My Bathroom Game

It is just possible that the bathroom is the most overlooked room in any house. Hopefully, it's not the room where you go to visit with friends...that room is usually a solitary place....

The two bathrooms in my house are no exception.  They're small rooms...each with a vanity, white toilet and tub.  Nothing special.

But, for reasons I'm not gonna discuss (I understand TMI) -- people SPEND A LOT OF TIME in this little room.

 So, I try to make it interesting. 

The walls are full of The Story People....My favorite artist...

Brian Andreas

Years ago, Lilly said, "he's not a very good artist, but his words are okay..."

I have a collection of interesting rugs....

And a drawer filled with pens, chapstick, stickers, lego people,

There is ALWAYS a crossword puzzle...

OF COURSE -- magazines!  (Thanks, Val)

The perfect little book for the kids (THANKS, NANCY)

With a little poem on every page...

Some words from Brian Andreas...(which I think defines Ritaluck)....

Deciding everything is falling into place perfectly...

 as long as you don’t get too picky about what you mean by place. Or perfectly.

Lilly is right.  His words are pretty good...

ILW Sweater Coat: Missing Sleeve

I will always think of this as my "I Love Work" coat.

If you look carefully, you can see me trying on the coat...with one sleeve done...another missing...

AND, in the background of that awful mirror-pic -- you get an idea about WHAT A HORRIBLE MESS my basement is. Ugh...

I had the sleeves off a black patterned fleece top (44 cents) -- and I made the sleeves twice as wide...

I was delighted to be able to retain the interesting faux-leather detailing...

BUT THEN, IT WAS LATE AT NIGHT, AND I COULD NOT FIND THE OTHER SLEEVE. Ugh. I was sure it was over by the ironing board...nope....or, on a pile near the serger...nope....maybe it got buried again on the top of the pool table...nope. On the folding table near the washing machine?

 I LOOKED EVERYWHERE...OVER AND OVER AGAIN...FOR TWO DAYS...


AND THEN -- THIS HAPPENED.....

YES, CARRIE!!  VICTORY....I showed her what I was looking for -- and she found it in a nano-second!!

Several days later, I premiered the jacket for Lilly at her big Figge Art event!

And, of course, it was my Sew-n-share at TMBC!!

My I-Love-Work Sweater Coat

I am well aware that my kind of sewing is 'MY KIND" of sewing...Really -- nobody loves Frankensewing as much as I do. To be honest, it has become kind of an obsession....

When we found this brand new coat at Bargain Bonanza, on SALE FOR ONLY $5...I wanted to buy it for Lilly.  But she told me it was way more MY taste than hers...

Last week, I blogged about buying this coat...

The first step is to lay it on top of a garment that I know ALREADY FITS ME...This is the most fool proof way I know to figure out how much fabric I need to add.

Then, I cut the sides open.

I decided to cut up an old pair of black knit pants for the sides...but the sweater knit wanted to stretch out of shape, so I cut a 2" strip of leopard print knit, folded it in half, and inserted it IN THE SEAM.   

The new side inserts were easy -- cuz I used the existing pant hem...And the piece of leopard knit did a nice job stabilizing the seams.

I also cut out the sleeves....and, of course,  the problem is that the shoulder seam is WAY too narrow...

Again, the black sweatering wants to STRETCH...so I decided to add a piece of zebra corduroy.

THEN -- the final step will be to make the sleeves TWICE their original size...then sew them BACK onto my now-fabulous-sweater-coat.

To make the sleeve TWICE AS BIG as it originally was -- I cut the sleeves off a black pullover (from my stash)...and I even managed to save the cool thumb hole!!

You can see...I'm cooking right along on this project...and then this happened....

My basement is such a mess -- I COULD NOT FIND THE LEFT SLEEVE...!!

Ugh. I looked and looked...and looked...

OMG.  I searched for over an hour Saturday night...

Then, I got up Sunday morning and went down with complete optimism...

And looked on and off all day.   I gave up and went to the pool.

My only hope is NEW EYES...Carrie comes on Monday

TMBC Apron REVEAL

To review...I found a BOLT of Amy Butler fabric at the Salvation Army. So, at the next TMBC Library Sewing Day -- we ALL made a version of Mary Mulari's Criss Cross Apron...

We all brought our Featherweights.

We all started with the SAME fabric...

And the SAME pattern: https://www.marymulari.com/patterns/Crisscross-Apron

This is us -- going out for breakfast a few weeks later...(GREAT Breakfast steak! Thanks, Harlan's!)

Hey -- IT'S FEBRUARY IN IOWA -- we need to shake it up a bit. Do something a bit out of the usual.  So, we went across town...for a special breakfast...and then, to a local antique mall to kick around.

