Moving forward

I have been so tired the last couple of days I haven't gotten much of anything done. I don't know if it is the drastic change in temperature or what. I mean last week we have frost warnings and the temperature was downn in the 40's. The last couple of days the temp was in the upper 80's! That is just too much of a swing! I did get part of another block quilted on the yellow and gray quilt.

I bought something for myself and not the yard! I got a Clairsonic and I love it! I have only had it a couple of weeks, but I can tell the difference in my skin. I wish I would have had one of these years ago. My face is so much softer and my pores are shinking. This little machine really vibrates the deep imbeded junk out of your skin. I am still at the stage where that is going on. I get what looks like white heads. The white heads are becoming fewer and my skin feels like it is really clean. I will be interested to see if the lady that does my hair notices. She had said in the past how she thinks I have great skin. Well, it looks a whole lot better now!

I took a picture this morning outside of the new Moda bella solid that I received recently from Miller's. It was on backorder from the big sale at the beginning of May. The color is feather and it is the top bolt. The other bolt is my favorite Kona snow. I know it is hard to see much difference in a photo, but the color of the feather is a little less yellow than the snow. I need to get the feather washed up and use it in a project.


I had to go and give my newly planted area a drink of water this morning. So far the deer have not touched the hostas. I think I will give these plants some fertilizer this weekend to help them out a bit.

This weekend I have no plans of leaving the house. I only have two weeks until Peg comes to visit and I have lots to do to get ready. I plan on hitting the yellow and gray quilt hard and get some cleaning done.

Fixing stuff

Last night was about getting some repair jobs done. I had this pair of pants that had the pocket torn at the one side. It is a tough place to mead since there is not much fabric there. The fabric was shredded to boot too! I did some hand sewing to connect some areas back together, used some fusible web to hold the shreads back together, and then did a zig azg topstitch to finish off the end. There was zig zag topstitching orginally, but not as wide and long as I had to do it in order to secure the fabric. I decided to do more topstitching on the left pocket so that it kind of matched the right to blend in. It was all I could do to fix the problem. I figure he wears a lab coat so nobody will see it anyway!


Next it was on to patching a pair of lacross gloves. The kid's father needed to make these gloves last a bit longer. I got out my ultrasuede scraps and my leather glue. I cut and glue patches on in inside and outside of the worn areas where you would grip the lacross stick.

Here they are patched up. The dad is happy that these gloves will last thru summer lacross camp and delay the purchase of a new pair until fall.


So that was two jobs done and out of my house - YEAH!

Quilting, cleaning, yardwork and rock & roll weekend!

I finally got all the dishes washed! Yes, that is an accomplishment for me! I was thinking about getting rid of 75% of my kitchen stuff so I would be forced to wash the dishes sooner! I did make a loaf of banana bread with pecans since I had room to work.

Between Friday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday I spent more than 6 hours working in the yard mowing, pulling weeds, chipping up sticks, burning bigger sticks, and cleaning up messes. I moved all the rotting wood by the back steps shown here - what a mess! The yard is looking better, but I have a long ways to go. I did find a couple of spots of poison ivy on my arm (not a suprise - the woods are full of it!), but I took a couple of pills I have left over for poison ivy and it is going away.

Here is the after. I planted the Gerber daisies I got for Mother's day and transplanted of things I found around the yard, hostas, coral bells, and a lenten rose. The poor hosta were plants I dug up last year and just threw them on the ground. All the roots were exposed and they were bone dry, but still growing! I planted them even though the deer will probably come along and eat them, but they deer hadn't touched them yet this year so what the heck I though I would thrown them in the ground and see what happens. It just looks a whole lot better than it did!


It was hard to sit at the machine on Saturday and Sunday to quilt on the yellow and gray quilt when I was so tired from the yardwork. I did mange to get four more blocks quilted so now I have 20% of this quilt quilted. I have to repair a pair of pants tonight for a co-worker's son. He is leaving for his new job soon and needs his pants for work.


Monday I went to Cleveland with my brother, sister-in-law and The Michael Weber Show gang to play at the Rib Festival down at the Flats. This was a big deal to get to play here. It did sprinkle the whole time and the crowd was half of normally it would be.
Here are a couple of shots of the area. The Cuyahoga River was right behind the stage.

And then this HUGE barg went by. I could not believe how long it was!
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The band did a wonderful set and people really enjoyed it. I passed out the band's hot cards to the crowd as the band played and sold t-shirts. The band played at 1:30 and then it was party time the rest of the day after we loaded the equipement back in the trailer.

