4.25.18

After my flurry of finishes in the last two weeks, I pretty much have't accomplished a single thing since.  I can't seem to make a decision on what to work on.  I pulled out a bunch of tops and/or backs to consider for quilting.  They're in a heap while I decide which to do first.  I'm at that nothing quite seems right stage.  Do you ever look at social media and blogs and feel like everybody does a lot better projects and pictures than you?  Yeah.  😔

I stopped into the local sewing machine repair shop last week with my pile of mini quilt samples. The owner and the repair man were stumped.  He told me to work my walking foot by hand to make sure everything was moving.  I'd already done that.  He also said to check that the feed dogs were coming up high enough--that the lowest part of the feed dog is all the way out when at the highest point.  If those looked okay, then I will need to bring it in.  I'm going to need to bring it in for service.  Sigh.  Last time was a year and a half ago, so it's close to service time anyway. However, since I have guild retreat this weekend, I'm waiting until next week to make the appointment.

Speaking of the retreat,  I only go for one day since it's close by and I'd rather sleep in my own bed.  Plus, many of my guild mates have full time jobs and so it's a treat for them to sew for an uninterrupted time.  I can sew whenever I want, so it's just another day for me.  I do like spending time with them though.  Guild is pretty much the only social interaction I have outside of my family, and I always have fun with my guild mates.  Anyway, what I was going for here is that I need to decide what to bring and work on.  I'm planning to work on my Aviatrix top.  I pretty much only work on it while at guild events, so it's been in progress for a few years now.  I suppose I could throw in the EPP project I haven't started yet too.

In the meantime, I've been working on my Devil's Tower souvenir cross stitch in the evenings and have made a bit of progress.

I think I'm going to tackle these two projects this week.  I need to seam the back for the Kate Spain quilt and sew down the leash on the mini.  Then both are ready for quilting.

I've been practicing drawing quilting designs on our Magnadoodle.  I just can't seem to get spirals/swirls at all.  My son sketched this out in about two minutes this morning.  He could have a future in long arm quilting if he wished.  He's probably a lot better than I am already.

We had really nice weather over the weekend, so the kids and I finished the last bit of clean-up in the flower gardens.  We even planted a few more perennials that I felt could handle the ups and downs of spring weather.  I was happy to see that both the hydrangea and the lilac we moved are doing well in their new spots.  I do need to get some shrubs to replace those in the upper front garden, but I need to order some and others aren't available for local purchase until it's warmer. Then it's just a layer of mulch and we will be good for the season.  

My husband refreshed our vegetable garden tubs with upgraded plumbing on a few and some soil refresh on them all.  We planted potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli rabe, and beets.  We'll do beans and a cucumber plant when it gets warmer, probably about a month from now.  

I was really surprised to find that I have two tulips that survived the deer.  I don't even remember planting tulips that look like the yellow one!  I usually plant pinks and reds.  My alliums are looking pretty good this year--they are right above the tulips at the top of the picture and you might be able to see all the buds.  I usually have about three blossoms total on those.

And in the biggest surprise of all, I looked out the window yesterday and saw a hummingbird!  So out  went the feeders.  I'm not sure what they could find to eat right now otherwise.  Almost nothing is blooming, just a few late daffodils and the pear and redbud trees.  And my random tulips.  Do they eat any of those?  The picture is pretty lousy since I was a long way from the window and had zoomed in as far as I could, plus I took it through the screen too.  I was worried it would fly away before I got close to the window.  And it did.

Our basement project has been stalled out while my husband took two classes this term along with his regular work and work travel schedule.  His plan is to hang all the trim then fill the nail holes and then paint it in place.  After that I would be able to paint the walls.  I don't love the idea because it makes it a lot harder for me to paint, but I see the appeal of having the nail holes all filled before painting.  However, I'm tired of not having the bathroom available down there.  The tile is done--I shared that quite a while back--and we have everything to finish the bathroom minus the trim and a shower curtain rod.  I've started asking if maybe I could paint and then he could put the toilet back and install the sink and do the trim later.  At least then it would be functional and I'd feel like I was doing something to move the project forward.  I dunno.  We'll see, I guess. Otherwise nothing will happen until summer when he's between classes again.