I need to be taller

There are just so many things that i can't do well ...... because i am too dang short. i guess things could be worse....i could be 4'10" instead of 5'2". 

We have a refrigerator in the barn (with a freezer section on the top). there is a tree stand on top of that (don't even ask...it's a guy thing).

A couple weeks ago hubby asked me to get him his tie-downs for the trailer....they were in the barn....on top of the frig....on top of the tree stand. well...guess who couldn't reach that.  so, i pulled the tree stand a bit forward and tilted it so the tie-downs that were on the top would slide off. then i tried to push the tree stand back....but couldn't....it was too heavy....and a bit too high.

So...i take him the tie-downs and go on about my business.

A few days ago he says he went into the barn and opened that frig for something or another and got a nose full of god-awful stink. yep, when i pulled the tree stand forward....it opened the freezer door a bit. i didn't notice and it stayed open for a couple weeks.

I am so glad that freezer wasn't packed full. as it was....we lost 3 packages of ground deer meat, 3 packages of beef stew meat and a ham bone. not too bad but that was at least 7 meals. but hubby cleaned everything all up and didn't even gripe about it. i wouldn't have known anything about it at all except he told me what happened this morning.

If i was taller......it never would have happened.

Asian Charm Squares

What's on your design wall?  Judy Laquidara from www.patchworktimes.com  has 'design wall monday' on her blog. usually i don't play because i have the same thing or nothing on my design wall.

Today....i have something.

This is a quick and easy pattern from Elizabeth Hartman at  www.ohfransson.com     this is my second quilt with this design. i love it.

Do you see a pattern here?  go sit and peruse the eye candy on the web.....find something luscious.....stop whatever you are doing and make it.  i can't help myself....i HAVE to. 

Do they have a program for this?   hello...my name is shirley and i have an addiction.....i can't stop quilting.
LOL

But the good thing is i am not spending any money for fabric or thread at the moment.....i have been using my stash all year. shoot....i have enough stash for several more years. we won't even talk about how much thread there is in this studio.

So, what is on your design wall.....go on over to Judy's place and join the fun.

Put Some Selvages in Your Quilts

I have had this idea floating around in my head for a while and finally finished piecing this top last night. i had 2 goals for this quilt....make some unruly letters (per Tonya's book) ....and use some selvages. mission accomplished.

Yes, i know...it needs more contrast. i plan on quilting around the letters with dark brown thread and then again 1/4" away...that should help. i was going to use black for the background for really wanted to use up this pile of neutrals that i had.

The letters were fun to create. i was testing them out on hubby....but he didn't always know what they said. i don't know if that was on me or him. LOL

I wanted to only use the selvages with the dots on them so i cut a whole lot of selvages before starting. i probably didn't even use half of what i had.....so another dot selvage quilt will be made someday.

It is queen size and has lots of space for special quilting.

For flying by the seat of my pants and making it up as i went along....i think it turned out great.

Now to find time to get my stuff quilted. still a few customer quilts to finish up for the year.

Today is a sad day

My sister's Great Dane, Sugar, died today. she was about 10 years old. my sis says that is pretty old for a Great Dane. we used to talk about what would we do if Sugar died at home. my sis buries her animals in her yard. i don't think we could have dug a hole large enough for Sugar...she was about 140 pounds of dog.

If you didn't know she was sweet....she looked ferocious...and sounded ferocious, too. she loved to bark at things....real and imaginary. LOL    she could bark for hours.

She loved to get a drink and then come wipe her face on your shirt and give you some dog slobber love.  yuck!....she got me all the time.

She was pretty smart and played tug of war and could sit and shake. she would shake all day long for treats.

She was having some arthritis pains in her hips and took some medication.....but when the meds kicked in....she could still run with the baby, Pearl (the second Great Dane).  she was a good momma to Pearl when she was just a baby.

When she was younger she used to jump on me ..... EVERY TIME i came to visit her. you didn't turn your back on her cause she would jump on you. i have had several scratches from her 'playing'.

Sugar was always the wild and crazy dog.......until Pearl came into the picture. after Pearl....Sugar was the 'good' dog.  it's all in the perspective. LOL

Sugar is now in doggie heaven....playing with my dog, Shimmy.  i'll bet they are having a good time.....chasing squirrels and napping. i hope they are getting treats.

Thank You Elizabeth Hartman

Do you know Elizabeth?  she has a very cool blog..... www.ohfransson.com   i check her out on a daily basis and make a lot of her patterns. she always has interesting and easy stuff.

