This and That, TIF January, New House

Thank you all for the recent comments. I haven't responded to anything in a while, but I have read them and appreciate them all.

Well, we're moved into our first house. Things are far from settled, but we're getting there. We took a weekend to paint the bedrooms. Another weekend with more painting and finishing floors. The third weekend we moved in. This weekend we're making a few trips from the apartment with odds and ends and then cleaning it. I've spent the last few days cleaning cabinets and drawers and lining shelves, trying to get organized. I finished painting the trim in my room, but still have to do the trim in the kids' rooms. It's a good thing we like the colors in the rest of the house and won't have to do those for a while. The kids are all thrilled with their own rooms. The baby not as much as the teenagers. She is likely to come into our room at night for a while. I put her to bed in her room, but she still wakes up at night and likes to cuddle. My darling husband has been busy installing curtain rods, coat hooks, new locks, baby safety latches, the washer and dryer, putting all the beds together, the internet. The internet isn't quite done yet. Now that everyone has their own room and the main computer (the one I use) is in the basement family room, they are not close enough to run cables. We have a wireless router, but had to get a new wireless card. It wouldn't work upstairs in my son's computer so we swapped it for mine. Still didn't work. Hubby played with it more and it works now, but the signal is erratic. So, for today I have kidnapped the router and modem from the teen and he is counting the minutes until I return them.

This is the current state of my January TIF color block. I still have a bit to do on it. I haven't added to the concept block since my last post, but it is on my short list. The red will go nicely in my bedroom. At this point, I think I will skip the February TIF and come back to it later. I have had a few thoughts, but I just have too much on the list to get to it right now.


This will be keeping me busy for quite a while. I looked at drapes at a few shops and didn't find a whole lot that appealed to me. I did get white lace panels for the baby's room and sheers for the teens' rooms. Joann's had a great presidents' day sale, half off all home decor fabric and a 10% off the total coupon. I went to town with that. There is a chocolate embroidered linen/rayon for the living room, taupe crinkle sheer for the living and dining rooms, and thermal lining for all the windows. The rest is all for the master bedroom. The stripe is a semi-sheer. There is an embroidered taffeta for drapes to go over the striped sheer. Same treatment for the closet. The roll on the bottom has three fabric cuts on it, same color, different textures. One is crinkly, one has diamond pin tucks, and the third is tufted. Those are for a comforter and decorative pillows. The bright red is silk and will be used for accents.

I couldn't find anything I liked for the kids' rooms. Once I get this lot made up, I'll poke around online. I've bought fabric online for quilting and doll clothes, but I like being able to feel the fabrics. So, we'll see how that goes. My son is doing his room in yellow, looks like eggnog. Finding a masculine print in that color is a challenge. My daughter's room is two shades of bright cheerful green. The house is a cape cod style so their rooms have the slanted parts between the walls and the ceiling. The green room looks a bit like a leprechaun cave. Darling daughter wants drapes in a shade between the two greens, but will accept a medium purple. Purple means many things to different people. My idea of medium purple is probably not even close to hers. Pink prints are not terribly hard to find, but I didn't find one that was right for a baby's room. The shade of pink doesn't need to match the walls. Everyone that has seen the room thinks the color reminds them of pepto bismal. The trim and chair rail are all crisp white. I envision drapes and other textiles in a variety of pinks and white in little girl prints.

TIF Update - January Concept

I really wanted to show more progress than this, but all of my energy is going into the new house. I did get more stitching done on the color piece for January, but when I went to get it out to photograph it was missing. I can't imagine where it could be with all the chaos and clutter around here. Ah well, I'm sure it will turn up.

This is the current state of my concept piece. Since the inspiration for this piece is admiration for my husband, it would be easy to get the wrong idea. So, let me quickly say this is the start of a tree. I was doodling ideas during a bible study and came up with a twist on the tree of life. I set out to do a landscape background. I intended to use more of the greens and browns from the palette I chose, but the piece took on a life of its own. As you can see the background landscape is all deep reds. The idea is to embroider words into the roots, specifically the seven spiritual gifts. It's kind of a play on roots being the foundation of a tree and the spiritual gifts being the foundation for the personality of the man I admire. I plan to 'hang' symbols from the branches of the tree that represent my husband's talents and special qualities.

Good News, Very Busy

Great news, we closed on our house last Friday! Yay! We spent the entire weekend painting and still have lots to do. We're planning to do a little more each night after hubby gets home from work and the kids are fed. This weekend we want to refinish hardwood floors in six rooms, small rooms but six of them. We haven't decided on how to go about it yet. We could rent the sander and do the works: sand, stain, finish. They aren't in terrible shape, but look unfinished and scuffed. We could probably do a light sanding, touch up a couple nicks from moving, and refinish. They definitely need a finish coat as it doesn't look like there is one now. There is also a no sand refinishing kit I need to look into. Anyway, this will be a busy, busy month, but by the end of it we will be living in the first home of our own.

