From the sticks in the late spring to adding sheetrock, color, tile and all of those other fun features that make a house a home – it is amazing how quickly some of this happens.
I had been on pins and needles waiting for the interior paint to be applied, I was so afraid it would be drab – and I had also stepped way outside the box and chosen a dark chocolate for the doors and trim and I so wanted to see if I was going to like it – well I LOVE IT! We have chosen the same tile through-out the home on the floors. No carpet or wood, our new home is in a sand pit! Can’t wait to start landscaping!
The great room with paint and tile, prior to masonryA quick stop by the house on the way to retreat – we were able to watch them set the mantelMantel is set and they masonry continuesThe kitchen island – before masonryAnother view of the kitchen island – it is 6′ x 11′ once the granite is installedKitchen area ending at the pantry on the left and the garage/quilt studio down 2 steps to the right.And after masonry! They will be back to add corbel supportsThat island granite is VERY shiny!Another view of the island granite.Granite in the master bathThe shower tileA built in niche in the showerI love the rock columns with the cedar posts and ceiling – I think we will spend a lot of time on this back porchThe quilt studio porch with a stone column! Hind-site we might’ve made this porch bigger……
Last Thursday – Sunday I hosted a retreat for 10 fabulous women. The pattern we worked on was “Captain’s Wheel” by Judy Niemeyer. Held at the Wimberly Quilt Ranch in Wimberly, TX we found a little bit of paradise. Many of us even found time to enjoy the screened in porches and watch the deer, birds and squirrels. We were quite impressed by how much one particular squirrel could consume!
Our retreat was a HUGE success, much in part to Ronda, she was our cook and chief bottle washer. She even found some time to sew. Check out her blog for this retreat here.
This fabulous mother/daughter duo were attending their very first quilt retreat – they were so much fun! PS – they were also first time paper-piecers!As the blocks started being assembled – I started playing. The upper right is from a kit and will match the pattern cover quilt.As more blocks were assembled I had even more fun playing with the blocks! – My quilt is the multi-color in the lower left corner.Here is the gang as they jostled to take photos of the block compilation from their combined blocksA shopping trip to Valli and Kim in Dripping Springs yielded this great fabric for Jackie’s multi-color Captain’s WheelLinda shared how she makes a scalloped flange – (I am not sure I ever had there undivided attention like this!)Great demo and technique, thanks Linda!
We are just putting the final information together for our next retreat, which will be January 29, – February 1, 2015. The selected pattern is Fire Island Hosta, you can make the Wall Quilt or the Queen Size!
Hope to see you at a class or retreat in the future!
As a workshop leader for quilting classes I so enjoy watching students learn new techniques and take on projects that they never thought possible. This last set of Oh My Judy Stars students were just amazing. They did their pre-class homework, then did their in between homework and they just really had a good time.
Here are a few photos from the group, not all the students were able to attend the final class, if they send me photos of their quilts I will share in the future.
Agnes chose Amazon Star for her pattern, this quilt is 104×104 and she added an additional border to make it approx 114×114 prior to quilting.
Agnes and her husband chose the fabrics together for this quilt, I think they make a GREAT team!
Because of the size of this quilt I had to take the photos in stages. This quilt has such fabulous visual impact!The paper-pieced borders, prior to Agnes adding an additional 5″ all the way around.
The quilt below is Mariner’s Compass. Pat will be making this quilt queen size, she will be adding 4 corners to this octagon to square it up to 60×60, then she adds 4 more corners to put it on point along with a fabulous paper-pieced border that will have a white background with chocolate accents. Pat’s center wasn’t laying quite as flat as I thought it should, I was able to show her how to “spin” her seams and now it is flat flat flat. She was over the moon thrilled with learning that new tip! Pat has already made Glacier Star and it is in my studio awaiting it’s turn for quilting – will you want to see photos of that one?
Pat’s Mariner’s Compass – white background with blacks, grey’s and browns. This quilt is so elegant and rich! Can’t wait to see it done!
Sara had purchased this kit from Pinwheels and Posies, she changed up the color placement in the Lone Star center and I just love how it turned out. After a few tense moments while working through her Y seams Sara is now very pleased with her quilt – AS SHE SHOULD BE!
