Random Ramblings........

Thought I would share a few random things from the weekend.

  I didn't get and brush chipped until later Sunday afternoon, I was too tired on Saturday and knowing it was going to rain today I needed to work on getting some chipped.  We are hoping to get some dirt "fill" from down the road and we need it to go in that general area, that is why I "NEEDED" to get chipping done.  Thankfully it is raining today, unfortunately it comes with heavy rain and strong thundershowers later this afternoon, so that won't be fun. 

On Saturday I ran some errands and stopped by Kathie's to see all the quilts on display,  I also got to see the other story quilts that were made, and of course mine was there!  NO, I forgot my camera and therefore I didn't get a photos, sorry.  I did get rewarded for a little act of kindness.....I was in the checkout line at CVS and the lady in front of me (she was walking with a limp) left the line to get something else, she came back and was going to get behind me and I let her get her "spot" back, she was surprised and while she was being waited on she handed me a coupon for 20% off my purchase!   While this was not a big deal, I feel that even the little things that we do in life mean much to others, like sharing a smile, sometimes it changes the moment for the person who receives it!  There is truth to "what goes around, comes around".  So challenge yourself to share a "warm fuzzy" with someone today!!

A yummy picture to share with you for no other reason than, I baked a custard pie and wanted to show it to you, LOL. 

I love, love custard pie and it's so easy to make, especially when "Betty" helps with the crust.  I usually buy a box of BC pie crust mix and all you do is add water, and it tastes and looks like it's from scratch.  The rest is real easy eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg for the top.

Next, in my random weekend are the yardsale goodies that I found.  Saturday I found two pottery crocks ($2), they were cute and I knew that I would be able to find a use for them and they go great with my style, or lack there of, LOL.  I also found a shelving unit that the lady said used to be on the top of her daughter's desk,  she was selling everything and RVing south!  So I asked how much and she said $5, I took it.  It's sturdy and overall  clean,  there are a few stains on the shelves and one area on the end, you can't see it  'cause of the plaid hanging over the edge covers it.  Here is where I put it, I added some of my fabric and trinkets, I am sure that I will tweek it more in the coming weeks.  After I "live" with it for a while I might decided to paint it a more "prim" color like black??  If I do I will be calling on Deb, Gail, Granny, & Rose for their painting skills but for now it stays white!  

You can see my new crocks on the top shelf.  What do ya think of my new treasure, not a bad deal??  I also got a 6' long shelf with pegs that I didn't get a photo of yet, not sure where it will go. 

Well enough randomness for now, I'm off to get some housekeeping done so I can play sew or work on other projects later,  maybe?? 

Friday Night Sew In

I know, I said I would be working outside today, change of plans as I can't seem to get out of my own way today.  I think my body needs a rest, probably not a great idea to be working with power equipment :0)  But it's a great time to mention that Friday night AUGUST 20 is FNSI if you haven't signed up you can click the  Friday Night Sew In link in the margin of my blog.  Have you signed up, are you planning on signing up?  What will you work on, I still don't know yet. 

Warming Myself with My Winter Wood.......

They say that when you burn with wood it warms you more than once, well I've been outside letting it warm me for the first time.   At the beginning of the week if the weather holds out we will be "enjoying" round two and three of the warming, splitting and stacking, LOL.  Our sons help with the big stuff, I know my limits, even though I sometimes test them!  Here is what the pile looks like now.......

The splitter is going to get moved next to the pile, NO I will NOT be splitting by hand, I am not Paula Bunyan, LOL.   Here is the lovely pile of brush that has to be chipped......

 
I did get an early Christmas present on Thursday, it's a helmet......I might have to have hubby take a photo of me all decked out!

The price we pay to stay beautiful, LOL!!

I think later next week I will have "earned" a few quilting days, what do you think?  Gotta get moving, I want to stop at Kathie's to see my Storybook quilt displayed, then back to work.

Electricity Challenge

Just finished reading Mary Ann's post and I decided that I would share a challenge I have been thinking of doing.  When I received my electricity bill for last month I almost fell over, it was almost double the KW usage, we used the AC a lot and the welder some last month.  It got me to thinking that I would like to challenge myself to try to lower my usage in the coming months as much as possible.   I plan on unplugging stuff we are not using, you know the stuff that still has a little light on even when it is not in use, I have used power strips for some of our TV, DVD, etc and at night I shut the whole strip off with one button!  I also need to go around the house and see what else is secretly sucking electricity, for instance in my sewing room I have a TV, Direct TV box and a clock radio, even when I am NOT using them they use some electricity!  Down in the spare room in the basement we have a TV and DVD player plugged in, I hardly go in there (it's where the exercise equipment is, LOL) I should unplug everything or use a power strip.  I did this last year and noticed a decrease in my usage, we are supposed to be getting so called Smart Meters soon wonder if those will help with tracking saving?? 

