Around Here

Around here....

We've been getting the dining room pulled back together, unpacking all dishes and glassware that we packed up in September when the kitchen remodeling got underway.   It turned out that the old pantry shelving unit that was in the kitchen was a perfect fit in the dining room corner, so we gained quite a bit of much needed shelving there.  Finally we have a place for our cookbooks.  

Our friend Susan, who is the designer and general contractor for the kitchen, was over yesterday and helped get all the French plates up on the wall.  It was so good to see them again!

The larger French pieces went into the upper shelves of the kitchen cabinets, which can be lit at night for display.  We found a great place for the rooster; he now is perched high up on the open shelves above the coffee area, where he supervise kitchen activities. 

The carpenters are back today to fix a problem with the stove and to install the new pantry shelving unit in the kitchen.  I'm excited about the new pantry and can hardly wait to put it to use.  But meanwhile there is a lot of noise and commotion as the carpenters get their jobs done.  After this the only thing left is to tile the back splash, and that is scheduled for October 27.  I promise a round of "before and after" photos once that's done.

Did you notice the nice white walls in the kitchen?  That's Ben's handiwork; he not only put on three coats of Chantilly Lace white in the kitchen but painted three coats of Anjou Pear in the dining room. And he's not done yet; he has yards and yards of trim to paint.  I've offered to help but he prefers his precise painting to my more, shall we say, spirited style of painting.  So my contribution has been in the area of unpacking and organizing our new space.  Very enjoyable.  I feel like I'm playing house.

My studio has been busy while I finish up some work on three quilts I'm entering in a local quilt guild show next weekend.

A while back I stenciled a center block....

...which formed the basis of a colorful table runner which I'm working on. The body of it is pieced but I plan to add a lot of machine and hand embroidery, and that's going to take some time.  

I loved the colors on that piece so much that I made this small (16x18")  quilt, which I'm entering in the show.  

Ben has been doing some serious hiking lately, including the summit of Mt. Evans, which is 14,000 feet high.  This photo is from a hike he did up in Indian Peaks last week.  So beautiful!   

I went to see The Martian last night and quite enjoyed it.  You should go. 

I'm rereading Lucia in London one of the best of the Mapp and Luica books by E. F Benson.   Perfect escapism reading.

The weather here has been mighty fine lately and more is promised for the weekend.  I keep expecting to be hit by a frost, but so far we haven't.  This speckled rose, blooming in our garden, may be one of the last roses of summer.  Everyone says we'll have snow by Halloween.