Weekend Whatever

Last week

Needlework
Sew down binding on Sea of China - spent some time, not done
Finish ALQS quilt - ditto
Finish right front Tori's sweater - ibid.

Outside
Weed, weed, weed
Water
Drag brush
Work on front bed
pick rhubarb Yes!

Personal
Replace the battery in that $%#& beeping smoke detector
Preschool snack Monday
Preschool graduation picnic Wednesday
Walk, water, vitamins. yada yada yada
Simon Boston Trip
Tori to Heifer Farm Friday Saturday Sunday

(click the top pic) Doesn't that blue quilting on the Sea Of China look great!? As I said up there, I didn't finish the binding, the knitting, or the ALQS quilt, but I did work on all three. My original thought with the ship picture was to somehow incorporate nautical flags in a border. But space is limited, and it was sooooo busy with a pieced border that I thought multiple skinny ones might look better. I was happily surprised when I pressed these three out and was reminded of a white with navy trim sailor dress I had as a little girl. Yeah! A perfect solution. I'm pleased with the way this is going. My next step will, I think, be a brown (wood look) wide mitred binding to mimic a frame. Or maybe not.

And now, to quote the Cat in the Hat (I really dislike Dr. Seuss, actually,) that is not all, oh no! That is not all! I woke up on the hottest, stickiest, ickiest day of the week, a day my Jr. Helper was not at school, and decided I could not stand the ripple in the carpet one. more. second. I had considered calling someone last week, to arrange to have a carpet installer come and restretch the carpet, but oh no. I'm frugal parsimonious cheap. I believe I can do anything, remember? So why should pulling up half the living room carpet, (the half that's attached to the carpet in the front hall) jamming a knee kicker with my patella (repeatedly) and reattaching it to the tack strips be beyond my skill set? Well, (5 hours later) I guess just because I *can* do something (tada!) doesn't mean I'll want to do it again. Add "Carpet Installer" to my list of jobs I never want. The ripple's gone. :o) And then, to frost that cupcake, I shampooed the carpets.

I also bought and planted four potentilla (Pink Beauty) and 36 wax begonias - the bed in front of the garage, created last summer during the Great Patio Project is now complete. Woohoo! I should take a picture, I guess.

This week

Dinner Menu
Sunday - Ribs, baked potatoes, baked beans
Monday - Salad supper
Tuesday - lasagna, garlic bread
Wednesday - homemade (grilled?) pizza
Thursday - burgers, oven fries
Friday - grilled chicken, egg noodles
Saturday - deli sandwiches & salad

Needlework
Finish binding on Sea of China
Finish ALQS quilt
Finish right front Tori's sweater

Outside (same ole, same ole)
Weed, weed, weed
Water
Drag brush
Work on front bed
Cover strawberry screen house to keep the %$#! birds off the berries! They're MINE!
Remove dead foliage from daffodils.

Personal
Father's day!
Sunday - when (where) does Tori arrive home from Heifer Farm?
Monday - do band concerts on the green start this week?
Tuesday - last day of school (11 am dismissal)
Wednesday - test at Porter 10:00
Thursday - hair app't 11:30

Here we go

Blogger wasn't being cooperative this weekend (my dashboard wouldn't load?) but it's not really a big deal since I didn't have anything to say anyway.

I have no pictures of anything finished last week because I didn't finish anything. Well, Tori's sweater, but I already posted that. I'm plugging along on aprons (4 done but the topstitching, 2 more ready to cut, and fabric waiting to be pressed for 3 more.)

Margaret emailed to say she had Saraswati loaded on the frame and had begun quilting, so that'll be back soon. Sea of China went out a few weeks later, so I expect it back early May.

The yard is still frozen hard where it's not snow covered. So no garden to report, except maybe this.

This bed is part of the patio project we did last summer. It's snug up against the garage, southwest facing so it gets sun all afternoon. The soil is warming and the sprouts are popping; I think there will be a dramatic difference by next weekend. Forecast is for 50s all week which should get rid of the last of the white hell and replace it, heh, with mud. yay.

C'mon a my house

Well? What are you waiting for? Coffee's on, and I made pie. ;o)

Thanks Sam

Pigley sent me some Feng Shui info that has helped me decide on the colour of the door.

