Kitchen Progress Update

Our  kitchen remodel has been an exercise in two steps forward and one step back.

First the insurance adjuster who was handling our claim up and quit, which meant our claim was delayed.  On our third adjuster the claim was finally processed and the check just arrived.  We were pleasantly surprised and now I feel just a little bit better about the decisions we are making, but the check was issued to us and our mortgage lender.  I guess that is standard procedure. ?  Tackling that will be Monday's project.

 

We have spent quite a bit of time over the last three weeks surfing the internet looking for appliances, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, tile and wood corbels for the island.  Just a bit of trivia - one site offered over  6,000 + wall sconces . . . there are way too many choices out there!!!  I've also made more trips to Home Deport and Lowes than I care to count. When not on the computer or at HD or L, I've been packing up the kitchen ~  I am 3/4 of the way done.  One mound of 'up for grabs' on the dining room table, two boxes to give away and many more boxes of  treasures.

While I don't have much in the way of pictures to post yet, we are making steady progress and some of the purchases are starting to arrive.

The cook top was delivered - damaged.  The second one was delivered in perfect condition.  My super cool cook top vent arrived but I don't remember seeing the fan that goes with it. 

Some of the plumbing fixtures have arrived, but no sinks yet. 

My hubby has been working his tail off on his long weekends. The cabinet bases for the water damaged cabinets are made and installed and some of the old cabinets have been reinstalled.  He is rebuilding the cabinet that goes under the sink.  The new buffet cabinet is (supposedly) done and was to be delivered and installed yesterday.  It didn't come, no explanation.  (Sigh.) Hoping to see it by mid-week.  The vanity for the powder room was suppose to be here today . . . it didn't arrive.  Delivery has been delayed till the end of the month.

We found someone to stain the cabinets ~ third contact was a charm.  That was a biggie for my hubby.   AND they will paint the kitchen too! WOO WHOO! That is a biggie for me as there is still paint on the windows from the last time I painted the trim.  We actually have a scheduled date - the first part of November.  Today we  finally decided on stain colors for the cabinets . . . yes colors as in plural.  Because if there is a way to make things just a little more challenging . . . we will go that route.

The granite slabs have been delivered to the fabricator and I have samples of our slabs in my possession. 

We've found light fixtures ~ half are ordered and half we're thinking about . . . or one of us  thinks they are nice and the other one loves them!

What's left?:  Tile for the back splash and wall colors. 

Anticipated completion date ~ by Christmas.  I'm really excited  to see it all come together.  I think we are going to love it!

In celebration of all of our accomplishments I'm ditching the remodel scene  for the day and heading to the Pacific International Quilt Festival with Shelley.  It will be great to be around all that quilty stuff . . . I've been missing my sewing time. 

Jumping A Couple Seasons Ahead

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have seasonal boxes of  UFO's.  Fall is my all time favorite season and normally this time of year my sewing studio is a wash of browns, golds, oranges, and burgundys with just a little splash of green.  I'll get to those eventually but first I'm working on a cute little project to help out my daughter, Shelley at Cora's Quilts,

 

Aren't these the cutest snowmen ever? I love all of  Bird Brain Designs' Snow Happens line.  When I finish helping Shelley out, I just might have to do a few of these to add to the snowman brigade that camps out in my kitchen each winter. 

 

Kitchen Progress Report

Now that the floor is dry and the insurance company paid us a visit, it's time to get moving on the kitchen.  Having a handyman husband is a blessing and a challenge to one who lacks the virtue of patience . . . particularly when the handyman is somewhat of a perfectionist.

 

The first step ~ opening up the wall behind the frig, removing the studs,

 

 

moving the water and electrical outlet.

 

(View looking up into the wall cavity above the top of the frig)

 

 

The purpose of this?  So that the frig will be tucked in 4 1/2 to 5 inches more.  It was really ok before but someone (who shall remain nameless) will be a lot happier now.

 

Notice that little dark spot on the floor? . . . Water dripping from the new water valve (sigh). . . and that's all I'm saying about this step.

