TGIF

It was too nice to be inside when I got home from work, so I decided to weed the center flower bed. After an hour and a half of crawling around on my hands and knees I called it quits. I need another 45 minutes to an hour to finish it up, but it looks so much better. I was happy to see some of my coneflowers from last year are coming up and have spread. Here is the before and after.

I ended up with a wheelbarrow of weeds and leaves.

While I was weeding I saw that the Narcissus have bloomed. I have two big clumps of these.

I finished the Oakbank School piece yesterday. I need to spend some serious time in the garage resizing frames so I can get the pile of finished samplers framed.

My next piece is going to be this Blackbird piece.

I got a small start on it this morning. I am using 32 count Fox and Rabbit linen called Tornado. The floss is Cosmos 601 Jet Black.

My big plans for the weekend are to make six placemats that a woman at work ordered, quilt on the Harley quilt, and maybe weed some more depending on the weather. Have a great weekend!

Harley progress

Last evening was about mowing, spreading weed & feed, and putting down some product to kill the grubs. The skunks have been tearing up part of my lawn digging for grubs. I did manage to get that t-shirt finished.

I am almost done with the Oakbank School piece. Here is where I was yesterday and where I am now.

The weather is really nice right now so after work I plan on doing something outside. Not sure what I will do. I have weeding, still need to clean up the Lenten Rose bed, and I have to cut up the stringers from the steps I tore off the deck. I want to make sure everything is cleaned up before the deck guys come in a few weeks. There is more work in the garage to do and I need to get back to looking for that piece of trim. That is about a week's worth of work I just listed! LOL!!

Harley quilt and stitching

I have another t-shirt on the Harley quilt almost quilted. I need to put some serious time into this quilt or I am never going to get it done! I got the top sewn together in one weekend and it is taking me months to get it quilted.

I got a few more stitches in the Oakbank School sampler. It is almost done. Here is where I was yesterday and where I am now.

Stitching, eggs, and a heron

I had an appointment after work so I didn't get home until almost 7 which for me is too late to sit and sew. I do have progress to show you on the next cross stitch piece. I cross stitch in the moring before work starts and sometimes at lunch when I am back from my walk. The last time I posted this sweet little sampler was April 17. Here is where I was then and where I am now after working on it yesterday and this morning. This one is not going to take long to finish so I had better kit up the next cross stitch project soon.

A fellow at work and his wife raise chickens. He brought in a dozen eggs and someone snatched those. After talking to him, I gave him a couple pieces of the banana bread I made and he said he would bring me some eggs. I also gave him a boxy pouch for his wife too. Look at these beautiful eggs he brought me this morning!

When I retire and get my forever house, I plan on raising chickens. I told him that I would be picking his brain on how best to build the coop for my chickens. Speaking of birds, yesterday on my walk there was a heron. I see one of these every once in a while at the retaining ponds that line the road where I work and walk. I don't know if there are any fish in this retaining pond. I am guessing there is not or otherwise the heron would hang around more. It is nice to see some other bird than the Canada Goose.

Weekend accomplishments

I managed to get a few things done. The boxy pouches and the wireless pouch are done and handed off.

Made a pillowcase for a woman I work with for her birthday. I have a little bit of Happy Birthday fabric left, but not enough for any more pillowcases.

Made a loaf of banana bread with pecans.

Finished stitching Elizabeth. I used two different teal blue colors since I ran out of the vintage 806. I like the way it turned out with the hand dyed linen.

It rained on and off all day Sunday and it was chilly so I didn't dig around in the garage looking for that piece of trim. The forecast says it is going to warm up at least into the low 50's Wednesday so I will be back digging in the garage.

What I have been doing

Thursday I spent some of the day at a conference for employee owned businesses. Every employee is suppose to attend once every three years. I have managed to fly under the radar for 20 years, but not this year. After opening speakers everyone headed to whatever room you wanted to for presentations of different subjects. The rooms were so hot I had a hard time dealing with it after several hours.

The chairs were awful and by the time it was lunch, I was hurting all over. Lunch was good. Chicken, potatoes, veggies (I had already eaten the green beans before I took this picture), good crusty bread, and dessert. Key Lime cheesecake and chocolate fudge cake. I ate the cheesecake instead of a salad (I don't like salad).

Picked up some swag. The koozies are to take this summer to have at the merch booth. Once in a while someone comes over to see if we have any can koozies for sale. There are no plans for selling The Michael Weber Show koozies, so I will have a few I can just give away. That will make someone happy.

I did spend my time at the presentations stitching. I had to have something to keep my hands busy so here is where I was last time I posted and where I am at now. I must have stitched for around 4 hours yesterday and 45 minutes this morning.

Wednesday after work it was so nice outside I ended up spending 1 1/2 hours in the garage going thru stuff to try and find that piece of trim. It wasn't in here

or here

Was it in here?

Nope, but I did empty the bin by tossing some stuff and moving other items where they belonged.

Was it in here or here?

No, but there was room in the orange toolbox to put the electrical stuff. I will need to sort thu the small bits left in the electrical box.

I am running out of places to look, but I am still determined to try and find that piece of trim. My brother called and needs one more of those wireless pouches so I got all the pieces cut.

He also asked for some of the boxy pouches. The ones I have are holiday prints, tennis and tractor prints so I am going to have to make something a bit more pretty to send to him for his wife to give as gifts. Looks like I am going to have a busy weekend with those projects and trying to get a few more Harley shirts quilted. Have a great weekend!

Last night's box and Elizabeth

I grabbed this box to go thru last night.

Here are the contents all spread out - window hardware, hinges, knobs, handles, a spare window crank mechanism and assorted screws.

I went around the house and either installed the missing window hardware or sat the needed pieces on the windowsills. I didn't want to install some of the hardware until I touched up the paint in a couple places. All the window hardware is now at the windows. I took the knobs, hinges, and handles and put them with the other knobs in the refrigerator drawer with the other knobs and the extra screws went in the tin. The box had been recycled!  The little piece of trim was not hiding here.  

After that I decided the grass was looking scruffy, so I mowed and trimmed. While I was outside, I remembered to take some pictures of my Lenten Roses. The bed needs some TLC.

Wanda of Exuberant Color and I were having a discussion about the color of the flowers. The white one look white, but are they really white? Some look white on the outside of the flowers, but the inside is green.

Here are inside of several other plants.

Here is my progress on Elizabeth - where I was yesterday and where I am this morning.  That band above the crowns is fun to stitch and it goes fast.

Two steps forward, one back

Another Harley t-shirt has been quilted.

I have decided to go thru one box/container of home improvement stuff and toolboxes each evening until I find that little piece of trim. As I empty the container last night, a refrigerator drawer, I had three piles - one keep, one trash, one donate.

I did put the red paint cup in with the painting supplies. I also got a lidless tin and put all the nails, screws, and fasteners in as I go thru the boxes. Once I am done, I will put those where they belong. Here is the keep stuff. No trim piece. I did throw in the red can of insulation foam that was sitting by the paint stuff.

I made a bit more progress on Elizabeth. Here is where I was and where I am now.

The step backward was I went to install the threshold and apparently, I didn't save the right one. There were two doors into the bathroom, but I turned it into a primary bedroom bathroom. The one I saved is a little short! How dumb was that! At least I hadn't spent hours on refinishing it and I have a sample of what I need.   Next time I am at the lumber yard I will see if they have something like it, but just a few inches longer!

The pavers are laying down asphalt so maybe in the next couple of days the cul-de-sac will be paved. There were a couple of steam rollers and a paving machine parked. They had laid down asphalt on one side of the cross street yesterday.