Archives for August 2011

The Kitchen

Last post I showed a photo of my Coop veggies/fruits from last Monday. One day last week I actually cooked (and my sister/brother in law were quite shocked at that sight when they dropped by?). AND, last night some neighbors invited us over for dinner and I was able to whip up a quite tasty salad from my Coop veggies (all organic – romaine, roma tomatoes, cucumber and I even made ranch dressing). When you see the pictures of our kitchen below, you might be impressed that I was able to whip up anything. It was tricky cutting my tomatoes and cucumber with a butter knife but it worked. Anyway… last week I made Parmesan Zucchini Sticks which were served with Marinara. I got the recipe off Pinterest. I would post the recipe, but all in all they were OK, so I’m not going to post it. The point here is that I was COOKING!

I also blanched some green beans and cooked them in a skillet with a little Olive Oil and soy sauce (salt & pepper too). Now they were YUMMY!

 

Here is a pic of the zucchini sticks before they were cooked. I’m thinking I just might not be a huge zucchini person.

Oh, and I baked the organic potatoes. Here is a photo of my plate. The buns were Pork Tenderloin sliders I had purchased from a friend who has just started doing a little pick-up-meal business. Impressed? Don’t be. It was yummy though! My kids were THRILLED (NOT!!) with this meal!

Last week I did this Megaphone design on this orange gingham A-line dress. Instead of using flannel for this raggy design, I used an extra layer of fabric instead. In this case, gingham! I love how it turned out!

So my layers are:

bottom: navy gingham

next (going up): navy (actually the other side of the Fabric Finders navy w/ orange dots.

next: orange gingham

next: orange FF with navy dots

next: navy gingham

top: plain navy

Typically I say use flannel underneath each fabric layer for raggy designs, but I think I like the gingham! You can see 2 other posts on Raggy Designs under Helpful Posts up top!

So now the big story… tomorrow is DEMOLITION day! They are removing all of our kitchen, eating area and laundry room cabinets and the tile from our kitchen, eating area, pantry and laundry room. They will then lay tile again and then put new cabinets and countertops in. This process should take a couple of weeks. I’m super excited, but also super nervous about the amount of dust I’m going to be cleaning and inhaling. Did I mention they are tearing out part of a wall? There are also some funky arches in our foyer we hope to remove. Anywho… we’ve cleared out the kitchen completely and our kitchen is now located in our foyer and dining room. Our den furniture is in our bedroom (which I forgot to take a picture of)!

This should be a very interesting couple of weeks with 3 kids, who will all be going to and from school, and soccer, and…

Here are my BEFORES. I plan to take pics and document this process since we are not a go-in-and-renovate kind of family. I’ll also post a picture of the tile I have and cabinet samples.

The desk area will become a buffet type cabinet and the cabinets on the left will be gone completely and replaced with some piece of furniture (console table or something).

Bye Bye 1980s kitchen!! Actually the appliances are new. The cabinets are original I think!

Side note: I found these 2 lovelies at Highlands Antique Mall in Dothan, AL Saturday. Both of these were $40 $50 (after I paid for the little vase that Browder accidentally broke). Not sure where they are going? If we could redo our mantle using these I’d be thrilled!

Here is our lovely laundry room. If you read about when we bought this house, you’ll know that below the sheets piled on the cabinet is a lovely hair-washing sink. This wall will have cabinets all the way across with a utility cabinet on the right side, and a laundry tub in place of the hair-washing sink! The wire shelf will be gone too.

We’re 86’ing the built in ironing board and the top cabinets on this wall. The base cabinet will be bigger (for folding laundry).

Cubbies for the 3 kiddies will go here. This house has a great laundry room!

Here is another view of the kitchen, and all of the ceiling cabinets will be gone, and the sink cabinets will become an island!

 

I will post pics along the way with good Before/After pics when we’re done!

Tomorrow Jeff & I are going to Atlanta FOR THE DAY to go to Ikea! Our Mission, Expedit cubbies for my sewing room and also Mallory’s closet! I am SO excited!! I will post pics of all that too!

