Checking In

I feel like I have been neglecting my blog! But in my defense?, I have been BUSY!

Let's see............last weekend, Prince Charming & trimmed all the bushes around the house & picked up parts of trees that blew into or off our trees from the storm. We didn't suffer any storm damage. It took all day Saturday to do that. We had to trim downt he knock-out roses & the hydrangeas before everything is convinced it's Spring (we know it's not...winter is no way over, not in TN) Then we started to insulate the garage doors. He caulked all the areas around the garage doors that didn't seal (it's brick on the outside) and then we cut 2 pieces of 3/4" foam insullation sheeting to fit each panel in the garage door. There are 8 per door. Sounds easy? It wasn't difficult. It was very time consuming. And believe it or not, styrofaom dulls blades rather quickly!! We ran out of the sheeting & decided to finish the following weekend (which is today) So TODAY we finished the top 4 panels & it took nearly as long as all 12 of the others together because we had to cut out for the little windows. We also painted the wall that has the garage doors on it, as well as trimmed out the door & put baseboard in. Please don't ask me why we waited so long, but it's a project we can check off our honey-do list. I am tired & I am glad its done. It makes a huge difference in the temperature of the garage too. HUGE.

I have been off from work all week. Vacation. Of sorts. Y'all know I keep my grandson while my daughter is in grad-school. Well it's a break from school, so I took it off too.

Monday & Tuesday QB1 & I went to North Carolina & visited with Joan. We also went to Mary-Jo's. Spending time with Joan @ her home & having her show us her quilts was a BLAST. I am so glad I was able to see her! She took us to Mary-Jo's & I didn't buy ANY fabric. For quilts! Not 1 piece for any quilt. But I dropped a boatload of money. I bought 10 yards of a green/blue plaid for drapes in my dining room. I thought that the green was going to be too bright. But it's a perfect match!! YAY!! I also bought 15 yards of a blue denim & 3 yards of red denim. The last 2 are for a slipcover for our family room couch. Prince Charming likes the denim but really does ot have an opinion (which means he does not hate it...) on the green for the dining room!

Before we got to Mary-Jo's we went to Ikea in Charlotte. #1 I did not have enough money to go hom with everything I wanted from Ikea. That's the plain simple fact. I bought an easel & train set & some cars for the baby & I got a curtain rod/bucket thing for my sewing room. Got a new shower curtain for the hall bathroom, and 2 hurrican lantern type things....I have already put up the rod/bucket thing in my sewing room. It looks great & holds a LOT of stuff. Yah, stuff. I'll post pictures if I can take one in natural light.

On our way TO North Carolina, QB1 & I stopeed at 3 fabric stores. 2 were open. Loose Threads is a nice little shop & the lady that was there could not have been MORE helpful. She was just so sweet & very chatty. I am sorry I don't know her name, but if you're ever in there, tell them I complimented them on thier customer service!! We went to MawMaw's Thimble in Knoxville. Nice lady too! Lot's of nice fabric & she has many free/easy patterns. Lot's of nice Civil War fabrics!

Driving through the mountains was awesome & breathtaking. Stunning. We had beautiful weather to be driving in too! No rain.

We got back late on Tuesday night. Wednesday I stayed home & sewed. Thursday my freind Deb (from Collinsville...remember back then? ONly Deb now lives in GA & was in Frnklin to visit with her daughter) We sewed. I have been working on the 2010 American Beauty BOM. Well 3 BOM's......I started with 2, QB1 hated the templates so bad, she gave me her quilt kit.So that's 3. Oh, and I started the 2012 BOM from Garnny B's. It's another quilt with templates by Marti Michell. I think this year's quilt is called Ladies of Inspiration. Oh, yah, I am making 2 of them. So if you're following closely and doing the math, that's 5 quilts. Right now, I am caught up with the 2 for 2012. The shop does not have the March blocks cut. Thank goodness for small blessings. And I have 4 blocks completed for the American Beauty Quilts. So , again, if yo're doing the math........that's 14 blocks that I have made this week. All 14 of them use those dinky little templates. The joints in my fingers are killing me. But! I am determined. Determined. DETERMINED to do them! (if you think I am trying to convince myself or brainwash myself into doing them, you would be right!)

Friday I spent sewing more of those BOM blocks. That's why I have 14 ~ people!!

Today ~ Saturday & this is where we finished the garage doors.

I am really hoping hard, that other than having breakfast OUT, that there are no more plans for home improvement projects. I would like to see if I can put the other half of my Irish Stars together!!

Well, that's what I have been up too. When I get aournd to it? I'll post pictures!!

TTYL
Sam