The Deck

alternate post titles:
How We Spent Our Anniversary
Carrie Finds Her Calling
Get The Gunk Gone
The Stupid Things Previous Homeowners Did
The Day My Blog Turned From Beads To Home Improvement Central




Thank you for the lovely "Happy Anniversary" messages yesterday. I know most couples enjoy a night on the town to celebrate their marriage. Dinner and dancing... greeting cards and flowers... maybe a something special and sparkling. Ron and I have been known to do such things on this annual occasion. But not this year. This is officially The Year Of The Exterior round these parts.

When I say that I was super excited when Ron said we should pressure wash the deck yesterday, I say it without a drop of sarcasm. We are project people and we love working on the house! (granted, we don't always agree how a job should be done, and we often fight like cats and dogs about it... but we love each other none the less... and this wasn't a brawling type of project) This year, we have a laundry list of projects for the house. When I think about it all, I start to get anxious and antsy. I want to get started... NOW!

Here is the list as it currently stands...

* Pressure wash (check) and seal the deck
* Replace metal front porch railings with pillars
* Scrap/repair/prime windows
* Rebuild the breezeway with new windows/doors/floors
* New roof for the shed and fresh coat of paint on it
* Paint/Side the house ( THE BIG ONE!)
* Possibly have the garage torn down and replaced with a 2-car garage (this one is a dreamer)

Why do we have such a long list of to-dos? The previous owners where nincompoops. This house has had 3-4 owners in the last 12 years. In 2000, the owner at the time had a ginormous 800sq ft addition put on the house that we estimate cost at the very least about $80,000. You would think, WOW! That's awesome!. But they completely neglected other, important, things that should have been taken care of first, or at the time. Like the breezeway that is crooked and has 50 year old privacy windows that the glass panes fall out of. Or the 70 year old one car garage that isn't much bigger than a shed. Or the rickety front porch railings. Or... or... or... I could go on and on.

But, I digress. Yesterday was about the deck.

Let me tell you, Carrie was in OCD hog-heaven as soon as she saw the first line of grim blasted off the floor boards of the deck. You see, when the deck was built in 2000, it was never sealed (plus they put the floor boards so close together the water pools, grrrr). And it sets under a mighty maple tree. It has built up 11 years of sludge and slime and gunk. It was getting down right slippery to walk on after the rain. Naturally, Carrie would get excited at the sight of beautifully bare wood boards brought back to life. Oh me, oh my... row after row... line after line... cleaned in a wonderfully meticulous way... the water blasted and busted away the gunk. *sigh* The things that make me giddy! Ron and I only bickered a little bit... over whose turn it was to blast a few boards.





All in all, we ended up washing for about four hours. Though, it took from about 9am to 8pm. Sprinkled among the spraying was Andrew' meeting (it went really well!), a trip to Lowes to fix the master bath plumbing problem, a trip to Home Depot (for sealer! where a 19year old literature major tried to tell me opaque means semi-transparent when he mixed the sealer wrong... yeah, I pulled out my smart phone and showed him the definition is "not transparent or translucent." grrrr.), a lacrosse game, lunch and dinner. That's how our DIY projects roll. I still have a bit more of the railing to blast this morning, then once the sun is on the deck, and the wood is dry, I'll be painting on the sealer. (And painting on a thick layer on sun screen on me too.)

So yes, with this many projects in the works, I give you fair warning. This may turn into a home improvement blog from time to time. I'll do my best to treat you with beady goodness interspersed. Are you with me?

Twisted Tuesdays - Teacher Turned Student

This isn't going to be the usual Twisted Tuesday style post. I am not sharing any behind-the-scenes info from Totally Twisted or new jewelry or new beads. Ya know, I am finding myself venturing off topic a lot on Twisted Tuesday, but I am really really okay with that. Life can be rather twisted at times... so as long as there is good content, I am going to keep calling it Twisted Tuesdays.

Today's twist is where I tell you about the ways I am finding myself turning from Teacher to Student. We have talked a few times over the past year or so about the ways in which I am making more of an effort to listen to whispers my heart is telling me (something prompted by Kelly Rae Roberts's book, Taking Flight). You might remember that I had been wanting to take up running again, and I did it last summer! I am also doing simpler things like taking some of the pressure off that I put on myself to be constantly doing something. So, a nap under the maple tree in the back yard on Sunday afternoon was had, and it felt wonderful.

