It's been a long time.....

Hello all......It's been a long time since I have been on my blog. It's time to get back in to the groove. 

This has been a fun and busy summer. We have spent time at the lake with family and friends. We have been to New York to visit friends and we have just lounged around the pool. We built in our screened in porch so now it is a real room. LOVE IT!! I have been quilting from time to time with my good friend Karen. We are both working on 2 different block of the month quilts. Looking forward to fall and getting truly back into the quilting groove. 

A few weeks ago my friends Sari and Karen and I spent the day making Aunt Betty's spaghetti sauce. A recipe from Tim's family and very good. It was an all day experience with a bushel and a half of tomatoes we ended up with 32 quarts of sauce. I would say that was a very good haul. While we were cutting up the tomatoes and putting them in the pot Karen came up with the idea that we should freeze corn. So while the "maters" were cooking down we headed to Houser's to pick up 150 ears of corn. Yes, so in one day we made 32 quarts of sauce and about 90 bags of corn. YUMMMM!! At this very moment on my counter I have 3 one gallon jars of 16 day pickles.....I am on day 11....it's a do nothing day. 

OK this is what I really wanted to get back into this blog and tell you guys. Since I have been on Pinterest and hearing Sari talk about this new wonderful paint, I have been wanting to give it a try. It has been forever since I have painted a piece of furniture. So I knew they sold this paint at Beaver Creek Antiques.  On Wednesday went there to get me some of this paint and I was bound and determined NOT to get blue paint.....I really wanted a green. Well after standing there for about 15 minutes going through the color swatches over and over I chose "Duck Egg" guess what color that is? You will just have to wait and see.

This was going to be an outside project but it looked like it was going to rain so it ended up being a bedroom project mostly because this is a piece from my bathroom and I didn't have to move it to far. Let me start by telling you a bit about the piece. I broke one of my cardinal rules....never touch the finish of an antique piece of furnitue. Let me say that sometimes you are helping the piece. This stand had already been refinished at some point and it wasn't a very good refinish so I didn't have a problem with helping it into a piece I really liked. 

Yes I always seem to have help. Mimi was on the stand almost before I had it on the stool. With this Annie Sloan paint it says there is not prep work needed....not that I ever really did any anyway.....so I just kinda wiped it down with a damp towel and got to painting. 

First coat finished. 

As I was painting my background movie was "The Enchanted Cottage" with Robert Young & Dorothy McGuire

Two coats on and now we are just waiting on dry time. So lets talk about the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I have done a good bit of painting over the years. Walls, kitchen cabinets, woodwork and furniture. This is a really nice paint goes on smooth and dries quickly with a dry looking finish.....much like older furniture. I think I liked it.......I have already gone through the house looking for more pieces to paint. But how many pieces can I have the same color in my house? 

I really think it only took 15 minutes or less to dry....almost instantly. The next step is give the paint some ware marks with a sponge sander. 

After I was satisfied with the ware marks I had done it was time to really give it the aged look. Annie Sloan sells paste waxes, a Clear and a Dark. I only bought the dark because I wanted to really age the paint BUT I did not realize that on the can it says to put a coat of clear on first before applying the dark. So on the back of the piece I tried the dark wax alone......it did come off as any wax would but it was a little draggy which was not going to work out so well on an entire piece. I knew I had some Minwax Paste somewhere but when I opened the can it was also dark. 

So again I gave it a try on the back. The Minwax went like a dream and came right off just as easily and gave me the look I was hoping for. So I put the Minwax on in small areas with fine steel wool and wiped it off with an old T shirt until I had done the entire piece.

In about 3 hours the piece was complete and back in its place. 

I love it.......I keep walking in to my bathroom just to look at it. So glad Sari and Pinterest inspired me to get back into painting furniture. One more thought about the paint. I really liked it but it is a little on the pricey side. Not really sure it is that much different then if you used flat paint BUT with that being said I LOVE the color choices and I think I am likely to buy more as I find things I want to paint. I hope I have inspired some of you to do some furniture painting on your own. 

I have really enjoyed sitting here and writing this blog........I hope to keep it up once again. After all I have pickles on the counter. 

As Always, 
Lori

California Here I Come........

Whew what a whirlwind few weeks for me. I left for sunny southern California on Wednesday the 21st. Left BWI at 8:30ish AM and landed at LAX at 12:00 PM. First thing I noticed is that there was NO sun. From what I understand it is always sunny in CA except apparently when I go visit my cousin Cindy.

Our first adventure was to head up the PCH (local speak for the Pacific Coast Highway) to Santa Monica Pier. Which is the end of the famous Route 66.

After a walk on the pier we head back to PCH and found a place at the beach for a bite to eat. Had a wonderful lobster taco and headed off to find more fun stuff things to see. We headed towards Long Beach where Cindy lives. While driving on PCH we found The Adamson House museum.

This is an outside tub they used for dog washing. I bet a few human baths were taken there too!

The family had a tile factory during the early part of the depression BUT was never able to make it through. What beautiful tiles.

After leaving The Adamson House we headed towards Long Beach and Cindy's home. For a good nights sleep.

Day 2 we went looking for stars in Hollywood and oh still no sun......well at least for the first part of the day. We scheduled a tour at Paramount Studio for 1:00 so upon arriving in Hollywood around 10:30 we drove on Hollywood Blvd. for some star watching. None were found that we know of.

