unseasonably warm

 We have had some sunny warm days. It seems like there are always a few of those every February.

I wanted to be outside to enjoy it so I sat on the back porch with a crochet pattern and a new skein of yarn.  It was still  cool enough for a sweater but it's so nice to sit in  the sun after a gray winter season.

The pattern I was trying out was for a zig zag afghan but after a few rows I decided I didn't like the way it was written so I unraveled it.

It was a free pattern from the internet so nothing lost.

How do you like my yarn bag?  Those cat food bags are such nice heavy plastic, I am always trying to think of how to use them.  I was going to try sewing handles on this one but instead...just cut some holes to put my fingers through.

Nah, even though I like orange this is just not very nice looking, and I have better bags...lots of them.

From the porch I could see some color on the Witch Hazel tree.  I walked over and found it's starting to bloom with it's fringy little flowers.

I still see a lot of buds so I think it's not fully bloomed out yet.

Naked Lillies pushing up their foliage testing the air.

All this can only mean spring isn't far off!

now snow

 It's snowed a little every day until the final accumulation looked like this...

Pretty to look at.

I had swept a path off the porch but it kept filling back in.

A couple of days later we had some sun and things started thawing. 

Look at all the animal tracks criss crossing below.  Look closer! That's not my cat...it's a skunk!

I have heard that they come out to mate then go back to their dens a while longer.

They all look a little different. This one only has white on his head and not much of a stripe on his back.

From behind he could have been mistaken for my cat...but I knew she wouldn't be walking in the snow.

replacing flooring

 From what I've read, a lot of people are doing home improvements while spending more time at home because of  COVID 19.

That includes us, because now we are replacing  flooring in 3 bedrooms of carpet. The carpet is right at 20 years old so it's time for a change...and I didn't want more carpet.

After researching laminate vs. vinyl planks, I chose to go with the vinyl (Home Depot "Lifeproof" brand).  I ordered online and chose to have it delivered.

I figured it would be delivered in a box truck but on delivery day when they called, they said no, it's coming on a tractor trailer!

Of course they couldn't pull into the driveway with that, so the driver parked in the neighborhood across the street and drove my order over on a fork lift.

He had to be on the highway with it for a short distance and I was a little worried, but it all worked out.

They only deliver outside your home unless you pay extra  (in this case $113 extra).

So the Sasquatch came over and carried the flooring in.  It's heavy stuff - about 33 lbs. per box. I carried a few in too.

We moved furniture out of one room, then, I spent time taking up carpet and padding.  But we found the sub floor in poor condition.

We knew the floors were soft and squeaky and the subject came up when hardwood was installed in other areas years ago, but this was a patchwork of uneven used plywood.

Some really saggy rotted wood in places. Some boards had a coat of dried concrete on one side, indicating they had been used as  concrete forms in a prior life.

There were holes, burns and paint rings.

The vinyl flooring definitely couldn't be placed on this.  I was hoping maybe we could get by with a thin wood layer over the top of it, but the Sasquatch convinced me that it would be better to do it right and tear out the old plywood and replace with new.

It was a lot of work but he was willing to do it.  A lot of heavy work for him too...getting the new 4' x 8' sheets of wood up the stairs. 

 

Here is the new wood subfloor screwed down. What a difference when we walk on it! Much more stable and sturdy feeling.

Baseboards had to be removed too...so more work there to replace them. I am anxious to see the new vinyl flooring in place now.

ice world

 Brrrr... Our weather was right for freezing rain.  An ice coating on everything.

I didn't take even one step out the door. The porch boards were as slick as an ice skating rink.

The ice is pretty to look at though, when you don't have to go anywhere. 

 There was very little traffic on the normally busy highway in front of our house, so maybe a lot of folks didn't have to go to work.  And our weather forecast warned us it was coming so everyone had a chance to prepare for it.

I'm warm and cozy inside and standing at the kitchen counter, pinning the layers of this quilt together to get it ready for quilting.

I won't be able to start quilting on it just yet. I need to clean and oil my sewing machine first, and right now furniture is moved around upstairs and blocking the closet where my sewing machine oil is kept.

