Busy, But Not Boring

We've been busy this week. There was a fundraising event for The Center For Prevention of Abuse at one of our favorite local bookstores that FuzzyHusband and I attended.There was an open mic where survivors were invited to share anything, so I read a couple of my poems. We won some lovely items from the silent auction and a doorprize as well.

I wish the needle artist would've signed this piece.

Stupid camera didn't rotate.

Lovely doorprize won by FuzzyHusband who gave it to me... after determining that the chain was too small for him. ;-)

Otherwise we've been cleaning, doing chores, and other boring things for most of the rest of the time. Also we're getting down to the wire for Festival of Trees this year. Only 2 more large trees to decorate, possibly 3 if another one gets sponsored. 

I did get to take Mercedes on a long walk and play some Pokemon Go though. She enjoyed herself.

And got some cuddles in with Pixel Pea.

I've got a bunch of laundry that needs doing, so I've got to get off here. 

Mercedes says...

Please save me from that noisy thing that Mom's pushing around the house! It's loud and makes things disappear! All my fluffs, and the leaves that stick to my coat, and the fuzz from the kitties! It's scary! I'm hiding outside until Mom and Daddy aren't playing with that thing!

A New WIP

Can you guess what it might be?

Spring cleaning has hit the house... or at least when I'm not resting an inflamed tendon in my right foot. I do as much as I can, sit for a while, and get up and try a little something else. Time consuming, but so far effective.

That's all that's been happening around here. How are things in your part of the world?

Nada

This past week had the potential to become extremely stressful in our corner of the world. In order to take care of myself mentally, I took the week off from streaming, despite missing the company, and focuses my energies around the house and on spending time with our little family.

Someone was very happy for the extra cuddle time!

I did do some more research into ball python hatchlings so I've got a better idea of how to try and make 1:12 scale hatching eggs. The metaphorical wheels are also spinning about a roombox to display my mini pythons in.

With that, I'm back to streaming on schedule, excluding during thunderstorms, on Monday. I have no idea what I'm going to work on though. I'd better get that figured out and finish up some housework today!

See you next weekend!

Baby Steps

Our new nephew was born quite healthy, if a tad disgruntled at being evicted from his warm apartment, on Monday afternoon. For anonymity purposes, I'm calling him "Mr. J" in the blog. Yes, that's a comic book reference. His parents would be proud. ;-) Speaking of his parents, they are quite besotted with their bundle and the three of them are a gorgeous family.

I'd been working on some things for wee Mr. J, but only a few were done in time for his early arrival. A set of three little washcloths. I found the pattern on Ravelry.com. I'll note that I skipped the edge stitching.

Still need to play catch up with his crocheted booties. I did have several pair of fleece booties for him though. They've been hanging out in the gift stash for ages.

After I drove home on Wednesday, I had a paint night event to attend. I'd signed up weeks ago when we thought FH would be out of town on business. Lucky break he wasn't or else I'd have needed a friend to look after the cats and bunny whilst I was gone. Instead of the adorable cartoonish kitten in the original sample, I decided to go for a more realistic cat. Of course it's Artan. I picked this event because the original kitten was black. Not bad for someone who's only ever sketched cats before.

Thursday it was back to the grind of laundry and housework. Currently the workroom/studio has spilled out into the house even more, so working on it counts as housework. I rediscovered a box full of tiny magazines that were cut from an issue of some miniature magazine back in the late 1990's. They were cut and folded, but somehow never got any further than that. During a break to rest my increasingly irritable knee, I glued them closed and tossed them into the 'Books and Magazines" container.

My new desk for the studio has yet to be delivered. FH and his boss were going to haul it over on Monday, but the boss had a family issue come up. Hopefully we can claim it soon... it's a cast off from FH's work and perfect for what I need. 

On Friday I finished the quilting on one of the chevron quilts, but I neglected to get a picture. I post about it and progress on the other chevron quilt next week.

See you all then!

Various bits and assorted baubles

I'm cheating a bit this weekend and posting on a Saturday night. I'm starting to feel sick and have a feeling if I don't post now, I won't until I feel better.

