First Light Designs

Hazel’s Diary Quilt: A Little Progress . . .

by Dawn Posted on June 22, 2019

. . . is better than no progress at all, right?

I got the vines appliquéd onto the outer strips of the medallion on my Hazel’s Diary Quilt:

These vines are not needleturned. Instead I used a method by Suzanne Marshall I read about a few years ago in Quilters Newsletter Magazine in which fabric is pressed and basted before being cut into skinny strips. It worked really well: the bias edges of my vines were crisply pressed with no distortion at all, which made stitching them in place quite easy.

I suppose a very experienced stitcher would be able to eyeball the placement of the vines just by looking at designer Shelly Pagliai’s placement diagram (from her book A Simple Life: Quilts Inspired by the ’50s). I had to draw a section out on graph paper to make sure I had the curve of the vine just right:

My drawing was to scale so I just laid the medallion on top of the paper, lined up the design, and traced the upper edge of the vine.

Here’s an 8½” length of vine ready to be pinned into place. You can just barely see the line I drew to mark the top of the vine:

Here’s what the bias strip looks like from the back:

(The cut edge you see was trimmed after the basting stitches were put in place.)

Here’s the vine stitched into place before the basting is removed . . .

. . . and here is the finished bias strip in place, awaiting final pressing:

If you’re interested in learning more about Suzanne Marshall’s technique, look for the April/May 2016 issue of Quilters Newsletter. I also discovered a pdf file available online from americanquilter.com that includes appliqué tips and a photo page describing Suzanne Marshall’s bias strips method; it’s the sixth and last page of the pdf.

Now that my vines are in place, I have four six-petal blossoms and 72 leaves to appliqué by needleturn. Onward!

Posted in appliqué, Hazel's Diary Quilt, needleturn appliqué, update | 2 Comments

Kitchen Remodel: Week 9

by Dawn Posted on June 16, 2019

Friends, we are this close to being done. Witness the painted trim around the windows:

Did you notice you can now see the kitchen floor? It made me deliriously happy to peel off the brown protective paper and finally mop that floor!

The view above is looking southeast. Moving clockwise around the kitchen, here are some more views starting with the south wall:

What’s left to do?, you may ask. Mostly little things: cleaning up a few paint spills and spatters, doing some caulking, putting the doorbell back up, installing the phone jack cover, that kind of thing. Oh, and the liner for the hood range insert is finally on its way. Once that’s in, I do believe we will be ready for inspection.

In the meantime, I’m slowly filling the cupboards and drawers. You can see from the photo above that I haven’t finished filling the glass-fronted upper cabinet yet. And I’m thinking about the valances I plan to make for the windows. I’ve had something in mind for some time but haven’t even gotten to the sketching stage yet. I’m going for a look my sister Diane would describe as “simply elegant and elegantly simple.”

Posted in family, home dec, kitchen remodel, update | 12 Comments

Kitchen Remodel — Week 8

by Dawn Posted on June 13, 2019

How I wish I could report the kitchen remodel is done. But no, we had a setback. On Monday morning of Week 8, my contractor inspected the crown molding that had been installed on the refrigerator wall the previous Friday and insisted that it be redone. (Is that not a sign of a good contractor?) Because of scheduling issues, the redo didn’t happen till the end of the week. That meant that the painting of the trim and the touch up on the walls and ceiling had to be pushed forward to Week 9.

In addition, we are waiting for delivery of a hood liner for the range hood insert. When I ordered the insert there was no mention of a hood liner. How vexing is that? We didn’t discover a liner was necessary until the insert was actually being installed. Result: the part didn’t get ordered till the end of May. I was hoping it would be here by now.

At least my husband and I are back in the kitchen making meals, getting accustomed to the new appliances, and admiring the new look. My twin sister Diane surprised us with a Cuisinart “Coffee on Demand” coffeemaker:

(Thanks, Nubs — we love it!) And how do you like my new ceramic canisters? I found them online and ordered them because they looked to be the same color as the lower cabinets. It’s a pretty good match!

Here’s a look at the west wall (sans crown molding):

I am loving the gleam of the stainless steel appliances and polished nickel bin pulls and the crisp contrast of the blue and white cabinets.

My sewing/quilting life may have been put on the back burner (so to speak) during this remodel but I am gearing up for more appliqué on Hazel’s Diary Quilt. I’m auditioning fabrics for the corner flowers on the center medallion and have cut out a few petals and leaves:

That’s a start. As a reminder, here’s a look at the center medallion from the cover of Shelly Pagliai’s book which contains the directions for Hazel’s Diary Quilt and several other quilts and small projects:

(You may remember I picked a different block for the center of my quilt.)

