Bird feeders....

....they're not just for bird seed anymore.

Tabbi is just one of the cats who thinks that it is a bed fit for a catnap.  Makes me wonder if they really know what it is supposed to be used for.  Sorry Tabbi, if you live here, you have to play nice.  ;~)

Guess What???

I haven't been totally out of the loop.  I actually got the Lost Ship Block finished tonight at work.  See how I spend my lunch some of the time!

Sometimes I read...  All it takes is a little bit here and a little bit there to accomplish big things....like sorting through my DS's old toys.  We needed room in the shed so that we could move around.  We cleared out all of the boxes of toys and some glassware that I had in there a week ago Friday.  It took me until this last Friday to sort and go through all of the boxes.  Not that there were that many boxes.  I kept some of the toys so that my two year old grandson could have something to play with when he is here.  The rest will probably be donated to the goodwill store after my DS goes through it.  If he goes through it.

I also had time to cut out some blades for a Dresden Plate.  Took six FQ's with me to work.  Just enough to get a start on it.  It will surely be interesting trying my hand at applique.  :~)  A friend of mine, who teaches quilting classes, showed me her way of doing applique.  She recycles her used dryer sheets for the interfacing.  It's recycled.  It's lightweight.  It doesn't appear to have a lot of bulk.  That part I won't know for sure until I do my first blade.  It should be interesting. 

Tried my hand at applique a little while back.  Was making a flower block.  Can't of the name offhand.  Anywho, I forgot to clip the edges of the petals before I turned them the right way.  Put that project on the back burner for now.  Gotta remember to do that this time.  LOL!!! 

The Purple Shelves

Whew!!!  This part of the living room went from this....

 

 

to this.....

 

 

It took about a month to stain, sand, and build the shelves and the desk.  Most of this was done on my days off.  In the end, I started doing some staining before I went to work.  Can you tell that I wanted to get done???  There is still a little bit more touch up work to do.  I've got some cork board tiles that are going to be used for tacking up messages and posting pictures.  They are going to be attached to the back wall.   BTW...it's not all books that you see in the picture. 

I took and packed up a lot of my knick knacks quite awhile back.  Most of them will be put on the top shelves of the shelves.  Some of them will be taken to one of the local thrift stores for resale.  Most of the time we donate clothing, etc...to Helping Hands.  Helping Hands is a church ran thrift store that benefits those in need.  They used to help you with food and some of your utilities and rent.  Not sure what all they help you with anymore.  Had to use them once a long, long time ago, so, I have no problems in giving them donations for resale.

We've also taken things to the Salvation Army and another thrift store.  The latter store benefits the local women's shelter.  Found me a couple of snowmen there.  I like snowmen.  They had some arts and crafts things there.  Found some fabric pieces for real cheap.  Didn't buy any as I don't need anything but backings for now. 

Things That Get in the Way of Quilting....SIGH!!!!

Here's a bit of what I have been doing instead of quilting.....working on the deck, staining boards for my shelves, cleaning out dad's house, trying to clean our house.....hahahahahaha.....work in the yard, knitting, and any other thing that comes up.

Well, I haven't totally given up quilting....I did manage to work on my Lost Ship block the other day.  I plan on working a little bit on it tonight after supper is done cooking and I get done with this post.  I'm cooking sun dried tomato Alfredo with chicken and a chicken pot pie.  Don't know about you, but I really hate having to come home and cook after I have been at work all day.  Most of the time I don't get home until midnight or after.  The deli must get clean.  LOL!!!!

 Got some more purple stain on the boards today.  Added some Sand and Sealer on top of that.  The next step will be putting polyurethane on them.  Just waiting for a day off to do that.  Hope it doesn't rain.....It's the rainy time of year for us.  We needed it so bad.  We've been lucky so far and not had any tornadoes in this area for awhile.  We've not had any flooding in this area even though we've had 3 1/2 inches of rain.  Some days it pays to live on a hillside.

Here's a short video clip of me when I was staining the boards last Friday.

The shelving is definitely not going to get done over night.  You have to wait for the stain to dry so that you can turn the board over.  Then you have to apply the sealer and let it dry so that you can sand it, but in the end it will be something that you can use so that you can get the clutter up off the floor or wherever it is in the rest of the house.  LOL!!!!

Here's a couple of pics of what the deck looks like.  A before and an after.

Lovely Catalpa tree growing there.  LOL!!!!  The little boogers are hard to get rid of once they grow into big trees.  We had one on the other side of the deck that my honey had to dig up the roots to get rid of it.   Notice the quilt inspector on the deck.  He had to come out on the deck and see what was
 going on.  :~)

The railing isn't finished
yet.  Ray has since added another top rail at the right of this pick.  We are using 2" x 6" as the top rail.  Nice lovely spot to set a large cup of ice water.  Sat out there this afternoon for a water break and had a hummingbird buzz me.  Guess it thought that my fuschia colored cup was a large cup of sugar water.  Went and looked for my hummingbird feeder.  I must of tossed it last year because it was old and needed replaced.  Gotta add that to my list of things to get.  The Chickadees have been going at the bird feeder like crazy.  