The cleaning, purging, and rearranging continued off and on all week. I'm hoping to bring the new work desk in next weekend. I had to sacrifice one of my old console TV's to have room for the new desk. I figure if I haven't started the scene I was going to put into it by now, I can safety trade it for a new desk.

The paint night at the bar on Tuesday was a lot of fun. FH went along too and all three of us (my best friend/sister of my heart) had a wonderful time. We've starting talking about doing a family paint night here so the happy-goth teen can join in the fun too. She's only 15 and all the paint nights are held in bars... must be 21 to attend.

I've hung my painting in the hallway. It may not stay there permanently, but for now it works.

FH is debating hanging his in his workroom/man cave or taking it to work.

The postman brought me a treasure this morning. The tiny vase I commissioned from one of my favorite glassblowers arrived and I love it! I was able to commission it live, discuss details with him, and then watch him make the piece in real time. It was awesome!

The colored tubing he used is one he made himself earlier in the week. I actually got to watch that too. I love everything about this piece.

I'm putting hydrangeas in the arrangement, but maybe not these exact flowers. Might be making new ones. I will also be making some pussy willow branches and hyacinths. Not sure when I'll get started on those, but it won't be until I get the studio usable.

That's all for now. I'm going to go veg out and rest. Hopefully I won't be sick for too long. See you next week!

Purging

I've started off the New Year with a big project: I'm clearing out the storage room.

So far I've filled up the 95 gallon recycling bin twice... to be fair, the first time was topping off the regular contents. But I pretty much filled it again the day it was emptied. I have to wait for another month for them to come back. The 95 gallon garbage bin is also filled to bursting. Good thing they come on Tuesday morning.

Fabric that I will never use is being given away. Some has been traded to a plumber friend of ours so we can get our upstairs shower fixed. The rest is being picked up by a couple who hauls fabric, notions, and sewing machines up to a Reservation in the Dakotas. Not sure which one, but whichever it is, they have a sewing class program.

Lots of things have been earmarked for Goodwill donations and will likely be hauled over there in the coming week. FH just carried up the old TV to be loaded up. I'm not sure when he thinks it's going, but now it has to be loaded as it's blocking the door to the garage.

Mercedes is enjoying short trips outside to play in the snow. They are short trips as the temperature here is in the single digits... not fun when you're using Fahrenheit!

It snowed all yesterday afternoon. So far it's the largest snowfall this winter. I'm just wondering if it will stay winter or try to be fall again in the next couple of weeks.

On the quilting front, I did get my machine in for repairs and servicing. Hoping to hear from them this coming week. Even if it's, "we need another week because you managed to do a number on it." ;-)

On the mini front, I did get a few more boxes made for Tinsel Towne. They are printies I found online, but the website isn't working at the moment.

Also FH bought me a mini Eames chair in mini for Christmas. I've been wanting one for a while now. A friend gave me a doll that had been given to her.... honestly I'm not sure where he came from originally. But he's going to be dressed in a silk robe at some point and will set in the chair.

The pillow is for modesty. Someone added a few details to his body with polymer clay.

That's all for this week. I need to get back to the studio and start sorting through quilting UFO's and suchlike. Hopefully I'll be done with the major sorting and furniture rearranging in a week or two.

Still Here

The furniture moving/crafting integration has turned into full blown Spring Cleaning.  I decided that if I'm moving everything hither and yon I might as well get the cobwebs and dust dealt with.  It's slowing me down just a bit, but I think it's worth it.

I've been playing/working in the furnace room getting shelves put up, boxes sorted through, and things on the shelves.  The craft area is now also my office, so everything for correspondence now gets shuffled into the mix.  I've still got containers of fabric and yarn upstairs that need to come down once I have places for them.  Hence the shelving. 