After rethinking Hollywood Blvd. and realizing that stars are not going to just be walking down that Blvd. we decided to head to Hollywood Forever Cemetery. This was a beautiful cemetery where all kinds of stars were buried. We saw the graves of Douglas Fairbanks, Hattie McDaniel, Cecil B. DeMill, Alfred Hitchcock and Don Adams. We know Marilyn Monroe was there but could not find her.

Tour time.

The tour of the studio was truly a highlight of my trip. We had a great tour guide that was fun and full of information. The tour actually took about 3 hours and was done but riding in a large golf cart and a bit of walking. We stopped to see the Lucy and Desi studios/complex. They had a entire section where their shows and movies were filmed. We were able to visit the actually set of the show "Community" staring Chevy Chase. The actors were not there but we did get to see them building this seasons set or adding to this set. Also learned a little secret for this season.......although I have not seen the show it was a lot of fun. Next we headed to the New York street set. It really did look like a New York street.......although not as large. There was one memorable picture I took on the New York street.

Marble Rye anyone?

This was one of the best tours of anything I have ever taken. I highly recommend if you get to Hollywood the Paramount studio tour.

Day 3 we were back in Hollywood for the bus tour. This is a great way to see any big city. I have taken these tours in Boston, New York and now Hollywood. You get to see so much on these tours and gives you a great overview of things to do it lasted 2 hours. We arrived back to the starting point and got off the bus and started walking down the walk of stars.

Heading towards Gruamen's Chinese Theater to see the foot and hand prints.

Then we wanted a little down time so we decided to hang with a few friends and relax.

Tired of hanging with our friends we headed to the hills to see the Hollywood sign. Cindy and a few friends had found a way to get close to the sign by going through a neighborhood.......NOT were tourist were supposed to be. But we found it again.

What a beautiful view of the sign.

We got a chance to visit Will Rogers home where a polo tournament was being played.

Polo on the Will Rogers estate

Will's home

On my last day we heading south on PCH going to San Juan Capistrano Mission. This was also a beautiful tour.

In 1812 during a mass there was an earthquake causing the mission to crumble and killing 40 people. The mission was never rebuilt in its original location but to the side leaving the crumbled church as a memorial.

We headed up the coast going towards LAX stopping along the way in a few towns Laguna Beach, Seal Beach and again in Long Beach. The vacation was was winding down and my flight was leaving on time at 11:59 PM. Good bye Cindy and California. This was a great fun trip.

As Always, Lori

New and Exciting

Short and Sweet.......

Finally got COMMENTS to work so you can now comment on the blog.

Hoooooray!!!! Well maybe some of them I might not like so much but we'll see.

As Always, Lori

2nd Place

I can hardly believe it.......I received a Red 2nd Place Ribbon and 15 bucks at the Maryland State Fair for the category my quilt was entered in. Along with the ribbon you receive a copy of the judging sheet and on the bottom of the sheet was a hand written comment. REMARKABLE REPRODUCTION QUILT!!!! The comment to me is worth MORE then the ribbon or the 15 bucks. My goal with this quilt was to create a quilt for my bed just like a quilt from the 1830 or 40's. I guess I did it.

I am so glad that it is not raining.......I AM SO OVER RAIN!!!! What a dreary 2 weeks we have had. I felt like I wanted to curl up on the sofa and sleep. But I have no time for that lots of things going on. Fall cleaning has begun and just general life. On top of all that on Wednesday my dryer decided to die on me.  Any other time this would not be a big deal because I usually hang my clothes out in the summer time BUT with all the rain that could not be done. So out comes the drying rack.......one was not enough so another was purchased......still not enough so out came the hangers. Good thing we have lots of doors to hang the hangers on the moulding. Finally today I have the last of the laundry out on the line......the repair man does not come till Tuesday and I sure help he can fix it that day and not have to order parts or something.

With this being the weekend of 9/11 my heart is heavy and goes out to all those who lost loved ones. I know even though I do not know anyone that was lost a piece of me was taken away.

Redskins opening weekend..........GO SKINS!!!!

As Always, Lori

Little Women a Quilt

Well in my opinion "Irene" was  a complete DUD in our area. Although it was great to get all that rain so we can have our yards back to nice plush green. I do feel and pray for all those along the coast who did have great losses.......hopefully they will be able get their lives back to normal quickly.

With Tim being gone for 4 days I was able to get a lot of "me" things done. As I showed you in my last post I am starting a Little Women quilt. After reading all the instructions it was time to gathering tools and start choosing my fabric. Now it is time to get sewing.

Selections for 1st block

All the fabrics in this quilt will be reproduction fabrics. The beautiful paisley fabric in the back will be the outside borders. I just love paisley. There will be lots of fabrics in this quilt there are so many fun things to needle turn applique in each block.

Step 1 was making the background. There is a desk and a wallpaper fabric. The 2 are sewn together then cut into an octagon then a boarder. With that being finished you are ready to lay out all the piece you have cut from templates.

I did get to purchase a new toy. A bias tape maker for my flower stems. I know I will get lots of use from this little toy.

Pieces have all been laid out and with a special applique glue they have been spot glued into place.

 Let the stitching begin. With many hours of stitching I will have a finished block.

This is my progress thus far. I am SO enjoying this project it is the first time in a long time that I have been this excited about a quilt.

When the block is complete you will be the first to see.

As Always, Lori