Wake up call!

At 7am almost every morning for the last 2 months I've had a wakeup call of hammering, sawing, drilling and various other construction sounds. The owner and developer of our neighborhood have collectively decided that now is the time to finish developing our neighborhood. When they started there were about 20 lots remaining, including one to either side of our home and directly across the street. The home across the street was completed a scant 5.5 weeks from when they first broke ground and the new owners moved in last week.

This morning I woke to sounds extremely close to our home and after looking out our side window I saw this excavator and several men and their other vehicles. We knew the day was coming. . . in fact figured it would be soon. So it's begun.

They were at other locations until right when Rocky and I got home today. Rocky went over to talk to the operator and discovered it was the owner. Rocky and I had previously discussed renting some equipment to do some excavation work in our back yard. The project had not gotten started other than Rocky doing the shoveling and rock wall building by hand on the right side of the back yard where he built a gorgeous raised bed, retaining wall.

Rocky talked to the machine owner/operator and asked if he could do the work that we wanted done. Though before he started, we had agreed upon a price (that being for the estimated several hours of work that it would take) after Rocky and I demolished the fence and moved the plants and rocks (landscaping) he came over to our yard and did what we needed in 20 minutes! And to top it all off, when we asked his price, he said no charge! He did it for free. Hallelujah, Praise God!

So now this summer Rocky and I have our work literally cut out for us in our back yard! This picture shows both lots, the property line is slightly to the left of center of the pipe.

Later this week, probably tomorrow this pipe will be extended 16' and more dirt will be brought in to back fill the lot to the left of our home. Once that is done Rocky can extend this section of fence to enclose our back yard again. Some of the original fencing is laying against the back of our house, and at the corner of the house you can see a dark mark on the siding that is where the fence originally was positioned.

The below picture really shows the terracing well. In the other pictures it looks graded into a gradual slope, but in this one you can see the enlarged "steps" that we had cut into the yard. Now we need a million rocks to hold up that dirt, and we have tons to start with already in the excavated area.

I was so happy that even in all of the fence removing and excavation our Weeping Willow trees did not have to be moved, and were saved!


Charmie and Mardie had so much fun. When Rocky and Aaron, the guy in the excavator started talking he let Charmie and Mardie sit in the cab of this big machine and for a long time they just crawled around and pressed buttons and gears pretending to drive. Later, after we temporarily lost Mardie (who won't answer when you are calling for him) we partitioned the boys onto the deck due to the fact that both Rocky and I needed to work in the yard to prepare it for this job yet know that the boys were safe. They had a blast, playing in my dirt filled flower pots. Mardie not only bathed in the dirt, but actually ate some. Then they rearranged all of our furniture so that they could climb onto and off of it, and drive their little ride on cars onto and off of it. They tried to remove the baby gate, but it was too sturdy. Just as I was calling it quits Mardie decided to use a chair to climb over the deck railing and was dangling about 6' in the air holding on with just his arms. Rocky realized before I did and sent me to rescue him. Praise God for his protection of babies! That was when I decided to take the boys in for a bath and some indoor play while we waited for Rocky to finish up outside.

Denim, Denim, Denim

The Value Village in my town was having a 1/2 price clothing sale. I found out yesterday and planned an early morning trip this morning to get denim. It was a productive trip. I scored 8 generously sized full length dresses with little wear, no stains, rips, tears or imperfections that I can see. I chose dresses over pants because I have a greater chance of being able to get larger pieces of uninterrupted fabric this way. I'm pleased with this venture. Now I just have to wash and cut up all of these pieces. I Plan to make a rag quilt from them, and possibly something else when it's all said and done.

The first Bob square

My boys both love Bob the Builder. Here is the first block of a quilt for one of them. I am not sure when I will be finishing it, due to the fact that embroidering the squares takes a while and I'm not really motivated to do more than one in a sitting. This square is 6.5". I'm pleased with the outcome except for the fact that Bob has green hair. (Who would have thunk "dark olive" wasn't green?) I guess I will not only be looking at the color name, but the embroidery area when I get around to the next square.

Oh and I figured out part of the problem I was having with embroidering knits. I had combined bobbins from my sewing and embroidery machine thinking that they were similar enough to use interchangeably. I did notice that on end some were taller than others, but the diameter was the same so I didn't think much of it. When I started this block my thread kept jamming and the top thread was sucking down into the bobin case and wrapping around the bobbin. I was using the thicker bobbin at the time. I couldn't figure it out until the third try of untangling everything that possibly my machine didn't like this bobbin. I switched it out for a shorter bobbin and voila, perfect normal embroidery. I need to make a tiny little reminder lable for my machine which says "short bobbins only" as I am sure I will forget this little important factoid at some point in the future. In the picture below, the black one is the one that I started with, the white one is the one I had to use.

Chevron Tank

I finished knitting the front of the Chevron Tank today and then constructed it.  I still need to wash and block it, but here's a photo of it first.  Sorry J, no string for my neck.

Making this has gotten me excited about some other summer projects. 

I've lost weight

6.7oz. to be exact. Not by any special diet or anything. . . I just shed my locks. I've been contemplating it for a while and finally yesterday decided. So. . . today after running another errand solo I stopped by the salon and got a little trim. No I'm not keeping them, I just brought them home for the sake of this photo.

Yes I'm very happy having shed my dreads. I loved them and hated them, and I'm sure eventually I'll miss them, but for now I'm enjoying my mini fro!

Now my little Mardie on the other hand, all of his life I've had locks so when I came home he freaked out. He didn't want me to hold him or anything, he was a little scared of me I think. Charmie immediately asked me if I had gotten a haircut. Rocky gave his stamp of approval which is all that matters. . . Mardie will come around later tonight when it's time to nurse, at that time he won't care if I've got locks or not!