The lady, Stacy, who works for the production compamy that books the entertainment is a friend of the family and she hooked us up big time! We got VIP passes for the VIP lounge and here is what they had to eat - fruit, salsa and chips, subs, cookies, brownies, and a cheese tray. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was 3 p.m. and I was hungry! The food was tasty!

So then we got to go backstage and eat dinner with Stacy and other workers. Yes, we ate again! They had make your own burritos and tacos, salad and desserts. Here is my partly eaten black bean and rice burrito and some fabulous carmel trifle. I would have eaten more of the trifle, but I was really getting full. Two meals in two hours!

So the weekend ended with all of us getting comp tickets to see Bret Michaels at the main stage.

Last nights MQG meeting

There were 10 women that showed up for the meeting last night and the topic of discussion was the internet and social media. One member had some older books with sewing and quilting and gav them to whoever wanted them.
Here are our Boston flags.

This piece was done in memory of Euclid Beach Park where she spent many summer days as a child. It was so detailed and beautifully constucted.
Joanna had to projects to share. The dyed fabric was won from Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber.

A hexie hand piecing project. This young woman has learned everything about quilting from the internet! I think that is so great!


A wonderful t-shirt quilt made by Stephanie for a friend of hers.


I forgot to take a picture of June's pink and green quilt - darn! It was so pretty. I didn't have anything for show and tell. All my projects are in progress and I don't like to show unfinished stuff, but next month I should have a bunch.

Rain report - we got a whole 10 minutes of rain about 11 p.m. last night. They are calling for more so let's hope.

Boston flag

It was just so hot last evening that I only managed to quilt the skinny strips of one block. I went outside at 7 to see if I could figure out where the grinnies were getting in. I got a can of insulation foam and sprayed it in one hole I found at the garage, but I am not sure that is how they are getting into house wall. I sprayed more foam in the garage wall next to house (my garage is attached) so we will see if that solves the problem. While I was outside I broke up the old temporary shower that I had used until I remodeled the bathrooms. I had to get it into small enough pieces to fit in the garbage tote. I was drenched by the time I got that done so I gave the flowers a quick drink and went inside and sat down. I still have not turned on my A/C so I slept with the fan on all night. It is suppose to cool off this weekend and they are calling for rain this afternoon - lets hope they are right.

I got my flag for the Boston flag project done this morning. I used a batik for the heart and African dutch wax fabrics for the flag and tie. I have to turn it in tonight at the MQG meeting.

Yesterday morning momma duck flew in in front of the office door. She wandered over to a nearby tree, stood there, and quacked a while. I have not seen the ducklings.

Scrap busting and another block quilted

This past weekend I decided to take the leftovers from the Halloween quilt and make a baby quilt. Now I used a lot of the scraps in the borders of the Halloween quilt but I still had more so I threw them up on the design wall and this is what I came up with. I am sure someone will like it. I will quilt it in June during Quilt Swissy's get those UFO's done quilt-a-thon. And yes, there are still a few scraps left besides the FQ's. When Peg comes up to visit in June she will take some of the Halloween fabric that has spiders on them. She is making quilts that have blocks that look like presents for every holiday and she wants to make a spider one for Halloween. I think I have four or five prints that I can contribute to that quilt.


An update on the raccoon - he has not come back. I must have scared him so bad he won't risk trying again. Of course, I keep the window shut a night and have the bananas in a container so the house doesn't smell like bananas anymore. Now I had an issue with grinnies aka chipmonks. I was down in the sewing room this morning and I heard some scratching in the wall. I had an issue several years ago and I found how they were getting in and filled up the voids. I checked this morning and couldn't see where they might be getting in so I will have to do a more intense investigation after work tonight.

I received my spool of dark, dark, gray thread I needed for the yellow and gray quilt yesterday. It sure came fast. I had ordered it off of ebay.




So here is the block I tried the thread on. I like the results and now I may buy more of this if I need any other colors for this quilt. Two done - 28 to go! It was so hot last night it was hard to sew. My downstairs sewing room is much cooler than upstairs, but there wasn't any breeze so it was just a bit stuffy. I had to go on a hunt last evening for the box fan for the bedroom. I am just not ready to turn the A/C on yet. At 6:45 this morning it was already 75 degrees. We have had no rain for quite a while and it is very dry. I may have to drag the hose out to give the plants a drink if it doesn't rain soon.

The back

Progress on the gray and yellow quilt and a duckling!