 

As happens every year in September my hubby sticks his finger in his mouth, holds his wet finger in the air and tests which way the wind is blowing or in other words asks, "So what do you want for your birthday?"  He is a sweet, sweet man who always buys something to honor me on my birthday.  This year I answered, "Please, absolutely nothing!  We will be spending a bucket of money on the kitchen."  I went about my usual Tuesday routine of being gone for most of the day.  When I asked about dinner plans, he wasn't available; "Too much to do!" he said. When I walked through the door that night, he greets me with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

He made me a temporary sink area so that I didn't have to cart dirty dishes downstairs, thru the family room to the sink in the laundry room.  He overheard me saying I was kind of over the 'Little House on the Prairie' dish washing routine and never realized how much I could miss a garbage disposal.  What a thoughtful gift (I'm not being sarcastic)!  YUP . . . He's a keeper. 

 

Notice the dish pan under the sink? Storage? NOOOOO! The garbage disposal is now leaking.  REALLY?     (Big sigh) . . .  this water leaking thing is getting old!

 

One garbage disposal added to the shopping list.

 

Today:  Fabricator is scheduling delivery of the granite.
Tomorrow:  Drawings go to our cabinet man and I'll be shopping for sinks and cook tops. 
Friday: the cabinet finishing company is coming to give us a quote.

 

Making lemonade out of lemons: I keep reminding myself if it wasn't for an little itty bitty leak, I wouldn't be getting such an awesome kitchen upgrade.

 

 

 

 

All from one little Itty Bitty Water Leak

I consider myself a fairly competent housekeeper; not white glove quality, not even Better Homes and Garden, but "cleaned regularly and lived-in tidy" most of the time.  So it still baffles me that we could have had an itty bitty water leak from either the dishwasher or from the water line to the ice maker in the frig and not noticed any water on the floor.  And apparently it had been leaking for some time!  I don't know if we will ever unravel that mystery of which appliance was leaking but my hubby is convinced it was the dishwasher - three years new.

I thought it might be kind of fun to keep a log of our kitchen remodel project. 

On Labor Day weekend we thought we were removing the 25+ year old waffling linoleum floor in preparation for hardwood floors and we found this:

and by the end of the day this:

You can't tell from the picture but the drywall is spongy and we had the sinking feeling that the damage could have seeped under the cabinets in the kitchen and who knows how far beyond that.  Our insurance company called a restoration company and we went from this to:

The ugly truth . . . all the way to the corner and check out that ugly mold on the unpainted drywall.  Before all was said and done two sets of base cabinets, the kitchen sink, dishwasher and garbage disposal were gone and I realized we were in for much much more than just replacing flooring. 

The first step to 'restoring' the kitchen is to dry the floor out.  So for the next week and a half we had a giant tent in our kitchen and several large fans roaring non-stop.

 

Finally the  fans were turned off.  After a day of cleaning, the tent came down.  Can you believe the difference?

 

I don't have any before demo pictures of the kitchen so these will have to do.

View from the island to the sink

 

View looking across island to the pass thru into the dining room.

 

 

View of what I use to think of as the torture chamber (before the frig took possession of the area)

Formerly an "L-shaped" desk used at one time as the 'homework' desk.

 

The desk has nothing to do with the leak issue.  Now that we are beyond monitoring homework, have a recently finished office and our growing family of grandchildren, that desk area was just making the dining area a little too crowded.  The desk had to go before the new floor goes in . . . do you see how this escalates into a bigger and bigger project?

 

I do love my kitchen.  Years ago when we started putting our dream house on paper my hubby asked, "So what do you want in the kitchen?"  Oh my . . . really. I admit it, I'm spoiled!

 



Next post I'll share what we've gotten accomplished since the tent came down.

 

It's Never Just a Simple Little Renovation

I love doing DIY projects.  I joke with my hubby that I'm a cheap date . . . a mocha and  visit to Lowes or Home Depot makes me a happy woman.  So being married to a handyman is a good match!  With the discovery of Houzz and Pinterest, our Renovation Bucket List was created.  After some hemming and hawing and a waffling linoleum floor in the kitchen,  a decision was made.  Our next Renovation Project  is  to  replace the flooring of the middle level of our tri-level home with hard wood floors.  YES!!!!

 

"So what do you think of this kitchen?" I was asked as an ipad was thrust under my nose.   "Nice . . . but we need to get the floor done before I can think about that" I answer.  Not deterred by my answer,  my handyman continues perusing pictures of kitchens.  "What about this? We could do this?"  "Yeah, maybe some day" I answer. 

