Month / March 2018

by gr8typist

Bathroom Vanity and Medicine Cabinet Makeover #2

Goodbye 1980s.

HallBathBefore-After

HallBathMedChestBefore-After

My latest project has been freshening up my hall bathroom vanity and medicine cabinet with a good coat of paint.  My house was built in 1986, and both were showing their useful life and style ages.

I opted to do something a little more current than the dark Java Gel Stain I’d used in the kitchen and master bathroom.  All the big kids seem to be using white right now, so I picked out a nice antique white.  I used:

  • Sander, sanding block and sandpaper.
  • TSP cleaner.
  • Dutch Boy Cabinet and Trim Paint, primer and paint, tinted 011W Antique White.  This vanity didn’t even take an entire pint container.
  • Small dense roller and tray, and small paint brush.

I removed the doors and hardware, cleaned the surfaces to be painted with TSP, lightly sanded them with a hand sander, sanding block and sandpaper to remove what was left of the old poly topcoat, then I dusted them, taped all the edges off with painters tape, and started painting.  It took three coats of brushing on the detail, then rolling the entire surface.  Rolling is the only way to go and gives a flawless finish.

Once you start painting, just know the first couple of coats will look TERRIBLE and make you question life itself.  It gets better.  Be sure to allow plenty of time for this project because you should wait about 24 hours between paint coats.  I started painting on Saturday and wasn’t done until Tuesday.  I encourage you to search YouTube for detailed instructions, as there are lots of very helpful videos out there.

DON’T PANIC! It’s just the first coat.
Tape all your edges, and any details you don’t want to paint.
I used packing paper from Amazon packages to cover the floor.

Have plenty nitrile gloves handy, a wipe rag, and a couple of large zip top bags.  Since cabinet and trim paint is acrylic, you won’t be rinsing out your tools between coats.  Just drop them in a sealed bag and they’ll be fine overnight.  I threw them away when I was done.

We replaced the old antiqued gold hardware with weathered nickel.  Eventually I can see the walls painted a soft gray and new flooring, but I’m totally out of the mood for more painting projects right now.

I still like the look of the medicine cabinet in java, but this is nice and clean.  See my post on our master bathroom to see how this same cabinet looks in the dark java gel stain.  Bathroom Vanity and Medicine Cabinet Makeover Project

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After

by gr8typist

In Search of the Perfect 5″ Quilting Block

A Garage Sale Treasure

20180220_193731_Film1.jpgThis isn’t a product review, the product featured is discontinued.  It’s more of a testimony of what you can do with some creativity.  A couple of years ago, I found a Fiskars® Fuse Creativity System® letterpress/die cutter at a garage sale. From what I’d read it was designed for paper crafting like cutting shapes for making cards or scrap booking, neither of which are hobbies I ever took up. MartMan was impressed with how substantial the Fuse was, so he bought it. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so it sat in my sewing room, under my sewing table. In all the time I’d had it, all I had done with it was some embossed coaster type things for work.

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Corn filled neck warmers

After my recent sewing room reorganize effort, I tried to sell the Fuse on a re-sale group online. It didn’t get much interest, which brings me to my discovery. Originally I had pulled it back out to make some tags for neck wraps I’m making. But I’m not really a paper crafter and it wasn’t a particularly creative experience.

Fotor_149845264819793

I work with fabric, including quilt blocks for bags and pouches. The most time consuming part of the process is cutting all those perfect squares. If you don’t have a perfect square, you will play heck getting perfect points on the finished block and having a nice looking finished panel. I sat and looked at the Fuse wondering if there was a die available for it that would cut fabric, in particular, 5″ squares. A Google search brought me to a video from MaterialGirl338 on YouTube where she used an Accuquilt® die to cut fabric in her new Fuse.

I knew fabric cutters like the Accuquilt GO!® existed, but at $250 to $400 for the starter set, I couldn’t justify it for my hobby crafting. But the Accuquilt cuts perfect, intricate shapes just by rolling the fabric and die with the appropriate shims through the press — a press that looks a lot like a Fiskars Fuse. Accuquilt has fabric cutting dies in a variety of shapes that Fiskars never manufactured, including triangles and squares for making quilt blocks. The cutting dies also look suspiciously a lot like the Fuse dies. It occurred to me, could the Fuse be used with other manufacturer dies to cut fabric? After some more digging, the answer is a resounding YES.