Sara made Summer Solstice, we all LOVE how it turned out. Her fabric placement for that outer border is FABULOUS!Here is the original from the kit – Sara’s subtle changes, the inner border in the kit is orange, Sara’s is the dark blue – and see how her fabric placement in the border changes that entire outer border?
And here is Sandy’s Summer Solstice – don’t you love the tropical feel of her colors!
Thanks Sandy! She sent me this quick photo to add to the blog – Sandy was unable to make the last class. She had actually finished her quilt top prior to the 3rd class! And we had 4 classes!
My students were doing so well in our final class that they encouraged me to pull out my project and sew – here is my Fire Island Hosta. This quilt is going to be a lot of fun to teach, new techniques that will be used in several of the upcoming patterns from Judy Niemeyer Quilting. While it may look difficult at first glance – if you read the pattern and use all of the helpful registration points this quilt will go together quite easily.
Fire Island Hosta – watch my schedule (left side of the screen) for when I will be teaching this!
And below is a teaser – I am teaching at a retreat in August in Wimberley, TX. I will be teaching the Captain’s Wheel pattern. One of our retreat attendees as been busy with her pre-class homework, here is one of Sharon D’s “Compass Rose” blocks for her quilt. Linda L and Sharon J have also been busy, they have all their fabrics cut and they have each made at least 1 Compass Rose Unit. Do you want to make this quilt? I am teaching this class at Pinwheels and Posies in Dickinson, TX – class #1 is July 30 and the 2nd class is August 13.
Sharon D’s Captain’s Wheel – she is attending the retreat in August where I am teaching this quilt! She is on the ball for pre-class homework!
Which Judy Niemeyer Quilt do you want to make? What is stopping you?
I had a very productive weekend and I had to decide which day to post about first – the house won! That just means that for you quilters out there that want to see the fabulous quilts my students had in Saturday’s workshop will have to stay tuned!
The last post I shared regarding the house was insulation related (you all weren’t too excited about that one!) When we were there last weekend they were putting up the sheet rock, we took photos but they are on hubby’s camera and he has not downloaded them yet – so you won’t be subjected to before and after photos on those.
I would like to mention how fun it was to watch the sheet rock guys work, there were 4 of them and 2 of them were a TEAM – they were hanging the upper half of the walls and the ceilings and they have the process nailed down to a science. We have ceilings that are 10′ and 11′ so the normal extenders weren’t quite enough – so what do they do? They attached those to mud buckets and added almost 2′ to their height! They worked about 5 hours while we were there and had probably 70% of the house done. they finished on Monday, then the guys that tape and float showed up for a day or so, they add the rounded corners too!
Saturday the texture team was there. We chose a texture called “Monterrey Drag”. When we showed up Sunday morning the texture was all done! They are really FAST! They use a lot of water when doing the texture so the inside of the house was pretty humid, but that did not stop me from wandering around. We also took measurements so we can start working on our closet and pantry build-outs. I have a pretty good idea what I want and to have the builder do this as all custom was going to get a little too pricey for my beer budget! Thankfully hubby is very handy and will actually enjoy doing this for our new home. We currently use some Akurum systems from Ikea in our pantry and I LOVE them! So after working around the site for a few hours we headed to Ikea to get cut-sheets for various systems they sell for closets and kitchens.
And now a tour of the house with SHEETROCK and TEXTURE!
Who is tired of seeing this view of my studio? Not ME!This is the oversize garage. I convinced hubby that he wouldn’t want to walk out to the barn every time he wanted a tool so we added this nice area for him to do smaller house projects. Go through the door and turn left and you are in the studio, or go straight up 3 stairs and you are at the pantry and entrance to the kitchen.Standing under the large arch looking across the foyer to the front door just out of view on the left. The opening in the top of the photo is for a stained glass window for the shower in the guest bathroom, I love how they framed the area below – I have lots of ideas for that space.And there is the front door and on the left is the arch for hubby’s office. Eventually we all add barn doors but we want them to be rustic so we will be on the look out for just the perfect wood!Standing at the front door looking through the great room to the french doors which lead to the back porch. Upper right of the photo is that opening for our stained glass windowStanding under the entryway arch looking into the great room, the french doors are on the left side.Standing on the other side of the arch looking into the kitchen, that curved wall will be rock on this side and the granite slab will be 5′ deep by 9′ long with a curve on the end for additional seatingThe master bedroom, the bed goes under these windows, the master bath is through the doorway to the right.This little niche will have a granite top. A custom cabinet floor/ceiling will be installed to the left of the niche and that doorway is to the master bedroom.This is part of the master closet – I am working on the layout for the drawers/hanging bars/shelves for this roomCorner guest room, one bed will go under the high windowsStill the corner guest room, a day bed will go in this little area (it used to be a closet)Middle guest room, bunk beds will go here, yep this is where the closet might have goneInside of the shower that has the stained glass windowStanding in the dining area looking into the kitchen, that wall between the arches will have a tall cabinet to the left, glass front uppers in the center and microwave and 2nd conventional oven on the right.Have I mentioned before that I just love my porch ceilings? This is the studio porch and the way the light was hitting was just too pretty to not share.
