Design Wall Monday--5/8/17

On my design surface today is the Patchwork Times UFO Challenge pick for May, #11.  I am cutting pieces from four different project boxes for this UFO, one per week this month.  Box #1 is done!

Here are all the fabrics for the top of the quilt.  The pattern is a Darlene Zimmerman design that came in an advertisement from APQ mag.  Very simple strips and squares for a small lap quilt.  Backing will be constructed from the leftover fat quarters and yardage.  I'll look forward to pulling this out to sew later in the year. 

The next box I chose was Jewels in the Curio.  This is a Moda Bakeshop pattern by Jo Kramer  of Jo's Country Junction blog.  She and her daughter have designed a lot of patterns for scrappy quilts and are devoted Bonnie Hunter fans. 

My parents bought me the Civil War Homefront jelly roll years ago and I have petted and cherished it but now it needs to be in a quilt.  Charm squares and strips from stash will add variety.  I plan to make this quilt the pattern's size, but my neutral will be scrappy. 

Here are a few pulled so far.  I have another one yard piece to add and will probably throw in a few more as I cut, depending on how far these go.  I will use my Accuquilt GO cutter for the 2.5" strips called for.  The pattern's  block is Jewel Box and I made a quilt a few years ago that I gave to my then boss when he closed his practice.  I love the barn raising setting; mine was offset for my boss.  His daughter claimed it almost immediately, he told me :) One of the pictures I posted early in the layout design process for that quilt has been pinned hundreds of times on Pinterest, but it wasn't the barn raising one!  I'll look forward to stitching this up later in the year. 

See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Random Rant on Pinterest

On Pinterest, for fun I like to look at home building plans, in addition to my usual perusal of quilts, embroidery, funny stuff, cat gifs, gardens I will never plant, and recipes I will never make. 

(Not my bathroom)

 
Half of the plans I dismiss nearly instantly based on a few very personal biases:
 1) My #1 instant dislike of a house plan is if the kitchen sink is visible from the front door.  Kitchens are messy and I wouldn't want my guests--or other visitors--to see mine.  Similarly, I don't want to look into a bathroom from the front door either.  Yuck.

2) Huge foyers with no coat closet.  Another mystery.  I guess that's the reason for all the Pins of entryway storage build-outs.

3) Bathrooms without windows.  I don't care how big the fan is in the ceiling, it never completely dries out, which equals mold. Not to mention odors.  Well, there I did mention odors after all.

4) Dining rooms in the front of the house, completely separated from the kitchen.  I do not get this type of layout at all.  Is it just for show and people don't use it except for holidays?  I think areas like this become dumping grounds and crap collectors.

5) Master bathrooms without any doors.  This became popular 20-25 years ago, but does not make sense to me.  Bathroom stuff is noisy with water running, toilets flushing, hair dryers, shavers,  etc. My own master bedroom has an open vanity area.  How can people not disturb their partner if they have a different schedule?  They can't.  I also hate the requisite giant soaking tub hogging all the natural light from the big window it sits under in every.single.home.plan.  Who really uses one?

6) Those weird long narrow dark bonus rooms over garages. I have never personally been in a house that has one.  It might be a Midwest thing.  We sure get gypped out here on the West Coast because no one has attics or basements.  That's why most people's garages are full of stuff and offsite storage facilities are so prevalent.  But I digress. 

7)  Windowless laundry rooms.  Why is it that so many home plans have laundry rooms stuffed under stairs, in hallways, or crammed into the tiniest space with no windows?   I do not want to trample over dirty laundry on my way inside the house from the garage.  Laundry is a Big Damn Daily Deal that needs space for sorting, folding, hanging, handwashing, soaking, and ironing. It is a cluttered and often damp job.  I looked at a plan today for a 4000+ square foot house with a two story rotunda entry and the laundry room was miles from the bedrooms, literally 6x9 feet in size, and had a door to the outside, making it a pass through. There was no sink and no storage. Sheesh. Another very large home had the washer and dryer in a hallway closet that was visible from the front door. Classy.

I'd categorize most of these fails as "Looks Good On Paper".  And also I'd point the finger at men, because most architects and builders are male. Obviously they are not entirely responsible.  However, my dream house would be a lot different from most of the plans I see. I'll show you--when I win the lottery :)

Erasing the 80's

I've been busy working, but no sewing or blogging seems to be happening, unfortunately.  This past weekend my daughter Erica and I took on a project I've been longing to do for some time--erasing the 80's fake "aged" brick fireplace.  Of course this ended up being one of the hottest weekends ever in November, but we pressed on. Having done many painting projects, we are well aware that prep takes five times as long as the fun painting part.  There was a lot of cleaning, wire brushing, vacuuming, soot removal, and washing. We let the brick dry overnight, then Erica did all the taping.

 She did a really good job and we commenced with brushes and rollers. 

First coat went on fairly quickly and we let it dry for about 3-4 hours.  

Second coat made the transformation even better.  There was some touch up after a few more hours, including wiping off some of her cat Lucy's dusty fireplace exploration paw prints, but by Sunday night the 80's were gone forever. I couldn't wait to start staging the mantel.

An idea I pinned on Pinterest worked out sublimely with these doilies my husband's maternal grandmother crocheted so many years ago.

 Love the filet crochet one with its curly fringe. 

The rest of the room is a complete disaster, but the mantel is ready for the holiday!

Last year my sister-in-law Laura gave me the beautiful linen towel and the pheasant gravy boat.  Paired with a length of grapevine garland and a glittery pumpkin platter, the fireplace is ready to glow over the 27 we are feeding this year for Thanksgiving.  Lots of work to get ready for the crowd, but looking forward to the love and laughter and fun of being together.