Just Hangin' Out on the Long Weekend.

I love the weekends, I have never kept that a secret, but long weekends are extra special. You get the one extra day to sleep in and do the things you love to do. Its a nice little present. I have to say sometimes I miss the big family July 1st barbecue and get together we used to have, but times change. So I am at home, puttering about the house and getting things done.

I finally got some quilt pictures taken. At long last, here is the Endless Stars quilt I made for R to give to her granddaughter: Pink, white and purple for a little princess.

Now then the updated quilt for the Red Room. Here is how it looked like with the old quilt, which I had made years ago for Mom. That one was called a Railway Crossing and while I still like it,  I wanted a change.

 I made this: Its not quite what I wanted but by the time I realized I was making a mistake, I was too lazy to stop and start over. I may make another one some day, the one I really want but for now this is fine. Its fresh and its a change, so its good enough for now. It does not show in the picture but the afghan at the foot of the bed is a sampler blanket, each square is a different knitting pattern. 

I had a tiny miracle happen to me on Friday. Something that never happens as a rule. We had a retirement tea for a co-worker at the office and as I have tea appropriate dishes, I happily loaned out some cake plates and tea cups for the do. While I was packing up my dishes, a pedestal cake plate slipped from my hand and smashed a cut glass cake plate to smithereens right on top of the tea cups. Thankfully the plate was the only casualty of the incident and thankfully, I did it, not someone else. This happened about 2:00 pm. I told my co-workers I would just have something to look for when I go yard saling next, then I promptly put it out of my mind.  I was leaving work early at 3:00 pm. I first skipped to the bank and when I was done there, a random little thought popped into my head that I should stop in at a local thrift shop and snoop around. I decided I had time before I needed to get ready for supper and nothing better to do, I went.  I found the EXACT SAME CAKE PLATE for a $1.00 at about 3:15 pm. My luck seldom runs that way.

Today I did the usual things: groceries, gas for the car,  breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, took out the recycle, cleaned the kitchen mat (cat barf, such fun), ironed all the doilies in the house ( I had washed them sometime ago). I shuffled some things about in some cupboards, put away all the tea things from Friday, took quilt pictures and then I washed out the fridge, pitching out all the unidentifiable food items that were living in there, and finally I did this:

I started the Blarney Night quilt for next year. I have this year's yet to quilt but as batt and backing need to be bought, I went with what I had on hand. No extra funds around here at the moment so economy is the watch word for this month.

Tomorrow I hope to tackle some yard work, sew some more on the Hanging Garden's quilt for Blarney Night 2014 and do the laundry. Some time I need to make a Walmart run for cat food and litter. Both of which I have run out of and the cat is starting to look slightly panicked. Monday will be my free day, and by that I mean no planned things, chore or craft in nature. I will just go where my whims take me.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Toodles, Linda

This and That

I have been going to post since Sunday, I was going to share a completed quilt picture with you but apparently I have not taken said picture. Could be its just too complicated a process, could be I am too lazy, could be I keep forgetting to do it. Take your pick, could be any or all of those reasons. Whatever it is, said picture has not happened yet and the entire week could slip by without a post from me. This would grind the known world to a halt, I know, and I do not want that on my conscience so here I sit, posting away, waiting for my cinnamon tea to cool and saving the world in one fell swoop. Go ME!! (yes I do crack myself up)

I had a nice weekend. I managed to get the last of the plants planted in the front yard. The Hostess generously shared her inpatients plants with me and I now have these lovely pots gracing my veranda and front step. I have the best friends in the world, no doubt in my mind, they are truly good to me.

I really need to paint the steps and floor of the veranda. Next year

My front yard at last is looking how I want it to look. Next year, I will make some changes and hopefully I will get the back yard to be how I want it to be. I did nothing back there this year. Next year will be soon enough. I have big plans for next year. I think I have mentioned that before. Next year is the current chant for all things in this house lately.

Sunday it rained most of the day, so I pouted for about 3 seconds, then I sat down at the quilt frames and spent the day working on the Red Room quilt. I started to quilt it at the cabin and now I have only two sides to finish binding. Once that is done, it can be washed and placed on the bed. Pictures to follow. This is not the quilt picture that I have been ignoring, that is the Endless Stars quilt for R. Picture to follow once I actually take it. Quilting for a day is one of the best ways for me to spend my time. I watched all the Longmire episodes I had taped and nearly got my quilt finished, win win!!

I am back walking faithfully again, by that I mean I have made it to the track two days in a row. That is faithful, right? Right! Again I say, Go ME!! I have decided that I am a complete drama queen when it comes to working out. I would doubt that fewer people than I can make such a big production about walking, expend so little effort and yet look like they have run a marathon by the time they are finished. I amaze myself at times.

