Actually, not quite teal, it’s definitely a softer color… but it’s called Under the Sea, so right in line with the Swim in the kitchen. Apparently I’m only capable of buying paint with fun names!

Both the main bath & our bath are going to be this color because I love it so much – it looks really nice with the gray tile on the floors.  And Steve put fresh ceiling paint up, Ultra White, which is a huge difference in our bathroom (the ceiling was originally painted beige, no differentiation between the walls & ceiling).  Plus he put a CFL bulb in the light in our bathroom, so it’s like 10 times brighter in there right now.  I’m not sure I’m going to fully appreciate the lightness tomorrow morning when I shower, it might be too early for that!

We’re going to have to battle hinges again with the cabinets in the bathrooms – the previous owners really had a thing for painting right over rusted screws.  Needless to say, that’s a bad idea.  I think I’m going to wait until Steve’s had a frustrating day @ work, and then have him take out his anger on the cabinet doors.

The cats enjoy when we paint because we’ve been shutting them up in our bedroom.  I got the goofy toothy grin from Radar this afternoon.  And Sylvester couldn’t be bothered to smile for the camera:

Yeah, he really sleeps like that, all the time!  Sometimes he cuddles with me, and I hold him like a baby, and he falls asleep curled up in my arms – such a relaxed kitty!

Yesterday (Saturday) was spent not trying to move too much – Steve passed along a sinus infection accompanied by a massive headache that could not be dulled by any OTC drug available.  I’m feeling better today, not 100%, but enough that I managed to figure out how to make myself a design wall so I could lay out my Heather Ross fabrics and figure out what I needed to cut.

I need a bigger wall, but I had some gross crib-sized (45” x 60”) 100% poly batting (that I think was destined for what would be the world’s smallest beach blanket), so that will suffice for now.

OK, we’re officially late for a super bowl party, but Steve needed to shower after the paint session in the bathroom, so such is life.  Have a great weekend, whatever’s left of it!

The word is out on the street – we have the best hummingbird feeder in the ‘hood.  And holy moly, those itty bitty birdies can make some serious noise, with their turbo prop wings and screeches when they bicker with each other.  I watched them for 15 minutes last night, trying my best to get a clear shot in the low light.

I think you can click on the photo to biggify, but there are 6 hummers on the feeder, plus the lil guy trying to come in for a landing.  There were 8 at one point, it’s hard to count them when they’re zooming around.

Or Teal/Turquoise Tour Twenty Ten (2010 or Two-Oh-Ten)… or the blog post where I talk in Ts because I’m being a turd.  Had enough yet?  Yeah, maybe me too.

We basically took all of last week to finish up the teal/turquoise cabinets in the kitchen… I did all of the painting, but Steve put on the new hinges & hung the doors back up (and nothing quite lined up, so he created a total of 48 holes to attach the hinges to the doors, and also had to create some new holes in the cabinets to make it all work).

I opted for white hinges, which I thought made sense given that we will be applying a fresh coat of white to the top cabinets, and I’m OK with the hinges blending in a bit.

And what good is working for a furniture company if I can’t take advantage of being able to buy @ cost?  Actually, most of our furniture isn’t quite my style, so the bar stools are the first things I’ve ordered.  The shipping cost me almost as much as the stools, and overall cheaper than buying just one from a retailer.

And  I was super stoked to find a teal bowl set & the utensil crock on SALE at the Targhetto by work.  Plus a teal carafe.  Nice to continue the theme for the house warming party we threw this past weekend.

The aftermath of the party – most of the food was gone, which was great!

And one last tealy picture – plastic adirondack chairs from Lowes sitting in front of the newly trimmed hibiscus.  (And mom, do you see the hummer feeder??  I saw @ least 2 different hummers using it on Sunday, and it’s really interesting to watch because they are actually able to sit still and drink – now to try to get a photo…)

Watching/listen to Torchwood:

Seriously, if y’all have Netflix, add it to your Instant queue.  It’s pretty weird, but keeps you sucked in, and isn’t quite quirky like some of the other Brit shows that have crossed the pond.  Think Pushing Daisies + Men In Black + M. Night Shyamalan films + some other stuff all rolled into one show.  Plus Captain Jack Harkness (in the middle) is pretty easy on the eyes, along with most of the other blokes.

The watching/listening has occurred in the midst of painting:

Steve had a helluva time getting some of the hinges off…after some cursing, dremel tool burning, 4 broken drill bits, 1 broken screw extractor, and some wood putty, the darn things finally came off.  Needless to say, even if we weren’t planning on buying new hinges, we would have to anyway.  I think both of us are dreading the painting of the top cabinets, just due to the taking off the hinges aspect of it all.

Plus, I slapped together a new chair cover for the computer chair (you know, to cover the cat scratch damage – they really like the nubby fabric of that particular chair).

I had forgotten I had that fabric – originally bought for a roman shade in the old apartment that I never got around to making.  Guess it was my subconscious telling me to save it for something else.

Alrighty y’all, off to watch more Torchwood.

As part of the move, some of our less sturdy plastic storage bins didn’t survive without cracks.  Including my box of memorabilia, most of it from high school.  So I bought a sturdier but smaller Rubbermaid box, and set out to see what I could purge and what I couldn’t part with.

This is most definitely a treasure I would never part with, and it will not be further relegated to a folded life in a box in the attic.

It’s a satin baby blanket, that was made for my father by my great-grandmother.  And I guess in those days, they didn’t know the sex of the baby, because the binding & entire back is a pretty pink shade.

It was passed down to me, as the first-born child of my dad.

