Dec. One Monthy Goal (OMG) project

It is time for me to post Elm Street Quilts' my December goal project http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/p/omg-one-monthly-goal.html

My goal is to work on baby quilts and get at least these two done.

I did get a bit of quilting done on the baby quilt for my sister's friend

I quilted last evening after I made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies for work.

I have no big plans for the weekend except if the weather is decent to go and rake more leaves and if it is lousy outside, I will be quilting. Have a great weekend!

Crack is taken care of ...

that is the last of the cracks in my foundation! It was 60 degrees and it was time to get the last two cracks caulked. This one was at the garage. I had to dig down only a few inches to reach the footer.

Fixed!

The last crack that needed filled was at the back of the house. As you can see I had fixed it before, but the it needed caulked again.

I cleaned up the pile of debris I had swept up the night before

trimmed up a few bushes, raked a bit, and hauled the leaves to the compost pile. At 5:30 I called it done and went inside with every intention to quilt after I got something to eat.

My brother, who lives in Texas called, and after our 2 hours and 7 minute conversation, it was time to get ready for bed! All I managed to do was to get the cone of quilting thread I plan on using for this quilt from the fabric storage room. I will try again tonight.

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