spring cleaning

Bran and I have been keeping busy.  We're in the process of moving furniture, selling furniture, and buying new furniture.  lol.  Well, really we're just buying a new TV and inheriting some furniture from Bran's grandmother that we need to make room for.

Because we're pulling furniture away from walls that has been stationary for the last 10 years, we're taking the opportunity to repaint and tear down the old ugly wallpaper all over my house.  Actually, more accurately I'M taking the opportunity to paint and refresh.  Bran's a man - and he thinks just moving furniture is enough...lol.  But, he appreciates how nice and new the house is starting to look.  Men.  I swear.  It's been a long time since I painted walls.  Let me tell you, it's a reasonably easy task that makes a huge difference, but my back is really feeling it!  lol.

Other than working around the house I have been doing a little bit of quilting.  I've got a huge fabric stash, but I'm still being distracted by my scrap bin.  Here's a little sneak peak of the lap quilt I've been piecing over the last week.

I've finished the piecing and can't wait to get it quilted and bound.  But, first I've got to paint a wall or two.

I miss you M

I live near New Orleans.  I'm not a New Orleans native, Louisiana native, or even from The South at all.  Well, that's not entirely true, I was born in a Confederate State.  Nine months after my birth my parents moved me to the San Francisco East Bay where I lived until I was 22.  So, I'm Californian.  Yes, Californian.

In the 10 years that I've lived in Louisiana I've made friends.  The one thing in common that most of my Louisiana made friends have?  Most of them are not from Louisiana either.  Because of that, most of them eventually move back home, or to some other blue state.  (lol)

So, Monday morning I wasn't surprised to hear that one of the two closest friends I currently have in Louisiana was moving.  She's moving today.  I miss her already.  Last week though, before I knew she was leaving, I made her some needlebooks.  She had asked me to make her one, even bought the fabric and felt, about a year ago.  But I was lazy and uninspired by a needlebook.  I saw the fabric on top of my "things to do pile" so I thought that maybe it was finally time to get that done for her.

I made hers (the lions) then went crazy and made her two more.  They all turned out adorable.  If it didn't take forever to make one I might make more.  If you're not as anal OCD as me then it might take you less time.  I found this on-line tutorial to help me out.  I did not follow all her instructions, but it's a very good tutorial and there's plenty of inspiration!

Since I last posted on this blog my hubby and I went on a cruise.  I called Brad (my best friend) and he and Jim came along as well.  This was the third cruise we've taken with Brad and Jim.  I had a great week drinking, laughing, and being generally obnoxious.  Really that's not all that far from normal for me.  OK, maybe there was a little more drinking than usual.  I feel a little bad for my hubby though, what should have been a romantic week long date for the two of us really was a week long play date for Brad and me.  lol.  If you're interested in seeing more photos from my cruise you can find them here.

Here at home I'm trying to get back into sewing.  Next post I'll share what I've been working on.  :)

insane piecing

Here is the result of last week's insanity.  I had finished the arcs for my double wedding ring and wasn't really in the mood to move on to the next step.  Besides, my scrap bin was demanding more attention.  I finished this 16 x 16 block and made a few other little blocks before cleaning the whole mess of scraps up.  Finally, all my scraps are currently in one bin and the lid closes!  That won't last long though.  :)

So what will I be doing with this?  I'll be recovering the throw pillow my little dachshund uses as a bed with it.  No, my dogs are not spoiled.  I have no idea how you came to that conclusion.

My little green corner got a little greener this week as well.  When my parent's were visiting at Christmas my dad and I got to talking about the baskets of fuchsias that he and my grandmother both had back home.  He said that he thought they might do well in my green corner so I ordered a couple on-line.  They don't ship until spring, so they showed up last week.  Have you ever had plants delivered by UPS?  I had not.  They have been re-potted and are doing quite well.   

This week I finished a quilt! 

