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Operation: Dirt Donation
May 31, 2010 A House is a Home Comments Off
If you’ve spent any extended time around me, chances are you’ve heard me complain about the 20-year old compost pile in out backyard. It’s the one part of the backyard excavation experience that we couldn’t resolve on our own. We just didn’t have a place to go with the dirt.
Sunday at dinner with my family, we were explaining our dilemma. The dirt is nice good dirt. We just didn’t want to dump it at the dump. I mean someone somewhere has to need a lot of good dirt. Luckily, my parent’s neighbor’s needed a lot of dirt for a huge flower plot they’ve started. So this morning at 7 am, I picked up my brother, Moses, and the trailer and headed back to our house.
This is what we started with:
Within minutes, Ross and Moses broke ground.
I can’t believe I didn’t get any pictures of the trailer full of dirt. After filling the trailer the first time, we took the dirt to the lucky recipients. Unfortunately for us, the lucky recipients had a family obligation. So we got to fill up their planter box without their help. Trip #1 was followed by a trip to the dump and a second trip from our house to the lucky recipients.
While we really would have liked a bit more help, we were happy to do it, because we now have level ground. By the way, I should really point out that without my brother’s and my parent’s help, the dirt donation project would be wishful thinking on our part. Thanks!
Now this really should have been enough activity for one weekend, but we decided to tackle one more project. Since we moved into out house, there has been a cast iron table sitting on our patio. We couldn’t move it. It didn’t have wheels, and it was too heavy to move. On Sunday, I almost had Ross talked into getting rid of the table. I wanted the patio back. Well, Ross decided it was just too useful to get rid of. So he found some extra-heavy-duty casters, and we set about to install them.
And here it is with out leaves, dirt, and spider webs.
And even better, it fits nicely into the shed.
And even better than that, we have reclaimed out patio. Now I want to find two adirondack chairs with a cute little side table. Any inexpensive ideas?
Veggie Patch #2
May 31, 2010 A House is a Home, Home Improvement 2 Comments
This weekend turned out to be busy, busy, busy. I think it will be a two-post update. First our veggie garden:
Our weekend started with a blank dirt slate.
After a bit of muscle flexing by Ross, the fence-post cement was excavated.
While it wasn’t easy, it did take less then time than we anticipated. This was the only event that took less time than anticipated.
After a trip to Lowes and Western Gardens, our second veggie plot is ready to grow.
The poles are for the beans. I know it’s a wimpy structure. I was trying to use what I had on hand. Next year, I’ll build something stronger. The plans are already brewing in my head. I just need to write them down in my idea notebook.
Lesson learned: Vermiculite is less expensive at Western Gardens than Lowes. Who would have thought?
We have this odd cement square in the middle of our grass. Ross decide to make it a mint garden with spearmint and chocolate mint.
The cement hole is about two feet deep, which should help control the growth. Otherwise, Ross plans on trimming it with the weed eater. I hope it works out for the mint and Ross.
Also, here a week two picture of veggie plot #1.
The plants are growing. It has been a rough two weeks for these plants. It has rained a lot. The nights have been cold. One day it snowed. Miraculously, the plants have flourished. A few tomato plants got a bit of frost bite. We did lose a few plants, but not to the weather. We think a bird came and pulled out a few plants. Since one plant was an anaheim pepper, we hope the bird learned it’s lesson. If not, our cat, Calypso, is totally willing to put the bird population in its place. She asks to go outside everyday.
And one last photo for this post.
This is our honeysuckle. Last year, we built the trellis. The honeysuckle really didn’t take to it. However, this year looks like a winner. It is growing right up the trellis. I can’t wait to see the blossoms.
Easy Dinner
May 25, 2010 Cooking 1 Comment
Last night (Monday), I made Sweet and Sour Pork stir fry with a recipe from Sunset. While I have no pictures to share, I assure you that it was delicious and very easy to make, which is home run in my book.
I was fairly loyal to recipe. I used three bell peppers. I’m not sure how many cups that equals, but it felt like the right mixture. The pineapple chunks came from a can. I guess I’m too lazy to cut pineapple. Since the recipe didn’t call for pineapple juice, I drank it. Yummy!