Got dad's house cleaned out a little while back.  My dear daughter and grandson are living there until it gets sold.  So glad to have them back.  Hope she stays awhile.  Never know about her though.

Now about cleaning our house.  I got this wild hair up my you know what and decided to do a spring cleaning again this year.  Got the clutter in the corner of my living room cleaned up.  Got the quilting table rearranged so that I can actually use it for what it was intended to be used for.....quilting!!!   It was a catch all for quilting stuff and whatever else was tossed up there by me.  Our resident cat thinks that it is a way to come over and visit me when I am sitting in my recliner or jump over to the kitchen table where he's not supposed to be.

Working out in the yard has been put on hold until the weather gets a little cooler.  It was down into the 80's for a little bit.  It's back up into the 90's.  Have to get the bag of cement out of the trunk of my car before it sets up.  I'm going to try my hand at making some fake rocks with the help of a template from the store.  Still have to get some corner pieces for some used pvc pipes that I'm going to make a sifter for the compost pile.  The plan is to connect the pipes together into a square or a rectangle and attach some screen to it.  

I can remember dad making one out of lumber for sifting the dirt at an old house that we used to live in.  The house was so old that it was built with square nails and had slats on the walls.  Dad enclosed the back porch and repainted the outside of the house.  I helped him with the painting on the front porch.  The kitchen in the house was a small galley type with the washer and dryer located in it.  The upstairs bathroom was long and narrow.  Dad started moving the bathroom to a larger room just before we moved down here.  Dad was a Jack of all trades.  He could do just about anything.  His main hobby was working on electronics.  He took a class when he was in high school and the rest was history.  

About the knitting....I'm trying to make a lady that I work with a scarf.  She gave me a cute leopard print purse a little while back.  Thought that I would make her something in return.  Her favorite color is hot pink or fuschia.  I found some fuschia yarn that I thought she might like.

Anywho....I'm off to finishing supper and a night of relaxing. 

Finally!!!

....I finally got my batik Bear Paw uploaded.  It's been finished for a little while.  There's just not enough time in the day to do everything.  :~(  My two days off work were busy ones.  Had to do lots of running around.  Went to the used book store, The Rabbit's Lair, had the oil changed in my car, went to my dad's house and gave my son and his lovely girlfriend a desk and small night stand with the lamp that was on it, took it to his apartment for him, and went grocery shopping.  Forgot...I did some laundry too.  Wasn't going to go anywhere yesterday, but had to go and get some food that I had forgotten the day before.

Yesterday, my plans were to sit on my bum and read lots of posts on the quilting forum that I belong to, but that didn't happen.  I spent a majority of the day cooking and making a variety of salads.  This food should last us for several days since I really don't care to cook when I get home around midnight or so from work.  This will give the M.O.M. something to eat since he's not much of a cook.

CW Bear Paw

Finished at last!!! After a few mishaps this block is finally finished. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get it done. Sewing by machine is so much faster, but you can't take it with you. Teehee!!! Not sure if I like all of the colors that I chose for this block. Don't get me wrong.....I like each color and think that they go well with each other. I just think that they would have gone better together in a different block. Now off to the baktik one we go!

Trying to get caught up....

.....on the yard work, housework, and anything else that needs to get done around here. Got three of my flowerbeds cleaned out yesterday and did some dishes in the mean time. The top flowerbed has two different varieties of Spiderwort in it. I found some purple clover on the far side of our property. You know.....the kind that if you are lucky you just might find a four leaved one. I'll get out tomorrow and transplant some of it in the top bed with the Spiderwort, plus start cleaning out the other three beds and around the various bushes in the yard.

I have a good start of a Lilac bush that my DB helped me dig up from his place. We tried to get on of a Forsythia bush, but was unable to get a good root system from the mother bush. Someone had planted theirs in a tire and there was no way to get it. I'll let this one stay for the summer and see if what it looks like this fall. It may be toast for all I know. We'll see.....

Right now, I am just waiting on the laundry to get done so that I can get ready for another day at the deli. It's kind of nice not having to be at work until later in the day. A person is able to get things done outside that they would normally have to wait until their day off.....and to think that I used to hate this shift because you couldn't go and hang out with your friends. Oh the peace and quiet of living in the country. We have neighbors who live right around us, but it isn't as noisy as it would be if you lived in town.

Guess I'd better get in there and fold the towels. My honey is bringing home a nice juicy hamburger loaded with jalepenos from Sonic. Don't you just love it when people talk about food and make you hungrier than you already are????