Space; Bindings; Easter and a Road Trip

Hello!!!!  

Well, I have been having a hard time finding my sewing mojo.  I felt a twinge after being at the quilt show but would go to my sewing "area" and not want to do anything!!!!  A couple of weekends ago I had an "ah ha" moment....I was thinking it was my squished sewing area.....squished because of the quilting frame!  I had been thinking about it a lot and I was thinking that if I didn't use it soon it was going to go.  So it went.  I posted it for free on a couple of buy and sell sites on Facebook (because it was given to me) and my computer exploded with interest!  So off it went to its new home and I rearranged....and spread things out a bit.  Ahhhhhhhhh I can BREATHE!!!!!

My first project was a bunny wallhanging from a kit I bought at the show:

Done on time for Easter!!

Then I put bindings on two of the several quilts that were quilted by my friend Kim:

This one is completely done and given to our grandson.

Hand stitching still needed on this one.

Today I threw together some old charm squares into a big table runner....it's not quilted yet:

Last weekend was Easter weekend and we had the whole crew home!!!!!  Eleven of us including the grand babies!!!!!  Oh a full and busy house but it was a GREAT weekend!

I had made some salt dough ornaments for the kids to paint.  Jude had no interest in crafts so us girls painted!  

Daughter1 brought eggs and they were painted too (I didn't get any pics of that!)

Of course Gammy read bedtime stories:

After the last crew left on Sunday I cleaned and got some laundry done.  Yesterday Hubby and I went for a drive:

I have this week off from work.....our spring break.  I have been fighting a cold (now a nasty annoying cough!) and Hubby just went to pick up Lyla, who is sick too, so she can come here to rest and Mommy doesn't have to miss another day of work.  Who knows what will get done this week.  Oh well....a rest is good.....no alarm, no lunch to make........ahhhhhhhhhh.

BEST DAY EVER!!!!!!

Do you know, when you are looking forward to something and know it will be "nice" but when it happens you realize it is FANTASTIC and just what you needed????  Well that was yesterday for me!  I was excited, most of all, to be meeting my friend Kim at the Red Deer Quilt Show.  But after spending the whole afternoon with her, shopping, looking at quilts and TALKING, I came home with a huge smile on my face and felt happy.....extremely happy! 😃 (I tried not to think of the sad....how we live too far apart now to see each other on a regular basis.😢)  A) her hugs are THE BEST!!!!  B) we can talk about anything  C) we need about a month to really catch up and D) she's a super wonderful friend.  💕

The quilt show was great.  I swear there were almost as many vendors as quilts!!!  Kim is going again today with her Mom and if we weren't getting our granddaughter today, I would go again to meet with them.  Here are a couple of pictures of my favourites:

We had to get a "selfie" outside before we headed off to have a drink at Starbucks and we were laughing so hard neither of us got a good one!  HAHAHAHA!

Oh it was a great day..........*sigh*  Now to go look at what I bought and have a fondle!  😜

Shirt, Sleepover, Shot and Slippers

Like my new shirt?  It's a bit big but soooooo comfy!!  I LOVE anything Lori Holt...fabric, patterns, trims, notions and this is one of her shirts!!!  Farm Girl Vintage!!  Love the quilt block on the back too.💖

Hubby came home for the weekend and he hadn't seen this little girl for awhile, so her and her Mommy came out for a sleepover on Saturday.

 She found the letters for her name (from a bag of letter stickers I bought from Value Village for $1!) and put them in order and told me what they were and what they spelled.  I think she's so smart.👓

We all went for a walk...the snow is melting quickly on the paths and it feels like spring might really be here.  👍

And our kids always manage a nap when they come for a visit!!

I have been waiting almost two months for another injection for my thumb/wrist.  It was really starting to hurt when I had to do any lifting of the girl I work with at school.  Had it done today......in a bit different place then last time.....and no freezing this time!  (just the numbing cream)  Just as painful so I guess it doesn't really matter if they give me freezing or not. I hope it works! How I will avoid any heavy lifting for two weeks is beyond me.......I'll have to ask for help I guess.  Last year I had it done at the end of the school year so I was good to go....and I didn't work with students that needed lifting.

