this old shack (more renovations)

 

this is how I communicate with Mrs. H .... email her a picture of the calendar with the days I need her to work .... I'm losing it.

 

so after the screen porch came off this old house ... I wanted to cement in a mini patio / landing pad for some steps ... the cement crew was working at the bar and they agreed to do my project at the same time! 

 

the commute home from Nicollet Minnesota was nice last night ...yes, I was parked (at the stop sign)

 

and the metropolis known as Traverse Minnesota

where the dogs and cats outnumber the people ...

 

and behold -- a cement truck ... imagine my delight when I came zipping down the street and saw it parked in front of this old shack ... I had a later start ( laundry and chores this morning) and almost missed it all

 

and the pretty new patio ....

 

now to get Dad to construct some stairs .... haven't put in my request yet ....

 

 

A finish (a throw for Patty)

another crib / toddler quilt for a silent auction ...

every row has different stitching -- lime thread from connecting threads ..

I like that stuff!  it's reasonably priced and the long arm likes it!

sheep!!!!

and below is Patty's quilt ... Patty works at the garden shop up the street ... a month ago she had and aneurysm (brain bleed) .. and is alive and well today -- modern medicine is full of modern miracles.  She gets to go home after 2 more weeks of intensive therapy.

I've shared this one many times before thru it's process -- started it on a girls weekend and finally finished piecing and quilting ... found some more kaffe fassett and bound it over the weekend.  

it's not very large, it's not square, it's not perfect but ... it's bold, loud and pink.  Since Patty has three sons ... she could use a little more pink!

Go Patty!!!!  

another day in paradise (warning picture heavy)

 

Saturday night at the long arm ... got this one loaded ... it's a project I started eons ago ... 4 years? .. anyway figgy pudding ... I was planning for it to be our Xmas table cloth ... the PLAN was to quilt it with burgundy on the top and white on the bottom.  Wrong.Just.Wrong ... so

 

I'm thinking it's going to be grey in the bottom and maybe the variegated reds everywhere ... the back is a hunk of 108" muslin I had on hand ... .... hopefully the grey works ... time will tell.

 

then I thought I needed to upgrade my ipod ... so they were on sale and it seemed like a good use for my ebay and etsy money .. (remember no new fabric) ... well -- technology has improved the ipods ... it has an fm radio ... sounds good too.

 

I spent the first 3 hours of the morning attacking the out - of - control vegetation on 3rd street ... 2 more truckloads to haul out tomorrow ... I may never be able to bend again ... and yep, the neighbors where headed out in the green bus ... always good to have an audience while working and sweating and swearing

 

nothing like getting attacked by thistles and burdocks. enough said.

 

where's ruby?  detoured during the ipod shopping for a little flower viewing ....

no this is NOT my old shack ... although it could be -- gorgeous isn't it ..

Blue Earth County Historical Society's "Hubbard House" ...

free public garden

 

 

toodles

tired Diva



 

so, when I can't sleep - I sew

 

bound -- crib/toddler ...

 

bound -- crib / toddler ... orange is my new favorite color

 

just toss 'em over the rail ...

 

 

made from a layer cake chopped in half ... wavy quilting stitch ..

fast and durable ....

quilted on the longarm.

 

my favorite swirl and whoppy loopy freehand on the long arm ...

I even used orange thread to quilt ...

yep, orange is the new black.

 

the newest member of the clan ...

 

So, I couldn't sleep this morning or rather I got up at my normal weekday start time and headed to the sewing machine ... finished the binding on the above two, there's another one done and in the dryer ... and made the binding for the 4th ... #4 is special ....

 

Have a productive weekend!

 

M

 

drama in the 'hood

  so the neighborhood drama continues.

  road detours and safety concerns ... lots of safety concerns.

  I've been chatting with many.
  Let's hope the people in control hear.

  M
 

tuesday's trials

those who know me well -- know that I rarely step outside my comfort zone ... so in the last week ...

