woo hoo!! I got stuff done!!

This week I finished a bunch a of little projects.  After doing the coffee cozies last week, I think I finally got back into the swing of things.  Which is good because school is starting in just over a week!!  This week, I finished another group of boxes for the school bazaar.  As well as the three in the photo, I also finished a brown and green one. I only have 14 more to go!  Then I have a few other items to send in as well.  I wish I could rent a space there!!!!  I also finished a needlebook that came with my cross stitch magazine.  I think I am going to use it for either my quilting shorts or my tapestry needles.  I haven't decided yet!

 These buntings I did are one of my favorite projects ever!!!! 

This little one is 60 inches and looks amazing over a door.  The original plan was to donate to our school Halloween carnival, but there are changes afoot there, so that is up in the air right now.  I made several, and some are up on etsy.  I really wish I had a wood fence, to string them on, but since we still have industrial chic going on, I have no "good" spot to photograph items than hang. :(

This one is around 6 feet long, and will hang along our banister over the Halloween week.  I am looking forward to hanging something there, as it is right when you walk in the house.  It needs something!!!

In the garden, my second planting of peas is sprouting! YAY!  And the two not quite dead plants that I had left in are getting new growth, including new peas!  So, I think this week, I may stay away from plans again, since it worked so well last week! 

I got to sew!!!!

I finally got to sew this week.  Just a little bit, but that's better than none!  We started out with a rather quiet week as all the kids except S2 took off for various events.  We ended the week with me literally sick from exhaustion.  Since we only had the youngest, we could do whatever.  "Whatever" included a camp out with his scout pack, and attending WashJam 2012.  He had a BLAST!!!  And of course there was all the house cleaning before we left. I hate walking into the house and seeing a pile of dishes.  Yuck. 

Back to my sewing.  I finished 12 coffee cozies for a friend. She had requested them to use as "thank you's" for events that she hosts bi-monthly. 

She let me have all the leftover fabric!  The button fabric is absolutely adorable, as is the pattern fabric. I also finished 2 cross-stitch projects.  S2 is hoping I can finish some more since he is eyeing a bookmark I started.

  

This garland has been waiting for at least a year and a half to be finished.  It may wind up in the laundry room when we get that finished.  Right now it is over our kitchen door.

This heart sachet is another "been around" project, but not for nearly as long.  I think I only started this past spring or early summer.  I stuffed it with stuffing and cedar shavings to hang in our coat closet.    Both of these projects were kits that come with my cross stitch magazine.  I love the patterns and projects in it, but I only ever seem to get the kits finished! I may need to start tossing the kits into a pretty box, and only work on the actual projects in the issues that I want to do.  But then I'd open the box and say"ooooh, I want to do this today!"  Which is a big enough problem as it is. 

I have no idea what this week will bring.  I know I need to get on school shopping, and D1 is coming home today, and S1 came home last night.  But there is so much I want to cram into the next 2 weeks before school starts!  I think I'll need to take it one day at a time, and just start work my way through.

I am done painting!!!

For this summer anyways!  Both the girls' room and S1's room are done!  Now I just need to get more trim!  I am thinking that I can get one length a week between now and the end of summer, and that should do it.  Here is S1's "new" room.

This was taken the night the paint had finished curing. Which is also the night before he came home from his 50-miler hike!  I cut it a little close there!  It looked so clean before he moved his stuff back in!

I also made some cordials this past week.  I really enjoyed the simplicity of chop, dump, mix!  And I LOVE how they look all lined up on the counter to do their thing for the next few weeks!

The raspberries are from a friend's garden, and I had to breakdown and buy cherries and blackberries.  My garden just isn't doing so well this year.  We did get peas in, and I did a second planting of those to see if we could get more.  But that is "extra" in my mind. 

The only sewing I got done was some mending.  But it got stuff put away and I got to play with my machine.  So it was something, and that is better than nothing.  This week, I'd like to get all of S1's stuff out of the living room, and maybe get a quilt basted. That may depend on the weather though. 

Almost back to normal!

With the oldest away at camp, I have realized how many hands are necessary to run this house at a preferred level, LOL!  On top of that, I emptied his room yesterday so I could paint while he was gone, since then I don't have to worry about where he'd sleep each night.  They think it's fun one night to camp out in other rooms, but after that they start to get crabby about it.  And I don't blame them!  It took all day to get everything out, and then pull nails, fill the holes, and scrape & scrub the tape off the walls.  NO MORE TAPE ON MY WALLS!  Put whatever you want on the door, but leave the walls alone!  That child had stuff taped EVERYWHERE! The walls, the sides of bookcases, drawer fronts. I have no idea why I painted his furniture last year or why he wants his walls painted now!  It'll look great, and maybe having a color HE likes as opposed to what we had on hand when we moved in will make a difference.  We did get the outside trim around the rec room windows painted, and D2 is mastering the masking tape skills.  Although she didn't particularly love the masking, either. I don't if she'll be willing to help in S1's room.  We'll see.

I didn't get anything finished over the weekend, and I have little hope for this week.  The list is getting longer and longer, and time is running shorter and shorter. I can't believe summer is almost over!!!! So off I go to see what I can get done today!

Just a little bit behind

All of the camps are over except for 2, neither of which do I need to be there for.  S1 is going on a 50-miler for Scouts, and D2 will be doing a dance camp.  Easy-peasy for me.  I finished one project last week, a kitty print bone pillow.  I took a photo, and promptly lost my camera, so no pictures! 

The girls' room is still waiting for the last little bit of trim, and then I will be painting S1's room while he is gone.  I am very happy that no primer is required!  Just get the paint on!  He chose a soft grey, named "sharkskin".  Appropriate for a teenage boy, I think.  When we first bought the house, there were glow in the dark castles on the wall, but I got some primer and paint on the first weekend we were in the house.  It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't glow in the dark either.  I am hoping this paint job won't take an entire week.   I also have a quilt to finish for the D2 and a bunch of other little projects to get wound up and finished. 

We have spent the little free time we had last week de-cluttering the house.  In two days we took 10 boxes to the goodwill.  And the girls are still saying they have nothing to wear. HA! They are learning the error of that by doing laundry this week!  I'd like to get through more drawers and closets this week, but I am not going to hold my breath.  It is amazing how much stuff we think we need, and how much we never really use.  DH says we "need" the  two or three 8x8 casserole dishes we never use because it takes all three cook enough for us.  I say get one the right size, and get rid of all the rest.  Maybe he needs to dishes more often! LOL...

On the yard work list, I am hoping to build a real compost bin this month.  We have a semi-contained pile, but with 6 people, it get bigger than average.  We get great dirt out of it, and it isn't spread out all over, but I am sure the neighbors would like something a little bit more screened off.  So now I am off to see what I can get done sooner instead of later!!