Do I need a 12 step program?

Some habits are good and some habits are bad.  My upstairs vacuum cleaner is definitely suffering from my bad habits.  Not only do we have three exceptionally hairy dogs, but I'm a confirmed thread tosser.  This is really bad!!!  Lots of long threads holding the dog hair in there.  I think I may need an intervention.

I love these vacuums.  We have a whole family of them.  :-)  Possibly I shouldn't be abusing them so!

Once I cleaned out the vacuum I got down to some sewing.  I finished another row on the Whistle Stop mystery quilt.  Yay! I have to do the flying geese row and then I'll be caught up and ready for the August row. 

And today I finished quilting and binding this long overdue wedding gift.  The Tramp will deliver it tomorrow and I hope the couple enjoy it.  I used a Spumoni Bali Pop and a matching Bali for the backing.  My Juki was having fits sewing the batiks and kept skipping stitches.  I was ready to throw the whole lot out of the window!  Nothing I tried as far as needle sizes, adjusting, oiling, or cleaning helped.  So I went to the TL98Q Yahoo Group and searched the messages until I came up with a hint that it might be the presser foot!  I changed my non-hopping foot for the regular hopping foot and abracadabra....it worked!  Gotta love them Yahoo Groups.  :-)

The bride wanted fall colors so I thought some loops, leaves, and ribbons would be appropriate.  

Tomorrow is doll club.  Then I have to get back to the t-shirt quilts.    And finish cleaning the house.....water the garden......clean the bird cage.....walk a dog.....get my nails done.....cook meals.....read email and blogs......and sleep.   Dang.  Maybe I should at least get started on the sleep part now.

My fingers hurt!

Too much gardening!  We took advantage of the cooler (relatively) weather this weekend to do some heavy gardening and yard work.  At two houses.  I am soooo tired, but it feels good (except for the hands).  :-)

I've been taking advantage of the plant sales everywhere.  I guess there has to be some perks to starting a garden so late in the season.  Especially as it means working in the North Carolina summer heat.  Urgh.  I'm very glad for all our trees and the shade they provide!  I've added some colorful annuals to the mailbox garden.   I think (hope) it will fill in nicely.

And finally got plants into the raised garden.  Mostly perennials, but some 50 cent petunias and verbena around the edges and a nice big pot of nicotiana.

Yes there is still a big pile of extra dirt next to the garden, and yes the lawn (sparse as it is) desperately needs mowing.  After all the compost adding, planting and mulching I just didn't have the strength to think about the dirt.  And the lawnmower won't start.  Darn it.

But I'm loving my new plants.  I had better like them.  Since we haven't had much rain I'm going to be out there watering them....lots!   The first time The Tramp told me I looked as happy as a kid in a sandbox I was sitting in the dirt in the middle of a new garden.  :-D 

Gaura

Phlox

Coneflower

Coreopsis

The wildlife kept me company too.  This tiger swallowtail (thank you Nancy) was busy doing something and let me take lots of pictures. 

There are dragonflies of every description but they don't normally sit still long enough for a photo.

And this cicada was resting after busting out of it's larval shell (also hanging on the plant).  When my girls were small we had several big years for cicadas and they would collect all the brown shells they could find.  So we've always called cicadas "shell bugs."  (click if you want to see detail)

And of course, the bees were busy.

My SIL (LZF) was visiting again last week, still looking for jobs down here.   He brought down a few belongings on his trailer.  He is very proud of his do-over of a small boat trailer, but he was concerned about not being able to see the trailer in his rear view mirror without a load on it.  So we visited a few stores looking for something to add to the back of the trailer.  And the cheap fix turned out to be........

Yardsticks!  You can't beat it for 60 cents each.  So four yardsticks, some neon orange duct tape and a few screws and he was good to go.

So now the gardening is over for the time being (except for the watering...sigh) I will return to the sewing room.  I added another row to the Whistle Stop mystery quilt (on the design wall in the background) and I ordered some fabric for curtain valences and background for my Dear Jane.  I am finally going to start a Dear Jane.  Yippee!  Thank goodness this box only contained fabric.  It looks like UPS tried to make an accordion out of it.  :-)

I have four t-shirt quilts in the works too.  Argh.  No rest for the weary!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Stormy weather

Forth of July was pretty quiet here.  The rains came so there weren't even any fireworks.  Earlier in the day we did go to a pig pickin' birthday party, on a farm, in the equipment shed.  Sounds odd, but it was very pleasant.  On such a hot day it was nice to be in the shade and there was a strong breeze too.  The Tramp was very interested in the combine harvester we were sharing the shed with but there didn't seem to be any chance he would get to drive it.  LOL 

We were treated to a photo of Stardust in her holiday outfit.  Love those chubby cheeks!

