Laundry Cabinet

Guess....

What can be made from the following leftovers:

1x2, 1x4, 1x6 Pine boards
Bead board
Thin plywood
Miscellaneous trim and crown molding
Reclaimed louver cabinet doors
Wrong colored paint
Old hangers
Old containers of baby powder and floor cleaning supplies?

This Old Ladder

Have you priced a wooden ladder bookcase? New versions are in the hundreds. Vintage ladder halves start at $36. So when someone offers you that old wooden ladder with paint splatters all over it...grab it! Here's what you do...You will need two "L" brackets, four screws (two short screws for the ladder and two longer screw for the wall or anchors with screws). Fold the ladder and lean it against the wall. Place a level on the top step and set it straight. Measure from the top step down to the floor along the wall. That measurement will be the new length for the back legs. Before moving the ladder, mark the wall under the top step and on the underside of the top step for the "L" brackets. Open the ladder and lay it on the floor; measure and mark the back legs; then cut with a hand saw. The old wood in easy to cut. Screw the brackets to the underside of the top step. Stand it back against the wall lining up on the "L" bracket marks. Be certain the back legs are now against the wall. Screw through the bracket and into the wall. Load your shelves with your treasures. Options would be to paint or stain the ladder before anchoring it to the wall. I like this one natural...old paint and all!

Quilting to Keep a Legacy Alive!

My earliest memory of quilting is of ladies working in the basement of the old Mennonite church in my home town of Monroe, Washington. There was one night a month dedicated to their goal. They were the Women's Missionary Society with the sole purpose of building crazy quilts. The room was filled with women talking and laughing; women sitting at tables tracing squares onto fabric,and cutting out those squares; and ladies at every sewing machine you could see, sewing those random colored squares together into quilt tops.
What captured my attention at the age of four was the final stage of the quilt... There were wooded towers at each corner of the rectangle, standing waste high. Four 2x2 long boards connected the towers. At each corner the 2x2 boards were anchored to the towers with a "D" clamp. This was the frame for finishing the blanket. The solid colored backing was thumb tacked down to the 2x2 and stretched tight. Then a layer of fluffy batting was rolled on top of the backing material. The best part was next...the crazy quilt top carefully stretched over the batting. With precision the ladies of the Women's Missionary Society tacked it down to the 2x2's and began weaving the doily thread through all of the layers, sniping half way between each weave creating ties. Quick as whistle the blanket would be anchored by ties every six inches and removed from the frame. A small group of ladies in a circle would hand sew the finished edges. Do you know where those quilts were sent? Every corner of the world...really!

My grandma Senner was one of the ladies of the Women's Missionary Society. At her home she would recreate the same scene. And when I was tall enough she would have me stand at the frame a weave the thread. She made quilts for her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, and anyone who needed a blanket. She created the blankets from scraps and yet with so much love. The blankets were not perfect, never intended to be and no one noticed or cared. All anyone knew was that they were given a treasure.

So I quilt with her in mind, never made perfect, but always made with love.