DIY for Quilters: Plumbing

This weekend it was time to tackle a pesky leaky bathtub faucet. I have been putting this off because (1) I didn't want to spend the money to hire a plumber and (2) although I've done two minor plumbing jobs, this seemed more complicated.

Step one in any DIY project when you are a quilter is:

Go to your favorite LQS. Yes that is step one. You need to visit your favorite place and hang out with some friends and soak up some good vibes.

I went to Sweet Home Quilt Co. to see what was new and sign up for Melisa's new Groovy Girls club that starts in September. Karin was there and she *made* me buy this cute-as-can-be little kit to make little Halloween treat bags from the new Quilts and More magazine

well actually I think it's Bad Melisa's fault because how can you resist this cute little bundle???
A bitty piece of Halloween fabric "just because", two charm packs for a future Schnibble, and some matching on-sale Moda marble and I was ready to tackle home repair. Trust me it works. Girl Power!!!

Step two: go home and drink some more coffee. While you fuel up on caffeine, check emails and blogs.

Step three: Call your dad and find out if he remembers where the main water shut off valve is. This serves two purposes (1) my dad has a good memory and can describe things over the phone well and (2) puts him on notice to keep his cell phone handy in case problem arise. After describing the water meter and lines under the house, sure enough, dad knew where it was. Turn off the water all the way. Remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. These things really need labels. Nice decorative hang tags or a small sign. As soon as I finish this plumbing job, I'm labeling everything in the crawl space.
With Martha Stewart gift tags.

Step four: Get your tool box and most importantly your laptop. Having a wireless router is so worth it just to be able to take my laptop all around the house.
Luckily the bathroom has a handy laptop holder. Use the power of Google to find several websites showing step-by-step instructions on how to take apart your faucet. Verify that the water is off completely, cover the drain with a old towel so you don't drop important pieces down the drain, and take apart the faucet. Use your favorite tools and cuss words here. Take all pieces and parts and put them in a quilt project bag (aka ziploc baggie).

Step five: Get thee to Home Depot. Wait do not go directly to the store go to.....

Step four and a half: Add more power steering fluid to Xena because along with everything else, Xena the truck is leaking power steering fluid. Geez... Realize you can't wash your hands because you turned off the water....

Step five: go to Home Depot with your quilt project bag and match old pieces to new pieces in the plumbing aisle. This takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Spend a few minutes wondering why the silicone caulk and teflon tape are not with the plumbing supplies. Wander around and get these items from their most unlikely places.

Step six: go home and start replacing pieces which requires three hands. I only have two. Use whatever tools seem helpful. Bash your knuckle and drop crucial piece down inside the wall. Use more favorite cuss words here.

Step seven: go to Lowe's. It's closer and you are now sweaty and grumpy and still can't wash your hands. Wonder why they don't sell big bags of M&Ms and wine at Lowe's because you could really use some of both right about now. Buy replacement piece.

Step eight: Get back home. Say in a loud voice "let's do this!" Cats think you are crazy and wonder why you are playing in the bathtub. Finish putting faucet back together. Be amazed with yourself.

Step nine: turn the water back on, remove camera, laptop, cell phone from bathroom--just in case... Be even more amazed with yourself when nothing leaks and faucet is working correctly. Finish tightening all fittings and get silicone caulk all over everything. Realize you are even more sweaty, gross, and now sticky and you can't take a shower for three hours until the caulk is set. The bathtub is dirty with footprints and ooky stuff from the old pieces. Be happy no one is around except the cats.

Step ten call your dad so he can be proud of you. Be proud of yourself. Wonder if you can join the plumbers union.

Step eleven: Call for take out and quilt the rest of the weekend. You did good.

Celebrity Sightings

I feel like Kevin Bacon by being one degree of separation from so many celebrity sightings this month (and yes, this is a shameless plug for some of my favorite people out there in quilty blogland).

First among the celebs is Her Most High Exalted Thimble Herself, Pat Wys
Pat has a super fantastic basket pattern in the new issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.
This is the issue and here is the article
Yes, I know the photo is bad...now you have to go find your copy to see it better. After you add Pat's project to your To Do list like I did...