I did do some stitching on my TIF color piece and I pieced my TIF concept piece for January. It's been raining and dark so no pictures yet, but as soon as the sun comes out. February's colors are not my favorite. February's concept is interesting, but I'm too young to remember most major changes. I'll have to give it some thought.

TIF Update

I've pieced a 6 inch square with the color scheme for January. I'm not overly fond of this size. The block doesn't appeal to me much. I'll work with it and see what happens.

TIF Update

These are the fabrics I've pulled from my crazy quilt stash for January's Take It Further Challenge. The first group is for the concept challenge. As mentioned in previous posts, my husband is the person I admire. His colors are green and brown. His current style is very Indiana Jones, complete with replica hat and leather jacket. I've added the red to honor his passionate side. I'm happy with the rich masculine feel of this palette. I will try to maintain that throughout the project.

With the second group, I've tried to match the color scheme Sharon gave us. Some fabrics match better than others. I didn't find much in the lighter color to the right. I'm hoping to find embellishments and fibers that will add more of that last color. The colors are much prettier in fabric than in blocks on the monitor. The possibilities are a comfort doll, crazy quilt block, or a small evening bag. We'll see what the fabric tells me when I start sewing.

Random Chatter & a Quilt

Blogging is likely to be sporadic for the next couple weeks. I have posted all the stocking details I have already sewn. I have more to do and plan to blog the finishing process also. Time is not really abundant right now. We thought we made it to the home stretch for buying our first home, and then we met with the lender this morning. There is a list of repairs, albeit minor, that need to be done before we close and the seller is unwilling to do anything more. We're going to take another look tonight and see what we can do. This is just another obstacle to overcome. When we actually own a home, I'm sure there will be many more situations to deal with. So this is just practice.

I'm still percolating thoughts for the Take it Further challenge. I've come to the realization that my ideas are more suitable for another slow cloth type project than something that can be accomplished in the time frame alotted. I'm toying with the idea of adding a personal challenge, say making smaller projects that can be completed each month. This may seem obvious, but ideas for smaller projects are more challenging for me. I'm considering sticking with the admiration concept and spending the rest of the month working on a quilt that I started for my husband, the object of my admiration. It's a traditional quilt that I designed with his help a few years ago. I have it well started, but not nearly close to completion. I created a Celtic knot pattern with four interwoven parts. Along all the edges I have begun sewing on the black bias strips - by HAND. I don't know what I was thinking. If I ever make another, I will probably use the sewing machine more. I have almost one panel done. The design is worked around a square. I need four panels, plus the corner bits added after mitering the background strips together. I don't want the center square competing with the knotwork for attention, so I have chosen a solid tan fabric. On the tan, I plan to use thread to match the brick red fabric and do another Celtic design with the quilting stitches. Same for the wide outer border.

















My other idea is to use this month's color scheme and make something small. I thought of doing crazy quilt postcards, but don't know if I could actually mail them. I'm also toying with the thought of making a comfort doll. I've been wanting to join in making comfort dolls and just haven't done it yet. The project seems to be going very well.

On another note, I've now been nominated for the You Make My Day award by both Candi and Gerry. I am now supposed to nominate another ten bloggers. Many of the blogs I read regularly have already been tagged. Off the top of my head I can think of several: Sharon B, Elizabeth, Allie, Candi, Gerry, Jo, Carol-Anne, Melissa, Sue, LinMoon, Pam Kellogg, Robin, Ruth, Annie, Tenar, Debra, and the list could go on. There are many, many more in my reader. Take a look and they may inspire you as well.

Slow couple days

I have more stocking details to share, but don't have the posts ready yet.
I also plan to type up my current lists of in progress and planned projects to help me prioritize.
I have ideas for Sharon B's TIF challenge. She gave a color scheme and a concept to choose from. I'm going with the concept for now. It may develop into more than a month long project, so it may be better to do something simple with the color scheme, but we'll see how that goes. My original plan was to do a crazy quilt block each month for the challenge. This month's challenge concept is who do I look up to and admire and why? My first thoughts were more along the lines of an art quilt. I have since made some notes in a journal. I'm still taking notes here and there and trying to brainstorm ideas for symbols to use. I'm going with my husband as the person I admire. He's my hero, my knight in shining armor. I can't imagine anyone better.