What I've Been Up To

I've been plugging away at some projects and I'm quite pleased with what I've accomplished in the past few months. 

I started this dresser make over about 4 years ago.  When I got pregnant with Jane, I put it on hold and took far too long to get back to it.  This dresser was one that me and my sisters used when we were little.  My parents gave it to us for Mark to use when he was born.  It has been yellow, white, red and brown before I got super brave and painted it purple!  It is such a relief to have this project finished!  I don't feel a twinge of guilt when I pull in to the garage and see this sitting and waiting for some love!

 

before

 

after

I don't remember if I posted this dresser yet, so I'm doing it now.  This one was in the trash at my neighbors house and I rescued it.  This project was one where the piece 'spoke' to me to change the direction was I was going with it.  I really like how it turned out and I'm glad that I was able to transform it into a new life.  I now have room for most of my fabric.  Can you believe that within these two dressers I am storing about 100 yards of fabric?!  I've got to get busy with my sewing machine before I can buy more fabric! (In my defense, some of this fabric has been passed down to me from my mom.  The fabrics are old- like she made her maternity wardrobe out of some of these fabrics old, so I have come about this fabric honestly!)

before

 

after

The entryway of my house needed to be fixed.  I had grand ideas of decorating the shelves on top of the coat rack, but it was more work and bother than I wanted to give to it.  The shelves started to host odds and ends and it was driving me crazy.  We are "surface abusers" here in this house, so I needed to alter the surfaces that were available.  I sold the shelf and shoe holder and headed to Lowe's to get a few supplies.

before

 I was going to clean out this area and make it look good for the picture, but then I realized that it wouldn't be a real 'before' picture, so I'm giving the before and after with no editing- just keeping it real! 

 

after

 I installed some crown molding and a chair rail that I put some coat hooks on.  The week that I did this was freezing outside, so I turned the living room into my work room because the thought of working in the 10 degree garage wasn't fun. I made the cuts in the garage and did the painting inside.  I am so thankful that I can purchase low odor paint!  I still want to style the shelves on the top, but for now I'm good with what is up there!  I sprained my ankle the evening that I finished this project.  It was a good thing that it was done and that I had everything put away because I wouldn't have been able to work on it for a while! 

 

Our house has a coat closet, but it is in the dining room. The bottom of it is angled because it is above the stairs. Since it wasn't right next to the front or the garage door, it wasn't being used much.  I put the same coat holder system in the laundry room (that is right off of the garage) so we now have plenty of places to put our coats.  I took the coat closet and changed it into a pantry/storage area for kitchen appliances and large dishes.  That coat closet was housing a lot of odds and ends that I had forgotten about!  I put the music books and beads in my bedroom closet and sent a lot of things to the thrift store. 

before

after

 It has been so nice to have a place for the cookie sheets to go where I don't' have to stack them and dig them out when I need them.  My kitchen cupboards feel so spacious now!

 

Last January I bought a new sewing machine.  It has a lot of bells and whistles and I have been kind of intimidated to use it.  My friend and I started to make wall quilts for each month.  I started February's quilt last year, but didn't finish in time for February, so instead of finishing it, I put it away.  This year I decided that I couldn't put the December quilt away (I haven't made the January one yet) until the February one is ready to hang.  This was my first adventure with free-motion quilting on my home machine.  It was a bit of trial and error to get things working right, but I pushed through the problems (taking a 24 hour break because I was getting really close to saying some really bad words) and I figured things out.  I am very pleased with how this quilt turned out.  Hurray for me!  I got it done and I officially put Christmas away last night! 

 

 

 

 I'm in the middle of a few other projects and I'm hoping to have them done in the next few weeks.  It feels so good to have these projects crossed off of my to-do list and it feels even better to be enjoy the finished products!