 

We got the delivery date for the hardwood flooring material.  Right after the Labor Day Weekend . . . perfect!  We'll demo the floor over the long weekend and be ready to lay flooring by the second week September. . . OR NOT.  That waffling linoleum . . . water damage from a slow leaking dishwasher (you'd think you'd notice water sitting on the floor if the dishwasher was leaking!)  So our simple little flooring project has turned into . . . Yup a kitchen renovation.  I know a couple of months from now I'll love my house even more than I do now!

 

Guess I'll just be sewing in the Aspen Glow Quilt Along  from Cora's Quilts at my own speed.  Sigh.

 

Around the World Blog Hop

I was invited to take part in this blog hop by Shelley of Cora's Quilts.  Fairly new to quilting and even newer to blogging, I can blame attribute all my new found skills to this wonderfully talented woman.  I've known Shelley for a while now (well, actually all her life - yup I'm her mom)

So let me tell you a little about me:

I've been married for 40 years to my high school sweetheart (I know, sappy but true).  I also have two sons, three grandsons and one granddaughter.  I can't remember a time when I  haven't had at least one handiwork project that I was working on. I have wonderfully fond childhood memories of summer visits and afternoons spent sewing and crocheting with my grandmothers.   My mother taught me to knit and embroider and at soon to be 90 she is still knitting!   It was my daughter, however, who taught me much of what I know about quilting and I'm having so much fun sharing the love of this craft with her.
 

What are you working on?
I try to limit myself to three different project catagories at a time: Seasonal, Quilt Alongs/ Blocks of the Month Projects and what I call Pop-ups.

From the blogs I follow I have a sense that having a  stack of UFO's is a common quilty thing; and here I thought I was just a very undisciplined person who get bored fairly quickly.  I wise quilter once shared some wisdom about UFO's, suggesting that you purchase  5 or 6 boxes and place a UFO in each box.  The theory is that you refrain from starting a new project until you have completed a project from one of your boxes.  Well  . . . . I've tweaked that theory just a little.  I drool over those pinterest pins of crafty rooms with boxes and boxes all lined up on cutely painted shelves.  Needless to say, I've acquired more than a few boxes and bins.  Whatever season/holiday of the year we are approaching, I have a bin for it with partially finished projects.  Sometimes it takes me several years to complete something out of one of those seasonal boxes but I look at it as Quilting in the Season . . .  kind of like decoration for the holidays.  If I finish the project before the holiday/season, GREAT!  If the season passes before I finish, back in the boxes it goes till the next year.

I just might get this bound this fall!

 

I recently came across a quote that said "A bed without a quilt is like a sky without stars".  I love that!  Eventually my 'Quilt Along and Block of the Month projects' will give me a 'quilt for every bed at the Stout house.  Currently I'm working on a Spring Sampler Quilt Along featured at Cora's Quilts . I've used Vin du jour  by 3 Sisters for Moda and I'm just about ready to start sewing those block's together.  This is the first sampler I've made & I didn't think I liked samplers, but I've just loved making these blocks. Here are a couple of my favorites:

'Pop-up projects' are those quick little must do ideas that just pop-up.  It usually turns out to be quick little things that I often stay up into the wee hours of the night trying to finish up before the next day (sleeps overrated any way!)

Jamie's 1st Birthday Banner

How does your work differ from others in your Genre?

I think of myself as a novice quilter and while I have a fairly keen sense of what my genre  isn't, I'm not sure I know what my genre is yet.   I often wonder is there anything new  left that hasn't already been done in quilting?   Of the few things I have designed, I  found  similar quilt projects afterwards.  Here is one of my favorite baby quilts that I designed and made for a couple of avid Cleveland Brown fans and their little guy whose name is Teddy III

 

Maybe one way I differ from some quilters is that I tend to avoid sending my quilts off to a long arm quilter.  While I don't have a Long Arm quilting machine (yet), I feel like sending off a quilt takes away from calling it  completely 'my own' . . . weird I know . . . but the quilting of a project is just as exciting to me as choosing fabrics or quilt patterns.    No judgement on my fellow quilters, I'm all for team work. Probably just a weak attempt on my part at justifying the expense of acquiring a long arm quilting machine.

Why do you write/create what you do?