And the last plus, the stir fry made a great lunch for today. I always prefer a nice warm meal at lunch.
Progress with Hourglass Squares
May 23, 2010 Quilting Comments Off
This week, I spent my sewing time making hourglass blocks. This pictures represents 100 blocks.
And this picture represents squaring all blocks to 4″, definitely the boring part of the project.
Well after making 100 blocks, I decided to finalize a design and decide how many blocks I needed to make. No matter what design I came up with, I needed 144 blocks. I want the quilt to be symmetrical. Here’s the final design:
Since each pair of 5″ squares makes two blocks, I needed 44 squares. Luckily last summer, I participated in a charm swap sponsored by Chickpea Sewing Studio. This gave me 23 blocks. Then I dug through my fabric to find the remaining blocks. I really wanted to used each fabric only once. Hopefully, I don’t have duplicates from my own stash.
This afternoon, I finished the remaining blocks. Already, I’m liking the fact that this quilt won’t produce a lot of leftover scraps. I still have 2.5″ strips leftover from my last scrap quilt project. I feel like I need to do something with them, but I’m ready to move on to different projects.
The next step is making four-patch blocks from the hourglass blocks. I need to decided if I’ll sort by color or let the color placement appear random. The sashing will be a Kona Charcoal. My goal is to hit Joann’s over the holiday weekend. I need at least six yards. So if live in Salt Lake and want to buy Kona charcoal, leave six yards for me. Much appreciated.
Deep from My WIP Pile
May 7, 2010 Sewing Comments Off
Many many years ago, my grandma asked me to make pillow shams with a flange to coordinate with a quilt she made for one of my aunts. I immediately let the fabrics hide away in the bottom of plastic tub, aging as all good fabric should, because I knew she still need to quilt the quilt. Fortunately for the fabric, I have a running list of all my WIP, and I decided that I really need to knock something off that list. The pillows shams rose to the top, because I thought they would be the easiest to finish.
Well they weren’t hard to make. However they did qualify as a pain to make. First my grandma gave me two pieces of fabric, a fish print for the pillow and a solid green for the flange. I quickly decided the dark green was unsuitable for the flange, because it didn’t contrast with the fish print, nor did it coordinate with the fish print. I think she just gave it to me because it was the remaining fabric from the quilt. So off I went to the fabric store.
Before I went to the fabric store, I calculated what I needed. I was blown away when I realized I needed three yards. I only add enough fish print for the body of the two pillows. I need fabric for the back and the flange. Another note, I decided to make the shams fit a queen-sized pillow, which is 20″ x 30″. I ended up buying a black print with charcoal gingko flowers. It fit the Asian theme.
After cutting the fabric, I realized that the fabric wasn’t wide enough to make an overlapping flap on the back. Really, I wanted a solution that didn’t involve buying more fabric. So I bought invisible zippers, which is so much cheaper than buying fabric. Not! Regardless, they worked perfectly.
The picture doesn’t do the fabric justice. My lights brought out the blue dye in the black fabric, and I’m too lazy to wait for daylight for a better photo opportunity.
Lessons learned:
Even though I made the pillow covers for a queen-sized pillow, they are a bit baggy. I’m not a big fan of baggy pillow covers. I prefer a stuffed look. I’m going to suggest that my aunt buys king-sized pillows. They’ll look a lot better.
The flange is 4″ finished. It’s a bit floppy for my personal preferences. Stuffing the pillow tighter might improved the look. Before I make pillow shams like these again, I’ll check out the pillow displays at Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Macy’s. There has to be an ideal width.
And I will get another opportunity. I have big plans for my bedroom. I just need to fork out the money to get my bed quilt quilted.
New Tulips
Apr 21, 2010 Home Improvement, Inspiration Comments Off
Last fall, I planted tulip bulbs in the front yard. They have been growing for over a month. Yesterday, they finally opened their blossoms. I’m not disappointed. I love spring.
Photo was taken from my phone. I hope to capture a better picture soon. Hopefully, the storm will be kind.
