My sewing projects

I made this apron for my daughter in law for Christmas. I got the idea from a craft fair and I felt Jamie really needed an apron. Being so young, I'm hoping she really likes it. My daughter thinks she will.

I made 2 more with different colored fabrics and lace; one with blue jeans and one with black jeans. I gave one to a co-worker for Christmas and I gave the other to my boss who had lost all of her aprons (she had quite a few) in a house fire last year. She kept asking my friend, Rose, if she was making any for sale. And had she made any for sale yet? And will she have any at the next sale she sets up for? So, I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to make her one too.


This is my farm girl badge. I embroidered the whole thing. The pictures I took didn't come out very clear. I embroidered "Idaho City" at the top. "2007", the year I joined the sisterhood, on the left. "#35", my sisterhood number, on the right. "Mountain Farmgirls Chapter" around the bottom.

I thought about putting lace and pearls around the outside of the badge, but it just made it too big and a little too fu-fu for a denim jacket that I wear in the yard and garden and for firewood and such. I would just end up ruining such embellishments. So, this works for me. This badge is on the upper left front. I already had my alma mater patch on the right. I'm really looking forward to earning more patches!

Refinishing 140 year old floor

This is what my living room floor looks like right now after I ripped out the carpet (God-awful mauve). There were many, many staples and nails. The old finish is very dark and there are a lot of chips and dings in the floor. I don't mind the chips and dings, though. I think they add character to the house.

I've started the sanding, but it is taking quite some time to get through the old paint splatters and the old varnish, so it's getting done a little at a time.

The dust! Ugh! I didn't think to cover the furniture or anything the first day I sanded. I thought the little bag on the back end of the sander would catch all the dust. It only catches a fraction of it. So, now I cover the furniture and stuff. Now, I just have to vacuum off the walls, wood stove and ceiling fan after each sanding session.

The wood has this beautiful golden glow with a pinkish-orangish tint to it. I'm not sure if this floor is red oak or if that's the color that oak turns after 140 years. When we gutted our bedroom to put insulation in the walls, we found the entire house is built with true 1x10 and 1x12 pine planks (inside and outside) and we decided to leave the wood exposed rather than cover it with drywall again. When we sanded it down (it was rough sawn) we found that it also had a beautiful golden glow that new pine lumber does not have. So the color of the flooring could just be due to it's age. In either case, I absolutely love it.

I was doing the sanding on Fridays (my day off from work) because nobody was home to get in the way or bother with the dust. I've had to put the sanding on hold until after Christmas because I just can't cover the tree with out knocking all the ornaments off and my daughter is home on Christmas Vacation. I can't fill the living room with sawdust when she's here (asthma). So, I will resume after New Year's. I can hardly wait to see it all done. It's going to be so pretty.