Painting, staining and repeating

I've spent a good part of the last five days staining and painting. Early in the mornings before it gets to hot I've been staining all the exposed wood on the new front porch and since it needs at least two coats I've also been repeating the process the following day. The first day I ran out of stain part way through the first coat and had to stop until my husband brought more home.  Then as the day gets hotter I move into Studio B where the railing boards are being painted before they are put in place. My ten foot long table sure is handy!

My garden which has produced an abundance of tomatoes in the past few years is looking quite dismal this year. The only things growing really well are the sunflowers that I don't plant, but have a jungle of every year and the coleus that I put in the barrel by Studio B.

I have done a bit of sewing on my new Bernina, but nothing major yet. It's taking me awhile to get used to some of it's features, like pressing a button to lower the presser foot, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

Daily project update
365 Red Circles #207 - #212

Indigo and Rust  #135 - # 140

Week #31

Now linked to "Off the Wall Fridays"

Fractured Mono Prints #2

I've gotten the label and sleeve on the latest mono print piece so it is officially finished.

Fractured Mono Prints #2

73 1/2 " x 37"

Linda McLaughlin

2013

A close up.

Fractured Mono prints #1 and #2

I still have more  prints left so this could become a series.

In other news - my new Bernina has finally arrived and I will be going into Boise tomorrow to pick it up. Of course getting another machine is creating a space problem, or maybe it's just an organizing problem. 

 I want to be able to have both the Bernina and the old Janome set up at the same time. I have my old Bernina 1230 set up out in Studio B. I have a wonderful table that the Janome fits into, I want the Bernina to be in that spot. I think it will fit with some modification to the inserts in the table top.

Then I want to put the Janome in the very cluttered spot to the left of the table.

You can't see them because they are in the left corner under the piles, but there is a serger and a needle felting machine also in this spot. This picture might explain why they never get used. Also in this space is where I keep the plastic boxes that hold my daily,weekly and monthly project supplies, plus a bunch of other stuff. I'm getting my handy husband involved to get a longer piece of plywood so that it extends all the way to the sewing table and it will have legs like an actual table, not a board on two file cabinets. That means I have to find a place for the file cabinets and all the stuff. I'm hopeful that I'll soon be able to show a neater space with machines ready to use.

Daily project updates

365 Red Circles #199 - #206

Indigo and Rust #127 - #134

 Weekly project #30

Now linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

Apricots, a quilt done, parts for another and daily stitching

While many in the area are lamenting the lack of fruit due to a late frost, our apricot tree is producing a bumper crop. They are larger than what we usually get and taste wonderful.

We have eaten way more than our share and have given away five basketfuls already and there's plenty more on the tree.

I have the quilting done on the cutup mono print piece, just need to add the sleeve and label. Here's a look at the quilting.

In August I'll be going on another girls week up north with some friends so I've been getting parts ready for a quilt I'll assemble while we're at the cabin.

The photo doesn't show it but all the fabric is a woven metallic (except for the teal hand dye). I've had them in my stash for many years and I think they've finally aged enough for me to use them.

The front porch is progressing slowly, Don likes to stretch his projects out. We did buy a couple of chairs and a table and have been enjoying evenings in the shade.

Daily stitching projects, there are two photos each since I took pictures earlier in the week but never got around to doing a blog post.

365 Red Circles #191 - # 198

Indigo and rust #119 - #126

Week #28 & #29

Now linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

Porch and daily stitching progress

The contractor has finished his part of our front porch, now the rest of it is up to us. That means the stain, trim, skirting and railing. We spent some time at Home Depot today and bought the stain and discussed other options. The skirting and spindles will be out of leftover materials from out last deck project in our back yard. Don will do those, so it may be awhile before there is a finished photo.

Today I sewed the 10th row of red circles together, only nine more rows to go! The rest will be a mirror image of this.

365 Red Circles #187 - #190

Indigo and Rust #115 - #118

Monthly Notions - July

This post is now linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

New construction, both on the house and artwork

New construction has been taking place this week. First - our house is getting a front porch! When we were looking for a house eight years ago, we almost didn't even look at the inside of this house because the front was quite unappealing. I'm glad we did because the inside had the space we were looking for and with the remodeling we've done over the years has become a place we love. So this summer we are taking care of the front of the house. At some point in it's past our house was a duplex, so we have two front doors. I forgot to take a before picture but in the picture below that was taken early the second morning of work you can see them both.

The door on the right is never used, but we need to keep it there because it's the only way we can get furniture or anything large in and out of the part of the house. That part of the house is Studio A where I do all my sewing. My large ironing table is in front of the door and my sewing table is in front of the window.The porch will have only one stair access and that will be for  the front door. If necessary in the future another set of stairs can be added to the right side.
This is how it looked after a couple of days work.

Still a bit of work to do, but I'm already loving it.

The second construction is with fabric, much easier to work with. I had decided to use up all the small parts and scraps leftover from the queen size commission quilt I did earlier this year. I had sewn them together with plans to make a donation quilt, knew that it would need to be wider but was done for the day and hung it on my design wall and fell in love with it. I like it just the way it is and am surprised at how it turned out especially since I had given no thought at all to design, I was just sewing together pieces.

Of course I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I guess it can go in the pile with the rest of my quilts.

Daily projects: 365 Red Circles #181 - #186 (over half way through the year!)

Indigo and Rust #109 - #114

Weekly #27