My First Quilt

One of the things I wanted to push myself to do this year was at least one crafty/sewing project a month. For January, I made a tote bag for library books and a ruffle jersey knit scarf (which clearly looks like I still need to photograph and brag about on here). I wanted to get a little back into the swing of my sewing machine before plunging into the ultimate project I wanted to try this year- my very first quilt.

I wanted something modern and stylish in a home decor kind-of-way since I wanted to make a throw blanket sized quilt for our family room. I spent quite awhile browsing online patterns and tutorials and found nothing quite right. Eventually, I found an almost perfect Amy Butler Brick Path pattern:

She has several tutorials for all sorts of amazing sewing projects, which I definitely bookmarked for future reference. I loved the brick/subway tile pattern, but it seemed too “busy”.  After some Googling of “subway tile quilt pattern” , I found my long lost, meant to be pattern- Color Brick by Rachel at Stitched in Color. It’s even outlined as a step-by-step “quilt-along” for total beginners- even more perfect. Serendipity.

I searched high and low at all the local fabric stores for a collect of fabrics I liked, and…. nothing. I had a very specific color scheme in mind of navy, light blue, white and had spoiled myself by pre-browsing online all the juicy designer quilting fabrics, like Amy Butler and Michael Miller. Suddenly, Joann’s just wasn’t cutting it. So I went with Fabric.com and ordered:

From Free Spirit’s Modern Meadows Collection:

 

And from Westminster’s Chestnut Hill Collection:

Oddly enough, the same design created both collections and even more odd… double-checking my fabric quantities against the Color Brick tutorial, I realized that Rachel also used the Modern Meadow collection for the majority of her “bricks”. Clearly her choice in fabrics influenced me in loving her pattern :)

However, my cart was just $9 short of free shipping, which is how a yard of this entered my cart:

From Kaufman’s  Metro Cafe collection:

Perfect for some dish towel and hot pad trim. I guess I know now what March’s project will be.

Elephant in the Room

My favorite estate sale company went on a crazy long hiatus over the holidays, so even though their sale this weekend was like 45 minutes out in the country we were totally there to get our fix. Not seeing any must-haves from the online photos we gambled and went on half-off Sunday.

As luck would have it, the only item that had caught my eye was a pair of ceramic elephant planters and one was left just for me. For a cool $3.

Before

After

Sweet.

And…… Done.

About a month after we moved in we began “experimenting” with removing the tile in hall bathroom… which turned into an entire down-t0-the-studs remodel. We did the demo and the finishing touches ourselves, but had a family member hang the new drywall and tile the tub surround and floor. Exhausted with this never ending project, we dragged out the final steps (caulking, fixture installation, grout sealing) over the last few months.

Finally, ten months later our second bathroom remodel is complete!

At move-in

White and teal tile ceramic tile, blue-ish vinyl floor, hard water-stained and grungy claustrophobic shower doors, teal linoleum countertop, builder grade fixtures, crappy (pun convenient, but not intended) toilet.

 

Now

Sandy tan subway-laid, to-the-ceiling tiled tub/shower, satin nickel fixtures, marble counter top with under-mount sink, dual flush toilet, diagonally laid tile floor, gray-ish green wall color (Valspar’s Roasted Garlic).

Making this space feel as spacious as possible was key since this is about the smallest “main” bathroom I’ve ever seen (our oversized master bathroom, I suppose, makes up for it) which made design decisions a snap. It helped that I genuinely love the tricks “they”  say help in spacious-ness: built-in storage (bathtub shelf), drawing the eye up (to-the-ceiling tile), under-mount sink to maximize counterspace, double towel rack (no room for two!), and giant diagonal tile floor (love, love, love).

The big splurges in here were the tub features- tiling to the ceiling, the glass and marble tile accent, and built-in shelf. The niche was a must; I honestly can’t believe that they don’t and haven’t always come standard. Where else are your bottles and such suppose to go??

The whole color scheme was determined from falling in love with these accent tiles and for the extra hundred bucks, they were sooooo worth it.

As much as I dislike our master bathroom, it is definitely going to be awhile before we tackle that job. We will definitely be hiring out for the tiling, but that is low on the priority list since the bathroom is completely functional currently.  Later this year (okay, who am I kidding, maybe this spring), I would like to do a mini remodel because we haven’t done anything to it yet and we’ve at least got to embrace the white and teal tile for the time being. Definitely paint, change out the mirror and light, new towels, etc.

2010 Reflection, 2011 Plans

We have done an unbelievable amount of work to our House of Turquoise since we moved in Valentine's Day Weekend 2010:

• Replaced downstairs carpet with dog-and eye-friendly Pergo, tiled the laundry room and hall bathroom
• Completed a light remodel of the half bathroom and total gut-job remodel of the guest bathroom (looks like I still need to do an official “after” post)
• Painted the entire downstairs, even the two-story high living room
• Torn out the 60 arborvitae bushes, overgrown rhododendron, and two trees from the front yard and planted grass (neighbors LOVED this)
• Replaced nearly all the light fixtures
• Took down and replaced all the fugly curtains left with the house
• Built a wall of custom shelving, painted, and installed an attic ladder in the garage (looks like another needed official “after” post)
• Refinished a thrift store pedestal table to replace the behemoth kitchen table set left with the house
• Have a somewhat put-together craft room/office

I am very proud that we not only did a considerable amount of this ourselves, but that we paid for it all in cash. The remaining items will likely be over the next couple of years as we now are more settled in and have our eyes on other financial goals (new car, a long-overdue vacation). Plus, we’re a little burnt out on doing “house projects” every.single.weekend.

However, there are still several bigger things left

• Buy a couch and accent chairs for the family room
• Replace upstairs carpet with a neutral tan carpet
• Paint master bedroom and bathroom (still only about half decided on what colors)
• Paint husband’s game room/office
• Tackle the backyard by planting grass and pressure washing and painting the existing deck (short term fix), eventually replacing deck, tear out bushes and plant grass in side yard
• Re-stain front door
• Replace kitchen countertops, and eventually replace the refrigerator and stove with stainless steel models
• Tile kitchen floor (eventually)
• Replace white blinds throughout house with matchstick bamboo roller shades
• Replace roof (least interesting one of the bunch, and of course the most expensive. Boo.)

I’m happy that many of these remaining items either will be professionally done (carpet, countertop, roof) or aren’t DIY at all (couch, appliances). It’s funny to look back on the almost year we’ve lived here and see that we totally picked the DIY-intensive projects to do first. Clearly, we were eager first-time home buyers.

For 2011, the house priorities are:

• Winter- buying a couch(chairs can wait)
• Spring/Sumer- working on the backyard and side yard; paint  master bedroom, bathroom, husband’s office; re-stain front door
• Next fall/winter- replacing the carpet or kitchen countertops

Focusing less on house projects, I think, will be refreshing as I will have the time to work on small projects that just seem to stay on my someday wish list, which includes several sewing projects, scrapbooking/cataloging photographs, and other paper crafts.

Happy New Years!