Remember those special times I mentioned spending with my grandmas as a child? Those women are long gone now but picking up my Nona's scissors or seeing Grandma Helen's notes in her quilting book or running my hands over the cherished pieces of their handiwork connects me now in some way with them.  I guess a simple, corny answer is that I create because it is part of who I am . . . it is a connection to my past and maybe a part of what I leave for those who will come after me. It brings me joy, it is calming and relaxing.  I love the whole process of coming up with an idea, finding just the right materials and gifting the finished product.

How does your writing/creative process work?

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say it is a bit primitive, not very orderly and  sadly in need of some refinement (although it's working for me now).  An idea pops into my head and I scribble a few notes, draw a few sketches, buy more fabric than I need and when it's complete I throw all the notes in a binder sleeve or file folder thinking someday I'm going to learn how to use that quilting computer program I have.

Well it's been fun answering the questions, thanks for inviting me Shelley. If you've stumbled across my blog, thanks for spending some time here. I'd love to hear your comments and check out your blog.  So please be sure to leave me the link to your blog.

 

A Me Kind of Day

It's not often that all the stars are aligned and I find myself with a 'free' day; a day without any schedules to meet. I had one of those days smack dab in the middle of last week . . . a day all to myself. I  woke up feeling  as excited as a kid on her birthday!  I made a mental list of  the 'should do's' and the 'want to do's' and decided to ignore that proverbial Jimminy Crickett on my shoulder.  Grabbing my giant travel coffee mug and a carton of yogurt I headed upstairs to my sewing room.  Oh the chaos and clutter . . . I really should put some order into this room!  But not today ~ this is the last day of uninterrupted sewing before the start of the new school year . . . I can't hear you Jimminy! Lalalala!! Flipping on some easy listening tunes & dodging the land mines, I set about my goal of finishing the three remaining blocks of  Cora's Quilts Spring Quilt Sampler.  Marking the day's end with a frosty glass of Chardonnay and a crick in my neck, only 2 1/2 blocks were done.

 

 

 

A few phone calls catching up with friends and lots of sewing . . . it's so nice to have a me kind of day every once in awhile.

Spring Sampler Quilt Along

A progress update for the Spring Sampler Quilt Along hosted by Cora's Quilts

 

Block 4

 

Block 5

 

 

Block 6

 

 

Block 7

 

 

Block 8

 

and

 

 

Block 9 (hoping that is a bad picture & not a wonky block)

 

One last block to make . . . it's going to be hard to chose a favorite one to repeat.

 

 

 

The Best of Mother's Day Gifts.

I celebrated Mother's Day last night with an impromptu get together with all my kids and grandkids! A gathering of that sort has become a rarity lately, so I always count it as a gift when we are able to get together and celebrate us. 

 

I just love the smiles on these faces!

 

And so begins the count down, again, until the next 'leave' or our next trip to the east coast.

And what better way for a girl to chase the blues away than a shopping trip.  From our return to the airport with two little ones in tow and a couple of bribes promises, we spent a fair amount of time in JoAnn's.  Then it was off to the pet store where we acquired a new frog named 'jumpie'.  The frog was a compromise because apparently our aquarium is to small to accommodate a 'sucker fish'.  All I wanted was a solution to all the green growing on the sides of our aquarium and I thought  a 'sucker fish' would be just the thing.  When I told the clerk at the pet store that, she suggested a green mossy type plant that she claimed would do the trick.   The last time I bought a live plant I ended up with a couple of very prolific snails!  Well, I could see disappointment written all over a certain four year old boy's face.  A green glob of moss that just sits at the bottom and does absolutely nothing isn't nearly as exciting as a 'sucker fish' . . . .  but a FROG is way more exciting than a 'sucker fish'.  Especially a frog that eats frozen blood worms every other day.   Did you know that you have to sign a paper when you buy a frog?   With two little ones taking off in opposite directions, I have no idea what I signed or why I needed to sign it.   Hmmmm.  Green being my least favorite color . . . I sure am hoping this pompom looking glob of moss does its magic.  If so, I'm going back to buy a truck load for our pool!

Block 3 of the Spring Sampler Quilt Along

I had a major case of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day blahs.  Moving to Australia didn't seem too realistic so decided to try and chase those blahs away with my favorite thing to do.  Ta Da!

