My new sewing table!

Well, I haven't posted any progress on my updated sewing room since August. The next step was to start on the sewing table, but it took a little while for my husband to decide just how he was going to make it. He's used to working with iron, not wood, so he really wanted to do some research and to think it through before starting. And I'm so glad he took his time ... it turned out fabulous! He found a piece of wood that has the most amazing grain ... it looks like a topographical map ... love it! First, he cut it to size and then worked on the hole for the machine (that took some time to plan right ... darn machine has sloped sides and he wanted it to fit as close as possible ... thank goodness for scrap wood LOL!) Then it was time for the fun part ... color! We tried a water-based stain (in my favorite color, green, of course!) that did not work very well the way the instructions said to do it. After a couple layers of the stain and then a layer of the polyacrylic, my husband did not like it and actually took it back outside and sanded it down again to start over. Yikes! Talk about a happy camper ... NOT! The second time around, we did it our own way and it turned out much better.

Then came the crucial part ... making an acrylic piece to fit. It was a bit tricky since the machine has areas that slant in a bit. But he did such a wonderful job there, too ... after much walking up and down the stairs for fittings and trimmings, it's done! We're both so pleased with how it turned out ... we keep catching the other taking another peek at it LOL!

Now to find time to actually sew!!!

Booking through Thursday 10/26/06

Booking Through Thursday
Christine wants to know...

1. Do you make notes in books as you read them? Very rarely.


2. Why or why not? Most often, the books I read are library books, so they're not mine to write in. Also, most of them are fiction which I read for pleasure and not for note-taking. If I ever want do find myself wanting to take notes, I usually jot them down in a spiral notebook instead.


3. If you do, do you make notes only in certain kinds of books or all of them? The few times that I have taken notes in a book, it was making notations on recipes in cookbooks ... if I change ingredients and like the results, I'll jot it down so I won't forget. The only other time in recent history that I've written in a book was when I was going through one of my homeschool books and the author mentioned various resources to use in planning unit studies ... I went through the library catalog and jotted down the call numbers for those books so that I can find them easily without having to look them up every time.

Booking through Thursday 10/19/06

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you read in bed? For how long? Do you fall asleep reading? Will a good book keep you up all night? Occasionally, but not too often because usually my husband is in bed first since he gets up very early for work. As for how long, it's hard to say, but it's usually longer than I tell myself I will LOL! I rarely fall asleep reading ... usually only when I'm not feeling well. And, yes, a good book has kept me up until the wee hours of the morning.
   


2. Where do you keep your nighttime reading? Do you have a special table next to the bed? Are there many books there? Do you keep books there that you aren't reading (finished or unread)? My nighttime reading is usually the same book I'm reading off and on during the day, in which case I grab it from it's last location and bring it in to read. Then I just leave it on my nightstand until sometime the next day when I've got time to read some more (usually while the kids are playing outside after our schoolwork is done). As for other books on my nightstand, I don't keep any unread or finished books there ... they go back on the shelf when done.
   

Booking through Thursday 10/12/06

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you read short stories? Yes.


2. Why or why not? Like I said in an earlier BTT post, I read just about anything so if I come across some short stories, I'll read them, too!
   


3. What do you like and dislike about short stories? I like being able to read through the whole thing quickly to find out how it ends, but if I enjoy the characters very much, I sometimes don't like that it ended so soon. Hmmm ... does that make sense?

Calendar journal -- September

Oops, almost forgot to upload my September calendar:For this spread, after putting down the post-it notes, I pounced a brown ink pad all over, then used a spiral rubber stamp randomly in a dark green. I used a metallic gold pen for the lettering and also added little dots around the page for a little added something.

Booking through Thursday 10/5/06

Oh, dear, I'm late LOL!

Booking Through Thursday

1. Tell us about a book that you had to read, but didn't want to, but that you ended up liking. Something for school, perhaps? A book from your Mom for Christmas that she insisted on you reading? Something from a bookclub? But ultimately, a book that--against all expectation--you ended up liking, respecting, loving.... And, of course, why? What made this book resonate with you? Hmmm ... that's a tough one ... I can't think of any books that I didn't want to read but ended up enjoying ... I'm sure that must have happened to me at least once, but I just can't think of one. But ... I sure can think of several I was dying to read and ended up hating LOL!

Quilt show results

Well, my guild's quilt show was this weekend and the quilts were fabulous! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera!!! Ooh, I was so mad at myself for that ... especially because I got 2 ribbons and couldn't take pictures of the quilts hanging with their ribbons ... aaargh! But I took a pic of one of the ribbons as soon as I got home. I got two of these 2nd place ribbons for the first two quilts pictured in this previous post. It was wonderful to find the ribbons attached to the quilts ... of all the quilts I entered, these two are the most special to me personally. Actually, my 8yo daughter found them first and came running, saying, "Mom, Mom, you got ribbons!!" Made it even more exciting LOL!!

As soon as I got home, I pulled out all the comments I got from the judges ... this was the first time I'd had my quilts judged in any way, so I was very curious as to what kinds of comments my quilts would receive. Overall, the comments were very positive. The only "areas of improvement" were that I need to work on my machine quilting stitch length and on thread tension. Stuff I already knew LOL! But it was nice to see that those were the only problems. I got nice comments on color, quilting designs and overall workmanship. Yay!!

I saw so many wonderful things at the show and now I'm inspired to go make something. I can't wait for my husband to finish my sewing table so that I can get my sewing machine out again. I miss it!!