Git 'Er Done May Challenge

I knew May was going to be tough for the Git 'Er Done Challenge. gardening has taken over my life.

May's challenges were:

1.  Make 2 battings from scraps ..... DONE

2.  Piece red, black, purple crazy top ....  DONE

3.  Hand quilt 10 blocks on Dear Jane ...  DONE

4.  Finish 1 memory box .... only partially done.....bummer....that garden takes a LOT of time.


June to-do's:

1.  Piece red and white disappearing 4 patch top .... 56 blocks

2.  Finish piecing garden flower strip blocks .... 80 blocks

3.  Quilt alphabet quilt top for my sis

4.  Quilt wall hanging made from candy wrappers

Hopefully June's list will all get finished .... i have high hopes.  maybe i just need to put garden chores on the June list. hahahahahaha

Git 'Er Done

Strange, different, crazy

All those words describe this quilt top. and, coincidence or not....they also describe me...the quilt maker. LOL

Making many of the same repetitive blocks for a quilt is sort of boring for me. i like different. so, i dumped out the black, red and purple scrap boxes and they became this.

These are larger scraps....anything smaller than a fat quarter. just different chunks.  

I just started sewing them together....aiming for a piece that was at least 18" x 24"

Any size piece....any color. Once i got the 18x24" piece ... i cut it into a dozen 6" squares. sort of instant crazy quilt squares. then i pieced the 6" squares into 9 patches...then pieced the 9 patch blocks into rows ... 4x5.

When it got time for borders....it was also anything goes. no measuring....just cut and sew. different widths and different fabrics.

It is truly a crazy quilt....

Sewn by a crazy woman ..... pretending to be normal. hahahahahaha

Sometimes it works.

Comfort and Joy Section 6

Here it is time to report in for this section of the Comfort and Joy quilt and i can't find another entry for when i made this.....so i guess i failed to report. but here she is.

Cute gingerbread cookies

Little crow on the vine

A candle for the window

I put Santa faces in my blocks.

Great block...great quilt.

Ahhhh.....the wonders of Spring

Next week we are putting a new metal roof on the wood shed. so my job was to take the old lumber and plastic tarp roof off. not a problem. hahahaha

First.....i encounter large black ants...hundreds of them....have set up their town between a board and a tarp. luckily i didn't bring them down on my head. i know ant bites HURT.  got rid of that problem.

Got all the tarps unstuck and dealt with tree limbs and water and bugs. ugh!!

Got in the back to trim some brush and vines so the guys could get around the shed. got a splinter in my hand. .... don't know how. no problem...pull that sucker out.

Raked tons of leaves from behind the shed. seems all the leaves come down the hill and stop back there. great mulch...hahahaha

After finishing that job....was sitting and sewing and relaxing for a bit. felt something crawling up my leg. look....a fat tick. hate those suckers. got rid of him. 

You know...once you feel a tick....then you keep feeling like things are crawling on you. felt like something was in my hair....kept feeling around and scratching...nothing. went and brushed my hair....nothing. ok...imagination.

Went to the computer to play scrabble....felt something crawling behind my ear....another tick. damn it!   i was not nice to him.  ok....now i have to go get in the shower and drown any more ticks that might be on me. didn't find any more.....but if there are...at least they are clean.  i still feel itchy. hahahaha

Sheesh....i hate ticks. takes all the fun out of Spring.

Traveling Turtles

I saw someone on MQR quilt this up and it was so freakin' adorable...i HAD to have it. ordered the pattern the same day. now my top is done and i can hardly wait to get it quilted. it will be so much fun. the pattern comes with 2 ways to do it....the 5 rows (on the left) or a top with alternate checkerboard squares and some of the turtles. i wanted to do ALL the turtles in one top....so i improvised.

Little train chugging down the tracks. love the smoke...HAHA.... middle car has veggies...not sure that is kid friendly. hahaha...caboose has animals in the windows. just to be clear...the pattern did not call for things in the windows...that was my improvisation. the pattern windows were just empty.

WHAT?? ... a rooster is running the train...hahahahaha ...backwards

And Spiderman is in the helicopter

A sick teddy bear with a patch on his tummy is in the ambulance

A camper is stopping at the gas station. check out his tongue sticking out. don't know if that is for the gas or the food.

