Projects Update

Hi everybody! Time is flying by, isn't it? Fall is almost officially here and I am working on my projects trying to get some of them completed.

I worked on my walkway a few days ago and messed it up. Now I'm very unhappy with it but must press on. I used a different type of concrete and it was difficult to work with and I made a mess of things. I'll continue with the original type of concrete and worry about making it look better after the entire walkway is finished.

I've completed all the beadwork on my crow wallhanging and it's now ready to sandwich together. I could kick myself though. I was at JoAnn's yesterday looking around and didn't realize I needed some flat piping for an accent. I was trying to finish the project using stuff I already had, so didn't even think to look at the directions for completion before leaving the house. Of course I don't have enough coordinating fabric on hand to use, so am at a standstill with that.

Remember the pretty autumn bird quilt top I pieced together last year? It's been in my closet waiting to be made into a quilt and I got it out yesterday. Last night I was able to get the layers hand basted together, which wasn't easy considering three of the critters in the house decided it was a good place to play.

Zoe couldn't get close enough to me. Doesn't she look like an angel? Ha - no way!





Little JoJo kept chasing the thread as I was basting - the turkey!

I couldn't keep him off, so just worked around him.


Smudge wasn't any trouble at all; he just supervised.


I have a phone interview with my old company today. We'll see how things go. I still have another iron in the fire that I'm waiting on as well, and I hope one of these jobs come through for me.

Have a good day, whatever you do!

Inspiration from Blowing Rock

I've been back from the mountains for 48 hours and have almost completed a garden project that I saw in Blowing Rock. This is their beautiful piece.

Here's what I've gotten done so far.

I'm going to have to move one of the baskets up higher, but I'm pleased with it.
I've got tons of honeysuckle on my fences, so I pulled some down and wound it around the post. I haven't put the finishing piece on the top yet and will do that later. Next step is to make two small bird houses to hang on the front of the post.

I was so happy to have discovered this idea! I've had a few different things in this spot of my flower bed and none of them were big enough. It just never occured to me to sink a 4x4 and hang things from it. I'll definitely be making a few more of these.

...and here is what my Princess was doing while I was working on my project. The property has been invaded by voles.

Her face is covered with dirt!

I'm Back

What a short trip it was, but so beautiful. I love the mountains and it's been many years since I've been able to go up there. The trip was very quick but I was happy every minute I was there.

Gail's condo is very close to Grandfather Mountain, which is the view from her back deck.

Picures never do the mountains justice, so I didn't take very many of them. I took pictures mostly of gardens and realated projects (like I need more projects on my to do list!)

The leaves haven't begun turning yet, but I didn't care. I'll be able to go again sometime when it isn't rented.



What memories these wilflowers brought back to me. We called them Touch Me Nots because when you touched the seed pod, it would pop and send seeds flying. The feeling of the pods being squeezed between my fingers was such a thrill...a simple pleasure...a crumb of happiness for the child I was.

NEVER FORGET!

The heroes who died at Shanksville, PA

Our Pentagon and the people who died while our capitol was under attack

And the horror that took place in NY


Love this country and what we have! Never take it for granted!

Pics from Yesterday

Here are a few pictures that go with last night's post...

My friends' chickens in the garage:

Beauty and Red Robin in the "hospital", also in the garage:



These are some of my new chickes I rescued recently in a separate pen outside. I didn't mention them yesterday but never have shown you.


Dog damage in my planter; already has new footprints in it!


My cleaned up platform:


My clean car:


Gotta pack now...have a great day; I'm going to!!!

Hard At It!!

I've had a very productive day today :) It's my Saturday and I wanted to finish painting the trim on my front porch and take care of a few other chores around here.

I started my morning on the patio drinking my coffee and looking at the mildew on the platforms I have between my two back doors. So my OCD took over and I started scrubbing everything with bleach water. This job wasn't on the list today but once I got started, I couldn't stop.