Cruise on back a few pages and check out our second celebrity Ms. Marcie Patch of Patchalot More.
I love Marcie's designs (and her blog) and added this way cool Dream Catcher quilt to my To Do list to go along with her other magazine appearances.

I spotted another favorite blogger in this month's Quiltmaker magazine. I already had this issue on my to-buy list because Judy Laquidara had a nifty pattern in it. But look who else has magically appeared with a super cute Halloween pattern
Ms. Moonbeams in a Jar Mary Anne Drury! I heart and adore her blog. She always cracks me up.

Just today there were two more celebrity sightings. Who did we find spreading laughter all over the Stash Manicure blog? Pat Wys!!!! Now I'm afraid everyone will know how funny she is and she'll get all Hollywood and leave our little Silver Thimble club behind to take on Conan, David, Jon, and Stephen. Sigh, I knew her when....

Lastly but not leastly two extremely local celebs are featured on the Bunny Hill Designs blog. Anne is featuring an "I Love My Pet" series of posts and if you click on this post and scroll to the 5th photo, you will see my very own Edgar and Stella being sweet and cuddly. So far the paparazzi has not caught them being siblings and fighting since this post.

"Pets on Quilts" Quilt Show

When I saw Becky's (The Quilting Booklady) post about SewCalGirl's Pet on Quilts show, I thought I would enter also. Out of the zillions of photos of the cats all over my quilts and trying to decide which of the four cats to show, I chose this photo.
Here is Stella (or Stella Bella or Bella; she answers to any variation), the inspiration for my blog's name. The quilt is Stella's quilt because looks so nice under her and brings out the orange and golds in her coat. It is a big quilt for a petite cat but the quilt is often kept folded up on the end of the bed. A perfect perch for a sweet kitty. Check out the rest of the great pets and quilts at the link below.

Sewing Frenzy

This week was pretty rough so I sewed A LOT as a stress-buster.
I finished a Schnibble. This is Rooibois made from the Moda line called Eva. Purple and lime green--what can be better than that??!!??

I sewed BOM blocks too.

Here's the last 2 blocks from Moose on the Porch
block 11 and block 12 now I just need to find some sashing and put it together.
I love this block 6 from the Quilt Room jelly roll sampler. This free BOM is halfway through and I am loving this quilt.

I also made myself a new pillowcase. I adore owls and when I saw this owly fabric at Intown Quilters I knew I *needed* some but didn't know what to do with it. Then I thought of making a pillowcase. Doesn't match anything in my bedroom but c'est la vie. It's owls!
Wonder what else I'll finish this weekend?

Nearly Mid-Week Randomness

Oh I wish it was Friday!! Not much happening around here. Morpheus is doing much better and I haven't told him that he gets to go back to the vet on Friday (another car ride!). The vet wants to make sure Morph's tooth extraction site is healing OK. Morph is much too clever for his own good and it has been series of tricks to get him to take his antibiotic (liquid and yucky tasting I'm sure).

Gomez is waiting for the next quilt project. I need to work on my jelly roll BOMs and Scrappy Nines so look for more Gomez helping fun soon.

We have been eating vats of homemade salsa.
Another great use for Vidalia onions and tomatoes! Just chop up tomatoes (these are Romas and yellow-ones-I-don't-know-the-name-of and I leave the seeds out), onions, jalapeno peppers (de-seed these too), fresh cilantro, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and just a smidge of a smidge of sugar. Mix well and let sit for a bit for the flavors to meld. Eat tons with tortilla chips because it's veggies and good for you! Still no rain here so I don't know how much longer the tomatoes will continue.

I keep forgetting to post a photo of my make-do bird bath for Becky (Quilting Booklady). If you look close (and ignore the fact that I took this from inside the house), there is a robin splashing around in there. S. created this bird bath by stacking some large clay pots and 2 clay saucers. Easy to clean and fill. No cost because we already had the pots. We have seen lots of bluebirds, robins, blue jays, and even squirrels splashing around.
My cats are inside-only cats so they enjoy watching from the windows.