The cleaning isn't even the time consuming bit.  There are about 5 or 6 more "boxes of stuff" to go through in the the furnace room.  The more that gets out, the more room we have to put things away.  One of the problems in the craft area are the bags and boxes of "my mom/granny/great aunt/neighbor passed away and she did that stuff you do, so here" that I get from time to time.  I have 2 or 3 of those left to sort through.  I really hate those for the simple fact of I feel like a ghoul.  Who am I to sort through someone's scraps and treasures and decide what I will deign to keep?  I wised up and stopped accepting things like that, but I still have to go through what's here.  And my "filing system" (put papers to keep in a crate next to the computer desk) can finally be dealt with since I can actually get to the filing cabinet now.  That will be an afternoon's work by itself. 

I'll be headed south in a few weeks too.  My father needs to have surgery.  It's one of those "darned if you do and damned if we don't" situations.  The surgery is risky thanks to his age and other health issues, but if he doesn't have it he's at greater risk.  So he's decided to go through with it.  The family is preparing for the worst in the background while hoping for the best on the surface.  At least my house will be clean and wonderful when I get back.

Oh, the cats are fed up with the weather here and I can't say I blame them.  It was raining this morning, then the sun came out for a while.  Then it started hailing, followed by snow.  I think I can handle locusts, but if we get frogs I figure they'll be frozen and I really don't want to explain that to the insurance adjustor when we call about a new roof.

Anyways, I'm going to get back to it.  Or else it will never get done.

Day 3 of the Chaos

This is what the workroom looked like before I went to bed Thursday night/Friday morning:

The laundry basket is full of "stuff" from the sewing table when it was upstairs.  I moved the miniature books to the light-colored bookcase and the fiber and textile books are in the darker bookcase.  It's difficult to tell, but the big table in the back has less junk on it.  There's still quite a bit to sift through though.

Patterns come down next and get filed.  I stacked both small filing cabinets in order to save some room.  Then I get to sort through the table and random boxes filled with things from the old dresser that used to occupy the back wall.  Oh and reclaim my laundry basket.

Controlled Chaos

Of a fashion anyway.

Certain circumstances (of a personal nature) have dictated that I should recombine my sewing room with the miniature room again. 

On the upside:
* this is a much larger space than what I had to work with in the old house
* I won't feel cut off from FH in the evenings when he's home and I need to sew
* I won't need to use the dining room table for layouts and cutting anymore, allowing that room to stay de-cluttered easier
* no more pausing the movie and running upstairs to fetch something I've forgotten for a stitching project

The downside:
 I have to completely clean AND reorganize everything, including the storage room in order to pull this off.

Day 1 of reorganizing:

Day 2 of the same:

The sewing table, a small bookshelf, and the sewing machines are the only remaining "large" items that still need to move down here.  Books, supplies, tubs of fabric and yarn, patterns, etc still need to come down as well.  I'm attempting to work on what's down here first, at least until I need that little bookshelf to put things on it.  I'm also taking the time to cruise through chunks of stash and get rid of things I really will never use or have no interest in keeping.

It will probably be sometime next week before the space is usable for anything.  Then I get to rearrange the storage room and put up shelves so I can get to the tubs of fabric and yarn, and really just about anything in there, without drowning in boxes.

The Tuscan Sampler, Such As It is...

The last time you all saw the Tuscan Sampler was August 28. Since then I have only worked on it in small snatches of time. Here's what it looks like currently:

Real life had gotten in the way of most fun projects, and continues to do so. We're expecting overnight company next week and my sewing room/guest room needs a good cleaning as does the rest of the house. Today and tomorrow we'll be doing chores and Tuesday I am going to a guild meeting so I shall be stitching there, but I don't know what will strike my fancy.

Back to cleaning I go!

Lighthouse Progress and Other Stuff

I am still not feeling 100% but I was able to get quite a bit of stitching done this weekend. Of course it helps that the design calls for a lot of half cross stitches in the background.There will be a rock in the lower right corner, a tree next to the keeper's house, steps going up to the house, blue sky with puffy clouds, and a sail on the little, red boat. Then comes the back stitching.

