A good job done

I spent an hour and a half working outside after work. The weather has been perfect for getting all those little jobs done that I have not taken care of. Last night was patching the concrete at the end of the driveway. Here is the before

And here is the area after I patched it and broom swept it.

Here is what it looked like this morning. The directions said you need 24 hours of above 40 degrees and I think that is not going to be an issue. I am glad this job is done!

It was still light out so I swept up the driveway, swept up the gutter with all the loose concrete and dirt from the patching, and picked up sticks in the yard. Then it got dark. I headed inside and made salmon paddies for meals. Yum!

With doing a few dishes and some laundry I had no time to sew, but getting these long neglected projects done is a real sense of accomplishment.

Working in the dark

It was so nice last evening it was another opportunity to get a few outside jobs done before the bad weather sets in. First thing was to put the cap on the downspout underground pipe. Here is the before

Of course I had to find the drill which didn't take too long. I had bought screws and a bit, but then I couldn't find the bit. I have an cordless screwdriver so I looked in that box and found a bit that would work. I also found a can of white flat spray paint so now I had all I needed to do this job that has needed to be done FOR TWO YEARS! Here it is completed! YEAH!

Next was caulking. I have a poured foundation and there are several small cracks. I had dug down to expose this crack, but had just never got around to caulking it for TWO YEARS! What is wrong with me?! I had to dig out a bit more so here is the before

Here it is all caulked

I filled in the hole and regraded the area. I still need a bit more dirt. As you can see by the picture it was getting dark outside.

Since I had the cement caulk tube open I went over to the opposite side of the house to the garage and repaired a slight opening where the concrete patch from repairing the garage two years ago had shrunk. I didn't want water to get in there and freeze. All fixed! I had a couple other places I wanted to fix, but it was too dark at 5:20!

Next job was to prep the bottom of the driveway for patching. Since there is a street light beside my driveway I was able to see. When I had the garage floor replaced two years ago, the contractors dump truck added to the cracks. I want to patch it and hopefully help it from getting worse for awhile. I had sweep the loose debris and dug out the grass/weeds that were in the joint by the curb.

I needed to get rid of the dirt where the grass/weeds were so I drug out the hose which is at the back of the house. It was pitch black by now and as I walked to the back yard I heard over my head this blood curdling scream from an owl. It scared the heck out of me! I went ahead and got the hose and washed all the dirt and loose rocks away so they area could dry out and be clean for patching today.

I put my tools away and was done around 6 p.m. I got a bite to eat and then was absolutely paralytic or in other words too darn tired to do anything else.

18th finish for 2016/OMG one monthly goal done!

What a busy four days! I didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving, but my neighbor brought me a plate of leftovers from her big gathering and later on the kids brought me a piece of pie! It was enough for several meals.

I got the tea towel quilt done. I was digging thru the fabric storage room and found a piece of fabric my brother had brought back from Australia for me and I decided to use that for the binding. The quilt ended up 69" x 76".

When it wasn't raining I did some yard work. I needed to rake leaves, but I wanted to do something with my compost pile. I just kept dumping leaves and grass on the compost pile and never spent the time to mix or turnover the pile. I had some poles and plastic fencing so I got to work. Here is the compost pile before.

And here is what it looks like now. The red weathered fence belongs to my neighbor.

The vegetation was packed down so tightly that the moisture never would penetrate the layers. Here you can see that there were leaves on top, then greener grass, and below that were layers of matted grass. I tore thru what I could to move and mix with new leaves in the newly fenced areas. I did get down to dirt/compost and hauled one wheelbarrow full over to where I plan on transplanting the cora bells from out front.

I remember there were a few pieces of concrete at the end of the compost bed, but there was a lot more I had to dig out than I remember being there! That was hard work! Now I have to figure out what to do with all of this

I did get this area cleaned up - before

after

I continued to work my way down the hill

I need to get a baby quilt done for a friend of my sister so I cut batting and backing for all 5 baby quilt tops I have. I got two of them pin basted

and here are the other three for assembly

I still need to cut binding, but I was so tired I couldn't think anymore. I also spent some time cleaning the house which needed done badly! I'm tired!

