Crazy Weather Days And Kitchen Before/After

February weather - wow it's a roller coaster, right? It was 77 degrees Monday with severe thunderstorms late Monday night. At 3:30am Tuesday morning a hailstorm moved through our daughter's town, 55 miles away, and it damaged their roof and her car. Fortunately no one was hurt. Yesterday our high temperature was 23, and we are under a winter storm warning until this evening, not common here in north Texas. We have about a quarter inch of ice and sleet on the ground, and "thunder sleet" and more ice are in the forecast.

The kitchen reno is complete! Here are some before and after shots. Would you believe I forgot to take very many before shots?! So the before shots are actually before we moved into this house and are the kitchen photos from the real estate listing! We don't have all the decor that the previous owners had on top of the cabinets. The walls were light yellow when we first moved in back in October 2020, and as soon as we moved in we had them painted a light gray called "White Pepper".

This is from the real estate listing for the house before we purchased it in September 2020. The door to the right has been replaced with sliding glass doors.

Although the lighting isn't the best due to our cloudy weather, this will give you an idea of the change in the kitchen. Painting the cabinets white made the granite appear darker. We would LOVE to replace that granite with black granite, but the previous owners had just installed it before they listed the house, and it is a nice grade of granite and very well done, so that is a "maybe" project down the road.

BEFORE

AFTER - my husband is going to install under counter lights in this area.

BEFORE - Toby is showing this before view of our pantry and china cabinet

AFTER - Toby declined to model in this after shot

BEFORE

AFTER

Although the photos aren't the quality you'll find on a DIY blog, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our kitchen!

To Do Tuesday 2-22-22

Welcome to To Do Tuesday on 2-22-22 - how cool is that? Doesn't happen often, that's for sure! Here you will find a linkup to keep track of your goals and achievements and in-process projects. Everyone is welcome to join in, and you will find the linkup at the end of this post.

Jack is giving his critique of the painted drawers

Last week I had no goals other than to control the chaos in the house with our new puppy, new three year old dog, and the kitchen cabinets being painted. I'm happy to say that we survived the week! We are both still tired, but the pups are doing great. Boomer the 9 week-old puppy has us partially trained on when to take him out. If left to his own devices though, he would use the entire house as his bathroom, and night time in his crate is another matter. Let's just say paper towels are our salvation. Baker, other than wanting to eat our cats' food, is sweet and obedient and loves to play with Boomer! He is the epitome of "good boy".

The kitchen cabinets are painted, all of our "stuff" is back in place, and yesterday the contractor started on the backsplash. Hopefully next Tuesday I can show you some before/after shots, but look below to see a sneak peek of the backsplash.

Sneak peek - our first look at the new backsplash, viewed from our living room

Here are my goals for the coming week:

1. Work on catching up with Riley Blake Design block challenge

2. Make a few blocks for the Wedding Quilt

3. Catch up on SAHRR

Now it's your turn - click on the link below to add your post! Linkup opens on Tuesdays at 12:01AM and closes on Mondays at 11:59PM. If you have a minute, visit some of the other blogs where you will find inspiration for your week!

If you have any issues accessing Marsha's Spot blog, simply copy the code below and paste it into your browser:

https://marshasspot.com/

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

To Do Tuesday 2-15-22

Welcome to To Do Tuesday! How is your week going so far? Here is your chance to link up with other folks to take stock of your accomplishments and think about your plans for the coming week. Click on the couple above to find out all you need to know about To Do Tuesday, and let me know if you have any questions!

Meet our two male puppers - Boomer, the 8 week old lab, and Baker, the 3 year old Red Heeler mix!

This past week has involved prepping for getting a little kitchen remodel, several days of trips to town, and then we lost our minds and adopted a puppy and a 3 year old dog! Needless to say, no time has been spent in the sewing room! My husband has wanted a puppy for many years, and we have missed canine companionship since we lost our Buddy last January.

Here were last week's goals:

❌1. RBD Challenge blocks

❌2. Pieces in the Garden row blocks

❌3. Wedding quilt blocks

No goals for me this week other than to maintain the chaos in the house. We had forgotten how much fun it is to housebreak a puppy! We will have a painter here painting our kitchen cabinets then installing a backsplash, so I don't anticipate any time in the sewing room.

Now it is your turn - what did you do last week, and what do you have planned this week? I love seeing the colorful array of links on To Do Tuesdays, and visiting your blogs is such fun. Come on and link your post below and be sure to visit other blogs - you'll be inspired for sure!

If you have any issues accessing Marsha's Spot, simply copy the code below and paste it into your browser:

https://marshasspot.com/

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

To Do Tuesday 2-8-22 💖

Welcome to To Do Tuesday before Valentine's Day (next Monday) 💖! Do you have any Valentine's Day projects or plans? Post them here - we'd love to see! If you are new to To Do Tuesday, click on the celebrating couple above and find out everything you need to know. The link is open on Tuesdays at 12:01AM and closes on Mondays at 11:59PM. Let me know if you have any questions!

