A Blanket for my Sister

Post by: Lindsay

I'm not a quilter, I'm a blanket maker. Yes, there is a difference. A quilter has the patience to sew scraps of fabrics together into detailed designs. Blanket makers prefer large blocks and quick results. This is the blanket I made for my sister Lenore's birthday in keeping with my 2013 handmade gift challenge.

Lenore's Blanket

When Lenore and her husband Jack were married almost two years ago she DIY'd all of the decorations. The tables had different fabrics that looked good together but were different enough not to be too matchy-matchy.

Lucky for me, Lenore was willing to give me her wedding fabric and turn it into a useful blanket filled with memories from her special day. I cut the fabric down into 4 1/2" by 11" rectangles and then pieced them together in a subway pattern. The final blanket is 42" by 60", hopefully a good lap size.

A present for Auntie Lenore

I had to sneak my tulips into this picture. They are my flower garden superstars right now. Happy (belated) birthday Lenore, hope you like your blanket.

P.S. I have three children but somehow Wyatt is the only one around at picture time. I'll try to mix it up next time.

Chest Freezer Organization

I recently signed up for a meat subscription service with the local family business Harborside Farms. Over the next year we will receive half a cow (quarterly installments), half a pig (quarterly as well), a dozen chickens and one turkey (fall delivery), 4 dozen eggs per month as well as a number of farm goodies like bacon, sausage, honey and maple syrup. Yum!

Freezer Before

Did I mention I have a small chest freezer? Jay's grandma gave us this freezer when she moved out of her house and it's been really great. It never bothered me before that it didn't have any wire baskets or dividers. Now that I've ordered all this meat I started wondering how I would store it in here. I imagined dinners would be sort of like picking names out of a hat except that I would be picking brown paper packages out of the freezer. "Tonight we are having...drumroll...pork chops!"

So I did what I always do in situations like this, I went to Google and Pinterest for inspiration. I found lots of great ideas for upright freezers but all the chest freezers seemed to be organized by putting food into boxes or milk crates and stacking them in there. I actually bought two different types of containers and brought them home to try but didn't like either of them. There was so much wasted space and I didn't like the idea of pulling out a bunch of containers to get at the stuff on the bottom. I'm pretty lazy by the way.

Then I had my Aha! moment. I decided to make dividers out of leftover 3/4" plywood. First I asked my husband to cut the pieces on the table saw. The pieces were:

1 piece - 18" x 26"

2 pieces - 18" by 9"

3 pieces - 18" by 7"

Adding Dividers

I had originally planned to screw the boards together but the pieces were so snug Jay had to hammer them in place. Now I can quickly remove a board or move it over to make room for larger items or make bigger spaces.

Finally, I made some labels and stapled them on to the edge of the plywood so that whoever is in there can quickly find what they are looking for.

Freezer After

The best part of this project is that it was FREE! You can see the pink 50% off sticker on my loaf of bread so you know I love a good deal. I also think this makes the best use of space. If you're wondering why I didn't make the compartments even deeper (they are 18" right now), it's because I thought it would be difficult to reach in and get things at the bottom and I also want to find some of those wire baskets that slide along the top edge of the freezer.

 

I'm really happy with how this turned out but the real test will be when the meat delivery starts next month. Hopefully I will have enough room for everything. If not, do you want to come over for a Barbeque?

The Best of Bath Worlds: Before and After

I haven't always hated my bathroom. When we moved in 6 years ago the whole house was in pretty bad shape. It had been a rental and it was obvious that the landlord had put the bare minimum into this place.

 

Before

So, even though there was a lot of work to do we decided that we loved the area, and for a first house it was affordable which meant we would have some spare change in the budget to change things here and there. Six years later the house was complete: new roof, kitchen, furnace and air conditioner, windows and doors, soil grading and garden, light fixtures and outlets, shed, finished basement with additional half bath, hot water tank, flooring throughout.

When we first moved in, the bathroom was so far off the reno-radar it didn't even register. It had a white tub, toilet and sink so it seemed fine. It even had this cool black and white floor. Well, it didn't take long after moving in to realize that cool floor was made up of square foot stick on vinyl that were no longer sticking and mold was forming underneath them. The ceramic tiles in the shower looked fine but water had made it's way behind them and softened the wall. When you pushed on sections of the wall it would move.

Midpoint

Jason, his dad and cousin Travis got together to do a budget renovation that would get rid of the structural and health issues. They replaced the floor with a single cut to fit piece of vinyl, ripped down the tile, made wall repairs (the insulation was wet but luckily the framing members were ok), put up a cheap tub surround and freshened it up with a new paint job. I knew this was never the long term solution but it looked great and felt solid.

At least it was good for a few years. Then we started noticing the caulking around the tub would never hold and got moldy really quickly, plus the finish on the tub was so worn that dirt stuck to it and the darn thing never looked clean.

So a few months ago we decided it was time for the major overhaul we'd always wanted. The bathroom was completely gutted and built back from the studs. While we definitely kept things affordable (bathrooms can get crazy expensive), we didn't cut any corners on the foundation. A new level and solid subfloor and hardibacker/waterproof membrane behind the tiles means this bathroom will last many many years.

 

I love how this space turned out from the subway tile,to the wrought iron towel hooks to the the vinyl tile hardwood "look" floor.  I would have preferred a vanity sink with storage but I didn't think it would work in this space so instead we built an over the toilet shelf based on this design by Ana White.

The best part is how easy it is to clean the tub. Have you ever tackled a bathroom?