Sunday, November 30, 2008

Floors all down

Friday we worked hard putting down the flooring in the bedroom. It is a small room, but it had a few area that needed to have some fancy cuts done to them. I did most of the cutting with my dad helping a bit when he didn't think I could do something. I guess he doesn't realize some of the complicated cuts I do with quilting and upholstery work I do at times. I know it is different with a saw, but it is not as if this was the first time for me to saw something.

JR, Bill's son did most of the laying of the floor, but Bill did help him when he needed the help. JR also did all the measuring. The floor looks nice. We still have that pesky trim to cut, paint and put up. I did at least put it in the smaller of the two rooms. Bill and I decided to not paint the paneling in the bedroom. It is a light almost white paneling and it would have been difficult painting around the built in shelving. If we change our mind we will just need to be careful to not make a mess on the new flooring.

That's all for tonight. The Bears are on TV now...may watch them for a while.

Peggy

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Love the shelving!































Bill and I put up one of the shelves that we bought. I love it. The shelves can be adjusted in multiple ways. The system has a groove every inch or so in the support legs. A two piece clip fits over a groove and one corner of a shelf fits over the clips compressing them more into the groove. If the clips are put in the same place on each leg and the groove is hit properly with the clip the shelf will hold up to 200lbs. I added some felt floor savers to the bottom of the level adjustments so we can easily move the shelf.

As you can see the trim is not attached to the wall. In fact it has not been painted, because it is still too cold outside to paint. Maybe when we get the rug out of the other room we will be able to paint them in there.

Our cat Gordo likes to help. He is about 9 months old and my constant companion. He lays on
the rug in front of the kitchen sink while I do the dishes or am cooking. Sometimes he wants to play with my feet as they are moving about. When I am napping he is on my lap, unless he is in the bed. He is a really good cat and except for the occasional nip when he is tired or wants to play he doesn't bother anything.......except the paper garbage containers near the computer and near our living room chairs. He likes to tip them over to find little goodies he can hide under the rug. He doesn't do that as much as he used to, but he still likes to hide things. I am surprised he doesn't get into my sewing stuff, but so far he leaves that alone.

Bill has a "fishing pole with fish" cat toy that he used to play with Gordo. The cat will chase the fish and even jump high and do topsy turvy move in the air. He also has multiple small toys that he bats from from to room. When we clean we find balls and little do-dad's he has hidden or got wedged into places he can't reach.

Usually about now Gordo is wanting to go to bed. He will come to the computer chair where I am sitting and want me to hold him. If I am just reading I pick him up and he lays curled up on his back on my left arm, sleeping. After a while he gets heavy.....maybe that is why I am having trouble with my left shoulder!

I now must see if I can get something done around the house before I go to bed!

Peggy

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wednesday was busy!

Today Bill and I went to town to meet a friend of ours. I had made Shrimp Creole last night and wanted to share some with him. We met for coffee at a local restaurant. When he left we walked over to say hello to some other friends of ours at another table. About an hour later they asked us if we would like to join them for lunch at yet another restaurant in another town. Since we were still sore and tired from what we had been doing we said yes. The restaurant is actually in TN, but not too far away from where we live. We had a nice visit, good meal and lots of leftovers. I ordered the chef salad, because I wasn't real hungry, but knew I needed to eat. It came to me on a 10" plate, filled edge to edge and it was about 6" high in the center. It had lettuce, mushrooms, celery, onions, peppers, hard cooked eggs, ham, bacon and grated cheese on top. I brought at least 2/3rd's of it home along with part of a steak and a chicken plank other had leftover. My salad cost $5.50. There is enough left over for Bill and I to share for lunch tomorrow if we desire.

When we got home we put more of the flooring down. We have a partial plank to put down to get to the door. I am not sure we will actually put it down, or leave it for Bill's son when he comes down. We (mostly I) need to clean out the other room, remove the carpet, wash the walls down, prim and paint. Unfortunately we still need to paint the trim, but the weather is windy, cold and a bit damp. Maybe we can get the other room cleaned out and paint them in there.

I really won't get my sewing room set up until after the Thanksgiving. Extra stuff will need to be stored in the sewing room until the new bedroom is done.

I did a bit of sewing tonight. I hemmed a pair of my Dad's sleep pants and made a velcro opening in the front of a T-shirt. He has problems putting clothing over his head, so he wanted to try a velcro opening down the front. I hope it works for him, because he needs the extra warmth now that the weather has changed.

Catch you later!

Peggy

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Today's Progress

To catch up with what has been happening here I need to go back to Saturday. Bill, Dad and I went to Paducah to return some items and do a little shopping. After returning the items at Home Depot we were going to look at shelving for my Sewing Studio. Would you believe all of their free standing shelving was in storage....nothing on display! So we moved on down the road to Lowes. The one we had picked out in Murray, but they didn't have it in stock, were not available in Paducah. I had also been looking at some chrome shelves, but was not sure I wanted to pay $89. each for shelving I am not sure will work the way I want it to work. So we decided to just go on to Aldi's to do some grocery shopping.

While at Aldi's we picked up some fresh vegetables and a few other items. We didn't need much, but on the way out Bill spotted some chrome shelves that looked like the ones I wanted. The specs were exactly the same and they were on closeout sale for $30. each. I was able to get two silver and one black.

We decided to put a wall paper border at the top of the wall so I didn't need to try to paint the wall without getting paint on the ceiling tile. I can't put it up until we put up the corner trim. That won't happen until the flooring is down and the trim is painted. Wouldn't you know the weather was damp and windy so we could not work outside painting the trim. We have no place to paint it inside. I did get a second coat of paint on the walls "early Monday" morning. Then I went to bed.