I'm hoping to have this piece finished, blocked, and framed by the end of the week. Then I can wrap it and stash it away until Holly's birthday. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, I will not be posting this until after her birthday, as she doesn't read this blog but checks Facebook daily. ;-)

FH and I went to see "Inglourious Basterds" today. It wasn't as gory as I had expected and was amusing. We had a nice time... until we came home and discovered the shelving in our coat closet had collapsed. Time to call the maintenance crew and let them mess with it.

After picking up all the coats, hats, and other winter errata I was too tired to do much else. Infections are less than pleasant. We did go up to our favorite bookstore and browsed for a bit. I worked on the lighthouse in the cafe. The only odd thing that happened there was some guy randomly started flirting with me. Apparently he didn't notice my wedding ring. When I told FH he said, "Eh. The man has good taste." ;-)

If things go well in the morning I should have a fun post up in the afternoon sometime. Failing that, there will be a fun post Tuesday.

Rearranging and "Art"

Since my last post several things have happened.

1. FH has to work this weekend, which means the boys are not coming.

2. I decided I needed to not only dust (before I knew #1) but I needed to rearrange things a bit.

3. The wallpaper conundrum that plagued my project from last Thursday was solved by FH.

4. FH told me the story of "the smoking man" so I can relate it here properly.

Here are pictures of the rearranging:
This is the cafe I mentioned months ago. I still haven't finished it. I decided I was irritated for not changing it further once it came into my possession. I will post more on it later.
While I was taking these, I thought you might like to see another project in progress:
It will be a garden when I get it finished. I need to touch up the background and then get the base in place. Then I can go crazy with landscaping.

Here is the story of "the smoking man." We call him "Art."

When FH and his friends were still in high school they were wandering around the local shopping mall. There was an art store there that had several sculptures and framed prints for sale and Art was one of the featured pieces. Unbeknownst to FH, his friend decided at that moment that whenever FH got married he was going to buy Art as the wedding gift. The store eventually closed.

Eight or so years later the friend tracked down Art with the help of his wife. And there you have it. The look on my husband's face when we unwrapped the bloody thing in our hotel room after the ceremony... he laughed and laughed, remembering that day at the mall years before. He laughed more when he saw the look of disgust on my face.

The reason Art now resides in the main part of the house, as opposed to FH's craft room, is because I figured if I keep finishing minis to display in the house FH should have something he likes in the main part of the house. It's only fair. "Fair enough?" is often asked between us, since we take the idea of marriage being a partnership very seriously. I'll just have to finish more minis to make up for the fact that I loathe Art. At least it's not a leg lamp from "A Christmas Story" or a taxidermied fish... or even canines playing cards or billiards. Art is at least art... hence his name.

Minis in the House

I've been cleaning still. It takes a lot longer to sort through things, put them away, vacuum, dust, and what not when you're not completely back to normal. But I'm noticing that my stamina is slowly coming back. This makes me happy.

I cleaned off my two favorite pieces of furniture and cycled the minis on display today. then it occurred to me that you all might be interested in seeing them.

This cabinet was purchased unfinished right after FH and I were married. My first big project after moving was staining and finishing it to match as closely as I could to another piece from the same store. I like to switch the minis on display here, based on holidays or my whim. The clock stays put though. There aren't many places it will fit in this house.
This dry sink is the piece I was trying to match. It's not as glossy as the cabinet, but the color of stain worked out well. The dry sink was finished when we bought it.
I think I might bring out the Conservatory Bag and display it here too. I'm not sure though.

When I get to a few more places where minis normally are I will get pictures...after cleaning them of course.

Between the two of us, FH and I got about 85% of the things from my to-do list today finished. Of course he was helping after a full day at the office. Really the only big thing that I didn't get to today was the rabbit houses. I will be tackling that tomorrow after a doctor's appointment and lunch with the girls.

I'm really looking forward to the company this weekend. One, possibly two friends of FH's from high school are coming up from Missouri. I adore these two guys. They were more welcoming to me as his lady than some of his college friends. They are both fun too.

