Busy, busy!

Well, I thought I could get everything done this week and still find time to post every day - obviously, I was wrong!


Had a great time at the retreat, unfortunately I forgot to take my camera. (also forgot my jacket and the tray I had set out for the fruit - I did remember the fruit!) I will try to show some pictures of the projects (taken with my phone - no idea how they turned out, haven't even looked yet)

I thought I would share a couple of pics of my Easter decor. I didn't do much, and I'll be honest, these pictures were already on the computer - I haven't had time to dump any photos this week! Anyway - the above picture is the little table that used to sit in the breakfast room window. I moved it to the den when I put the Easter stuff out - I quite like not having it in the breakfast room, I'm just convinced this is the right place for it. I'm still pondering that one, so it could move before you see it again!

Remember the eggs I decorated for the guest rooms? This is what I did with the rest of the package. A couple of coats of paint and some glitter! Does everyone else make as big of a mess when they use glitter as I do?

Anyway - I've still got a long list for this week, then I have company coming in on Saturday so I'll be visitin' all next week. I might read a few blogs here and there when I get a chance but I'm not going to even fool myself to think I might find time to post! I'm sure I'll be seeing that 1000+ number again soon (it hasn't been below 600 in weeks!) I hate marking posts read without reading them - I'm afraid I'll miss something good!

I'll be back after Easter with a report on the retreat and maybe some visitin' photos!

33 and counting

Tomorrow I will have been married to this guy for 33 years! Yes, this picture is a couple of years old but he doesn't change much and I've always liked this picture. :)

He is taking the day off so we can hang out together until time for me to leave for the stitching retreat. (seems to fall on our anniversary weekend quite often - he's a good sport!)

Be back next week with a report on the retreat!

A little planting

We did a little planting around here over the weekend. While we are grateful for all the rain we have had this year it has made for an over-abundance of mosquitoes and I'm still itching!


First - here is a picture from when we first moved in. The white furniture is now on the back porch. As you can see, we didn't have anything to work with.


This is/was my feeble attempt to hide the utilities in the back corner. All of our utilities are underground, which makes for a nice look in the neighborhood but makes landscaping a challenge since they are buried right along the fence line - all the way around the back yard. (You can see we had the utilities marked before we did anything - drew it off on paper so hopefully we can come up with some kind of plan before next summer)


Still a long way to go, but we started by planting trees


and trying to find a better way to hide the utilities. I will plant something in the big pot - maybe a hydrangea, but right now it is still empty. (and I'll add some more pots along the way too) I did plant some vincas in the little planter on the left of the big pot (you might be able to see it if you enlarge the picture, but it is a little rusty wire wheelbarrow) The pictures aren't great - it was getting late on Sunday when I took them and by the time I got through running errands Monday the weather was already starting to turn so I didn't get back out there. We had a lot of wind and rain yesterday and it is still cloudy today so new pictures will have to wait. (but the trees are still standing!)


This is the front of the house when we bought it. I don't think the former owner cared much about the yard or flowerbeds. I think what was here is probably what was put in when the house was built. We weren't sure the crepe myrtle was going to make it (you can't really see in the picture, but most of the leaves are black!) The palm thingie bit the dust the first year we were here (we had snow!) so I gladly dug it up! (okay - the hubby actually did the digging but I supervised)


Anywho - we are slowly trying to breathe some life into the yard and flowerbeds! Last year I put plates in the flowerbed but I took them out when we did the Christmas decor - maybe I should put them back now - at least until the vincas start getting big? (ignore the junky garage - hoping to get to that soon - the door stays closed most of the time!) See how big the vincas in the bed on the right are? Those are left from last summer! They did get bit a little during the winter and I had to cut some of them back, but over half of that bed survived so I just put in a couple of new plants to fill in the gaps. I still need plants for the hanging baskets - trying to decide what I want this year.


We planted another azalea where the palm used to be. The first one we put there died but we are giving it another shot.


There was some kind of shrub on this corner but it was all 'leggy' and didn't seem to want to fill in so we pulled it up and put in some lantana.

What, no stitching? Nope - spent the whole weekend either in the yard or making trips back and forth trying to decide what to plant in the yard! This coming weekend is retreat weekend though so I need to pack my stitching bag!

No witty title today

I'm drawing a complete blank as far as titles go today - not that mine are ever witty, but I do try to come up with something!

I missed posting Friday because hubby decided at the last minute to take the day off so we spent the weekend working in the yard. (and I have the mosquito bites to prove it) Had I posted on Friday, I would have shown you this.