Monday again the weather was windy and damp working on being cold, so Bill and I went to town to get new fluorescent tubes and a new shop light. We thought we would start the flooring in the afternoon, but that did not happen. We were both exhausted plus I was making lasagna for dinner. So now you are caught up.

Today we laid enough of the flooring so the bed could be moved on top of the new flooring. It looks nice. We only worked about 2 1/2 hours, but we were cutting in the upper part of the garage. So Dad and I did the cutting. Bill leg has been bothering him, so he just snapped the flooring in place. Here is what the flooring looks like. Not really much different in color from the plywood under it, but much easier to clean.
Notice my Quilting Square up Ruler at the side by the wall. I use it to mark the line for cutting. It is difficult to see, but there are 1/4" spacers along the wall. This flooring floats. It locks together with a tongue and groove system and is held in place with the trim.

Oh I also changed the fluorescent tube in the light that was already in the room. We still need to put the new light in, but I want to decide where every thing will be placed so the light will be in the correct place.

Peggy

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Making of a Sewing Studio


After much delay Bill and I are making progress with creating a Sewing Studio for me. This involves the transformation of the largest of the bedrooms in our area of the house. It had a carpet on the floor, but that has been removed and we are now down to the subfloor of plywood.

Exciting right! Well eventually that will be covered with a light wood laminate. But before we can lay that the walls had to be painted. The original walls were a medium color wood paneling. This is a basement room with no windows. At best it is dark and the paneling in the picture makes it even darker.
So the next step was to paint the paneling. We both hate painting. Plus painting over paneling is tricky. It is easy to not get the paint into the grooves or have the paint slid right off the panel, because of it's slick finish. So the first step was to put on a primer that is designed to use on paneling and in areas that could harbor moisture. Believe it or not that went rather quickly. I did the edges and Bill rolled on the rest of the wall. We didn't need to worry about trim, because other then the door trim that is already attached the rest will be added after the floor is in place.
So this is the results of the primer.

We painted this first thing this morning. Just that little bit of light color paint on the walls made a big difference in the room. We have overhead lights in this room, which has two 4 foot fluorescent tubes. The tubes are the soft white, so they don't offer much light. We are going to have Bill's son (He is coming Thanksgiving weekend to help.) add another light the same size plus we will change the tubes so they are the brighter, day light type tubes.

The next step for us today was to paint the walls with the main color. We bought this paint at least two years ago and it is an aqua color. I tried to stir the paint, but I must not have done a good job. When I started to so the trimming at the top of the wall the paint ran like water. I had a new roller, but was using the same brush I had used this morning. I don't think it was completely dry , but I really don't think that was the total problem. I think I just didn't get the paint mixed well. If I do something in the afternoon and things don't go well I get frustrated. I had more paint on the floor and me then on the walls. So I put my paint back in the can and stirred some more. Bill didn't seem to have trouble, but I basically was done for the day. He has his part done, but I still need to paint the top of the wall and the trim around the door. At least I have the whole weekend to get this done as Bill is taking the weekend off. Here is a picture of Bill after he was finished and had come in for being outside. The aqua color don't show up well, but it is a pretty and light color. Perfect for a background for the Sewing Studio.

Keep watching the blog for updates. It will take a long time, because we are also doing the other small room that will become our bedroom. I will be happy if we get it all done and I get the stuff sorted and in place by the end of the year.

Peggy

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Back from our Quick Trip

We are now home!
Well actually we have been back for a while, but it seems like we just returned. I guess it was because we were tired when we returned and then we had to deal with time change. I was discussing with a friend today that I was having a difficult time adjusting to the time change this fall. Normally I don't have a problem, but I did feel better when she told me she and her husband had discussed the same problem

This year I became more aware of my need to eat at a certain time. When time changed my body started giving me singles about needing something to eat, but it wasn't meal time. I can just ignore hunger, but when I start to get the feeling of relaxing from the head down, I know I am in trouble. I know it will only be about 15 minutes and I will have the shakes in my hands and my brain won't allow me to think logically. I also become very sensitive to temperatures or lack of circulation. I have a Dr's appointment next month, so this is on my list of things to discuss with her. I have thought for years I am Hypoglycemic, but she doesn't think that is the problem. She did find a thyroid problem and I am on medications for that situation.

Our trip to MO and AR was nice, but much too short. You would not believe the number of Quilt Shops we went by, but they were closed. Most of them were closed due to the day of our passing by, but also because of the hour we passed them. I don't understand why they were not open at 7am. I didn't open my shop until 10am, so I know why they were not open. Next year I hope to plan better so I can at least go to one shop.

The leaves this year are showing wonderful colors. They were trying their best to hang onto the limbs and let us enjoy their grander, but yesterday many trees just let them drift to the ground. Today is was like a shower of leaves as we were driving into town. I noticed tonight we have little piles of leaves on the deck. We will need to start pushing the lovely leaves over the hill before too much of the woods decides to land near the house. It is a pain to go out nearly everyday to remove the leaves, but if we don't they can get so deep it is difficult to even pick them up.

This is the quilt that I made for Quilting Treasure's to show off there new line of Currier & Ives Sailing fabric.
The pattern will be available soon on this
web site with the fabric being delivered to
your local quilt shop in Dec. This quilt is not hard to make and would make a prefect gift for the favorite man in your life. The first pieced border from the center panel is a variation of a block called Attic Window. I thought of the women who might be looking out to sea waiting for their husbands return home from a long voyage. I combined many of the small squares that would normally be in the blocks into rectangles. So the piecing of that border is minimal. I also used an easy to piece flying geese instead of using two half square triangles to make the points.

Get out and enjoy what is left of fall. Winter will be here before we know it...as some places have already had snow. I wonder if they were snowing leaves at the same time as they were snowing the white stuff?????? Maybe someone will let us know.

Peggy