The embroidery is also a bit girly:

So this was made in the mid-50s, and entirely hand quilted, because they did not do such heathenness things as machine quilting back then…  Just look at those feathers!!

The stitches are crazy tiny and perfect.  Well, almost perfect – there are a couple of spots where you can see the marking lines, lol!

And I find myself a bit stunned at how much more I appreciate this little quilt, now that I’ve done a bit of it myself.

Thank you, Great Grandma Gibbs.  And I’ll be sure to pass it down to my not-yet-conceived first-born, though I’m not sure I could bear to actually use it – not sure if I want to find out how a babe could demolish such a treasure.

My stack ‘o fabrics that I’m going to be sending out for my month of PTQB2:

I’m so excited, my Hope Valley finally arrived to supplement my Flea Market Fancy stash & Heather Ross pretties.

And isn’t she cute?  I got her from the Craft Hope for Haiti etsy site:

She needs a name, any suggestions?

Time for an update on the virtual quilting bee blocks I’ve done.

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned on this blog that I’m in a Facebook-based VQB, which is a refreshing change from Flickr, because I can upload a whole bunch of photos without having to worry about that 200 free photo limit.  Anyway, that group is a bit different in terms of demographics, most of the ladies are a bit older and (thus far) have different fabric tastes than I do, and apparently aren’t big bloggers.  The fabric is really putting me out of my comfort zone, in a good way.  I have to think about how I want to put my blocks together, the process seems a bit different than my norm.  Plus, they are all very trusting and just say "make me something you like,” rather than dictating a pattern.

So here’s what I’ve come up with the Let’s Piece Together ladies so far:

(the 2 matchy block patterns are bonus blocks, I was taking it a bit easier on myself for those)

On the AQB2 front, Sam wanted a log cabin or variation with her gorgeous purple fabrics, so I ended up with courthouse steps:

And Barbara wanted a disappearing nine-patch, and she made is super easy by pre-cutting our 9 squares for us:

I have a couple more blocks to crank out soon, including my Three by Six blocks.  More photos to follow

So hopefully by now, you’ve seen my little inspiration mosaic I’ve posted here on this blog and in the Flickr pool.  And hopefully you’ve been browsing thru this lil ol blog of mine, and are getting a sense of what I like.  I apologize for all of the house nonsense, but it’s pretty much consumed my thoughts & free time since October.

And hopefully you’re finding your research inspiring.  If it’s the case where you think I’m less than helpful, I apologize.  However, that just means more fun for you to be creative.  Because there are very few things I don’t like, and lot that I do. I can’t really pinpoint one particular thing I would want you to make me, I don’t want to pigeon-hole you into thinking you have to make something specific for me.

Not a huge fan of “grandma” fabrics - no civil war repros, no Waverly-esque florals, yada yada.  But if the designer is named Heather (Ross or Bailey), Anna (Maria Horner or Griffin), Tula, Paula, Urban Chicks, Momo, and even Amy, then I’m usually pretty stoked about their fabrics.

If you’re looking for color direction, I hate forest greens.  This lil quilt will be going into my freshly painted light yellow crafty room.  Eventually, my Rainbow Sherbet quilt will also reside in this room, on a futon/small pull-out couch that will join the other furniture in the room.  I just ordered fabrics to make a Roman blind for the window, it does happen to be Amy Butler Love Home Dec.  I also have a bunch of embroidery hoops just waiting to be turned into a lovely grouping of fabric swatch wall decor, ala the Purl Bee.

I like applique, though I haven’t done anything more complicated than some raw-edge myself.  I was so excited when Sam sent me this little birdie back for my month in PTQB.  And while I completely appreciate the embroidered items I’ve received from my grandparents over the years (yes, Grandpa stitches), I much prefer stitch stylings of Sublime.  I have a soft spot for owls.  I like texture in quilts, though that’s not a requirement - I just don’t have a problem mixing flannel with poplin, for example.

Hopefully this helps.  I’m not trying to be mysterious, I’m open to a lot of possibilities, and am sensitive to the fact that you may not be comfortable with certain techniques, because I’m sure as heck not either!!

Yours truly,
Michelle

PS - I really do already think I’m going to love whatever comes winging my way in the mail!

DQS8 Inspiration

Originally uploaded by mpfox223

So I finally bit the bullet and joined this round of the Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr. Partners were distributed yesterday, and I’m super excited about mine. They seem to have interests that match my fabric stash, lol! So I already know what I’m going to do for my partner. The only thing that I decided I needed to buy was one of those Olfa Circle cutters that a bunch of people seem to be raving about lately.

Anywho, the attached photo is a mosaic of just a small portion of my Flickr favs, to give my sender an idea of what I like. As you can see, subdued traditional fabrics aren’t my cup of tea. And I’m not super picky, I don’t think… This is definitely going up in my new crafty room, I’m super excited to add decor to that room!

This is how the inside of our fridge currently looks.  Pretty standard for a couple with no kids, I’m guessing.  Beer, juice, milk, cheese, leftovers, veggies, condiments.

But here’s the confession:

It just became this clean after nearly 5 years of neglect.

I know, completely disgusting, right?

But in our defense, the poor fridge was so tightly wedged into place at the old apartment, with the right door blocked by a wall, that there was really no easy way to pull it out and clean well.

There’s really not an excuse for why it didn’t get cleaned in November when it got moved.

Or December.

I’m just lazy, but I finally couldn’t take it anymore.  Steve did have to pull the door off the pantry so we could scoot the fridge out far enough to open the door completely.

But it’s clean now.  And will be cleaned as needed from now on.

And I know y’all have your dirty secrets (or not so secret secrets) too.