My version is definitely different, first i went with a pink box instead of red to cut down on the food coloring since I didn’t have any no-flavor red coloring and too much red can be bitter. Second I used chocolate cake and chocolate frosting for the cake and cake treats instead of red velvet.
I used a mixture of milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate for the candy coatings. I’m pretty happy with my results, it was the first time I ever used fondant and I had some fun making the chocolate covered cake shapes. I did learn one thing – to use the double boiler method for melting the chocolate instead of my candy maker – the boiler worked great for the white and pink but the chocolate dips were too thick using the candy maker. Lessons learned 🙂
box of chocolates - all made of cake and chocolateanother angleextra chocolates
First – for future reference -be careful when buying moldings at home depot, these were marked at 53/37 angles however that’s not a standard spring angle (37) for crown molding, so we decided to actually measure the angle using some of the nifty tools Ryan got for xmas. Right on the dot it was 38 degrees spring. Which is standard, so that’s what we used.
We also decided to start on a different side this time around, leaving the crazy bowed ceiling side for 3rd instead of second, and helping to hide our last coped corner behind the door in case it didn’t come out great. And without further ado – here are the pictures to show our work for the day…
First piece going insecond piece...third and definitely the hardest piece
Just a quick note about the piece above the window … this is where our ceiling bows down and also where our wall bows a bit. So to accommodate these curves we had to scribe and cut the molding along the ceiling. Finally in the left corner we had to just leave a gap (we could only bend it so much) and decided to spackle the ceiling down to match the molding in that one corner. We were actually quite happy with this piece when done but it was a lot of work.
close up of what the molding looks like (and the corner coped)And the final piece is in!
After getting some cakes in the oven while ryan went around and added some nails and set them all to tighten it all up, I went around and filled all the nail holes and did some spackling (couple of dings in the walls to get too).
Since the spackle was out (for the ceiling corner and dings) we decided to touch up the bathroom a bit too. We got a crack next to the door so we put in a piece of wood behind the drywall and screwed along the seam. Then I spackled it to start the process of covering it up. Probably need 2 more coats on this seam.
fixing the seam in the bathroom
Now I’m off to work on my valentine’s cake project… if it’s successful i’ll post pics tomorrow.
First I had to re-vacuum the demolished area of the house to get up the rest of the insulation pieces scattered about. Then we took the leftover insulation to the dump (this time the insulation guy took as many bags as he could – we still have an attic full of bags of this stuff) – but the dump does take it for a small charge (and it turns out we can fit 7 bags in our truck at a time).
Once the demo area was cleared out we filled it up (with tools this time) – set up the saws and tables in the livingroom and moved the diningroom table out of the gym and back into the diningroom where it “belongs” 🙂
Once the gym was empty we got to work on the crown molding! We actually decided to change up how we were doing the molding entirely. Previously we were using a larger molding with a backerboard hidden under it to nail to. We decided to go with a smaller more flexible molding instead (the next size down) and use a piece of poplar as a decorative part of the molding and as a nailer. So the poplar is routed on one edge (the visible edge at the bottom) and it’s screwed in to the studs. Since the top is hidden it doesn’t have to hit the ceiling evenly, making it easier to keep at an even distance from the ceiling with our crazy bowed ceilings.
So it took all day but we got all 4 pieces ripped down to width, routed, coped and installed. Only one piece came out too small and we had to cut and route a 5th because of that.
base for moldingwindow wallall the way aroundClose up of the detail and the coping
Tomorrow we’re hoping to tackle the crown molding itself – oh goodie.
I feel like this has been the focus of my life for the past 9 months or so – but finally it’s over – we have insulation in our livingroom, diningroom and front hall/stairway! That’s most of the downstairs completed now – everything but the kitchen and backporch – plus a tiny bit of the upstairs. What a relief! We should notice a big difference in how long the rooms downstairs retain heat now, I can’t wait – I turned it up to 60 immediately to find out!
So without further ado – here is a walk through of our downstairs 🙂
Bags of leftover insulation, they took most of them this time.diningroom insulatedclosed up window in livingroom now insulatedlivingroom cupola insulatedgaps sprayed with cansView of the front wall of the houseunder the stairwayFront closetstaircase wallCloset wall and stairway wall at front of house
Wow – can’t believe that’s done. I have some cleanup to do, they were having trouble with static making it hard to clean up too well so I’m going to have to go over it one last time, then move some of our stuff around to make the space more usable again. Maybe we can get the gym cleaned out this weekend to work on it again. *big sigh*.
Well this weekend went by pretty quickly. Since we’re on hold with the insulation we have to keep the livingroom/diningroom empty. This meant my plans to move the tables out of the gym to start crown molding did not happen (no place to put the tables until we can use the diningroom again). However Ryan had to work all weekend any how so we wouldn’t have gotten much done. He stayed home Friday to clear snow off the many lower roofs but had work to make up the rest of the weekend. The snow clearing on Friday went well though and the warm spell we had really cleared things up even more.
