LibertyStar

OH MY!

How in the world does a whole month go by so fast?  hmmmm well maybe it's this list of things that happened since my last post!  

• My friend Taylor from Charleston came to visit and attend artunraveled the first week of August
• I traveled to CA to teach at the Country Loft four days after Taylor left, then traveled on to Malibu, CA to take a class from the delightful Pam Garrison and stopped to visit with my lovely sister-in-law and niece on the way back to AZ
• My oldest son Travis, who lives in TX now, came to visit for a long weekend.
• Bob (dh) had his second knee replacement surgery the last week of August. UGH!  I'm so unqualified at nursing!
• Stitches From the Schoolhouse was finished and sent to press.  Don't you LOVE the cover Bob my graphic designer came up with?  It should start appearing in your favorite local quilt shops really soon.  YAY!

Well no wonder August seemed as if I blinked and it was over!  Bob (dh) is still recuperating and practicing for retirement - uh oh that much togetherness might just be a little bit annoying!  Who else has a retired husband hanging around all day? Thank goodness for all the horsing around he does - he will probably be spending  M - F from 8 - 5 at the barn!  Sounds good to me!  Back soon.

xoxx, Renée

Spring Market . . . a little bit late!

Don't you think the purple aisle carpeting sets off my booth?  LOL

Another angle of my booth . . . it's 10 x 10 but it sure looks small in this photo!

my bff Cindy Oates - Taylor Made Designs right across the aisle from me!

My darling friend Kathy, The Cottage At Cardiff Farms, she was my next door neighbor.  What a sweetheart she is!

My sweet friends Sisters Quilting Trunk, Cheryl and Mary, who were right next to Cindy.

. . . and here is what goes on in my booth . . . a little bit of people stylin' for photo ops! That's the adorable, sweet Debbie Busby, Wooden Spool Designs on the left, me in the middle and Debbie's darling friend that sadly I can't seem to remember her name.  I hope she will forgive me.  This last photo was right before I got food poisoning which zapped me for 24 hours of misery!  UGH

Back again in a few days - my friend Taylor is arriving today from South Carolina for some art fun right here in VERY hot AZ and I mean VERY HOT!  

xoxx, Renée

Are you still there?

Oh MY GOSH! It has been so long I hardly know where to start.  One step at a time and maybe it won't seem as overwhelming to catch up!

Let's start with the most exciting news first!  Jake and Jordan are getting married!

This photo was taken last January when they were skiing/snowboarding near Flagstaff for Jordan's birthday.  This is one of my favorite photos of them.  Do they look like they're having fun or what?

hmmmm not sure if it is better to go back to remodeling or maybe what's happening now and then go backwards.  What to do, what to do?  

This is a photo of the finished kitchen.  I love it and I'm almost enjoying cooking . . . well maybe that should be, I really enjoy cooking when I have to cook now.  It's so nice to have solid surface countertops - who knew that would be something worth saying!

This is the living room with the cabinets painted black . . . I really like the look of them but they get really dusty and you can see the dust since they're black.   The inside of the cabinets were painted a light gray green which turned out very nice.

Next I will share Spring Quilt Market, trips to Reno, Colorado, Kansas City, Primitives of the Midwest and the new book's cover (as soon as they say it's okay).  The book title is "Stitches from the Schoolhouse" and it's almost done . . . a few changes for the graphic designer and then it will go to print.  It's supposed to start shipping the very end of August or beginning of Sept.  It's so exciting to see it come together . . . I can't wait to share it with you.

You might not believe me but I will be back soon!  Seriously I will and I hope some of you are still checking in occasionally.  : - )

xoxx, Renée

FIVE WORDS

NEW BOOK SPRING QUILT MARKET

Hoping to be back to visit with you soon!

                                                   xoxx, Renée

oops I better clarify . . . the new book will be released in Sept but the frenzy of photography and writing is upon me along with four new patterns for Spring Quilt Market.