I’ve prepared the bias stems that wind around the light grey strips surrounding the block in the middle of the medallion and have cut out a few leaf shapes:

Progress on this project has been admittedly slow but I have given myself a deadline of July 31 to complete the top. That’s the day I’ve arranged to turn it over to an accomplished longarm quilter for custom quilting. Nothing like a deadline to get one going!

Posted in appliqué, Hazel's Diary Quilt, home dec, kitchen remodel, needleturn appliqué, update | 6 Comments

Kitchen Remodel: Week 7 — Part 2

by Dawn Posted on June 9, 2019

We’re continuing with the progress made during Week 7. The glass doors and shelves arrived for the upper cabinet on the north wall:

Here’s the same view with the undercabinet lights turned on:

The Dear Husband scoffed when I initially told him I wanted under-cabinet lights. Guess who really loves them now?

Did you notice something else? Cabinet hardware! I can’t keep from going around the kitchen opening all the drawers and cupboard doors. They’re the “soft close” kind so all it takes is a gentle push for them to glide closed.

Here’s a look at the east and south walls with the cabinet hardware added:

Looks pretty spiffy, doesn’t it? Did you happen to notice that red glow on the backsplash under the cabinets to the left of the stove? It’s the reflection of my next door neighbor’s red patio umbrella. That’s how much shine those backsplash tiles have.

Here’s a look at the west wall:

We are using the kitchen even though the counters have to be cleared every time the workers come. It’s a happy trade-off, believe me.

Here’s a look at the kitchen in full use mode:

It looks almost finished but there’s quite a bit left to do starting with painting the trim, scheduled for the beginning of Week 8. The end is in sight!

Posted in family, home dec, kitchen remodel, update | 7 Comments

Kitchen Remodel: Week 7 — Part 1

by Dawn Posted on June 3, 2019

What a difference the backsplash makes! I went with simple subway tile for a classic look and I’m so happy with the outcome:

The electrician and plumber put in appearances last week, too. More fun things to see, like light fixtures and faucets:

So nice to have running water in the kitchen again! And how do you like the pendant lights? I’m quite enamored with them myself.

As you see, the refrigerator got moved into place — hooray! — along with a cute little microwave:

Please excuse the fingerprints on the fridge. I hadn’t wiped them off before taking photos. And most of the protective film on the stainless steel appliances hasn’t been removed yet. My contractor wants me to leave it on until after the painters have come and gone. I did remove it from the dishwasher so I could use it. No more doing dishes in a bucket in the bathtub!

The tall cabinet to the left of the fridge arrived last Friday (the original one was damaged the previous week while being loaded onto the delivery truck so a new one had to be made):

Coming soon: Part 2 of Week 7, with lots more photos.

Posted in kitchen remodel, update | 9 Comments

Kitchen Remodel: Week 6

by Dawn Posted on May 26, 2019

We have countertops!

They certainly dress up the kitchen, don’t they? The countertops are Cambrian quartz in a pattern called Swanbridge. I’m very pleased with the look of the pale gray counters against the blue lower cabinets.

The space currently occupied by the handtruck in the photo below is where the refrigerator belongs. The fridge has been in our dining room for the last six weeks. (One more week till it gets moved to the kitchen. Believe me, I am counting the days.)

Last week my contractor and his assistant started working on the trim around the windows and doors:

The millwork matches the trim in the rest of our 1913 house, a vast improvement from the previous remodel.

The subway tile backsplash is also underway. You’ll see that transformation in my next kitchen remodel post. Do come back for that!

Posted in home dec, kitchen remodel, update | 5 Comments

Kitchen Remodel: Week 5

by Dawn Posted on May 18, 2019

When my twin sister Diane saw the photos in my last kitchen remodel post of the range hood cabinet above the stove, she asked if I would use the ledge for display.

“Maybe,” I replied. “What should I put there?”

Her response was immediate: “Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme!”

But of course. Twenty-some years ago I bought a set of Spode spice jars in the Blue Room pattern and have used them in my kitchen ever since. As soon as I auditioned them, I knew they were perfect for the spot:

Surely you noticed the new stove is in place (having been moved from its temporary home in my living room). It will be a while before I can cook on it but it needed to be installed so the template for the quartz countertop could be accurately made. That happened last Tuesday.

The new appliances — stove, fridge, and dishwasher — are stainless steel and all three have a brushed finish with some polished accents. Those design features helped me decide pretty quickly on the finish of the cabinet hardware:

Can you tell the knob and drawer pull are polished nickel? Polished nickel has a slightly warmer cast than polished chrome and adds just the right amount of bling to the kitchen. See how good the hardware looks alongside the stainless steel?