I got the blocks all sewn together. Sorry about the crappy picture - I didn't look at it until this morning and I've already put it away until I can get back to it and get the borders on.

I started cleaning up my sewing room - it's a big job! Somehow I got distracted (it happens - a lot) and thought I would clean out my little tin boxes. I have six of them (at least that is how many I found) One of them has buttons in it. The other five had a mixture of stuff. I usually throw one of the boxes in my tote bag when I go somewhere I think I might get a minute to stitch. I've moved stuff from box to box so many times they were a mess and I could no longer just pick up a box and go - I had to see what was in them.


So I spread them all out on the floor to see what I had. A mess, that's what I had!


Need a needle? I've got them for quilting, embroidery, cross stitch, beading. . .


How about a highlighter? Pen, pencil?

Here is just partial list of what I had in the boxes:

Readers - somehow only one pair?
Laying tool (plus two larger needles also used as laying tools)
10 ink pens
6 pencils
8 highlighters
3 blue marking pens (I took one of the boxes to a quilting class)
eraser
Bandaids - even the tapestry needles will draw blood if you stick yourself hard enough!
Kleenex
Scissors - only 3 pair, I must be slipping!
rotary blades
lighted magnifier
2 LED lights
2 calculators
tweezers
nail clippers
3 notepads
3 (empty) needlecases - you see the pile of needles in the pic. Most of those packages are full but there were loose needles on the magnets in every box
safety pins
paper clips, binder clips
pin cushion
tape measure
rulers
etc. . .

I tried to sort it out enough to give me one box for cross stitch (retreat weekend is coming up!0 and one for quilting/applique then I filled one box with needles and the other two with misc. stuff. What do you think the odds of me getting to the retreat without something I need are?

Cut, sew, cut again, sew again

Been working on another quilt.


Got my strips sewn only to figure out that the rail fence strip was a tad smaller than it should be. (operator error) I cut it apart anyway and I'll just trim the others down and work with it.
I've got my blocks up on my make-shift design wall, aka - the back of a Christmas tablecloth (clearance table at wally-world, $1.00) pinned up on the quilt in the guest room. You can also use these if you have a project on-the-go - just roll it up and everything stays in place. When they get dirty or worn out just toss 'em. So keep an eye out when they put the seasonal tablecloths on clearance after a holiday has passed. (I bought three that day) I can't take credit for this tip - a friend passed it along to me when she unrolled the project she had been carrying back and forth to quilt night.

An anniversary

Today, baby boy and his bride have been married for 5 years!

I've probably shown most (if not all) of these pictures before, but we are going to walk down memory lane a bit today. Well, I am - would love for you to join me!


We will start with their wedding day

Then back up a bit to high school

MORP (high school Halloween party)


Senior ball


High school graduation


College


Baby boy graduates from college


Spent a year in Minnesota


Ashley graduates from college


Moving to New York


Last summer, right before they went back to New York.

Miss them every day.

Happy anniversary, Jason and Ashley!

Bummer

Don't ya hate it when you don't notice a mistake until you look at the picture? As in after it is completely finished? Not taking it apart. Nope.
Misc. fabric from stash (32ct) with DMC336 &3865.
Have no idea who the designer is - found the chart in my stash - no identifying information. If you know who should get designer credit, let me know and I'll edit it in.

A tad late. . .

or really, really early?


I finished the stitching on Three Blox (Lizzie Kate) before Christmas 2010 but I didn't get them 'finished' until after Christmas 2011. I got as far as getting the blocks made and stacked only to find out I didn't have enough green ribbon so I've been hunting green ribbon for over a month. I can find green, just not the same green so I gave up and bought red for the bow. Now that I see the picture I think I need to a) take them apart and re-stack them, they look crooked and b) wrap them together with the red ribbon. I should have taken a picture of the fabric I made the blocks out of - maybe I will do that when I re-do the ribbon - sometime before Christmas 2012!

Have a great weekend!

Burp

We have neighbors that are expecting their first baby this month (a boy!) I wanted to do a little something for them so I made some burp cloths.


There are tutorials all over for making these - I read several then just kinda went with it. I used pieces of fabric I already had in my stash and the pre-folded diapers. (which there is apparently no quality control on - not one of them actually has a straight edge on the ends!) I even already had the diapers since I made some last month (but I forgot to take pictures before I delivered them) and they come ten to a pack. (remember when there used to be a dozen in a pack?)

Hopefully I will get some more sewing in today. Working on a quilt but I also want to do the February block of the month - the March block is already up and I haven't done February yet!

