Almost finished!

We had a fun, busy, crazy Memorial Day weekend! Our daughter had 4 days off so she and the grandkids and the granddog came over for a visit. It is always interesting when there is a houseful here!

Saturday Larry and I worked on the garden shed getting the roof trim finished so the roofers can come and get the roof on (that will be happening on Friday). We had lots of help from our grandson. He especially liked filling Papa's water cup using the dispensers in the freezer door! He also ran loads of wood scraps to the burn pile in his big Tonka dump truck. His little sister was busy also but seems to be going through a growth spurt so she climbed on the couch and took a nap! While we kept the kids busy their mom spent some time in the sewing room making a couple of wall hangings for two fellow grad students. 

On Sunday Papa got the last of the siding on the shed and I quilted the two wall hangings with the little girl's help. Her mom and brother did a little shopping and went to visit my parent's graves, planting some flowers there. We went to my niece, Katie's new house for dinner so Chelsea and the kids could see it and the kids got to spend the night - her first overnight guests.

Chelsea left Monday morning to pick up the kids and head home. Larry and I spent the day installing the garage door, 'man' door and window in the shed. The window is an old one that got replaced in the garage and it does open. We have it covered with piece of plywood right now until the roof is done - it would be a shame if it got broken!

I am excited about getting things installed inside. There will be a counter under the window for potting, etc.

The yellow stripes on the door won't stay, they are just a protective film for shipping.

I have gotten two of the graduation quilts quilted and hope to do the third this afternoon. If I am lucky I will also get the bindings on. 

Tomorrow is Relay for Life so I will be heading to the local high school track for 24 hours or so. A great event but exhausting!

One more day

Just one day left before Relay for Life! So far I have raised over $1300 to help fight cancer, but I want to raise more! I am tired of cancer striking family and friends, even taking some of them away from us. We need a cure! The money we are raising at Relays all over the country is helping to fund research and also programs to help those who are fighting cancer. If you would like to donate you can do so here. 


About half of the money I have raised has come from sales of quilts and owl hats 

and the other half from ticket sales for a chance to with this quilt. 

If you are interested in buying tickets for a chance to win the quilt you can email me and I will let you know how to make it happen. If you are interested in an owl hat or two you can also email me for work that out.


Thanks for your support!


Alicia

Rainy Days and Sewing

Since I didn't get to got to my daughter's graduation, I decided to head over to my daughter's house to see the grandkids and also to deliver a metal desk and some planters to my son's apartment. Daughter, Rebecca, came along. Unfortunately, the grandkids were sick with high temps and colds but we did get some cuddle time and managed to stay healthy in spite of it. Also spent some time with my son, Jakob, helping him plant his little seedlings in the pots I brought for his balcony garden and doing a little shopping. It was fun spending some time with all three kids together.


We came home and on Saturday we helped my husband get the ramp on the garden shed but boy were we tired! There was digging involved.

And framing.

Hubby got a good deal on the Trex we used. It was two colors which made some nice subtle stripes.

Still have some more digging to do so we will be able to drive the lawn tractor right in.

Just a few more smaller steps left to do along with the doors and windows and then this project will be done, well, except for the painting which could take a while. Luckily, someone else will be doing the roof!


The rain returned on Sunday which meant I could legitimately spend as much time as I wanted in the sewing room. My first job was making a dog sling for my Jakob's little dog, Mandu. Jakob likes to walk but, as much as she would like to, Mandu just can't keep up on a long walk! I didn't have Jakob and Mandu here for sizing but I did what I could and got it together on Sunday afternoon and brought it over to my friend's house so her daughter could bring it over to Jakob the next morning. I haven't heard yet if it works.


Because there was a need for another comfort quilt at church, I got the top I had finished quilted and bound and delivered.

Then I worked on getting the next top put together and I have one more from this pattern cut out and ready to sew.


My friend, Maurianne, finished the 3rd graduation quilt for the kids at church and gave it to me so yesterday I got backs made for all three out of flannel I had in the big flannel bin and even got them all basted. I am hoping to get one quilted this morning before I head out for my errands for the day.