Designs and Fabric

 Sorry I have been MIA for a bit. My oldest has started school, but my youngest 2 have.not.started.yet…. I love my kids, but we get up at about 6:40 to get ready to take B to school and I am with them until bedtime at like 8:30. It makes for a long day some days. I “need” that little preschool break and they love it too, so we’re counting down until they start later next week! Factor the summer heat (which I am SO OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in to the equation and being stuck inside so we don’t melt, or running errands with them in tow (in and out of the car 8 times. did I mention the 100+ degree heat?). You get the picture! 🙂 This was the scene yesterday as I tried to work on a couple of items (to help pay for all the bedding and “decor” for Mallory’s room I’m having made). My sewing room ain’t that big. 4 seconds after this photo were “I’m doing homework and they are being too loud!!!!”, “Mom she is ripping my book!!!!”, etc etc etc. Love them!!

I really haven’t been doing too much work, and said I wasn’t going to until they were all in school. I did some backpacks this weekend and a few things yesterday and today. Like I said, I got the total for Mallory’s room yesterday and I’m lacking a little in my “big girl room” fund! It’s going to be precious and I will post a pic when it’s all done! BUT, it’s a shame I can’t sew!!

Here is the AC Sleeping Owl done on this light blue gingham A-line dress.

And the AC Flower Purse done on this lime gingham A-line dress! I thought they turned out cute!

I also did a couple of bibs this morning, with the AC Airplane on one of them. The airplane is one of our very first designs! The C on the left one is from Embroidery-Boutique’s Chunky Alphabet. Font – both Library which is available for MWP users at Needleheads! It’s one of my favorite boy fonts (I also like Tipsy and Atilla – both MWP). Notice the cute fabric on the applique C – it’s Michael Miller and I just got it from TJ’s Fabrics! I love it for boys!

Speaking of fabric and TJ’s…. every now & then I get a surprise package from TJ and I got one last week! When the UPS man drops off from TJ’s, I get excited!! If you’ll remember I spent the day down at TJ’s in June and here is that post with more pictures from her store. Anyway…. LOVE THESE!! I tried to make a note of who they were from, and some of them don’t have the wording on the piece I have. Also, some are a designer “for Robert Kaufman” for example.

Oops I think this photo is upside down but I LOVE THESE!! I must sew something like an owl or something with these! I don’t think I have a lot of gray in my fabric collection, so these are great additions!

CUTE CUTE CUTE! The right hot pink dot is one of my FAVORITES!! I used it on a few of my AC Samples ~ it goes great with lime gingham!

These are pretty too ~ again with gray!

These are cool too! The pink & blue would make very pretty cross appliques!

Here are a few more, and a bigger piece of the Michael Miller plaid.

This is not even all the fabric they sent! If you buy fabric online, check out TJs! They are located in Opp, AL, and as I’ve said before if you travel to the Gulf (beach) via 331, you go right by it!

Here is my Coop produce for this week ~ I actually share a box with someone so I got 1/2 of this! I plan to make Parmesan Zucchini tonight and might do something with the potatoes as well (I’ve been craving a loaded baked potato). I’ll let you know how it goes ~ I got the zucchini recipe off of Pinterest!

On Monday the kitchen reno begins!! I’ll be sure to take pics and post along the way. Monday they begin with taking all the cabinets out (kitchen, eating area and laundry room), then they will take all of the tile out (700 sq feet of tile) of the kitchen, pantry, eating area and laundry room. Should be interesting!!?? Pray for me.

Field Trip!!

First of all, I sold the Dog Truck shirt and 2 of Mallory’s shirts, but still have the Firetruck and Football Helmet shirts left! It’s still 100 degrees where I am! If anyone is interested in these email me – rosemarygulledge@gmail.com! $12/each but if you buy both I’ll cut you a deal! 😉

 

So I posted about the organic veggies & fruit earlier this week. Well, Monday night we ended up at Flips (burger joint) because it got too late in the day to go to the grocery store and cook. Tuesday  night we ended up at Pizza Perfect (pizza joint) because it got too late in the day to go to the grocery store and cook. Do you see a pattern? This is the pattern of our household! We eat out A LOT! Wednesday, FINALLY, I went to the grocery store and we finally cooked our dinner mentioned in the last blog post. Since I only got 1 squash from my Coop basket, I had to buy more plus a few more ingredients, but we did end up making (magnolia) squash casserole. I think it’s a Paula Deen recipe? It is yummy!

 

I also whipped up a little broccoli salad with our Coop broccoli (minus the red onion in the salad because I forgot to get it at the store).