A whisper that has been growing for a while now has finally risen to a shout and I need to follow it. I want to *learn*. I always loved school, even though socially it was extremely difficult for me. The pencil and paper aspect of learning new things was, and still is, something that gets me all a flutter. I love to read, to experiment, to take notes, and draw conclusions. Going back-to-school though isn't something in the cards though, and even if it was, it isn't the kind of education I am actually drawn to now. The type of classes that get most excited these days are "e-courses". It started, who-knows how long ago, from the many, many, many art blogs that I follow. Countless (okay, maybe not countless, I just don't feel like actually counting) artists have started sharing their knowledge and experiences in online workshops. They are relatively inexpensive, their topics are as varied as their creators, and I think, I hope, they can truly inspire.

So, I have gone back and forth... what kind of e-course do I want to take? This summer I have signed up for two. The first is for the month of June, it is Flying Lessons with Kelly Rae Roberts. You may have noticed the badge I added for it on the sidebar over there. At first glance, you might think "Kerry, you already have a successful creative business, what do you need that course for?" Well, I will tell you... 1) I love Kelly, and I wish we were friends, so there is a stalker level to my wanting to take her class, LOL. 2) I have been able to make my bead business soar, now I want to do it for my mixed media art as well. 3) I am eager to learn more about licensing too. (I don't know that it is something I would ever do, but it intrigues me.) The course started over the weekend and I must say, two days in and it already has me thinking about so much. I have a journal devoted just to this and I am finding it so helpful to get my thoughts and feelings out.

The second course I signed up for just today. I have been really wanting to take a photography course. I missed the sign ups for one in particular that I really really want to take, but I know this one will be a great starting point and a fun adventure for summer. I enrolled in Picture Summer with Tracey Clark. It is a 30-day photo project and I am so excited and ready to be inspired by it. I have this freaking stinking awesome camera and I feel like I am only scratched the surface of what it can do. Now, granted, this class isn't going to teach me to use it, but it will get me off my butt to use my camera more. With practice comes expertise, no? I toyed with the idea for a few minutes that I might take July off from blogging and just do a photo a day to coincide with the project. HA! Me not run my motor-mouth for a whole month, who am I kidding?

So there ya go. The teacher in me is becoming a student and I am taking some summer e-courses. What plans do you have set for the new season?

Dining Room Doll Up All Done

Well, almost done anyway.

Here it is, my new and improved dining room. I am smitten. I walk in there and I can't remember it ever being another way. I love the blue, which incidentally is NOT the color in my friend's bedroom. We got our aquas crossed. Her's is actually Aqua Bay, mine is Aqua Joy. Close enough. I think my color is a little brighter then her's, her's is a little richer.

I hung the prints frames for the prints next to the front door. There will be three prints from the same artist, Yellena on Etsy. I have adored her work for a while now and finally got myself a print. I loved it so much that I ordered two more. They should be here soon and I can fill in those blank frames. In case you are wondering, I purchase "Morning", "Season", and "Allusion". And if anyone ever wants to get me another one, hint hint wink wink, I am in love with "Spore" and "Amble".


There was much debate in the Bogert house over the height of the chair rail/plate rail. I knew from the beginning that I wanted it set high. Ron however, spoke to one of his buddies during a poker game who said it needed to be at 32inches. I am glad I won this one. I think a low rail would have made the room look squatty. The ceilings are low as it is and making the white area smaller would have made it feel even lower. Ron won out on a different area of debate, the fire place wall. I was thinking the rail should go all the way around the room, but that would have it behind out big mirror over the mantel. Ron said "Just paint that wall a solid color. It'll be stupid having the mirror hanging weird." LOL... only he thought I would paint it all white! HA, no way!! All aqua it is.

I hung my small collection of plates on the wall next to the mantel on the way into the kitchen. I plan to add to this meager grouping as I find special dishes at the estate sales I go to. I hope to fill the wall with them, like something I saw on Design Sponge a while back.


I think I am going to paint a special piece for that big blank area above the side board buffet. I can see a piece forming in my mind and I think it would be cool to have a LARGE piece of my own on display, no? For now though, Andrew's 2nd grade rendition of A Starry Night will do. It is one of my favorite kid art class projects I have ever had brought home to me.


When I set my camera on auto, it kept wanting to turn the flash on. I kept it off though so you could see what I mean about the lighting in this room. It was a overcast day yesterday afternoon and this is just how it was in there. It definitely feels warmer then when the walls where gray. *sigh* I love my new dining room.

