I had a very busy weekend and it did involve my sewing machine but it wasn’t on dolly clothes… sorry!
I had a friend ask me about fringing her new white jeans at the bottom… this was before…
…and this was after… the holes where the stitching was will come out the first time she washes them…
Then she asked if I could fix her bed skirt which had come unstitched from the part that lays between your box spring and your mattress. That flat part was a polyester fabric and just frayed like the dickens! It was like sewing cobwebs! But I got it fixed and serged around the edges to see if that will hold it better.
Then I had a guy from church who has a window washing business ask me for some help with his window washer tool.
He has a sort of T tool that fits up in furry cover that he uses for scrubbing the windows… He told me the problem is, the space between the middle handle and where the velcro is, is about 4″ and the tool slides around inside the cover and causes the ends to blow out.
I brought it home and decided if another piece of Velcro was added “closer” to the handle, it would keep the cover from getting loose when it got dripping wet and would stay in place better, keeping the ends of the plastic tool from hitting the ends of the cover.
The T tool is nice and snug in there now and doesn’t slide back and forth in there… I’ll let you know what he thinks and if it worked! :o)
Now for my biggest project of the weekend…
My hubby and I have taken on another project at our church. There are a few different buildings on our property and one has been used by mostly guy students for the last 20 years. We call it the International House because it’s shared by lots of different students. They do all sorts of cooking there and have fellowships every so often. Needless to say, in 20 years, there has been a LOT of wear and tear on this house…
Well, there are a few girls who are moving in there (temporarily) and my hubby and I decided to fix up the 2 bedrooms, the hallway, and the tiny bathroom. The hallway and the bathroom mostly needed the walls scrubbed down and then painted. The bedrooms, however, were a total icky disaster… and I have pictures to prove it. We thought the walls were drywall but they are plaster and when there’s a nick in the wall, it pretty much leaves a hole, that just grows and grows. The plaster cracks off and can only be fixed with spackle. That’s where I come in, because I AM SPACKLE QUEEN! My hubby has already done his part as I was spackling, because he is CAULK KING! I’m not kidding, he filled in the cracks around the windows and along the baseboard and it looked SO much better.
He does have one BIG job, fixing a window whose plaster came off from top to bottom, all the way down to cement… so he’s putting a board up and we’ll paint and fill in the cracks.
We spent the weekend getting all the prep work done… pulling nails out of the floor after the carpet was taken up, wiping down the walls with disinfectant, spackling holes, cracks, and some other BIG problem areas, sweeping, sweeping, sweeping, measuring for blinds, buying paint and primer, and lots more…
Okay, let’s see some pictures…
This is the window area I was telling you about… it’s my hubby’s project!
The walls were in terrible shape with lots of spots and stains and even this…
I guess the plaster expanded… and it was like whip cream… when you touched it..
We sanded it off and the I spackled it…
The room was white (well it USED to be white) so it was hard to take any pictures of the room and have you be able to tell anything about it… so I’ll just show snippets of what we are doing until we get it painted and new carpet down…
This was the carpet chosen and I picked Accessible Beige to go with it… I think that just so happened to be the Color of the Year in 2021…
The carpet is coming Thursday!!!!! So it’s probably a no brainer that I won’t be sewing till then… so you all just visit amongst yourselves like you do so well, and I’ll pop in tomorrow and at least say hello!
See you then,
Blessings, Jeanne
You did have a busy weekend, Jeanne!! Nice that you could salvage those jeans for your friend, and solve a problem with that window washer thing for your other friend.
Yes, plaster walls are different from wallboard! I’m pretty sure our house in Michigan had real plaster walls, but the ones since have been wallboard. I suppose there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Glad those bedrooms are getting fixed up! With the “Jeanne Marie touch”, they should end up lovely, and very suitable for young ladies to live in.
Sally, I did order Siblie Gigi–she was still available last night!!
And, I judge 4-H stuff, which is for kids only; however, I can enter things in “open class” if I wish–anyone can enter things there. and I just might! I need to check and see when that has to be turned in, and think about what I want to enter, if anything! Thanks for asking.
Hi, Charlotte.
I was going to address your remarks from the past few days on Jeanne’s post for today, but it looks like there may not BE a post today. Hope all is well at the Wiedlocher home.
