Illumination

One of my Christmas gifts for my husband was a new light fixture for our kitchen dining nook. I always liked the old glass fixture. I felt slightly guilty about this gift, since DH could not care less about the kitchen light fixture, and would also have to do the installation.

But when I re-painted the kitchen last fall, the glass chandelier seemed very washed out among the lighter colors. Something more substantial was needed.

I looked and looked, and finally chose this very heavy chandelier. The leaf motifs echo the woods behind the house, which are very visible from all these tall windows. The lamps have a golden glow, and the crackle finish on a sort of bronze base show up well in the lighter color scheme.

We had recently helped our son and DIL change out their dining room light fixture with a wrought iron one, so we knew it would not be a piece of cake. But we were both home this afternoon and decided to tackle it.

I got our tall step-ladder with the bucket tray, placed my new Babylock Embellisher box on end on the tray, and decided that was the perfect height to hang the chandelier. (No way I could have held up my end while DH did all the wiring.) We got'er done without too many cuss words and no lamp breakage or electrical shocks. :)

Now we have a lovely fixture with a soft glow to warm the kitchen dining area.

I definitely need to re-hang some artwork and quilts, and maybe finally decide on some window treatments after living here for fourteen years. I would love some sumptuous silk, but the southern exposure tends to fry everything in the window. All my cellular shades in the house have deteriorated due to the hot sun. Don't even start me on the finish on my front door, which is hot to the touch after an afternoon in the southern sun. It completely burned off once, has been professionally refinished with a finish meant for marine topcoats (boat surfaces), and has burned off again after three years.

I love the views out the tall windows. Great for bird-and-nature watching. But I think it would soften the look to put some nice lovely valances as window toppers. My house plants continue to shoot toward the ceilings even though I top them off periodically. They love the sun!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday-Kitchen Counters

Need a little break today? Pause for a minute by Big Peak Creek in Ashe County, North Carolina.

Yesterday there was a lot of excitement Chez McBrayer. The granite truck rolled right up to the front steps. I was a little concerned about my granite making it from the truck to the kitchen. One of the two installers was holding his pot belly, bending over and moaning just before carrying in the 900 pound section for the island. Male labor pains? The guy blamed it on what he ate for lunch. But the fellows did an amazing job and it was quite fascinating to watch. I had to sit on the front porch when the smell of the glue starting pervading the house.

Now the counters and sink are in place. Mr. Quilty came home late last night. He was the one who had insisted on the fake-wood formica countertops when we bought this house. But he loved the shiny new granite. Said it looked like a new house! Today they are supposed to add beadboard and moulding to the island, install the faucets and hook up the dishwasher, and start the tile backsplash. However, no one has shown up yet.

Project for today: try to bind a 1970's polyester double-knit quilt. This is another one made by my sister-in-law's grandma. Fortunately, the quilt was tied with yarn, so I don't have to quilt it. I had to ask advice from the Longarm List about how to finish it. Wish me luck!

Phase One is done!

Here is a peek at our new porcelain tile in the kitchen/eating area. I would love to show it flooded with morning sun, but so far, the sun has not cooperated with the nor'easter off our coast.

To show how badly we needed this new flooring, here is a comparison.
This is the old vinyl floor with a big crack at the entrance to the powder room.

Here is the new Toto toilet, now thankfully out of the living room and installed in the powder room. We are proud of that bad boy! Before, we had one of those low-pressure toilets. Awful, awful!

I think I have mentioned before that one of my sons works for a plumbing supply company. He has helped us get some fine new fixtures at a low cost. This Toto has won awards for best-performing toilet! At home shows, they mount it in a Plexi-glass stall and flush golf balls through it!

It is so funny that Dave grew up to be a toilet salesman. When he was a little boy, he was fascinated by toilets. He immediately wanted to visit every men's room in every restaurant so he could try out the toilet. Potty-training that kid was a breeze! I was glad he was a boy so his father got the rest room escort duties.

Anyway, one of the features of this toilet is that the seat and lid return gently to the closed position with only the slightest of touches. It is a pretty good party trick. People have been known to enter a bathroom with one of these potties, and shriek with laughter as they watch the seat slowly, gently descend. No banging of lids! No fear of amputating part of the male anatomy as the seat unexpectedly slams down!

That reminds me of a hilarious magazine article my husband and I read back when we were first married. It must have been in Playboy. (Yes, my husband just reads it for the excellent non-fiction articles.) This particular article was all about the danger of "Bijouna!", the author's term for the dangerous unexpected dropping of the toilet seat. Not being a person who is required by polite society to lift the seat in order to use the facility, namely a male, I had no idea of the dangers involved. Bijounas are more likely to occur when the tank is covered with one of those fluffy toilet ensembles.

Well, enough about this topic. Not very quilty today! Hope you got a laugh or two.

Changes Coming

Here is a look at a weather-maker just off the coast of North Carolina. This one is not a hurricane, but I just came back in from an invigorating walk with Maggy. It is very gusty and quite cool. We should be getting some rain pretty soon, and already have some limbs down.

I did not have a new Work-in-Progress yesterday for my usual Wednesday post. But here is the back of The Green Man quilt with the label I made prior to sending it off to Innovations. I fused some leaves from a commercial print fabric to form a border around the computer-printed label. I wanted the quotation on the back to explain the text that I quilted into the piece. You can see the quilting much better on this light-colored hand-dyed back fabric. Look how many times I changed threads- that is MOST unusual for me!

Actually, my Wednesday Work-in-Progress was the new kitchen floor. The tile is now installed, and it looks GREAT! Needs to be washed again today, but after I do that, I will post a picture. I have to seal the grout on Friday or Saturday. The wood floors will be installed in the other areas downstairs starting on Monday. Lots going on!

Fun with Paint

Sitting here with a big smile on my face after watching Good Morning America on its Whistle Stop Tour in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma performing "Sweet Baby James" on the front porch of the Red Lion Inn. It just does not get any better than that!

I spent a LOT of hours finishing the paint job on the kitchen...all done! It is all gleaming with light-colored walls and glossy mouldings. I paid dearly for my idle boast the other day about not spilling a drop on the floor...when I was doing the darker color below the chair rail, I got a LOT of paint on the floor. I attribute the messy painting to my assistant. Do you know him? His first name is Mickey. His middle name is Lobe. His last name is Light. Often helps me when I am doing something I do not enjoy! But I don't care, because that floor is going away very soon, I hope. I miss my peacock blue wall, but I am getting used to the lighter color. At first I hated the darker beige on the bottom. When I applied the first coat, it looked just like the only color I did not like in the old 64-color Crayola Crayon box..."flesh." Actually, the top color is called "Shortbread," and the bottom is "Adobe Tan." In the morning light, my kitchen looks like a big butter mint. At the bottom of the picture, you can just see the top of my dog's head. She was on Squirrel Watch, her constant assignment. There was a big one hanging upside down on the bird feeder.


While DH was up in the mountains doing what he loves best in the world, and I was home doing what I do not love at all, I decided to grab a couple hours of "me" time and play with my paints and inks a bit. I tried out the new Neocolor II watercolor crayons to bring out the quilted motifs in my little pink trapunto quilt. This was so easy, and the colors are gorgeous! I did not apply any water at all, just got out my crayons and colored. It has been heat-set with an iron. I am going to love these crayons!
I also did a little experimenting. Here I randomly applied Neocolor that I did not heat-set, just ran under the faucet full strength. There is still some color remaining, and you can still see the outlines such as the flower and the stripes in the pink, but LOTS of color ran down the drain.

Here is another sample, not heat-set. On the left I had drawn some green leaves. Everything washed out. Lesson learned!

