My Sewing Space

Pink Chalk Fabrics blog is having a Where I Sew Month, and I thought, why not? You can see my unconventional space. Maybe you'll get some ideas, or give me some!

Once upon a time, I had an actual room with a door to sew in, but then we were blessed with a wonderful grandson (who lives with us) and I gave up my sewing room for him to have his own space. Now I sew in what you might call the front parlor. Just inside the front door to our home. It has very large door ways that lead thru to the dining room, and when I am working on a big project, I close off the access to the dining room with the design walls. The lighting is not the greatest, but I make do, and I get a lot done in here.

This giant table on the right is an old architect's desk. Technically it is an engineer's former desk, given to me by my boss when everything went electronic. I had been dreaming of an elevated surface to cut fabrics on without straining my neck, and can you believe he gave me this for free? I looked these up on Ebay and almost fainted. 1/3 of the top is butcher block - which my Janome sits on - and there are 2 huge drawers underneath. I am lucky to have it.

The gray floor mat under the chair? From Sam's Club. Super comfortable to stand on for hours. Easy to move around when you need to. I highly recommend these. We even used them for wall to wall flooring in Tyler's room. Believe me, Nana and Papa have a much easier time playing on the floor with Tyler now that these foam pads are installed!

You can see the design walls and my current project, the Great Granny Along, closing off access to the dining room. There is a great tutorial there  for this super easy and rewarding quilt along. Join in!


These design walls are easy and inexpensive to make. Insulating foam boards from your local home improvement store, spray on adhesive and some very inexpensive diaper flannel. And they weigh only ounces, so you can move them all around easily. 

There are 4 sets of white cubicle cubbies that hold my quilting magazine collection, patterns, fabrics, notebooks, printouts and some WIPs and UFOs as well. I have a homemade bulletin board behind my sewing machine for inspirations and plans and tips.

I'd like to tell you that this is all of my stash, but who are we kidding? This picture was taken over a year ago, so yes, this set of cubbies is overflowing. Packed to the gills. And not this neat. The rest of my stash still takes up one of the 2 closets in Tyler's room, 6 totes and several boxes that are crammed here and there and everywhere. Tyler recently asked me why my fabric lives in his closet? He didn't understand that his room was something else before he was here, but he accepted the explanation anyway.

If you are sewing at your dining room table, which I have done before, make it your special space. Even if it is only for an hour or two. And have fun!

July already

Summer time.

This is what we've seen almost every day since mid June. Good thing Florida soil is all sand, or we'd be boating everywhere. We had over 14 inches in one day, and 7,000 lightning strikes in less than 2 hours this past Monday.  A lot of Downtown Pensacola has flooded more than once. Florida ain't for sissies.

We have kept busy with crafts, reading the Magic Treehouse series, swimming on sunny days, and many other things so no complaints. Tyler has learned to swim with no floaties and with his face in the pool. In one day! His goal: to get a pair of flippers to wear in the pool to play scuba diver. He got over his fear of water in the ears and is even learning to swim to the bottom to retrieve toys. So proud. Our little fish.

• A friend directed me to another blog where the secret to clean grout was revealed. This may be very boring to some, but if you've lived with impossible, dirty grout for years and wanted to dynamite the floors out of frustration, you'll know what I feel when I say the grout looks NEW!

Before and After. See what I mean?

Its a miracle. Ammonia, vinegar, baking soda and water. Who knew?

Amazing Grout Cleaner Recipe: 7 c water, 1/2 c baking soda, 1/3 c ammonia, 1/4 c vinegar. Spray on, scrub, wipe off.  To be honest, I upped the amounts of everything but the water. I found that letting it sit for a few minutes meant no scrubbing. Just the scrubby part of my floor mop and it was clean! This discovery came after a day of major scrubbing and extra baking soda and lots of wiping up the pasty mess. Forget that! Up the ingredients and let them do the work!