Anyway. Two state fairs. Sounds like great fun, and I DO hope you enter something. Please send a pic to Jeanne?I believe we have gone through Evergreen and Pulyallup in the past. While we enjoyed the Seattle area, I especially enjoyed Bellingham and the Olympic Peninsula.
Glad you got a Gigi and also got to sleep in. A double header! I, too, nabbed one of those little sweeties. And what do you think about Evangeline who will be up for sale in 11 days? I got Victor who looks so very cute next to Fernanda, and now, you guessed it, I am thinking Evangeline will make that a happy threesome with their red hair and clothing in browns and peach. Honestly, I don’t need much excuse to convince myself to order another doll in this line. Big. Fat. Sigh. 😬😆
Have a super day doing what you love to do, I hope. Also, Hope Ron is doing well. Thanks for your answers, Charlotte. 🥰
I was thinking to myself while reading, “Those jeans are new” why they are filled with holes!” Ha! I guess that is the way “new” jeans look nowadays! I do see these at the store and wonder how anyone could ever spend their hard earned dollars on ripped jeans! I would look like a hobo if I wore them! LOL
Well, your pictures show that boys or young men can live just about anywhere without any concerns on what the conditions are!! I will say the young ladies will be ever so grateful for the new and improved conditions! Thanks to you and George and all you do to make things better! We need more poeple like you who put others first!
I’m looking forward to a visit today with my granddaughter today before she goes off to her third year in college. She goes to my alma mater, SEMO, and my goodness, how things have changed since I have been there!!
Charlotte, you will have to show a picture or two of Gigi when she arrives!
Jeanne, how nice that you are so talented to help sew the problems of others! I think being able to sew is a blessing… one that I don’t have!
I can only imagine the wear and tear of the men’s living quarters. Over time various things happen regardless of how careful they might be. Especially with plaster walls. It’ll be a good but heavy duty project.
It will be interesting to see the changes. What a blessing you and George are !
Charlotte, hope you will show pictures of Gigi’s arrival. She sure is a cutie.
Everyone, have a good week. It’s very humid already this early in the morning.
All I can say is ugh! The place looked like a slumlord hotel. I can’t believe anyone would have been able to live there with that possible water intrusion around the window aka mold without becoming ill. Is the moisture coming from the roof? Hoping you both were wearing masks while cleaning up after the boys. I do worry about that window screen. Hopefully, it can be opened easily if there were ever a fire. Almost looks like it was painted shut. Maybe the new blinds will be mounted so that it can easily be opened? Window as well. What do the floors look like? Can they be saved? Maybe leaving them without carpeting would be appropriate? Less chance of mold. And what about the lighting? Maybe they had the room painted white so it would be brighter? Another job, but I’m sure it will be lovely when all cleaned up. Don’t know how you and George keep finding more projects, but it looks like they have fallen into the right hands. Can’t wait to see the finished look. 🙂 Love those projects.
I actually liked the before hems on the jeans, but maybe the fringed look is going to be part of a scarecrow costume for Halloween? Perfect fringe job though. 🙂
I wonder how many GiGi’s are going to be headed to owners on Jeanne’s blog? I know Charlotte, will have one. Me, too. 🙂
Your wonderful talent used to fix things for your friends ! What a nice-to-bone person you are😉
I know the jeans with worn spots are just the thing right now but who would of thought to pay big bucks for them? 🥴The bed skirt and window cleaner made the day for those folks I’m sure.
Charlotte we will need pictures of your new doll…how long before she arrives?
I can just imagine the bathroom after 20 years of young men……that was not a fun job.😵💫 The difference you are making will be amazing. Giving a Christian background to those young people is so important…and a bright new room will be awesome. What color will it be?
Don’t get too hot now….no more heat exhaustion my dear🙏🏻
I had to laugh at the jeans as well .I recall the first time i saw the ripped/ holed jeans at the mall and thought “I wouldn’t pay a dime for those”. Of course, in the 1980’s, we wore our jeans hole-free and nice and dark or lightly stone-washed, no acid-washed in my crowd. Jeans with holes were for yard work and you would have been mortified if a friend stopped by. Such different days.
I’m sure you will get the house live-able again. It will be fun to see the before and after photos together.