It sounds like we will have company for this holiday weekend - our daughter, Chelsea, and grandkids will be here and possibly Jakob. This means we will also have the addition of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and possibly a Maltese to add to the fun and excitement!

Construction in two mediums

In spite of me feeling a bit under the weather my garden shed is getting closer to completion. Our SIL was home for a few days and with his help and the continued help of our daughter, the rafters were finished and the plywood is all up. 









It sounds like it shouldn't take too long to get the roofers out once the roof is ready. It sounds like the garage door should be available next week sometime so maybe that will be our Memorial Day project.


The kids headed out for a short getaway to Sequim, the Dungeness Spit and Port Angeles on Monday and Tuesday and I continued to recuperate and did some sewing. I finished up the first comfort quilt from the blues and greens. I am really happy with the results and look forward to finding some other patterns that will work well with this bunch of fabrics.

I finally got a picture of the second graduation quilt so here it is.

I don't think I have shared the pictures of the baby quilts I worked on for such a long time! Here is the one for my great niece in Maryland. Her mom sent me pictures of her enjoying some tummy time on her quilt.

Here is one of the frog quilts for the boys. Remember I made 5 tops, 4 of which have been finished and delivered to their new owners. I understand that the boys especially like the eyes. 

Hopefully I don't decide it is a good idea to make 5 tops of one type again anytime soon, especially one that involves 16 frogs with 32 eyes!

Change of Plans

Right now, if things had gone as planned, I would be playing with my grandkids. Instead, I am recovering from a stomach bug. I got sick on Wednesday evening and yesterday I laid around a lot and ate little. I am improved today but only back to about 80%.


The plan was to spend the weekend on the other side of the state so we could watch our oldest daughter receive her Masters degree in Plant Science but we will just have to hope someone takes pictures for us. We were also delivering a desk to our son and some planters for him to use for his balcony veggie garden. but I guess that will wait too.


My hubby is taking advantage of time off to get things done. Yesterday he helped #2 daughter finish installing her door and finished planning out the rafters for my garden shed. Last weekend we got the siding on all 4 sides.

Here is the view from up on the loft floor. Can you see Lucy curled up on my jacket?

Today Hubby and #2D are working on getting those rafters up.

I spent several days this past week or so cutting pieces for more comfort quilts. The bin I pulled out had lots of blues and greens so I found a pattern to use and cut out enough blues, greens and background for 2 from that pattern and there are extra pieces I will use for another one or two tops from another pattern. I started sewing up the first one and if I am feeling up to it I might get some more done today.

I have been able to spend some time outside. The garden looks pretty great. I got the squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, dill and zucchini planted and the peas, beets and lettuce are up so we might get some produce this year if the weather keeps up. There is still lots of work to do but once I get myself back to normal I will be out there working at getting it all done.

Life Needs to Slow Down!

There has been so much going on around here the last few months! I get a lot done but I just don't seem to have the energy to get posts written in the evening and in the morning it is time to get moving and get more things done! I will take a little time this morning to get caught up a bit.


The biggest project around here right now is the garden shed. Here are some shots of the work done over the past 3 days. On Friday Hubby brought home all the lumber needed for the four walls and Saturday morning we got started bright and early and got the first three walls up. The fourth wall went up on Sunday along with some smaller pieces. Yesterday Hubby brought home more lumber and the rest of the ceiling joists (if that is what they are called) went up for the loft.

I think we are all pretty amazed at how quickly this is going together! Many thanks go to our #2 daughter for her help! It looks like sometime today she and I will head to the lumber yard for the plywood for the loft floor so we can get moving on to the roof construction. The exciting thing about a garden shed is there isn't a lot of finishing work once the building is up. Just some shelving and a work bench.


Last week I got the second graduation quilt top done but just haven't gotten a picture of it yet. Maybe today if it isn't too windy I can get a shot of it on the clothesline. I also put my nose to the grindstone and got 7 blocks done for the star quilt block exchange so I am caught up for now.


Today I will also be heading to the post office with several packages. Baby quilts and owl hats are heading out to their new homes finally along with one of those block exchange packets (the others were passed on to my niece for her addition).