• We haven't got much out of our pallet garden because of all the rain, but we did get one Lemon Boy tomato, one yellow squash and one cucumber. 
• We've planted 3 kinds of pumpkins out in the yard. 
• We added a Slip N Slide to our collection of water play toys. Tyler bought it with his own money.

the proud gardener

the pumpkin patch

the slip n slider

Tula and Friends quilt

You know how your fabrics can be calling you? My bundle of Parisville from Tula Pink, and several modern cuts I started collecting were talking to me. Demanding I make something with them. I love how this turned out. The pattern is called Rectangle Squared from the Film in the Fridge blog. That link will take you to her tutorial. Super easy. Lots of solid needed, and you have to figure it out based on what size quilt you're making, but this is very, very easy to put together.


What are you doing with your Summer? I hope whatever it is you are loving it!

and June is almost over

It seems like much longer since my last post. Really. I thought it had been more than a month. Close but not quite that long.

We went from dry mild weather to torrential rains (Father's Day weekend?) and now we are waiting to see what Tropical Storm Debby will do. She's just sitting there so far. Dumping rain in some places, and not a drop here yet.

I have been a busy sewist. More pajama pants for Tyler and more quilts for me. This is the one I am currently at work on . I got the tutorial from Film in the Fridge's blog. I was dying to make a modern quilt, and the fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Parisville was screaming for attention. When I saw the tutorial at FIF, I had to make it. And I love it! So easy, and so eye-catching!  It is called "Rectangle Squared" on her blog.

Because I have tons of stash and scraps, I have mixed in some Liberty of London, Kaffe Fassett, Just Wing It!, another Tula Pink print, and a few Art Gallery prints too. Even though the sashing is only 1 1/2" wide, I estimate that I'll be using over 3 yards of it before this top is pieced together! (There are no defined fabric amounts listed because you could make this as big as you have a mind to.) Mine will be a large lap size.

And I'm cutting the remaining pieces of the fat quarter bundle into Dresden Plate pieces. Jumbo size! Don't you love it when you get 2 quilts out of one great fabric group?

We took Tyler to his first baseball game. Our minor league Blue Wahoos. VERY hot weather. I much prefer hockey after sweltering there, but what can you do? The boy is a fanatic about baseball. He kept saying "Its my turn! They need me. I want to be the bender-down guy!" He did not know the term Catcher. Ha!

Tyler and I have played in the sprinklers, had a movie date to see Madagascar 3, gone to the pool dozens of times and pretty much enjoyed every minute of the end of Spring. The beach has not been a place to go lately because of strong surf, but we'll hopefully get back there soon. I love our beaches. And you can't boogey board in a pool.

One of these days we are going to make it downtown to visit the new Childrens' Museum and the MESS Hall for Kids (Math, Engineering, Science and Stuff.) How great does that sound? Afterward a trip to that splash pad to cool off. 3 year olds are great. They are up for any adventure, any time.

Whatever you have planned for Summer, make it fun! And stay cool!

Memorial Weekend Update

Hello, friends. It has been a while since I shared, hasn't it? Summer is already here and we are busy busy busy. I've been outside so much with Tyler that I have the full summer tan going and it is not yet June.

I'm going to cram a lot in here because we've done a lot and taken a fair amount of pictures too.

We've had unseasonably dry weather. Really hot and very dry. So weird! It is like being in So Cal in August!

Tyler is still very much into pirate play. He's so excited that there will be a Pirate Festival the second weekend of June! He is hooked on having the drawn on mustache and goatee. He'll draw it on himself if he can't get help!

Now that we are reading the Magic Treehouse series of books, he is starting to pretend to be a Ninja. He puts his foam sword down the back of his shirt and runs around the house pointing his golf clubs like guns.

We went back to De Luna Plaza yesterday and the fountains are working. What a great way for kids to get wet and it is free. The breeze coming off the water is a plus for the parents standing around. And now that Tyler's ears are healed up from the tube removal surgery we are all about swimming.

I got him his first boogie board. Who knew that when he got dunked by a wave, he'd pop up shouting "THAT WAS AWESOME!" And we saw a sea turtle close up, and a pod of dolphins going by. The weather and wave conditions have been so absolutely perfect for beach going.

We planted a little garden. A pallet garden. I got the idea from the Homesteading / Survivalism  facebook page. He is so proud. So am I. We can manage this size garden and learn a lot of science stuff while we provide some good vegetables for the table!

