Renovations

It's been about 3 months since we started the renovations on the kitchen, master bedroom, master bathroom, hallway and hallway bath. We are getting close to the finish now.  The layout of the kitchen did not change all that much. However, with almost everything new (from the tile floor to the lights) it is very much like a new kitchen. Now that I am able to get into the kitchen I am enjoying the 5 burner gas cooktop, the pot filler faucet over the range,the new cabinets, the second vegetable prep sink at the end of the kitchen and the touch-on, touch-off faucet over the main kitchen sink. Linda Mason and I did the floor tile and the backsplash tile. The slate floor tile is the same slate as we put on the steps from the family room so it just continues between the two rooms.

The onyx on the backsplash coordinates with the onyx on the fireplace in the family room.

There was lots more tile in the two bathrooms. By taking space that was the linen closet and part of the hallway I was able to get a new larger master bathroom with a walk in closet. This shower was fun to design and create with the slate up the middle and travertine on either side. The floor of the shower is slate mosaic. The rainhead shower is mounted from the ceiling and there is a hand-held on the wall. The glass wall that will go half way across the shower is scheduled to get installed this week - and then I will be able to use the shower.  I am getting a half glass wall - and no door in a track that will collect water and dirt. The shower is large enough that there is no need for a door.

The backsplash for the vanity is the same slate as used in the shower. The sink is onyx so carries through from the kitchen backsplash and fireplace in the family room. I am also enjoying the cool lights (which are also in the kitchen)

Here is where Linda and I and put down the wires for the heated floor in the master bath. It won't be long until those warm floors will feel great in the winter.

Once the new shower is operational Riverside Construction will tear out the shower surround above the bathtub in the hallway bath and prep the area for tile. Then more tile work for Linda and me in that bathroom. At that time I'll post pictures of the rest of that room.

Quilting Update

I currently have some pieces in the Tippecanoe Arts Federation ArtMix exhibit.  ArtMix is a collection of pieces from a number of local artists - so it is a lot of fun with everything from pottery to woodwork to painting to quilting.  This was my first time to have anything for sale - and some pieces have sold.

The first thing to sell was this iPad case. I structured the pattern for it off of the iPad case that Lauren made for me when she and Teri were visiting for Spring Break. Right after this one sold I was visiting with one of the other Board Members of TAF and when she indicated that she would like a Black and Gold iPad case (she works in Development at Purdue so it makes sense) I agreed to make her another one - so that is 2 sales!

Here is the iPad case that Lauren made for me. We started out that she was going to make me a small case for my cell phone - but when she found this wonderful rose fabric we had to make something larger to show off the design so and iPad case it was.

The next piece to sell was this wall hanging titled "Wine Explosion." The fabrics are all ones that I had dyed.

This one is from a whole cloth - again hand dyed. As I stitched it the butterfly design emerged on it.

This one is larger - it is a lap quilt size. The fabrics are all hand dyed. I had 2 spirals that I cut apart and alternated the pieces to create the dynamic effect. I really like these colors so if this quilt does not sell I will be pleased to keep it for myself.

Two more quilts:

This quilt is one that I started in June 2010 during the Ricky Tims Retreat to show the rest of the group how to make this easy and stunning pattern. We have decided that it will be shared amongst the members of the group that were in La Veta last summer and so now that it is finished I sent it to Julie in Colorado to be the first person to enjoy it.

This quilt will be a signature quilt for Purdue President France Cordova.  Monday is the final Purdue Senate meeting that she will be at and I will present her with the quilt then. I will then pass it around to have all of the senator sign on the yellow strips. Then once I have the signatures I will quilt it.  I am always pleased how the shading of gold to black is so effective.

More On Renovations

The last couple of weekends have been devoted to tiling. The steps from the family room to the rest of the house are being tiled with this slate. I really like all of the different colors that come out in the slate - and I understand that once I put the finishing seal on these the colors will be even more spectacular. The slate also coordinates really well with the hardwood floors.

The tile for the fireplace is this onyx. I now have the tile on the two sides done. I am deciding whether I stop half way up (which goes to just he mantle on the front) or go all the way up the ceiling.  It sure is neat when the sun shines in on it.

Catching up on Quilting

I have been having a lot of fun catching up on quilting that I couldn't do when the house was being renovated. These quilts are for people from work who retired or moved to other jobs.  Here is the one for Jane Anderson who left the Ag Econ department for the Consumer Sciences and Retailing Department. I started this quilt (with the paper piecing of the blocks) last summer during a quilt camp at Camp Tecumseh. I finished sewing the blocks together and putting the border on during the quilt retreat at Ricky Tims in June. Since I wanted to do something different with the quilting on this one I didn't get a chance to quilt it until last weekend. It is rather fun to pick up a project like this and bring it to conclusion - especially when it turns out as pretty as this one.

I designed a stitching pattern for each of the diamonds. I had the stitching pattern drawn out and working from the front of the machine I lined up each diamond individually and followed the pattern with the laser light. It worked out very well.  For the white/cream stars I did meandering - which ended up with the effect the the stars are receding away from the diamonds - an effect that I rather like.  Of course, with flannel on the back the quilting design shows up very nicely.

Here is the quilt for Marsha Slopsema. I used the "Simple Feather Meandering" pantograph by Linda Taylor for the quilting - which creates a nice overall quilting design. This was the first quilt that I quilted in December once the long arm got moved to the new quilt studio. In fact I was quilting it on the Saturday morning when the fireplace guy came to hook up the fireplace.

This is the retirement quilt for Harlan Day. I had pieced the top for this quilt (King's Ransom pattern) in September before the renovations started. In this case we had people sign the top of the quilt during the retirement party. That worked out very well as there were many people who came to the retirement party that were from outside the department so we got a nice mix of signatures at the retirement part. I quilted it since coming back from Saskatchewan on New Years. I really like the border fabric in this quilt - it was fabric that I found at Paducah this past April - and now I am wishing I would have bought more of it (as I am now out of it). It sure did provide a nice finish on the border for Purdue quilts!

I used the "FRPPANTO205 FERNS" pantograph by Barbara Becker for the quilting on this one. It was the first time I had used that pantograph and was very pleased with the overall quilting design that it provided.

This top is ready to collect the signatures on. This quilt will be for Bruce Erickson who left our department for a position with the American Society of Agronomy. I had the right size pieces of fabric so used the King's Ransom pattern for this quilt as well.

This top is also ready to collect the signatures on. It is for George Patrick who officially retired December 31, 2012.  His retirement party is on February 23 - so I will get the signatures and then get it quilted before the party. This pattern is my own design. I am going to have people sign in the gold border as I want to keep the center design as it is (without signature). My hope is that the gold border will look like a gold with black design border once the signatures on on it - it is rather bright right now - but with lots of signatures in black it should work out well.