From http://articles.homeone.com.au/3.php

Feng Shui Secrets - Doors
By Crystal Wave

I have always looked closely at the front door of a home. it is the mouth of the house for energy & people to enter & exit from many times a day. ...Give the door a quick lick of paint to boost your energy each time you arrive home. It is NOT true that you should paint your front door red to bring more money in to the house A red door is best on a South Facing door A Blue, purple or black door for North Facing A yellow, terracotta or earthy coloured door for SW or NE facing door A white or grey door for West or NW facing door A green door for an East or SE facing door There are of course many other colour combinations that can be selected - but like all things feng shui- it should be in balance with your environment & your home as well

Okay, so my door faces more south than south-west so to appease the majority of commenters (thank you!) AND the door spirit, I'm going to find a bricky, earth red. Perfect!

The article continues...
Also spruce up the entry with a new brass number set. Place the numbers at eye level & in ascending order so that the last number is the highest. Well that's easy. Our number has one digit.

Today? Maybe.

Red Door! Green Door!

I'm going to paint the front door.
Green?

or red? I've always thought I wanted a red front door, but you know, EVERYbody wants a red front door. Maybe I want a green one? I don't know. Our door looks more like the second picture - white clapboard porch, the step is wood (willing to paint or stain that too, BTW), but gee, I love the green of that first one.

Where'd that week go?!

Bevin's blocks ARE done, I counted to make sure, and as I suspected, I have a lot of strips left over. I'm going to cut them down, skinny, and make a little log cabin for the mudroom. Maybe. This week I'll start the chunk assembly, then assemble those chunks into a top. By next weekend? We'll see.

I got a little top for Katie done - Trip Around the World in red, sage, and tan. yawn. I'll share a pic when it's quilted. The next one for her will be a Jacob's Ladder in brown and pink. That'll get cut out today, and sewn as a leader/ender project with the assembly of Bevin's top. These little quilts are only 18" x 24"; since I prefer them to actually look like little versions of big quilts, I scale 12" blocks down to 6" or even 4" if that's a better look. It makes them almost as much work as a big quilt, though. Just less materials. These are all being done with scraps from other projects. Reduces the scrap pile, saves a little money. It's all good.

No knitting to speak of, though I've been thinking about it. And I'm starting to consider whether I have time to do a cross stitch for mom for Christmas. That'd be a big no.


(that's 100 days from today, folks, if you're counting)

Oh, clue #2 for the Nesting Robin was announced (heh, by me) yesterday. Harold and the Purple Crayon. Now I *could* just do a wandering squiggle in a heavy purple thread (perle cotton?) and I might, actually, but I need to lay hands on the book and see if there's some 'scape that might lend itself to threadwork over the four arcs in the next round. Hmmm... ponder ponder.

Oh, and the patio is still done. Woot! I topsoiled and grass seeded this week, it rained yesterday and I'm seeing little green shoots already. This should be an excellent grass growing week, and maybe I'll be able to find some bushes to plant. I thought I wanted yews, but I understand planting yews is like inviting Bambi to the Bellagio. All you can eat, baby!

Weekend Update

It didn't cool off and rain yesterday like Dan promised. Instead it was 95º, humid and gross. Thanks Dan. Today is cooler though, barely 60º and I'm doing everything in my power to incite the rain gods - there's laundry on the line, the windows are down on the truck. I think if I pull ribs and chicken out of the freezer, the clouds will open.

The patio is done, and darn pretty, if I do say so. I have other long shot pictures but the shape and layout haven't changed from the in-process pictures, and gee, this one looks so nice... We still have some topsoil-ing to do, to bring the lawn up to the level of the stone, but that's easy enough. I need to shop now for some bulbs and bushes for the space in front of the garage.

I did also get some sewing time in this week. Bevin's quilt is up to 88 blocks, only 32 to go. And I got my nesting Robin started as well. The motif is interlocking scrolly hearts I found on a German hex sign website. They fill the space pretty well, I think. Next clue comes next Saturday, I imagine I can be done in time.

Farmer tan and pumped guns!