After cleaning the mildew, I started some major damage control. Zoe (and probably Blair too) have dug up one entire planter box that borders my patio. Then my whiskey barrel with the giant hostas has also been dug into. Grrrrr. So, I put chickent wire in the planter box and filled it up again with nice compost from Gail's nursery. All the plants are ruined so I'll have to wait till next fall to see the perrenials bloom again.

Several weeks ago I purchased seven ferns that were on clearance at Lowes, and finally put them in pots. They'll look really nice next year.

Then I had to fill in another area that Blair and Princess like to dig up right next to the garage. I repaired that damage and gave the plants a good drink of water and then put cinder blocks where they keep digging. That'll stop the digging in that spot.

I took a little break and made a yummy omlet for brunch and talked to my sis on the phone for a while. Then it was time to get back outside to finish what needed to be taken care of.

Next on the list was to clean the geese pools and tend to all the chickens. I have a garage full of cages now due to illness or babysitting. It's turned into a chicken house in there! It's so crammed full of stuff that I had to take the garbage to the dump to make room for my "monster tractor" (mower).

This is Snow White, one of my roosters (Alissa named him when he was a chick). He stays in the garage at night and in a pen by himself during the day. He and Big Rooster don't get a long at all.
Snow White in the garage at night...

Snow White in his outdoor pen...


This is Big Rooster - he's huge but very, very sweet natured.


Finally, I was ready to tackle the rest of the trim on the porch. I just slapped the paint on the spindles as fast as I could. The railings were easy. It looks so nice now and I can't wait to do the porch floor.

I was pooped but there was one more thing I just had to do - wash my nasty car. I'm going on a trip to the mountains tomorrow with Gail and the car was beyond embarrassing. It looks like new now! I actually detailed it and rubbed stuff on my headlights so more light would shine through, applied RainX on the windshield (that stuff is great) and vacuumed the inside really well. I also applied that vinyl cleaner stuff everywhere too. Living on a gravel road, the car will be filthy again in a couple of days, but at least it's clean for our trip.

I'm so excited...I'll take my netbook with me and maybe I can post from there.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow morning before I leave so you can see what I've been talking about.

Now I'm going to try to sit still for a few minutes before going to bed.

Rest well ...

Happy Weekend!

Before going to Lowes yesterday evening, I got all my acerage mowed and things outside are in pretty good shape right now. I've been itching to paint everything - inside and out, so this weekend I'll start with the porch.

In between spending time at Lowes, I'll be re-painting the trim on the porch. I've already bleached it tonight after I got home from cleaning Gail's house. That alone has been an improvement. I keep white exterior trim paint on hand and already had it. Next I'll be painting the porch floor a completely different color. I can't wait till it's done! I just want everything clean, pared down and more simple.

I stopped at the grocery store and bought lots of fresh fruit and veggies, so I'm all set for the weekend. I've been "making do" with what I had and haven't eaten very well lately.

The other night while I was job searching on-line, my two black cats were playing on opposite sides of the door. They are so funny together. Smudge really doesn't want to act as silly as these two! He's above all this foolishness!






Have a great and safe Labor Day weekend! See you at Lowes if you stop by :)

Another Busy Week

Well, once again I've let too many days slip by without posting. I'll catch you up on all my doings. After all, I was supposed to be using this as a way to document my accomplishments to myself.

So...Monday was my day off and I worked outside pruning some hugely overgrown holly bushes. I hate pruning them because of the pricks they cause, but it had to be done. I also mowed the back yard and pulled weeds from a flower bed that had been gobbled up by them.

Alissa was here till the evening (after school) and she climbed up in her tree again and ate her snack. She said all she needed was a plasma TV and she'd be set! How funny.



I managed to get some beads added to my crow wall hanging. I'm really liking the way it is going to look. Soon, I'll have it ready to hang - just in time for autumn.


I love the black fabric I'm using for the crows. I bought it at Jenny Byer's studio last fall when my sister and I went.



Tuesday I only worked five hours at Lowes. They've hired more p/t cashiers and cut hours for existing cashiers. It makes no sense whatsoever and that small income won't even make the house payment this month. I'm quite disgusted with them but will stick it out till I can land something else.

