Busy, Busy, Busy

This last week has been a crazy one. Between going to physical therapy three times a week in Murray, painting my kitchen (not finished), babysitting up to 6 kids, trying to make 4 quilts and creating my Etsy shop and new blog, I might have bitten off more than I can chew. The current state of my house proves it.

I started painting my kitchen almost two weeks ago. However, what was supposed to be a simple project has turned into a major nightmare. When we got to the counter area we found that the builders had used silicone caulking on it. You can't paint over silicone. So we've had to try to remove the caulking, recaulk and then paint. Sadly, we're still trying to get the original caulking off. Silicone is the bane of my existence right now. I HATE it. It's almost impossible to remove. So now my kitchen is currently half red and half blue. *sigh*

On a happier note, I've gotten a bunch of new quilts done and finally created my Etsy site and blog and have them listed. I'm so excited! I've named my shop Pukka Designs. As per Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of pukka is:

: genuine, authentic; also : first-class

I love the word. You can see my shop by clicking here. My new blog is here. I was going to wait until it was completely finished, but I've decided to let you all see me build it up from scratch. So far there's only rag quilts, but I'm currently working on a couple of non-rag quilts. I'll post them soon. Please spread the word about my shop!

Here's a quick preview of the quilts in the shop:

Nursery Paintings

This is another very long overdue post. When we moved into our condo I wanted to have decorations to hang above Lindy's crib. I was thinking I wanted wall hangings that matched her crib bedding, but it didn't come with any. So I decided to paint my own. I got canvases from JoAnns that were already stretched (and 50% off! Woot!), paint from WalMart and freehanded them. I really love how they turned out.

Lindy's bumper pad complete w/ Lindy's ear in the picture

I actually only got one shade of pink, green and purple for all of these. I just used white and black to change the shade. It worked out very nicely.

Lindy sat in her bumbo on the table the whole time I did these. She hadn't yet learned to crawl (like I said, LONG overdue) so she didn't know she was confined in her seat and was SO good. She just sat, watched & babbled at me. It was wonderful.

Now to paint her bedroom walls...I seriously need to get my house all painted before my sister leaves on her mission and I don't have an all-day free babysitter.

Miranda's Quilt

Back when we first moved back from Texas in fall of 2009 (Yep, this is a very long overdue post), I was despairing over my lack of fabric because I wanted to quilt so badly. Miranda gave me a bunch of fabric she'd had for a couple of years because she knew she'd never use it. I remember when she got it. She LOVED the fabric and yet was giving it to me. (Have I mentioned what a GREAT friend she is?) I couldn't dream of taking it until I had a very clever idea. I would take it and pretend that I was using it for a baby quilt for Lindy (who wasn't born yet) and then make a quilt for her instead, since that's what she originally wanted. Brilliant!

I used the Slide Show pattern from Atkinson Designs. I think it worked perfectly. I kept texting her pictures of my progress (until it got too big & she'd know it wasn't a baby quilt) to see what she thought. Before Christmas I took it to her. She looked so confused when she opened it. She thought it was for my baby. It took her a little while to figure out that it was actually for her and that I'd tricked her. Ha ha! I wanted to quilt it for her, but my machine went all wonky so I couldn't. I gave it to her unfinished & then Brad took it in to be quilted several months later (because I'm a loser & never actually did it). I don't have pictures of it all finished & quilted (hint, hint Miranda - I'd love a finished picture) but I do have pictures from the day I gave it to her.


The squares are from the Freckles line by Free Spirit. So cute! The rest is just white on white and an aqua small floral pattern for the border. None of them are solids like they appear. I love how it turned out.

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that Brad was totally in on this with me. He payed for all the extra fabric & batting I needed and I made it. We make a great team.

"New" Kitchen Table

A long time ago, (does this sound like a storybook beginning?) I got a table off of KSL for super cheap. It was super ugly (hence it being cheap), but it was solid wood, had a leaf in the middle and had 6 chairs. The plan was to sand it, paint it black and then reupholster the chairs. It sat in storage for many, many months - first at Allan's mom's house and then in our extra bedroom.

After I got my piano, I realized I needed to get the table out of the bedrooms so the piano could fit in there. I got to work!...and made a complete mess of the extra bedroom.


Never had I been so motivated...until I started sanding the chairs. I grossly underestimated the work in sanding chairs. It was such a pain. I got discouraged and stopped. Even now, if I never sand again, it will be too soon.

But alas, a friend was coming into town and staying at our house so the table had to be finished so she could stay in the extra bedroom. That's when my wonderful mom told me that she & my sister were coming to help me with it. Aren't the great?! It was just the jump start I needed. My sister & her friend finished sanding the chairs (I just couldn't bring myself to do it) in the bedroom and my mom and I painted in the kitchen. It was a full house project!


After all the painting was finished, I went to Home Fabrics (LOVE that store!) and got this to reupholster the chairs:

So pretty!

When I pulled off the ugly fabric from the seats, I found an even uglier fabric! The seats had already been reupholstered once before! I can see why!

EWWWW!

But the seats are now reupholstered (did I mention that I also LOVE my new staple gun?) and look fantastic!

And after a couple coats of polyeurethane...

VOILA!

A beautiful, high-end looking table...for cheap!

You may be wondering why the leaf is not in the table and why there are only 4 chairs when I said I got 6. Well, like I said earlier, I really, truly HATE dislike sanding the chairs. Therefore, there are only 4 chairs for now. Maybe someday I'll tackle the other 2. I still consider this completed.

Yes, I know it totally clashes with my blue walls, but that is my NEXT project.

To be continued...

Lindy's 1st Birthday

**I've been waiting to post this until I had all my pictures loaded. Sadly, all the pictures on my camera were somehow wiped out. I have no pictures or videos of Lindy's first birthday. I'm devastated. Tears have been shed over it. If any of you readers have some, please, please, please send them to me.

Lindy's first birthday was so much fun! We only invited family over so it was fairly small, but still a blast. It was rubber duck themed since Lindy LOVES rubber ducks. Chelsea and Jackson went to town with the decorating and my mom got some darling duck balloons. I had no idea they were going to do all that, it was awsome!

We did a potato bar for the adults and then watched Lindy tear into her cake. I made two - one for Lindy to destroy and one for everyone to eat. She was a little bit hesitant at first, but after Allan took her hand and smashed it into the cake, she was good to go. She did exactly what I hoped she would- mutilate it and get it everywhere. It was all over her hands, legs, torso, feet and hair. Fantastic!

I decided to play around with fondant for the cake for everybody to eat. I'm really excited about how it turned out. Not too bad for my first, eh? The ducks are the only thing that isn't edible. I got real ones for Lindy to play with after.


It actually tasted really good. Usually fondant is not so great, but this stuff was. Woo hoo!

Lindy then opened presents. It was fun to watch. She was actually more interested in the presents than the wrapping paper. I've heard that's rare. :) She got some clothes and lots of new toys.