Yarn Along: More Books and The Hundred Year Throw

More books for the yarn along this week :))  Last Wednesday after I posted we went to the library and one of my favorite things now is too look in the "free" box.  You never know what treasures can be found.  Welll I found all these.

 A mish mash of books for me and the kids and for homeschooling.  The blue book is my favorite to look at.

 I know my pictures aren't great but the illustrations intrigued me.  But that's not what I'm reading. I started this book in between everything going on.  So far good.

 Lastly "The Hundred Year Throw" is this crochetted grey soft throw that has made an appearance in previous yarn alongs. I'm having trouble finishing and now I'm going to unravel half of this.  Why?  Because it's boring.  Ever have those type of projects that feel like they go on forever and you never want to finish (like this one)? 

My solution for this  is "The Afghan Making Rule".  It's a rule I made up for myself when I need to make really big afghans or throws to break it up into pieces so I can try different stitches and designs then seam it at the end and I won't get bored doing the same thing. Done.

Right Now: Here and There

It's been quiet here for a few days you could say I'm trying to catch up, diving into more knitting and crochetting projects, finding our own fall rhythm for homeschooling, birthday planning for someone turning 9 tomorrow and a few other things....

 I have been spending time at my favorite yarn store JP Knit & Stitch taking a couple of knitting classes. This weekend for the yarn crawl I attended a workshop to make a tote out of those pesky plastic bags, then went home and inspired Stefania to make a yellow tote.  (I'll have more on this project later this week)

 We have lots apple waiting to made into apple pies, sauce or caves for dolls.

 Still collecting the last green tomatoes.

Easing into a new rhythm for the Fall in the art studio working on projects (no not always together)  and the dining room has turned into a study room (hopefully more on this at 5 Good Reasons later this month). 

This post has been bits of the random things going on here. Can't wait tomorrow for the yarn along I actually have another project finished.  :)

Furiture painting gone wrong

Today's post is a follow up to Friday's moment of furinture stripping.  Remember this piece of furniture.  Well a friend mailed the last 4 knobs  I needed.  So I put them on took a picture (I apologized for the glare) and started putting all the linens away.  Looks good so far right?

 While opening and closing drawers a piece of paint chipped off.  A friend recommended "glue it back on and touch it up with a little paint".  Good idea but I was wondering why I could see the wood work.  Three layers of paint a coat of primer come off. 

 So I opened the cabinet I knew there was another piece of  paint that was chipped in there and thought what would happened if I kind of peeled it would it come off?   The answer is YES!  So began the peeling of paint by hand.

 Someone found it more fun to do some paint carvings instead...

 Can you hear my head just thumping the table.  Bad bad furniture painting.  Most of the paint peeled like a latex raincoat.  Here's a pile. 

 As of right now this is the progress I'm making.  I have quite a bit peeled away something to do late at night or while dinner cooks. 

Other random stuff::

• I probably won't have any Monday links for a while.  I'm actually trying to follow up on my own links and make some things.
• Way behind on posting at 5 Good Reasons and checking everyone's blogs.  I'll try to be back soon.
• I'm almost done unravelling a throw that I was working on that was way too wide.  On the bright side I really like the yarn and when I do it right it will look great on my bed.
• Bought a new organic shampoo at Trader Joe's. A little treat to me.
• Found this book Knitting America.  Treat for the kids and grown ups about knitting and histrory.
• Found some really cute art work for the walls for the kids.  Hope to hang those today.
• Best of all I have been an organizing maniac.  The kid's play room/library is looking better.

Now off to a rainy and hopefully productive Monday.

New Blog

Well friends I started a new blog. YesI know 5 kids and all that goes on with life and 1 blog already why start another one? This is our first year homeschooling all 5 children. I have wanted to post about it many times and share experiences and ideas but there never seemed to be a good time. I realized this blog is more about crafting, recipes, organizing and any other ideas that pop into my head. The homeschooling just didn't seem to mesh here. So why not start another blog and keep the two separate. I thought it would be easier on the readers for the ones that enjoy reading about homeschooling and related experiences they can click on the button on the right, follow it or pass it along. For my readers that aren't interested in homeschooling and enjoy This Little Kitchen as it is no worries just hope you keep enjoying it.
So here I go come on over and join me over at 5 Good Reasons.

Finished Basement Projects

There has been a lot of cleaning, projects and sprucing up in the basement especially in the art studio and my sewing studio. So here goes.

We put curtains up to hide the storage utilty shelves. The curtains are from the Ikea "As Is" bin. They not only hide the shelves but make a great stage. To the left of the curtains is the art studio.