We are getting some carpet replaced with new flooring so mass moving of stuff from one room to another.  A good chance to get rid of some stuff too.

quiet morning

We had a nice relaxing, no-obligations morning. We are content.

I did some non-challenging sewing while listening to some instrumental music on YouTube. 

I could do without them showing those cookies on the screen though!

Looking to my left, there is Lonnie, doing his morning bible study.  I know...he is looking at his phone but he sometimes looks up definitions and meanings during his studies.

Puss is in the room with me snoozing in the sun on her cat tree.

Usually around this time of year we take a Caribbean cruise.  I miss that but I wouldn't switch places right now.

This is what I'm sewing...a log cabin quilt from a kit. 

I only meant to make a start on it but it's so fun seeing how the different fabrics come together it's hard to stop working on it.

There are 80 blocks total to be made so maybe it's better to spread out the sewing sessions for this one.

That calls for more quiet leisurely mornings!

second quilt finish this year

 This giraffe printed fabric panel came from another quilter's sewing room clean out a few years ago. 

I like free things and I thought it might make a good donation quilt for a toddler, so I snatched it up and brought it home to wait for me to get around to using it

As you see here it was manufactured in the year 2000 so it's time for someone to do something with it.

At first I was trying to work with the entire panel as it was and add some coordinating colored strips top and bottom.  I just wasn't happy with that idea so I tucked it away again...for two more years!

 Then in my quest to finish all my unfinished projects, I pulled it out again.  In taking a fresh look at it I realized that all the empty black space above the giraffes was keeping me from liking it.

So I trimmed it up and thought I'd alternate the colored strips with black strips from the trimmed part.

Then, I remembered these pink and green blocks I'd started on a while back for a girl baby quilt then abandoned them when I learned the baby was a boy.

They were a pretty close color match to the giraffes. I decided to use them and use the black strips as sashing.

Yep! It worked out with one block leftover. I think the pink and green helped to brighten up the drabness of the black.  Now it's definitely a feminine quilt.

I finished the top  in 2020 but just now finished the quilting and binding. Here is the finished quilt.

The back is an assortment of pink fabrics I wanted to go ahead and put to use, and I included the leftover block.

Had to wait for a sunny day to take photos.

The quilt measures roughly 38" x 58".

When quilting it, I started out by trying to outline stitch the giraffes. I couldn't seem to follow the lines and was making a mess of it, so I ripped out those stitches and went ahead with my usual meander.

I think it works just as well anyway.

So, this is my seventh finished project since I vowed (nearly 3 years ago) to finish up all my unfinished objects (UFO's).

It will be a donation quilt, maybe to "Project Linus" or "Quilts for Kids"...unless I see some other good cause in the meantime.

I still have two more finished tops to quilt but I've been cheating and have started on something new.

No willpower!

crazy cat lady?

 Don't worry, I haven't turned into a crazy cat lady who will only talk about my cat...but with staying home so much because of the virus...ordering this new cat tree was a big event!

The cat has been inside a lot too, because of cold wet weather. She is still young and energetic and always looking for a high spot to jump to.  

I see her sitting and staring at the ceiling fans trying to calculate a route to take to get up to them.

I thought a new and taller cat tree might help keep her entertained.  I ordered this 72" tall one from chewy.com.

The delivery folks left it on the front porch. The problem was that I have the front door sort of blocked from inside with a big sheet of foam insulation to stop cold wind from blowing in through the cracks.

I didn't want to undo all of that so I opened the box to bring a few pieces at a time around to the back door since the box was really heavy.

Then, I had to make several trips up stairs to bring the parts up to the sewing room to set it up by the sunny windows there.  It was fine...I need the exercise!

It was over 2 hours before it was finished.

Puss knew just what to do so up she went.

There are two of those cubby hole boxes but she doesn't use them unless I am playing with her.

She does like the upper platforms and she naps there or just watches birds and squirrels in the back yard.

I noticed the platforms aren't very soft. Basically just furry material over plywood...no padding.

So, I made some flannel cushions to fit on them.

I used this sausage-dog print flannel, left over from a quilt back.

"WHAT?  Dogs?"   "So demeaning"

"Well, I just won't look at 'em".

Overall she is happy with it and she can watch me sewing without trying to get on on the table with my machine.

Just what we needed!