SO, what's left? The curtain situation. If I am being totally honest, I don't like curtains. They just bug me for some reason. But, I think the room needs some. I am thinking something wispy and light, maybe in a yellowish off white. I don't know. We'll just have to sit and stew on that a little longer.

Dolling Up A Dull Dining Room

First of all, WOW!! You all really love my beads! I thank you so much for snatching them up. There are just a few sets left (5, I think, some of which are favorites of mine actually). I plan to package everything up today and send out a flurry of white boxes this afternoon. Which, in most cases, I expect will arrive on your doorsteps by Monday or Tuesday.

So what to do with my sudden, unexpected, earnings from this big de-stash? I am guessing y'all are thinking I will splurge on Christmas goodies, but nope. I have something else in mind. But first, to celebrate, I bought myself a tub of Ben & Jerry's Mint Cookie Chunk Peppermint Ice Cream and rented a movie *I* wanted to watch. (Yeah, Mom rarely gets to choose around here... if it isn't a highly rated kids flick or an action packed space odyssey, we don't see it, ha!) While watching my movie and spooning my ice cream, Ron found a box of cds we had been looking for ever since our move in the summer of '08. We sorted threw them all and after the movie sat up listening to some of our favorites on speakers that are apparently as old as I am and still worth a pretty penny, whatever. (LOL, my husband has a speaker fetish, ask anyone who knows him.) But I digress.

The whole situation gave me a seriously busy brain. I couldn't sleep. And why? because I was designing our dining room in my head until 1am. Yeah, I am weird like that.

I have been disappointed with our dining room since the day I painted it last year. I wanted a rich gray color (if gray can be rich) and instead I got something that looks a little on the lavender side. The room is on the east side of the house, so it gets good light when the sun comes up but by about 10am it is very dim and dreary in there. I have been stewing on the idea that I want to add a darker richer color, but still keep the room bright. Hmmmm... think on it... enter the idea of a chair rail. My plan is to paint the upper 1/3rd of the room a color called "Aqua Joy" from Valspar (which my friend used in her bedroom) and the lower 2/3rd antique white.

I am hosting book club on the 17th so there is no time like the present to doll up another room in the house before having party guests right? I plan on painting next week, picking out some pretty prints for the walls, and changing out the ugly seat cushions on the chairs. Oh, and maybe I'll make some quick curtains. Before all that happens though, you need a "before" tour.

Check out my dining room... today, and as it was on Thanksgiving.


The details: The table and buffet are an antique set that Ron found on Craigslist. Both are solid oak (his favorite kind of wood furniture). We don't intend to keep the chairs, but rather swap them out as time goes on with unique ones we find at sales. We want a whole set of unmatched chairs.


The mantel will get changed up a bit. The trays and plates will be hung on the wall, and the artwork too. I am a little worried that my glass pieces will get lost against the new color, but we will see.


The empty frames are getting moved and prints will hang there. The china cabinet is antique "Empire Style". One I found at another estate sale. I love it. It will stay where it is. And I am making a very conscious effort not to over stuff it. I want to be able to see what is it in.

Now to get the paint and new roller heads and moulding while I am out today mailing off your packages. :)

I was stripping...

(aka how we spent our Friday)



Ever wake up and decide to work on a dozen projects you hadn't planned on working until that moment? Yeah? That was the kind of day I had yesterday. Ron has taken the past couple of Fridays off to relieve a little of my stress. Last week we took the kids for a trip to Powder Mill Park in Pittsford NY. This week though, we were all business... well sort off.



First thing we had to take care of was wood. We have a wood burner and heat the house mostly by wood through the winter. We have been getting load after load of free wood from my in-laws property. There was a giant stack of logs that needed sawing. Ron chain sawed and a stacked. The pile of wood was on the side of the garage, and as I was sitting on a bench sipping morning coffee waiting for my next load of wood to be ready to stack, I started to kinda flip out. LOL. Ron asked what as wrong and I said "I am trying very very hard to control my anxiety", to which he replied "what are you anxious about?" Logical question right? As my knee start to bounce uncontrollably, and I wanted to bite my nails, I said "the garage is a DISASTER and "Carrie" wants to clean it". He laughed at me of course. Y'all remember Carrie, dontcha? She is that OCD alter ego in the back of my head. LOL.

So yes, I cleaned the garage too. More organized than cleaned really. People around her have a tendency to just drop things in empty spaces rather than put the things where they go. So it makes things look really really cluttered, all.the.time. But I know what you are thinking... Kerry, what do these pictures have to do with chopping wood and cleaning the garage?



