Memorial Day Colors

Oswald and I enjoyed a nice quiet morning on the back porch swing.

If you don't have this book, I highly recommend looking into getting a copy.  It may have been written in the early 1900s, but I find that it still applies to my life today!  It is amazing!

My hydrangeas are in full bloom and are absolutely gorgeous!

Shades range from bluish purple to pink - I LOVE them!!

Anyway, I decided a little quilt sketching was in order.  Since today is Memorial Day, red white and blue should be the colors of the day.

Last year, I participated in Jane's Red and Aqua Swap and turned out one project from the resulting blocks.

I called this my Red and Aqua Windowpane Quillow.

I sold it at my first craft show this year in March, so it has a new home now.

Anyway, I have about half my blocks left and wanted to do another project.  So, I got out my graph paper, colored pencils and such and got started.

Right off the bat, my red pencil broke and since I was too lazy to go back inside to sharpen it, I just used the nub the grind out some color.

So, forgive me for the rough sketch - I tend to get excited and get in a hurry!

I decided to use the original 4 patch blocks (made from a larger 9 patch block) and added a modified snowball block strategically placed (I don't really know what else to call it - white square with triangle pieces on two opposite sides)...

Whaddya think?

Remembering you...

Family Fun

You've probably already noticed from my previous posts that my husband, Bill, is quite a character.

My Superhero

He likes to be different...exotic...unique...ODD!

Yes, that's underwear on our heads - his idea - another story...

This past Friday, his niece, Kaylee, graduated from high school.  He has been dreaming up a unique way to give her a monetary graduation gift and he decided to do a Trivia Challenge!

First we needed to create the backdrop for the challenge.

We installed an in-wall ironing board in the construction project we're doing and found the empty box for the ironing board a perfect vessel for this.

He was going to leave it brown, but I decided it needed to be wrapped.  Unfortunately, all I could find sufficient was funny papers....oh well, if anyone gets bored at the party they can just read the box!

Next up was to create the pockets that would hold the envelopes containing questions and money.
We decided to ask her 10 questions and offer 10 reward envelopes filled with various monetary amounts.
So, I placed 10 of these pockets on the left side of the box and 10 on the right side (made from the envelopes you get in the mail for sending money back to pay your bills).

Of course, a BONUS question is in order, so I put a 'golden' envelope in the center.

Looks a little plain...needs more pizazz....I don't have much to work with here as I'm 30 minutes from Wal-mart and on a bit of a time crunch....

Add a crusty old bow....better.

I was so excited for Bill to see it when he came home, thinking "he's gonna love this!"

He walked thru the door, bent over to look at it and just didn't say anything...I knew then that he was not pleased....darn!

So, he made a few more adjustments and this was our final product.  There is a slot cut into the top of the box for future use.

Yeah...I guess that does look better.

Anyway....off to the graduation party.

Kaylee looked so pretty and you could tell she was happy!  She graduated Salutatorian in her class and has been accepted into the University of South Carolina's Honors College!  We are very proud of her!

She opened gifts, read cards, and even got a little weepy when she opened the quilt and card her mother made for her.

She and her mother are very close since Kaylee is an only child and I know they will miss each other very much when Kaylee heads off to live in the dorm.

It was all so beautiful!

The time came for Bill to do his game show host thing....he stood up and led Kaylee thru the rules:

She was to choose a question from the left side of the box and hand it to someone in the room to read to her.  At the same time she would choose a mystery money envelope and hold onto it.  If she got the trivia question correct, she could open the money envelope and keep what's inside.  If she missed,  she had to put the unopened money envelope into the slot on the top of the box and WE keep it!!

We purposely made some of the questions hard and some easy - we wanted her to miss some of them!  :)

There were questions about her childhood, family information, and also some trivia questions about the town she grew up in, a Harry Potter question and one about the college she would be attending.  It was a pretty good mix of topics.  Turns out she missed 5 and got 5 correct - PERFECT - just what we wanted.

Now, for the BONUS question.  This one was a spelling question...a backwards spelling question!!  Since she is salutatorian, we were pretty sure she'd get it right.  Bill proposed to her that she had two options:

She could take the money she won and quit, or, she could go for the bonus question and win back all the money envelopes that she had to put back into the slot in the box.  Of course, she got the question right and we were so happy to hand her that big box and let her tear into it to get her winnings!

It really was a lot of fun!

Congratulations, Kaylee!  We love you dearly and wish all the best for you in your future!

The Painting Begins....

I'm finally starting to enjoy the work at the construction project.  Probably because now we're into something I can handle ~ painting!!!  It's a girl thing, right?  You might agree with me that painting is 80% prep work and then only 20% of the easy "rolling" work.  It takes a while to gather all your materials and necessary supplies before you begin painting, but it's well worth the effort to get everything within reach so you don't have to go running for a drop cloth or green tape with a wet paintbrush dripping down your arm!

I spent most of last week priming the trim for the house.....baseboards, door casing, window sills, crown moulding, etc....

There's SO MUCH of it!!  The pile just seemed endless!  You don't realize how much of this is in your house until you have to paint it - - piece by piece!

Bill set me up outside the garage on a bunch of ladders.  It was nice to work where I didn't have to worry about drips or spills.  I can be a messy painter when I'm in a hurry!

Uncle Harold (aka "Jorge") took on the task of sanding each piece after it was dry.

And we did it all outside in 90°+ weather!!!  I have a nice tan to show for it, though!  :)

Here's our completed stack...

After two days of this, I told Bill I didn't want to paint anymore, but alas, it was just beginning!  At least now I get to move indoors and work in the shade!