Still have some embroidery to do in places. the signboard says things like..gas, food, snacks, soda, lotto. sign on top says food. left pump says reg; right pump says prem.

And what's the beach without an ice cream truck. also have to stitch the turtles eyes and mouths.

Police car and fire truck.

Need a semi to bring all those supplies to town.

Speed Limit 1 MPH    hahahahaha

A submarine coming out of the water...with a goofy hippie van on the sand. look at his expression. is he in love with the sub? LOL   the signpost points to pond, beach, and garden

The gingerbread family is taking a ride in the taxi.

This was a hoot to create. i'm thinking i might make another one of these some day. i have ideas. i do need to find some fabrics with little 1 and 2 inch people and animals to put in the windows for vehicles and houses. it's going to be fun to quilt this up.

It's a fusible applique...so, although there were hundreds of pieces, it went together rather quickly. and i only got 1 set of eyes on under instead of over the face. and only 1 set of eyes on upside down and stuck to the iron. hahahaha  not bad, huh?

This is an Amy Bradley design. i think she needs to create this same concept with other animals. i do have a penguin pattern called Penguin Paradise that is hers, too. maybe that should be the next fusible applique project.

For now, i better go finish up some UFOs.

Later

Country Ads

Several months back i explored a thrift store outside of town. it was packed with stuff and you could hardly get around. but way in the back among piles of fabrics i found a cool fabric with ads on it. it was made into a couple of simple curtain panels. so i took it home, took out the curtain seams, cut out some of the little ads and made this.

I cut out individual pictures of ads and using the colors in the ads, went around them with matching strips. then bordered that with the ad fabric...then bordered it again in brown.  a few weeks later, i went into a little quilt shop and found 2 yards of the exact same fabric....only with a black background instead of white. so that became the border.

These are the cutest little ads.  Wooly's Alfalfa Seed

Chick Brand Allspice

Holstein Canned Milk

Rolling Hills Eggs

Sunset Best Flour

Colt Brand Potatoes

My favorite ..... Rooster Tail Poultry Seasoning

Windmill Flour

And there are several more. i love this fabric. i'm thinking it might have to hang at the Duck in the dining room.  perhaps kitchen if i can find room in there.

It's a winner.

Back to Square One Clue 5

It took me almost all month to finish up Clue 5. gardening and life got in the way. but i have it done.

Ready for Clue 6 next month.

But i am thinking the summer months are going to be busy with gardening, canning, book sales, yard sales, mowing and who knows what else. but i am determined to stay caught up.

Bring it on!

LOL

Planting flowers and finding goodies

I bought a flat of different flowers at the high school a couple weeks ago and finally got around to planting them. there are a couple of tires by the house from previous owners....so i cleaned out the weeds and made them prettier.

Coleus, impatiens, petunias, vinca, and others i've forgotten the names of.

And Friday evening found me in line at the gate of a yearly yard sale in a neighboring town. the picture in the ad that got me there was this.

Then i found this crow...primitive and cute

This little jewl with the hooks will probably hang in the kitchen at the Duck so i have a place to hang keys rather than throw them on the table as i usually do.

This is a metal sign...i have seen places with these kinds of signs all over the walls and think that will be my inspiration for the Duck. the kitchen may be coffee themed. LOL

These were irresistible.  little ceramic vegetable signs and little spice boxes.

This reminded me of the government sign....We Want You....i think from the Army....that pointing finger. might go in the office.

And who wouldn't love this little vignette of gardening items. i like that they are rusty. might go on the back porch.

The Duck might not have walls yet but it is getting pretties to hang on those walls....

some day

Monday at the Duck

My handyman, Rick, was in the midst of a roofing job when i pulled him away for the weekend at the Duck. but, since it had been raining for days, and was continuing on Monday, he couldn't do any roofing.....so i got him for another day.

I am installing old barn wood on the walls in the dining room. since it has cracks and holes and such....i am installing 1/4" luan first....and painting it black....so it will look like a shadow through the barn wood knots, holes and cracks. so, Rick installed the luan for me on Monday. i was going to do it myself but since i had his services and his rates are ridiculously reasonable, i figured i would take advantage and let him do it. he is much faster than I.

I had gotten 10 sheets....and that covered 3 walls and a bit of the 4th. i need 2 more sheets to finish. so far, i have this....

