Category: <span>General</span>

Upcycling – Completed

July 30, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

Chest of Drawers – After

So you know I have been working on getting that old dresser painted and put in my quilt room. Well it’s finally done! I still would like to change the pulls out (they aren’t my favorite) but I’m going to live with these for awhile. I think it turned out pretty well. Now I just need to get started on a new pressing board to fit the top of it.

Here is a “before” photo of the chest of drawers I was given.

Not bad for a free dresser and a little paint. 🙂 Gives me some great storage, now if I can just figure out how to fit everything into my quilting room…my spacious room is getting a tad filled up. 🙂

Happy Quilting!

Filed Under: General

A Quilting Rut…

July 26, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

Do you ever fall into those moods:

You have a zillion great quilt ideas?
Patterns you are dying to try.
Fabric you can’t wait to use?
Then you get home have 4 hours of free time and NOTHING gets done?

You my friend are in a quilting RUT!

How do I know? Cause I happen to be in one now. I literally have TONS of ideas floating around in my head, a quilt pattern I have planned out and need to start producing…but my gumption seems to have gone by the wayside.

In truth there are a few things conspiring against me, a missing piece of equipment or certain color of fabric. And because of that I feel like I can’t start ANYTHING on that project until I have all of my tools lined up in a row like a surgeon. (OCD Much?) Once I have everything I need, I normally throw myself into a project and go full bore.

Sadly, that hasn’t happened for me yet. The good news is, I’m taking a vacation soon! My in-laws gave the family a cruise to Alaska for Christmas. (really excited about it). I know what you’re thinking….Alaska has nothing to do with quilts, where are you going with this? Well we are flying in a few days before the cruise and I get to hang out with my friends from Ephrata, Washington at the Fabric Patch Quilt Retreat House!!

I LOVE watching other people quilt, the little tricks they have, things you watch, and think, that makes perfect sense, how smart, why didn’t I think of that? So I have no idea what project we’re going to work on. But I know there will be fun, laughing, and sewing. Just the little jump start I need to get me out of neutral and into drive.

I’ve also decided that I need to plugin to more classes at my LQS Pine Needles Sewing Center. They offer TONS of them, and the price is right, $60 gets you a class ticket for 3 months. Sign up for pretty much anything in that 3 month period. Many times I think a project is out of my league because of the difficulty, well that’s where the classes come in. Building my skills, and hopefully giving me a bit more quilting confidence.

So if you’re in a rut, go out to your LQS, sign up for that interesting class, Block of the Month, or upcoming retreat. Sometimes you just need that spark to put a little charge back into your quilting!

Happy Quilting!

Filed Under: General, LQS

Up-Cylcing – Update

July 21, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

So I was hoping to have this little project wrapped up by today. Well, that didn’t happen, and let me tell you why. 🙂

Chalk-Paint, after careful consideration I believe that chalk paint is NOT for me. You have to put on 2 coats, it didn’t apply as nicely as I had hoped, and after ALL of that you have to SEAL it with either wax or poly. I have ONE thing to say about that…

I mean REALLY!

I have things to sew and fabric to buy. Not to mention clothes that need washed and that kitty litter isn’t going to clean itself!

So I had to go onto to plan B. Which I will tell you was easier and would have been LESS expensive after all is said and done. I decided to use Benjamin Moore Advance paint. It’s a waterborne paint that works just like an oil-based paint. All the goodness of an oil, with the easier cleanup of a water based. I got a gallon of their “Simply White” and used my paint sprayer. It was quick and easy!! I started yesterday around 4, sprayed for about 30 minutes, then left them to dry.

I will need to touch up in some of the crevices with a small detail brush. But other than that it was REALLY easy. I just got done spray painting the hardware (can’t afford to get new pulls yet) and then I should be finished! Will give the paint more time to cure before I begin using it (They recommend 7 days).

Then I will be able to use this as my pressing table. (I will be making a custom ironing board with some leftover batting and fun fabric. Will add that tutorial in another post)

It will also give me 9 wonderful drawers for more storage! I’m kind of fanatical when it comes to making sure everything has a place, and it’s easy for me to find, etc. So this will be really nice! I’ll show you the finished project this week!

Happy Quilting!! (And Up-Cycling!)