Breaking In The Sewing Machine

Can I tell you how excited I was to break in the birthday gift from Chris??

As luck would have it, this past weekend was a a Founder's sale at Jo-Ann's so I stocked up on most of the basics including pins, a cutting mat, rotary cutter, fabric, and thread.  After reading through the instruction manual and watching the DVD I started off easy with winding bobbins.

I know this is going to be a great learning experience.  I'll admit I had no clue what a bobbin was or what it did until I read the manual.  

As for actual projects I started small with pillows.  Mom had a couple of old pillows that she wanted to cover for her summertime bedding, so I tested out  my limited skills on some left over material until I was comfortable enough to tackle the 2 larger pillows.

In the future I'll remember to iron the fabric before sewing.  While I was at it, I figured a couple of A&M pillows wouldn't hurt for our home.

I can't wait to learn more and try other tutorials that I've found online!

For those of you that sew, what are some relatively easy and fun projects that you have made?

What A Difference A Floor Makes

My parents have lived in their house for the past 17 years and have finally come to the decision that it's time to  update and make it more them and less builder grade.  It was a long time coming, but little by little this house is starting to have more of their personal touches to it.

The kitchen upgrade began when the microwave went out, followed by a new stainless steel fridge and dishwasher.  Mom waffled back and forth on moving onto the kitchen floors or tackling the last appliance and by the title of this post you know that she opted for new floors.

It took a couple of weeks, numerous stops to different flooring departments and several take home sample tiles to finally come to a decision on the new 20 x 20 porcelain tile.

With the tile ordered it was time for a couple of before shots before we got to work on tearing up the linoleum under the direction of our handyman Mike.

Looking from the dining room back.  To the left is the pantry and to the right is the laundry room.  Down past the island you'll find the breakfast nook with windows out to the backyard.  Feel free to look pass the mess and Gypsy's photo bombing.

From the breakfast nook back towards the dining room 

Close up of the linoleum - 17 years of scrapes and tears 

For the most part the linoleum came up pretty easily, but there were some patches where the glue stuck a little more.  On those spots we watered it down then scraped/shoveled it up.

One last shot before the tile job started.  As you can tell Gypsy was very interested

The team came in and laid the diamond pattern down in one day.  They let it sit overnight and completed the grouting the following day.

In process shots sent to mom who was at work

And here are the beautiful after shots of the new tile floor (prior to adding the new trim).

And one last shot side by side of the before and after.

I think the larger tiles really help to make the kitchen feel larger!

Watching the skill and speed of the team working on the floor was very educational.  Chris has laid tile before, but I haven't so I've always had a feeling in the back of my mind that I wouldn't be able to do it.  Of course the diamond pattern requires more cutting than the standard pattern, but I think we might be able to start with something like a small bathroom.

Have you done any tiling?

Happy Birthday, Time To Make Something

August is always a fun month around these parts!  It's our birthday month (Chris' birthday is 12 days before mine) and we like to celebrate with gifts and our annual birthday trip.  This year we'll be heading out to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and I'm excited to explore a new state (adding another star to our map).

As for gifts, we both ended up with items that will help in future DIY endeavors. We really tried to keep the gifts a surprise until our birthdays, but Amazon kinda ruined that for us.  Chris ordered my gift and it was sent to the house (where I work so I always get the mail).  Unlike pretty much everything else we've ordered from Amazon in the past couple of years, this order was sent as is.  No need for guessing!

I haven't sewn since middle school home ec class (I still have that gumball pillow), and am so excited to start again!

As for Chris' gift, well I was just a little lazy and didn't attempt to hide this huge box once I got it home.  I felt it was only fair since I saw my box early.

There are a couple of small gifts that will be left as a surprise for our actual birthdays, but right now I'm itchin' to for a trip to the fabric store!

Are you able to keep gifts as a surprise?

Weekend Round Up

Yay, for a fun weekend!  It kicked off with my cousin Jason (who is like an older brother) flying down for a visit.

Here he is walking my mom down during our wedding

It's always fun to catch up and bring back memories of when we were younger.  This also happened to be the big weekend when we finally got to meet my brother's new girlfriend!  Unlike me, who had Chris meeting my family after only one month of dating (in all fairness it was really because it happened to be the only time my dad would be in town from Atlanta where he was working on assignment for a couple of years), Dennis normally takes a while to feel out the situation before bringing anyone to meet us.  Danielle was really great and I'm so hoping this works out!  She got to see us all in our best form - cracking jokes and enjoying some Rudy's BBQ.

