Say Say, Samkin and Lilypop

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Teeny, Tiny Spaces--More from Houzz

Traditional Kitchen by Brooklyn Design-Build Firms Grant Davis Thompson, INC.

I like this one because it is so open and modern.

Modern Kitchen by Melbourne Design-Build Firms Born Builders

I don't really care for the floor.

Modern Kitchen by Melbourne Design-Build Firms Born Builders

Beautiful Backyards from HOUZZ

Contemporary Landscape by Encinitas Landscape Architects & Designers debora carl landscape design

Contemporary Landscape by Seattle Landscape Architects & Designers Banyon Tree Design Studio

Mediterranean Landscape by Santa Barbara Landscape Architects & Designers Pat Brodie Landscape Design

Eclectic Deck by Thornhill Interior Designers & Decorators Avalon Interiors

Modern Landscape by Houston Architects & Designers Allen Bianchi

Rustic Exterior by San Francisco Architects & Designers 450 Architects, Inc.

Asian Landscape by Santa Barbara Landscape Architects & Designers Charles McClure - Professional Site Planning

Modern Landscape by Austin General Contractors Texas Construction Company

Contemporary Landscape by San Francisco Landscape Architects & Designers Randy Thueme Design Inc. - Landscape Architecture

Saturday, August 3, 2013

No Matchy, Matchy Here.

I see some folks organize their stuff and everything matches perfectly--same color and brand of containers; labels color coordinated; identical fonts and sizes on the print. I aspire, but I fall short. I'm just OCD enough to want to get organized, but to ADD to pull off a coordinating coup. The following are the dog stuff, little garden stuff and tools and stuff in containers from Big Lots, Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, Good Will and stuff I had for ages.

This is the big blue trashcan for storing dog biscuits for the 4 dogs. They like to stand beside it and bark demandingly and stare at me when I walk by. Then we have the little tin for training treats and one for cat treats for the neighbors' kittens.

These are bins on the tool cart.

Here's the tool cart all nice and tidy. I had six hammers. Go figure. I also have umpteen screwdrivers.

This is inside the little garden things cabinets. The big stuff is in the garage.

This is inside the dogs' cabinet.

I hope I have enough energy to finish up the rest of the house. Who can say how long it will stay tidy? But for now I feel terribly competent and mature.

Organizing Frenzy and Labeling, Too!

This is all my home office stuff, sorted, labeled and put away.

This is the refrigerator after being cleaned, sorted and partially labeled. I have to figure out what to use on the plastic door barriers so I can label them and the moisture won't make it peel off. We used 2 blue bins from Big Lots $3.50 each. At Target we got the Acrylic can dispenser (Fridge Binz ridiculously priced at $12.95), the pull out gray bin (another ridiculous $5) and the white bin ($3). The refrigerator design is a nightmare and very poorly laid out. I wasn't thinking straight when I bought it. I was sucked in by the freezer on the bottom. That seemed so special at the time and took me back Aunt Bob's house with her freezer on the bottom fridge. I really wanted a Smeg model fridge, but sadly they are mostly in Europe and too expensive over here.

The pantry was where it all got started because every time I opened the door stuff fell out and no one knew where to put stuff back after they took it out except me. So I printed little labels and covered them with mailing table to laminate them on the cheap and used a gluestick to attach them to the shelves.

The bottom shelf still needs some work. I'd originally planned to put the recycling bins there, but that was a bad idea. They get too full, too quick and overflow and look messy. So I need to add one more shelf there.

What Happens When Civil War Bride Quilts Go Bad....

I meant to follow the pattern. I swear I did. After all, I paid $40 for it and had it shipped from Australia. I read the blog dedicated solely to those making the quilt and watched with lust in my heart as they completed block after block and then finally the border and the whole quilt. I loved the story behind the quilt, the speculation, the mystery, and I loved the way the quilt itself looked. Even though I didn't much care for all that hand appliqueing, I thought I might like it if each block was something different. I like scrap quilts with all their variety and energy.

When I received my pattern, I didn't start work on it right away, but waited until I felt the mood to tackle such an ambitious undertaking. I thought about it carefully and one day decided I would make it for my 12 year old daughter's wedding quilt in case I am not around. That was my motivation.

So I set to work on the peacock block because that one seemed interesting. Then I went on to make the two birds with the eggs in the nest. I still have embroidery to do for beaks and top knots but suddenly I thought, "I like this, but what if, for my daughter, I use an animal or two that she comes across here in SC so it will have more meaning for her." It was just a flittering by thought as I hand appliqued but I couldn't shake it. It was probably closely connected to the fact I can never follow a pattern to the end, I always have to change it to something I makeup or I get bored. I also can't do it the "normal" or "right" way most of the time either. For example, I closely read how to applique the shapes using matching thread and tiny, invisible stitches, and watched youtube videos of hand appliqueing demonstrations, but I found that I liked to use a contrasting thread and make really tiny, close together, visible stiches. It seems to me that adds energy to the image, simliar to gestural drawing with the energetic markings all over the place.

So then all hell broke loose. First I made a squirrels block with oak leaves and acorns, then the fawn, then the turtles. So now of course I feel like we need blocks for Carolina anoles that live in our backyard, toads, pine voles, mice (with whom we wage an ongoing battle), snakes, opossums, raccoons, fish, dogs, cats, scuppernong grapevines, wisteria, Carolina jasmine, Magnolias, and all manner of other Southern things. The original Civil War Bride Quilt is fading to a distant memory.

I'm currently working on the guinea fowl block

After I finished the squirrels, I made a fawn block that I still need to modify because this is an improvisational method of working. I'm putting flowers around the bottom area and have taken some time off to decide on the best approach. And I have noticed that the front leg is about twice as long as the back leg. At first that concerned me. I wondered how he was going to walk like that. Then I realized he only had two legs, so he wasn't going to be standing up and wondering off anyway.

The original has lots of leafy-ness filling up the blocks and I want to continue that, but it is tricky figuring out what goes where. The original quilter made it look kind of random, but I now see it was very, very carefully thought out and designed. I didn't appreciate it until I tried to do it! These are the turtles--we've spent a lot of time moving turtles off the road this spring and summer. I have since added lots of lily pad leaves to the empty spots.

In keeping with our Civil War theme, we took a trip to Florence, SC to see if we could find the cemetery where the Union soldiers were buried.