sewing and shoveling dirt

I managed to get three rows of blocks sewn together. I am going to have to add a couple blocks to make the rows longer. Right now the rows are only 60" wide; I ran out of room on the design wall to add any more blocks to the row! LOL!!

We had gotten some rain so I decided to tackle moving the pile of dirt from my driveway to the back yard. The dirt has been there over a year and it had compacted down. Here is the before

I was hacking at the dirt with a shovel when it dawned on me to use the Maddox. Now I don't know if that is the correct name for this tool, but that what I always heard it was called. It weighs about 9 pounds and you know that you are swinging something solid!

It broke up the dirt much easier than the shovel. I hauled 6 loads to the back. I could only fill the wheelbarrow 1/3 to 1/2 full - that dirt was heavy! I am dumping it where next year I am going to plant more squash and zucchini. The bed looks a mess right now, but I will keep working on bringing it to a point that it will be good for planting. I do need to add more organic matter so I will be mixing in the leaves that fall.

Here is what the dirt pile looks like now. I made a little dent. I figure it is going to take 7-9 hours of work to get this cleaned up.

I am glad it is Friday. I have been extremely busy at work banging away on the computer making spreadsheets, gathering information for the spreadsheets, and entering data. I sat all day yesterday so when I got home I was tired, but not the good kind of physical tired. that is why instead of just sitting, I decided to move some of that dirt. After an hour of that, I was mentally feeling better and the tired was physical instead of mental.

This weekend I am going to try to spend a few hours moving more dirt, work on that flannel quilt, and I need to make a trip to my brother's to finish up the downspout repairs and sealing that joint. Have a great weekend.

Change in plans

The 16 patch quilt tops is going to have to be put on hold. I recently found out that the wife of a fellow I work with is going thru some medical issues. Time for a flannel quilt to be made for her. I had cut up a lot of my pink flannel in the last year so it was time to dig out the box where I stored the pieces and parts

I had cut 6 1/2 blocks and assembled four patches. These are the piles after I already started to place them on the design wall.

Here is what I have so far

In the box I still have a bit of yardage I can cut into 6 1/2" squares, strips that I could cut 3 1/2" blocks or the tiny strips for the four patches, and binding ready to go.

Here is the yardage for the backing

The only item I need to check on is quilting thread, otherwise I have everything I need to put this quilt together.

Yesterday I was at the hospital for the Owner's meeting. Here is a picture of what will end up being an operating room.

Making headway

I sat down and sewed last night instead of working in the yard. What did I get done? Two tops are sewn together

and I have two more laid out on the design wall.

I am glad you all liked the penalty flag.

I put a little stone in the corner to weight it.

Bit of sewing and weeding

It was a beautiful cool evening so I got to work pulling some more weeds in the center flower bed. It now looks so much better. I still have a bit more to clean up and I need to trim the mugo pine a bit. I am hoping I can find someone who still has some sweet peat mulch so I can dress the beds before winter.

I did get one baby quilt top almost sewn together. One more seam and it will be done.

This morning I quickly made a penalty flag for my boss at the hospital job. I don't know which one of us came up with the idea, but now when she see something that breaks the rules she can throw a flag!

Let's start with sewing. I finally got all the 16 patch blocks sewn together on Sunday. Then I started sewing the blocks together into rows. I have two tops ready to sew the rows together.

On Friday after work I went to my brother's house and attempted to fix his downspouts. They were routed into underdrains, but I have assessed that the underdrains are shot. His basement is so damp he has a problem with mold. I went ahead and did what I could as we were forecasted to get rain early Saturday. This first downspout was buried behind vegetation

As I worked on adding an elbow and a run of downspout to get the water away from the foundation, I found out the straps that held the downspout to the house were no longer attached because the screws were rusted. I propped up the downspout and will go back to add new mounting brackets. I had to go buy brackets, more screws, a masonry drill bit, and masonry screws for the brackets.

For the next one I also found that it was no longer attached to the house. UGH! I also cleaned out the weeds and dirt in the gap between the driveway and the house so I could add backer rod and sealant so no water would migrate down the gap anymore.

I found the perfect rock to prop up the downspout until I can get the mounting brackets on it. For now though the water will go away from the house. I also didn't buy enough sealant or backer rod. I bought more so I will finish this when I go back to install the brackets.

The last one was the easiest one to fix, but after 2 1/2 hours and sweating profusely I was getting tired.

Saturday included grocery shopping, getting a battery in a watch, and stopping at the home improvement store for the stuff I need for my brother's house. I trimmed one of my pine trees and filled in two holes left from the tree that fell

and got that big pile of fabric ironed.

I didn't get as much done on Sunday because I was so tired. I did take a long nap and today I feel much better.

I am glad it is Friday

I had a movie that I borrowed from the library that I had to watch because it needs returned today. While I watched the movie I worked on the DWR quilt. I got 6 more pink melons quilted.

The movie was Yesterday. I was not impressed at all. It was painfully slow and somewhat predictable. I did see a really good movie on one of the movie channels the other evening. It was called In America. It was about a struggling Irish family that had immigrated to NYC in the 1980s. I missed the first 15 to 20 minutes of the movie, but the plot was easy to pick up. The end of the movie was a tear jerker. I hope it is shown again because I would like to see the beginning. The littlest girl in the movie was just the most beautiful little girl and she did her job very well.

Yesterday at the hospital there was a big discussion about how to fit a scrub sink in a space that was too small for one of the operating rooms. After an hour of measuring, measuring again, brainstorming, and measuring again a solution was decided upon.

I am mulling over in my head what I might do this weekend. Let's see on Monday what I ended up doing. Have a great weekend!

A few more done

5 - I got 5 more blocks sewn together. I have 7 more to sew and then I can finally start sewing together tops.

Yesterday my neighbor had to have their sanitary piping replaced which meant the sewer guys had to dig down 11 feet to get to the pipe. The best part was that they didn't run into the water or gas lines. Now they have a huge mound of dirt sitting in their front yard and will have to wait until it settles before doing much to fix the damaged lawn. It is amazing how much they dig out and how only part of it goes back in the ditch! My neighbor told me that the guys hauled away one truck load of dirt because there was so much of it. Crazy!

When I was walking to my meeting at the hospital yesterday I saw something I had never noticed before. The storm drains have a fish on them. I like that fish. I may have to do a rubbing.