Upstairs, Downstairs

With apologies to the British drama series of the same name, Mr. G and I have  been living a very "Upstairs, Downstairs" existence over the past three + months. For the most part I am in the sewing room during the day, or in the kitchen; while he's been sequestered in his basement-level woodworking shop. Unlike the series, he's not down there because he's servant or staff but rather because he's consumed with  cabinet making for our soon-to-be kitchen re-do! It's exciting! The upstairs activities of sewing and cooking have taken an interesting turn as of late. While in the sewing room, and stitching away, I have been watching cooking shows on several streaming networks. Most recently it's been The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. Every once in a while I have to stop and jot down a recipe to make later. As a result, we've been eating well lately! These Wafflemaker Hash Browns proved to be intriguing; I had to give them a try. You might want to download this recipe, we loved it; it's a winner! I'll be posting a few more of the latest tried-and-true recipes in the days to come. 

Current scenes from downstairs, the basement workshop. The cabinetry is all made from solid Hard Maple. He's running out of space down there for all the face frames, drawers, raised panels and piles of materials. This is a big job; it's been much more time consuming than he ever imagined! He has created every panel, every dovetail joint, every drawer and every frame one at a time. Any space that's not populated with lumber is piled high with boxes of drawer slides, hinges, hardware and other supplies. The best representation of the accurate color of these cabinets is in the picture below. Even though the color is off in this collage you can see the enormous amount of work that he's put in downstairs since the first of this year. All of these will receive a clear finish coat before moving upstairs in the next few months for the big reveal!

This photo of our laundry room reveals the true, over-all color and look, it served as the audition space for what we thought we'd like in the kitchen. It's so much lighter and brighter than what we had; we loved the change and voted to move on with it! We are updating our countertops (as shown above), light fixtures and all of the appliances as well, it's time for a whole new look! But, since it's going to be the same old people living here, I'm trying to 'up' my game with what's set on the table come mealtime, it's the least I can contribute. 😉

Wish me luck!

Life is Good!

Bedroom Re-Do, Done At Long Last!

Last month we finished recovering the wing chairs in our bedroom. It took a long time, but it was worth it; we're happy with the results. I finished binding "Dixie", the Civil War sampler I posted about here, around the same time that the chairs were completed. I decided to make pillow shams to coordinate with the quilt to complete the look. I purchased some Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in in the color: "Leather", loaded it onto Snowbird a quilted the same clamshell pattern that I had quilted on the quilt itself. I would use this piece for the center portion of three pillow shams. My plan was to add wide flanges all around to frame out the shams; also from Essex Linen, but in black. Somehow I miscalculated the amount of black fabric that I needed and ended up only being able to complete two of the shams. I had to get more fabric, further delaying the completion. Drat! So close, and yet...

Two lonely pillow shams... waiting for their sibling to arrive. 

I took this picture yesterday; with all of the components done, our bedroom makeover is finally complete!

Life is Good!

Life Interrupted

So, a week ago, Mr. Goodneedle and I decided that we'd try our hand at upholstery, we're learning as we go. We have two wing chairs in our bedroom that were begging for facelifts and we'd finally succumbed to their incessant whining. He began the time consuming task of removing staples and slowly peeling the 1980's era crewel-work front and coordinating mauve velveteen back from the framework, salvaging each section to serve as a pattern piece. I disassembled the seat cushion covers; it, too, was a tedious task. This photo represents where we left off, on Wednesday of this past week... right now we're at a standstill. My dear mother-in-law somehow twisted her right knee and succeeded in doing severe damage, rendering her completely non-weight bearing. It took a few days and a few Dr.'s visits for her as well as an ultrasound (to rule out a blood clot) and an ambulance ride to the Emergency Department for an MRI before the final diagnosis was delivered. What began for her as a painful annoyance quickly escalated to a condition where she could not walk. She's now residing in a local hospital, resting the leg, and will soon be turned over to an orthopedist for further treatment/rehab. It's frustrating for her, she has no idea how it happened. When you're frail, and elderly, it doesn't take much to find yourself sidelined indefinitely, and with that comes a moderate level of confusion too. We're doing all that we can to help but it's going to take time, patience and a cooperative spirit on her part before any progress happens as far as getting her back up on her own two feet, and, ultimately, back home if at all possible.

In the meantime we have chosen new fabric for reupholstering the chairs, but that's as far as we've gone. I have a quilt ready to load on Snowbird that will cover our bed; out go the pastels and in come some deeper, richer tones for our all new bedroom decor. As far as the newbie upholsterers go it's going to take time and patience before we see progress in the redecorating department... but it will happen! We know that to be true. Life interrupted for us is easy enough to start back up. Sadly, the truth of a life interrupted for someone who's 92 years of age and fragile of body is a traumatic occurrence; it's likely to be a long time to get back to where she was.

Join me in prayer, if you will, for healing of body and spirit and a return to normal life, 

whatever God wills that to be, for my dear mother-in-law;

 she, and we, would deeply appreciate that today.

Life is Good!