I finished the quilt top and quilted it last fall. Hand sewing the binding is all that has been lacking since Christmas. I left that step thinking I'd have something to do while my machine was up for the season. But, I obviously found other things to do with my time. After the quilt has received it's "crinkly good" wash I'll take some more (and hopefully better) photos of it. Oh, and Bette, she had to be all over me while I was trying to get some photos.  No, not spoiled.  ;)

excitement

Yesterday was the most exciting day I've had in months!

OK, maybe not exciting, but definitely memorable.  I was just sewing, minding my own business, when I heard an explosion.  It sounded like it was at the fence line between me and my neighbor.  My first thought is, OMG I'm in my sweats, have no make-up on, and my hair is just pulled straight off my head in a mess.  How was I going to go out and check on the fence when somebody might see me?!  (Ya, I've got issues).  So, I decided to go out to garage to see if I could peek through the side windows and see anything suspicious.  Nothing. 

A few moments later, after the shock had worn off, I thought maybe the sound came from inside the house.  How could that be?  I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd been cooking meth in the kitchen. 

It's funny, really.  An entire wall of shelving and rods in my walk-in closet had spontaneously pulled itself from the wall.

I guess the sound of a hundred brackets being torn from the wall and dumping their contents on the floor is louder than you would think.  The aftermath looked bad too.  It only took a couple of minutes to pull the stuff out, and Bran re-hung the shelves and rods this afternoon.  (He's really the best). 

 

Here's what else has been going on around here:



My mother-in-law added to my indoor garden with the gift of a ponytail palm.  (I still need to re-pot it).  My little green corner is looking pretty full now.  I'm really going to have to think about new shelving for my
plants.  Oh, and the violet I tried killing off  last month is still alive and it is flowering.

All of the rings for the double wedding ring quilt have been completed.  YA!  I have 5 yards of Kona khaki in my stash, so that's what I'm going to be using as the solid.  Maybe, with the help of some go-go juice, I'll get that going this week.

Or maybe I'll work on assembling the top for my blue vintage sheet quilt.

Oh, and I've gone insane.  Does it show?  More on my insanity next post...

Saintpaulia-cide

Let me distract you with some pretty pictures of one of my African Violets before I tell you about how I think I may have killed two this afternoon.

Last year I bought an African Violet from one of my favorite big box hardware stores.  In the last year, as it matured, I discovered it was actually two plants.  After re-potting a root bound violet this afternoon I thought I would take the chance, while I had my planting stuff out, to separate the two plants and re-pot them.

I've re-potted plenty of African Violets in my time, so I'm not sure what I did.  Maybe I was over thinking having to try to separate the two plants?  Whatever it was I ended up losing the entire root ball for both.  Eeek!  So, I dipped both plant's necks in rooting hormone and potted them in a fresh pot.  African Violets are surprisingly resilient, but I think my life saving attempts may not be enough.  Is there CPR for plants?

More Quilting

Have you been on the edge of your seat wondering how far along with the Double Wedding Ring quilt I am?  Well wonder no longer...

I've been using Free Spirit's paper piecing templates to make my arcs.  However, true to form, I'm not making the quilt as per the directions.  First of all, their finished quilt is just 54x54.  I (personally) feel that a quilt that is too short to cover me is too short to bother making.  I'm making more arcs so that my finished quilt will be closer to 66x78.  I'm also not going to make my four patches all the same; they're going be as scrappy as my rings.

So far I've got 104 of 142 arcs completed.  Soon I'll have to decide if I want the background to be khaki (leading towards), grey (a possibility), or white (not excited about).

Meanwhile - spring keeps knocking at my door.  Oh winter, what happened to you? 

I started trying to propagate one of my African Violets back in November because my mom had expressed an interest in my variegated leaf plant.  According to the instructions I found on-line the little leaves of a new plant should have been visible after about six weeks.  12 weeks later and it's finally showing signs of life.

 

 

Aren't those tiny little leaves adorable?

Groundhog Day

Puxatony Phil saw his shadow today. 

If you're a regular around here you know that I LOVE fall and winter.  Not so much this year.  It's been too warm.  I know I live in The Deep South and all, but really?  It's been far, far, far to warm for my taste this year.

My indoor garden is loving it though.  It almost makes me long for spring.  Almost.