Good news?

I had my appointment with my kinesiologist/chiropractor Functional Nutritionist last evening. After he did a few tests, I do not have a cold; it's allergies! That came as a surprise to me. I still feel terrible, but at least I am not contagious. After making a couple stops on my way home, one to get some allergy meds, it was 6:00 p.m. and I was exhausted. This morning, I was able to get the tote bag cut out for the Harley quilt and a label sewn on a baby quilt.

Hopefully I feel better quickly because the band has two shows this week. I will be off work Thursday and Friday. I can tell even after taking just one allergy pill my head is starting to clear up. I only have to take one pill every 24 hours so it's going to be a few days to get enough in my system to get my symptoms under control. I am going to have to concentrate on making tote bags Thursday and Friday then I will switch to working on the baby quilt. We will catch up Monday!

3rd finish for 2024

Yes the Harley quilt is finally done! I finished quilting it on Saturday and got the binding and label done on Monday. The finished size is 88" x 92".

I will be handing it off on Thursday to the woman that will raffle this quilt off. I still have a bunch of this upholstery fabric that I will make a tote bag for it.

So what else did I accomplish? Despite catching a cold (that was not on my list!) I wanted to work on the fence flower bed. It was a hot mess. I decided that I wanted to move the ferns on the right side to the left side. The ferns were from the neighbor's yard years ago. The new neighbor has ripped them out, but they still pop up in my yard. The bed is 5 1/2 feet deep on the right and is 7 feet deep on the far left. I estimated the length of the bed is around 23 feet. Here is what it looked like when I started.  What a mess!

I worked on this for 3 1/2 hours on Saturday morning, 2 1/2 hours on Sunday morning, and finished on Monday in 1 1/4 hours. It took 12 full wheelbarrow loads of sweet peat to mulch the bed. The small scatterings of green are baby Lenten Roses that I did not have the heart to rip out. Many more were stepped on and some I am sure got ripped out in the weeding. Next, I am going to get some California Poppy seeds and sprinkle those to fill in the bed. I am so glad this is done. Here is what it looks like now.

Saturday afternoon I sewed together 12 tote bags for the merch booth.

My nephew had a launch party for his new albums and CD's. He did it an acoustical set and talked about the inspiration for some of the songs. This wasn't on the agenda for the weekend, but I am glad I went because I was busy selling. I knew my SIL would be visiting all the people that showed up and it is hard to visit and sell at the same time.  Michael did a great job!  

The band has a show Thursday and Friday this week.  I am going to need to get more bags made! Albums are hard to carry around and yes, lots of people are going back to vinyl. I need to be feeling better by Thursday. My ears are full of fluid, nose is running, and I sound awful, but I am at work. I have a new hire and there is no one else that can get what needs to be done done.

It's Friday and a three day weekend!

I am looking forward to a three day weekend. I have been working on a list to accomplish in my head and here it is. #1 is to get the Harley quilt done.

I didn't get to work on it last night. I dropped off the plants after work then drove up to a big box store to pick up the electric power washer that they had on sale last week. My electric power washer died last year so this will be it's replacement. There is some assembly - ugh - which I will do this weekend.

Next on the weekend list is to get a bit more done on the baby quilt,

maybe get some smalls fully finished and some cleaning done.

I would also like to get some mulch spread in the other flower beds. I have one that is a real hot mess so I will try to get up early in the mornings to get some work done before the heat rolls in. Meanwhile the California Poppies that self-seeded have been blooming and greet me every day.

I watered the plants a little last night even though we had gotten some rain. When I watered the marigold seeds, which none have popped up yet, I saw a little birds nest that must have fallen out of the mugo pine with the winds we had last night.

I guess that is enough of a list. Have a wonderful weekend!

Harley quilt progress and plants

Another shirt is quilted!

Only three left to quilt.

As soon as I got home, I changed my clothes and headed back to the garage. I plugged in the batteries for my string trimmer and mower to get them fully charged, cleaned the string trimmer guard and put string in it, then gathered up three pots for the plants. It was hot and I was sweating like a lady of the evening is church! I got the three Lenten roses dug up, soaked in water, and they are now in the car ready to be delivered. These are probably 3 year old plants.

