Let's talk stitching

I recently received the Just Cross Stitch 2011 Special Christmas Issue, otherwise known as "The Ornament Issue," in the mail.  Every year I look forward to getting this issue and have stitched many an ornament from its pages.  This year, I was a bit disappointed.  There were no ornaments that jumped off the page screaming, "Stitch me!"  In fact, I had to go through the magazine several times before I found even one thing I'd consider stitching, mainly because it looks fun to finish ("Peace on Earth" purse ornament by The Victoria Sampler on page 13-14).

Oh, don't get me wrong.  There are a lot of beautiful and wondrous ornaments in the issue, just not anything I'd stitch.  Do you ever do that?  You see a pattern and say, "Hey! I like that!  But I'd honestly never stitch it."  I do that a lot.  It saves me from being buried in stash.  ;-)

In the same stash package, I received a quirky pattern that recently caught my attention, "Bone Cheeks" by Prairie Moon.

It looks fun and colorful, and it appeals to my love of skeletons.  I've always been fascinated by skeletons, even as a kid, far beyond their usual Halloween appearance.  I never wanted to be a skeleton on Halloween, I just wanted to learn all about them.  I guess I've always loved learning about anatomy, even as a kid.

I remember a grade school science lesson where we each laid on a big piece of paper and a classmate drew an outline around our body.  Then we drew a skeleton inside the body outline and had to label the bones correctly.  I was totally engrossed in this project and my finished product graced the door of my bedroom for months afterward.

So I'll be stitching "Bone Cheeks" after I finish "Liberty Lane."  I don't have the fabric or fibers in my stash, so I'll be using what I have.  The model was stitched with Gloriana silks, which I like, but I don't have all the colors called for and don't want to spend the bucks.  Besides, the designers included a DMC conversion so I'll take advantage of their thoughtfulness.

LoneStar

Drawer drama

We watched the Cowboys snatch defeat from the jaws of victory last night.  Bummer season opener.

DH got a lot done on the cabinets this weekend, but we are still without a kitchen sink.  It took a lot of time for him to get all the old drawers fit into the new cabinet.  The old drawer slides are very old and poorly made and DH had quite the time with them.  Of course, an unexpected trip into town to Lowe's didn't help either.  (A trip to Lowe's for us takes at least an hour and 15 minutes.)  Next weekend, DH will finish the face frames and hopefully get the countertop installed along with the sink.

As of Sunday afternoon.

Emma made herself comfortable while she supervised.

LoneStar

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

LoneStar

WIP "Liberty Lane"

Here is my "Liberty Lane" WIP by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I'm stitching it on tea-dyed Monaco with DMC.  I'm using different colors than what the pattern calls for.  RitaD came up with the color combination I am using.  In fact, I wasn't interested in this pattern at all until I saw hers with the - in my opinion - better colors.  I'll post Rita's color changes when I finish stitching it.  And no, she won't mind as she's been very gracious in sharing them.

LoneStar 

Close but no sink

DH got a lot done on the cabinets, but not enough to get the kitchen sink put in.  So we're still washing dishes in the bathroom sink.  Oh well.  

These cabinets will certainly look eclectic.  DH is scrounging in his shop for usable wood.  Paint would cover a multitude of blemishes, but we're not painting it.  Hey! Maybe we can start a new interior decorating trend - we can call it the "Scrounged in the Shop" look!
 

Adding the partitions.

Working on the face frame.

As of Monday night.

DH was sitting down on the floor checking some measurements when Emma decided to make herself at home in his lap.

I got some stitching time in on "Liberty Lane."  This project was mostly a UFO because it had bored me so deeply that I thought I'd never finish it.  I dislike stitching the same thing over again and this pattern has a lot of repeats.  But after ignoring it for nine months, I like it again and will finish it.  I'll post a picture tomorrow.

And we seem to be starting 'coon wars.  DH chased a family of raccoons out of his deer corn feeder yesterday.  This morning at about 4:00 a.m., DH chased another raccoon off the porch where it was trying to get into the garbage.  We keep our garbage in a big trashcan with a lid, but the raccoon was still trying to get into it.  Emma slept through the garbage can incident.  Some watchdog, eh?

LoneStar

Cabinet bottoms

Our goal for this long Labor Day weekend is to get the bottom kitchen cabinets made and hopefully get our kitchen sink installed so we can stop washing dishes in the bathroom sink.

Yesterday, DH was able to get the cabinet base made with help from Emma.  Because we don't want to waste time painting these cabinets, DH covered the floor of the cabinets by gluing down some of our leftover vinyl flooring.  We want to get the cabinets made quickly so we can get all the kitchen stuff out of the den and back into the kitchen where it belongs.

These will be eclectic but usable cabinets.  No painting.  I will polyurethane the face frame and two ends, but that will be it.  And we're reusing the old doors and drawers and they won't win any beauty contests anyway.

"Must protect male human from annoying nail gun!"

Base being built with supervision.

Adding plywood floor to base.

"I think there's an air bubble right there."

Cabinet base with vinyl flooring glued down.

LoneStar

Painting walls makes the old cabinets uglier

My kitchen was previously painted a nice shade of Aggie maroon.  I don't have a problem at all with Aggie maroon, I just don't want that color on my kitchen walls.  I like white walls.  Everything goes with white.

The old cabinets were/are an ugly shade of beige.  Did I mention that they are painted with flat wall paint?  Yeah.  They don't stay clean and get dirty real easily.  If you paint your walls white, it makes your ugly old beige cabinets beige-er and uglier. 

Before priming and ugly.

After priming and uglier.

LoneStar