Ron and I recently traded his parents our mid-80s oak china cabinet for a metal hunk o'junk outta their basement. We don't think it is a hunk o'junk though!! It is actually a 1930's metal medical hutch. It has been in the garage for the past couple months and after cleaning the garage, I decided it was time to dive into this restoration project. I didn't get a proper before photos with the hutch on top of the base, oh well. The top is almost all beveled glass. Glass sides, glass doors, and glass shelves. The base has been painted three or four times. Blue, a couple shades of green, and ivory at some point too. We are stripping it down to bare metal and from there we will prime and paint it. So, most of yesterday afternoon was spent on the deck, with a cold beer in hand, taking turns scrapping the paint of this old cabinet.

I can't wait to get this done, it is going to look so cool!! Wanna know what color we are planning to paint it? Rusty Orange!! I was thinking orange from the beginning and didn't think Ron would go for it. He is a paint-everything-white-or-off-white kinda guy, but he went for it!! I will let you know how it turns out.

Something New For The Living Room

First... really weird things are happening with my email. I am not getting any at the moment. Well, I am getting it, just not how I am supposed to and I can't respond normally. My hosting peps are trying to figure out why Yahoo is suddenly blocking their servers, but it seems slow going. So, give me a few days to catch up on replies! (and blog posts, it was a several hour troubleshooting session yesterday)

I started a new little project this week, a fresh quilt for the living room. Y'all know how in love I am with Anna Maria Horner's fabrics. Well, the other day I discovered she started offering Palette Piles!! I was instantly clicking "add to cart". My living room is going to be sporting a lovely "Floating Branches" quilt this fall. I don't have to heart to cut up all that fat quarter fabricy goodness, so for this quilt, it is kinda like a "charm" quilt, only big squares of color. I think the brown base with all the pops of blues and yellow and bits of orange are going to be perfect for cuddling under on the couch near the fireplace.

Oh yes, Fall is on the way. I can feel it in my bones. Leaves are going to be changing in no time...

From The Side Of The Road

(aka... boredom busting project #1)

Today I bring you a cheap and easy project to combat an otherwise boring day. All you need is an hour and at the end, you'll have a really cool art project for any area of your house. My project, it got hung in the newly remodeled bathroom.



What you need: 1 salvaged window left on the side of the road or found in some falling down old barn (my sister actually collects these to do paintings on, so I stole this one from her apartment)... price ZERO Dollars.



1 old book with neat line drawings, mine is from an estate sale and is titled "Life and Adventure Medieval Europe" from 1936... price 25 cents. I grabbed this book from my collection of old books to recycle for this project because it was very yellowed. I wanted to bring more yellow into the bathroom to make it look like those old yellow tiles might actually be there for a reason. HA!



1 jar of Modge Podge... you can get it at any craft store, and I consider this a negligible cost because I have used it on some many different projects.

What to do: Flip the window over so you are looking at the back. Coat the glass in a thin layer of modge podge. Rip pages from the book and tear them into large chunks. Lay the image side down on the modge podged glass. Add more modge podge to the back of the paper pieces. Roll out any bubbles that form. Let dry... then hang it up.



This is just one way I filled by bored Friday. I will let you know what other project I worked on tomorrow.

Operation A.E.I.O.U ~ Complete

Okay, so we weren't able to finish it in 4 days like my impatient inner child wanted. But I say getting it done in 9 day ain't too shabby. The bathroom is DONE!! No more icky ucky yucky oder... no more gross grout... no more ugly cabinet... just crisp clean sparkling white porcelain goodness.



The new treatment for the mirror is my favorite new touch in the bathroom. I found the frame for $3 at an estate sale. It was way too big, but Ron was able to cut it down and it fills the space perfectly. And I love it with the light from Lowes too that rang up $3.53. LOL... new mirror and light for less then $7... not bad.



While we are talking prices, before we started the remodel, I read somewhere that the average bathroom remodel costs between $10,000-$15,000!! Granted, those people are probably putting in Italian marble shower surrounds, but seriously. $15K for a bathroom? Not us!! We ended up spending around $650.





There are few more finishing touches. I need to hang a reclaimed window frame on the wall and touch up some paint on the moulding. I plan to hunt down a lace edged bed sheet at an estate sale and use it as a shower curtain (until then, the circles remain). And we gotta caulk the tub too. But isn't it pretty?

In 3...2...1...

