61 since 61

 Yesterday was my 61st birthday, 61 years since the year I was born, 1961. It was a very pleasant day. Scott couldn't be here, he was in Boston seeing his parents for the holidays. It was the only time he could fit them into his schedule between work and also seeing his kids in Idaho. We'll celebrate when he gets here later this week. 

I got to sleep late and had my usual oatmeal with blueberries and bananas. 

Then I made some Christmas ccokies, gingerbread dusted with confectioner's sugar. It was a new recipe, I was hoping they'd be really spicy. They were good but I could have used a little more kick. 

I got a new Christmas CD, Kelly Clarkson's second holiday album. It's good. She's clearly trying to land a hit like Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas is You"...but what artist these days isn't?

My afternoon snack was cookies and Abuelita hot chocolate...

while I read my present from Scott, Ina Garten's new cookbook, "Go-To Dinners". 

For dinner I made my favorite recipe, Curry Chicken Pot Pie, it's a Martha Stewart number, really good. 

And I ended the evening watching an episode of one of my favorite mystery programs, "Grantchester", who doesn't love a hot ginger priest who solves crimes? 

That's a pretty good birthday if I do say so myself :) 

Lamplight

 Two weekends ago I went to an estate sale a few blocks over on Division Street. It was a little house very near the Harbor Market. I found this little lamp (without the shade) for only eight bucks. I put it behind me on the shelves in back of my sewing desk in the craft room, it works great. 

Finding the Septic

 It was that time again. Time to have the septic tank serviced. But where exactly was the lid buried? I thought I had it all under control from last time when I took a picture of the location. Fat chance. I spent all afternoon digging and digging to no avail. UGH. 

I was DETERMINED to find it today because for the septic company to send a "pinpoint technician" would cost TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. No way, forget it. After more digging, Scott and I finally found it. It was basically where we had been digging but way deeper underground. 

So there's no going through this again, I drew up a 'treasure map' to keep on file. That should do the trick in a couple of years. 

A leg up on storage

 I saw this idea on Pinterest, a smart way to store wrapping papers: take an ordinary stool, flip it upside down, add some wheels and you've got a great caddy to store them all in. 

I've been searching for one and the other weekend I found a white wooden one at a yard sale for only FOUR DOLLARS. 

I painted it dark gray, and got the wheels for cheap at Home Depot, and VOILA! A perfect storage solution that works great in the craft/sewing room. 

Side board solutions

A few months ago I saw a posting on Nextdoor.com selling a side table. I made Scott go with me that night to haul it home. It was a couple over in the Springs section of East Hampton. They were asking around $95 so I offered $70 and they took. It just fit in the back of the Jeep. 

I needed a place to cut fabric that could also double as an 'ironing board', something long and not too deep, as there's not a lot of space in that small room. This was the perfect solution. It also had two small drawers to stash supplies and a shelf underneath.

I bought a thick wool ironing mat on Amazon that would go on one side and my cutting mat would go on the other. Add two task lights and I was in business. 

I soon learned that it was a tad low for working on, so then I went back to Amazon and ordered some plastic furniture risers. I wanted them in brown to match the wood but no luck, only  white or black was available in what I needed. I got the white ones and with a couple of coats of brown spray paint all was good. 

Next I got a piece of wood at Home Depot and some L brackets to add an extra shelf underneath. I stained and polyurethaned it first. Then I got some under shelf baskets from Home Sense to give me some added storage on the bottom, this way I could sweep underneath. 

Lastly, I got a multi outlet cord to mount on the side. It makes it way more convenient to turn the iron off and on instead of bending down the the wall plug behind the shelf. 

All in all, it's pretty functional piece now, I'm super happy to have it.

A hex on you

 Since I started the quilting thing I've been wanting to make an old fashioned hexagon quilt. But researching them I found they're pretty tricky to make, not the best undertaking for a beginner (it's joining all those "Y" seams that's tough). But then I stumbled upon a way to make them that's much easier: you assemble the hexagon with HALF hexagons and just use straight line quilting. It requires a lot of planning before you start sewing. You have to make sure everything is placed exactly where you want it because once you start sewing the rows, it's not easy to undo mistakes. 

The first step is to lay out all your cut half hexagons on the floor (I lay down a sheet so as not to dirty the fabric pieces). 

Here's a close-up of a practice piece I did...I eventually turned it into a small throw pillow. You can see how the half pieces make up the whole hexagon....and how you sew the rows across. 

Here's an 'in-process' shot of how I attach the backing to the quilt top with the batting attached to it. Oh how I wish I had a huge work space with a big work table to lay out everything, it would make life so much easier. 

And finally the finished piece...I love it. It's exactly what I envisioned in my head. I wanted a vintage 1940's vibe to go with the age of the house. I call it "granny chic"...very Todd Oldham, a modern take on an old-timey idea. 

Here's a close-up shot of the detail in the quilting...

I wanted this quilt specifically for the day bed in the craft room. It got a cabin-y Adirondack-y feeling so I thought this would work well in there...and it does. The first picture above was shot in the bedroom for better lighting, here's the quilt in the craft room. A perfect place for afternoon naps or curling up with a good book...

Lastly, here's a look at the back, the "after quilt" as one YouTube tutorialist call it. It's a terrific way to use up scraps of fabric. This all have a floral and/or fruit pattern and they're all in the colors of the front, yellows, golds, oranges, greens, burgandies, etc

Caddy shack

When I'm sitting on the living room sofa and I'm hand sewing something, or darning something else I need a lot of paraphernalia: thread, needles, scissors, a seam ripper, a darning mushroom, etc. I bring all that stuff downstairs and set it on the side table, awkwardly twisting my body around to reach it all. On top of that I have nowhere to put the needle when I'm tying the thread, it invariably gets lost. Then I saw an idea on Pinterest...a sofa sewing caddy, complete with pockets and built-in pin cushion. Brilliant. 

However, great idea, BAD execution (IMHO). Too busy and 'granny' by a mile. So I took the idea and adapted it to my style and sofa. I used an old denim shirt that I got at an estate sale for $2, the pocket came in handy on one side of the caddy. On the other side there's a pocket for the darning mushroom and clips. For that I used more of the Scalamandre fabric I used for the quilt backing. It's also the binding all the way the around the edges. I think it came out great and I can't wait to use it. 

Quilt #2

I started my next quilt the week after Christmas and it's been my Big Winter Project. I finished it yesterday and am so pleased with how it turned out. 

I decided I wanted to try a completely different kind of quilt. This one is a pieced quilt. 48 different blocks all in a blue color scheme. 

I found the patterns in a book "Quilt As You Go Made Modern". It was fun tackling each design, some were very simple and others very complicated. I wanted that old country vibe, something that looked like an old heirloom. For the backing I used some fabric I found at an estate sale a few weeks ago, a whole bolt of Scalamandre that was a STEAL at only FIVE BUCKS for the whole thing. 

That's quite fancy and expensive stuff, I've still got a lot left, I'll be using it for a while. 

Easel on down the road

 Another weekend, another estate sale score: I found an amazing artist's easel for just TWENTY DOLLARS at an estate sale only one street over here in the village. It was marked $25 but of course I hondled it down five bucks. I looked up the brand online (Juliann, a French company) and they sell for over $200 so this was a big find. It's in perfect condition, just a few paint marks (which I kinda like, gives it some 'patina'), but to top it off it was FILLED with a cache of oil paints in various colors. So now the only problem is I have to getting painting!!