Today i found a Charm Squares Baby Quilt. it is just adorable....don't take my word for it....go check it out. It couldn't be any easier.

If you have some charms squares you can have this pieced in a matter of hours. i used to belong to a fabric club. every month (or 2?)   they sent you a package of charm squares to show off the newest fabric lines coming out. i still had some left ... about 4 or 5 packages....and didn't know what to do with them. as soon as i saw Elizabeth's pattern i knew i had found a winner. i used all but 1 of my charm squares in this line. and i made mine a bit larger than she did....and added a white border to the sides to make it a bit more wide. mine came out about 33x52.  Elizabeth's was 33x40.

I used all of that white and used up some charms....stashbusting at its finest.  

I've got some flannel i'm going to put on the back. so, be warned....if you are having the next baby....you are getting this little quilt.

Thanks, Elizabeth.....keep up the good work.

Our excitement in the country

The last couple of days have just made us giddy. we have gotten something that we have needed for several years.

What could it be...

...a new tv? .... no

...a new vehicle?  .... nope

...won the lottery? .... nah....hahahaha

The county has resurfaced the road in front of our place. woohoo!!!    this is big time....this is celebration time....this is the talk of the town.

Sad...isn't it?   hahahahha   

But they have done nothing but patch, patch on this road for years. and i am sure one of the main reasons is that it is only about 5 miles long and about a dozen people live off this road.....none of them county officials. LOL   i guess we got some government money or something.

Last year there was some serious logging going on back in the woods and those damn logging trucks ran up and down this road all day long for weeks. needless to say...the road was even more pitted and tore up when they finally quit.

There was a rumor way back in the spring that it was gonna happen....but we didn't really believe it. they came in and scraped everything off the little bridge and it stayed bumpy for months. then they patched a few of the large holes....and we thought that was it. then they came in and resurfaced over the bridge. surely now....they are done.

NOPE....yesterday....early....there were many trucks traveling up and down the road......laying down the black tar stuff and rolling over it. then putting down some rock and rolling over that. it is so pretty that i don't want to drive on it......i want it to stay just the way it is. all they need to do now is paint the yellow stripes down the middle.

When we first moved out here....the excitement of the day was the mail person coming by. LOL    now we have moved on to more substantial excitement....the resurfacing of our road. 

I think i'll go bake a cake to celebrate.....write this date on the calendar.  

Perhaps i'll just go walk up and down the road.

The Bowl is full

I finally decided to put buttons and beads in my Fill-A-Bowl.  there were 15 slots to fill. you turn it over and fill from the bottom.

It is kind of heavy with all that stuff in there. i taped the bottom shut once i was done....just in case. LOL

I tried to arrange the colors so they were all different. i didn't think until i flipped it over....whatever you put in first....will be at the top.

And it is hard to estimate how much stuff fits in there. the slot is about 1/2" wide so large buttons get stuck. and if a piece falls in the wrong spot you will never get it back out.

So, if i ever want to use any of these beads or buttons i will have to take them all out. ... unless i figure out how to do it differently. it's a shame to put anything IN the bowl and cover up the pretty buttons. so i just put my tshirt yarn in there.

I like to have different and unusual things at the studio and i think this bowl qualifies. i like it.

Do you have anything unusual in your studio?

Where DOES it all come from?

I filled a dumpster at the Duck a few months ago. at the time, i knew i would have a bit more trash to get rid of. and as i've been working out there....i've been bringing truck loads of wood back home to burn...since i can burn any time at the farm and there are particular burn days at the Duck....like 1 day a month.

I was out Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday. i have gathered all the trash bags and pulled out lumber and old windows and doors. and the garage is quickly filling up again.

Here is some paneling, an old door, and a baby mattress found in the basement.

Then there are these 30 or so bags of crap from the basement, plaster, tile, sticks, whatever....

And yet another stack of paneling, plywood, pieces of wood, old windows, piece of carpet, etc.

My plan for these 2 days was to pull off the old red asphalt shingles on the outside of the house that wound up on the INSIDE of the front and back porches when they enclosed them. hidden, of course, under paneling.

Here is the front porch now....red shingles are all gone. but i still have to pull up that plywood on the floor and yet another piece of carpet under that.

Here is the wood siding. i will clean it and paint it.

And now that makes me wonder......if i take the siding off the outside of the house.....and then i guess there are those red shingles under that.....would i find this wood siding underneath all that? would it be in good shape? makes me want to tear some off in a back area and check it out.