Yeah, they really counted down and everything!! But I am jumping ahead in the Tales of Taping a Bead Baubles & Jewels segment.

Back to the beginning.

Wednesday morning I was a nervous wreck as previously posted. My laid-back-too-busy-with-other-things-to-worry-about-it attitude flew out the window and I hunkered down to prepare for the show. I did a run through of my segment a few times while packing up all the supplies, tools and materials needed to the segment. After that I vacuumed my van for the 4 hour drive down to Cleveland, grabbed a quick shower, and headed out the door. I took a quick detour before hitting the interstate. I ran into the library and picked up the book Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger on CD to listen to on the ride down. (I know you are giggling about that... Kerry don't you have an iPod with iTunes? can't you just download something to listen to?... no I can't and I don't and I won't... I like the library, and I like my CDs.)



The drive down was great. No traffic, no construction, beautiful billowing clouds. And I got completely lost in the story I was listening too. It totally erased my nerves! I was in Ohio by 4:00. I checked into the hotel... practiced doing my hair for the next morning (yes, we get our make up done, but have to do our own hair... ask my sister, I HATE doing my hair! it is all about controlling root direction and I suck at controlling root direction.) Then I waited... and waited. Bored.



While surfing Facebook, Melanie Brooks binged me a message that she was in the hotel too, with Diane Hawkey, did I want to come down to their room? Well OF COURSE I do!! So we chit chatted for a while. Talked about the different segments we had planned. Exchanged publishing stories... Melanie is in Chain-Style too! (and Creative Jewelry, and Beadwork, and Step By Step Beads)It was a great way to pass the time until dinner.



Dinner was fan-freaking-tastic!! The crowd was Kathie Stull (show producer), Katherine (also with the show), Marc and Audrey from Rio Grande, Marlene Blessing (Beadwork Magazine Editor In Chief), Leslie Rogalski (Step By Step Beads Editor In Chief), Marcia DeCoaster (one of Beadwork magazine's Designers of the Year), Melanie and Diane. (I linked to blogs, y'all know you would go there anyway, I just made it easier for you.) Plus one extra special guess I was super excited to finally get to meet in person... Jean Campbell!



Why was I so excited to meet Jean? It is a secret I haven't gotten to share with you yet. Now here it is... Jean is editing my book! We have been emailing each other daily for weeks now and a few nerve calming phone calls too. What an amazing treat to have her there at the taping, doing three segments of her own, to give me pointers and chat in the green room. Over dinner I got a big high five in celebration of finishing the edits of my book. I also got to hear the tale of how she got started in publishing. It is an interesting story.

There are so many things from dinner I want to remember. Jean's story, Marcia's endless curiosity (she asked lots of questions, all things I was dying to know), being asked to contribute on a new magazine, and hearing I almost had a second cover this summer. We were back to the hotel by 9:30, and I had to get some sleep for the big night, but of course I was too excited!!

More tomorrow on what happened the next day... I don't think I could fit it all in one post if I tried.

Weekend Sewing

A big thanks to everyone to stopped by this weekend! The trunk show was slow most of the time, but did have a steady drip-drip-drip of people. I ended up taking a total of 42 pieces to the show (I made extra Mod Dots & the Gallery had two bracelets on hand). Of those, 10 pieces sold and the gallery kept another 7. A few people had "dibs" on designs that didn't sell... and that leaves me with 21 pieces to list on the website. Imagine that! A website update!! I haven't posted new designs in ages. I will be working on posting things later this afternoon. Keep an eye out for all the pretties.

I got out of the gallery at 4pm on Saturday with just enough time to run over to the fabric store. I bought a copy of Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing last week and I have been itching to make the "Yard Sale Skirt". The shop closed at 5pm, so I had to speed just a little bit. LOL. But I got there in time. I wanted to find a fabric that was light and soft, and something that would match my new Buttercup top that I am working on knitting. I was looking for a yellow-gray color combo and thought I had seen one the other day when I was getting Andrew's Birthday Quilt fat quarters, but apparently I was wrong. I settled instead on this yellow and green one. And hey, not only will they match Buttercup, but it matches my "Pucker" top too.

I shimmed up into one of the apple trees in our backyard to get a photo like the one on the cover of the book, but this just didn't quite cut it, lol. I think my skirt turned out like camouflage for my backyard. I really love it. It is just the right length. It is soft and swingy. And both Jacob and Ron told me I looked pretty yesterday. That makes me smile. There are a few other patterns I can't wait to try from the book too!

