Creative Quilt Girl

Holiday Weekend Wrapup

Jul 8, 2008 A House is a Home, Quilting

I need to learn to post more often. Right now I have so much to say that I don’t say anything, because I don’t have time to say it all. I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t be a problem if I could do without sleep. Until I figure out how to do without sleep, my blog posts will always be WAY after the fact.

Let me start by saying that Ross and I had add a very nice holiday weekend. We started the weekend by spreading mulch in the front yard. For us, mulch means we are done messing with the drip irrigation configuration, well at least until next summer. Now we going to just watch thing grow and keep the weeds at bay. I’m loving it

The back yard is a little less cared for. (sigh) We spread a little mulch. The biggest problem was getting the sprinkler’s to run. We have a nice system with a controller and all, but the outside electrical outlet stopped working. We had no idea way. Granted neither Ross and I are electricians, but we couldn’t figure out why it would just stop working. Then we were rescued by my brother Moses.

Before I get into the details, let me say that I’m so lucky to have a younger brother that likes to figure out how things work and help me. (Actually I have two brothers who could do this. However one of them decided to move to Seattle, which doesn’t work for me when I need help.) Everybody needs a brother like mine.

(I don’t know why I’m documenting all these . If this is boring stuff to you, skip to the end of the post where I talk about a quilt.)

Now for the details. First we had no electicity to the outlet. Nothing worked when we plugged it in and the test light verified this for us. Moses decided to venture into the attic to check out the wiring. I knew of one entrance to the attic, the tiny hole in my closet. Moses, being clever and all, found another way through an attic vent. In fact, it’s safe to say that this vent is the commonly used entrance to the attic. Proof being the installed work light at the attic vent entrance. In fact the work light has an extension cord that runs the length of the house. I think a previous owner was rather clever.

In the attic, the wiring looked good, but there was no elecrical current. This moved us to the breaker box. Now the the breaker box would have been easy if everything was labeled, but we only have a few labels that Ross and I have added. So Moses, the curious one, started fiddling with the wires. (Dad – Don’t worry. Before he started to fiddle with things he turned the main breaker off.) It took him about 3 minutes to realize that one wire wasn’t screwed into the breaker properly. So in a matter of a couple of minutes, we had electricity to our outlet. Like I said, everybody needs a brother like Moses.

With electricity to run the controller, Ross and I set up sprinklers. Of course this involved taking apart on valve and cleaning it before it worked. Thanks goodness for the internet. I wouldn’t have been able to figure that out without a little guidance. So how did people get answers before the internet? I’d really like to know.

Yeah! Everything is working. Now it’s time to play.

While in Michigan I bought this jelly roll of patriotic fabric.

After I purchased it, I had a little big of regret. What was I going to do with a bunch of partriotic fabric? Lucky for me I had a light bulb moment. A friend is having a baby this month. Of course he needs a patriotic quilt. So I went to work. Before I knew it, I had the quilt top done.

I like it. The pattern is based on a modge podge of ideas and constraints floating around in my head. I did end up buying a little bit of fabric (1/2 yard) to make it this size. What can I say? I like square quilts. This measures 54″ x 54″. Now I need to quilt it. I’m seriously considering sending this out to be quilted by a long-arm quilter. I want it done, and I’d like to try out the process before I send in a huge quilt. I’ll worry about it after my trip to Portland.

Now it’s time for me to get ready. I think I need a new purse/tote for this trip.