Saturday, February 28, 2009

Work in progress


This picture shows two pieces of the wall paper up with my helper Gordo on the step stool. I have another piece up now. I have one more cut, but I want to open another roll so I can use the piece already cut as a pattern.

The first piece I put up had three places that had to be cut out. I started there due to the cable wires that come out of that box. I place my plumb line so it was at the left side of the box. The piece that will be around the door frame will sit at the other side of the box. I did it this way so I would not need to deal with the wire.

I think I will wait until tomorrow to do more papering. I am kind of tired now.

Peggy

Progress

This has been a very busy week. We are trying to get things ready for spring by checking electric golf cart (that we use in the garden) and the yard tractor. Batteries or lack of good batteries was an issue this week. We had to replace the battery in the tractor and the golf cart is having a new set of batteries installed at the repair shop. We also have an old van that needs a new battery, but that one is still a debate as to if we just want to junk the van or should we get the battery.

We also did some outside cleaning the one nice day we had this week. Leaves were swept up. Excess stuff that was put under the deck was moved to a different storage age. We also tried to tie up the snowball bush since it was bent over by the ice last month.

I also painted the trim for the bedroom and have the walls prepared to put up at least 16 sheets of wall paper. I plan to start the wall papering shortly and hopefully will get most of it done today. I also want to cut out a dust ruffle today so when we move the bed I can put it on.

Bill and I did buy some new sheets for the bed because I only had one set that fit our bed. When our water bed decided to leak and we change to a regular bed I had to start over with sheets. I am not much of a shopper, so we just bought one set. I now have 3 sets to fit the queen size mattress. It will be nice to not have to wash, dry and make the bed with the same sheets all in one day.

Guess if I am going to get anything done I better get off the computer.

Peggy

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Week 8


I didn't sew much this week, but did start the block of the month stitchery project at http://willowberrydesigns.typepad.com/ . Mine is not yet finished, so I have not pressed it. I still have leaves to add to the willow tree and then decide if I want to change anything.

I have not done this type of embroidery in years and learned the hard way that back stitch doesn't mean stem stitch like I was taught as a child. Back stitching was easier for me and much faster to do then the stem stitch.

I am claiming 1 yard of fabric used this week, but I only used about 4 1/2" x 7 1/2" this week. I have several stitchery projects I want to try on this background fabric.

Fabric used this week: 1 yards
Fabric bought this week: 0 yard

Fabric used this YTD 23 5/8yards
Fabric bought YTD 1 yard

Stash busted YTD 22 5/8 yards

Still having fun,
Peggy

Friday, February 20, 2009

Today

Bill and I have been procrastinating the finishing of the bedroom...and that also delayed the sewing room completion. Today I washed the walls in the room that will become the bedroom and Bill put the base coat of paint on the walls. The whole time he was doing that he was saying the paint we have will not cover the paneling in the room. He may or may not have been right, but I came up with an alternative to the paint. Seeing that this is a small room I suggested we just put up wallpaper. That way we won't need to do more painting other then the trim. We both hate to paint.

Another advantage to the wallpaper is being able to wallpaper behind the shelving. The shelving is built into a former shallow closet. I can cut and put up the wallpaper to fit between the shelves, but we could not paint without making a big mess.

We were on the north end of town and decided to stop at Lowes to check out their in store selection which is usually pretty good. I was walking down the main isle planning to turn down the wallpaper isle and said to Bill, "I must have walked by the wallpaper isle." So we turned around and sure enough I did miss the isle where the wallpaper used to be located. We turned down it and the only thing left was the textured paintable wallpaper. Lowes has decided to only carry special order wallpaper. I am not good at sitting looking at wallpaper books for hours. It is boring, a waste of time and besides that we would have to wait who knows how long for delivery.

When we went out to the car I noticed the back tire on the passenger side of our van was a little low. We just had the tires rotated Wednesday, so I know they were OK at that time. We went to the tire place to have them check it. We waited about 15 minutes for them to finish up a car in front of us. Then we were next. They removed the tire and sure enough it had a nail in it. Usually when we get a nail in a tire it is a roofing nail, but this was the type of nail used to put studs together. A long very strong nail. Thank goodness we noticed the problem before it really became a bigger problem.