I've tried to step out at least once a day ...

yesterday -- wore my maxi dress (coolest thing in the heat/humidity) and walked about town in it ... remember --  it is lime green/hot pink and red paisley and well, I'm not exactly petite.

today -- getting ready to change into my "garden clothes" ... and realized the black bra might be a bit much under the white tee shirt --- at 53 years and 9 months -- it probably doesn't matter does it?   grey shorts, white tee and black bra ... wth, it's color coordinated!

tomorrow I might really take the leap and taste test something nasty like an olive, onion or freeking spongy mushroom.  ....  keep dreaming.


M


 

argh -- Monday already

   I really tried to do very little on the 7th day .... but


   laundry got in the way
   a little fabric sorting during laundry
        I have the "what should I sew next syndrome"
        there must be at least 6 things to bind and I'm not in the mood
        3 tops to quilt ... I thought I'd wait -- binding first!
   a little ironing
   a little web surfing
   a lot of crocheting
   a little trek on the ATV and a lot of picture taking
      (they were baling hay)
   a cemetery cruise ...
  
   and a lot of cleaning ...
     
I attacked the overloaded bookcases in my bedroom ....  all of the quilt magazines I have accumulated in the last five years ... ripped out the quilts and ideas I liked ... the rest are headed to the recycling bin (3 boxes)

I then moved on to the quilting "books" ... have a pile for the etsy shop and ebay ... (ebay sells faster -- but it's hit and miss) ... anyhow .. the truck was loaded with recycling and regular trash ...

I even sorted out some fabric scraps for Auntie Joanne -- she's in potholder production and they are large enough for potholders ...

HOT HOT HOT weather alert -- so staying indoors today and soaking up the air conditioning  .... that being said ... more cleaning !!!!


 

and on the 7th day

 saturday morning piecing ... went to facebook to get color placement advice -- the peeps never give me bad advice ... 

backyard pretties ...

this is why i never take junk home ... someone hoards it and eventually tosses it ... what he did with the rest of the chair is a mystery -- I'm not going to ask.

the end of an era -- the last of the "large" farm equipment headed to the scrap yard ... a section of the mow board plow -- 1/2 of it ... 

So Saturday was entertaining and productive.

1.  finished piecing the above top (twin)

2.  laundry

3.  went to work (and worked)

4.  lunch with Cyndi Lou at el agave (dang good food)

5.  the office weed purge began (the hired dude has yet to arrive)

6.  mini nap (and cool down)

7.  got the truck out and loaded up the weeds 

8.  mowed 1/2 the office lawn.

9.  hauled said weeds to compost pile

        (town weeds go to compost pile)  (farm weeds go to burning pile)

10.  another nap!

tgif ....

  yes, peeps, it is Friday and I am really thankful for Fridays.

  so this week in words.

  a couple of meetings
  a lot of office projects
  a seminar on estates and trusts
  a lot of weeds got pulled in the patch
  a spot of sewing
 
  and the projects will roll into the weekend.  another couple of hours and all of the patch will be hand weeded ... yep, pulling weeds by hand.  things were looking pretty good up there .. until I discovered a "wilt" ... fungus in the dirt causing the melon plants to "wilt" and die....no treatment -- the good thing -- it doesn't spread ... some variety's are resistant -- some are not.

  need to spend a couple of nights binding.  lots of binding.  brought in a really old Christmas themed top that needs to be quilted.  may not get to it but it is hanging on the rails (hanging is the cheep and easy version of ironing) ..

  spent yesterday in the big City (yes, next door to IKEA) .. thanks to Dave for hauling my old and tired body up there -- always nice to have a "lift" ... I was looking forward to it and it didn't live up to expectations.

  so happy weekend !!!

 

weeds

    the tiller gnome -- tilled up the patch yesterday ... it looks awesome ---- considering it has been ignored for a month. 

   mrs. p -- suggested I hire someone for my office weeds.  great minds think alike ... check that one off the list ... (I've done that in the past also ... just not this early) ...

   dentist (check) ... met the new doctor .. dr jay ... holy smokes the new doc's are getting younger and younger .. this one is young .... teeth are clean and sparkly -- should last a day or two ....

   ready for tomorrow's seminar ... projects for robyn, projects for the car and projects to work on during the seminar ... and the carpool is arranged

  now to get to the stack of crap on my desk ... then life is good.  played with facetime on my phone ... that is kinda weird but effective!