 Last June:                                                             Today:

I popped in to Walmart to get some laundry detergent.....I had/have a bit of a rash on my upper arms and a bit on my chest....I had changed to Gain fabric softener and dryer sheets.....and I think that caused the break outs......soooooo I bought some Tide free and Bounce free and I hope that helps! I have never had a sensitivity to detergent before.  While at Walmart....I found these cutie patootie slippers I just had to have!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am sitting with my feet up trying to keep from using my left hand!  LOL  Hubby had a meeting in Red Deer today so popped to Sylvan Lake and met me for lunch before I came home and he went back to work. 💕  Best part of my day.  

Floss, Friends and Fire

Last weekend I started getting these skeins onto their little spools.......I had almost 70 of them to do and I was tired of them being in a bin and having to go through them every time I needed a color that wasn't in one of my other boxes.  I discovered I had several duplicates 😳 so I still have a bunch back in the bin!  What a job!  I finally finished on Tuesday night I think.  All organized!!!

It's been very nice as far as weather goes and I was sitting in the sunroom watching these friends pop by while I was organizing:

I think there were five of them altogether.  😊

Last week was beauty week...nails on Tuesday and hair on Wednesday.  Good for another month!  

(this looks like a "claw" picture....like I am also roaring!  HAHAHA)

Hubby is home this weekend and we've been getting a ton of little things done around the house.  Two more light fixtures changed in a couple of bedrooms; trim done on the stairs to the basement; changed door knobs; new rod for the closet in our room; I finally dug out the bin of jewellery I packed here from High River and sorted it (some went to the garage for the sale this spring) and these are the necklaces hung up:

I figure if I can see them I might wear them!  I also found my earrings and painfully got a pair of hoops in.....the backs of my holes grow over!  Had my ears pierced at 12 years old and this still happens!!! They are feeling pretty okay now!

Last night our neighbours, Ed and Marg, had their annual bonfire (they finally met Blair...he had already met Ed and Marg....so the rest believe that I actually have a husband now!  😂) Ed stacks wood all summer and then in February (usually) he has the neighbours over for a weiner roast and lights his pile of stacked wood.  February was waaaaaaay too cold so they postponed it (a couple of times) and last night was perfect!  It didn't take long to burn this pile down though!

What is it about fire roasted hot dogs that make them taste sooooooooo good?????  (I had two!)

This weekend I also tackled the closet door in the kids room......first, three coats of magnetic paint and then two of chalkboard.  I finished the last coat this morning....even before coffee!!!!!  I have to wait three days before I can cure it (rub chalk all over it and then wipe it off).  I hope the magnet part of it works....that paint isn't cheap!

Hung a couple of pictures in there too......I hope Hubby picks up my shelves today and can get those up as well.  

I made a (huge) list of all the things we would love to do at this house.  Some are cheap and just time consuming but some require an investment.  I hope it can happen and in time for us to enjoy it for a year or so before we decide where our next home might be.  Maybe this place will grow on us...........

Blizzard, Beaner and Just Be

We have been getting such cold, frigid weather that when I saw in the forecast milder temperatures were coming I was so happy.  Maybe Spring would be here soon.  Well, Thursday/Friday had warmer temps but we were in the middle of a crazy-dump-of-snow zone!  We got so much snow Thursday night that the schools in our area closed!!!!  Apparently that was only the second time in the history of the school I work in!  WHY couldn't that happen on a day I was scheduled to work?????  😩

Anyway, Daughter1 reminded me that I had agreed to watch Lyla (we call her Beaner or Lyla Bean) Friday night so Daughter1 could go to her friends birthday party.  She suggested I pick her up from daycare on Friday but the thoughts of driving in Calgary on a Friday didn't thrill me so I offered to meet her Thursday after work......I came home and let the dogs out then headed off to Cross Iron Mills mall.  Met them there and we had supper and left....well, the weather was horrible!!!  Whiteout conditions in quite a few places....but Lyla was chatting away and was a great distraction for this terrified-to-drive-in-winter-conditions Gammy!!  We made it home safe and sound and after playing a bit, Miss Lyla went to bed.....for a bit.  She ended up sleeping with me and the dogs! 💤😁  She didn't hog the bed this much all night long thank goodness!  She woke up and was reading to Pixie. (Calgary did not get any snow...if I had of waited until Friday I wouldn't have gone!)