I think I will be sending the boys off to play without me a bit this weekend. I will get mini time and FH will get "guy" time with two of his best friends. It will be a win win. :-)

Maybe this weekend I will finally find some way of getting my revenge on one of them for giving this:as a wedding gift. There's a long story involved and it's pretty funny since it originated when the boys were still in high school. But I will tell it another day. ;-)

As Promised

FH decided to take pictures of the garden this morning. Happily one included the paved section with the planters of beans.Here are the three tomato plants and one of the zucchini plants. There are carrots coming up in front of the tomatoes.
The chili plants and bush beans:
The other zucchini, the lettuce, and the watermelon patch.
The watermelons are something we've never planted before. These seeds are from an heirloom variety called "Moon and Stars" and were rediscovered in Missouri many years ago. We're not sure if they are going to grow for us, but it's worth a shot.

As far as minis go, wallpaper logistics have me at a standstill with what I was playing with on Thursday. I think with FH's help I've got it figured out but I won't know I get a chance to spray the new paper with varnish.

Today we mostly relaxed after cleaning all day yesterday. Sometimes we just need a day to recharge.

FH Bought Me....

an Orchid kit for Mother's Day! It's apparently from the kitties and bunnies too. ;-)
I'm so excited! It's going to be occupied by the witch who I've been designing in my head for years now. Her name is Esmeralda, "Ezzie" to her friends.

I want to add a basement level to the house so I will be building a hill to landscape for the main part of the house to rest in. There will also be an area for her potion kitchen to be set apart from the main house.

This is going to rock. I will probably start building it after the Greenleaf is finished and I get the designed for the hill and basement area drawn up.

I did forgive Confetti, in case people were wondering. But I did call her grandmother and made her give a lecture over the phone. (My mother, FH, and I are the only humans she likes and she does talk at the phone when she hears my mom's voice.)

I didn't really get back to my project from Thursday yet this weekend. FH got to come home early Friday so we went over to the home store and bought garden pavers, plastic trellis, and some new planters. I miscalculated and we ended up short by four pavers. But we did get one section of ground covered inside our patio area.

FH planted beans in the planters and they are currently sitting on the paved area and protected from the neighborhood miscrients that were stealing from our garden last year. The trellis is eight feet long and four feet tall and fills one of the open sections of fence around the patio. If the plants grow taller than four feet, we have a smaller section of plastic trellis to add to the height.

Of course I forgot to take pictures in the daylight. I will try to remember on Sunday.

We spent today doing some more cleaning, but it wasn't rushed and FH was home to help. Company is coming next weekend and I want to have the house in decent shape before then. There's nothing quite as awesome as seeing your husband in purple rubber gloves scrubbing things down with osapy, bleachy water. ;-) I love that man.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!

I'm Taking My Ball and Sayin' to Heck with It!

I'm tired. I'm sore. I'm sick of cleaning.

Last night we (the residents of the neighborhood) were informed that an inspector from the corporation that owns our houses was coming the next morning (today!) to look at the conditions of our carpets, appliances, vinyl flooring, counter tops, etc.

You all know the turmoil of the last few months and how I'm just getting back into the swing of things...

So FH was still at work last night until after nine o'clock. Holly came over here after taking a load of things to the new house and we cleaned. FH came home and we cleaned. I couldn't sleep worrying over the hobby clutter that we left on the tables and whatnot in favor of making sure the counters in the kitchen were free of clutter and the stove got it's regular 6-month deep cleaning.

I have a skewed sense of "clean." I blame my mother. Before I started having trouble walking I dusted my house once a week. I try to keep clutter to a minimum when it happens. The hallway bathroom, which is never used unless we have company is wiped down and checked every two weeks.... this is the opposite of what I grew up with. *cough* Keep in mind that even with the clutter getting nuts, FH fought the fifth and always took out the trash and ran the vacuum cleaner. Even if I couldn't help.

So this morning I have no energy but I drag myself out of bed and wait to see if our house is one of the 20% chosen at random to be visited in a three hour period.

The inspector drove into the neighborhood. He drove around. He left and I didn't notice. He. Never. Stopped.