Here is a study showing the colored areas before applying water, and the same stripes of color after applying water with a fan brush. What a difference!

Today I will do a little more packing up of things for the flooring project, and then off to do a little shopping...WITH my wallet this time.

Painting Progress

Well, I finished painting two coats of this warm beige paint above the chair rail in the kitchen. I had hoped to avoid painting the lower part of the wall, but have decided to paint it a few shades darker than the top part. In fact, I bought two gallons of the "shortbread" color paint, and only used one. Maybe they can tint the other can a little darker if I take it back to the store. Yesterday when the sun came out, my kitchen literally glowed-almost a peach color- with the light hitting the new paint.

We will be selling this house at some point when we decide it is too much trouble to have two homes- one in the mountains and one here in central NC. I am almost there...but can't stand the thought of packing and moving, especially with my twelve-foot Gammill. But in the meantime, I am trying to update a few things so it will be marketable. I have heard that the rooms should be in warm neutral colors, and my whole downstairs is in cool blues and greens. So the kitchen is a first step!

Plus, I am trying to finish the painting before the new floors are installed. Ironically, I did not drop any paint on the floor yesterday!

One of my quilting buddies came out yesterday to bring me a quilting job. She couldn't wait...it was "in her way." I think she felt bad when she saw what a mess this place is in due to the painting and new floor project. Oh, yes, and our son who sells high-end plumbing fixtures got us two new Toto toilets, and one of the old ones was sitting out in the driveway. I told her that being from Arkansas, she should feel right at home. Those of you who know Jean will understand!

Anyway, Charlie is heading for the mountains today as tomorrow is opening day of bow season for deer hunting. I am not into the whole hunting thing, but have learned to live with it. I did not know that the handsome college boy I married was a hunter until too late! He has been hunting up there in Ashe County with my brother-in-law for thirty-six years. Don't worry, they have not exactly decimated the deer population. Often I see more deer at home in Wake Forest than they see in the mountains. I am staying home to work on this kitchen project, and get some things ready for next weekend. We are having a big birthday party in the mountains for my father's 85th birthday. I am doing the decorations, name tags, and a digital slide show set to music. Can't say much more in case Dad decides to browse my blog!

Have a great weekend, and my prayers go out to those in Texas who are in the path of Ike. Stay safe!

Another Wednesday Wall-in-Progress... and New Books

Remember the awful picture of the wallpaper being stripped off my kitchen wall? Here is the same wall now, with all the paper peeled off and spackling complete. Much better! Now to decide what color to paint the upper walls.

My old kitchen wallpaper had one great redeeming feature. It had little dots on the background that were perfect for lining up artwork to hang, and for camouflaging old nail holes. But, it was really getting dingy, faded, and peeling off the walls.


I did not realize until the paper came down, how often I had changed out my wall hangings over the last fourteen years.


So, I am still in the process of sanding down the spackled areas to prepare for painting. Still no word on when the floor tile is going to be installed, so I am trying to get all painting projects done before the pretty new floor is installed. Here is why I need the new floors so bad. The old vinyl has retreated away from the walls, revealing the sub-flooring. Also has lots of cracks and stains.



Well, enough about walls. Here is a new book I purchased last week on E-Bay: Amy Butler's In Stitches. I have mentioned before that the Amy Butler fabrics, which are all the rage, are really not my favorites. I like clear bright colors, and she has so many that are muted with browns. But I love many of her project patterns, like purses and totes. So, I found her book on E-Bay at a considerable discount over the retail price.

