What a weekend

I took a half day's vacation on Friday to give myself a nice long weekend, so I kept busy not to waste the extra time. First the sewing progress then I show you what else I got into. I finished up quilting that one t-shirt on the Harley quilt and got two more quilted.

I need to get a bunch of finishing details done around the house. I started off with painting the railing. It was very warm in the house so it didn't take long for the paint to dry. I have to use a 1" artists paint brush. The paint didn't have much sheen after it dried and so I looked at the paint can which I bought this custom color specifically for the railing back in February 2013 - yes, it was about time I got the railing painted! I don't know what I was thinking back then because it was a Satin finish. Took a trip to the home improvement store on Saturday to get a semi-gloss in the same color - Cloud Cover. I didn't get any more painted, but here is where I ended up.

This is all the railing I need to paint.

So until I headed out to get more paint, let's rip off the deck's steps! Looks like I need to power wash the siding. One more thing on to the to do list! LOL!!

Next I jumped over to baseboard trim that needed to be fixed. I have two places where the baseboard ends in thin air. Doesn't that end look awful?

So after I saw a you tube video of a Chinese woman fixing up a abandoned house, I saw her fix some trim with the same situation, so I knew what to do! Here are the two pieces of trim with the fix as the glue and wood putty was drying.

After some wood filler and two coats of paint, the end of the baseboard looks so much better! I still need to nail them in place.

Now that I made that look easy, the truth is my miter saw was not big enough to cut the angle in one cut.

I had to flip the board over, change the setting on the miter saw and try and get the blade thru the same spot. Thank goodness for wood filler! LOL!! I have more baseboard to install and in order to cut it I am going to have to buy a bigger miter saw. Mine has a 10" blade, but I need one with a 12" blade after talking to one of the guys at work that does a lot of home remodeling. While the paint dried, I sanded down the threshold for the upstairs bathroom. This has only needed done for 10 years.

It took me all of 10 minutes to sand it. I then threw on a couple coats of water-based poly, found the screws, and it is now ready for installation.

While I had the Multi Master set up with sandpaper, I sanded a little piece of trim for the sewing studio. I have no idea how long this had needed done. Let's just say ten years!

After priming and painting, here where it goes.

Oh no! Where is the piece that goes here?

Since it is cooler this week, I will be on a mission to tear thru everything in the garage to find that little piece of trim. I more than likely put it in a "safe" place so I would lose it! LOL!!! Between all of these easy (ha ha ha) jobs, I would rest and cross stitch a little on Elizabeth. I needed more DMC 806 floss for the piece I have been stitching so when I went to get the paint I stopped for floss. The 806 I had was from a box of floss I bought on eBay and was vintage. Well the current 806 is more blue and doesn't have the green hint in it.

So then I decided to work on another cross stitch piece until I figure out what I am going to do with the Elizabeth floss color problem. This was a freebie from Red Barn Samplers and I thought it was cute. I had it all kitted up with the floss and fabric.

Here is how far I have gotten. This will be a good piece to take with me on Thrusday when I am at a seminar all day.

I went to another place and got the cedar mulch I like to put next to this flower bed. This is where I plant my zucchinni every year. I bought 8 bags, should have bought 12.

Weeded and mulched the curb bed. The mulch is from the pile that I stored down the hill in the back yard for two years. The mulch at the bottom was wet and heavy so I took as much as I could from the top where it was dryer. The first load up the hill in the wheelbarrow was so hard. Then I decided to put air in the tire. Geeze! The other three loads were much easier to push up the hill.

While I was out and about I stopped and looked for floss again. This time I took the little bit of vintage 806 I had so I could compare. I found color 3809 and it is pretty close.

Here is where I was on Elizabeth last time I showed her and where I am now.

Finally some happy mail. I had heard about a shop going out of business so I ordered some cross stitch linen. I got it for almost half off.

Let's see what I can get done this week.

Back to Harley and cross stitch progress

I am finally back to quilting on the Harley quilt. I didn't have much time since I needed to water the seeds and plants last night. It has been hot, 80 degrees, and dry. We might get some rain this weekend, but until then it looks like I am going to have to water every night. I only managed to get part of this shirt quilted, but it is a move in the right direction!

Here is my progress on the sampler - where I was and where I am now.

An almost finish, a start, and where does the time go?

The weather was beautiful yesterday so when I got home from work the first thing I needed to do was water the flower seeds I had planted last week. Then I got the weed killer and sprayed the dandelions that are rearing their ugly heads. Gathering up the recycling for pu today was next and then cleaning of a small table that had been gathering stuff. I am almost done with the France small. I only have to stitch is a few stiches to the motif at the upper left and add a 3 once I hear that my friend's family member is able to head to France for a vacation later this year. I am not adding a skull unless she asks me to add one.