Things are moving very quickly at Cordeeaiybray and it is so exciting (and SCARY!)
May all your projects bring you happiness and satisfaction!
I have not posted for a several days – there is a funny reason for that. This is POST #100 and I was thinking it should be special……
So I may just jump around on this post and let you reflect on what is special to you……
With this electronic age and social network we are made aware of happiness in our friends lives, but we are also aware of their struggles
A young family who is told their toddler has leukemia, we live in different states now and without social media I would not have known. While this breaks my heart in many pieces for my dear friend and her family I am so grateful that I can occasionally send a note of encouragement or in my private moments shed a tear for their young family.
News of a horrific traffic accident reminds you that while you may have moved on to a different pasture in your life, you still have planted many roots along the way and I watch as my former sister-in-law (my son’s aunt) watches her son recuperate as the sole survivor of a wreck that claimed 6 other lives. While I cannot be next to her to hold her hand, I am able to now and then send notes of encouragement to her and her family.
Every day is special and hopefully we see much more happiness than we do sadness, take those great moments of sadness to reflect on your many blessings – because if you are reading this – then you did wake up this morning! And that my friends is a blessing.
As a quilter I am often tasked to help complete a project that will mark life events, such as weddings, births and often in memory of events. There is a quilt that is designed by my friend, Sue Garman. It is titled “Oh My Gosh” and it is an amazing quilt. The quilt got its name because as she worked on it during a guild quilt retreat each person that would stop by our table would remark “Oh My Gosh”. If my memory does not fail – this retreat was after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and it just seemed to me that because of Sue’s close ties to the space industry and her love of quilting this quilt was her journey through the grieving process. Another friend made her Oh My Gosh quilt as she grieved the loss of her daughter who left this world way to early.
So when I am asked to quilt one of these beautiful quilts, I not only am in awe of the incredible amount of work that goes into these quilts, I am also reminded of these special moments when we were able to share another’s grief, maybe help them carry their burden for a few moments. This beautiful quilt was made by Delores as part of a block swap with friends.
994 – 9 Patch Units – finished size 1 1/2″63 – 4″ feathered wreaths with rosette centersFeathers in the borderClose-up of the feathered wreath
Nope – no babies here. We are talking BIB’s as in insulation aka “blown in batts”. I mentioned in my post yesterday that the insulation installers were at our home on the 4th of July to install the insulation. We had upgraded from standard batts of insulation to BIB’s for our new home. This increases the R factor by some number known to my husband and we decided to spend a little more here and enjoy the savings in the years ahead. Some of you may ask why we did not choose the “spray” insulation as it also has a very high R factor. The reason for this is, IF/WHEN you have water intrusion in your home you may not have the early warning signs that would allow you to mitigate the problem quickly and efficiently AND tracing the origination of the intrusion is made very difficult with the “spray” insulation. I consider my husband the resident expert of “why” things fail and how to quickly acknowledge, track down and correct these failures I 100% back his decision. (I am charge of color and other fun stuff!) After the storms in the Luling area the last few days I am happy to know IF/WHEN we have an issue it will be easier to track down and correct.
So here are some quick photos of the insulation installation…….
This truck had to move a tree before they could begin work at our home on the 4th of July!The hose that will carry the insulation to the final destinationA very thin scrim that is stapled over the framing to hold the BIB in placeThe end of the hose punctures a small hole in the scrim and they begin to fill the bottom of the section.
Then they maneuver the nozzle and shoot the top sectionThis section was so quick I almost didn’t have time to snap the photoThe leg extenders for when they get ready to do the higher sections.Took him several times to get this chunk of concrete picked up – but he was determined.These long-legged spiders (are they banana spiders?) make REALLY BIG webs too!