Other things we've done this month:

• rescued a baby bird that fell out of tree. He ran off though, so we are wishing him the best of luck. 
• Tyler picked out hockey gear fabric on our last trip to the fabric store, so after I cut the pattern out, he helped sew them together! First time at the sewing machine. 
• shopped at a local thrift store and scored a kiddie army helmet for $.99
• made up a lot of stories in the dark, which Tyler calls "the stories in your forehead"
• gone swimming in great-gramma's community pool almost every day
• played in our blow up pool a few times, mostly with squirt guns
• sprouted a little herb garden in the kitchen window
• cut up magazines for letter learning and scissors and glue practice.
• sung "Tonight We Are Young" about a hundred times together. He loves the chorus 
• discovered that the fuzzy baseball Easter basket is a pretty good marching band drummer's hat
• we took Tyler to the local dinner-and-a-movie venue called the Silver Screen to see "the Avengers" -and now he is hooked on them too!  And he can't wait to go to that theater again. Candy, popcorn, hot dogs and you can sit around a table? Awesome! A lot cheaper than the big theaters? Double awesome for us!

Here's a little photo montage to sum up our month. 

Tomorrow we are going to a local U-Pick Blueberry farm to see how much we can haul home and freeze. We have a single tree, but Tyler eats them as fast as I take them off the tree. It will be a group outing and hopefully not too hot if we go early. Anyone have freezing or canning tips on blueberries?

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone! If you see someone in military uniform, or a veteran of a past war, please thank them for their service to our country. And their sacrifice. We are free because they protect and defend.

Is it May already?

First of all, BLOG MAKEOVER!!! What do you think? Aqua, such a great almost-Summer color.

No, I did not make a Schnibble in April. I did not even get Bibelot finished. I think the Another Year of Schnibbles is not going to happen again (for me) this year.I have quilty stuff in the works but sewing time is harder and harder to find.

In other news, we've been having a blast, Tyler and me. Science and books and music and art on rainy days, followed by puddle splashing when the rain lets up. And because we love adventure and water, we are already enjoying the long season of fun in the sun and all kinds of water!

Last weekend we headed downtown to De Luna Plaza on Palafox Pier to see what the sidewalk fountains would be like. Tyler was due to get the tube out of his right ear on Monday, so last chance to risk water near that ear for a while. Unfortunately the fountains never came on. About a dozen other moms and their kids were hanging around waiting, but there was standing water to be kicked up and other kids to play with, so Tyler ended up soaked and happy after all. And it was such a gorgeous, cloudless, warm day, who could complain?



Here is the explorer, De Luna, who was looking for Mobile Bay, but somehow is attributed to Pensacola. Like most Spanish explorers, he seemed to have a lot of trouble with the weather and finding food and getting lost. Florida ain't for sissies. If you lived here before air conditioning was invented, I think you must have gone crazy. De Luna was "delirious with fever" at one point, but I think it was just our fine summer weather.

Not to deter any tourists, let me just say it is HOT here and humid. From May til October. If you visit, be prepared.

Back to my story. There is a traditional fountain full of water also on the pier. Tyler asked where all the money went that was in it last time we looked. Maybe they're going to use it to fix the sidewalk fountains?

You want to just jump right in these fountains come July!

I don't know if you can see it too well, but just behind the yacht on the left side of this picture is a peek at our brand new baseball stadium! The Blue Wahoos are our minor league team and this is their first season here. You can catch a game while looking out at Pensacola Bay.

The next day we went to the beach, which is really never disappointing here. White sands, emerald waters. Water temps already in the 70s. This is the beach on NAS Pensacola. It is so nice.

Are you jealous yet? There is nothing like it without a passport. Or so I hear.

Here's another beach pic, just to make you really want to come on down South. Opal Beach. Just east of Pensacola's main beach. Very private. Very quiet. And look how far out the shallows go! I love wading far out and not being too deep.

If you are wondering: the ear surgery went pretty well. Hopefully the hole in the drum heals quickly and well so we can commence swimming lessons and really have some fun!

This Saturday is time again for Home Depot Kids Clinic. I'm sure it will be a Mother's Day project. Are you going? It is free, it is crafty and it is the priceless time together that makes it a great morning out. Maybe followed by pancakes somewhere? And then more beach time, of course! With ear plugs.