So, I purchased the optional Fuse Adapter kit*, still readily available on Amazon and eBay, and the 5″ square Accuquilt GO® die. Within a few minutes, following the instructions on the info card, I was making perfect 5″ squares in a fraction of the time I’d been spending. It’s fabulous. It accommodates up to five layers of quilting weight cotton, cutting two 5″ squares on each piece of fabric in one pass.

 

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I looked on Craigslist, and even today I see used Fuse units for sale, usually around $50 for the base unit kit — about a third of the original price. I purchased the optional Adapter Kit for $45 new, and the Accuquilt 5″ square die for $30, new. Between the used base unit, and the new Adapter Kit and die, for about $125, I’m cranking out 5″ squares like a pro.

20180323_210321_Film1.jpgThe info card that came with the Adapter kit lists a number of different die manufacturers that the Fuse will accommodate, including Sizzix®, another very popular die cutting system.

I’m keeping the Fiskars Fuse. And oh, look at the calendar — it’s the end of March, so it’s almost garage sale season again here in Kansas City.

*Although I can’t endorse it, I have seen one YouTube video where the author is using inexpensive Lexan sheets in various thicknesses from the hardware store instead of the Fuse Adapter kit and achieving good results in her Fuse.
by gr8typist

Hearty Slow Cooker Cabbage Soup

Hearty Cabbage Soup Banner

This cabbage soup is very hearty and more of a chili consistency, with a little bit of zip added in. I like to keep some sort of SmartPoint-friendly soup in the fridge for lunch or a quick grab-and-go food choice. It has a tiny 2 Weight Watchers(r) SmartPoints per serving, and there’s lots of ways to make it even more SmartPoint friendly.

  • Make it entirely with ground turkey.
  • Replace the spaghetti sauce with plain tomato sauce (add oregano or other seasonings for more flavor).
  • Replace the Chili Beans with a can of unseasoned beans, like pinto, more kidney or black beans.
  • Replace the can of tomatoes with green chilies with plain tomatoes (go for low sodium, since the bouillon adds a lot of sodium).
  • Add more tomato sauce, or water, if you prefer a thinner consistency.

Hearty Cabbage Soup

  • Servings: 12 to 14-1 cup servings at 2 SP each
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound 90% lean ground beef
  • 1/2 pound 99% fat-free ground turkey breast
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion(s)
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 4 beef bouillon cubes (9 pts)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup thinly sliced carrot(s)
  • 1/2 head rough chopped cabbage
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper(s)
  • 2 cans red kidney beans, undrained
  • 1 can Dakota’s Mild Chili Beans, undrained (9 pts a can)
  • 1 can Diced Tomatoes w Green Chilies, Best Choice (4 pts a can)
  • 16 oz Prego Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (9 pts)
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 1⁄2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Optional:  Fresh green beans; or frozen green beans, corn or other veggies.

Directions

Dissolve the bouillon cubes in 1 cup boiling water.

In a skillet on the stove, brown ground beef, ground turkey, onion and garlic.

Now start dumping everything into the slow cooker; stir to mix.  Cook on high for four hours, low for 8 hours.

In the last hour, add in frozen green beans, corn or other frozen veggies.  If using fresh green beans, add them at the start.

by gr8typist

Sewing Room Makeover

I’m still fighting the winter blahs and have been creatively uninspired in my sewing room lately, so I decided to do something I’ve been wanting for myself for a while.

Several weeks ago, I moved my sewing room from the front of my family room, to the back.  It’s a slightly smaller space, so I did a lot of de-cluttering and organizing and am extremely happy with the outcome.  I also now have a nice sitting area in front of our lovely fireplace again in the front part of the room.

Sewing Room Makeover

The new space.  I’ve been asked about the tables — the table on the left is our old dining room table with the center leaf in place; the table in the center is two 4-cube bookshelves with an Ikea butcher block top, total cost about $150.  The wrought iron shelving is a $5 find at a garage sale.  The large 18 cube organizer is my fabric.

I’ve been wanting to make dust covers for my embroidery and sewing machines to help finish off the reorganizing. The fabric I wound up using was a hand-me-down from my friend, Anne, and worked out yardage-wise for some quick dust covers. Fitting a cover to the embroidery arm on the embroidery machine was a challenge, and I’m satisfied with the result.

I still don’t know what to do next, but I do feel like I got something done.  Hopefully, with Spring just around the corner, I’ll start feeling creative again.

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Hello Fireplace!  Maybe wine and a good book?