Left doorway goes into the living room....there will be pocket doors there....right doorway goes into the office.

Left doorway goes into the office.....right doorway goes into the kitchen. you can see a chair and part of the table. and look...a lamp is on....i have electricity. yay!!!  only took me about 2 years. hahahaha

This doorway is a hallway...go to the right and wind up in the laundry room...go left and wind up in the kitchen. that is the top of my dining room table leaning against the wall.

The next time i go down i will start painting those walls black.

While this was going on....i sanded barn wood boards. i got 15 of them done. then i had covered the garage area, me, and everything around me in dust. had to get out the shop vac and clean up.

This only took 2 guys about 3 hours to complete. so, i picked up stuff and put stuff away and headed for home. it's a 3 hour drive to home and i was tired. but a lot got accomplished and i am happy. now to save more money for the next big project. will start on drywall for the walls next. i'm gonna have a put together house one of these days. but not...

tomorrow

Sunday at the Duck

Sunday was plumbing day. time to install all those pesky pipes to carry water throughout the house.

First, the plumber (who is also my carpenter and general all around handyman), and I went to the home center so he could fulfill his long list of plumbing parts. i had brought some pipe with me....so we didn't need that....and i had brought buckets of elbows and Ts and so forth, but he still needed plumbers tape, other little doodads and whatever all those plumbing parts are called.

I sent him off with his basket to the plumbing aisle while i wandered around, checking in with him from time to time.

I made the mistake of looking in the bathroom 'furniture' aisle. i had a bathroom sink in my garage that i was going to use. it was a free one that i salvaged from my sis. it was small and not all that pretty....but it was free and i was going to use it. i only had to find a cabinet to set it on. i had been scouring thrift stores for a cabinet.

Well, I came across this at the home center and fell in love....and it came home with me. it is 36" wide...which is a bit wider than the free one that i had. the top was on a different cabinet...but i switched it out. and after a bit of negotiation with an employee at the home center, i got the top free if i bought the cabinet and took it with me that day.

I love the green of the top. the bathroom will be greens and blues...sort of a Caribean feel.

I love the rope detail on the cabinet. and the cream color. the bathroom is kind of small and i am not a fancy person....so this is great.



Then the guy said i needed to choose faucets, too. i hadn't even thought of faucets. hahahaha  so i picked this one. it really doesn't match the cabinet but i like it. it is black with copper trim. i will see if i can find the same type for the shower so at least they will match.



I was all excited and ready to have it installed. Alas, first i need plumbing...and a floor...and walls.  details, details.

So, we headed for home with my goodies and the plumber and his bag of goodies. before we even get back to the house....which is only about 2 or 3 miles....he says he forgot something. so, we stop at Ace Hardware so he can pick up a few more little goodies and head to the house.

He is cutting holes and making noises and doing plumbing things.

In about an hour i check on him to see how progress is coming. he says...i had to re-arrange something here and need blah, blah, blah. so, off i go back to the home center for 6 or 7 other plumbing parts that i wrote on a note. Ts, reducers, 90 degrees somethings....i don't know. but i get it all and make it back.

So, after about 4 hours of plumbing business ..... i have:

Bathroom sink pipes...

Kitchen sink pipes

Shower drain pipe. there are pipes going up for the showerhead, too...but i failed to get a pic of that.

There is Rick....intalling pipe for the toilet. the pipes between the studs to the right of him are pipes for the tankless water heater which will be installed above the toilet.
 would have been nice had i taken pics AFTER sweeping up the mess, right? hahaha

My ugly basement ceiling now looks like this with pipes running everywhere.

If you are a plumber and care about these things...here is a closeup for you. hahahaha

He also ran pipes to each wall to install outside faucets. but we haven't knocked out a hole and put them in yet. the laundry room pipes were perfectly fine so that didn't have to be done. but still need a pipe to vent the dryer outside.

While all that was going on....i was pulling more nails. i didn't work all day but did get a few hours in. when i quit there were only about a dozen boards left to do and my shelves are twice as filled as yesterday.

Another full day. it rained on me coming down here on Thursday, rained all day Friday, rained off and on all day Saturday, and again on Sunday. it was kind of a chilly gloomy weekend. guess what we are doing...

tomorrow