All those piles of wood and trash bags that were outside the front door....and seen from the street....are now in the garage awaiting a dumpster. except for those wood slats that are left. the burn day is the labor day weekend....so i think i will go down and burn those all up then.

Then this area needs a bit of TLC. i might throw a quick coat of primer on that wood....it is the back side of the garage....it just looks all ugly.

Then i started pulling the red shingles off the back enlosed porch. and i took the storm window off the windows, too. i use the term 'storm window' rather loosely. it did not fit the window frame correctly, so the previous owner just nailed it up there....covered the edges with the shingles....and caulked it all. pitiful!!

That stick sitting in the window holds the window up when it is open. hahahahahahahaha

I pulled off as much as i could reach without getting on the ladder. It was about 3pm Sunday by this time and i was tired. i still had to drive 3 hours back to the farm....so i gave up for the day. i'll finish that up the next time i go down there....probably in a couple weeks.

My sis came over and helped me to cut up a bunch of boards so they would fit in my truck. i already have them unloaded into the burn pit.....probably burn those tonight or tomorrow morning.  and she filled buckets for me with plaster. i took them home, too.....to fill a hole at the farm.

She says i need watching.....so i don't hurt myself. and i didn't get hurt while she was here....but once she went back to the beast......ouch!!

I was moving a long board and dropped it on my foot. Crocs do not protect your feet. LOL   the board fell about 4 feet and hit me straight up. i think if it had fallen flat i wouldn't have these pretty colored toes. the bruise on the second toe didn't show up till this morning. i limped around for a bit and then forgot about it. i didn't know it was ugly till i got home and took my sock off to take a shower. i usually get a badge of courage when i come home from the Duck. LOL

Oh, almost forgot....my sis and I went to a big book sale on Friday. and after that we did a couple thrift stores. look what followed me home...

Isn't he just the cutest thing....with his foot all cocked up in the chair. i think i will spray paint him pink and then he will match the large pink frog i have outside. he may live on the porch steps at the studio. it's about 6 inches tall.

I also found this bowl....called a Fill-A-Bowl. first i looked at it and passed it up. as we were leaving i spotted it again and decided to get it. it was just too intriguing to leave there. don't know what i will put in those spaces yet. there are 15 spaces....you fill them from the bottom. the spaces are a bit more than 1/2 inch deep. it will live at the studio. should i fill it with buttons....thread.....fabrics......yarn.....got to figure out how to fill those slots. i know i don't want to put candy in there....like it shows. it would get all sticky. what do you think? what should i fill it with.....i have 15 spaces to fill. whatever i put in there......i think it's gonna be kind of heavy.

OK....i have to go to quilt class in a bit. we are doing a Feathered Lone Star today that will be the center medallion in a civil war quilt. it will get pieced over the next 8 or 9 months.

I spent my morning at grocery stores

I go grocery shopping maybe once a month....or less than that. but i went today to stock up on things. prices have sure gone up since i went last. i used to get muffin mixes....in that little bag...Martha White...makes 6 little muffins. they were 99 cents.  today they were $1.39  .... WOW!   yes...i still got some.....but maybe not next time.

I have changed my approach to grocery shopping. used to be.....i went to one store and got it all...whatever i wanted....name brands or not....and was done.  well..not any more. first off...the town (term used loosely) where i live does not have a grocery store. the next town (10 miles away) has a grocery store but when buying there you have to look at the 'use by' date on all things. another 10 miles gets you to a good grocery store that is clean and has a good selection and you don't have to worry about dates. So it's a 40 mile round trip to get some food....perhaps that is why i don't go often. throw in the price of gas and it's downright scary.

But it is just not that easy. first i stop in town (10 miles away) at the Dollar General store. there i get paper products such as paper towels, toilet paper, wax paper, trash bags, etc. and soap products. and boxes of things like cake mixes or mac and cheese and pasta products. also cans and jars of things. no longer do i look for Del Monte green beans. the store brand is fine. the dollar store has a can of corn for 65 cents versus the over a dollar at the regular grocery store. tastes the same to me. i also get cookes and chips here.  i do not purchase any products here that need to be refrigerated. Usually it's about a $50 excursion....today was $70.

Then i go to the next town over (another 10 miles) for the refrigerated items and the rest of the things on my list that weren't at the dollar store; garlic bread, cheese, bread, etc. and to pick up fruits and veggies. i take a cooler in the back of my truck so i can pop the refrigerated things in there till i get home. this excursion is worth $112.....keep in mind i am only feeding 2 of us....sheesh!!  