Speaking of which, I've had interviews for two separate positions recently. They are both incredibly low paying but the salary for either one of them is more than I'm currently making at Lowes. While I'm cautiously optimistic, I'm certainly not getting my hopes up. I'm too familiar with this dance.

Each day I've been working in my yard trying to tidy everything up. I seem to do better at keeping that than keeping the inside of the house straightened. Although I did clean and mop one day. As I came out of my bedroom, I discovered Miss Blair in one of my donation boxes. She's so silly and such a sweet dog.



I've got two more sick chickens - this time with something called bumblefoot. It's a bacterial infection in their feet and tough to treat. I've got them in a cage in my garage and treating them with meds I bought for them. We'll see how it goes.

JoJo caught his first mouse Tuesday - a very tiny baby. It wasn't more than 3/4 inch long, not including its tail. Alissa was here and she got upset so I saved the baby mouse from my baby kitty. I know it's what I wanted JoJo to do but I don't like to see it in progress. If he catches them in the garage at night, that's ok though.

Yesterday I worked from 10-3, which chopped the day right in half. I worked outside till dark and then cooked some vegetables for supper. I haven't been eating enough fruits and veggies the last few weeks, mostly due to working stupid hours. Then I added a few more beads to my crow quilt till it was time to go to bed.

This morning I've done some laundry and will try to clean the house before going to Lowes this evening. I really hate working nights and get so excited at the prospect of having "normal" working hours again.

Tomorrow I'm off again and will clean my friend's house and then work on my own projects around here.

I need to get going - tons to do around here before leaving. I hope you all have a good day!

Silent Sunday

Birds and Bugs

I wash dog towels fairly frequently around here. I don't see any sense in putting them in the dryer so I hang them over the porch railings to dry. This morning this is what was on one of them. Isn't he beautiful!?!


Now you all know how much I love birds. When I saw this pattern at the quilt show in the spring, I had to have it.

Since I can't work on my mom's Christmas present till next week, I put this together yesterday before going to Lowes. Today I fused the crows in place and now I get to add BEADS!! I really love the batik on the pattern picture, but I already had this fall print, so used it instead. There isn't as much contrast but I think it will be pretty once it's all embellished and quilted. It's much bigger than I remeber at the show.



Tomorrow I'm off and will start cleaning for Gail again. She's so excited he-he!

A Favorite Spot

Today was good. I am slowly putting items in my donation boxes. Tomorrow I want to take pictures of the antiques I'd like to sell and take them to a place in town to try to get an idea of how to price them. I have no clue what they are worth these days.

I got a lot of cleaning and organizing done in my sewing room. I'm at a standstill with my mom's Christmas gift so jumped into another project for myself. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.

I also did the usual goose pool cleanup and tended to the chickens, plus got some laundry done before going to Lowes this afternoon.

Tomorrow I want to take the recycle trash to the recycle center and get it out of my garage; the bins are overflowing. Then I want to make a concrete leaf casting if I have time.

I told my friend, Gail that I'm ready to start cleaning at her place again. I took the last two months off to adjust to the irregular schedule at Lowes.

I should save these pictures for Silent Sunday but couldn't wait to share. Remember the big black ladder I bought last fall? I have it on my front porch and it makes a great plant display (or did). Jo Jo has taken it over as his place when I let him outside. He's knocked over one potted plant already, so now there is just one left.

This morning was so pretty, almost fall like, and I drank my coffee on the porch with Princess and JoJo. He scampered right up onto his perch and watched me.




He is such a little monkey!

Whew! (and Twin Fawns)

I hope you all had a nice weekend.

I'm happy to report that our work day was successful in repairing two of the worst areas on our road. Only a few neighbors showed up to work, but we got right to it starting at 8:30 a.m. and didn't stop till well after 4 p.m.