Then we went to a paint place on the south side of town. They have wallpaper to order and about 20 selections to buy. We found something we both could live with and thought it was $22. a double roll. So we decided to buy it and it was only $10. a roll. Now just need to paint the trim. I really don't mind putting up the wallpaper. I think we will bring in a little bit of the outside with this paper seeing we don't have windows in this room.
The only other color in this room will come from the quilt on the bed. I do have a picture my Aunt Margaret painted for us with an old rustic barn with some grasses with a blue sky. I think that will be a nice addition. We will need to actually see what fits in the room before we actually decorate.

NASCAR is on TV now. Must go see what is going on. I will try to finish my stitching tonight to share with you.

Peggy

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Virandah Views

Tomorrow I am going to a "sew a chat" at a friend's home. I have a hand project that I have been working on for years that I usually take to work on, but I am again getting tired of working on this project. So I searched for something to do that would be different for me. So I am going to start a BOM embroidery project.

The project Virandah Views is offer by Cheryl of Willow Berry Designs. Just click on the subject title to see the project. Why don't you join me making this little project that will combine hand embroidery with piecing.

I will post a picture of my first block soon. I have not embroidered in years, so this will be an adventure. She has posted the initial information and the first two blocks. I am a little behind, because our printer decided to take a vacation. I bought a new printed and have spent the past two evenings catching up on my printing.

Well I need to find my embroidery hoop and get my background fabric ready.

Have a good one,

Peggy

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Week 7

This week was spent trying to get things cleaned up and claimed with the insurance company as a result of the ice storm a few weeks ago. So I only worked on one project this week. I made two pillows using the John Deere fabric my husband contributed to my stash a few weeks ago.

We gave them to a waitress at the restaurant we stop at almost daily to have coffee. She is a John Deere collector, only 21, out on her own and she takes care of her sister's two children. The children are 9 and 4. She is always happy go lucky and never complains about taking care of the children. Here is a picture of the pillows. They reverse to show the other season.
So this week I only used 1 yard of fabric.
Fabric used this week: 1 yards
Fabric bought this week: 0 yard

Fabric used this YTD 22 5/8yards
Fabric bought YTD 1 yard

Stash busted YTD 21 5/8 yards

Peggy

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Peas....and more peas

Would you believe last week it was as low as 12 degrees. Today it was 71 degrees with sunshine. So we planted snow peas today. We know that we can still have a frost, but we are hoping we don't have a deep freeze.

We planted then near the house where Dad plants the extra tomato plants. Even if we don't get any of the pea pods to harvest the plants will at least add nutrition to the ground for the tomatoes later on in the season.

Bill also blew the leaves again. We live in a woods of mostly oaks. They sometimes don't loose their leaves until the new buds start pushing them off the limbs. While outside Dad and I started to take apart a gliding swing we had on the deck. It is rotting and is dangerous. Neither one of us was strong enough to remove the bolts. They had been painted over too many times. We roughly figured that the swing is at least 30 years old, so I guess we can not complain about it rotting. I hope we get a new one this spring that has a canopy over it.

Well the cat wants to take a nap on my lap, but he will need to wait until I take care of the laundry. I think I can get another load finished before going to bed.

Peggy

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Ice, cold, no electric.... on and on and on!

As I am sure everyone knows by now Arkansas, Kentucky and parts of other states were hit by an ice storm late in January. We still have areas of Western Kentucky without electricity and my be without for another 2 to 3 weeks. The ice weighted the trees to the point they either broke or just fell over from the root up.

We stayed in our house for a few days. The bad part was the nights were just so long and cold. I cooked outside on the propane grill. By the time I had a meal ready parts of it was cold, but we at least ate and it was good.

We could handle needing to acquire water for drinking and washing up, but going to bed at 5:30pm because of darkness. Then going to bed early because we were so cold. I told Bill there will be lots of babies born in about 9 months....that will not include us!

