Keeping Busy

We've been chipping away at a bunch of small projects using the supplies we stocked up on from our last trip to the hardware store. I say we, but in reality Mr. B has been keeping himself busy at night. .

Not that I've been sitting on my fanny doing nothing. We have had delicious home made dinners every night this week not to mention the chocolate cupcakes that I made Tuesday night, with peanut butter frosting. The kitchen is clean be fore we go to bed, apart from the floor. I've been meaning to scrub that for over a week now. I love the checkerboard floor but the white squares really show the dirt. Didn't think that one out to well.

Meanwhile his our project have taken over the dinning room table. The plates are more of a Maggie project which I am hoping to complete in the next few weeks. I still need to collect some more. See the curtain in the background? Very exciting update, but more on that later.

There seems a division of labor into "pink" chores and "blue" chores. Part of me thinks I should be upset that I am getting stuck with the domestic traditional housewify chores rather than playing with electricity and using power tools. (maybe not the playing with electricity I would rather not tempt fate, the thought of getting zapped is not appeasing for me.) But then I think OMG we are getting stuff done! Who cares that I'm in the kitchen every night. We like to eat good home cooked meals, and well I happen to be much better at cooking than Mr. B and he happens to be better at playing with electricity. Besides it's not like I can't do "blue chores." I am perfectly capable of taking care of things myself.

Bird Pillow

Remember how I told you I took down the big snowflakes I had hanging in the living room. I’m trying to banish winter. Once they were down it got me thinking on the pillows. Remember I had made sweater covers for them. I figured sweaters on the couch is just as much of a wish for cold snowy weather as snowflakes on the wall. I decided this weekend something needed to be done about them. I want something cheerful and summery for the throw pillows.

That is easier said than done. You see our couch is this weird shade of slate/moss green. Deep reds and browns work nice with it but I want something brightish and cheerful! It took several walks around the fabric store to come up with a plan. I decided on some red-orange (to complement the TV stand), navy blue, and a hint of light green. Of course there will be some neutral grays and whites thrown in there.

Behold the first updated throw pillow.

The bird pillow.

Birds, I know go figure..But it’s not geese so it’s ok right?  It doesn’t contribute to the crazy bird lady factor, does it?

I have been seeing the bird on a wire silhouettes in my search for artwork for the house and I’m continually drawn to it. I haven’t taken the plunge to actually buy anything though. So I thought why not incorporate the design into a throw pillow.

For those of you who are wondering, I used fusible web to attach the bird silhouettes to the background and further secured them using a zig-zag stitch in coordinating thread. But before I did that I had to make the wire for them to sit on. We can’t have the birdies floating in space ungrounded. I marked a straight line on the background fabric and then using the straight stitch on my machine sewed a few lines. I was purposefully sloppy in this, which was rather liberating! (I mainly quilt so straight seems with a perfect ¼ inch seam allowance are a must.) I’d have to say I am darn proud of how it turned out.

Let’s take another look and drool and my craftiness.

There are four pillows on our couch. I'm still working on the covers for the other three, so but be on the lookout for updates!



I'm Back

Well hello there!

Nice to see you again. 

I took a little break this month. Don't worry it's not you it's me. In all reality there was nothing going on in our lives that I thought was worthy of a little chat. No house projects, no craftiness, no baking. We spent most of this month watching movies. There was a week long Harry Potter marathon and weekend of the Lord of the Rings (don't we sound like nerds). We worked our way through many bowls of popcorn and rediscovered our love of the nacho. Tostitos topped with some sort of meat, cheese, and salsa tucked under the broiler for a few minutes and then topped with a dolop of sour cream. Great dinner for in front of the TV and almost no dishes. 

 I did get allot of quilting done on my sunshine quilt. I'd say it's about 2/3rds done. I can't wait to show you the finished product. The quilting really makes it, by far this is the most intricate quilting I have ever done. Lots of loopies and flowers. Several of my finger tips are calloused from the millions of stitches.  

This weekend we finally made it to the hardware store. We picked up some things to get some little projects done.  My theory is if we have the supplies here it is one less thing to get in the way of getting something done. It seems when I want to do something it requires a trip to town and the thought of driving makes me loose all my ambition. 

Yesterday Mr. B went snow boarding, no broken bones this time. He did fall on his shoulder and it's rather sore this morning. Perhaps I should put him in a bubble or not let him go anywhere with his brother unsupervised. Any-who while he was gone I went to the craft store and the thrift store. My creativity and ambition has been restored!! I think we will be seeing much of each other in the next few weeks. 

Last night I baked. For the first time in over a month!

We are celebrating my Grandma's birthday today and I thought some celebration cupcakes were in order. Nothing to fancy, white cake with butter cream frosting and sprinkles. Sprinkles are practically a necessity around here. 

Don't you just love the little flags. I would love to say that I made them myself. I said I was once again inspired, but not that inspired. I picked them up at the craft store, the are Martha Stewart. Gotta love that lady. The colors remind me of spring, nice and bright and cheery. I am so ready for the snow and winter to be over with. I took down the big snow flakes last week. I told Mr. B I am done wishing for snow. Now I need to find something else to hang on the wall behind the couch. But any way I digress. 

One more picture of the delicious cup cakes.

Until next time!!

M. 

Scrapping Paint

We started a new house project last week. A boring, tedious, house project. But one that needs to get done. We are scrapping all the layers of old paint off the trim on our living room windows. There are ALOT of layers of paint on those. Several layers of the nasty green that covered most of the house, then brown, then turquoise, then white, then finally the bare wood.It was gobbed on to almost a half inch tick in some places. Yikes! With all that paint on the trim we were starting to loose some of the details in the molding.

We have been using a heat gun to remove most of the paint. It doesn't smell the best but works much better that trying to scrape it off unassisted or using harsh chemicals. Heat it up just so the paint starts to bubble and it comes off so easily. But don't heat it up to much or you scorch the wood. (we did do this in several places, shhhh you won't be able to tell once it is painted) From there we will fill in some of the old nail holes, sand them smooth, and prime and repaint.

I say we, but in all honesty it's been mainly Mr. B scrapping away. But to be fair I have made dinner and cleaned the kitchen every time he worked at it. And I will be the one doing all the painting. Mr. B only does the roller, no edging or trim.

Turtle Cake

As promised....

I baked a cake.

Monday.

A turtle cake. 

Yellow cake with chocolate ganache, caramel, coconuts, and pecans.

Yesterday was my father-in-law's birthday.

He turned 29. He's been 29 since Mr. B and I started dating.

You need a cake to celebrate your 28th anniversary of your 29th Birthday!

The 'Sitting Room'

Hey there stranger!

I feel like I have been slacking lately and racking my brain with things to share with you. It's January and there really isn't much going on around here. There has been lots of snuggling on the couch with my boys, movie watching, and popcorn eating. Mr. B makes the best homemade popcorn. There has been no home improvement, no building projects, and no baking.

It's still January and the 'new year's resolutions' are still fresh in my mind. You know eat more vegetables and exercise more. Hence no cake. Although I've been seeing quite a few on pinterest. I think a chocolate cake might be in order for this weekend.

I took these pictures of while ago. I really didn't like how they turned out, I don't think the lighting is the best. But I thought I would share them any way.

Off of our bedroom is another smaller room. Since you have to walk through the master bedroom to get to it we thought we would make it part of the "master suite" rather than a guest bedroom.

I like to call it the "sitting room".

 

The curtains are one of my favorite things about this space. Nice and feminine with out being over the top. My mom helped me pick them out. Thanks mom!

The furinture is from my great granny. She bought it when she was first married. The bottom drawer of the dresser has the date the set was purchased and the price. She was always writting notes like that on things.  

The peacock feathers are left overs from our wedding. We hit the one year mark last week!

I think it would be the perfect spot to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning while wearing a soft fluffy rob looking out over the back yard. I can dream right.

"Making Ice" Weather

It is cold out.

It is beyond cold out.

The jeep barely started this morning.

  My kitchen is cold despite new windows and insulation in the mud room. Like wear your slippers or your tootsies will freeze walking on the floor, cold. Good thing mom bought us nice slippers for Christmas. Thanks mom!

The geese are cold. They are surviving, but cold. They took their baths yesterday and the water froze to there feathers. It looked like they were covered in white sprinkles. It got down to negative thirteen last night, that was with out the wind chill. I wanted them to spend the night in the mud room or basement. I was vetoed by Mr. B. They made it through the night. Good thing geese are such hardy birds.

 The high today is supposed to be under ten. Yes single digits! I'm sure they will spend most of their day huddled on the corner of the porch. They spent most of the day there yesterday and sassed me the whole time I was unpacking groceries and making dinner. They stand at the window and honk at me. Then Mr. B goes up and starts talking to Bruce. Bruce starts to hiss at him. Obviously Mr. B has to hiss back.

While we hate the cold, Mr B. is happy. It's making ice. Sturgeon spearing is coming up next month.