Stuff that works

Nothing pretty about these pictures but I'm going to show you them anyway. Just in case you ever need to remove an oil stain on concrete.

You know how you buy stuff wondering if it will actually work like it says it will? Well this stuff works! I should have taken a picture of the container but I didn't and it has been thrown away, but it was either Oil Spill Remover or Oil Stain Remover. We will go with OSR. We got it at Lowe's over by the paint. (obviously I'm not being compensated for this or I would take the time to make sure I had the name right!) It said it wouldn't harm pets or the environment and it had a citrus smell to it.

I should have thought to take a before picture but again, epic fail. Anywho - after we swept up all the sand (we had poured sand over the oil stain when the guys were hanging Christmas lights, then just kept adding to it when it soaked through) and poured out the first jug of OSR this is what it looked like


Just to kinda give you an idea of the scale - I'm guessing this stain was around 2ft x 4ft - and the worst part is covered by the OSR in this picture. Trust me, it was large and I'm sure that stuff was deep into the concrete. The mom-mobile had been leaking for a couple of years. I had given up on buying oil by the qt and started buying the 5qt jugs. Anyway - the stuff pours out kinda like weak glue. As you can see, we should have bought two jugs - one wasn't enough to cover the stain.


After roughly 24 hours. Our driveway has a slope so it spread a little but not too bad. You can see it was pulling the oil up. The instructions said to let it sit until it was dry then sweep up. It gave no drying time but with the mild temps and high humidity around here it took about 48-72 hours. (would probably not take so long in the heat of the summer or if it had been sunny)


This is what was left when we swept up the first round. I would say it worked pretty good! We went back and got another jug to pour on the parts we missed the first time.


We got a little misty rain one day while the second batch was down so there were some places that weren't quite dry when we swept it up but over all I would say it was a success! Hubby took the power washer to it over the weekend and that took care of the white spot/outline that was left behind. Just water - no detergent of any kind. I didn't take another picture after he washed it down. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm a little off anyway what with me out taking pictures of the driveway!

Well - enough of that. I did some fabric cutting yesterday and now I'm going to sew some of it back together!

A few eggs

Thought I would get a little start on Easter. I don't do a whole lot of Easter decor since I don't have kiddos at home but I thought I would do a little.

I picked up a package of eggs at HL(on sale, of course) not knowing exactly what I would do with them. Dug through my scrap bin and found some fabric from the quilt I made for the guest room last summer so I got out the mod podge and covered three to put on the bed tray in that room.

Kinda messy but I think they came out kinda cute.


Swapped out the Valentine magazines for some spring ones.


For the twin room I used some leftover pieces of scrapbook paper but I only did one egg per bed. (the fabric was easier to work with)


I seriously need to replace those fake flowers. They will have to still be fake, but at least I could update them a little.




Swapped out the magazines in there too. Good way to use some of those magazines I moved! Can't make myself part with them. :)

I spray painted and glittered the rest of the ones in the package. They are in glass jars downstairs - I'll show them later. I'm still cleaning up glitter!

Wanna come for a visit?

Time flies . . .and pie!

Wow - last week really got away from me! I don't even know what happened to Wednesday. Thursday I was out all day with appointments then Friday the hubby took the day off so I never got around to posting.

Hubby had an errand he needed to run in Houston - he only goes into Houston occasionally on business, I rarely go and you will never catch me attempting to drive there. It is crazy and I'm lucky to not have a panic attack just sitting in the passenger seat. I can manage the two/four lane, 50 mph traffic around where we live, but that six-lane going 70+ mph, change lanes, exit, merge, exit again stuff is just more than I can deal with. If that wasn't enough we had to park in a parking garage to take care of his errand. I hate parking garages and this one had an extra low ceiling which makes it worse. I was seriously wishing I had just stayed home!

Once that was taken care of we decided we needed a treat so we went in search of this


We have been hearing about this place ever since we moved here but like I said, we rarely go into 'Houston' so we hadn't searched it out yet. (they always show it on the news around Thanksgiving - lines out the door and around the block!)


Anywho - hubby asked what was their best seller and the girl didn't hesitate to say 'strawberry' so that is what we got.

We ate the whole thing. Just the two of us. Not at one sitting, but over the course of the weekend we ate the whole thing! Hubby isn't really that much of a pie person but I will tell you he ate his share! (he prefers cake - me, I rarely meet a sweet I don't like)

Good thing it is gone and double good thing it is not on a regular route. I would be out in the garage digging out those 'too big' clothes I packed away last week!

How was your weekend? Did you have any pie?