My first quilt

It's bad, I know, but isn't everyone's??? I really had no idea how to do the center, so here's what I did: 1) the sun rays are made with 2 layers of fabric sewn right sides together and then turned inside out (OMG, how hard was that?) and then appliqued to the background; 2) the face of the sun was put on with Heat-n-bond and never stitched down in any way; 3) for the outside border, each of those squares was cut out individually and sewn together at random; 4) the whole thing was hand quilted.

This little baby hangs in my sewing room. I don't hate it, but every time I really think about it, I think of how differently it would go together today!

Hope you are all well and happily stitching!

Melanie

Wow, It's Been a Long Time!

Sorry for being away for so long. It's been a trying time here for me. Last week I ended up having a complete hysterectomy and removal of a lymphoma from my abdomen. Super glad to have all of that behind me and am trusting in the Lord for complete recovery. Still feeling a bit like I've been hit by a truck, but that seems to get better each day. I'm supposed to be walking 20 minutes, 3 times per day already and am finding it to be a bit more of a challenge than I had expected. At any rate, I'll get there. If you are a believing Christian, I would appreciate your prayers for full recovery. Thanks a bunch! The prognosis is apparently very good.

Now for more interesting things to post....

Wanted to share some photos of the friendship group I belong to. Each month one of us hosts the group and this month was my turn. I live in a small coastal town, so we usually like to meet for some fish or chowder prior to the meeting. So here we are! We had a good time that night sharing our progressive projects and ending with watching my nephew, Tyler Anderson, on the Food Network show, Chopped. Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did that night!! What a great bunch of gals these are!



I've noticed on some other blogs I read that several people are sharing their first quilt. I hope to do that in my next post. It's interesting to say the least! Boy the things I've learned!

Until then, God Bless!
Melanie

The Kitchen Paint is FIXED!

When we bought our house in 2003, our kitchen was straight out of the 70s. BAD wall paper, really bad flooring and shutters that swung out into the room. It was just BAD. In our first year here, we stripped the wallpaper off and painted a light yellow, which I felt was too light. So, I ended up dry brushing a darker yellow over it. The longer I lived with that particular color the more obnoxious it became. I have been wanting to fix it for probably 2 years, but have been really tied up with my Dear Jane quilt. Since I'm taking a break from that, I finally got to adjusting the kitchen paint. I had no idea it would take me alllllll day and make me as pooped as I am right now! Since I had stenciled a border in there and wanted to keep it, I decided to mix a light yellow (my original base coat) with 2 parts glaze. I rolled the mixture on and then used a dry brush to thin it out and move it around. To save the border, I just went over it with a damp rag and that seemed to work. I'm so glad to have it done! NOW, it's time to put the kitchen back together!!!

Here are some photos of before and after, but I don't think it really shows how dramatic the difference is....