I came across this picture of a sampler as I was clearing off the small table and decided I want to stitch it next. I will have to quit walking at lunch since it is getting hotter so I need to have another cross stitch project to work on. I have no idea where I got this picture.

I picked out some linen. I am using Fox & Rabbit Duxbury. This will be my first time using their linen. I got this on sale a while ago from The Fat Quarter Shop and was not sure if I was going to like stitching on it. The weave seem a bit tighter and the holes small. I found a color floss I liked and started on it this morning. I am happy the linen stitches up very nice and here is my small start.

I need to get back to the sewing machine. It is just hard trying to squeeze in sewing, exercising, and house projects in the few short hours I have every evening.

Odds and ends

Wow I was tired when I got home from work yesterday so not a lot got done. I will show you the Pellon Fusible Thermolan fleece I bought. I found it on eBay. At JoAnn's it is $11.99 a yard and at Hobby Lobby I have bought it on sale for $5.99 a yard. I found a 10 yard bolt with free shipping for a little less than $41.00. They had two bolts so I just bought them both. With tax that comes to $4.35 a yard. I use this for placemats and I have a couple other projects I want to try it out on. This ought to last me a little while!

Remember that I told you about my credit card number being used by some unsavory character? Well, they are not a very good criminal, because the item they bought showed up at my house yesterday! How did they think they were going to get the item? The credit card company has already put a hold on payment to investigate what happened. I called and left a message on the vendor's answering service that if they would like their item back to give me a call and we will talk about a call tag to get it shipped back to them. I opened the box to see what it was and it is some kind of a chair cushion. The cost was $117.40.

Then I spent some time taking care of the last of the meat I bought. The meat market I like had filet migon on sale so I treated myself.

I wrapped each piece in parchment paper and vacuum sealed them. I can take one out at a time to thaw and then reseal the bag.

Project bags, chocolate, stitching

I got the 14 project bags done and passed them out on Easter. At my brother house, my SIL and her cousin always pass out chocolates. Here is my haul

I would rather make something to give. Last year it was the boxy pouches; this year it was project bags. Everyone liked them. Some people didn't know what they were going to use theirs's for, but I told them all they would figure it out. None of them were cross stitchers.

The weather was nice over the weekend so I was out working in the yard a bit. There were about a million sticks - again - in the side yard. I think this is the third time I have had to clean up the sticks from the neighbor's trees. The front yard is all trimmed, mowed, and looking good. The daffodils in the center bed bloomed and look so pretty. I used the leaf blower to blow a lot of the leaves out of the center bed, but I am going to have to get down on my hands and knees to dislodge the leaves that the leaf blower wouldn't move.

I didn't get the keyboard bag done. I just ran out of time with baking a pecan pie and making a cheesecake to take to my brother's house for Easter, laundry, dishes, and cleaning. I did get a few more stitches in the Eiffle Tower small. Here is where I was last week and where I am now.

Had to go see my wireless pouches in action!

I took vacation so I could see my wireless pouches that I made in February in action. I circled the pouch on the guitar strap of The Boss.

I had a great time at the show and I didn't have to stand all night in the pit. I had an actual seat. My brother who works for the band gave Michael a guitar pick and Michael gave it to me.

I was in the sixth row behind the pit walkway so when Bruce came out for one song he was really close.

The last 36 hours have been crazy. I got enough sleep that on Thursday I ran errands. I wanted to see a house for sale where I am looking to move, but the realtor company didn't have anyone available to show it to me when I was in the area doing errands. I got home and unloaded the car, but I made a big goof. The tail end door was open when I opened the garage door. Not enough room for the garage door to clear the door so I put a big scratch in the car tail end door. UGH! Then I got up this morning, turned on my phone and there was a charge on my phone I didn't make. The credit card lady thought it might be a one off mistake so we didn't cancel it. About 8:00 this morning my phone pinged again for another charge. Called the credit card company and they cancelled the card. Then I had an embarrassing situation trying to pay my cell phone bill. Couldn't pay it on-line since my card just was cancelled, the store wouldn't take the check I just wrote, and they didn't have enough cash on hand give me change. Geeze! I won't go into all the details, but a half hour later and some random fellow giving me $4.00 along with the cash I did have including $3.00 in quarters and the bill got paid. Oh, three dollars was a fee for paying cash! Let's just say the company has been called and a complaint has been filed. I did get 14 project bags cut out and the zippers have been installed. These are for Easter presents.

I got the main body for the keyboard bag quilted

Added dirt and seeded the flower bed with coneflowers and marigolds

Watched the guys grind off the top layer of asphalt. Let's see how long it takes for them to put down the new asphalt.

And quickly put together two Easter baskets. It's been crazy at work and I am ready for 4 o'clock! Have a great weekend and holiday!