We had ordered propane for our gas logs before the storm arrived, but it was not delivered until 5 days later. So only one gas log fireplace was on and it was turned down low. Bill and I could no longer take the cold because we were getting sick. We also felt that my parents needed to get to a warmer location. So we moved to a lodge (motel) about 20 miles away for 3 nights. Bill and I stayed 4 nights to allow the house to warm up a bit after the electric came back on. Besides that we didn't know the electric would be on that night.

At least we were able to see the Super Bowl. It was a good game even if I didn't like the way it ended.

One of the really bad parts of the ice storm was the telephones didn't work, not even the cell phones. It was three days before I could let some in the family know that we were OK.

After arriving home then the real work started. We had clothes to wash, dishes for the time we were at home without electric to clean...the bathroom where the toilet was flushed by pouring in water once a day..oh and then the food that spoiled. Bill and I had cleaned out the refrigerators while the electric was off, so the bad stuff could go into last weeks garbage. Tomorrow we need to empty and list everything that spoiled in the upright freezer. That way it will go out in this weeks garbage. We are listing everything, because our original insurance police said it would be replaced.

To tell you the story of going to the insurance company the first time to see what we needed to do to make a claim. I won't tell you the company, but let's say they have pulled out of FL and were in trouble with the hurricanes...so draw your own conclusions. They told us if our neighbors didn't have power they would not pay for any loss other then physical damage. So we explained to the agent...a new agent...that most of the neighbors had electric. She immediately questioned that notion. She said so you have damage with a pole at your house. I said "No, part of the neighborhood is feed via the lake road, another part via the road by the Church and our part of the neighborhood is feed up another road." That road goes through a pine farm area, but the pines didn't bother the lines. A rotten pole with a transformer had been hit and came down in pieces. She opened a claim for us. Hopefully we will get something. We have never as far as I can remember made a claim on this insurance. I'm sure we will pay for it next year!

We are still exhausted. We fall asleep early and sometimes take naps. Bill and I decided it is mental exhaustion as well as physical.

Today we heard that the workers hoped to have our county all back on power today. They they will move on to another county serviced by the same electric company. Our county was really the easiest, because our ice melted first. I feel for those who have been without power for nearly two weeks and it may be another two or three weeks before they have electric.

It was nice to see how the community pulled together. Kroger, Walgreens, Lowes and some other stores were open even with only emergency electric. We could not believe how many people were in Kroger. It was a 2 to 4 hour wait the first day just to check out. Warming stations were set up at the hospital and the senior citizens center. Then as soon as town had electric some of the Churches opened up for meals and showers. Gas was available at one station, but most people went to TN to get gas, water and propane.

I also noticed as things got more back to normal people would put signs in their yard advertising free water. We have many artisan wells in the area, but until know I had not idea where they were located.

Unfortunately many people died during this emergency. Some from improper heating, like using a propane gas grill inside the house or old kerosene heaters. One man locally would not leave his home and died of hypothermia. Another one had a limb from a tree fall on his head. We do hope others aren't found dead in their homes.

Be sure to plan ahead for electrical outages. They can happen at any time and any where. We always have water on hand for drinking as well as for washing. Food is also something to think about and batteries. We were prepared, but it was still tough. I am glad we have our electric on now.

The day I took may camera with me when we were out and about the ice all melted! So no pictures.

Peggy

Week 5 and 6

The ice storm hit our area hard and left us without electricity for longer then I want to remember. So needless to say I did not use any fabric, nor did I buy fabric. So my report for the week I missed and this week are the same as week 4.

No it isn't! I forgot that I sent about 4 yards of fabric to a friend. I had some children's fabric that I have already used and didn't need it any more. Yes I did make some progress.

Fabric used this week: 4 yards
Fabric bought this week: 0 yard

Fabric used this YTD 21 5/8yards
Fabric bought YTD 1 yard

I did very little other sewing during the past two weeks. Lack of electricity and a means to see was the first problem, then I was exhausted. When electric finally returned it was time to clean up everything that didn't get washed....dishes, clothes, etc. So I think I have a good reason for not sewing much.

Peggy