A special thank you to our neighbor Lilly for inspecting the insulation on Saturday to be sure we had not had water intrusion where the roof is not quite done being shingled. She saved Corey 6 hours in the car on a Holiday Weekend Sunday!
Yes, I can still hear my mom say “Be careful what you wish for…” and this weekend our trip to Luling to check on the new home progress definitely brought this saying to mind.
As we drove down Crockett Lane towards our home we could see a big truck in the middle of our driveway – Yippee – Insulation was being installed – on the 4th of July no less….. Impressive!
As we turned into the driveway we realized there was a good-sized tree down. Immediate thought – “Dang, they hit our tree!” because it was a good-sized truck. Corey hopped out of our van to see what was up and realized a storm had taken the tree down, the insulation crew was just moving what they could out of way to pull their truck down to our home to begin their install.
Wish # 1 – we will take rain anytime we can get it (Yes – be careful what you wish for!)
Wish # 2 – a clean work site at our new home (Yes – once again – be careful what you wish for!)
Here are the photos that will explain why we should “Be Careful What We Wish For!)
This is after Corey had pushed it out of the driveway with the tractor – it doesn’t look like much but it took a couple of hours, a Stihl chainsaw and a tractor to properly take care of this guy. I would say the largest trunk area we worked with was at least 20″ across
When we were building the barn, one of the trucks delivering the materials had damaged this tree – I kind of had a feeling it wouldn’t make it through the build, but I really thought it would be a delivery truck that did it in, not a storm.
In my previous post this was all smooth and pretty!It was quite a storm they say….Looks like we will be adding rain gutters quite quickly once we move in – we had thought we could get by with limited rain gutters – probably notThis drain is the “drain to daylight” for the laundry room – we will be adding some additional piping to route possible water away from the houseBuilding a temporary drainage pathThis tree is closer to Crockett lane – there are several like this across our 6+ acresThis one is up the hill at our neighbors build site – when their driveway was put in it probably compromised the tree and it just couldn’t hold. As Lilly says “nature widened her driveway!”Lilly’s culvert! Corey had created some berms for our culvert and we are happy to report they are diverting the water as planned.Caption This! This is Lilly and Davids site – I texted this photo to her and her reply “Can’t image the mess inside the porta loo, I’ll no be looking!”And this at another neighbors – he was out-of-town for the storm – but he was loading up the pups to go get some gas for his chain saw so he could some clean upA close up of the neighbors tree – unfortunately over the years of droughts and floods our poor oaks in this area are not the healthiest.
While it is important to have wishes and dreams – we must caution ourselves to “Be careful what we wish for!”
My wish for you is your Health and A Loving Family with Special Friends that we also consider Family!
I haven’t posted much on the house recently – that’s because there has been boring stuff going on – and how many photos of my “sticks” did you really want to see? We had a scheduled meeting with our builder yesterday to do the final pre-sheetrock walk through. There are still a few framing punch list items but they should get those done today or Monday! They are now ready to do the exterior wall insulation – we are using a system called BIB – blown in batts – I may be able to post some photos of that next week!
BUT this week I get to post COLOR on the house and most exciting to me is……… they were cleaning up the site when we got there! I understand that building a house can create a mess – heck you should see my studio when I am building quilts! But every once in a while you have to stop and CLEAN UP the MESS! Because this homeowner wanted some nice photos!
Speaking of photos here they are…….
The view as you drive down the driveway. Where you see the tyvek will be Austin Stone! Travis said they will mix some of our sand in with their delivered sand to blend the house with the natural surroundings! I am also thinking I need some little accents in those gables – maybe a star?Our front porch – can’t wait to see the pretty front door! Little Toot was helping me decide how to decorate the porch when we were there Sunday! The window to the left is Corey’s office, the window to the right is a guest room.This is the west corner of our home. Our A/C units will be placed here and easy to disguise!
The color in the photo below is probably the closest to actual color – some of the others make it look too blue/green. The trim around windows and doors will be dark chocolate-brown like the roof edge and the chimney still needs to be painted. I can’t wait to see what happens when the trim paint goes on – it should change the whole look of the house!
This corner is the master suite – there is a door from the master suite to the back porch.Hubby walking past the back porch. He wanted me to take another photo with him not in the photo but I said nope – this was it!