My tea has cooled, I need to drink it and then get myself to bed. I am tired, achy and ready to read a bit as I listen to the thunder roll and the rain pour down.

Toodles!!
Linda

My Idle in the Wild

I have said it many times, I will say it many times more, cause its really really true.........I have wonderful friends. They care about me, do wonderful things for me and they make me feel humbled by their goodness. One of my many wonderful friends has a cabin at at a nearby lake and once a year she urges me go and stay there for several days, no cost and I have to say its one of the highlights of my year.I just got home from three days of silence, leisure and relaxation.

Quiet, no obligations and no guilt that I should be doing other things besides, read, quilt, knit and nap. While this may sound like my usual days  but I always have other things that need my attention, I feel pulled and conflicted. I packed up a ton of DVD's, books and the afghan I had finished but not got put together, a quilt for the red room and I hit the road on Sunday. Its not prime cabin season so things are very quiet up there, you can hear the wind sighing through the trees, the lady squirrels gossiping with each other in the mornings as they go about their squirrel business. Birds sing, the sun shines and the breeze is cool. I could stay up there for ever. Well at least longer than I actually did. Every once in awhile I need time away and alone, just me.

While I can spend some time in the absolute quiet, I have to have some tv noise so I take DVD's with me. I finished the fifth season of Angel this year and watched the entire second season of The Gilmore Girls. Rocky 1 and 2 were revisited and Pride and Prejudice was watched for like the millionth time. I did step out into the world. I snooped the second hand book store/coffee shop/gift shop. Chai Latte and a butter rum pecan tart are a lovely way to start a day. I found that one of my favourite shops in a local town has closed, which makes me sad and I did actually go into the park but did not linger for too long. I mostly wanted to just be away , on my own for a few days, to have a break, get myself centered and regroup.

I finished this while I was there:

I knit this afghan some time ago, for myself but I had never taken the time to sew it together and knit the trim.  At long last its done and ready to use.

Then I got started on this quilt. I got two rows of block quilted. This is not exactly how I wanted this quilt to look but it would need to be totally ripped apart and started from scratch to fix it and I am not prepared to do this so I am going to live with it as it is. Its going in the red room when its done and I will share pictures of it when I get it put in there.

I sat on the deck and read as much as I could but the mosquitoes were bad and drove me inside far sooner than I would have wanted to go. The cabin is surrounded by big pine trees and its lovely and shady on the deck. This week there was just enough breeze to keep it comfortable and it the dang bugs would have buzzed off, I could have spent the entire day out there.

I was up at 6 or 6:30 each day, had a nap each afternoon and just totally relaxed. I did not think deep thoughts nor did I think superficial ones, its like I turned my mind off and simply drifted through the day. It was lovely. Tomorrow, reality will set in and things will go thumping back into place but for now I am happy to drift along on the remnants of my idle in the wild.

Toodles
Linda

Seven Years Ago this Month

I go the keys to this little house and became a homeowner for the very first time and I was thrilled. I am still thrilled. I love my little house, its quirky, need a lot of work, it has character, and it is my haven. I am happiest within its walls. I have worked on it, cried over it, worried about it and dreamed big dreams for it. I still look around an marvel at the fact that I can call it mine. Its not the biggest, fanciest, or the best but it home to me. It is my little kingdom and within its walls, I am happy. God willing I will be here and be able to maintain it for as long as I am meant to. Ok enough of the happy anniversary.........moving on.

Today, at long last, I FINALLY went and got some flowers for the front yard. I decided that this year there is not enough money in the budget to do all I want to do so I will make the front yard as complete as I can and then deal with the back next year. Fortified with a breakfast biscuit and a coffee, off to the greenhouse I went. I bought marigolds, some petunias and then it a burst of complete Linda-ish-ness I bought two shrubs. Completely not in the budget, full price but they have a guarantee. I am calling them a birthday gift to myself so in that way I have justified the expense.

Hauled my treasures home and took to planting, weeding and making the place look like the person that lives here cares. Later on this afternoon, the heaven's opened and the rains came, cleaning, washing and freshening the earth. My plants were given a nice soak, complements of Mother Nature and I sat on the veranda, watching, listening and thinking about how the yard looked when I first moved into the house. The former owner wanted a maintenance free yard. This was her vision: not what I would have done in a million years.

Sorry its not the best picture, it was taken at dusk and its a bit blurry. So she coated the whole front yard in wood chips. The green things in this picture are the weeds that were growing up through the wood chips. Cause under the wood chips was a lovely mix of landscape fabric, then plastic garbage bags then tar paper, and then news paper. Blech!!

