Sunday, July 31, 2022

Painting, one way or another

      June was the month to paint the house. Joe has done it before but this time we hired painters others on our block used.  The painters came fast and covered the house, but left as other clients signed them up, leaving many "painter holidays" which happen in every paint job. So we have been taking care of those in July. I liked the colors of paint on the Baker's historic home in Chestnut Hill and was able to find at Benjamin Moore to lift the personality of our house. We had to choose a new door color as well.  



        To go with the Benjamin Moore Aura Custom light yellow shingles and Gingersnap trim, we chose Newburyport blue and a dark chocolate accents for doors. The deck became Behr's Cordovan Brown and  Atlantic Blue. The blue was opposite on the color wheel from yellow, so it seemed a "go." Heretofore window and roof trim has been light, enlarging the house visually. But our new trim  darker than the shingles, calmed down the house, and I love it.  Unfortunately some of the thick primer lost some shingle markings. Nothing is perfect. Not all was primed or covered including the lower backs of the front porch columns. Easy to forget with the covering bushes. Also, we wanted coordinated back basement windows and door trim to go with the rest of the house. We were pretty fast making decisions/choosing colors, but some thoughts and fixes come over time. We need touchup over the back porch door and bits elsewhere.

       The real fun in painting was taking some left-over deck colors and painting tops of two old deck side tables. It was a joy greater than getting to the canvas. Same for trimming 1 1/2" the blue deck top and landing, where I used a tiny roller over a brush. Painting trim without thinking is so much fun, I just must learn that is the way to paint canvas.

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Friday, July 8, 2022

Gifting a Quilt

       When I had my first baby, I was sent a wonderful quilt that I continued to enjoy with my grandchildren. Quilts carry on and pass down through the years the loving touches sewn to connect the maker with the recipient.

        I was not a quilter, but wanted to make my first grandchild Hannah a quilt for the same reason.You want to sew/sow a connection. I made a quilt from "whole cloth" the imagery reflecting me and my hopes for fun w the grandchild. I had a sewing machine for straight stitches and felt I could tie knots to connect the back through the padding to the front. I looked up on the computer how to make a border.

         Erika received the same quilt with a changed border and background. It was with horror I wondered, "Did I make David, the third, a quilt as well?"  I couldn't imagine leaving him out. I found an old photo. His was made with two big pieces of polar fleece, the edges of which were cut and tied together. "Tie blankets" from fleece! So many color and theme choics in this cozy material. All instructions are online.







     My friend Alice came to visit, creating an over-the-top hostess gift with her quilting skills. She brought dolls for the littlel girls. The quilts we finished off together. They were a big hit with me and the children.




        Katie is always creating for her children and grands. Lately she asked for their favorite T shirts. She  pinned the blocks of images from the t-shirts onto muslin to keep them anchored while she joined them to the "lattice" between each block. She then joined each row of blocks with longer lattice pieces betwen each row and backed them with flannel instead of a light filling as I did. Very cozy!


Think about quilting some gifts for friends and you may get into sewing up some love full time!