In other news: I have a post today over at Watch Me Create! I had a light bulb moment about how my desk reflects my state of mind. You can read more about it over there.

Something else happened when I had the light bulb go off about the desk thing... I realized that I have tons of "stuff" that I don't use... beads mostly. And more beads... and components too. From my days before glass and wire. We are going to have a big De-Stash Bash!! Mark your calenders!! On July 1st I am loading up my Bead Box with rock bottom prices. I want this stuff outta here. You know if I bought it once, it was because I thought it was awesome and would use it. Things are still awesome, I just have to admit I am not gonna use it. LOL.

Until I Snap

Okay, so I am hoping I am not alone in what I am about to tell ya about. We know that I have obsessive compulsive tendencies. I go into psycho cleaning modes where the baseboards want to run and hide from me. I am a busy body that always needs to be doing something. But then again, in a home with five people... four of them who can't pick up after themselves... things don't stay nice for long. It is a vicious cycle and I can't do it all.

I have developed a good coping skill though. I ignore things. This is especially easy to do with our upstairs. Technically, I only need to be up there to sleep so I can go hours and hours and hours with out stepping foot up there.



Unfortunately, my coping skill only works for so long... and then I snap. Does anyone else? See, on the way to my bedroom there is this little nook of a room. We call it "the computer room", lol. Though, I have been told by our neighbors that it was used as a bedroom by one of the previous owners. The owners that like to paint rooms a million different colors. Since moving in, this room has gotten on my nerves, when it shouldn't because it is so quaint. It has low ceilings, yes, but a sweet little cove in behind the room that would be an awesome reading spot. But, it was yellow... all yellow. Yellow walls and yellow ceilings and a yellow fixture that case a yellow hued light. I could have dealt with the yellow, were it not for the PERIWINKLE TRIM!! Not to mention the green door. UGH.

Can I just go on the record saying something right now.... NEVER... EVER... UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES... should you paint your trim a color other than white!! Don't do it. Step away from the paint chips and grab a premixed can of soft white. It is a pet peeve of mine. I hate painted trim. Trim should always be white. It frames the room. It makes for easy future paint jobs too. Who wants to try to match periwinkle trim every time the room needs a coat of paint? Say it with me... paint.trim.white.

Yesterday was the day I snapped on this room. I just couldn't take walking by it again. Something had to be done about it. I ran out to Lowes about Noon and grabbed a gallon of white paint, randomly grabbed a pretty green swatch and had a gallon mixed up, and I bought a new $12.98 light fixture. I was able to paint the ceilings, all the trim, and cut in the color by dinner time. I have been hunting on CraigsList for an old desk for the room. And I am having dreams of finding an antique iron bed frame to actually be able to use this as a guest room. Shock.Horror... imagine using the room for something other then playing video games!!



I am headed up to the room right now to finish the walls. I will show more pics when it is finished!!

More Shhh-ing

I hope you readers are good at keeping secrets. I am revealing more of Lauren's birthday goodies. Isn't this outfit cute?!? This pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside The Lines. It is called The Jane Austen Dress. I knit most of it back in February, but it wasn't until last week that I finally sewed the skirt onto the bodice. An interesting experience, I'm telling ya. I don't think I like sewing fabric to hand knits.

I love making my Lornie Doon goodies. She gets so excited and can't stand the suspense. We had a fun outing for this present. We went fabric shopping with my friend Lindsey and her daughter Laurelle (who will also be getting this dress as a birthday gift). Both girls picked the fabric they wanted for their "special project". They have no idea what it was going to become, just that there was going to be knitting and fabric involved.




I case the shrug on yesterday afternoon. I was rather intimidated by it. I have never done "cable" stitches before. I had it in my head that it would be hard. Lindsey assured me I could handle it and as you can see... I can! I will be knitting away today trying to get the shrug done. I think it can get done by Monday. Won't it be fun on Monday to see here all dressed up. And wait till I tell her I want to take her picture. My girl is such a diva... and loves "photo shoots".




That Saturday thrifting trip I told ya about also had me finding this sweet hat. I don't know much about old hats, so I have no idea when it could have been made. But I loved the soft minty green color. And it was only $5. I had to grab it and add it to Lauren's dress up repertoire. Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I gave her the hat early. She has worn it to school everyday this week. I don't think she realizes it is a dress up hat. To her it is a fashion statement. She is a crazy dresser. She is almost always in layers... skirts with jeans are a must... she is a hot blooded little creature, so tee shirts are a staple too... even in the snow. LOL. Just crazy.