The patio is finished, and I am so ready to stay in the house and get pale again. Every day this week, out in the sun, has left me with a tremendous farmer's tan on my beefed up arms. ugh on the tan, woohoo! on the muscles I'll share pictures of the patio tomorrow after today's rains wash it clean and beautiful. The arms - you'll just have to use your imagination.

Today I clean the house and do laundry. It's been neglected and it's starting to bother me. Last night we didn't even get inside until 7:30. Showers and such meant it was close to 9:00 before we sat down to eat. This morning, the dishes were right where we left them. I hate that. So today I clean, maybe this afternoon I'll get some sewing done? I'd like to at least get the quilting motif transfered to the Nesting Robin quilt so I can get started on that before I fall asleep on my feet this evening.

Tired, again

So today - super productive! I did laundry! I made 8 blocks for Bevin's quilt! I put in my scheduled shift at preschool! I (with Scott) spread the rock fines for the patio! I went to a fundraising meeting for the PTO I don't even belong to!(??) I got the patio stones laid out in prep for installing tomorrow! Oh wait, I didn't do that, Scott and the kids did. But still...) Aren't they pretty, all laid out, killing the grass? There's a whole lot more of them, but the circle comes as a kit and the blocks need to go in a specific order. Of course they don't come with any sort of key to let you know what that order is. God bless the internet.

They have to be installed before it rains - the fines turn to concrete with wet, so tomorrow and Friday are patio days. I'm very much looking forward to having this done.

Seven Year Itch?

As I mentioned last week, we bought this house in August 2000. We're settled, maybe things are getting a little too familiar. Oh Geeze, we've got the Seven Year Itch!

The Seven-Year Itch: The inclination to become unfaithful after seven years of marriage.

Are we being unfaithful by trying to polish up this place? Nah, we're just trying to recapture that "first time we met" excitement. ;o) We haven't really done anything to the house, except pave the driveway five years ago, and fix the improperly done grading the year before that. We've planted some gardens, cut down some trees. Last summer, I even went so far as to paint the mudroom. But all pretty low dollar stuff.
Well this year, we splurged on a new zero-turn mower.

And built a play structure in the yard for the cute boyfriend.

The patio is nearing completion (ha!) and Scott has decided we SERIOUSLY need a new sink in the master bath. Realistically, a new sink means a new vanity, new fixtures...

And there's one more plan afoot, but I won't say what until it's a done deal. Don't want to jinx it. I'd love for it to be a new deck with a built in fireplace and a hot tub, to rest my aching bones, but it's not. Boo.

Weekend Update

Uhhhh. I got nuthin'.

The grading is done for the patio, that's the biggest part of that job done. We're trenching to bury pipes to carry the downspout water away down the hill into the woods, so that continues. I think I'm going to order the stone and dust for delivery next Friday. Ack! Gonna rent a compactor too, that should be interesting, maybe I can shake a few pounds off.

I neither knit nor sewed this week. Friday was *supposed* to rain, all day and I was going to sew. Instead it just got humider and humider. Gross. Too hot to even consider picking up the wool or plugging in the iron. Or lifting a shovel, for that matter.

A few other milestones, though, this week. The band's final Monday Night Concert is past. It was almost dark by 8:15. The Christian Reformed Church offered pie and ice cream (I had cherry) and coffee. What a nice way to end the season.

Friday the pool closed for the summer without us. We went Thursday though. And Saturday was Vergennes Day. This year was the 26th anniversary, though the City's been here officially since 1788. I guess before 1981 the Saturday before the Labour Day weekend was just another day. They didn't know what they were missing. ;o)

This week school starts. Maybe then I can find some time to knit. Or sew. Or clean my house.

Pictures!

First, some shots of what I haven't been doing (not so much, anyway)

This is 3/5ths of Bevin's quilt. That sounds so much closer to done than 72/120ths. I like this more and more the bigger is gets. The blocks are 7", it'll be 70x84 when I get there. Unless I have a zillion extra strips, in which case it might get bigger. Or I might get a Halloween mudroom quilt out of the deal. There's a thought...

Next!

Katherine's scarf progresses slowly since I only work on it at the band concerts. Tomorrow's the last one of the summer, and there's pie and ice cream - I suspect there won't be much knitting. Summer's winding down already. The pool closes Friday, Saturday's Vergennes Day, and school starts a week from Wednesday. Tori mentioned she hasn't even been to the A&W this year! Scandalous, we have to remedy that. Soon!