THIS IS A GREAT PHOTO OP, RIGHT??

SO HERE WE ARE -- the four of us with our new reversible Mary Mulari Criss-Cross Aprons!

SAME APRONS -- reverse side!!

After our photo shoot -- we did a little junking...

My Winter Bed

This is about making a WINTER bed...and there are some basics...

1. HIGH QUALITY thick cotton mattress pad. This is a must. John has night sweats -- so I change the mattress pad whenever that happens. But, otherwise, I change and wash the mattress pad every-other-month or so.

2.High Quality 100% cotton sheets. Cotton. Always. Supima if you can.

3. When the weather starts to get cool -- I add a flannel sheet. On TOP of the cotton flat sheet. I love it for the bit of warmth and weight, but I don't like to sleep with flannel against my body. It's too hot for me...and if you wear pajamas -- the flannel acts like velcro...(not actually my problem, as I sleep naked).

4. When the weather is FREEZING COLD -- I add a wool blanket on top of the flannel sheet. I love the weight of the wool blanket...and I think the layers add more warmth.

Val's hands are shot, and she didn't have the strength to pull the blanket up...

So, I used a strip of t-shirt fabric to add the "handle" all across the top of the blanket...

5. To finish the bed, in the winter, I top it off with a quilt.

Winter Laundry

For me -- hanging my bed sheets outside is a year-round activity....but, obviously, it's a lot more trouble in the winter.

The good news is that I have SUCH A HUGE SUPPLY of bed sheets and pillowcases -- I can almost always wait out the bad weather.  But winter can be TOUGH...

On this day, it was going to be SUNNY...so I made my way outside...even though the temperature was ZERO...

I was SO THRILLED to hang my sheets outside on this bright sunny winter day!

Hanging sheets is one of Frankie's favorite winter activities.

If the temperature is too cold, the sheets freeze up like giant potato chips...and it could take DAYS for them to dry outside. 

And if it gets too warm, the snow starts to melt and the humidity keeps the sheets from drying.

BUT IT'S ALL WORTH IT.   I've said this so many times...but  THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN LINE-DRIED SHEETS.

And, this year, I discovered a NEW CHEAT...I put the sheets in the dryer for JUST TEN MINUTES...and they get all warm and steamy....THEN I hang them out on the line!!

Honestly...the cold air zaps the steam out of the sheets -- and they dry in half the time.  AND THEY STILL SMELL AMAZING...

My fresh bed day is Monday -- and getting into that fresh bed, with the delicious line-dried sheets -- is one of the BEST MOMENTS of my week. 

Every other Sunday, I make a fresh bed for my friend Valerie....and I cannot begin to tell you how many times she has thanked me for this gift.  

And I change our beds WITH THE SEASONS.  This week, I'm going to share some of my favorite winter-bed-tips.

Saturday Activities

It's another COLD WINTER DAY.

When we built this house, we put a south facing giant picture window in the living room. This is our window on the world. We look out on a corn field, which abuts 100 acres of woods. So there is wildlife.  Lots of wildlife...

And some great light. The puzzle table lives here...but, often, we put a cover over the puzzle and use the table for crafts or board games. 

On this day, I gave Lilly a mission. One of my favorite gray sweatshirts accidentally had sex with something red in the washing machine....and I wanted Lilly to make some art on the shirt...to cover up the unsightly pink splotches...
 

This was her first experience with an embroidery hoop

And some fabric markers...

I think she was inspired by the Valentine's theme of the day...

And she SAVED THE SHIRT

This is the area where the red smears were...

The words say..."Be Your Self""

GOOD ADVICE, PEOPLE...!!

Where did all the Aprons go?

I'm not bragging -- but I made FIVE APRONS in one day. Of course, Mary's wonderful pattern gets most of the credit.

http://www.marymulari.com/patterns/Crisscross-Apron

APRON #1; This one is mine!! Reversible, pockets on both sides, zebra fabric, sewing panel...WOW. It just might be the PERFECT apron!!

APRON #2: Made out of my last bit of IKEA fabric. John's sister Maureen commented on it (via Facebook) -- so I was DELIGHTED that I had enough fabric to make one for her.

APRON #3: Made out of a Mary Engelbreit fabric -- that used to be a CURTAIN. I'm sending it to Pennsylvania...for my friend Judi...who cooks ALL THE TIME.

APRON #4 and #5: My sisters Ronda and Deena and I all live within a mile of each other....and MONTHS can go by without getting together. So, this year, we're doing a new thing. Lunch once a month...and the next time, THEY BOTH GET AN APRON...

PHOTO COMING SOON...