Happiness is...

…when you are really craving something chocolate…just a bite…

…and you’ve scoured the house looking for something to satisfy but come up empty-handed…

…and you peer closely into the mess in your sewing room…

…need I say more?


Ahhhhhhhh!

It's 'sighing' time again, darling...

I'm really enjoying my sewing day, today!!

      (so, why are you sitting at the computer and not at your sewing machine, you idiot?)

I visited Karen's blog, Sew Many Ways, and couldn't resist her invite for a quilt-along!

I have several charm packs that I hadn't made up my mind as to what I would do with them, so her Snowball Night is a great idea!  Perhaps you'd like to quilt along....if so, just click on the button on my sidebar and go for it!

Of course, I have a hard time just doing a couple blocks at a time, so I told myself that I would only do as many blocks as I had corner pieces for....thus, I only cut a few strips of 2" coordinating material to make the squares out of and when I ran out, I had to quit.  This is what I got completed.

I chose "Nature's Chorus" by Moda.  I'm lovin' this!!

Anywhoooooo, I had to make a material run uptown for Bill to get a few things and when I delivered them back to the jobsite (along with some Tootsie Pops) I had to take a few progress pictures!!  So, here I am, making a quick post so I can show you the latest progress on the house.

Turns out the vinyl siding guys didn't show up so Bill pretty much had to fire them and is hoping to hire someone else, or it will be me climbing up some very high ladders and scaffolds to finish the job...*sigh*...

anyway, the house still is looking great on the outside and we're trying to concentrate on the inside right now.

The tile guy broke his leg over the weekend in a motorcycle accident so it looks like tomorrow Bill and I will be finishing the tile work....*double sigh*....

The cabinets are going in nicely

Helps the house start looking like a home!

The hardwood flooring is coming along nicely

Although it probably won't be a 2-day job like the contractor promised....*more sighing*...

The garage doors are pretty much complete

The hot tub was set last week

And, of course, Buddy, the community dog, is ever present!

So, as you can see, things are moving along.
I'll probably be absent again from the blogging world for a while...you heard all those sighs, right?  :)

I'm still here...

Post note...just realized this is my 100th post! :)

Life in Bonetown has been pretty hectic lately and that explains my absence from the blogging world.  I had over 200 unread blogs in my google reader and as much as I hated to do it, I had to mark them all as read!  Sometimes you just have to set your priorities, right?

We've been plugging away at the jobsite, working 13 hour days just to make some headway.  This house needs to be completed by June 30th to qualify for the tax discount and we are keeping it on schedule. 

Our oldest daughter moved out on May 1st and since then we've been able to pour all our energies and time into this project.  I dreaded it at first, but spending the time with my husband, working side-by-side with a common goal has been rewarding.  It's definitely not a physical reward because my body is feeling the burn!!!  My back hurts most of the time and my feet ache every night in addition to more flare ups of RLS (restless leg syndrome).  BUT....it's worth it!  Never thought I'd say that!

Monday is going to be a crazy day because Bill will be babysitting several subcontractors....those present will be the hardwood floor installers, the tile guy, the vinyl siding guys, and the garage door installers.  In addition to that, he'll be finding miscellaneous tasks for Jason and Harold to keep them busy.  Thus, I have acquired a sewing day on Monday so that Bill has one less person to babysit!  YAY!!!!  I've got about 4 quillows to get completed and in the mail so this works out well for me, too.

This weekend has been absolutely wonderful!  Yesterday was the first Saturday in at least 2 months that I haven't had a committment!  We didn't have a craft show and weren't pressed to work on the jobsite.  Bill went up to the little house in town that we had moved and worked on digging the footing.  It's been sitting there in it's new home up on risers for several weeks, waiting for us to get the foundation built before the house movers can lower it.  We're so thankful they are being patient with us!  I stayed home and did laundry, cleaned house and got some baby clothes sewn for a friend.

Bill got rained out and was back home midday, so he helped with the house cleaning (what a gem!!)  Once the rain let up we headed outside and worked in the yard and garden.

Our tomatoes are looking wonderful since we've had so much rain lately.

My hydrangeas are looking great, too, and I think they are going to be pink.

The pepper plants look good and you can even see some blossoms - future jalapenos!!

A friend of mine gave me these plants - I don't really know what they are, but they are getting big!  I think they have yellow flowers....

My clematis isn't doing as well as it should be and I attest that to the fact that it's not getting it's 'feet in the shade' as much as it needs.  Hopefully that will be remedied once things near it start to get bigger.

I haven't seen a resident in my toad house yet...usually you can only see these guys in the evening and I haven't spent too much time outside at night lately.

I picked up a couple of Trailing Lantanas at the hardware store this week....never seen them in lavender.  I really couldn't think of a good place to put them except under these Redbud trees and I'm curious to see what they do.

Last week the only thing I managed to sew was a cushion for my porch swing.

I like to tuck my feet up indian-style when I sit because my legs are too short to reach the ground comfortably.  This cushion helps keep the seat soft where my ankles hit.  Today was the first day I got to enjoy it!  Bill and I had breakfast on the back porch - it was LOVELY!

Well, I have so much more to tell you about, but I need to cut this short because I have an afternoon date!!!  My hubby is taking me to see Iron Man 2 at the matinee and then a late lunch out!  Of course, this will be followed by a trip to Lowe's and Wal-mart!  He says "11:30 A.I.S" and if you watched "Everybody Loves Raymond" you know that that means!  :)

Have a great Sunday and I'll talk to you later!