What's for supper tonight?? Chilli Parlour Chilli with cheese and Multi-grain toast! mmmmmmm :)
Under the dishes is my first try at a tessellating design from the book called Square Dance - Fancy Quilts from Plain Squares - by Martha Thompson. This method takes the hard work out of making one of these designs. This tester is a place mat that is fun and easy to do too!
I have to show you what CJ brought home for me the other day....
It was so sweet of him to bring me flowers "just because".
Things are progressing slowly on our Home Reno project. We both seem to be getting tired and easily distracted. We did go to Jysk yesterday and purchased the curtain rods and drapes for in the livingroom and diningroom. We also picked up blinds for behind the livingroom drapes as the sun can really heat up that side of the house. Now I am anxious to get the trim around the windows painted and the final coat of paint on the walls so I can hang drapes again. I would REALLY like everything to get back to normal around here...
Just a quick update... I took a tumble in the garage last thursday and sprained my left wrist, scraped my shin and bruised a knee quite badly. Spent half a day in emergency getting checked out and thankfully, nothing was broken! I was told to rest with my leg up and a tensor on my wrist.
I still have bedding plants to get into the ground although I did manage to get some of them planted. Today, I worked on painting the interior of all but two of the upper cupboards. The wrist is a bit sore again tonight.
CJ's mom wanted to know how I managed to paint with my wrist immobile and my leg higher than my heart... she asked for pictures... LOL Sorry mom, no pics of that available. :-D
Meanwhile, we have the carpet installed in most of the downstairs, just 2 rooms to be done yet as soon as we get everything cleared out of them. Almost all of what is down there needs to be driven out to the storage unit we rented so it will take a few days of making trips with our little truck.
I was planning to work on quilting the charity quilt that I have pin basted, but it seems that my walking foot has gone into hiding somewhere... hopefully, I will find it out in the trailer which is also at the storage lot. *sigh*
I sure hope that I can soon get back to doing some quilting and have some more interesting stuff to show and tell!
I found a few free minutes to get the final borders on this little quilt for charity... then, I took advantage of the new laminate flooring in the empty dining room to tape down the backing and pin-baste the quilt together. Angel thought for sure that it was play-time... Did I mention that I love my new laminate floor??? 
like I was in a totally different kitchen! With the change in the layout, it now seems SO much more open and spacious than it ever has before. Now, if I can just get all those extra tools and stuff out of there and get the painting done...
Once we were back here again, we had to get into high gear as we had only a day to prepare until the fellow came to replace the countertops in the kitchen... good thing CJ had already moved the cupboard sections before we left! Just had to remove the kitchen sink...
It didn't take long until the new arborite was down..
And... as usual... it seems that I get so excited with the finished product that I forget to take a final picture! So... I ran and took one for you now!
Countertop detail.. with oak banding on edge. This will still need to be filled, sanded, stained and varithaned. Here's a shot ofthe side of the kitchen where the cupboards were moved so the fridge could fit there... The drawers still need primer as well as the remainder of the lower cabinets.
And NO... I am not leaving the top cabinets open without doors... they are being painted and re-installed!! Too much mess in my kitchen for open shelving. You also get just a little sneak-peek at the laminate floor which was put in yesterday! 
Goodbye ugly 80's lino!! Goodbye very soon to the horrible "peach" trim on the woodwork... it will be going white. 
PLUS.. this is a little bistro-type table and chair set we found that we are auditioning in the kitchen eating area. Did I say that I love Love LOVE the laminate??
Here's the diningroom..
and the livingroom with the furniture all pilled in... I'm not so sure that the golden oak coffee table and end tables will work with this floor though.. 
He can actually walk in these.. 
AND paint!!
It was almost 11:30 PM by the time this was done and we realized we had forgotten to have supper...
That cereal sure tasted good!!
CJ has moved the wiring for the stove and has un-installed the bank of drawers from the corner where the fridge will go. He also filled in the big hole in the wall where the old range hood was. 
I got busy and emptied the rest of the top cabinets and put it all into boxes.
Need cereal?? Third box to the right of the box with the dishes... This is going to make life a bit more interesting for a while, trying to still live and use a kitchen through this process.
The rain let up long enough yesterday for us to pick up the sheet of drywall to repair the hole in the kitchen wall. We put on the first layer of joint compound to fill in the gaps between the old wall and the new.
Here it is.. the new microwave. When CJ checked out the mounting instructions and then checked the wall where it is to be hung, he discovered that there were no studs in the wall where they were going to need to be in order to safely and securely mount the microwave. Take two steps sideways....Remember the nice SMALL patch around the newly moved plug in the area behind the stove that I showed in my previous post?? We now had to remove a large section of drywall in order to insert studs into the wall. 
Just another delay. Now we are waiting for the rain to stop so that we can go get a sheet of drywall to close the wall up again. The one bonus was that we were able to add some wood to the wall to support the handrail that goes down the steps on the other side of this wall. Gotta look for the silver lining...
The plug-in on the wall behind the stove has been moved and the plug for the microwave (inside the top cabinet) has been wired in.
We wanted a little preview of the painted cabinets to see if they would be all right or if we should be looking at ordering new cupboards. CJ did some sanding and then primed one set of top cabinets and doors. Silly me, forgot to take the picture of it with the doors back on... but you'll have to trust me that we think it will look great! New countertops and flooring will bring this whole kitchen up to the new millennium.