This was my first attempt at changing the yard so I planted the marigolds along the edge of the yard. I don't have a decent picture of just the chips but you get the idea, can we all say prison yard? Seriously, the chain link fence and the chips, nothing that would make you say, "what a cute yard". The only green thing in the whole front of the house was the variegated dogwood bush in the corner. EEK!!

So today the yard looks like this, not perfect of course, I am the gardener and I am not a very good one, I like to think I have made the place look better, at least the front is green and alive again.

Miniature lilac bushes that desperately need to be pruned but as they are blooming, they will be allowed to run amok until fall then it's hair cuts all round.

Sadly I killed off the dogwood with weed killer last year. It tried to rally but this year it is truly dead as a door nail.  I plan to dig it out this fall and then replace it next year.  I planted all that grass by my little self and I was so thrilled when the lawn grew in. Its the size of a postage stamp but its GREEN and ALIVE and I love it, weeds and all.

Happy Birthday (early) to me, I bought two of these today. They are spirea bushes and are suppose to produce nice double pink blooms. I bought one for each side of the gate. I love the colour of them and I hope they live, and bloom and grow.

Next year ( I have big plans for next year) the south side of the yard will be dug up and the day lilies will be replaced with hostas. I, faithfully, plant petunias in this old wash tub. It belonged to my mom and that is what she always did. I like to keep the tradition.

A row of peonies now live in front of the veranda. They should bloom their foll heads off this year, they have been there for awhile and last year they just started to bloom. I had wanted pale pink ones but I have white instead, so I will be satisfied with that. I can't wait for masses of big fat blooms on these babies. Next year I want to add those nice red chips to the yard, the old ones are showing their age. There are chips around the lilacs and the peonies. Oh and then I can start on the back yard. Wheeeeeeeee!!!!

So what do you think? Better that just wood chips? I certainly think so.

Toodles,
Linda

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

It has been a wonderful weekend weather wise, its been sunny, warm but not too hot, gentle breezes pleasantly perfumed with the delicate sent of lilacs. Birdsong fills the air, its been lovely. I so wanted to work in the garden/yard yesterday but old lady pains and aches drove me indoors long before I had even scratched the surface of what needs doing. Not a happy bunny about that I can tell you.

I did have coffee on the deck several times yesterday and I got to work on the quilt for R. I finally got Baby Girl's name put on the top yesterday and then I got it all set up for quilting. I am nearly half finished. Once I start with needle and thread I get lost in the process and time slips by without me giving it a blind bit of notice. I watched recorded  tv programs and stitched the afternoon away. I can do that without the old lady pains and aches acting up until I get up to move.

Before I settled in for the afternoon with thimble and thread, I did manage to pull some weeds, trim up some trees and wash the sheets off my bed. Lines dried in the fresh air are a delight to sleep in. Today I have had my usual Sunday lazy morning. I will go settle on the veranda once I am done this blog post and finish my coffee. The lawn will be mowed, laundry will be done and I will once again install myself at the quilt and loose myself in my passion.

Its a good weekend. Quiet, a little lonely, somewhat frustrating and yet not bad. Frustrating because I cannot do what I want to do. There is much that should be done in the yard and yet I can't seem to get it done and it frustrates me. Oh it will all get done, I will putter away at it bit by bit and it will get done but I wish I could do it faster. So many of the plants I put in last year are not showing any signs of coming back this year and I am a little bitter over the waste of money. I will give it time, if they do not show up this year I will have to start fresh next. I had thought the hostas were gone but a closer inspection yesterday has determined they are pushing through, slow but determined. Two potentilla bushes, a dogwood, a bleeding heart, a lemonpuff, brown eyed susans, a Russian sage, an astilbe,  two little shrubs that I cannot remember the names of and a couple of lily's all are sitting hiding, Well not the bushes they are well and truly dead. I need to win the lottery. The good news is that the weeds are flourishing!! Why do they thrive and the others struggle??

So I am going back to Coronation Street and then the veranda for coffee. Then I will haul out the lawn mower and get the yard done before it decides to actually rain. It keeps making threats that it might.

Enjoy your Sunday!!

Toodles,
Linda

Told You I'd Show You

Its a freakin miracle at my house tonight, I actually did the dishes and its not even Saturday. I think I have been invaded by aliens and they have turned me into a pod person!! Well not really but it is very odd to have done the dishes on a week day, when there is no company expected.

So last weekend I was yard saling and I found this DVD tower cheap cheap cheap but it was showing a little wear. Just one of those black particle board thnigs but it is just the ticket for my bedroom to store DVD's and knick knacks.

As my friends will attest I am very pro "you can paint anything" so when I got this home I decided to slap a lick of cobalt  blue paint onto it and spruce it up a bit. I also had some sticky vinyl paper that is mostly white with tiny blue flowers on it. I used it for the back and it makes the whole thing look rather ok I think.

