Now What Are We Up To???

"Honey,  I need you!" 

These are common words around our house. It usually means that Steve needs an extra set of hands, or a gopher to run and grab some tool while he's in the middle of doing something. Lol. Such is the case again. Steve needed me to hold the other end of some large panels of beadboard paneling coming through our table saw.  This product is different than the beadboard slats we put on the walls in the bathroom.  These are entire 4x8 sheets of paneling that he wanted to cut up. 

I snapped this pic before he started actually running the saw so you can see why he needed an extra set of hands. As he feeds the wide sheet through the saw, he needs someone on the other end to hold it steady and not let them go crooked.  That's my job. 

After he made the first cut - then the second cut -  then third and fourth pieces were a little more manageable.  He has a set of tall red rollers that can help when doing this too. (you can see one in the foreground).  But he likes having me out there on the catching end of the saw.  It feels good to work in a team effort. 

Soon he had four long pieces cut to just under 15 inches wide. So now what do you think this guy is up to? 

He carried them all down to the basement and laid them across the sawhorses. I guess that means that it's my job to start painting them. They will need to be primed first and then get two coats of paint.

If you read my last few blogs you know that Steve is not happy with the modern looking hollow core MDF whatever PVC whatever doors that were put in various places in our house. They were done by the previous owner during remodeling. Steve has been slowly replacing the doors one at a time.  First the Master bedroom, then the bathroom, and next the grandkids guest room.  He has been restoring old vintage doors that he has been collecting on Facebook Marketplace.  Soon all of the doors will be matching with the originals that were left in the house. 

Soooooo  of course, years ago in the late 1800's, they didn't have bi-fold closet doors. Heck, many houses didn't even have closets, just pegs on the wall to hang your Sunday Best clothes. It is impossible to get vintage bi-fold wooden doors to match what he has been doing. 

Because he doesn't like the look of the modern bifold closet doors, he wants to cover them up. Yes, they look nice the way they are. They are nice and neat and white. But they are fake molded hollow core doors in a more modern design than what our house has throughout.

Here is the one on the she shed:

Here are the ones in the office:

I came up with another idea.  Using the same beadboard paneling we used on walls in the grandkids' guest room, and on the pantry cabinet in the kitchen, we had a few sheets leftover to use to cover up these doors! 

I didn't get a pic of the ones in our Master bedroom, because he already had them disassembled and down in the basement, ready to work on. Speedy Gonzales.  He is going to glue down the new pieces of beadboard panels to the surfaces of the bifold doors. After that, he will securely nail them with the finish nailer and putty up the holes. Then he's going to run his electric router around the edges to trim them up a bit. 

Next I will be able to go down and paint them. We are doing it down in the basement where it is warm enough for the paint to dry. Although the garage is pretty comfortable when the temperatures outside in the 30s the inside of the garage remains up in the 40s or low 50s. He fired up the Mr. Buddy heater yesterday in the garage and it was quite comfortable. But not to run it for hours in between coats of drying paint. 

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While he was busy working on the closet doors, I was busy working in my she-shed. I made my little antique Singer Featherweight do a heavy duty job with some thick denim twill fabric. It easily sewed through three and four layers of this fabric like a workhorse!

My neighbor across the street had two of these little wire shopping carts. She needed to have some fabric liner bags made with handles. She needed something secure and heavy duty before she gives them as gifts to some other people at Christmas. They are going to use them for shopping at farmer's and flea markets. I used up some of this really cute pinstriped denim fabric that I had in my stash. I took some measurements and did a few creative cuts. I made some nice heavy duty handles and a double layered bottom surface. The entire bag can be lifted out and be carried separately if needed.

The top edges fold over and the little handles hold it into place. It really worked out better than I expected. The fabric is a lighter blue stripe similar to railroad engineer overalls. 

Here are both of the little carts, ready for gift giving to my neighbor's friends. In return we bartered and she is bringing me some of her wonderfully delicious home canned bread and butter pickles! I sure love a good barter.

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So after our busy day of projects, we curled up in front of the fire last night and watched some HGTV shows. That's where Steve and I get our ideas from you know!  We love Bargain Block, Rehab Addict, Maine Cabin Masters and Home Town.  Ya know, the ones where they REALLY do the work, and restore and reuse as much as they can of the original home. Not those "rip down, make it all new" type shows.  Steve pops a bowl of popcorn and we snuggle in front of the fireplace in the She Shed to watch our shows. 

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Today, I think I'm going to start doing the quilting the layers of swirling stitching on the frame of my newest quilt. I got it rolled on the big quilting frame two weeks ago, before I got sick. Each layer needs to be carefully rolled on with even tension and no wrinkles. The bottom layer is the backing, then there is the fuzzy cotton batting layer, and lastly, on top, is the carefully pieced quilt block layer. 

Then they need to be pinned evenly to the leader fabric of the back roller before I can start stitching through all three layers.  The big sewing machine glides around the surface, stitching it all together. I guide it with my hands on the downturned handles, held like a bicycle. I move it around, making the stitches as even as possible, not too fast or they are too far spaced apart. Not too slow, or they are crammed together and look ugly.  I do not have a "stitch regulator" like bigger fancier machines.  So it's all just me and my judgement on how and where to guide the stiches, and how fast or slow to go.

Here it is all ready to go. 

Before I start, I service up the machine a little bit give it some fresh oil, take out any lint or fuzz, and put on a brand new needle. It's kind of like taking care of a car, you can't expect it to roll down the highway mile after mile unless you do some service in between at regular intervals.

I just love this pattern --- it's called "Pineapple". I started sewing this one when we were camping this past fall. Once it's finished I will list it for sale in my Etsy store.

I'm finally feeling good enough to get things done, so I'm going to get this one stitched up in the next few days. After it's done getting stitched, then I put the binding around the edges to complete the quilt. It feels so good to do that final process, like completing an artistic creation. I put the tag on the back as a signature and my quilt is done! 

I also have four large quilt blocks that need to be quilted in layers into fabric to make some matching throw pillows. I will finish them up for the previous quilt I finished for on our own bed. 

As I am typing this, I can hear Steve in the basement running his finish nailing gun. Guess that means I better go start painting???

Always a project, and it seems like there's never enough time!