AHIQ project and Thanksgiving plans

It is that time of the month to post another AD Hoc Improv Quilt project. I have this piece I made for a challenge and it was not accepted so therefore I didn't bother finishing it. LOL!! The entire top is made with improvisational pieced triangles including the maroon and navy areas. This piece is 42.5 inches wide by 41 inches high. This piece is also on my UFO list so I could kill two birds with one stone!

I have not been invited anywhere for Thanksgiving, but that's ok since I have lots of things to do and I won't have to spend the time baking pie or cheesecake.

I want to finish the tea towel quilt which was last month's AHIQ project. I am still not sure which fabric I will use for the binding. I agree that it needs to be a print.

I have a baby quilt that needs quilted and bound so I can send it to my sister in Georgia for a friend who just had a baby. I don't expect to get it done, but at least get started on it.

And if there is a glimmer of warmer temperatures I need to finish up a few things outside. If I have any extra time I want to finish painting the living room. It has been half painted for two years and I am tired of looking at it. More than likely I have bit off more than I can chew, but that is the way I roll!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Binding decision

Here are some choices for the binding for the tea towel quilt

Navy blue Essex - a safe choice

Tan Kona - it would work

What about this vintage Marimekko?

Probably not

Then these two - Free Spirit Twine on the left and a Jay McCarroll on the right.

I leaning toward the Free Spirit Twine

Quilting and yard work

Friday I took a half day vacation since it was so nice outside. I needed to get more outside stuff done. I first cleaned up the garage - swept up the leaves, cleaned up piles that needed to go into the recycling bin, put stuff where it belonged, etc. Then it was onto working in the yard. My plan was to move the cora bells from the front bed to a bed in the back so I could put black plastic over the front bed to kill all the weed seeds over the winter.

I needed to clean up the back first and here is what that looked like.

I spent a lot of time crawling on my hands and knees pulling up all the weeds. I had dumped some leftover sweet peat for storage two years ago and thought I would move that up into the front bed

until I found bunches of these Lenten rose seedlings!

I have a big bed of these plants in the back yard where it is shady most of the day. The deer won't eat these.

So I dug up a bunch of the seedlings and transplanted them into the newly groomed sweet peat.

By the time I got this done it was getting dark and I was getting tired so the cora bells did not get transplanted Friday. Saturday it rained most of the day. I did go shopping on Saturday morning because I needed a new electric heater for my studio. My other one burnt up the other night and I mean burnt up! I kept smelling this smell like welding fumes and could not figure out where it was coming from. The next night I turned the heater on, heard cracking and saw smoke. I unplugged the heater and tossed it out the front door. So far I like my new heater and it was on sale.

I got the outer border all quilted this weekend! All I have left to do is quilt the navy piano keys and put the binding on!

I couldn't work in the yard on Sunday because it snowed Saturday evening and the wind was howling. As soon as we get a bit of sunshine the snow will be gone. Tuesday it is suppose to be in the low 40's and sunshine so that will be my opportunity to get the cora bells moved.

Quilting again - a little bit

After work it was out to the yard to finish up cleaning the bed near the house. Here is what it looked like before

I had cora bells in this bed, but they couldn't take the heat from this summer. I got the rest of the crabgrass and weeds out, dumped a bag of potting soil that had been sitting in the garage, and then decided to transplant some Shasta daisies to fill in the empty space. I started some Shasta daisies from seed 3 years ago

and the plants are multiplying so I dug up a few of those

and planted them in the bed next to the house. It was so hot this summer that the flowers didn't last past June, but the foliage tolerated the heat so if nothing else I will have some green in this bed.

My next project is to move these cora bells

to an area in the back for the winter after I get it cleared out.

I plan on putting black plastic on the soil for the winter to help kill the weed seeds; this bed has gotten so bad with weeds and crabgrass. Next spring I then will move the cora bell back. I am going to take a half day vacation today so do this since today is the last warm day we are suppose to have. They are calling for rain tomorrow and snow on Sunday.

I did get a tiny bit of quilting done on the border. Since it looks like I will be staying indoors this weekend more quilting will get done. Besides that I can't go anywhere far since I have a leaking tire. I couldn't get an appointment until Tuesday to have it looked at so I have to put air in it everyday and nurse it until Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!