Don't Make Me Stippel You

It's DONE!! Lauren's birthday quilt, for Oh, Fransson Quilt Along, is DONE!! Yoo HOO!! And with time to spare (her birthday isn't until Monday). You can find a whole set of photos from the project HERE in my Flickr Gallery. I just ran up to her room and popped it on her bed while she was outside waiting for the bus. LOL, I like being sneaky. I will have to hide my blog from here until Monday. Shhh.... don't tell her. She thinks this is for me to keep warm in my studio with.

This was such a fun project. I have never machine quilted before. I have made plenty of quilt facings by machining pieces together, but I usually hand the quilt sandwich off to my Mom for hand quilting. I just don't have the patience for hand quilting. Lindsey was awesome, and lent me her sewing machine that has a free motion presser foot so I was able to quilt it all myself!!

I wasn't sure if I would "stitch the ditch" or "stippel". Eventually, stippeling won out. And Oh.My.Stars. is stippeling fun. It is basically a giant squiggle line. I started in the center and worked my way out to the corners. It took about 5 hours on Sunday to get all the stippeling done. I drove Ron nuts... I stippeled all the way through the Syracuse Orangeman's basketball game. LOL. I just couldn't stop!!

I think I am going to make a quilt for each kid's birthday this year. Next up will be Andrew's in July!!

Weekend Road Trip

Raise your hand if you would drive an hour and a half just to go to a fabric store?

OH OH OH... ME ME... I would I would...

Don't look at me like I am crazy. I already got enough of that from my Mom, sister, and husband. "Your going all the way to Buffalo... for fabric?" they said. "Yeah," was my reply. It was so worth every minute of the rainy gray thruway drive. And besides, I had great company for the trip so it went by in the blink of an eye.





Last week, Lindsey was over visiting (and doing grading, she is a professor, did you know?) while I was making my fabulous "toTaLlY TwiStEd" bunting for the studio. She popped open her laptop and showed me a "quilt-a-long". She was thinking of going along with OH, Fransson! and making this as her daughter's quilt for a big girl bed that will soon be making it's way to her little lady's room just in time for her 4th birthday. Laurelle (Lindsey's girl) and Lauren (my girl) have birthdays just a few days apart.

The quilt is a fabulous design. I love it!! Lindsey and I plotted and schemed and decided that the road trip we wanted to take to a fabric store in Buffalo NY, http://www.forfabric.com/, was long past due. The store is fantastic. It is the only place in a hundred miles that carries all our favorite designers. Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey, Heather Ross, Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, Alexander Henry and more. I can't tell you how incredibly cool it is to see so many of our favorites... in person... in our actual hands. Really, too cool. No photo online can compare to seeing the colors in person and feeling all that cottonie goodness.

I wasn't planning on making a quilt, but I couldn't drive across the state without a project. That would have been a bad thing. I would have randomly bought tons of fabric and done serious damage to our credit card. So, Lindsey and I are doing the quilt along together. Both our girls will be getting these as birthday quilts (lol, actually we are doing a couple of the same handmade gifts for them... you'll see what I mean in a few weeks when I show you more). And I must say, she is doing most of the work. She did all the math to figure out how to turn this into a twin size quilt. She knows all the sizes of everything we need. And I feel like I am just going along for the ride. I am blissfully complying and thankful for her patience as I ask her a million questions that I am being too lazy to figure out on my own. *sigh*

I think it is neat to watch the two of us when we are in a fabric store. Our styles (and thus our daughters' tastes) are totally reflected in what we pick and they couldn't be more different. Lindsey's quilt has a lot of Amy Butler's fabrics. Soft greens, blues, a little yellow and a touch of soft lavender with some browns. So calm and sweet. I was pulling all the intense colors I could find and ended up with rich purple, hot pink, poppin' turquoise, gray and ivory. Lots of tone on tone and strong geometric designs mixed with fancy flourishes. So vibrant and lush.





I can't tell you how inspiring this trip was. In more ways then one too. I am freaking loving the looks of gray on gray with ivory right now. And hot pink... love hot pink, with purple, red, and orange of all things. I know you are thinking that you have heard me mention these colors before... but I am telling you... it is different in my head this time. I can see a lot of this coming to life in glass. If only the colors dancing in my mind matched the rods on my desk. *double sigh* My glass colors seem so dull compared to them. Lindsey seems to think I should play with http://www.spoonflower.com/ and design some fabrics to offer for sale. Kinda pricey at $18 p/yard but hey, you never know.