Eventually I intend to paint my night tables this same colour, which I had a pot of this paint in the house. I love this colour. Eventually my room will mostly be a pale smoky blue but there will be three hits of this vibrant colour in it to jazz it up a bit. Now I have  place to store the DVD's instead of stacking them all over the bedroom.

I am hoping this weekend to work on the floor in the upstairs bathroom. I will be sharing photos of that when its a done deal. I am hoping it works out the way I have planned, If not I have a back up plan.

Toodles,
Linda

Sunday Snippets

Something is up with my cordless phones, I can call out but if someone phones in, they ring once then the phone shuts off. I have no idea what is up with them. I really would rather not have to replace them at this time but I may have to. Botheration!! If its not one thing it another. I was going to go for plants today but I am thinking I may put that off for a bit. I will, however, go get the material to finish the quilt for my cousin and some stuffing to finish the latest puppet order.I may start to paint the DVD stand I bought yesterday, I have all the supplies to do it, so I can get at it with no delay and no cost to me. Right now I don't feel like doing anything, I am waiting for my Sunday morning coffee to kick in and then I will get busy.

Here are some of my latest garage sale treasures: This is my umbrella stand, only a dollar, and I love the old fashioned look of it. It now lives in my front entryway.

Here are a couple more finds from my last weekend's jont. This little fellow badly needed a face wash when I bought him. I was concerned but a little spit test confirmed his grubby appearance was just dirt, so home he came with me, to live with all the other little piggies in my house. He is a chunky little guy and will work splendidly as a door stop. He makes me smile, I love his little overhauls and chipper little smile.

This is a ruby glass bowl that I found and would have at one time earmarked to give to the Historian's wife, Granny S.  She is no longer interested in this sort of thing so I will keep it for myself. I think it will be lovely at Christmas time. Its a much richer red in person than in picture. I am not the best at photography and I have just a little point and shoot camera. (I am hoping to upgrade before Ireland)

Lastly, I found these two little guys for 25 cents. I love these plaster plaques, I have a number of them around my house. Fruit in the kitchen, little yellow duckies in the bathroom, swans in the spare room. I have pair of puppies and some blue birds that I have not hung up yet.  They remind me of my childhood and owls seem to be a current favourite subject in my world, I am drawn to them. They have a couple of chips but on the whole are in great shape. I think I will hang them up in the sewing room eventually.

I bought other things, but I won't bore you with all of it. I will be sharing pictures of the DVD tower but that will be a before and after project which I may or may not start today. Right now I need to finish my coffee and then head out to the fabric store. I have to get that flannelette and stuffing, this week is the week I have set aside to get the quilt done and ready to give to R. That will be the rest of my day, quilting, puppet making, laundry, dishes and maybe some painting.

Have a lovely Sunday!!

Toodles
Linda

FINALLY

The lawn is mowed.........commence happy drunken monkey dance of joy. The rains finally let up, the sun and wind came out to dry it all up, my energy level kicked up a notch and I finally got the shed door fixed so I can get in and out (took all of three minutes to fix it, yeesh). Out came the lawn mower and the weed whacker and finally my place looks like someone may care a tad. I worked up the flower beds, pulled some weeds and swept the sidewalks. Tomorrow I am going to take some money I don't have and get some flowers.

Rather sad that two little potentilla bushes I bought last year did not survive. I want a little shrub at each side of my gate way and finally last year I bust out an bought two. Then they had the nerve to die on me!! Oh well I now have my eye on something else I think I will like better. My biggest complaint it as always, funds. I have so many plans. I would like to put new bark down around the lilac bushes, the landscaping timbers are rotting and need to be replaces, I want to replace the fence on the south side of the yard, its rotting and falling down even as we speak. I want to get some rock to but at the south side of the house, I need 8 patio stones to make a little spot for the barbeque. The list goes on and on, I want to finish painting the shed. I wonder if my bank book will ever keep up to my wish lists. For now I will content myself with doing a little at at time.

Now I am having a small break and then I am going to tackle the house work. I was yard saling this morning, only a couple of them, two friends and one charity sale. I got a cd/dvd tower for $5.00 that I am going to paint and put in my bedroom. I scored a neat umbrella stand at the charity sale for $1.00 that will look perfect in my entry way. Its not old but it looks antique and I love it. I will share pictures later but I have not had time to take any yet.

I looked around the house and I need to get some projects done. I need to get going to day, because today I actually feel like doing stuff. I have been ambition free for some time now that actually having the will and the energy to get some things done. Strike while the iron is hot !!

Toodles,
Linda