Play Foods

It all started with Tyler pretending to cook in the bathtub. It makes me think of Kramer cooking in the shower on Seinfeld! 

Tyler wants to be a chef someday - his phrasing - and so we would pretend to make some kind of soup in his various bath toys while he took a bath. Sometimes we'd pretend to plant a garden first, to have our own vegetables. You should always try to include a little learning in every game, right?

Eventually he wanted to make pizza in his bathtub kitchen. I helped out by bringing a few spring-form pan bottoms to the tub for pizza pans. We talked about how real pizza restaurants toss the dough in the air to stretch it out before they add toppings. His bath toy storage fish became the oven.

As you can imagine, we ended up with imaginary phone calls for pizza orders and Tyler wanting to play restaurant all the time. Here he is at our first out-of-tub kitchen set up.

Now we play in the bedroom, and a drawer under his bed is the new oven. He takes orders by phone and drives them to delivery spots all over town. (We also pretend to drive around town for Tyler's Woodworking Business. That Black and Decker workbench gets a lot of use now that people want their pool chairs fixed in time for Summer!)

I realized that we needed some food props for our cooking play time. Not wanting to invest in a bunch of store bought play foods, I thought of Sunday school felt play stories and thought "Hey, I have felt from crafting, and I can make that into lots of things." I've had a lot of fun cutting out the shapes. There are 12" tan pizza crusts, 11" red pizza sauce circles, and assorted toppings. Even calamari.

The play cash register he got for his birthday makes running his pizza shop (and other business ventures) even more fun and educational, although it will be a while til we reach the making change level of math!

Tyler's kitchen supplies include empty juice and milk containers, ketchup and mustard bottles, assorted utensils, some stainless steel bowls, tupperware and oven mitts. He got a wooden food set for his birthday: a clearance set I scored on at JCP! You don't have to spend a lot to have a kid's kitchen up and running!

The top of the toy box now serves as a cooking stove. The floor is the pizza prep area. An inexpensive pencil case holds the felt food items when we're not using them. I think other food items are not far off in our future.

We have made and colored several menus and he has a small notebook to take your order. I think yarn for spaghetti will be next. We can get a little practice with his scissors while making that.

Until next time!

New Flooring

With allergies, sometimes you have to do things without knowing how you'll finish it. Like tearing out carpeting when you have no money for new flooring. This is what we did this week in Tyler's room. My daughter and I tore up all the carpet, the padding, the tack strips and got down to the cement floor. No more dust mite ridden (and stained) carpeting, but cement is not a kind surface for a three year old boy who likes to flop down on his knees or fall and pretend to be dead after a sword fight.

What would we do? I considered the cheapest possibility: linoleum. That meant fumes from glue and trying to wrestle a big sheet of it, cutting around corners etc. Not what I want to deal with right now. I knew there had to be an easier answer. And there was!

These foam floor tiles from Sam's Club are interlocking and they are for safety/anti-fatigue. Cushiony underfoot. No glue or anything. And they are 2 feet square! I could have put the primary color sides up, but went with the dark grey side instead. I used an acrylic quilting ruler and a box knife and was able to cut around the closet and walls to fit these easily. Less than $22 a pack and it took only 4 packs to cover all the floor space including closets. What a deal, right?

Tyler likes them so much, he wanted to sleep on the floor that first night. Ha!

Two of the sides on these tiles are straight edged, but you can pull off a narrow strip to reveal the interlocking shapes. This left me with a pile of narrow strips that were puzzle pieced down one side. I was wondering how I'd store them without them getting torn up or bent, but Tyler knew just what to do with them! He started fitting those long strips into pairs and hammering them into place with his Black and Decker kids hammer. He said he was making swords. He thought of this all on his own!   I am impressed.

A little work the past few weeks with jigsaw puzzles and he has a whole new hobby! These are the Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles in a box. Dinosaurs. We put them together over and over. Then we talk about what kind of dinosaur is in the picture and what they eat. Mostly he is telling me, thanks to the show "Dino Dan" on Nick Jr.

So now we have a safe, cushy, hypo-allergenic floor for his room. I hope this gives some of you an idea of what to do in your play room or kids room!