Charlie has been enjoying his new play stand.

Learning how to climb all over it and of course picking the least comfortable places to balance himself.

Apparently the swing is for grabbing and swinging wildly around....not actually for swinging on.

I can hang here if I want to!  (click to see those pretty blue feathers he's showing off)

Get too close and I'm gonna peck that camera!

Today I added a skewer of fresh fruits and veg.  He loved it, but I haven't a clue why it's more appetizing while hanging upside down.  LOL

Yesterday I made another one of these PreTea Mouse Pin Keeps.  Lousy photos, but you get the idea.

I just love that face!

Yesterday evening after the rain, I watched the mist roll across the pond.

And watch the stormy weather blow away.

This morning I took Maisy for a walk through the Greenway.  It was cool, though quite humid.  Very pleasant nonetheless, with the birds and peepers, and the rain-swollen creek making nice watery noises.  A refreshing way to start the day....as long as I have enough bug repellent sprayed on!  I'm a mosquito's dream come true.  Sigh.

I'm just thrilled we're finally getting some rain!

I worked in The Sandbox much of the day while thunder rumbled, and I have nothing photo-worthy to show for it.   :-)  I spent some hours prepping t-shirts and clothing for Patchwork Memories.  After Julianne decides how the quilts are to be laid out, I'll get the pieces back for sewing.

Sigh.  There are just too many projects and not enough hours in the day. 

Lucky

Just my luck....the day after we drove up to the Apple Store to buy a new case for my phone, the phone upped and died.  Sheesh!  For no reason that I could see, the phone suddenly got really hot to the touch and then wouldn't boot up.  So....  Not realizing that we were going to be stuck in a long traffic jam, I made the last available Genius Bar appointment.  We didn't realize there was a horrendous accident....two actually....that shut down major local highways for most of the day.  In our dash to get to our appointment on time we got stuck in the tail end of all the traffic snarl.  There was no avoiding it, and it turned out we weren't the only ones late that evening.  Anyway, the upshot was the phone was still just under a year old, so with no fuss and no bother they just gave me a new one.  Phew.

What else have we been doing this holiday weekend.  Hmmmmm.  Not sewing, unfortunately.  The Tramp has been busy listing things on Craigslist and meeting buyers at the door.  :-)  Yesterday we ran around to WalMart and Costco and such.  I had been keeping my eye out for canisters for the myriad of gluten-free flours and grains we have now.  Target and WalMart didn't have anything I liked.  Places like the Container Store or Tupperware want at least $15 each.  I don't think so!  So I was very pleased to run across a set of seven Rubbermaid Lock-its canisters at Costco for only $15 per set.  Much better!  

I bought two sets but as soon as I started rearranging the pantry this morning I realized they weren't nearly enough.  So after a little internet research and trips to not one, but two Kmarts, we finally found 13 more of the middle sized.  Just right for the little bags of Bob's Red Mill flours.

So this is the result.  Six large canisters, 17 medium, four small, and four older style ones Mom gave me.  You should have seen the flour cloud in my kitchen!  But I'm so pleased to have it all in order.  I have to bake everything for The Tramp now and trying to scoop cups of flour out of those small bags and boxes without loosing half of it on the counter or floor was making me crazy.  To say nothing of the fact I had run out of plastic bag clips, and was tired of hunting through the pile of little bags and boxes each time I baked.  

The big pantry is a little bit neater too.  My counters may cluttered, my sewing room always look a wreck, but I love my cabinets, closets and cupboards to be neat.  Neater than this.  :-)

The big problem with this pantry is that it's as wide as the wall but I can't get to the ends of the shelves because the doors are narrow.  How useless!  Along with ripping down the wallpaper and painting....sooner rather than later I hope (famous last words), we want to get that all opened up and solid doors put on rather than the bi-folds.   Then I can mount the spice racks and holders for all the wrap boxes.  I'm sooo tired of having to unlock the deadbolt and go out into the garage for kitchen stuff while I'm cooking.

But I can't complain.  Honest!  I love my house and am more thankful than I can say.  The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.