Yuck, look at that horrible orange pillow with the puffy polka dots. And that ugly fabric print on the side. A look at the projects inside was quite disappointing. There are 25 "Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects." There are a few patterns that will be handy to have on reference, such as place mats, napkins, and potholders. The quilt patterns are all rectangles- duh. There are four handbags. One, the "Simple Leather-Handled Shoulder Bag", looks like a ditty bag I made back in Brownie Scouts days. The "Clutch Handbag with Fabric Flower" would have been right in style in the fifties. There is an apron pattern that is slightly less complicated than my first-ever sewing project in sixth-grade Home Ec. The title is right: these are simple. But if you don't know how to sew, this would be a very helpful book, with clear step-by-step directions, and patterns stored neatly in a special pocket in the front. My advice would be to buy an Amy Butler pattern that you love and save your money by skipping this project book.
Okay, on to some other new books. I bought these for Christmas gifts for my grandchildren at the Trading Post on the Blue Ridge Parkway that I visited with my sister last weekend. They have the most beautiful pictures of wildlife. I got a board book for Lily, who at two is still not very kind to books. I think Avery will love the deer and wild life in the other book.While enjoying the ride on the Parkway, I was trying to describe to my sister the colors of the sunset that greeted us on our drive to the mountains Thursday night. There were the treetops, topped by a pink layer of clouds, then the blue ridge of the mountains, then a line of purple clouds, pink clouds, topped by the bright crescent moon. In the trading post, I pointed out this note card: that's almost what it looked like! I bought this set of cards with different mountain scenes.

That's it for today!

A Pesty Kind of Day

Yesterday, I was picturing myself sitting idly by, perhaps coloring one of my trapunto quilts or stitching, while a team of workers installed the new porcelain tile floor in my kitchen. I had worked like a dog last week to empty out the kitchen, right down to the shelves in the pantry.

No dice- no tile! When they went to pull my order, they found that the tile did not have the same dye lot numbers. I understand this problem very well, being a fabric and fiber freak, but it did not make me very happy. It may be another week before they have tile with matching dye lots. Meantime, the cupboard is bare. Ever been so mad that one look could peel wallpaper?

Well, I was not that mad. But I did start peeling off the kitchen wallpaper. I had not planned to do that before the floors were installed, but I washed the walls last week. The wallpaper was looking really dingy and when I took down the pictures and quilts, you could see fading. And the paper started peeling off.

DH's solution was to put up bigger pictures.

I started peeling the wallpaper off. The vinyl part comes off easily in one big sheet.

The glue and paper backing was a different story. A combination of Murphy's Oil Soap solution, Downy Fabric Softener sprayed on, and my Scunci Steamer has been getting it off, but not without a lot of muscle.

While I was on a ladder overlooking one of the windows to the back yard, look what was looking back at me!

Now, I do not like snakes. I am a wildlife lover, but that does not extend to snakes, especially when they are approaching my back steps...or under my bird feeder!

I went to put on my tennis shoes in the garage, and a five-lined skink jumped out of my shoe. These skinks tend to inhabit my garage, and I really don't mind them at all. I often see them scurrying around in there. They only bother me when they jump out at me in a snake-like manner, especially when I have just seen a snake!

As I approached the snake, he straightened out and slithered under my deck, home of the riding lawn mower and other junk that I was not about to enter in search of the snake.

Went back in...a big black spider was on MY kitchen chair.

I finally realized that all the recent rain from Hanna has probably brought a lot of these pests in search of dry ground. Or maybe the spider was lurking in a corner of the kitchen ceiling.

Anyway, I finished peeling all the paper off the walls except for the area behind the cabinets.

Here is something more fun to show you: I spent my entire fee from doing the blue and green quilt last week on a new toy: a set of 84 Neocolor II watercolor crayons.

I have been admiring Fannie Narte's beautiful work with these, and really wanted them. I got them at a good price from Cheap Joe's, a wonderful art supply source.

Actually, instead of ordering them, I could have driven up to Boone to get them last weekend. Joe Miller began his business in a drugstore there...read his interesting bio on the website.

Last weekend in the mountains, I was planning to do a scientific study a la my blog friend Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber. I made a gradient of each color, from intense to light. My plan was to number each color, and divide in half, applying water with a brush over half to see the difference. That has not happened yet.

Better go and finish my peeling project!