Randomness over and out!

Sewing with Gomez

It must have been Gomez's turn to be kitty quilt helper today.
Here he is helping me figure out borders for a quilt. What length should they be? I have no idea since someone is covering the display and sitting on the pattern.

The sewing project for this weekend was finishing up my Little Quilts Second Saturday Sampler 2009-2010. I have had the 12 blocks done and the finishing kit since February. Time to get it done. The setting needed 13 blocks and LQ sent a pattern for the optional 13th block. Here is the fabric I chose out of my stash.
I finished sewing all the sashing and rows yesterday. Today was finishing sewing the top together and adding borders.
Measure fast!!

This quilt is set on the diagonal with setting triangles and bias on the outside. Pat taught us at Silver Thimble Quilt Club to #1 respect the bias and don't mess with it too much and #2 measure your quilt in three places then take the average to determine the length of your borders. (See Pat, we do listen sometimes!)
When Gomez is helping, you also need to take the square root of the hypotenuse plus or minus the circumference of Gomez divided by the inverse proportion (it's that "new math" they are always talking about).
And here is the finished top!!!! S. is being a wonderful quilt holder (and yes this is another square quilt which is not his favorite shape for quilts).

I always LOVE LOVE LOVE Little Quilts' Saturday Samplers. They always pick the best fabrics and have well written foolproof directions. I ordered this one through the mail because it was cheaper than driving across metro ATL (plus that extra buying in the shop...). I am reluctantly passing up this year's Sat. Sampler because I have a lot of BOMs going on this year. I have the binding made and I bet there's a perfect backing for this quilt somewhere in the depths of my sewing room. I may actually quilt this myself.

Well this was a good start to August!

Of BLOTs and Blueberries

Well it's another scorcher of a weekend (week, month, summer) here in the ATL. I am staying inside where it is much too hot to clean house but tolerable to sew all day. After getting the electric bill last month, I bumped the A/C up (?) down(?) whatever it is to 80F.

Along with lots more sewing now during this one-job time, I do a lot more cooking and baking (still to hot to clean house though...). The Stella Bella Organics Recession Garden: Year Two is looking rather heat-blasted except for the tomatoes which are coming in pretty steady. The catnip is even too dry to eat so no catnip for Gomez.

One of my absolute favorite meals in the summer is BLOTs. Now you may be familiar with plain old BLTs (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches). Here in Georgia, one of our state specialties is Vidalia onions. The best onion on the planet! It's a sweet onion only grown in south Georgia and its name is trademarked. Hence BLOTs--bacon, lettuce, onion, and tomato sandwiches. Here's my version
Cook bacon until done but not too crispy. Slice up a Vidalia onion into thin slices. Slice a tomato into rounds. I used a yellow tomato fresh from the garden. Make sure you use good bread and toast it. Layer bread, bacon, lettuce, onion, and tomato. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. And voila! Dinner or lunch or breakfast. I like to eat it while the bread is still warm. I don't use mayo or butter but I guess you can if you must...

I love this little bright lime green cutting board! It's made from recycled plastics (mostly toothbrushes! Check out the link for a cool company that recycles toothbrushes. No affiliation, I just like the company. And yes, they make good toothbrushes too) I like this little size for cutting up one or two things. Found it at Target if you need one.

Another summer kitchen activity is putting up fruits and veggies for later. I found some wonderful Michigan blueberries at Whole Foods on sale so bought a bunch for freezing (blueberries don't grow very well in Georgia). Wash the berries, dry for awhile, spread them out in a single layer in a baking pan or sheet (with sides!!! Don't think that berries that don't roll when fresh will stay un-rolly...), and stick in the freezer. Wait until frozen. I like to measure out in 1 cup portion and put in little baggies, then put all the little baggies in a big freezer bag, label and date.
Little frozen bursts of Michigan ready to be made into pies later. I feel so much like Judy at Patchwork Times right now! Do you read her blog? Love it--she always makes me laugh.

OK off to more sewing. I should have a finish later today woo hoo! In the meantime, check out Karin's killer scrappy Scrappy Nines quilt. It's gorgeous!