The men got totally sidetracked and ended up replacing an entire culvert pipe in one of the driveways. This was NOT in the plan at all. Talk about a huge project!! This is the only reason we didn't get more done on the rest of the road. And I believe in the KISS rule whenever possible...you know...keep it simple stupid. Well, one of the men wanted to make even more work when replacing the new culvert pipe by digging a completely new trench when there was a huge one created by removing the old and very plugged pipe. I stood my ground and reminded them that they were creating more work than necessary and they finally listened to me.

In the mean time, I dug out another neighbor's pipe and drainage trench that was completely filled in. If they had kept up with it from the beginning, most of the erosion would never have occured. I'll give them a gentle reminder next time I see them.

I also shoveled a bunch of gravel from across the entrance to our road that had washed down into the ditch over there. One by one, I shoveled and crossed the road and threw it back onto our road. I guilted one of the non-participating neighbors and he brought his big tractor out and made two very lame passes and then went back to his house.

It was nice getting to know a couple of my neightors better. One man has lived here two years and I've never even met him or his family. How terrible is that!?! Another neighbor brought some pizza for a snack and another supplied some yummy iced tea. We were all sweating so much that we needed to drink a lot of fluids and that helped a lot. I was absolutely drenched from top to bottom.

They all thanked me for organizing them and agreed that there is more work to be done but that we had made a good start.

I didn't sleep well at all Saturday night; my right hand kept aching from gripping the shovel I guess. Sunday was back to Lowes and I was pooped but have been home all day today. Doing what you ask? I did some more work on the road by myself for an hour and then worked on my patio and back yard till a little storm drove me inside.

This evening I've been working on my little autumn stitchery. I tore out most of what I had done and started over.

I'll leave you with some poor pictures of twin fawns. There are two sets this year and a pair were in my front yard early one morning. I took the pictures through the storm door, so there is a terrible glare but you can see them. Then I stepped out on my porch and snapped a couple more. Still poor quality but better than no picture at all.







Aren't they sweet (even though they are munching on my plants!)?

Rest well tonight.

Friday Night Sew In and a Fountain

I finally finished the dress for Alissa just in time for the start of school next week. I made the size 7 and it's way too big for her :(
She can wear a little shirt under it this year and it will probably fit her just fine next year. She was very happy with it anyway.


Last evening I found a cute freebie design on Ariane's blog and got a few stitches done before going to Lowes today. I think I'll make it into a little pillow to set on a table. I'm definitely in the mood for fall projects (August is my least favorite month due to heat.) Now that I look at it, I'm going to have to rip out those awful stitches and start over! I was rushing with it - I just had to start it before I left the house!
I've started a big project for my mom as a Christmas gift. I can't say too much about it but these are the fabrics I'm using. I had all but the two on the far right end and am really excited about this project!



When my mom and sister were here in July, mom commented on a little fountain I have on the front porch. I decided a table top fountain would be the perfect birthday gift for her this year, so I made this one. I had all the elements but the pump and artificial greenery. My younger daugther (mother of Alissa) just delivered the fountain to her today in Maryland. I'm very happy with the way it turned out and enjoyed it in my kitchen the last couple of days.


I am tired and have a headache and it's way past my bedtime. I've got to get up early tomorrow as I've organized the neighbors to do some repairs to our gravel road and will need all the strength and energy I can muster to help redistribute the gravel!

Rest well, everybody. I know I will!

Animal Games

This is one of JoJo's favorite things to do - chase the cursor when I'm on the computer. Here he's watching it move around a little. He's so goofy!



Then he decided he'd rather watch me :)



Now the favorite game of Hansel and Gretel (both boys, btw) is to see how mucky they can make their water. This container is supposed to be for the chickens to drink from....look what the geese do to it every day! There is about an inch of mud at the bottom. They love to get rocks and sticks and put them in the water too! And boy does it stink when I pour it out!!!


And this is what they do to their pool. Notice the pink heart? It's part of a toy I bought for them last summer, which they destroyed. There are always some pretty big rocks dropped in here too.


Their other favorite game is terrorizing my poor chickens.


Crazy critters - the lot of them!