Three posts in three days! What’s up with that? I just get chatty sometimes, I guess.

I have so many projects to finish that I did the only logical thing I could. Started another one, of course! I had to see how my sewing stool would work for containing a Television Watching Project (TWP), and nothing in the current to-do pile really fit the bill. I like to have some sort of hand-sewing for sitting in front of the TV, so I don’t feel like I’m totally wasting my time. I’ve had this quilt pattern for awhile, and even have the background blocks all cut out, ready to go. I’ve never done needle-turned appliqué before, so it’s slow going, and, as you will see, I need to work on my technique a little more, but I really like doing it. I need to get a few more fabrics for some of the other blocks, but I had everything I needed for the first one.

The pattern is Robyn Pandolph’s Botanika, and I think it’s usually done as a block of the month quilt. Maybe I’ll try to make it that way too. I should be able to finish this block by the end of the month, although some of the others look a little more involved and might take longer. I really like the primitive style of it, but I’m doing it in fresher, brighter colors.

I’m using freezer paper, which works pretty well, but it doesn’t stick as long as I would like. Especially on larger pieces, like the vase. I only made it about 2/3 of the way around before it was peeling up. I just took it off to do the sections within the handles. Any suggestions for making it stick better? Did I iron it too much? Or not enough? Can I re-iron in halfway through?

Oh, and everything fits quite nicely in my little stool, so I’m pretty happy with my $20 purchase.

I did it. I’m kind of tired, but the two quilts are done and on their way to the publisher. Thanks mom for quilting the one with the crosses! I put the last stitch in the binding last night around midnight. But now I get to enjoy my day today, which is great, since it’s My Birthday! I’m off to have a big messy hamburger and fries for lunch, because you can’t eat healthy every day.

Winston was pouting this morning because I was taking pictures instead of paying attention to him.

He’s a little smartypants, though. We’ve been training almost every day, and he’s very good at sitting. Down is a little harder, and stay is the hardest of all. He’s starting to understand ‘Shake’, and will give me his paw about half the time when I tell him to shake. I got a book of dog tricks, so we’re going to work on learning lots of fun tricks.

Does your to-do list ever get completely out of control? Mine seems to have developed a mind of its own, but I’m showing it who’s boss and whipping it into shape, although I may soon collapse from exhaustion. I may be exaggerating a little, but still, sheesh, I have a lot to do right now. I even had to add ‘clip fingernails’ to the list, because I kept forgetting and I just don’t do long nails, and they were getting annoying.

I did take a little time out for a couple nice activities, however. First of all, I took some pictures of the ornamental plum trees at our post office, which are currently fully in bloom. I think I’m going to send one of these to my sister for this week’s Photoshop picture, and see what she comes up with. I played around a little with giving it a cross-processing effect, which I kind of like.

Before:

After:

I like them both. The sky was so brilliantly blue this morning, it was just perfect for taking pictures.

I also needed to make an Easter bunny egg cozy, because I didn’t have one.

The pattern is from an Yvestown/Cherry Menlove collaboration. I used a felted angora sweater, which I thought was apprpriate. And notice the egg cup matches Yvonne‘s (from a previous Christmas swap). My bunny is quite startled by the fact that he has an entire egg inside him.

You can see more bunnies in the Flickr pool.

So now, for the rest of the month I have to buckle down and finish two quilts for a new book from Lark. I was just looking at their website, and the one with my little yo-yo quilt is coming out soon and it looks really good.  Two quilts in one month? No problem. Heh.
   

We’re still a couple weeks away from a completed bathroom, but the most important things are finally done!

The cats have been supervising the progress quite closely. Lucy says, "The toilet is solidly in place. I approve." We’ve taken a few baths now (ahh! to be able to get clean in my own home, rather than using the showers at work), but I think I’m going to have to put a door on there for the shower. My big showerhead sprays kind of wide, and I don’t think a curtain will work.

I haven’t taken pictures of the chickens for awhile, and I know you are all missing them, so here are a couple from this morning:

 
Unlike Edwin, who has become increasingly cranky with the wind, the chickens are just as sweet-natured as ever. They’ve been hunkered down under the porch and in the coop, but come running every time I come outside, hoping for something good to eat. I’ve made sure they had some good treats this week, lots of apples and a bit of brown rice, which are some of their favorites. The General is looking particularly regal these days, don’t you think? He struts around like the supreme leader, but he’s really such a sweetheart. When he is the first one there when I come out with a treat, he makes a particular clucking sound, as if to say, "Ladies, there is something fine for you to feast on, come at once!" And he waits until the majority of the hens are there before he takes any for himself. What a smart man!

And because stress levels are still quite high around here, I started another mini quilt:

I’m almost done quilting. I love making these little guys. They’re just as satisfying as completing a big quilt, but so much quicker.

These pictures are for certain family members who have been asking:

We started out at picture number one. Actually, that is after we’d stripped most of the wallpaper. In 1983, I would have loved that ivy wallpaper, but now? Not so much. Oh sure, it looks relatively unoffensive in that first picture, because there’s only a tiny bit left, but that stuff was on the top half of every single wall, and it was really a bit much in that small room. Also, the floor was a hideous linoleum and because the floor underneath was damaged, there were gaping tears in a couple spots.

I know a lot of people are not going to understand why we’re replacing our claw foot tub. Believe me, I really love the idea of a claw foot tub, but the reality, of ours, at least  is not so great. First of all, there is the hideous faux paint treatment. It’s not just ugly, but it has a lot of texture to it, so simply re-painting was never really an option (an aside: the previous owner also left us with the matching plunger. That’s right, it wasn’t enough to paint the tub, someone took the time to lovingly faux paint the handle of a toilet plunger). We would have had to strip it and then paint. If that were the only problem, then maybe we could have invested the work in it, but the inside of the tub is really stained and never looks clean. I’ve tried everything I could think of, even some pretty toxic stuff, and the only possible solution is to have the whole thing re-porceleined. Also, it’s just a pain in general to clean around it and we are both tall people, so actually taking a bath in there was never that much fun. I think I might keep it and if we add a second bathroom then it might be worth salvaging and re-using, but for now we’re going with a nice big drop-in tub with a rain showerhead. I think the subway tiles keep the vintage look going and the glass tile strip makes it a bit modern. At least I hope so. I hope it doesn’t say, "hey, these glass tiles are expensive and these cheapskates could only afford a single stripe." It might be saying that, but whatever. I really love the look of glass tile, but at $25 a square foot, that little stripe is gonna have to do for now. 

For the floor, I just went with a 20" pretend travertine. I thought about penny tile, but I don’t think that would be fun to clean, and once everything is back in place, including the small dresser and clothes hamper we keep in there it’s not not going to show hardly at all. So that’s the bathroom so far.

My stress level hasn’t gone down too much, as evidenced by the progress on the little quilt.

I’m just about done sewing the binding. I like it, but I think something is missing. Maybe I need to do more quilting or something. I don’t know. I used some leftover wool batting from the baby quilt, and I like how puffy it is. I took a picture in the sunshine so you can really see how bubbly the bubbles are: