What’s On My Mind

Sewing

// December 31st, 2008 // No Comments » // homelife, pictures

So I’ve finally learned how to sew with a sewing machine. I’ve had a machine since 2005 and have been wanting someone to teach me ever since. So a huge thanks goes out to Anne D. for being that someone! She doesn’t know what sort of monster she may have created. 

I thought I’d share my few projects I’ve done since I first learned.

My first goal was to make a cloak for this year’s Renaissance Festival. It was going to be colder there than most times we went and I couldn’t wear a jacket! (For shame!) Cloaks are very expensive and I thought it would be super fun to make one myself. So that’s the project I learned with. I ended up picking out some red polka-dotted fabric that had a pretty cool looking liner (so I didn’t have to line it manually my first time around). Anne walked me through working with the pattern, sewing the pieces together, and hemming the ends. I think I did really well for a first project. Here’s the results!

Then I decided in early December that I’d like to make something for the women in my family with a new-found skill. I picked aprons because they are pretty easy and something that you don’t have to worry too much about fit. I found a great McCalls pattern set of three retro aprons and made one of each kind for the ladies in Houston. It took forever and a good chunk out of my holiday planning time, so next year I’ll be sure to think of somthing in November at the latest. But I’m really happy with the way that each of them came out. And I loved being able to taylor them to each of their personalities.

Then today I went all crazy and made a pincushion. I used scraps from the aprons and came up with the pattern myself - two circles! I even cut one out of tissue paper so that I could have a “pattern” piece to use. I had bought some batting at a garage sale a long time ago and could use that as stuffing. I put the pieces together and it was very imperfect, yet charming. I thought it would look even more put together with a button so I started digging around in my materials. I found a button in the sewing materials I’d inherited from my grandma (along with some taylors chalk - bonus!) and attached it with the navy thread I was using. It actually mimicked the material pretty well and I like the imperfectness of it all. Below are pictures. I think it looks a bit like a donut with sprinkles with all the pins in there. 

While We’re At It…

// September 28th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // homelife, pictures

So Dave had a brilliant idea this weekend. I’ve always wanted to remove the popcorn on the wall above our cabinets. I hate it! Who needs popcorn on their wall?! I truly don’t understand the purpose. Anyhoo… Dave thought that we should get rid of it while the kitchen is already a mess and turn those areas into real walls. That’s an awesome idea!

See the white above the cabinets? It’s white because it’s popcorn!

So we did a better job this time of containing the mess. We put up tarps, watered, scraped, sanded, dusted, primed, and then painted the first coat of color to match the rest of the kitchen walls. I only got pics after we put the first coat of paint on and I’ll add the finished product later. Oh happy day!

Oh, and still no floors yet. It’s hard to figure out what to do to lessen the impact of a cracking foundation on the new floor.

Monday Night’s Kitchen Floor Update

// September 15th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // homelife, pictures

I was so right. Sleep and food helped a lot. After talking to a few people, I figured out that I had the wrong blade for plywood. So I splurged for the $6 plywood blade and it was SO worth it! It cut the plywood like a knife through a block of cream cheese… not smooth as butter, but it did the darned job!

Thanks to a few friends coming by to help with various parts of the project (Mark getting the ripping started, Nik helping me strategize the removal of the pantry floor)! But I have to brag on myself. I rock on that darned circular saw! Rah woman rah!

Dave is back tomorrow, so we’ll strategize together about the removal of the appliances and whatnot.

The Kitchen Floor Nightmare

// September 14th, 2008 // No Comments » // homelife, pictures

So we need a new dishwasher. The one we have leaks. And leaks more than we realized. Oh, and it’s an Insinkerator, circa 1980. Apparently the company has since realized that putting their eggs in the garbage disposal basket was a good idea.

We knew that we probably had a smaller space than normal for this diswasher, but we took our measurements and went out in hope of finding one that would fit. We measured the height of the dishwasher at 32 1/4″ where the standard height is 33 1/2″ +. This was discouraging. When the Lowe’s guy suggest that we re-take our measurements, we went home and discovered foul play. The previous homeowners had raised the floor in front of the dishwasher by a couple of inches, trapping it in for eternity!

Well, thanks to the previously mentioned leakage, our floors have been warping anyway. Apparently the homeowners laid down plywood underneath the kitchen tile. They did place hardibacker on top, however left a few gaps in it. Oops. Plywood warps when it gets wet. We now realize that we need to redo the whole thing.

We start by removing the tiles. That was easy! And fun! I wanted to keep as many in tact as possible to either reuse in our bathroom (if we EVER get to that project) or give to someone who needs them and kept bags of the broken ones in case some freecycler would be interested in mosaicing.

Once the tiles were gone, we get a good look at the water damage. The wood was definitely growing mold and warping. One piece of the plywood was about 2 inches thick with water while the one next to it was less than an inch thick. No wonder our tiles were coming up!

Well, the hardibacker was properly installed, minus the gaps of course. It is BONDED to the plywood and we hit our first big issue. How do we get this subfloor (technical term I learned through all this) up? We borrow a friend’s circular saw and through a series of trips to Home Depot (shout out to Anthony at the HD!) we realize that we have to buy a blade specifically for the hardibacker since the wood blade won’t cut through it. Since they are bonded, we’ll have to cut through the floor layers twice.

Since Dave is out today, I have a ball with the circular saw the first time around. That hardibacker went up in smoke… or dust rather. It worked really well. Plus I got to use power tools. Bonus! Of course most of our living space is now covered in dust. Suck. I now realize the benefit of plastic walls. I immediately go in with the wood blade for the plywood. This … did not work quite so well. I figure there is not enough of the hardibacker gone since the blade keeps getting caught on it. So I dig in. With a chisel. For like 4 hours. Urgh! At least it will all be worth it when I can get one piece of the subfloor out, right?

I finally decide I’m in a good spot and get the saw ready. First time I try, the dang thing kicks back. Hmm…. maybe the blade is backwards. Nope. Second time, kickback. I check the ‘net and they can’t say much more other than make sure the surface is even. So I try in a different, more even place. Third time, kickback with a mega vengeance. It went back, hit the hardibacker, and the blade came loose. Luckly everything stayed where it needed to, but still. Yikes. I was done. I was so done. So done in tears. And now I’m stuck.

So I got food and now I’m sleeping on it. Hopefully everything will seem roses in the morning light. I don’t know. I really tried. Sigh.

Why I Love Dave: Exhibit A

// August 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // homelife

Me: Do you think that if water were alive, would it actually enjoy boiling, like if it were a massage or something?

Dave: I don’t think it would like it very much. It’s probably screaming since it’s changing states and disappearing.

Me: Oh, I don’t know. It’s still alive even if it is gas.

Etc. etc. for a couple more rounds and then onto something else.

Yeah, my synopsis kinda sucks, (it’s been a few days…) but at least it gets the point across. Rather than pull a realist and say that I am so weird for thinking such thoughts, Dave decides to play along and actually debate me over the subject. That rocks!