Next!

This is why I haven't been knitting or sewing. The patio project continues. After hauling out all the 1" mixed (the technical name for the dusty foot slicer stone that was on there) we started working on the grade in prep for the 2 yards of 3/4" clean and 2 yards of topsoil that will be delivered tomorrow. My suspicion that this house was built by not-too-bright monkeys continues, though I suspect that the excavating work was contracted out to gorillas. I understand that when you backfill a foundation, you sometimes fill with different stuff than you dug out, Here in Clayland, that makes some sense. But. filling with large rocks? Leaving huge water holding voids that could, potentially shift and compromise a foundation with any sort of seismic activity? The New England area isn't as seismically active as the west coast, but we get occasional small rumbles. It's not really so much of a concern, but it annoys me that like so much else with this house, things just weren't done with care.

That area we've finished is maybe, maybe 12' square. We went down only 7" by the step, and gradually less as we worked our way this way. And THIS is what came out of there. That's some rock pile! And goes a long way to explaining my numb fingers and sore back this morning. Back to it again today, and tomorrow. Perhaps by Wednesday the grading will be done and the new stone can go in. Then a 2" layer of fines (rock dust) and the bricks on top of that. This is the back-breaker, it's downhill after tomorrow. That is if we got the grade right...

This week is history

So, what'd I do this week? Whole lotta nothing, it would appear. We had some killer hot, super humid days this week. The Adirondacks, upon which we can often see tree texture and rocks, were a mere shadow in the haze. It was the Anti-Arizona (you know, the old, "it's a dry heat.") Like breathing soup (and here in farm country, that would be cow-poop-soup.) Ugh. And heading into August, the weed pollen is high, just for kicks. So, I was knocked flat by migraines twice this week. I suffer from allergy induced migraines so I get a sinus headache with the aura/flashes/upset stomach/knife in the eye pain of a traditional migraine. Fun? You don't know the half of it.

Aaaaanyway. I guess I did do something. Young Anarchist got carted off to his swimming lessons daily and I threatened him (by withholding his daily candy fix) enough to make him pay attention and do what he's told long enough to pass. Good boy. :o)

During the 40 minute lesson, surrounded by the "almost-30 (OMG!) young- mom" set, I played the dowager and knit on Katherine's scarf. I'm at about 18", with about 1/2 the skein left. Christmas is months away, I'm SO on top of things (cue: catcalls.)



Did I sew? Not a stitch. Not a single one. But I did buy some more batiks for Bevin's quilt. They're, um, still in the bag.



But my greatest achievement, that generator of the aching back and sore butt muscles (who knew??) is this:

Saturday afternoon I decided I want a patio. Scott sat on the newly cut lawn (his work) enjoying a Coke and the thankfully less humid afternoon, and suggested I'd better get to work. He didn't really, but his reaction wasn't much more than that. So I did. We've always had a ridiculously wide crushed stone walk up the house. Like 7 feet ridiculous. I dragged out some hose and reduced that sucker to 3 feet, 45" out from garage, and straight along the grassline. I shoveled, and raked, grunted and heaved, and got myself about 6 feet before going in to order a pizza for dinner. We discussed my vision over pepperoni, Scott suggesting that we "really could hire someone to do this." I was unswayable. He humoured me. We staked out the center of the front entry area, measured a length of rope, and spray painted a large circular patio. 18 feet. He went in to have a shower after tagging the grass with Simon's name. I got busy finishing that walkway and new planting area. Simon grabbed a shovel and de-sodded most of his name. As my walkway approached the edge of the "patio" I moved my pot ghetto to the finished end and carried on. It was getting dark when I came in. This morning, Scott and I went to Livingston Farm to look at rock. They were closed. Four Seasons was open, but had no stone. And Home Depot? Well, we bought some hose parts.

When we got home, Simon finished removing his name, and then disappeared. Cute Boyfriend and I spent the next 3 hours de-sodding the remainder of the patio. Tomorrow I'm going to see a man about some dirt. And stone. According to the book I bought, they highly recommend delivery. And professional installation. Pshaw. How hard can it be? *snort* Stay tuned.