  I watched parts of the World Series ... Minnesota showed off it's best to the rest of the World ... dang it was a beautiful night for a game, the attendee's appeared to be well behaved.   awesome!

toodles
M


 

frazzled diva ...

 

sometimes the "wonder woman lifestyle" I've chosen to live can get a tad overwhelming.  Monday was one of THOSE days.  I couldn't seem to get my head wrapped around anything productive except filling the trash cans. 

 

Then a client comes in and manages to point out my office weeds.  I have a lot of weeds and yes, I know that I have a lot of weeds.  The 20 hours it is going to take to make them go away isn't going to happen this week. 

 

I'm frazzled.  Best description.  Lately the 24 hours in a day don't seem to be enough to actually start and finish projects ... even my quilting piles are growing -- the "need to be bound" pile is huge.

 

And well, there are more weeds in the "big" garden -- the gnats have kept me out of that one .. tonight it's work up there ... bugs be damned. 

 

Might need to wear flannel pants to get me out of the mood ...  

Projects.

Next Project cut out and laid out and this morning I sewed the hunks in rows ... fuzzy phone picture ...

So I was hand sewing buttons on little girl dresses tonight and in my thread box I found these treasures .. spools from Grandma D's thread stash.  Note the price ... the yellow one in front is actually a styro-foam spool and the pink one is wood, ya, wood.

So today was kind of a day of rest ... although some projects were completed.  I spent an hour with the vac in the basement ... Lori cut my hair (it's fabulous!) and Mom and I went to Mankato for a spot of shopping and lunch.  $115 later at Office Max probably isn't a "spot" of shopping.  

Someone needs to explain to me why scotch tape is so expensive.  Ditto, calendars -- It's July and I'm purchasing the 2015 appointment calendar.  

So, bugs be damned -- I went for a walk.  I have cabin fever and need to move.  I used Dad's homemade bug spray -- 1 part mouthwash, 1 part vanilla and 1 part water sprayed from a bottle.  And I followed up with "deep woods off" ... I was quite fragrant by the time I was done.  Worked.

Someday I'm going

to play ... truly.

     So that day was not  ---  yesterday .... the forecast was for rain ... and it rained, a lot.

     So, I went to the office and worked most of the day ... yeppers, worked.  It always amazes me how much I can actually start and complete with no phones ringing, peeps walking in or even just the normal weekday street sounds.

      I was so productive -- that I came home for a 4:00 nap/break/meal and went back to work.  It wasn't all work and no play this week.  Because the freeking gnats are still awful -- I've been stuck indoors ...

this pile of fabric got chopped up into quilt blocks ... ready to piece

this beauty got

quilted on Saturday night --- it wasn't all work yesterday!!!!

The grand debate all week long was which color thread to use .. I went with a pale Apricot from Connecting Threads ... blended in beautifully ... it's an all over scroll/swirl and swoops -- my favorite.  I sped up the stitch speed and it seems to be smoother ...

and this creature continues to wreak havoc.

In addition to the quilt above ... all 5 quilt tops I pieced or finished piecing over the holiday weekend got quilted -- the long arm was just a humming all week long ... granted, 4 of the 5 were crib quilts but ....  now it's on to the bindings.  The binding pile is huge!   

Today is a haircut, laundry, binding and a whole lot of weeding !!!

Yeppers, a day of rest and relaxation.

the patch and a few extra's

   yeppers, it's a patch ... it's been to gnatty to do much work .. the chemical has knocked out a lot of the grass between the plants

there's a lot of nice watermelon hills ..

the squash are way down at the bottom ... in the hole ... where the ground is a lot heavier and the weeds more plentiful

drove thru the crp on the way home ... the yellow coneflowers are blooming ... huge drifts of them on the lower 1/2 ... it's just the coolest sight.

great grandma dranttel's tiger lilies .. they've been dug up, moved, drove over, had snow piled on 'em and mowed off and they still keep coming back for more ... and still one of my favorites ... might need to move some to the back fence at the office.