It was in need of a clean up and an area carpet to cover the cold basement floor. Across the way is my sewing studio.Covered the chairs with new fabric and made pillows.

Made copies of the fabric with the patterns to be used as templates for doll clothes or paper dolls.

Oh and the little red table finally made it into girls' room.

Tired but now have an aahhh feeling.

Art Studio Unveiled

Finally I can show the source of my exhaustion and hardwork. One of my goals was to have an art studio in our new home.

The top shelf are for pens, pencils and paper from Dick Blick. The second shelf is for paper, colored chalk and crayons and markers sorted by color. The third shelf is for dry erase boards and markers and chalk boards and chalk. I also keep Home Depot paint chips they are great for cutting for toddlers or making up games for the older ones.
The top shelf is for stamps and glue. The second shelf is for the arts and crafts and stickers to be used but I don't to plan to replenish. The bottom shelf has clay tools and wooden cutting boards for the clay. The clay is in the red bucket. On both sides of the shelves the encyclopedias are stack there to be used over time for crafting and creativity.
The top shelf is for electronics and science. The second shelf has science experiments and books to go along with experiments. I keep forks, spoons, knives, bowls, flour, salt, cornstarch and a few other things here. The bottom shelf is for recycled materials toilet paper tubes, sticks, tissue paper, boxes etc.

The top shelf has a basket of acrylic paint and a basket of white old t shirts to be tye died later. I'm also keeping a stack of old composition notebooks which I'll explain in another post how revamp those.

The second shelf I keep the sculpty clay in a thread box. A friend recommended this because it keeps the colors separate when the kids are creating. It's easier for them to pick the colors they need and convient at clean up. The other 2 trays are for beads.

Top shelf is for painting time. The bottom shelf is a mish mash of stuff. There is one basket of used paper catalogs, construction and origami paper that's been folded many times. The second basket is cut up foam sheets and the third basket for felt. The row of green boxes at first was for me to sort out things like bottle caps, ribbons, shoe laces, string for beading but I found that it could be helpful for the kids as well. It's a good place for me to drop off stuff I find around the house and they pick up the green basket and use the materials. The round basket on the right is for marbles.


The top shelf is what I call the drop off place where the kids can leave a basket of their ongoing project. I'm not sure if this the right spot yet. The white shelves a friend recommended and I got them at AC Moore. It's for scrapbooking but it's great for sorting all kinds of paper we have construction, scrapbook, small white paper, lined, graph, etc.

The top shelf is for instructional books drawing, clay, crafts, needlework, etc. The bottom shelf I call textiles it's for the yarn, needles, hooks, thread, fabric, socks, t shirts and stuffing. Anything that maybe needed for needle work.
Way up top the shelves closest to the ceiling is where I store the bulk stuff that I have stocked up on. The typing area. I'm keeping my eye out at the thrift stores for another typewriter.That's what's been ongoing here. I'm showing this all to you at it's best but I expect there will be a lot of activity here in the afternoons and during the indoor cooler months.

Ok can you breath the sigh of relief with me now?

At Home Organizing

I have been on a good roll organizing around the home past couple of weeks and trying to continue it so there probably won't be any recipes this week. lol

1. In the kitchen we added a black tv stand next to the white bookshelf. I was originally looking for a bench for under the window for our shoes but could not find one. I'm the only one I know that owns 2 tv stands but uses them for something else. lol

The 2 square baskets on the left are for shoes but it's temporary till I find something bigger. On the right the 2 slim baskets are for drawing and writing paper. The bottom 2 shelves are seasonal in the summer I thought a towel would come in handy and in the winter a good spot for slippers. On top we have been putting a few books but I think I'll make it the nature table or a place for those seasonal treasures.

The white bookcase has a basket for each child to put in what they are working on reading, writing or drawing.

2. Shoes shoes and more shoes. This pile is anything from boots, sandals dress shoes, fall shoes, sneakers. Where did they go in? In drawers in the basement.

These drawers fit in my basement just right under a pipe. It help keep all the shoes that are out of season or ones they will grow into in one place. There are even drawers for ballet footwear and soccer cleats and shin guards and ice skates. Comes in handy when one of the girls outgrows something and I can go down and see what we have.

This works well in the fall and spring when it snows unexpectedly and the boots are needed rather quickly. The same goes for sandals when the weather warms up unexpectedly.

3. One other thing I had to organize was my basket of fabric scraps and future sewing projects. It was overflowing so I upgraded to a bigger basket.

Actually I didn't really organize I just moved the pile to be dealt with another time. We all have those messy little secrets.