A FINISHING WEEKEND!!

Finish!

Tablerunner from orphan blocks I was idiotic enough to buy on eBay. Because of course, I didn't have enough of MY OWN orphan blocks. Another of my famous, "what was I thinking?" times.

Finish!

Halloween scraps, and viola! Another tablerunner

Finish!

Christmas scraps..............

yup, you got it, tablerunner.

Finish!

This one was actually my first finish from the quilt rack. These are from a charm pack that enticed me last summer. I thought that daughter number 3, who turned 21 last Thursday, needed a pretty tablerunner.

She loves yellow, so this one is pretty good for her. See the pincushion I'm using Flori??

Tiny finish!

This is actually double sided, more orphan blocks and I don't even remember where they came from.
I turned it into a candle mat or some such thing and it already has a home with a coworker.

Finish!

Bigger finish!

Here is finally the strippy block of the month I made 2 years ago. I had the blocks sewn together, then Miss V pointed out that I had sewn February and March backwards. So there was picking involved, and then I actually sewed it onto some fleece, did minimal quilting and got it bound!

whew, how's THAT????

odds and ends, this and that

I meant to post this picture of one of the Amish fellows hats when I was showing the house updates.

I sort of misplaced it in my computer files. I accidentally named it something else, but it's found now.

I kind of like the hat hanging there like that.

Do you think this is how Noah started?

I know I look a wee bit silly, but I had to try it out right away!

I have since tried it in water and believe me it works MUCH better! I can go a lot further. ;-)

Kim http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/ has issued a bit of a challenge. She noticed that her "sweat shop" was getting a bit out of hand and things were piled up on her quilt rack.

Well, for a little while I thought she had snuck into MY sewing room and taken a picture of mine. Yes, there IS a quilt rack under there!!! So, it's now my goal to get some of those projects finished so I can put an actual quilt on my rack.

Here is one thing done.

I had to change the straps on this bag, and I just put it off for too long.

Done!

I also found a shirt that needed ironing under there, but I guess Kim didn't think that counted.

sigh

Then as I was gearing up to really finish up some stuff, someone asked me to make a bag.

and we all know how I can't resist making a bag, so here is Debbie's baseball bag. She claims that it's the main reason her granddaughters team won at state this summer!

I'm planning to have more finishes to show soon!

SOCKS!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like socks.

especially funky (not funky stinky- funky cool) ones.

I had to grab this pair for myself, since I'm the Green Queen at our house. Too bad I didn't find any Green Princess ones for the girls!

For my birthday (yes, still dragging that up)

one of my friends gave me the socks on the left here. The mismatched socks are kinda silly since half of our socks end up that way anyway. My friend said she wouldn't be able to wear socks that didn't match, it would drive her crazy. Not me! When I was in college I just threw all my socks in one drawer and picked out two of them every morning without even looking.

Okay, like anyone would notice under jeans??? The tiny little sock shape package is socks that you add water to, and they grow.

and grow

and grow

And they grew into this!!!! Look at those demented cows!!!!

The really funny thing is I figured they would be some flimsy thin things, but they are heavy like athletic socks! demented.............. but heavy and warm!

what's in my camera?

The other day I went down to the basement freezer to get some chicken for supper.
Next to the bag of chicken breasts was a very colorful bag I didn't recognize.............

upon closer inspection it was.........





5 lbs of gummies.
huh?
I scooted up to miss V's room and asked her why there were 5 lbs of assorted gummies suffering from hypothermia in our freezer.

"they taste better that way"


Not that the frozen gummies had anything to do with my trip to the liquor store.......
but look what I found when I got there!
Cat wine bottles!
Red, White, and Blue!!!
Now I have an official collection of cat bottles, they match my black one perfectly, and the lady at the store said to watch in October they have orange and black, and also pink for breast cancer awareness!


Then I found this.......
Coffee stout!
I've had a different coffee stout that I really enjoyed, so I picked up a 4 pack of this one.

It was good, rather on the sweet side, but still, remarkably good.
Being the coffee lover that I am I packed one up for my personal coffee god Nick at my local coffee shop.





I made him a coffee theme bottle bag too, which, he totally appreciated, true coffee lover that he is.
(Not to mention, my saving grace most mornings.)

So, that's what was in my camera today.................
what do you suppose I'll find there next time?? (or for that matter, what I'll find in my freezer???)
hmmm

More house pictures!!!

Here are the brick layers working on the side of the house.

They were incredible!!! Honestly, it was like a ballet. They barely had to talk to each other, it was like they could read each others minds. Turns out that isn't so unlikely since they are brothers. They did such a wonderful job that if the mortar wasn't darker than our original stuff you could never tell where they added bricks.

The last of the soffits going up, the roof is almost done !!!