 

the purge has begun

 

I pulled my stash of charm packs off the shelf ... good grief ... I think they reproduced on their own.

 



okay .. sorted and selected a keep pile(s) and a sell pile ... listed the "sells" on ebay last night and most have sold by morning. 

 



 

and the hunting continues ... this is one cagey coon -- he's managed to get the treats out of the live trap every night and not get caught in said live trap ... elder #1 is quickly losing his patience. 

 

 

happy hump day ....

what a bunch eh?  ...

so instead of my normal oddball phone calls  --  today I get :
   "is Charlie there?"  ....
    me:  sorry, no Charlie here.
    response:  "Are you sure?"
    me:  I'm sure ....
    response:  "Could you look in the back room ?"
  
    by now the game has gone on too long.  where ever Charlie happens to be I hope he/she knows someone is looking for them in the wrong building.

    etsy shop has been constructed and I photographed, measured and uploaded some items.  time will tell.

Toodles
M

 

pfffffttttttt

   as much as I'm starting to love Monday's -- I'm starting to hate holidays.  playing catch-up is way more work than necessary -- actually it's the timing of holidays ... they all need to be at the end of the month --

   board day today -- and ditch hearings -- ditch hearings are generally pretty dull -- today's wasn't.   in between was lunch and it was pretty darn tasty.

 

just after the food arrived -- some guy (sorry, no names involved) stopped at our table -- he's running for governor and thought he'd speak his pitch on us ..  some of us kept eating .. or tried to .. I did (as evidenced by the rolling cheeks) .. anyway the candidate's gophers taped the entire conversation on a cell phone (blurbs?) and another one was taking pictures .. and then they posted them on face book.   I knew it was going to show up somewhere.

 

so, back to the numbers .. for several more hours.

 

 

who knew

  that I would look forward to return to work on a Monday ... internet -- phones ... at my fingertips!


  So, I did learn a few things over the weekend.
     1.  it's okay to be unplugged/disconnected.
     2.  I have way to much fabric ... started a bit of purging and cleaning.
     3.  weeds will always be there.

  So my July project -- set up an etsy shop to attempt to reduce the fabric stash ... and maybe a crafty projected or two (or three or four).

  ....  so it goes.

M

 

Productivity

  I'm learning to master this beast (the goverment issued laptop) and learning to disconnect too.   I spent a few too many hours at the sewing machine yesterday.  Like 9 -- and managed to go to work and work on a couple projects and did way too much laundry.

  So here are the snapshots of my progress:

  Well sort of .. the picture of the other 4 is over on instagram:  dranttel ... link up to it.

Issues ... part II

   so my government issued laptop won't let me add words to my last post  ... and keeps telling me i have a virus.  fart.

   the pictures are the loot from the shopping extravaganza ... just remember I need quilt backs and it was all on sale at 50% off.

   the other snaps are from the culture end of our road trip (we only went 15 miles) ... Minneminmosha (?) Falls ... Nicollet County has two parks ... 7 Mile Creek (which I am presuming has a lot of water and bugs) and the Falls ... there was water rolling over the falls .. and it was open and breezy enough to keep the bugs at bay.   some nut job climbed down (over the fence) and placed a peace sign made out of rocks at the head of the falls. 

  i then took the ladies on a tour of Nicollet County gravel roads.   they must have liked it there wasn't a lot of chatter.  except when I drove around the various road closed barricades. 

  so it rolls

Happy Independence Day!
Marie

issues on Daisy Lane

   so, due to construction, there is no phones or internet on Daisy Lane -- it's quiet ... no telemarketers ... no riff raff .. but .... no internet except my cell phone and my county issued laptop -- which up until 10 minutes ago I never used for personal business ...  I'm using it now.