In the photo above there are 2 small “shed” roofs over the sliding door and studio door, I thought I was going to hate them, but I had to tell hubby while they are not my favorite thing – I don’t hate them anymore! We may be adding some additional cedar trim to them to “dress” them up a little bit and we have also talked about eventually swapping the shingles on them for a metallic finish to add an accent.
The quilt room porch and garage side of the house. Still need to design the driveway and walkway to the quilt room. Looking forward to the brown trim being added. The garage doors will be green when they are installed and once we move in I will glaze them to give them a different look.
I am just so excited and cannot quit grinning! I also need to finish the quilt on the frame and then I will STOP and CLEAN UP the MESS!
Have a very safe and Happy 4th of July! How will you celebrate?
Camp DeeDee has come to an end – but we had so much fun we have two more weeks planned the summer – in July we will venture to Utah for the Green’s Family Reunion – Just the GRANDS! Grandkids and Grandparents! Daddy will be working and momma will be busy studying for her summer college courses. And in August the kids and I have been invited to San Antonio for another camp – 4 girls and 2 boys – I sure hope San Antonio is ready for this!
Little Toot and Mr. B started ice skating in March of this year. Little Toot is figure skating and Mr. B is learning Hockey. Last month the instructor approached my DIL about having Little Toot compete in late June. Grandpa said he would pay for the kids to each have their own ice skates and my son and his wife figured out the rest, including a few extra lessons for little toot! My DIL put a call out on Facebook for help with creating the sound track for the routine and within no time at all had the perfect music – perfectly edited to meet the allowed time.
Little Toot earned 2nd place out of the 4 competing and we are very proud of her! Here are a few photos of the 2 kiddos on/off the ice……
Deep thought!We picked up his skates last Tuesday – this is his first lesson on his skates!Mr. B with his coach.Little Toot with her coach – GrantPracticing in the snack bar area…..Love that girl! Momma had trouble finding a choker so she found a beautiful headband and created the perfect choker….
She is such a girly girl and loves to wear makeup. After putting her skates on she slipped and fell – getting to the ice! But like any professional knows; if you cry your makeup will smear so she looked up at the ceiling and blinked and blinked and blinked. There were tears but no smears!
Posing – she wanted me to get her whole body including shoes! Skates will be put on shortly!Such a hammmmmmmLittle Toot with her skating friend. Her friend earned 2 first place honors (different division than Little Toot!) Momma added the “bling” to Little Toot’s skating costume and also helped out a couple of other young skaters by adding their bling!The warm up before competition for basic 2 skaters….practice practice practicemore practiceSitting on the bench waiting for her turnAnd she takes the ice – I have to wonder what went through her young mind as she realized she is on the ice all by herself and in a competitionGet ready for her swigglesA little stumble – she hasn’t stumbled in her routine before – but she had a GREAT recovery – and remember she did earn 2nd place!Back on track…..And the finish….and the final pose!“Friends on the Ice” Grandpa could not resist!
I hope she continues on this path as she is really graceful and so beautiful to watch on the ice!
Good thing we have been so busy with outside activities that our inside activities have been stacking up – because yesterday it rained A L L – D A Y! While I was excited about the rain – the children were less than excited until we went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some more craft supplies.
Here are some photos from our inside adventures….
Is that make-up on the boy-child? No we are face painting!She couldn’t quit giggling while she painted brothers face!He was so patient!The “artist” with her painting!
Many of the photos below are taken by the kiddos – with my big camera – with threats of bodily harm if they got face paint on my camera! They used “live-mode” and did a very fine job with photography!
Now it was my turn to paint!And my subject!Peas in a Pod!He did enjoy this activity!And now he is the artist!A mustache and a beard and you see that dot in the middle of my forehead? A bullet hole! Great!Keep them closed!The finished product!And the “artist” with the painting! Quite a pair aren’t we?Hey – I figured out the timer! We can all be in the photo!Then we were on to apron painting!A grey apron for the boy! NO RUFFLES!Pretty cute!Love it!
We also tried painting flip flops, paint did not work so well, next time we will try markers. At least 3 washings and a shower and we have most of the face paint off!
Mr. B learned a new move in Karate yesterday – it is the Hip Throw! Lots of fun! Today I think we will tie-dye and go ice-skating!