.
While I don't like to get political, etc. I want to share that some  "stimulus package" will be paying for the installation of these "Smart Meters" and  it will NOT be stimulating new jobs, at least 140 meter readers will be OUT OF A JOB.  The real kicker is that the company that owns our power company is NOT an American company so profits will not stay in this country.  Okay now I am off my soapbox, but I want people to know how some of this money is being spent, NOT stimulating jobs. 

Back to the challenge, I plan to start in earnest at the end of the month when my meter gets read, does anyone else do this??

This One's for You Granny J

Quite some time ago I mentioned that I would post photos of my salt glazed pottery collection.  Today Granny J shared her jar collection and I mentioned  to her that I didn't "collect" jars but I had a collection of them, I wasn't sure if that statement made sense!  So here's a little tour of most of my collections........

Here are some shelves in my kitchen, the basket on the top shelf has recipie booklets and pamphlets and the basket on the lower shelf has all my kitchen towels (looks like it's time to do a load of laundry it's almost empty).  The bowls I found at Mardens (a local salvage store) for $2.99 each and I loved them because they are the colors in my kitchen, the best part is they are useful and pretty!  The jars have stuff in them that I use, like potpourri, whole cloves, baking powder, oatmeal, etc.

This is a cubby in the computer cabinet, a Wally World special, wonder if I could paint this black and make it look primitive??  In recent years I have scaled back on the decorative "stuff" that I have, I tend to get things that serve a purpose and TRY to stay simple with nick nack stuff.

This is the top of the computer cabinet, the bowls I got at a yard sale earlier this summer and the basket has stoneware that I use when I make shortbread.  The candle and berries I got at a yard sale several years ago, I plan to use it some day, maybe I should save it for when we have a power outage! 

This angle shows the dining area,  you can see where the shelves are in relation to the "kitchen" area.  If you look out the window you can see the plywood covering the hole that I stepped thru earlier this summer, not sure if redoing the decking will be a fall or spring project??

This is may garlic keep and spoon rest, if you look closely you can see the cob webs  early Halloween decoration in the corner. 

The kitchen sink window, the three pieces on the right are some of the first pieces that my hubby got me about 20 years ago (the utensil holder above is also one) I am sure he didn't realize what he was starting when he gave those to me!  I keep my sugar in one, the candle holder is the one I found free at the Treasure area at our dump Transfer station. 

While this is not a piece of pottery or jar, this is one of my best yard sale finds.  I have always wanted a Kitchen Aid but never could bring myself to spend almost $300 on one!  Last summer the farmhouse down the road was having a yard sale and I knew there would be some very interesting things, the house had been in the family for over 100 years.  Along with some garden tools I saw this and it was marked $50, it was in excellent shape, I talked them down to $40 (I checked to see if it worked) .  It is less then 10 years old but in almost new condition, the lady that had it hasn't lived there for at least 5 years and I don't imagine she did much baking.  I am glad I have my Kitchen Aid and I am really glad that I didn't spend $300 for it!  Isn't she pretty!!

Everyone has to have at least one jar with change in it!

Here are the jars in my sewing room......

Deb see our truck  that could deliver some rocks to your yard (just kidding, I don't think we could afford the gas to get to your house).

I still have a few other pieces that I will save for another time.  Hope you enjoyed my collections.

P.S.  I hope I caught all my typos....

Chocolate & Quilting............

I was playing reading blogs earlier this morning, and came across this template and thought how appropriate, quilting and chocolate two of my favorite things......I didn't plan on changing things again so soon, but I couldn't resist.  I do have some more tweeking to do, like fix the Friday Night Sew In button, but I think it came out yummy!  Hope you are having a great day!

Yard Work

The weather was beautiful here in Maine this weekend.  I should have been outside both days but on Saturday I worked on the Frolic quilt.  Here is what I got done......

I placed the blocks on my design wall to evenly distribute the colors, now I will sew the rows together and add the inner border.   I need to piece a second border and the top will be complete,  I shouldn't have a problem completing this quilt by October.

On Sunday I went outside and got some yard work done.  During the week I dug out a tree,  root and all with the backhoe on the tractor,  here it is waiting to be limbed and cut into smaller pieces. 

There were some other pieces in the pile in front of the stacked stuff that needed to be cut.  So......I took my trusty Stihl chainsaw,  my cute orange chaps, eye and ear protection I got to work.  My husband is able to get on his tractor so we used  a chain to move the pieces to make it easier for me to cut them.  Here is the pile after we were done.......

I left the really big piece for one of our boys to cut with the bigger saw.  After limbing the tree I chipped the branches, look how nice and neat my wood area looks now!  To the right of this picture we have a large pile that has to be chipped.  Hubby wants to show me how to sharpen the blades on the chipper then we might get to that pile today if the heat is not to oppressive. 

Here are the next two trees that we are trying to dig out, the roots are tied together and are giving us some trouble, might have to wait for the boys to help.  Our boys are very helpful around the house,  but we still like to do as much as we can by ourselves. 