And our meat ~ Costco rotisserie chicken. This is the best chicken and the best buy in town! This whole chicken is $4.99! Other than having to drive to Costco to get it and time your sides, this is a great meal! Luckily we live close by.

A while ago I had a girl named Mandy C. from Atlanta email me about having some fabric she wanted to get rid of (she mentioned 3 garbage bags full). She emailed me because we’ve been collecting items/fabric/stuff for Laughin Lizard Embroidery (Michele lost her home in the April Alabama tornadoes). We’ve gone back & forth about this fabric in Atlanta and I couldn’t figure out how I’d get over there to get it. Because let’s face it… who can turn down free fabric, even if it’s not even for me! FINALLY we decided that she could drop it off at Sewingmachine.com in Atlanta and Steve could then transport it to West Point, which is much closer to me than ATL. She & I both got our machines from Steve so he was happy to oblige when I emailed him about this situation. The “transaction” took place this week, so the boys & I took a field trip over to West Point yesterday morning. It’s just over an hour drive from Montgomery and I hadn’t been to the store since October so I was excited to make the trip. Of course I took my camera (and the ladies shopping were probably wondering what in the heck I was taking pictures for).

First, here is G. Not sure what he is doing? Acrobatics? There was a little girl there watching him play his DS, so I’m thinking he was trying to impress.

Let me say I was thrilled at all the new stuff they had at the store! Lots of cute blanks (backpacks, market totes etc)! I love this flowery backpack! It would be cute with a hot pink monogram. Orange on the camo one too!

Tons of these cute quilted bags ~ these really make great baby gifts! No one ever thinks of the big bag for baby for traveling! I actually have a couple of these in stock (one brown w/ blue trim duffle) and a lime green one if anyone needs a gift!

The store was loaded down with vinyl products and supplies which has become super popular!

Here, my friends, is the coveted 10 NEEDLE BROTHER PR1000 machine!! I get asked a lot if I wished I had a 10 needle. I have to say I’ve never done an applique where I needed more than my 6 needles, so I’m content. Don’t get me wrong, it would be fabo to have this beauty!!

Love….

I noticed they had the Durkee hoops too – these are great and come in sizes not offered by Brother. I love the 9×9 and I also have the 6×6. They are not, as I said, Brother hoops – they work like Fast Frames in that you have to be sure your needle isn’t going to hit anything. You have to check your boundaries!

TONSSSSSS of acrylic stuff for the vinyl and embroidery paper projects!

A little too much houndstooth for me (HA), but lots of blanks!

Thread for days! I use Isacord, but they also carry Fufu, Floriani and possibly another brand? They do have Isacord in the 1000M smaller spools too (not pictured).

Stabilizer for days as well ~ their commercial stabilizer is super cheap and awesome! I’ll take the 8 year old too!

S-T-A-B-I-L-I-Z-E-R!!

Here is Browder ~ one day he may join the family business!

CUTE market totes! Some were insulated too!

Here is the mega hoop for the 10 needle. I think you have to flip this around while sewing? I’m not sure how big it is but it is HUGE!

And below is “the fabric”. I’m saving this for another post because it’s on my dining room floor and I have yet to really dig in to the bags! Michele is super excited about this and I’ve been told I can keep a few of the duplicates! I will post on this once I peek in to the bags probably this weekend!

I did purchase this 5000M spool thread stand! It holds 30 spools, and these are the BIG spools. My plan is to paint all of my “natural” thread stands (black?) and hang them on the wall. My sewing room is still a work in progress and I’m awaiting a trip to Ikea in Atlanta hopefully in a couple of weeks! I have my eye on some of the Expedit cubbies! The thread stand is not online (www.sewingmachine.com) but if you call either store I know they ship anywhere and everywhere!

School starts Monday for Browder and on September 1st for the other 2 (tick tock tick tock….). Demolition on our kitchen starts August 29th! We have everything picked out so we’re very excited to get that project underway. I know it’s going to be a big fat mess, but worth it when it’s all done! Have a great weekend! Thanks for a great ANNIVERSARY SALE too!

p.s. If you are traveling Interstate 85 between Montgomery and Atlanta, West Point is almost in between! Check out the Sewingmachine.com store in West Point (tell Wanda I sent you) or their Atlanta store!