Then i head back towards home. stop at the gas station to fill up the truck and at the pharmacy to refill a prescription. then i stop at the little grocery store in town....where you have to watch the dates.....and pick up some meat. they have a 5 for $25 deal. you can get any 5 packages of meat that have the 5for25 sticker on them and only pay $25.  so i pick up 2 packages of 3 pork steaks, 2 packages of ground chuck and a package of 5 pork chops. i always get the largest packages with the highest price tags on them. so my packages would have a $6.50 or $7 price tag on them but i get them for $5 each. so i save between 8 - 10 dollars by buying meat this way. i don't know why they started doing this but i like the idea. when we get the packages home we divide them up and vacuum seal them and throw them in the freezer. that's probably enough for a month or so. another $26 added to the total....tax, you know. LOL

I do enjoy grocery shopping.....it's one of my favorite things. LOL  i just wish i had more money to shop with. but the way prices are going i'll bet we'll be eating a bit differently before long. there will be more soups and less pork steaks.

We did make a crock pot of vegetable soup with ground beef Tuesday and ate on it tuesday and wednesday. the remainder went into the freezer for another day...enough for 2 or 3 bowls. Jim eats his with crackers and i used rye bread. a very good meal.

How do you do your grocery shopping?  all at one place?....shop around?....got any tips for me?

The Duck has a new Face!

The Duck has a new smiling face now.....much better than that raggedy, snaggle tooth face that it did have.

It needs a bit of caulk and paint.....but we are getting there.

You know old houses....things aren't square or plumb or previous owners 'upgraded' or 'improved' stuff till it all was just a mess. these two guys worked all day Saturday for 2 doors.

I wound up with a large opening after they tore out all the crap and started from scratch.

It took a bit more than they bargained for but it is pretty and i feel more secure. here is the back door that opens into the future dining room.

And on Sunday they came back and got the garage door installed.

It still needs a piece of flashing at the top. not sure what i will do with the ugly on the siding around the door. first i guess i'll see if it washes off. if not, perhaps i could just paint over it. i plan on painting it all anyway. this garage had an old hollow inside door on it. i believe I could have kicked it in. now it is a secure steel door that functions properly and looks good.

They also got 2 of the bedroom windows installed, too. pictures just don't come out well when you are trying to get a pic towards the light. but the windows go up....and stay up....without a stick to hold them up. LOL  and there are SCREENS....woopee!!   and they are on the side where i have neighbors so i hope they like them, too. hahahahahaha

So, half of my doors and windows are installed. i still have 1 door and 4 windows to go for this round. but the guys have regular day jobs during the week, so the remainder will be finished the next time i get down there....probably 2 or 3 weeks. i am so excited that we got this far.

I am going to a couple of book sales next weekend with my sister so i may go on down there and do a bit of caulking and painting and clean up a bit more.

I pulled hundreds and hundreds of nails again when i was there. and brought home a truck load of wood slats to throw in the burn pile. i am giving some consideration to getting a small dumpster again to get rid of all of the debris.....instead of hauling it home a truckload at a time. but...i am going to have even more trash.

Yesterday while looking at the front entryway.....it used to be the outside of the house before they closed it in. under the paneling there is now red shingles....that old stuff from the 50s that everyone had on their house. (look at the second pic where the guys are)  i pulled some of it off and found wooden siding under it. i am going to clear the rest of that off in the entryway and leave the wood siding exposed....will probably paint it later. i like it much better.

Also, in putting in the front door.....we discovered MORE carpet under the plywood that is on the floor. so that has to come up, too. i just keep pulling up more and more crap. i'll probably end up with about 100 square feet MORE of house by the time i am through. LOL   several inches at a time. So far, off that front porch area i have pulled up...carpet...carpet pad....and now plywood...and MORE carpet.  it seems to be deck boards under that.

Oh...i learned something saturday, too. you know that piece of rubbery stuff that is the insulation strip on a door......it is what the door closes onto. whenever i paint a door....i always try to keep the paint off of that part....it never works....so i wind up painting it, too. then the paint just flakes off of it and looks bad. well......you can pull that part out......paint the door.....and then stick it back. who knew......not me....thanks, Tom, for the tip.    never too old to learn.

What did you learn today?

Barnwood Furniture

I went to town today.....first off to get door knobs and deadbolts for my 4 new doors at the Duck. dang...those things are expensive....could have bought another door. and i had them all keyed alike so i only need 1 key rather than a pocket full.