Do you see the Amish mans little boys watching?

Aren't they cute as buttons???

go ahead click on the pictures, they do get bigger!!!

Cookies for the roofers. We must keep their strength up, don't you think?

All done with the roof. One little Amish boy gets to ride with dad over to the big trailer to put the man lift away.

Guess what?? The back hall is almost done too!

Watch for some more pictures, we have most of the siding up and the WINDOW IS IN!!!!!

Dog days of August

Well, it finally happened.
After having one of the coolest summers I can remember, the temperatures have caught up with us.
All over Wisconsin people are having the following conversation:

First guy says: "Hot enough fer ya?"
Second guy says: "It's not the heat I mind so much, it's the humidity."

Recognize the summer weather small talk? Sound familiar to everyone in the midwest?

Back to the house!

WE has a door!!!!


There is so much going on around here! I'll tell you, it doesn't feel like our house anymore, people just drive in and drop stuff off, or drive in and pick stuff up, or just drive in and start doing stuff. It sure feels weird.






Here is one of the roofers getting going on things while the others finished up the last job.
I'm not sure exactly whether they are Amish or Mennonite, or what. They have the traditional black pants, and straw hats, and beards. Well, some of them do, some of them are pretty young.
I did see one using a cell phone, and we have heard a cuss word or two.....we have also heard what sounds like Pennsylvania Dutch when they are talking just to each other so I'm still not sure!
..here he is pulling off the gutters, just before he asked me for some wasp spray.
I'm telling you, if you want to work on a 100+ year old house, please DO NOT be allergic to wasps! We have now gone through about 9 cans of wasp spray, the builders brought their own, and these guys ended up bringing some of their own too!

Here are the roofer and Jim pulling down a gutter.

The "man lift" is pretty cool! I was sort of tempted to hand him a saw and have him take care of the dead branches in the pine tree....






Here is the house with the perlines on, see, a new word! The roof will be attached to these.
Aren't you excited?
no? Well that's okay, I'm excited enough for everyone!!








Here we have the brick guys all set up and ready to go!

Fair warning, you know there will be more pictures of the house this summer than there will be of quilts!

Birthday revisited

Now that we have a new adapter for my Flintstones camera I am able to download all my pictures!!! yeah!
so here we have birthday pictures from last month.
This post is my birthday box from Flori, our officer in charge of coffee.
Look at this fabulous box of goodies she sent to me!!!




look what she wrapped these GORGEOUS charm squares in! Fabric!!
My favorite wrapping paper!






And when she used tissue paper, look what she tied it with!!!
Selvages!!!
My favorite ribbon!!






Such GORGEOUS fabrics!!!
I am sooooooooooooooooo LUCKY!!







And here is the CUTE CUTE CUTE cake slice pincushion she made me!!!!
is that not the MOST adorable pincushion!






See the cuter than cute Christmas in July towel she made on her embroidery machine!

Does the talent of this woman ever end????






more fabrics............








A GREEN BAG!!!!!!
Oh the cleverness! yet another gorgeous embroidery job on her machine!
I have been watching her sell these on etsy and I was about ready to just buy one they are so cool!




And lastly, sorry about the glare, a quilt magazine so we can do a quilt together long distance!
Oh I can't wait!!!!!

more housework....

here is the upper are of the airing porch.............

and the beginnings of the new roof line.

Look at those rafters!!

In case any of you were wondering, we did move the plants that were in the flower beds before all this started. Two Clematis plants, a peony, a rose bush, and a number of hostas.

Next the masons are coming to brick up this side of the house. We have been scavenging cream bricks for years in case we wanted to do any sort of projects on the house. Now they are coming in handy! I can't wait to see how it looks.

House update!

Finally we are able to get some much needed work done on the house!!! yeah!

Here is a before picture, sort of, from the back of our house.

The airing porch was a lovely idea in it's day, however in Wisconsin a flat surface on the top part of a house is not a good idea.

We have been fighting the leaks for years.

So, it's been time for a new roof for a couple of years and we wanted a metal roof this time. They come in nice colors, and they are so much sturdier than the yucky shingles we put on 15 years ago.
We hired a local builder to take off the back hall and

the airing porch and extend the roof line of the house. Then when they are done, we have roofers coming.

Wait for those pictures!! The roofer is Amish, and very nice.

Here are some more pictures of the process.

See the opening for a new door and a new window?

I'm telling you this is just so exciting for us!

Here is the upstairs portion of the airing porch when they were taking the dormer door off.

Wow!

What a messy messy job this was, the house is about 123 years old, so you can imagine what the inside of the walls were like!

We haven't found anything too interesting yet, just bird nests and wasps.

More pictures soon! I'm so glad we got the new technology for my camera! yippee!