Thursday, July 21, 2011

QUILT FINISHED ALSO


In all the mess of tile grout and dirt all over my house I was able to finish one quilt. It was for the young woman staying temporarily next door. She befriended us while she was here and was just amazed at how people make quilts. She wanted to learn but had to move back with family in another town so I made her one before she left. Shannon (my daughter) picked out the fabrics and it really came out pretty.

INTERIOR SHOWER





I love the shelves built into each end. It was such a good idea so you have room for shower things and only took up 6 inches total from length of shower. So now that it is all done I can just clean the grourt residue a couple of times and the bathroom is ready. We have one wall left to paint and will eventually regrout the floor but I love my shower. If if leaks we'll fix that when it happens.

SHOWER DONE



Well it went from my $925 estimate to almost $2,300 but the shower is done. Have to reclean grout residue a few times before all gone but I love this shower. Since the area was so small we added one of the curved rods - what a difference. It's like a hotel shower. Have to take pictures of small areas at a time cause couldn't get everything in one picture.

WALL SHELVES


We added shelves on the wall as the bathroom has no linen area. I think they look great and they hold all the towels and my favorite pig picture from Jean.

NEW CABINETS


I love the chocolate color so much decided to do bathroom in chocolate and white. I can open the door and nothing falls out plus I get little baskets on the bottom shelf.

MERRY CHRISTMAS








Daughter and son-in-law are living with me for a while and son-in-law decided if I was having a new shower I should have new cabinets as well since the old ones were really crappy. So back to Lowes to choose what I wanted for an early Christmas and Mothers Day gift. I really loved the new Allen & Roth Espresso colors. I got a smaller vanity so I could have shelves as well. Here's the old ones son-in-law took out.

NEW CONTRACTOR

So on day 3 of the 2 day job found out the contractor I hired was just not going to work. Showed up high and cussing up a storm. Still didn't finish and that night I found out when he bought supplies from Lowes also added $100 or so in tools to my Lowes card. Needless to say fired him and contwcted Lowe's regarding contractor they recommended. Will have to sue to get my money back but lesson learned. New contractor was supposed to finish but claims entire job needed to be ripped out and done over as no liner was put over sub-floor. That was going to be another $3,000. Checked around and had plumber out. He capped off tub spout and agreed it was wrong. However he suggested he would last for some time if I did not have the extra $3k - I did not. Here's what I did not know. Every shower eventually leaks as grout is not waterproof - huh? Why's it in a shower then? Eventually it pulls away from tile and water runs through. That water is caught in liner and runs out drain. I have no liner so it will run under shower which is concrete foundation and wood base floor added for shower. Plumber said we could finish as is and make a point of redoing grout once a year as well as silicone caulk all edges. Thats the route I took.

Tub Saga


Hired contractor and he got started. Found out they fit the tub into the wall so it had to be cut in half and hammered out. Sure the contractor loved that part. Next found whoever built the bathroom filled in under tub with sand bags instead of building a sub-floor. And by sand bags I mean grocery bags filled with sand not sand bags you purchase. These were some crazy people. I checked with city who says addition was done by licensed contractor and inspected by city when finished - good thing he inspected after they finished. I seen some weird things but this is up there on the list.

SHOWER DRAMA


Here we go with pictures of my shower horror. When I bought my house it was obvious in master bath that the previous owner did not clean the shower or grout well. Once I started scrubing the finish came off the tub and caused more mildew. Found out from the plumber the owner had put a rubber coating on tub to make it look new. You cannot scrub it or it comes off. With allergies I cannot live with mildew. It had to go. Now that we did most of the lawn work it was time to get rid of the tub. The area is only 54 x 25 so I decided on just pulling the tub, tile the rest of the wall and floor and just make it a walk in shower. Besides I hate glas doors on tubs and showers. Makes me feel locked in. Here's ugly tub before we started.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

TO HAPPY COTTAGE QUILTER

To answer you - I love this combo. The frame is really so much nicer than I thought I would be getting for the money. And the Juki sews like a dream. It's the 2000 which I can not see the difference but is the one after the 98. I have had a Juki 98-TLQ for 3+ years and I LOVE it. It sews great, never had a problem. Only time I encountered issue was thread shredding and turned out just needed larger needle. I would really recommend the combo to anyone.

HI Kheli - Frame Question

I just bought the Grace Start Right Juki 2000 combo last week. The frame is steel instead of wood so easy to assemble and flows so smooth. I added the stitch regulator which was an additional $500 but now realize though I like it, if your used to free motion quilting on your domentic machine then you have a lot of practice controlling your stitch length already. I could have put off for a while but it does make everything even. The frame and machine are great. I've had a juki 98-TLQ for 3+ years and is a great machine.

July 5, 2011 1:06 PM

NEXT UFO FINISHED


Just finished the carpenter star I had pinned on frame. It's only the second one done on the quilitng frame and I think it came out really nice. I wanted to make this for my friend Ed. It's so nice to bless people that will really enjoy something. I hope he liked the colors. They remind me of him - outgoing and bold.