Thread

 Before we knew if our grandbaby was a boy or girl, I was inspired by this pattern:

and this fabric:

named "Boy Crazy".

I loved this fabric but if the baby was a girl I would need to find other fabric.

I went ahead and began stitching.

Then we all found out that, yes, it was a boy!!

When I was almost finished with the top, my DIL began asking me to make a baby quilt.

I had to act like I didn't have time or would try to come up with something, heheh.

(Machine quilted by Ann Jones)

It was so fun to surprise by son & DIL with the quilt at their baby shower!

It was fun to tell them the story of my amateur acting in order to keep the quilt a secret.

My friend found the darling outfit to go with the quilt.

And look what else "goes" with the quilt!!

Sweet pea pumpkin love!!

Hello!

I know I've been MIA for a bit. 

Besides the major life event of the birth of our grandson, we also had a wedding, a swift 3000 mile road trip, and a funeral. Very full, emotional, bittersweet times!

So happy to get back to this boy!

It was also lovely to be away from the news for awhile.

When we returned, I found a garden that had burst into bloom.

Even the dahlias were finally blooming.

So I decided to try to sell some of the bounty.

And, By Golly, I sold some!

Hubby did get some of the hardwood floor in earlier and now I need to paint the stair skirt and risers.

I love having hardwood floors, so done with carpet in the main part of the house :)

But it is gorgeous summer here presently so it's REALLY hard to focus on the inside of the house.

But I'll try, heheh.

Snail Pace

We were making some progress on the stair project a bit ago.

Risers installed.

We decided to wait to paint the final coats on the risers until after hubby installs the treads.

And then we got happily interrupted by the most wonderful event.

The birth of our grandson.

It sure slowed us down with things around here.
We are in love!!
Typical conversation this week:
Hubby: when do you want to go see the baby again? Today?
Me: Yes!! (drop everything)

And today we've discovered 3 huge bald-faced hornet nests on our house and garage. So I am not going to work outside anywhere near the buildings.
No photos, either, since I can't get close enough, heheh.

I could continue cleaning out the office so we can get going on demo.

Or gather flowers from the cutting garden which is far away from the hornet nests.

I am not minding the snail pace at all.

Here we go!

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

Here at our cottage I've moved the wicker furniture outside for the summer.

The front porch!

We get quite a bit of moisture here in the PNW so I don't do curtains, rugs, etc. And I don't have lighting, either, because of mosquitoes in the evenings. Someday I hope to have a screened porch.

I am loving all the blooms in the July garden.

I'm pretty excited to get started on our new flooring projects.

Last weekend, hubby removed the "lip" of the stairs. They were shaped for carpet and needed to be refigured for the hardwood.

 The bottom step face was too thick and damaged so hubby removed it and discovered piles of sheet rock scraps hiding in that space!

We've run into that over the years when running wires through the walls. I guess they just dumped all the scraps behind the sheet rock during installation. We ended up with two huge bags of pieces!

I got the stair skirt sanded and primed.

And here is what I've hauled out of the office so far.

Whew!

Wish us luck.

One of our goals this year has been to finally finished the remodeling.

But here it is almost July already!

My focus tends to always be on the garden.

But I am weary of plywood floors, clutter, uncomfortable spaces. So I am pulling myself up by the bootstraps and doing all I can do in prep for demolition, painting, flooring. Yikes!

I get overwhelmed easily.

This room is my #1 priority.

The Office

Hubby has some great ideas on how to make this space work better. The cabinet doesn't need to be this wide anymore with today's slimmer TVs.

Neither of us use this desk (junk collector) nor do we need such a huge file cabinet.

Most of the information stored in there is now easily accessed online. (Old seminary notes from the late 70's included!)

The carpet needs to go and the walls need painting.

The closet is packed full.

I actually can't believe I'm showing you all this, heheh!

Hubby is thinking of building a desk in the closet with a two drawer file cabinet for needed storage (taxes, bills and such).

We have this weird open closet for the water heater, too.  Almost 30 years later we still haven't made a door or a curtain.

So, I've begun to clear the space out.

But where to put it all? Some is behind the loveseat in the living room, oy!

I am thinking of renting a storage box to put in the driveway for the time being.

So, wish us luck, we have this room, all the floors in the downstairs, a bathroom and kitchen remodel to do. Not sure we have the energy.

I am so ready for a nice house, however.

Dahlias and Sweet Peas

My very favorite flowers for bouquets in the house are dahlias and sweet peas. So, I've been trying to get mine planted and supported! I've needed hubby's help with the supports. The dahlias get so heavy that the posts needed to be all the way down in the hard, clay soil underneath the raised beds.

 Four stakes down the middle of each bed.

Dahlias planted on each side.

 Some grown in pots in the greenhouse for a head start and other new bulbs fresh from the growers.

15 plants with room for one more new one!

 The sweet peas are a bit of a tangled mess since it's taken awhile to find time to build the chicken wire supports so they can happily climb, and bloom!

 I could let them climb the net fence but then the deer would be able to munch so the chicken wire will hold the plants a few inches from the netting.

Not quite finished and got chased inside during a downpour! The garden is well watered from our recent rains, and rather beat down, but sun is predicted so stand back. 

There will be more of June's beauty.