NEXT!!!

The "Bathroom Renovation from Hell" is finally complete, so it's time to move on to the next home project.

Now, we are going to remove all the carpet in our house, and replace it with bamboo hardwood flooring.  Even though our dear old house is 97 years old now, and one would expect there to be hardwood floors beneath the wall-to-wall, crying out to be restored, not so!  Instead, we have old painted pine floors.

This morning, Itty Bitty and I removed the furniture from Sailor Boy's old room, tore out the carpet, pulled up the tack strip, and are now set to commence the painting part of the re-do.  It might take me three weeks to pick out a colour... 

...and another three weeks just to paint the radiator!

Incidently, Gibby Kitty is completely worn out, and is sleeping on top of my cutting mat.  I just 'meowed' at him, and he gave me the most disgusted and condescending glare before slamming his eyes shut again.

It's been three weeks...

...since I started my weight loss plan, and I'm at a 9.6lb loss today.  Having said that...don't you hate weight loss blogs?  They start off really good, and then you realize...hmmm...this person hasn't posted for awhile... and then you realize they have fallen off the wagon.  I promise not to let this turn into a blog all about weight loss!!!  Just a comment on my Simple Abundance Project. 

Last night I went to yoga class again - and I think I'm falling in love!  We did a lot of hip joint work last night, and I was much less nervous, and got a little thrill when I could sink deeper into each pose with each breath.  So cool!  Early this morning, before it got very warm, I popped on my iPod, and went for a walk along the old L&PS tracks. It's a very pleasant walk, because it's level ground (to accomodate the trains that used to run along these tracks) it's shady, with lots of wildflowers, birds, and butterflies.

I didn't think I'd get ANY hexagon flowers done this week, because I was working on the binding of Lucky Stars, but I stitched three together yesterday during the drive Hubby and I took to Port Huron.

We went to price out flooring.  I want to take all the carpeting out of the house, and slowly replace it, room-by-room with bamboo hardwood.  I was surprised to find it was much more expensive in the US, even considering HST.

While we were there, I simply HAD to make use of my 40% off coupon at Mary Maxim's.  Hubby helped me pick out fabric for the School of Rock quilt.  With any luck, I'll get it sandwiched in the next week, and try my hand at machine quilting it myself. 

Ah...and the Summer of Nancy continues!

It's been a wonderful summer so far -- since I declared Summer on April 29th.  And lots of good stuff still to come.

We celebrated Canada Day at my nephew's place with a potluck barbeque and one of the funniest, most fabulous fireworks show I've seen in years.  Wish I could expand on that, but I don't want to incriminate anyone!  (Advice to my nephew: next year, wear short pants so you can run faster!)

The Weather Man is calling for a week full of HOT and SUNNY weather.  Yes, people - I can even control the weather conditions in the Summer of Nancy!  Woo Hoo!!!

And in one week from now, I'll be recovering from the big Elton John concert at Copps Colliseum.  I can't wait!  My ticket was a special treat from Hubby, and I'm going with two girlfriends.

Sailor Boy is coming home for a visit at the end of the month.  I'm already making a list of little jobs I want him to help me with while he's here.  Wouldn't want him to get lazy on vacation!  On the subject of jobs around the house, our brother-in-law is here at this very minute - - I think my The 2010 Bathroom Demo/Reno from Hell will be FINISHED today!!!  EEEEEK!!!!!!!  That means I can get started on my NEXT home reno project: The Bedroom!  I think I've chosen a paint colour for the walls. 

Afraid there's been not much in the way of sewing or quilting.  I've been so busy - though I'm not sure with what!  I still haven't picked up "Lucy", even though she's been repaired and ready to go for about two weeks.  Oh well, I'll pick her up tomorrow, for sure.

New Summer Cocktail??

I stumbled upon Amy's blog: A Quilting Sheep and discovered her recipe for Lavender Pressing Spray! I nearly always press with a spray bottle of water in hand, and had enjoyed Mary Ellen's Best Press spray, but it's impossible to find locally, and very spendy when I do see it from time to time at quilt shows.

The recipe calls for distilled water, liquid starch, vodka, and essential oil for fragrance. I'm thinking 8 drops was too much!  Whew!  But lavender is supposed to be good for stress relief and a zillion other things.  If you are interested in aromatherapy, here's a link about lavender.

Amy also included a link to Karen's tutorial to make a pretty fabric spray bottle cover. (I love this blog.)

Flowers? For ME???

Absolutely!  And just why did I buy myself flowers today?  Well...part of my Simple Abundance Project is to trim down everything in my life - even me!  And to that end, I've lost 5 pounds. 

C-4 Sister's Choice

I made another block for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler yesterday. This is number 68 of 140. 

I found this wooden tray at the thrift store, and gave it a coat of "Bahama Sea" blue paint.  Strangely enough, this plastic cutlery tray fit inside if perfectly!  This will work nicely to organize the strips for my Log Cabin quilt blocks. 

Last week, Itty Bitty and I were in North London, so I slipped up to Cotton-By-Post to see if they had a fabric to match the green centres of the GFG's I've been working on. They did!  Just thought I'd share that they are celebrating Canada Day this coming Friday and Saturday with sales, and taking Canadian Tire money at par!

Now, I don't think I'll be getting back there for the sale - - but if you want to maximize your savings, Canadian Tire is offering a great deal on June 29 & 30. If you spend $40 and pay using cash, debit or your Canadian Tire Mastercard you will get an extra $10 in Canadian Tire ‘Money’ rewards. This 2 day deal excludes giftcards, gas bar purchases and auto services. You do need a coupon to get the extra $10 and they can be found in the June 25- July 1 flyer on the front page.  It's certainly not hard to spend $40 at Canadian Tire! Hmmmm...I need paint.....

A Rediscovery

While I was tidying up, and stripping down my stash, I rediscovered a project I had started in September of 2007: Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.  Of the 140 completely different 6" blocks, I had completed 65.  Until today.  Here are #66 & #67.

C-2 Wedding Ring

C-3 Album

And remember this thing?  I brought home this wooden box a couple of weeks ago.  I've since painted it black, sanded off some "wear" marks, and labelled it: Scraps.  Until now, I've tossed scraps into a plastic bag, but now I have this nice tidy box to put them in!

I've been a workin' girl this morning!

BEFORE

The treads on our front steps have needed to be replaced for a little while.  In fact, I've had it all planned on how I was going to do it for ...um...a couple of years now.

I was starting to wonder if the mail carrier was going to start refusing to walk up our steps to deliver!

AFTER

Itty Bitty and I trimmed the shrubs back some, ripped off the old tread board, and screwed new lumber down.  It needs to be painted to match the rest of the porch, and I do have paint left over from last year's paint job of the decking boards, but it will have to wait for a cooler time.  We were smart and had the boards cut to length, and ripped to the necessary width at the lumber yard, so we only had to screw pilot holes and screw them down!  All done and tidied up in around two hours!  Feels like a real accomplishment, but boy am I dirty, itchy, and sweaty!  And Itty Bitty got in the shower first!!

My Simple Abundance Project -- my plan to scale down on material items around me -- is right on track.  I continue to drop off at least one bag of STUFF every day.  Last night, I cleaned out two kitchen cabinets.  Yay!