Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Today's color is BLUE!

I finally got up the nerve to mark a quilt! Usually, I just echo quilt, or quilt in the ditch, or mark on Press 'n Seal and quilt over that, but this weekend, I swallowed my fears of lines that won't come out and marked the borders of my Bright Idea Quilt with a blue water-erasing marker!


I just marked the diamond-y shapes, then did the complementing shapes freehand. It sure makes it easy to have lines to follow. Here's hoping the lines will wash out...

In addition to sitting around quilting, I also painted the bathroom/laundry room in my basement. Before:


After:


My husband asked, "What made you choose this color?" Well, folks, as you know, I'm a scrap quilter. It turns out, I'm also a scrap painter. I went to the mis-tinted paint section at Lowe's to see what colors others had selected and then decided weren't quite right. They re-sell that paint at a serious markdown. I bought this blue paint for $5, plus received a $5 mail-in rebate coupon. I don't think I'm supposed to get the rebate for mis-tinted paint, but I filled it out and popped it in the mail, and who knows, this paint job may be free! And what's more, I like this color - it makes the room cheerful, and Lord knows, you can use a little cheer when you are doing laundry!

13 comments:

Hazel said...

I always use the blue markers and have never had a problem getting them out ,use a spray bottler and get rid of them as you work .
Love the blue color its so clean and crisp ,very frugal of you to go to the mis-tints first .

Barb H said...

I've used the blue wash-out markers before and seldom have difficulty getting it out. If I've used it heavily, I sometimes have to wet it repeatedly since the color gets wet and will travel to an adjacent part of the quilt where it dries and reappears, but it eventually goes away. As for your hand quilting--it's absolutely perfect! I can see now why you love doing the hand work so much--you're an expert!

Cheryl Willis said...

I thought you were going to say you paint the wash room to reminded you of the quilting marker. Glad you found a great deal on paint. cw

Judy D in WA said...

Nice quilting! Way to be brave with the marker.
The laundry room is fab-u-lous!!!

Linda said...

Wow! I really like the blue color on the walls of your laundry room.

Em said...

I love them both, especially the quilting in the border!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a sucker for handquilting!

jan said...

I have used that marker pen in the past, just DO NOT put the iron anywhere near it, that makes it permanent, what doesnt wash out, wears away in the ultra violet light. Don't put it on too thick, just a light mark is all you need as it is only you who needs to see it. I used it on my Japanes Ladies quilt for all the quilting, you cannot see it now. That was in the days when I hand quilted of course. Now it is free machine quilting all the time! Jan

Char said...

Erin, you do such beautiful hand quilting. I just asked another quilting friend how she liked the blue marking pen,because I was thinking of getting one. So thanks for showing your work. I love the blue laundry room. Very pretty.

The Cozy Quilter said...

Nice quilting! The blue laundry room looks very cheery--the before and after pictures are like night and day!

Shay said...

Your quilting looks beautiful. I've never had the guts to mark a quilt yet. Can't wait to see the finished quilt!

Congrats on the laundry colour. Bargain price!

Sam said...

Hi Erin, that paint job is seriously awesome! We quilters appreciate the affect colour can have :-) I really like the blue, it makes your white appliances really stand out. Also, great job on the quilting, it looks good, and I am sure the pen will wash out xoxox

Angela said...

Love the color of the laundry room! It is a sunny blue!
The quilting is beautiful!

Nancy said...

LIKE your laundry room color! That is one of the rooms the painter isn't doing. Not surprisingly, we selected two different shades of blue for our house, along with 3 neutrals. I may have to try one of the blues in the laundry.