We have lots of rocks on our property and here are the ones that have been "harvested" while digging around  the trees we are taking out.  We plan to use them somewhere not sure where yet??  Maybe later today I will take a moment to take some pictures of  what we have already done with rocks on our property.  Over the years some of our neighbors have come and taken rocks to use at their houses as well, maybe we should have a rock sale, LOL.   

 Guess I better get moving or I won't get anything done!

Recent Yard Sale Finds

Thought I would share with you some recent yard sale finds.  While I love yard sales I usually don't spend the whole day or weekend visiting them instead when I run my errands I take the long zig zag route home.  I found this several weeks ago at a sale next to the grocery store...........for $2.00 .

I also got these at another yardsale, I knew the lady so she let me have them both for $1.00.

Drum roll please.......I have been wanting one of these to use for winter decorating for quite some time, I got this one for the whopping price of $1.00.  It's not old in terms of antique, but it is already worn looking.

In the background you can see the garage trim that is on my to do list to paint.  Not sure if I will leave this list or not, I was just playing and thought it might encourage me to get some stuff done????

Why would I want to paint when I could be working on this......

I also will be picking up my August Civil War BOM packet and I still haven't worked on July's yet so I have lots "to do" on my fun list!

The "Storybook" is Finished!

It's finished......For those of you that are new to my blog you can go back to the July 14th post to read about the challenge and why I made this quilt.

Showing the backing.

The book that inspired this quilt, this is the copy I found on E-Bay and will be including with the quilt.

Pictures speak louder than words...............

The doghouse, I know not the best example.....

Mr. Bill's truck.............my applique wheels are a little flat.

The train visit to Grandma's house........again some slightly flat wheels.

My attempt at making Laurie. 

                                                Laurie's tree house is in the center of the quilt.

 I know that it is not perfect, but when I made some boo boos I reminded myself of the child that would enjoy the pictures on this quilt. 

Thanks for letting me share this project with you.  Get ready to hear about the progress of the "Frolic" Quilt next I hope to start that very soon! 

Blueberry Picking

Today was another beautiful day, the temperature was in the mid 80s, sunny with a slight breeze, tomorrow will be the start of another humid spell (short I hope).  We have been wanting to go blueberry picking and decided that today was the day so mama & papa bear went beary berry picking.  Don't they look yummy, we like to eat them fresh and I will freeze the rest after I make a batch of muffins tomorrow morning!   I must remember to take my camera with me, the place we went to pick was beautiful.  On that note my son thought I was crazy when he saw me taking this photo of the buckets of blueberries!  Too bad your screen wasn't scratch and sniff, LOL.

The fur kids go for their check ups in the morning and I decided that I should finish grooming Midnight or they might think I'm an unfit mom!   I have been grooming him every day for the past 3 days, I pick a section and brush back small sections to get rid of the old stuff.  When I just give him a quick brushing it doesn't really get rid of the yucky stuff  (technical terminology) underneath.   

Hope to finally get to the quilting of the Storybook quilt tomorrow afternoon.  I know I have said that several times but it might be rainy so there will be my perfect excuse to get to it, and the Frolic fabric is calling my name, but I refuse to start it  until I finish this one. 

Enjoy!

The Books.......

I didn’t exactly jump out of bed this morning, but I did manage to roll out and could still walk, LOL.  Today I decided no outside work, I was going to quilt the Storybook quilt but instead I went into the basement and started to dust, sort, and purge the book shelves. I have two book shelves in the basement, and books here and there all around the house, I don’t think there is a room that doesn’t have at least one book, including the bathroom!  Don't ask why I chose to do that today when I have so many other unfinished projects, I guess I was in the mood to finally get that done.  I want to move some of the upstairs books downstairs but there wasn't room and the shelves were dusty and falling down, no I didn't get a before photo :(  Here is the finished product, you really need to see a before to appreciate the after but I don't always think with the mindset that what I am doing might be something to post about. 

There are books here.....

and here....

and here.....

and here....

and here....

and in many corners and several closets.  Consider yourself family 'cause you can see that I didn't dust before I took these pictures!  Some are from friends and family that I may read, and some I will pass on without reading.  Most of the books that I own are from Goodwill, Books Revisited (this store supports the local Hospice), and Village Books & Things (they sell used books and give credit for books you bring in).  I always like to have a selection because I never know what type of book I am in the mood to read, sometimes I start a book and just can't get into it so I pick another one! 

Very soon I need to scan my posts and see what things I have left undone or that I said I would update, etc. Things like taking photos of my pottery collection, finishing the garage, and many others.  Some haven't been completed yet like the garage, I need to do a deep cleaning in some areas before I take photos of the pottery, you get the idea.  My blog certainly represents who I am, a little scattered in some areas and a little more put together in others, oh well nobody's perfect.

Hopefully after supper I will be in the mood to work on the Storybook, if not there is always tomorrow.  Gotta go cook the pasta for suppa!