Then we wandered to the next little town and went to Pizza Hut for lunch....tasty as always.

On the way home i wanted to stop at a couple thrift stores that i had never been in. truthfully, i had passed them for years and they never looked interesting. the first had a sign that read "i 'heart' thrift shop". sort of homemade sign. it was sitting in front of the nursing home and i was never sure where the shop was. today i decided to go see if it was anything worth exploring. WELLLL...the nursing home people are gone and the whole building is the shop. many little consignment rooms with the usual clothes, lamps and things. but in the back was a huge room filled with furniture and home goodies. lovely things at reasonable prices....i was shocked. i found a beautiful glass sofa table that i liked....it had a 'i'm on layaway' sign on it...shoot. then i found a great table with 4 chairs..... it had a 'i'm on layaway' sign on it...shoot.  i found 2 more things i liked.....same thing. i talked with the lady that worked there. she said things moved FAST there.....and they have layaway. i did manage to find a couple other things i liked....so i will be back to check them out closer later.

Then i stopped at another shop.....same funky sign on the street...pointing down the road. so i turned down the road...and there was a large building with Mary Ann's Antiques on the side of it....clearly seen from the street.....if you would just LOOK and NOTICE.  sheesh....it's a wonder i find my way home.  as soon as i walked in the door i knew i was in trouble. they had rustic country look things. a few rooms of them.....then 'in the back'....a huge, huge room full of more. i could have filled a mover's truck.

I did manage to bring 2 pieces home with me. this piece is just charming...it has a piece of glass in the top....about 38" wide or so and about 6 foot tall. made of barnwood. (the glass is just plain...what you are seeing is what's behind the cabinet)

With a flower box at the top...

And candle holders on either side of the glass....

A nice wide shelf on the bottom...i'm thinking of putting this in the laundry room at the Duck.

And the other piece is made of barnwood also. it came apart in 2 pieces. the bottom has 2 doors with a shelf inside. it needs new knobs. it is heavy

And this is the top. i like that the top is not straight. there are many cubbies. also very heavy

Once i put it together i will probably screw it together so it stays as one piece. i just loved this piece. someone did a good job of building this. I think it will live in the dining room at the Duck.

A good shopping day is always a good day. LOL

The Orange Selvage Box is empty

I have come to the conclusion.....finally....that i have to QUIT accepting selvages from my friends. i will never use them all up if they keep reproducing.

So, the orange selvage box is now empty.....and will stay that way.

I showed you a block that i was making a couple days ago. The top is now finished.

I used the same black (gray) and white fabric for the foundation for the blocks...for the sashings....and for the border.  i left a bit of the foundation fabric showing in each block.

Each block was 8" square. i ran out of selvages at about 36 blocks but did 6 more blocks with orange strips. unless you know what you are looking for....you can't tell the difference. and i also decided to put a bit of embroidered whimsy in some of the blocks to make them more in the style of Halloween. most of them i embroidered in all black.

We have some cats and bats

A couple of monsters ..... their faces just HAD to be light green. LOL

Some mice and bugs

A witch and a couple skeltons

And a jack-o-lantern

I believe i have enough of this to use for the back.

The top turned out to be about 60" x 70".   a pretty good kid size. it will either go on eBay or get donated.

I'm thinking after next week i will dig out my stash of quilts and put them all out on eBay....gotta make some money to pay for all those windows going in at the Duck. LOL

This will probably get quilted up fairly soon....i'm thinking by the end of the month.

I'm heading out to the Duck again this Friday so the 4 doors and 6 windows that i ordered can be delivered and my carpenter can start installing. I will have windows in 4 rooms now. pretty doors and windows.....but no walls. hahahahahahahahaha

August UFO Challenge

#7 was the UFO picked for August by Judy. i had been dreading this one. first....i pieced it about 6 years ago and no longer cared for it. second...it was a monster 112" x 126"...what was i thinking?   so, i chopped off about a foot of borders....it is now 102" square....much easier to deal with.

I had embroidered 18 blocks so used 16 in the quilt and made 2 pillow cases also.

I used white Bottom Line thread on the top and pink Glide on the bottom...unbleached muslin for the backing. and the panto Pollyanna

I imagine i will put this on eBay and see if anyone wants it. if you happen to just love it and want to buy it...just let me know. I'm sort of slow so it probably won't hit eBay for a few days.

Are you working on your August UFO Challenge?