While searching the web I found out who the maker of our vessel sink is!  

It's a RonBow tempered 2 layer glass sink that could be found online for $369.  This put a huge smile on my face since we got it for a deal at $99.

Speaking of deals, mom was on it again, this time with a new light for their kitchen.  Making our rounds Saturday morning, mom found a light that she really liked but learned that that location did not have any in stock.  We had to head up the road so I could pick up Chris' birthday gift (the location we were at didn't have any of that in stock either), and she struck up another deal.  This location had the same light, for $79 instead of the original price of $99.  They didn't have any in stock, but would sell her the floor model for $69.  Not too shabby!

We made time to catch the Dark Knight and get some yogurt in between clearing out the kitchen and laundry room in preparation for the team to come today and start working on the new floor. 

Gotta love the fridge in the living room

And to round it out I finished a painting for the half bath.  After seeing our little tribute to the Philly statue for our gallery wall, mom wanted a little love in her house.  I told her it would be easy to paint, if she picked up the supplies.

How was your weekend?  Any fun projects or deals?

Sink Or Swim

I'm in love with a sink!

This past weekend mom & I headed out for some retail therapy while the guys were away.  Mom has decided to really change up the powder room beyond just the painting, and is going with a remodel including new flooring and a new vanity to go with the new fixtures, light and mirror.  She has made a couple of window shopping trips, but wanted another opinion so I volunteered to go with.  We hit up Floor and Decor and Builders Surplus and both came away with some thing nice.

While I was walking around checking out backsplash tile...

...mom was checking out flooring.

The other item on her agenda was a new vanity.  Right now they have a pedestal sink and she's was looking for a vanity with some extra storage space.

So many vanities 

She really wanted a white square sink with a darker cabinet, but wasn't in love with the shades of cabinet that were available.  After much deliberation she decided on an all white vanity with the idea of painting the  base.

Forgot to take a pic in the warehouse, but here's the side of the box.

While mom was busy making her decision, I was wondering around just to see what all was out there.  You may remember way back in the day I wrote about our love for the vessel sinks that we used on our honeymoon.  Chris and I were both on board for adding one into the half bath, so I thought I would check out the selection.

There was such a large variety at both stores, which include beautiful painted sinks that reminded me of Mexico...

...glass bowls with a texture look...

... and square sinks in white and marble.

But I stopped in my tracks when I saw this beauty sitting at the end of the counter.

LOVE it! I quickly sent some picture texts to Chris while he was at work to see what he thought.  He liked the square sinks, but thought that the blue and green would really stand out.  Chris usually goes for items with a little extra sumpin' sumpin'.  I had no plans on buying anything while we were out, but Chris said that it was a good price and too cool to leave behind (it was the only one left in the store).

Of course once I got it home and wiped it down, I had to take additional pictures.

I can't wait to see how our half bath comes together with this as it's centerpiece.

Have you made any fun purchases lately that you were in love with?

35 Years

Happy 35th Anniversary to my parents!!

Dad has been cleaning up during his retirement and found old documents from their wedding including directions to the New Jersey church for their Pennsylvania guests and the tux store options.  Amazing the amount of different colored tuxes that were offered in the 70s!

Love you two!

Morning Me Time

Over the past 4 weeks I have altered my morning routine to include a little bit of me time.  Normally I would just let Gypsy out in the back yard and then log into my work computer and start working sometime between 6 and 6:30 in the morning.  Early, I know, but I am a morning person so it works out for me.

Now I get myself dressed, grab some earphones, strap on Gypsy' harness and we go for an early morning walk/jog. I try to change up the path we travel every now and then, making sure not to stay out too long because it heats up pretty quickly.

This is a perfect opportunity for me to get outside of the house every morning which has been harder since I started to work remote.  When you don't have to leave the house, it's easy to just get into a routine of staying inside.  I love using this time to listen to my music and just think about life, goals and plans for the future.

A lone bench we pass

I love that we normally pass the same people every morning with a friendly wave or "hello".  This time has become one of my favorite parts of the day and I like to think Gypsy enjoys herself as well.

Do you have any "me time" during your days?