Viva Las Vegas

Off to Las Vegas to see this guy - can't wait!  Meant to share a kitchen update but ran out of time :  (   More on the kitchen asap!  xoxx, Renée

Almost there

Won't be long now until the big finish!  The cabinets are beautiful - a great shade of sage/gray/taupe, LOVE the granite countertops and the pot rack light fixture (I just happened to see at Lowe's) is one of my favorite things.  Now we have to get some nice looking pots and pans to hang from it.  The 30+ year old hand me down pots work well but are definitely not the kind that anyone would display!

This photo doesn't show the true color of the cabinets but you can get the idea.  The granite makes the counter space seem so much bigger!  The sinks are a granite composite but they show every drop of water on the dark brown color.  Hopefully our very hard water doesn't leave marks on them over time. 
We decided to take out the sink from the bar since we never used it.  The wine chiller we ordered for the left cabinet wouldn't fit and neither would any other one we could find.  It was supposed to have a little refrigerator in it when we built our house 19 years ago. We opted not to have one for reasons I can't recall so they just gave it a cabinet door instead.   Today we found a nice wine rack that fits perfectly and red wine is consumed in larger quantities around here anyway!  And by the way - Dee and Jordan, that red wine thing is ALL your fault!  More about those two later!  We already had the small free standing eight bottle chiller for the whites on the countertop!

The wood floors are scheduled to be refinished and stained a nice neutral brown in a few weeks, the kitchen tile backsplash is ordered and the living room cabinets will be painted and distressed soon.  The carpenter already added bead board to the back of the open bookcases for a fresh look . . . love that!
Bob looks a little surprised don't you think?  Maybe I shouldn't tell him about the stone on the exterior yet!  More soon.  xoxx, Renée

Whistle while you Work

Just in case you think it's all play and no work having your kitchen remodeled (with a great contractor) after making your choices for paint colors, counter tops, cooktops, microwaves, tile backsplashes, knobs, pulls, sinks, faucets, cooktop hoods . . . are you tired yet?  It is VERY exciting to see all the laborious decisions come together in fact it's downright magical!

day 4 - ready for the drawer fronts and cabinet doors

cool contraptions for everything to dry - VERY STINKY!

where does all this JUNK go?  What a mess!

LOVE those knobs and drawer pulls!  Counter tops should be coming by the end of the week then the sinks, cooktop, hood, oven, etc can all go in.  About the time everything gets put away the floors are going to be refinished with a little stain . . . that will take  about a week.  The living room built in cabinets are going to get a fresh new look too . . . I found the BEST picture of EXACTLY what I want for those . . . so now we added that as the final touch.  SHHHHH don't tell but I have a few other things to finish it off we just aren't going to share those with Bob yet!  Now I will see if Bob ever reads my blog - LOL!  xoxx, Renée

PS thanks for all the encouragement and your comments - I love getting to share the excitement!

 

 

 

Day Three

Step one of the painting was to spray with a dark brown/black undercoat.

The next paint was a wonderful gray/green/taupe color "garden urn"

Then they started to distress gradually with some worm holes and sanding - mostly on the edges.  Then they coated them with a clear satin finish to protect the distressed look.  If I'm not mistaken that's an oxymoron LOL!   

They are working on all the doors and drawer fronts today . . . they had to paint both sides of 49 doors and 21 drawers.  Did you know that the drawer fronts are just screwed onto the front of the drawers?  I had no idea!  LOVING IT!  xoxx, Renée

Day Two

Everything is moving quickly . . . we have the GREATEST contractor, thank you Scott!  Look at the progress yesterday and I can hardly wait to share the painted cabinets tomorrow.  The doors and drawers will be painted and distressed over the next two days but the worst mess will be over for this part.  YEAH - it's looking good!  All those choices are coming together.  xoxx, Renée

Kitchen Remodel

White tile countertops all gone!   So many choices - new countertops, painted cabinets, new cooktop . . . so much excitement!  Stitching while they work on the dramatic change!  xoxx, Renée