QOTD

"May your projects be many and your frustrations few"

Kara Peterson

Moda Bake Shop

Just a Top

This top has one of my favorite blocks.  Easy to pick only three colors and easy to sew.  It was a BOM at The Cotton Shop a long time ago and in fact it might have been the first BOM they did.  It was in Country French colors but I enjoyed the individual blocks themselves so much that I made several tops using just one block.

I had the idea that this would be a picnic table cloth, the print is geraniums, but it's been sitting around far too long and it's time to move it out.

A Soft Finish

From concrete to quilts, one more for the cabinet.  Everything from The Stash, even the batting!

The focus fabric was left over from another baby quilt.  I don't even remember what that quilt looked like or who it was for but it was for a baby boy.  I still have two strips left each 6x44-ish so I could cut 14 more squares.  More than a yard of the paw print black and white but no more blue dot.  Maybe I will try green next time.  I have plenty of cheery green in The Stash and who knows, maybe I will run across even more of the dog and cat fabric.

Dirty Boys Day 2

Just waiting.  There's actually quite of bit of waiting that goes on.

I had pictured the big cement truck pumping directly into the driveway but they just connect to the hose on the smaller truck.

Kind of like frosting!

They told me when it was ready to scratch in my message.  Got it first try!

They sprayed on a darker grey colored stain that will be be more noticeable when it is sealed.

Once all the additional trucks arrived the actually pouring and smoothing of the concrete only took 45 minutes.  9 yards of concrete!  More waiting time for it to set up a bit before they could stamp.  Now three weeks to wait until it can be sealed and almost a month before I can drive on it.

For the record, the blog titles have not been a cleanliness assessment of the crew, the company's name is Dirty Boys.

The lawn crew also came last night so we are looking pretty darn spiffy!

Dirty Boys Day 1

The Before  (Road base in the foreground left by the landscaper who never returned to finish the backyard)

Part of the "cheering" section.  Snowball or Spot.  Not pictured is big dog Dylan adding the baritone.

They start with sledge hammers to break up the beginning of the concrete so they can use the machine.

"Wallee".  Pretty amazing!

I was surprised to see them picking up awfully large pieces to toss into the bobcat.  The rebar was a pain.

The rebar needed to be cut up and recycled and they also made a trip to recycle all the concrete.  The boys let me hold on to the Wacker for just a minute.  It vibrates and compacts the dirt at something like 4500 lbs per inch.. It has a mind of it's own.

End of day.
Two years ago, a landscaper never returned and left me with two wheelbarrows, 6 shovels, 2 pick axes and assorted other equipment, some of which I couldn't even identify.. I know these guys are coming back because in the background you can see that they left that very large and very loaded trailer overnight!

Food Tools

Torey's daughter puts a recipe in the RS bulletin each Sunday and as I was making dinner last night I thought it would be fun for her to ask what kitchen tools do you appreciate most.  Now I probably thought about it because I cutting vegetables with the fabulous little red knife with the serrated edge.  Victorinox is the brand and it was a Christmas prize last year.  I use it all the time!  During the first month , I cut myself twice.  It's still very sharp (Swisss made) but I am more careful.

The strawberry huller, the olive fork, the egg seperator and the citrus cutter/peeler have gone the way of the DI, however, I use the silicone spatula as a stirring spoon in everything pot on the stove.  I like it better than a wooden spoon.  Mostly though it is in the picture as a reminder that they should be replaced before they start to "chip" and you find a piece of silicone in your food and wonder what the heck is this.

The other tool I use almost daily is the garlic press.  Boy, I love it!  Mincing garlic, even with the little red knife, is not something I want to do.

And my newest favorite is the stick blender.  So efficient, so easy to clean, so easy to store.  I just rearranged a drawer so I could keep it there.  A drawer, fps.

The Problem with NPR

The Sony boom box, from the 90s, for pete's sake, sits on the Ikea bookcase situated between the bathroom and sewing room doors.  I would have cropped out the sewing room but then you wouldn't see that good lookin' dog.

This is a good central location for the radio.  The living room is just a few steps to the right so it booms in there as well as in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, I cannot hear it well when I am at the sewing machine.  Speakers are facing the opposite direction and there is the noise of the sewing machine as well.

The large expanse of black in the foreground is the dog.

So, I resurrected another fabulous radio, an under the counter model by GE.  This was a gift from my sisters in the 80s!  Not only is the sound amazing but it's a clock, a timer and it will start the coffee maker in the morning.
 
Because it is under the counter, the speaker is on the bottom but it has one flat side so we can stand it on end with the speaker facing the sewist.  If I stand in the sewing room doorway, I can even get stereo sound and when passing from one room to the other, I never miss a word.

With the sound situation remedied, it appears that the real problem with NPR is that I don't seem to be able to turn it off.

QOTD

"You cannot kill an idea with a gun, you can only stop them if you have a better idea. And we have a better idea ... You must teach people that law is always better than war."

- Benjamin Ferencz

 After World War II, Ferencz served as a chief prosecutor 
in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals.

Desert flowers from Google Images

On the Needles 09/06

The shawl looks much the same as it did last week except now there are 35 points on it.  This is the last skein and I am wondering if I will have to add another as there are still 7 points left or 56 rows.  I have plenty of skeins but the pattern did call for 3 skeins or 150 grams . I weighed this yarn remaining and it is 25 grams so maybe it will work out exactly right.

You might be wondering why that rosemary plant is so off center in the pot.  I bought three to begin with and two of them turned out to be lavender even though their tags said otherwise.  The lavender seem to need a little more water than the rosemary.  They died.