Friday and Saturday I pin baseted the gray and yellow quilt and on Sunday I was able to get one block quilted. Only 29 more blocks to go! I ended up going to Cleveland on Saturday night to see my nephew's band play at a charity fundraiser. It was 1:45 a.m. before I got to bed. Then on Sunday I went to Dover to see my son. I didn't get home until 5 p.m. and I was a bit tired, but I wanted to get at least started on the y&g quilt. It felt so good to machine quilt. It has been awhile and I really missed it. I need to have this quilt done by June 15 which sounds like that would be plenty of time, but in the evenings I figure I can only get part of one block done with all the other stuff I need to do. I will try and hit it hard this Memorial Day weekend.


Here is what the back looks like.

Remeber the pair of mallards that tried to make a nest in the bushes where I work last year? Well, they managed to produce one duckling - at least that is all I saw this morning. It is so tiny! You may have to enlarge the picture to see it. The duckling is between momma and the bushes.

Let the weekend begin!

I spent my time last evening cleaning off my big sewing table in preparation for pin basting the gray and yellow quilt. I finally decided on a backing and here it is tossed on the table. I still need to press it.

Here is a closeup of the fabric. I bought what was left on the bolt. This was in the bargain basement at Miller's last October and I think there was about 12 yards so I still have some left.


I thought I would spend all weekend at home, but that isn't going to happen. My brother called me last night to tell me Michael is playing on Saturday night in Cleveland with his band in a charity fund raiser. He doesn't play until 11 p-.m. - I am going to need a nap! Then on Sunday I am going to visit my son. Sounds like the weekend is going to go quick!

I spent some time looking on the internet for dark gray cotton quilting thread 40/3 and have had no luck so far. Until I find some, I will quilt everything else until I find some.

Have a great one!

Yellow and gray top is done, but do I have quilting thread?

I didn't get any yard work done last evening - it was a bit warm, I was a bit tired, and I had some stuff to do inside. I did get the quilt top done! It is 80" x 96". Those are 16" blocks not including seam allowances.

I went hunting in my quilting thread stash to see if I have all the colors I need to quilt this top and I don't. I have a good variety of yellows from light to dark, but I am sorely lacking in the darker grays. I will have to do some shopping for thread as I need to get this done by June 15th for when Peg comes to visit.

My new toy and 2/3 done

Here is my new electric chipper/shreader. It is not an expensive model or super powerful, but it will help get rid of all the sticks and turn them into mulch rather than trying to burn them. I tried burning last year and I had a hard time just keeping the fire burning. For my purposes, I think this will work find.

So here is my first pile of mulch! That is one pile of sticks gone and a lot more to go!

I plan on using the mulch I make under the deck to keep the weeds down. I don't want to plant anything here because as soon as I save enough money the deck will be replaced.

I started working in this area last evening.


Here is the current after. I have a lot more work to do in this area. I need to weed wack it, rake, and dig out the roots of the wild rasberries. Those wild rasberries are a pain! They send shoots up everywhere and will be challenge to get under control. I am not keeping them, because the fruit production is very small and the deer and other animals eat them all anyway. I will probably spray this area with some weed killer just to knock back the undergrowth a bit and then replant the area after it dies back and I am sure the weed killer has been washed away with some rain.

Here are all the sticks that I cleaned out of this area and need to be run thru my new chipper. There is some thicker branches I won't be able to chip so I will get out my little electric chainsaw and cut them up into pieces that will fit in my fire pit.

So I looked around the yard for plants to put in this area. I have some ferns that wandered under the neighbor's fence. I have never transplanted a fern, but I assume it is just like any other plant. I also have a bucket of daffodil bulbs that I will plant here.

Here are some lillies of the valley that would be perfect ground cover for this area. They have gone wild in my flower bed and need to be removed anyway.

I have these two hostas - the green one I did not plant this so it is a volunteer. If I plant them mixed with the other plants deer don't like, maybe they won't eat them. I will definitly split them into smaller pieces when I go to replant them. I noticed that the deer don't eat the hostas in the woods, only the ones in the garden!

And some lenten roses would look good too. I have five or six plants in the front garden and they look great right now, but they do not like all the direct southern sunshine in the summer. This will be a great place to plant them. I didn't measure this area, but a guess would be 20' x 30'. Next spring this area ought to look great with all these new plants!

So after more than 2 hours of yard work I came inside and sewed together the bottom two rows of the gray and yellow quilt. The plan is to finish the last two rows tonight!