He claims he couldn't find the property office. How stupid do you have to be to not be able to see and follow the blue and white signs with arrows on them through the neighborhood saying, "Office: turn (the appropriate direction)"??

I finally found all this out when I saw our regular maintenance crew planting a tree next door and I wandered over. They were irritated for me, since they know I've been having health issues. Especially since the neighborhood was only given a day's notice.

So for the rest of this week, excepting the daily things involving the care of our pets, putting trash in bins, and loading the dishwasher I am doing no cleaning.

Starting tomorrow I'm going to play with my minis after I wake up when I feel like it. Hopefully I'll actually get some rest this go around.

Minis tomorrow and damn the cleaning!

And I hope that idiot inspector gets replaced with someone who can read signs.

More Spring: Plants, Decor, and Cleaning

I've been doing chores today and trying to declutter a bit more. I think I'm winning, but I can never tell until FH comes home, glances around, and says, "wow!" That's how I know things have improved. The fact that he bothers to pay attention to the amount of housework I do in a day makes me feel good too.

For anyone who wondered about the strange posts sticking out behind the hedge in this picture, those are stakes ringed in clothesline that are protecting this little beauty:
We planted this baby redbud tree last fall before the frost set in. I wasn't entirely sure it would survive the bitter cold here given the late planting, but it has! I'm so excited!

As you can see it's barely taller than my hand, but it will grow quite a bit this season I'm sure. I was outside today with utility shears cutting away all the grass to the leaves could get light. I don't want the maintenance men to run over it with a lawn mower or decapitate the poor thing with a weed whacker. Hence the ugly stakes. I'm hoping to get some decorative fencing this weekend to replace the stakes with.

Part of the decluttering project was actually getting some craft projects either finished to a stopping point. I cut the rest of the mattresses from the foam piece and covered as many as I could with felt yesterday. I was able to store them in a zip-top bag that takes up less room than the supplies did.

I also glued the fake flowers in place on this wreath:
It came to me already bedecked in silk blossoms last summer when our maintenance men were cleaning out an abadoned (and thoroughly trashed) unit in the neighborhood. The woman had no concept of cleaning and hse had a bit of a hoarding tendancy. The boys decided they would let me go through all of her abandoned craft supplies to see what was still usable and I could keep what I wanted.

Two more "blank" wreaths came along with it. I have plans for one to become an autumn wreath and have bits and bobs for that. The other... I don't know. Perhaps something with summer time accents. I already have a winter wreath thanks to my MIL. Or perhaps my friend, Holly, will want one for her new house. :-)

Tomorrow I will be there all day helping her tape trim and showing her how to paint walls. They have until the middle of June to leave their rental house, so we're getting the painting done and some other needed work out of the way before the furniture is in the way.

Now to track down FH since it's half passed seven and he's not home yet. If I know him he's gotten into the groove of coding.

Playing Catch-up

I know there has not been many posts on minis for a few days. After three months of being unable to walk properly and loads of medical tests, I've slowly be feeling better and more able to move around. This of course means that finally the real house gets some much-needed attention.

FH had been helping with things all along, but he couldn't do everything that needed to be done with his full time job taking 8 to 10 hours out of most days, including some weekends. He was able to make sure filth never got mixed in with the clutter. That's what mattered to me. I loathe filth. So now I'm working on a so crawl through the house with a combination of decluttering and deep spring cleaning.

There will be no before pictures, because frankly I'm too embarrassed to admit I let my house get to it's current state. I still can only get a few hours of the deep cleaning done in a day. My stamina isn't quite 100% yet. But soon! :-)

The neurologist said there's nothing wrong with my nervous system. So we're back to square one with trying to find the cause of the weakness, loss of balance, and inability to walk properly. I have a theory but I'm keeping it to myself until I see more evidence.

Productive, sort of

Taxes are done. Dishes are run. Rabbit hutches are cleaned. Cat boxes refreshed. Trash is in the outside bin. Bills are paid. Craft room is usable. Pictures for future sculpting projects are found.

Now to wait for the doctor's appointment this evening.