I have been teasing you about my big, fat project for several months now.  Okay, I have to admit to you there isn’t a big, fat project…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotcha!  there really is and today is the day I will show it to you.

When we moved into this house 36 years ago we didn’t have a garage.  We decided we needed one if only to store things.  Some of my family came down and helped lay the concrete floor and David built the garage all by himself.  I went away for a weekend to visit my parents with the children and when I came back the garage was done.

It is a two and a half car garage.  Who in the world has half a car to park?  We parked our cars in it occasionally, but it really became a place to change the oil, store stuff and for David to have a place to work on projects.

Fast forward a few years and we  enclosed the garage because we just weren’t using it as such.  When we closed our quilt shop several years ago, we thought we might sell fabric out of our little shop so David put in new lighting.  The shop never happened and the building became my quilt studio.  David’s section kept getting smaller and smaller until he now has just a little space in the corner where he stores his tools.

I was working at the time and I wanted a heated place to work so I had a small furnace put in my studio.  Then we put in an air conditioner, a refrigerator and a microwave.  Suddenly, I was almost living out there sewing and quilting and listening to my talk radio shows.   I refused to have a telephone there to disturb me.  Still don’t have one although I do have my cellphone with me sometimes.

The shop is completely insulated, but for years we just had insulation batts exposed in the ceiling.  I didn’t like it, but I lived with it.  Then we decided to put in a bead board ceiling. Well, since we do everything ourselves almost, we tried to put the ceiling in together.  It didn’t work.  I have no upper body strength and had to hold the boards up while David took forever to nail them.  We finally gave up when we knew we couldn’t work together on that project.  So, for years, I have had a partial bead board ceiling which wasn’t attractive.

See, it really is ugly.  It’s been like that for years because we had other things to do.

Last October we took a trip through Tennessee to look at barn quilts  A lightbulb went off in my head.  There was something we could do to make the ceiling look better.

We bought David this new toy.  His big yellow compression machine.

I happened on this wonderful book on Amazon and bought it. I will have to tell you about Carrie Hall sometime. She was an amazing woman.  I also poured through this great pattern book for inspiration

We began haunting Lowes for two by two boards.  Every Lowes we visited we cleaned them out of these boards, but we still had to order one hundred and forty more of them and we still are seven short.

Then I got out my acrylic paints and went to work.

I began to paint quilt blocks.

And more quilt blocks.

Quilt blocks began to take over my shop.

I really loved some of them. This is my favorite.

Every nook and cranny of my shop had quilt blocks stacked up.  My sewing and quilting suffered tremendously.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and Belle began snout painting our back door.  Isn’t it lovely?

Then the real work began.  This wonderful man had a big job ahead of him, but he now had his new compression nail gun and he went to work.

He began nailing row after row of the boards onto the ceiling.  He said if he hadn’t had his compression nail gun he would have quit after the first few boards.  Man, I’m glad we bought it for him!

Each board made the ceiling prettier and brighter.  I was so happy.

Some of the corners didn’t quite match, just like on some of my quilts, but with the warped ceiling David had to work with, I think he did a great job.

Now I love looking up at my ceiling.  It will be fun working in my shop and coming in each day and seeing our handiwork.

Like I said, we aren’t quite finished.  Waiting for our last seven board to arrive to paint.  We need to paint and install molding around the ceiling. Then I am going to paint walls and the concrete floor. That won’t get done until Spring and I just could not wait a moment longer to show you what we have been doing.  Hope you like it.

 

Well, now you have heard about my big, fat project.  Hope you weren’t disappointed.  Now it’s on to the next project.  Bye.

Okay, I am almost finished with my big fat project.  I will not have it completely done, but I am busting to tell you about it.  I am going to give you a little hint here today and Monday I will reveal it completely.  Here is what l have had in my shop for weeks.  Two by two foot square boards.  One hundred and fifty of them to be exact and we had to buy some more because we ran out.

I have had a great time working on this project and am kind of sad it is almost done. I want to keep going on and on even though it has taken up so much of my time the last several weeks. I am truly amazed at how well it has turned out.  Before I give it away I will stop talking about it!   I’m sure you are on pins and needles just waiting.  Ha.   See you Monday.  Bye.

If you remember, in September I started a big fat project.  I have kept it concealed for David’s and my eyes only for months.  If you know me, I cannot keep a secret very well.  Once I was asked to help with a surprise birthday party for a man in my church.  He and I taught Sunday school together.   I told his wife I wish she hadn’t told me it was to be a surprise because I have an awful time keeping a secret, especially when it’s a nice one.  I want to shout it from the rooftops.  I had a horrible time each time I saw him to not say, “Are you ready for your party?”  I didn’t and the party was a surprise although the man told me he thought I was acting strangely for a while.

Anyway, the big reveal will soon be here.  I can’t wait to show you what we have been up to.   Remember that word, up.

Meanwhile, here at the Craig house we have been discussing chickens and what kind to get and how many.  We can’t have too many, but six or eight might do.  I am thinking of names for each hen.  Names from the Bible, I think.  These will be religious chickens.  At least I hope they will religiously lay eggs when they get old enough!

The coop is ready.  Now all we have to do is wait for Rural King to bring in the chicks.

Here’s to keeping secrets and naming hens.  Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son just got me set up with a new blog site. I am going to be playing around with it for a while, but this is what I have come up with so far.

Hope you will like the new look, but I am not guaranteeing that the blog look will stay the same. It’s kind of like quilts with me. I am always starting a new one. Since I will be doing all the designing myself and I don’t know what I am doing, there may be some surprises.

Anyway, I will be telling you stories about growing up on an Indiana farm, you will be reading some of my diaries(don’t expect me to let you see the juicy parts!), reading stories I have written for my grandchildren and just reading about my life in general.

So get ready for the ride. It may be bumpy some days and other days it will put you to sleep. Bye.