The temperature was quite mild (-9) so we bundled up to do some shovelling (by morning we likely had a good 6" if not more and it continued to snow throughout the day! I know it was killing Hubby not to drive home - 2 1/2 hr drive one way - to plow!!!  It will be here Wednesday when he gets home) and a sleigh ride through the bush.  

    

Lyla had a pj day.......she kept busy (or I kept her busy!!!!???).  I wanted to tidy up my sewing area a bit so out came some buttons and she played with those.

 

Supper was pancakes...I suggested making an "L" for Lyla but she wanted her whole name!!  Then bath time where she had to wash my hand.

   

No nap that day so after about 5 books she was pretty tired and it wasn't long before I heard her snoring!!!!!  (but she came in to sleep with me again some time through the night!)

Kept her busy again the next morning cutting and gluing and then I made the skirt from my Halloween costume smaller so it would fit her.  

After a quick visit with her Mommy and seeing them off, I went to Olds shopping...for groceries and a few clothes.  Came home, put stuff away and cleaned the house so I could have today all to myself!!!! (I am doing a bit of laundry)  I plan on tackling this!........

I had these all in a bin so I bought some more little holders and will wrap these on and get them organized!  I have so much all over......with projects.....so will try hard to get them all in one place.  I have a few boxes that the wrapped skeins will go into once they are done but think I might need one or two more! 

I LOVE being organized!!!!  I certainly am not 100% organized in this house that's for sure but if I can keep working at it then I am happy and maybe, little by little, I can get there!!!!!  I don't do well with/in clutter and I think that is another reason I have such a hard time in the classroom I am working in.  I need to tell my brain that it's not my "zoo" and to take a deep breath and keep on keeping on!!  😎📝

I hope to get some stitching in today as well.  I found a couple of my Lori Holt 'Bloom' blocks that are ready to be stitched down.  🌼  I will take count of how many are done and maybe make something out of what I have finished and then move on.  I don't need to make them all when there are so many other projects that need attention.....done, to some degree, is better then another UFO sitting around, right??  

Time change happened through the night and I really wish they would keep things where they are now.  I was up waaaaaaay too early (my only morning to sleep in!!!  ARGH!) but hope this sunshine will motivate me to get these few things done, relax and just enjoy the day.........👍🙏

More Flooring Going In!!

On Hubby's last days off, he did some trim work down our basement stairs.  They have never been finished with flooring...well I think at one time they may have had something as there was remnants of glue.  They had been painted (likely underneath the glued flooring) but that was all.  Also, our three upstairs bedrooms still have the carpet from when we bought the place....it's old, and just yucky.  So Hubby, who knows a floor layer (Norm), was talking about doing the stairs and Norm said he wasn't busy at the moment....soooooooo we decided that we could also do the tiny bedroom which the grandkids use.  Friday I hauled everything out of there and Hubby and I took out the old carpet (wish I had of taken a pic with the carpet in there!) and pulled staples 😳 and prepped it for Norms arrival this morning!!  

Bedroom is done:

                                 

Before:

                                             

After:

      

Pictures sure don't do it justice.  To us, in real life, it looks so much cleaner!  Lots to do yet....mostly painting but......in time.  It will be so nice to have this done.  Then to think of railing......we need to figure out some that is removable because the old narrow stairway is not conducive to moving furniture up and down (the cracks and dents in the wall is proof!)  One day that will get done!  We bought the place without it so I'm sure someone else will too.

We left this morning to let Norm work and went to get paint for that bedroom and then a new light fixture.  I'd like some sort of shelving up and stuff so it will be a work in progress for awhile yet.

It was a VERY cold morning.  -35C!!  Warmed up a bit throughout the day.....but deceiving with the sun....there was a cool, biting light wind.  I sure hope this is our last cold snap (polar vortex)!!  It is now March!!  Daylight savings next weekend...what a pain!  Spring forward!