Ladder Bookshelf: A Dedicated Post

This post is dedicated to all of you with a house/garage full of unfinished projects.  I feel your pain.

A long, long time ago, I had a sleepless night where plans to make my own ladder bookshelf filled the long wakeful hours.  For those of you who have been a part of my blog for a while you may remember several Works in Progress posts in May that showed the beginnings of this project.  In fact, I was so close to finishing it back then.  I had it all put together except the last shelf.  Then, life happened.  I know you all understand what I mean by that.  And the shelves sat unfinished in the garage, until LAST WEEK!!!

Me and my little one were outside playing, and I looked at the shelves and thought, "Really?!  How much could it take to wrap this one up?"  Well, about an hour.  I had to do some tweaking to it, then I put on the last shelf, and voila!  It was done!

I initially planned on it going some place inside.  I just wasn't sure where.  But it is made up of almost all repurposed wood that my husband pulled out of the dumpster at work.  The only thing I bought for this one was the wooden dowels, the hardware, and the paint.  So needless to say the wood is not the best quality.  So between that and the fact that our house is overflowing with furniture, I decided it would make an excellent decoration for our front stoop.

Do you like our limited Halloween decorations?  I did have something on my door, but it was clanging in the wind during the middle of the night so I took it down.  I have to admit, I have very few seasonal decorations except for Christmas.  Maybe someday!

I actually started typing up directions on how to make one of these back in May.  Maybe I'll actually finish them as well and get them up in the tutorial section...

So this post can be called a "Dedicated Post" for two reasons.  1. Because of my dedication in finishing this project {nevermind it took MONTHS}.  and 2. I dedicate it to all of you out there who, like me, have MANY unfinished projects tucked around your house.

Works in Progress - 5.23

Here goes again!  Many projects started, none completed. :)  I know I'm not alone in this!

I did make some progress on my bear cocoon.  I'm working on the oval that will be then belly.  Then on to the hat!!

Nothing to report on refinishing this children's bench.  I still need to take the metal pieces to my father-in-law to clean them up with the sand blaster.

I haven't done anything else with my Zig Zag Quilt Top either.  I'm debating whether to use quilting cotton or flannel for the back...

I have however, made lots of progress on my bookshelf ladder.

I cut out the shelves...

Primed everything...

And added the first coat of light blue paint to it today.  One more coat and then I can do the final assembly.  Yay!!

Painting today was somewhat frustrating though as I had 2-year-old hands helping and feet walking on my project.  It's what I get for trying to paint with my little one awake!  Lesson learned.

And that one petal of my Retro Flower quilt block from last week has now become a whole flower!  Yay!

And look!  I even got a second one done today!  More frustration though as my sewing machine and I were not getting along.  In 40 minutes I only managed to sew two 3 1/2 inch long seams successfully.  ARGH!  :)  It's okay though.  I'm in the market for a new machine.  Any suggestions?

Works in Progress

Here are some of my projects I am currently working on.  Maybe one day I learn to finish a few before I start 10 more...

These first two are of a children's bench my mom gave me.  I've taken it apart, and sanded and stained the wood slats.  I just need to take the medal parts over to my father-in-laws so I can sand blast them to clean them up.  Then I'll put it back together and it will no longer be a work in progress!

This will be a ladder bookshelf.  It's my own design and if all goes well I'll create a tutorial for it.  I need to make the shelves, paint and prime everything, and then I can finish putting it together.

I have had a bunch of fabric from the Dandelion Daydream line forever.  When I say the Retro Flowers Quilt pattern I finally knew what I wanted to do with the fabric!  Sadly, this is all I have done.  Only one petal.  Just 63 petals to go!  I also used Dandelion Daydream for this apron.

This is my current crochet project.  I almost always have a crochet or knitting project going.  This will be a baby bear cocoon and will have a matching hat.

And finally, my zig zag quilt top.  This is going to be a gift for some friends who are not finding out the gender of their baby.  Love this design as it works for a boy or girl!  I may have to make me one...