The center came out a little wonky but I'm going to attribute that to the fact that I had a sweet little two year old trying her best to get my attention by wedging herself between me and the back of my sewing chair trying to put my hair in a 'pony'.  I'm hoping that in days to come the wonkiness will remind me of sweet things.

Block 2 of the Spring Sampler Quilt Along

Stayed up way past my bedtime last night completing Block 2.  Ignoring that little voice that said: "Stop now so you can get a decent night's sleep", I just hummed along till it was done.  It went together quickly once I got past choosing the prints. 



 





 

 

Can't wait for the release of Block 3!

 

 



Spring Sampler Quilt Along

A girlfriend  recently told me that there is type of anxiety that some people feel when their space is disorderly.  Hello . . . boy does that explain me and my recent love/hate relationship with my sewing room!  After months of neglect . . . . my sewing room  is in to such a state of disarray that I can no longer stand to be in there.   Resisting the urge to throw up my hands & walk out shutting the door behind me, I  promised myself if I could just tidy up half of the room I'd  reward myself by starting a new project.  Beginning in the farthest corner of the room with my sewing, cutting, and pressing stations, I spent several hours organizing, tossing things out,  and putting things in their place.  It actually was kind of therapeutic in a way (not therapeutic enough to finish the whole room in one sitting). 

 

So with my back to the remainder of the chaos,  my reward:

 

 In perfect timing . . .  Cora's Quilts just released their  Spring Sampler Quilt Along sponsored by Connecting Threads. 

 

Looking through my stash, I ran across a line I had forgotten that I had tucked away  Vin du jour by 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics. 

Being a relatively new quilter and a visual person, I had a hard time sorting my fabric choices into the various groups until I found the tutorial on choosing fabrics  that Cora's Quilts included with this Quilt Along. Wow, what a great help that was! 

 

 

I was surprised at how quickly I was able to completed the first block and I love the way it turned out!

 

 

I heard the instructions for the second block are posted.  I'm going to try to resist the temptation to start it until I get another part of the room in order.  Hopefully by the time I finish all of the blocks my sewing room will again be my oasis. 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Again

There hasn't been much quilting going on here the last nine months. . . but lots of good things have kept me distracted from  my sewing room: 

Probably the biggest 'thing' for me is that we went from a two family household back to  one family.  Son #1 and his family have a cute little house a few blocks away. . . After their move, it seemed like the perfect time to 'spring clean', purge and shuffle furniture around.  At the end of summer our DIL accepted a full time position which meant that Grandma went into full time grandbaby sitting.

Son #2 left for his first deployment to the middle East last summer.  I was amazed at how much time I could spend planning  themed deployment packages.  Decorating those monthly boxes, shopping and mailing them off . . . not to mention emails (sometimes daily) helped to pass the time till his return.

 Before I knew it,  the holidays were here.  We had a bad flu season this year . . . love those preschool germs!  Quarterly visits from Mom and Sis.

Then there is our never ending honey-do/remodel list . . . nothing like having a personal contractor to share coffee with each weekend morning and brainstorm about remodeling ideas.  His ideas are always much greater than mine.  We finally got that new roof put on.  And new trim and gutter covers.  Ya see what I mean?

Next was our daughter & her family's move a few blocks away . . . Now that is Trouble with a capital T.  Playtime with the grandbabies AND shopping at a quilt store all in one stop . . . just around the corner from home.  I'm in heaven.  Check it out at Cora's Quilts.

For the first time in a long long time it's back to just the two of us. How do you adjust to being empty nesters?  New Furniture seemed the perfect way to me. What started as a trip to the furniture store for a TV stand for the guest bedroom Mom sleeps in turned into the mother lode.  Well ok, not exactly the mother lode, a living room full and a media chest and chair for the guest bedroom.  For a while there every week when hubby came home from his business travels there was some new item added to the living room.  It was a fun little game to see how long it took him to notice!  All that's left are the window valances.  I'm itching to get started on those.

Now that winter is over, Son #2 is back from the middle East, and it feels like the dust is beginning to settle,  I just can't wait to get back into my sewing room! I've got several projects lined up that I'll share real soon.

In the mean time here are a few of my favorite pics from the East Coast 'homecoming':

USS Harry S. Truman pulling into the pier at the Norfolk Naval Base

 

Manning the Rails

THERE HE IS!

The Best Part of Being There.

Proud Dad

 

 

 

 

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