Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Another day

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the movies with a group from church -- we went to see "The Help" after most of us had read the book -- fabulous book, and movie -- don't miss it.  Anyway, after the movie, we went to lunch, so I was gone about 6 hours (I live a half an hour from the next big city which is where my church and the theatre is!).  I came home to this:
This is the back door going out to the garage.  That's the very nice trim on the side of the door and the mess all over the rug.  My dog, who is 11 years old, btw, not a puppy, did this.  He also pulled stuff off the shelf of the bench next to the door, tore up a couple of throw rugs and generally made a very large mess.  (He wrecked the trim on the same door last year after Bill died -- everyone said he missed Bill --I said I missed him too, but I don't go around eating the woodwork!).  Needless to say, the dog is now being put into his kennel whenever I leave the house.  I had my brother fix the woodwork the last time this happened, but I get kinda tired of having to ask people to do all these things that Bill used to do.  So, Saturday I took both pieces of trim off the sides of the door, and put them in my car.  Yesterday I went to Home Depot, got two new pieces of trim to match, but they wouldn't cut the angle at the top of the trim, so I stopped at my brother's on the way home, and he cut the angles for me!  Today, I stained both pieces out in the shed.  (Thankfully, we still had a can of the same stain we used on the rest of the woodwork).  I'll let them dry a couple of days, then varnish them with the same varnish we used and then will attempt to put them back!....I am woman, hear me roar!

I also spent a few hours yesterday and today working on the yard and gardens.  I'm making some headway with the weeding; I've had to rake the grass the last few times it's been mowed -- some areas grow faster than others and it just looks tacky to leave all that grass laying there.  I pulled one tomato plant up and all the beans (and picked the last of the beans as I did) and cleaned up the vegetable garden.  I've got some pretty tall weeds in the asparagus bed (as tall as the asparagus ferns get and more), so I'm working on that slowly each day.  Last week I planted a bunch of mums up by the house and down by the road -- hoping to get things looking good for fall.  And this afternoon I pulled some of my fall quilts out and started putting them up.  I know it's not officially fall for a month yet, but I needed a change!  This is one of my favorite scarecrow quilts from a few years back.
And this little pumpkin quilt is still a favorite of mine.  It was a quick design by Kay Steinmetz after a workshop she gave a lot of years ago at guild.  I took the pattern home and whipped up the quilt the next day.  So much fun to do and I still love to hang it in the hallway or the kitchen every year.
The plan tomorrow is to do some more appliqueing with Kris, and of course lunch out!

'Til next time....

Saturday, August 27, 2011

August is almost gone....

the summer is flying by and I feel like I've been on a roller coaster for the past 3 months!  These are pictures of the grandkids when we went to the Wisconsin Dells in June.

This one is Briana riding the sky high bike at the Tommie Bartlet Exploratory Center.  That's really a long way up!
I've had my house on the market since the 6th of June -- hence the roller coaster ride.  Someone is interested....nothing happens.  Big Open House -- well attended, one couple stays for an hour and a half....nothing happens.  Today, that same couple came back, spent another hour and a half and still can't make up their minds.  So, first I'm leaving, then I'm staying, then I'm looking at other properties to buy, then I'm staying....Now, I'm planning on getting a lot of yard work done and some general outside cleaning; I'll probably go ahead and have the blacktop part of the drive sealed this fall as I was originally planning to do.  I'll do some more whipping into shape of the flower beds and all this with the intention of doing it for my own pleasure, not to sell.  Next week I'm going to put out my fall quilts and my fall decorations and if someone comes along and wants to buy it, fine, but if not, that's okay too.  When the listing runs out, I'll take it off the market for a few years. 

I'm getting back into the quilting groove.  I'm caught up with Bunny Hill's Henrietta Whiskers block of the month, just waiting for the last block to be posted on the 5th and then I'll put it all together.  I've been getting the sewing studio put together the way I want it, so it's a real pleasure to sew in the basement now.  And hopefully, I'll start posting more on the blog, with pictures of quilts! 

'til next time....