Manual labor busy

Okay, so if you read my blog (or live with me), you know I keep myself busy. Very busy. Rob says I'm busy 24/7/365. Sometimes I'm brain busy and taxing my ability to think or read. Sometimes I'm quilt busy and sewing til my fingers ache. Sometimes I'm knit or crochet busy, making socks and sweaters and scarves and hats. And, sometimes I "manual labor" busy, and that's what I was this weekend.

I didn't get too much done on my Story Time Stars quilt. The first two rows are together, but I have a block intersection that doesn't want to play right and so I have some more fiddling to do on that. The other two rows are assembled, but not attached yet. I'm loving the sashing and cornerstones on this little quilt. I like that I used just one baby blue in the sashing and 25 different blues in the cornerstones.

I just ran out of time before I got any further.



Of course, I did have an hour and a half to put this together. This is for LD.



It's small. I think 3.5x5 or something like that. I'm going to quilt it really simple in the ditch with some cotton batting. But, now, I'm trying to figure out what to DO with it. Do I make it into a little pillow? It's designed to be a pin, but it's kind of big for that. I've been thinking about framing it in a small frame maybe. It's from a free pattern at Connecting Threads. It took me longer than I thought it would, but I had to get myself back in the frame of mind for paper piecing. I forget how different that is than regular piecing because you have to figure out how the fabric lays and whether it's big enough. And, that meant picking out a couple of pieces. And, because I was paper piecing on printer paper instead of something easier to tear, I was using teeny tiny stitches. Teeny-teeny tiny. But, when I was done, the paper was a breeze to remove because of those tiny stitches and many, many perforations.

I also got 6 more cabinet doors painted. I have a feeling I'll be finishing that soon. I am tired of painting in the kitchen. I have other things I want to paint and other projects I want to work on. Next weekend is the last two little doors and the woodwork around the fridge. And, one large door and its trim that goes out into the laundry room. After that, there's a bit of tile work around the window Rob put in for me last year and I want to repaint the walls. But, in that kitchen, there's not nearly as much wall as there is cabinet, so that part is easy-peasy, too.

And, I got my wish and spent hours and hours in the yard, moving things around. This was a great weekend for yardwork around here. It's so dry that my clay soil was easy to break up and dig new holes in. And when I wanted the dirt to stick around a rootball, all I had to do was water it, so I got most of the things I want to move this year in their new places. I still have plenty of things in pots to put out this year and seeds to start next month. I have great plans (just like every year). And, so what if there's a drought. I've been buying native and adapted for years now and my beds really stand up to it well. I even worked on my soaker hoses before putting in mulch. That's a bit of pre-planning that I usually miss. Usually there are all these black hoses snaking around on top of the mulch, but just here and there. Hopefully not this year. I'm also increasing the size of my beds by about 30%, curving around the final side of the yard and preparing to garden in a shady spot.

And, I also take care of my across-the-street neighbors front flowerbed. I went there and just cut back all the stuff that was past its prime so the spring stuff can get some sun and prepare to shine. She lost a whole bed of english ivy last year from the drought and I'm thinking of what i can put into that place that is more exciting this year. Something with some flowers. She loves purple.

I've always been a January gardener. Invariably, we get a couple of weekends down here when the soil is nice and dry so I don't have to worry that I'll sink in wherever I step and when the temperatures are moderate enough to get outside. Not usually in shorts like yesterday, but moderate for January. After this, it will start to rain (Oh, how I hope it will start to rain) and the soil will be heavy and thick and sticky and while that works for growing, it's not good for the hard gardening work that needs doing every year to keep my beds in shape. Divide, feed, grow, repeat.

Everybody have a great Monday. I've got to get "work busy". Lane