February 2017 – nicole.groudasfamily.com

Linen Closet and Trim

Finally a post with house pictures! This weekend while I was away Ryan surprised me by finishing the trim in the linen closet and having Brad prime/paint it along with the door (and the door to Alex’s room which still needed paint!). I just have to finish the outlets in there, set up the lights (LED strips that will plug in) and we can install the closet system!

It’s hard to take a picture of a closet – but you can see the baseboard and door painted at least.

Ryan had finished the beadboard in the bathroom by Saturday but spent Monday working on the caps. Bathroom trim is almost done and then it will be painted!

Next weekend he hopes to start laying the floor in the master bedroom!

Celtic Banner

This past week I finally finished up a very large piece called Celtic Banner by Butternut Road. I used a ‘green’ conversion so it’s not in the original browns but was inspired by one we saw finished in this color way in a store that no longer exists. In 2006 my best friend and I both purchased this piece and selected matching Yellow fabric (32 Ct Belfast in Ray of Light). We started it when we took a vacation to Maine together on August 3, 2006. Some history can be read on this post : Celtic Banner 2011

Most of this piece was stitched when we were together over the years (mostly on trips to Maine). This year was the first since my kids were born that we picked it up again during a recent visit. We decided we should just finish it up now that we had picked it up again and a month later – it’s done!

Top half :

Bottom Half : It’s great to have such a large piece finished after so long. To truly finish it though it needs to be hangable – so I need to figure out how I want to finish it off. I’m sure that will be a project of its own.

Wicked Weekend

No house work this weekend because we went to NYC for my xmas gift! Ryan got us a hotel and tickets to see Wicked! We left Saturday morning when Mark and Suzanne came over to watch the girls for the weekend (THANK YOU!). Poor Bella of course ended up with a nasty cold but is already doing much better this morning so we missed the worst of it (sorry Grandma!).

We drove down to Poughkeepsie and took the train into the city. I stitched on my travel project (dragons!) on the train rides which was an extra bonus. We had a hotel right on Central Park with a view of the park and we went to see Wicked! I’ve seen Wicked before but it was Ryan’s first time and he really enjoyed it plus our seats were amazing!

Sunday sleeping in was maybe the best part and then I stitched on the train ride back. Driving back from Poughkeepsie was horrible in the snow – stressful in the car with front wheel drive. I missed having all wheel drive for sure but Ryan did all the hard part and I kept my head down and stitched. I ended up finishing up my Patience dragon so I have 9 dragons ready for the dragon quilt – 3 more to go!

Some pictures – more stitching since there was no house work this weekend!

Finished - Patience Dragon - perfect for right now! — Finished – Patience Dragon – perfect for right now!

Crafts

It’s been a few years since I’ve made any real time to do much stitching. I’ve quilted on and off over the last few years but I’ve decided to get back into cross stitch as well this year. I’m going to document my crafts here as well as house projects.

In January my Aunt gave me a quilt she and I had pieced back in 2011 and I had left mine at her house unfinished. I took the last week in January and put the final border on it, then hand quilted and put on the binding. Finishing up the Japanese Diamonds quilt (Japanese and homespun fabrics).

I’ve been going through boxes of cross stitch and quilts and patterns, trying to organize and find projects I have. I found this piece called the Shepherd’s Bush purse that I stitched back in 2009. It’s beaded and I always loved the soft color pallete. So today I turned it into the purse with some fabric from my stash and a little sewing then hand stitching. Cute and can go in my bin of finished stitchery now!

Shepherd's Bush Purse — Shepherd’s Bush Purse

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to show the other piece I’m stitching – started about 2005 and hopefully to be finished soon!