Okay... so that was our road trip. It is going to be fun blogging about this quilt coming together. All the fabric needs to be washed and ironed before it makes it's proper blog debut. I have lots of other things to tell you about too. I finished my February Lady Sweater for one. I am suffering from "reactance", which is a serious talk we have to have for two. And huh, I know there was something else. Oh, well... it'll come to me.

What did you do this weekend?

A New Studio Accessory

Yesterday I got creative in the studio in a different way then usual. I have been seeing what I call word-banner-flag-things all over the crafty blog web.

Here are a few I have seen:
Kelly Rae Roberts
JC Handmade
Beauty That Moves
Soule Mama

I knew I had to make one for the studio. "Totally Twisted" is what I call my 5 hour intro to wire class, and it is what I am hoping (fingers crossed, please, please, please) will be the title of my book. It is such a cool phrase (that I thunk up myself thankyouverymuch), I love it. It is mine all mine. Hey, maybe I better put a "Tm" after it? LOL.

It is an easy enough project to make and I threw together a quick tutorial for y'all. I don't know how anyone else makes these, and I am far from a master seamstress. I just winged it. I think these would be fun with an inspiration word like "bliss" or "create". I like mixing fabrics and colors and upper/lower case letters, but it would look just as cool if it was all the same fabric with the same text running across. I don't know exactly how much fabric I used. I did it a "stash buster" project just using up what I had around the house. (A while back, I bought an Anna Maria Horner Scrap Bag and it would be prefect for this.)

Without Further Ado..

Kab's Very Own Fabric Word Banner Flag Thingy





Step 1: You are basically going to make a bunch of little pouches. Straight line stitching people, nothing fancy. I made a plan ahead of time and knew I would need 14 flags for the letters in my words. You can do them assembly line style or one at a time. (I did 'em one at a timeand it too HOURS because my rotary cutter was about as sharp as a butter knife.) Cut three pieces of fabric (sizes to cut are on the photo above).





Step 2: With right sides together, sew together the two smaller pieces. This will be your "front". For the most part, all my letters are made on solid colors. This example has a patterned piece... if you want a pattern, make sure it is a light color and subtle so it is easier to paint and see the letter later on. Okay, the seam allowance is 1/4in (the outside edge of my presser foot). Be a good sewer girl and press your seams with an iron when you are done.





Step 3: Again, with right sides together, sew the front piece to the back piece. You only need to sew it on three sides, leave the top open. When you are done, flip it right side out and press it.

Step 4: You could leave the flag as is at this point, but I decided to add a little extra work for myself, um, I mean detail, by doing some top stitching. It is all machine done. I just went around the outside edge with a straight stitch then zigzagged the place where the two pieces were sewn earlier. This really is a stash buster project. I didn't worry about matching my thread to my bobbin. I ended up using whatever was in the machine... when my bobbin ran out, I just grabbed another half used one. Now I have three empty bobbins ready to be wound the next time I sew instead of 3 half full ones in colors I don't use very often.





Step 5: Keep on making the flags until you have as many as you need. I laid them out at I went so I could see how the colors were mixing. Have fun, move things around.





Step 6: Okay, I kinda skipped a step here, but well talk about the two steps shown in this photo. First, you need to sew the flags into some bias tape. Had it been a perfect studio day, I would have found two packages of black double fold bias tape in my stash, alas it was only a sorta good day. So, I ended up with being lucky enough just to find two packs of bias tape at all. Fold the tape in half to find the center and pin your center flap into the fold of the tape. Space the rest evenly along the tape and just sew a straight line down the bias tape.

Step 7: Now you can paint your letters!! I just used some acrylic paints I had in the studio. This isn't something that will be washed or played with so I didn't worry about using fabric paints. I just hand painted on the letters. Now, I bet you are thinking "Kerry, why didn't you paint the letters first, then sew them into the bias tape?" Well, if I did, there would be a chance I wasn't paying close enough attention and I would mix up the order of letters, then I would have to get out my seem ripper and destroy my bias tape. Just do it this way, it works. And ya know what is good about plain old acrylics? They dry in about 20mins!!







Hang it and enjoy!!

Besure to let me know if you bust up your fabric stash and give this a try. And remember, I just threw this together so typos and grammar errors are not my fault. Well, actually, they are my fault... I typed 'em... but hey, it is a free tutorial. Beggers can't be choosers.

Have fun!