on getting the house put back together, if not completely finished. 

I have a bit of progress on Tuscan rose to show you also.  Still not enjoying the process of the double running back stitch but love the results!  

Think that’s about it for now.  I am almost done gathering the items I want for the give away.  I have one other thing I am looking for and then I will post it.  In the meantime…

Take care!

Julie

Have you Seen my Tape Measure?

If I have heard it once I think I must have heard it a million times in the last 2 weeks.  Boss,(that's what he calls me.  Says he's seen that job and doesn't want it.) have you seen my tape measure?  Yes dear, it's hanging from  your jeans.  Yes dear, it's right there on the counter, Yes dear, it's in the bathroom.  Yes dear, your holding it in your left hand.  If he's not careful, the Boss is going to staple the tape measure to some portion of his anatomy.  Oh wait, he's already stuffed it in his pants, asked me if I've seen it and when I turned around he had it extended out his fly 12 inches.  He dreams big when he dreams!  Anyway, that sight was enough to burn my eyeballs so I guess stapling it in place is out of the question. He'd be playing with it all day!

So obviously the kitchen reno is still a work in progress.  At the rate we are going it will be a work in progress in the year 2525!  The focus right now is on the pantry  but since the floor is to be laid this coming Wednesday, the focus is going to need to change to moving the electrical, and getting the plumbing ready to go for the new dishwasher.  I'm not quite sure how this is all going to be done by Wednesday but it has to be or no floor and that just isn't gonna fly!  So here's what the old pantry looked like.  Not very functional at all.  The opening was small and it was hard to find things way in the back.

This is the start of what will be the new pantry. 

after tearing out the walls

New back wall

looking better

with some stain

2 drawers ready

 

 Pull out drawers = functional.  You can ignore that nice orange color of the wood.  We will be painting all the cabinets but wanted to start with mostly the same finish on everything just in case it would make a difference in the final product.  Probably it wouldn't but I would hate to find out differently after we had painted.

 I was supposed to share our progress on the stitch a long but forgot to take a picture of Mary's.  I've emailed her and asked her to email a picture of her progress but in the meantime, I'll just share my progress on TR.  The section I'm working on is all done (or supposed to be done) with a double running back stitch.  Not sure that's what I'm doing and I can't say I am in love with the process but I am enjoying the results.  

Today was mostly spent cleaning the basement so Adam has a clean place to rest his head when he gets here.  The act of cleaning led me to putting some stitching stuff away which led me to seeing just how many different things I actually have started that I haven't finished.  YIKES!!  And to think I used to be a one project at a time person with no UFO's!!!  I will never clean again.  Cross my heart.  Done.  I do not need to know that kinda information.  No siree bob! From now on the basement will remain a filthy pig sty and I am just fine with that!

Dan is back from Menards, Amy is home from babysitting so I guess I should do something about feeding them.  Keep an eye open for a giveaway.  I've reached 200 followers and I think that deserves a celebration!  Just need to pull everything together for it. 

Have a great rest of the weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Tuscan Rose update

Happy Thursday!  The sun is shining this morning and life is good.  On second thought, as I'm sitting here looking out the kitchen windows and the sliding glass door...maybe the sun is not such a good thing.  Apparently I really need to wash windows!  Yuck!

Not much to report here.  The kitchen is moving along.  Tore out the pantry and Dan is busy trying to rebuild it for more functionality.  Not much to see yet so no pictures.  The kitchen is a mess so not much cooking is going on.  I'm not complaining but certain members of the family who shall remain nameless are. 

Spent yesterday waiting on news of the birth of a dear friends first Grandchild.  Marsha is so excited to be a GiGi as she wants to be called.  I'm happy to report Clara was born in the wee hours of the morning and mother, child and gigi are all doing well. 

Stitching is coming along.  This week I'm working on the Double Dutch stitch-a-long and will show pictures in my next post.  We have Last Saturday Stitch this weekend and will snap a pic of everyone's progress at that time. Last week I worked on Tuscan Rose.  Not a ton of progress but she's coming along nicely.  I have the itch to start something new but am fighting it off tooth and nail!

Need to leave for work early this morning as I have to go to the post office and get a package in the mail.  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and a wonderful Holiday weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate so much the wonderful comments!

Take care till next time!