It looks mighty pretty against the blue cabinets, too:

Posted in family, home dec, kitchen remodel, update | 13 Comments

Hazel’s Diary Quilt: My Layout Revealed

by Dawn Posted on May 15, 2019

Before I show you the arrangement of my nine pieced and appliquéd blocks in Hazel’s Diary Quilt, let’s review the blocks in the order in which Shelly Pagliai introduced them in her book A Simple Life: Quilts Inspired by the ’50s (C&T Publishing/Kansas City Star Quilts, 2016).

The blocks are set on point, as they will be in the finished quilt:

Row 1 (top center): Block 1, Missouri Farm Life.

Row 2: Block 3, Canasta, and Block 4, Coal Miner’s Granddaughter.

Row 3: Block 5, Corn and Beans and Other Things; Block 6, Best.Christmas.Ever; and Block 7, Aunt Ruby’s Choice.

Row 4: Block 8, Domestic Bliss, and Block 9, Fancy Farm Girl.

Row 5 (bottom center): Block 10, Fair Weather.

Did you notice Block 2 is missing? That’s because I haven’t made it yet. The block, called Summer of ’51, is a vine of flowers and leaves around a square that will create a medallion in the center of the quilt. One of the nine pieced blocks will go in the very center of the medallion. To see Shelly’s original quilt, click here.

Shelly designed this quilt in memory of her mother, Hazel Ilene, who received a little red diary as a Christmas gift in December 1950 when she was a freshman in high school. Hazel wrote in the diary every day for almost four years, with her last entry written the night before her wedding in October 1954.

The blocks Shelly designed were inspired by Hazel’s diary entries and her life as a teenager growing up in rural Missouri during the early 1950s. For each block Shelly chose a traditional design, sometimes modifying it a bit, and added a floral appliqué in the center. Then she added a scalloped red frame around each block, appliquéd in place.

Without further ado, here is the final arrangement of my blocks:

The last block I pieced, Fair Weather, turned out to be my favorite, and that’s the one you see in the center.

There’s a lot left to do on this quilt but it’s very satisfying to be at this point!

Posted in appliqué, Hazel's Diary Quilt, needleturn appliqué, update | 7 Comments

Kitchen Remodel: Week 4

by Dawn Posted on May 13, 2019

Last week was a big one for the Portland White House kitchen remodel.

First, the walls got painted a soft gray and the ceiling and trim around the windows and sliding glass door got painted white:

I was originally planning to have the walls painted with Benjamin Moore’s “Metro Gray,” which happens to be the same shade I chose for the master bath remodel in 2013. At the last minute I went one shade lighter (1458) with “Silver Bells.” Gray might seem an odd choice for Portland, which gets its share — and then some — of overcast days, but I knew the bright white of the upper cabinets and the vivid blue (Valspar 4006-8C “Bluer than Blue”) of the lower cabinets would be a good foil for this elegant shade of gray:

Can’t you imagine a quilt in these colors?

With the cabinets installed, the empty shell of a room was transformed into a kitchen! Here’s the view looking southeast:

Notice the custom cover for the range hood. (Thank you, sister Diane, for guiding me to this design decision.) The tabs of blue painter’s tape on the upper and lower cabinets allow the cupboard doors and drawers to be opened. The doors are inset — that is, flush with the cabinet frames — so until the knobs and pulls are installed, the best way to open the cupboards and drawers is to pull on those tabs of blue tape.

Here’s the view looking southwest:

The narrow cabinet to the left of the refrigerator cabinet is missing as it got damaged somehow at the shop. The installer wants to wait until the cabinet is in place before attaching the crown molding as he thinks the molding should be cut from the same strip.

The upper cabinet on the north wall will have glass doors and shelves, to be delivered later:

That upper cabinet makes the wall look pretty top heavy. I’m hoping the glass doors will make it feel lighter.

I must say, Coco has remained remarkably mellow as the remodel progresses. As long as her meals arrive on schedule, she is one happy cat:

Posted in cats, family, home dec, kitchen remodel, update | 4 Comments

Hazel’s Diary Quilt, Block 8: Done!

by Dawn Posted on May 11, 2019

That last red scalloped frame took forever. Once I got started it didn’t take all that long to finish the needleturn appliqué. The hardest part, for some reason, was taking the first step. I simply could not make myself get going. I’m pinning the blame on our kitchen remodel, which has proven to be a mighty distraction.

But finally Domestic Bliss, Block 8 of Hazel’s Diary Quilt, is ready to show you:

And here it is on point, as it will be in the finished quilt:

What next? Why, more appliqué, of course! Of nine pieced blocks, one goes in the center, to be surrounded by four flowers and dozens of leaves to form a medallion. As a reminder, here is designer Shelly Pagliai’s original rendition of Hazel’s Diary Quilt, which I was thrilled to see in person at the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky in March 2017:

At the moment, I’m having fun moving my blocks around on my design wall trying to get just the right balance of color and scale. Do check back as I will be revealing the layout, including my final choice for the center block.