Kitchen Report | 4 Weeks

Week 3 of the kitchen remodel was productive - sheetrock, sheetrock, and more sheetrock - and so very dusty, in spite of the temporary sheeting that was hung. The final day of that week, which was when the crew did texturing, was the worst, but it definitely did improve the look of the space a lot. 

It felt like we were rewarded in week 4, with the cabinets arriving!

It took just three days for all of the cabinets to be installed, with a start on trim being added - see top of upper cabinets on left side, below.

Also in week 4, the flooring guy stopped by to see our existing hardwoods in person, and will drop wood for the kitchen flooring off on Monday. AND the countertop people came by to make their templates. Sounds like it'll be October 1 before they are back to install. So some major progress behind us, and more still ahead. As our contractor said, "every day from here on will be something new and exciting."

Next (Courthouse) Steps

Making a Bee Sewcial @beesewcial quilt is always a bit unexpected, and definitely challenging. After announcing my Courthouse Steps prompt back in June, I really didn't have an idea on how I'd put the blocks together. I just enjoyed the blocks my beemates sent me until late in July, I had them all, nine counting my own.

Early on, I planned on redoing my block, and rather than start from scratch, I cut into my original one and added to it.

And then I struggled to come up with a layout I really loved. So the blocks stared at me from the design wall for a few weeks until I came up with an idea, and made a bunch of white with black and black with white improv-pieced strips to use as filler. I pinned up several with the blocks and finally settled on a design. I wasn't 100% sure, and obviously, there were some complexities with block sizes, but I decided to begin piecing and see what happened. 

Below is the first block I tried, and I was happy enough with it to continue on.

As of yesterday, I have the four blocks in the upper right of the photo below all pieced together, plus the upper left block with its black and white strips, as well as the block in the lower right. And I'm liking it!

Though the blocks arrived to me at a variety of sizes, ranging 18.5" x 18.5" to 21" x 24", I'm trying to keep as much of each as I can. That's not to say I didn't trim a bit here and there, and I'm having to add to a few of the blocks as well. But I think I have a plan now that will work to fit all the blocks in, and that makes me very happy. Hopefully by the weekend, I'll be working on a quilt back.

Weave Got This! :: :: Blocks 9A + 9B

All it took was a simple request on our guild's private app, and September's pattern for our BOM was released a few days early. Of course I felt obligated (and eager) to jump right in.

I snuck back to my blocks several times over the long weekend, and before I knew it, I had the final blocks done!

Now to wait for October, when the layout of our 2026 BOM quilt is revealed! I'm looking forward to that very much, though I'll try and be more patient that I was this month. ha!

Elate Quilt Along

So it's finally time to cut into my Memento fat-quarter bundle, Carolyn Friedlander's new line with Ruby Star Society! As I mentioned in my August Fabric Usage post, I purchased a yard extra of some of my favorite prints, so ignore those at the bottom of the photo below. Totally didn't think of taking a picture of just the fat quarters!

But when I saw Carolyn's announcement that she was having an Elate quilt along featuring her Elate quilt pattern, I figured it would be a fun first thing to do with this delightful fabric. The pattern offers several sizes, and I'm going with the lap-sized Medium, 60" x 72", which uses 18 fat-quarters.

So I've already spent a little time sorting through the fabrics, and deciding what I want to pair with what. Of course that could change somewhat as I start getting blocks up on the design wall, but at least it's a start. And I did decide to do a test run of all three block styles, and I'm loving how they turned out.

And then I was able to squeeze in a few more blocks earlier this week, and hopefully can make a few more every day or so. At least they are pretty quick blocks to sew up.

So according to the qal schedule, September 3-16 we should be cutting and sewing blocks and sewing rows together. We'll see if that schedule works for me, but at least I've got a start.

Kitchen Report | 2 Weeks

After posting about our kitchen refresh, I got the impression that some of you at least, would be interested in following along with the progress. I'm still not sure if and when I'll post about it on IG, but I think I'll post occasionally here on the blog at least. 

All that to say, after two weeks, our kitchen has been gutted, one wall lowered + one removed, the ceiling removed, and the rebuilding has begun.

Initial electrical and plumbing were completed last week, as well as sheetrock put in place for the new ceiling. Back in 1978 when our house was built, a drop-down ceiling in the kitchen was a common fixture. Not so much now, so ours has been raised about 6" to match the area you can see in the photo below near the door. We're going to extend the kitchen just a bit on that one side, and I'm thinking that will be my baking station back there.

So far, so good. Of course it's different having workers in the house all day during the week, and lots of noises we aren't used to. We've set up a make-shift kitchen in our family room, and that's serving us pretty well. This week has been full of more sheetrock/finishing, and next week.... cabinets arrive!

Oh! And I am keeping up with the kitchen quilt blocks. I'm only working in three colors so far, and I've decided to keep track of what blocks I make when, not yet knowing if the resultant quilt will have the blocks grouped by color, progress, or whatever. Anyway, it's been a quick, fun little addition to my routine each day.

Low Volume + Scrappy Color

Last Friday, a new block drive was announced by Many Hands and Many Hearts, hosted by Cynthia Brunz @cynthiabrunzdesigns. The current drive is for 8.5" square blocks using a low volume print with a scrappy row of color across it, and will be open through November. I keep track of the drives by subscribing to Cynthia's newsletter, but you can also get info by emailing manyhandsandmanyhearts@gmail.com.

This quarter's blocks were the perfect thing to dive into over the weekend, when I really didn't have much time or focus to sew. I was surprised how little low-volume prints I had that would work, but considering I'm feeling like my plate is kind of full right now, I made up what I could, and have already sent them on their way. Hoping this contribution, though small, will be a nice addition to the quilts Many Hands and Many Hearts will be making this quarter.