The Lenten rose I dug up will now give this fabulous cora bell more room. Wanda had sent me several plants two or three years ago. All of them are growing, but this is the biggest one. To the left is one of my cora bells that don't get that big with a Lenten rose behind it. To the right is a Lenten rose coming into it's second year and upper left is a purple cora bell that someone gave me that doesn't seem to get very big. I am trying to water them more so maybe that will help with the size.  The fencing is to keep the deer from eating the cora bells. 

Better than nothing

I was only able to get in about 20 minutes of quilting on the Harley quilt last evening. It took quite a while to get everything watered. It has been in the mid-80's and all my posies were thirsty! I didn't get to watering the Shasta daisies, but they look like they are getting ready to bloom in the next couple of weeks.

As I watered, I figured out the three Lenten Roses I will dig up tonight to give to someone. They have a space on the north side of their home and nothing grows. I told him "Lenten roses and cora bells would love it there. I will bring you some Lenten roses." I need to run an errand after work tomorrow so where I need to drop off the plants is on my way. I have been stitching more of the smalls Carpe Acus. They don't take very long to stitch and it is kind of fun pairing up different colors of floss.  You can't really tell, but I have made a mistake in every one of them!  LOL!!

I need to get some tote bags made for the merch booth. There is not more than a dozen left from last year and since we will be selling albums, it only makes sense to have a bag they will fit in to make it easier to carry them around. When my friend was over earlier this year, she helped me cut out bags from the fabric that had been given to me for bags. We cut 47 bags that the albums will fit in and 10 for the autographed drum heads we sell. Michael is hoping to sell a lot of albums along with lots of t-shirts so 47 bags is not going to be enough for the season. I will have to hit this hard over the upcoming three day weekend.

Another shirt quilted!

I got another shirt quilted on the Harley quilt last evening. Only four more to quilt!

I will be glad when this quilt is finally done.

It's been crazy!

Work and homelife have both been crazy busy. Friday after work I was so tired I didn't get much done, but I did finish the birthday card. I got it mailed Saturday morning while I was out picking up a few groceries.

Saturday my nephew had a gig playing at a private party. We played this same party last year. The show was scheduled an hour earlier this year which made it easier for load out since it wasn't dark.

The side of the stage area; this was my vantage point from the merch booth

merch

It was hot setting up; in the low 80's but it was taking the life out of me. I don't know what I am going to do when it gets even hotter. I took a few pictures of the flowers around the house. Their landscaping is so pretty.

I don't know what this plant is, but I thought it was kind of cute. I wonder if the deer eat these?

I didn't get home too late from the show, but I was still pretty tired. Sunday, I worked on the baby quilt a bit. I have 5 of the eight rows sewn together.

After I mowed the front and the two side yards, I worked on the Harley quilt. I got two shirts quilted.

I only have 5 shirts left to quilt. I have to make this a priority this week.

I finally have a bit of color in the yard. The lavender next to the house is about to bloom and the California poppies have started to bloom. I bought a few more poppy seeds and finally found them; yes, I had put them somewhere!  Tonight, when I water I will sprinkle those. The poppies spread easily but throwing down a few more seeds in bare spots will help them out.

Michael gave me a copy of both of his new vinyl albums and CDs that I will be selling this year. I even got a mention in the liner notes!

Progess on the baby quilt and birthday cross stitch

I now have all the blocks made for the baby quilt - woohoo!

I steal a minute here and there to work on the birthday cross stitch. It took a lot more time than I thought to stitch the Yeti. The Yeti is one thread over one thread.  

It's almost done.

Stitching, resting, and animals

I had a busy day at work and was tired when I got home. Fiddled around cleaning up a bit, washing sheets, and folding towels. I did work a bit more on the birthday cross stitch. Here is where I was yesterday and where I am now

I pulled out of the garage this morning and saw a doe looking for some breakfast. I don't know if this is the new mother or not.

Saturday night after I got home from the musical, I heard a lot of noise in my attached garage. It sounded like a larger animal; I was guessing a racoon somehow snuck into the garage when I came home. I was at a loss of what to do. He was right by the door that I go thru to get into the garage so I wasn't opening the door! I did pound on the door a few times. I didn't have a garage door opener in the house so I couldn't open the garage door. The man door for the garage was blocked with a chair for safety. It sounded like the animal was tearing up the place. I texted my neighbor to see if he had any ideas so he came over. Here my garage door was open! With flashlights we searched the garage and whatever was in there left probably from me pounding on the door. There was a huge racoon hanging around last weekend. I wonder if it was him?

I am keeping one of the garage door openers in the house from now on so I can open the door just in case!