So I mostly relaxed, did some stitching and some sewing. Sunday I got started on the curtains for my sister. I’m making lined tab-top curtains with a white/green polka dot fabric. Then I’ll make a solid green shade that matches and a cute valance. First up was the curtains and I got one panel finished, the second one close to finished. There are 2 windows in the room so I still have 2 (and a half) more panels to finish up before I can start the valance or shades.
Anyway, here are my progress pictures from this weekend:
Progress on Autumn in my GardenOne curtain panel done (hanging) and one in progress (on table).
The curtains so far have been easy and fun. I haven’t decided on the style shade yet but I did decide I don’t need blackout lining or anything. If I hold the lining, curtain fabric, lining, shade fabric all up together they definitely block out the light. So I can use the regular lining I have for both curtains and shades.
This week – friday probably – we’ll get the insulation finished hopefully and next weekend resume work on the house. I’m looking forward to it!
Well today did not go as planned unfortunately. We spent the evening last night clearing out the bottom of the driveway and taking nails/screws out of the walls for insulation today. We got the last wire run and everything secured. This morning we moved the radiators and I installed the last cable drop.
The insulation guys, after getting all set up however were having equipment failures. They couldn’t get the pressure they needed and need to do some repairs. So they sprayed just enough that we could put the radiators back and not have to move them again (can’t got days without the radiators in at all!). Then left to come back end of next week. UGG! At least we got the radiators in though.
I’m totally bummed that insulation is not done yet and we’re having some leaks from snow build up on the porch roofs. Ryan is clearing the front porch roof as much as he can. We’re more worried about the roof over the bathroom/gym but it so far has not leaked. We’ll try to clear it a bit but it’s really built up there.
It’s going to be a different weekend than I had planned, that’s for sure. Probably clearing snow and maybe doing some insulation in the basement but probably not putting up crown molding in the gym since we can’t move the stuff out of there into the other rooms yet since they are not ready.
Here are some insulation pictures – what’s done so far:
diningroom insulation startedanother diningroom shotlivingroom insulation startedthe other side of the cupola
We are expecting another 2 feet of snow almost tomorrow – after the 5 inches today. Honestly I just don’t know where we’re going to put that much more snow. The banks are so high that when I shovel, it mostly falls back down at me!
Luckily I am able to work from home during all this snow so I don’t have to venture out of the house except to shovel and snow blow. Today I figured out how to start the snow blower so I can at least help with the snow removal more now. Previously I mostly just shoveled the stairs/walkways and around the car. Today I cleared the whole driveway, leaving just a bit for Ryan after running out of gas and not wanting to go down to the basement for more (it’s cold down there).
I do hope all this snow does not delay our insulation friday – we need to order oil again (once a month right now) and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m hoping once the insulation is in I can drag out the oil deliveries for 2 months at a time – maybe???
No house progress this weekend as we were back in NY visiting family however we did get a date for insulation – this coming friday! Which means I’m going to have some busy evenings getting this ready (need to move things out of the way, need to get all the nails out of the wall, need to make sure wiring is out of the way and need to run one last switch).
It’s very exciting and I do hope it does not get delayed!
On the quilting front, I got mom’s quilt all quilted and gave it to her this weekend, I did not do the binding because after talking to her she said she could do that part. I have some curtains to make for my sister up next, then some shades and a valance. It’s good practice for my own house which isn’t quite ready for shades/curtains but I do plan to make them eventually!
I’ve post dated this so it posts after Mom has gotten her quilt so it’s a bit of a surprise, she knows I’m quilting it but doesn’t know I plan to have it done by the weekend I see her so I can give this to her. So pretend this is a Friday morning post.
Thursday night I finished up quilting the last 3 blocks on Mom’s quilt and then quickly quilted the inner border with just a wandering loopy design. I’m actually not sure what to quilt in the outer border, maybe a loopy design with some snowflakes mixed in if I’m feeling adventurous. Maybe the word snowflake and winter mixed in as well.
So here’s the quilt so far:
Blocks and inner border quilted!A close up of the blocks/border quilting
I’m hoping tonight (Friday night) I can finish up the border, and sew on the binding. Then during the drive Saturday I will whip stitch the binding down so it’s ready for her!
2 weeks in a row now I’ve gotten a little stitching time while over visiting Uncle Mark and Aunt Mo. Autumn in my Garden is coming along. I started this piece a while back. It’s on 40 count fabric and I knew I should use one strand of thread however there are blended colors so I tried 2 strands for a bit to see how I liked it – i hated it – it was tough to stitch (too dense) on the 40 count. So i pulled it all out (except for the word Autumn which is still 2 strands right now). I started over with 1 strand, the blended parts I use one color for one leg and the second color for the top leg of each stitch. I’m loving it now.
Autumn in my Garden progress
I think I want to get some scroll rods for this piece. I enjoy using them on Celtic Banner (which I haven’t stitched on in years!) and I didn’t like using the q-snaps on this piece. So I think Joann’s will be a trip I made in a night or 2. Holding this much fabric in hand is difficult and I think I’ll stitch faster with scroll rods.
Quite a snow day we had today, I made it in to work though so I must get back to it. Tonight I plan to finish quilting the snow flake blocks and tomorrow finish up the border!