My goals for last week were carryovers from the previous week:

✔1. RBD Challenge blocks - some progress - I got the fabrics out and ready to cut

✅2. SAHRR blocks - diamonds and stars - done, along with yesterday's prompt of "signature block", and posted here

✔3. Wedding quilt blocks - only put a couple of blocks together

Goals for this coming week:

1. RBD Challenge blocks

2. Pieces in the Garden row blocks

3. Wedding quilt blocks

And now it's time to share your posts! I can't wait to see how you've done this week. Be sure to visit other blogs to share the love, and add Marsha's Spot to your list if you have any problems accessing her link. To visit her blog simply copy the code below and paste it into your browser:

https://marshasspot.com/

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

2022 Stay At Home Round Robin Catch Up

My post is all about "catching up" with the 2022 Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR). Today's prompt was provided by Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts. She named a block I really like, the Signature block. Go check out Wendy's as well as other versions of the signature block. I found a length of bias strips I had sewn together in my stash that have a very similar look, so I am calling mine "spirit of signature block". 😎

The previous prompts were "diamonds", by Emily at The Darling Dogwood,  and "stars" by Roseanne and Sue at Homesewn by Us.  For diamonds I added a diamond-in-a-square in each corner.

For the heart, I took an idea suggested to me by the joyous Joy at The Joyful Quilter and used embroidery stitches on my Janome to outline a heart in the big white center of my beginning block. I am not accustomed to using embroidery stitches on my domestic, and they are a bit rough and uneven, but I love the overall look and am glad I used variegated thread. Thank you Joy!

Be sure to go look at the beautiful interpretations of the rounds at Wendy's linkup, where I am linking my post!

Wendy's Linky Party 

The State Of The Sewing Room

Welp, as much as I try to avoid it, it happens every year. A little bit of burnout or maybe just flat laziness occurs. At least I have learned that it is normal, and so this year I just went with it. We have basically been either sick or recovering from being sick for two weeks, the mediation day at our daughter's house took a toll mentally and physically, and then we had a winter storm - I'm sure all of that has a bit to do with my lack of ambition! 

The sun is shining today, so my energy has returned.

Blueberry bread

Although we are not unfamiliar with snow in far north Texas, it is not a frequent occurrence. The main roads are clear but getting to those main roads is made difficult with 2=3 inches of snow on top of layers of ice and sleet, so we are house-bound until the temperature rises enough to melt all that frozen precipitation! It isn't supposed to get above freezing until tomorrow. Many of you call it a Sew Day when it snows, but I just want to bake and cook comfort food - blueberry bread, chili mac and cheese, hot dogs on homemade buns, hot soup and cheesy bread - yum!

This morning I pulled out my SAHRR (Stay At Home Round Robin) block to work on the last two prompts - diamonds and stars. Those diamond shapes are acrylic templates for my Wensleydale quilt by Jen Kingwell, and I might try to use them for this quilt block. As far as stars, I'm not inspired yet. So that one may wait until tomorrow.

I also got fabric ready to catch up with the RBD (Riley Blake Design) Block Challenge. There are now four patterns available, and I have completed two.

Melva of Melva Loves Scraps has started a new row-by-row called Pieces In The Garden, and the stories and blocks are based on the life of her maternal Grandmother Tressie Edith Teegarden. The block for the first row is a bow pattern, and I need to make 12 of the 4-1/2 inch blocks. I'm using scraps and have not pulled fabrics yet, but I think I'll try to stick with smaller feminine prints. I promised Melva I wouldn't grumble about the tiny pieces and to remember to use a "scant" 1/4 inch seam. You can find the first story and pattern here.

Isn't this the most gorgeous wedding photo!

You may recall I was working on a Wedding Quilt for my great-nephew Cody and his new bride Brooklyn. It is still in the needs-to-be-pieced stage. I am using the Exploding Heart pattern by Slice of Pi Quilts (you can read all about the other one I made right here). I messaged Cody that his quilt has been delayed but not to give up on me!

There are a couple of needlework projects as well as a crochet hat sitting next to the sofa waiting for me to pick up at night. As with all my other other projects, they wait patiently.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, doing what you enjoy!

To Do Tuesday 2-1-22

Welcome to To Do Tuesday on this first day of February! This is the place for you to link your post about any goals or happenings or progress you'd like to share. If you are a reader and would like to join in, just click on the relaxed couple above to learn more about To Do Tuesday. Hopefully no hiccups in the linkup this morning, but thank those of you who email me with gentle reminders that the dates are wrong! You certainly are a tolerant bunch. 😁

Stomach virus and colds have laid us low this past week, so the motivation to get up off the sofa and play in the sewing room was very low. I had a day or two of feeling better and spent the time fixing comfort food and relaxing. Then today my head cold hit me with a vengeance, and I got very little done. Let's look at the list from last week:

❌1. RBD challenge blocks

❌2. SAHRR block - diamonds

❌3. Wedding quilt blocks

So my list for next week is to move them forward:

1. RBD Challenge blocks

2. SAHRR blocks - diamonds and stars

3. Wedding quilt blocks

Look at this gorgeous box from Cotton Cuts, I won in a drawing by participating in the Pieces of The Santa Fe Trail sew-along hosted by Melva of Melva Loves Scraps. Melva is starting a new row-by-row sew-along on February 3 called Pieces in the Garden, which you can read about here. I enjoyed the last one so much and am looking forward to the next one.

I apologize for never catching up with your posts from January 18. I feel like I missed important stuff! At any rate, I love seeing that array of photos each week ready to click for inspiration, encouragement, and motivation. Be sure to visit other blogs to share the love!

Because of some HTML issues my platform is having with the link to Marsha's Spot, I am posting it here without the hyperlink. Marsha has a lovely blog with cute projects, and her positive attitude is so refreshing. To visit her blog simply copy the code below and paste it into your browser:

https://marshasspot.com/

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter