Jo's Meditation Room

When we moved into our new house and assembled Jo's loft bed, we realized it was really too tall for her room. She could just barely sit up in it. "No problem!" we said. We'll just cut a foot or so off the bottom and it'll be perfect! That was over a year ago. Jo LOVES hanging out in her bed, but she's been getting taller and things were getting ridiculous.

We finally got to work a few weeks ago. First we had to clear everything away from the bed area - no small task. Then Alan did some fancy sideways cutting with the circular saw while kneeling on the floor. I very helpfully held up each corner of the bed while he cut.

We propped the cut legs on a pair of cinder blocks to keep everything level(-ish) while we worked. You didn't think we were going to disassemble the bed to do this, did you? Silly!

Amazingly, it all went really smoothly. And now that the bed was at the right height we could FINALLY curtain off the lower part into a "meditation room" - as promised many moons ago. By the end of the next day we had rigged up some curtains (those are shiny iridescent stars on an indigo background), some tiny purple lights threaded through the bed slats, and a couple of lamps for reading and crafting. The rest of the decor is all Jo.

She's strung beaded necklaces, added a little nightstand and a very special lamp that belonged to my grandmother, added a million stuffed animals, quilts, afghans and pillows - and moved right in. It reminds me so very much of her first meditation room. . .

Want to see that sign close up?

Awesome!

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Gratz Industries HQ - Layin' Tile

We haven't been keeping you all updated on progress here at Gratz Industries HQ because most of our progress for the last few months has involved opening boxes and adding a bunch of stuff to the pile for the SPMS rummage sale. Not fun reading - or writing - or doing, actually. But we're done! Every box has been opened and sorted through. All the piles on the floor have been taken care of. We're ready to start finishing the house.

Project #1 - tiling the upstairs bathroom. We already had the tile, the cement, the grout, the toilet - heck, we even had all the tools out and ready - sitting there in the corner gathering dust for months. We even cut the tile and laid it all out ages ago - just never got around to sticking it down. Sheesh! What is wrong with us?

So last weekend we got busy. Spreading cement. . .

. . . laying down the tile. . .

. . . grouting (the grout color is "croissant") . . .

and done!

A thing of beauty! I wonder how long it will take us to add the baseboard trim and install the toilet? We cut baseboards yesterday, so we'll see.

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Hidden No More

It's been cold here lately - really cold. We keep blankets in the living room so we're cozy while we sit and watch TV. Boring polarfleece blankets that are crazy static-makers, with publisher logos embroidered on them - they were corporate gifts to me when I was a buyer for a group of bookstores.

Well no more boring blankets for us! The other day I switched them all out for pretty quilts I've made - beautiful quilts that I love, but that have been sitting neatly folded on a shelf for years. Why? Beats me.

I made this quilt several years ago for a book called Simple Contemporary Quilts. I love it, and now it sits on my chair, ready for me to snuggle, nap, dine, and sew under it.

 

This one is Alan's - extra long and made from scraps of his worn out boxers. It's all hand-quilted and I love it.

 

While I was at it I even added one to my desk chair. This one's a smaller lap-ish quilt, perfect for this use. It's one of my favorite patterns (I call it Wonky Squares) and it's all hand-quilted too. I'm sitting under it right now.

Whew! So much better! Does anyone else keep their favorite things hidden away?

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