Dyed and Wound

Now what shall I become?

Dyed Lace

I ordered some practice lace yarn in natural color merino wool and here it is dyed and drying. I'll take another pic when it's dried and wound into a ball, and of course the project when I make it. It's 880 yards/ 100gms.

I used 4 packets of Black Cherry, 3 of Cherry and 3 of Orange Kool Aid.

Park Play

Rocky and I went to check out a park that we are going to have a church picnic at later this spring and while we were there he played with the boys, I was out there for a little while until I was too cold.  He's got Mardie squeezed between his knees and is hopping across this horizontal ladder thingie with him balanced there.  Mardie thought it was a blast!  Charmie is below inspecting a stink bug, all the while proclaiming, "it's a beetle mommy!"

Nursery play

Here are some pics of the boys in the Nursery at church today.  Charmie and Mardie are watching a Veggie Tales video and Charmie decided that he'd flip up this baby climbing thingie and lay in it.


Here's Mardie a little later enjoying a snack. Teddy Grahms Yum!

Flash pants

Today Rocky's mom visited us. As always when a grandmom visits it's primarily for the grand kids sake, but while she was here she wanted to go fabric shopping and being who I am I had to oblige. . .

We ended up spending WAY too much time in the fabric store while the boy's napped and Rocky held down the fort but the end result was productive. Right before I got my other fabric cut on a whim I picked up a bolt of this silky stuff that reminded me of saris, broom stick skirts and gypsy fabrics all rolled into one. I had to have it but had no pattern and no plan other than the fact that I liked the idea of some pants, or maybe a skirt, or maybe a top. . . so in other words no real plan.

One yard later, and well after dinner when the boys settled down, and I broke away from the Hallmark movie that had sucked us in for 3 hours and decided for sure I'd make some wide legged pants. Here's the result. I made them up as I went. I put a very thin elastic waist band and a blind hem at the bottom. They were super easy because I made them on the fold, just 2 seams, and I did something I've never done before. I seamed them entirely on my serger and just made the casing for the elastic and the blind hem on my sewing machine. Voila!

I think it took me longer to rethread my serger and figure out which foot to use for blind hemming on my sewing machine than the actual construction of the pants, lol. I guess I need to put down the knitting needles and sew more so that this is more 2nd nature!
Here's a pic of them on, after church. I have a strained look because I'm cold, lol.

Chest Cover

Get your mind out of the gutter!

My family gifted Rocky and me with a beautiful cedar chest for our 5 year anniversary. I've always wanted one and now we have one. It's lovely. The lid cover has a pretty damask fabric. However with 2 little ones who think this is their personal table to jump off of and climb onto I opted to keep the plastic in tact as much as possible on the CREAM cover to keep it nice until I could sew a cover.

Well thanks to my dad's inspiration, mom's motivation and help I used some decorator fabric that I have been hoarding in my stash to use for my home and came up with this:

I'm all exicted now to sew some other things for our home. I've got tons of this fabric and it goes with the decor in almost every room so I've just got to get busy and sew sew sew!
Thanks MOM and DAD!!!XOXOXOX

Tank Back

I just finished the back of a Chevron Rib Tank top from interweave press that I started when J visited last weekend.  I'm scared of the front because that's where I do the chevron pattern.  The back alone tripped me up at first and I needed my sister to give some assistance.  Of course I probably could have figured it out had I acutally read the instructions, but does that suprise you???

My brain is mush now.  Maybe tomorrow I'll cast it on and get started, or maybe I'll just work on one of the vest tops I've started for Rocky or the boys. . .

A Yarning I shall go

I love yarn. I love making things with it, as a car sales man once called it. . . yarning. I think I see yarn and potential yarn almost everwhere I go, which is why it wasn't suprising that after I found myself wandering around my SUPER Wal-Mart earlier this evening, displaced because I couldn't find what I was actually looking for, (imagine that) I saw this yarn boa, levetating in front of me, beckoning me to bite in the accessories section. It was marked down on clearance to $1, and looked like yarn to me so of course I couldn't leave it and 4 of it's friends hanging there. I had to bring them home.

After looking closer I realized that it was a continuious strand of yarn, well 2 actually doubled and sewn down to a base of yarn. So out came my thread snips, and about 30 minutes later I had this.

Now I just have to do this 4 more times. I'm pondering what I shall yarn with this new addition to my yarn stash.

Little JAC had had a tummy sickness so he wasn't feeling so great this time at the park. He enjoyed the swinging and Mardie did too. Rob's pushing JAC and Rocky's pushing Mardie here. 

Here's Charmie reaching the top, once again being crowded by the same girl. She's attracted to my boys evidently. He climbed up this apparatus several times, always unassisted, and repeating over and over, "be careful, be very careful". It' was kind of hillarious. As we were leaving our neighbor Rob said that once Charmie got to the top he shouted "Ladies and Gentlemen", but unfortunately I didn't hear it. That would have been a hoot! 

We went to the park with our neighbors Rob, LeAnne and JAC. Mardie decided to try to climb up the monkey bars and did pretty good until this fair little girl decided to crowd him. I of course couldn't get the camera to cooperate so the only shot I got is of Rocky helping him down. He got up to that rung all by himself though with Rocky only spotting. I've got another climber, Pray for me ya'll. 

Mardie with his cup, he decided he didn't want to play in the sprinkler so he's got his shirt back on, but no shorts yet, just the cd. 

Today was such a beautiful and sunny day. Charmie and Mardie got to spend time outside playing after I was able to drag myself out of bed. Here's Charmie on his 4wheeler doing stunts as usual. He had just gotten done playing in the sprinkler as we watered the baby grass in the front yard and he was driving his 4wheeler through the sprinkler! 

Jennifer and Trin by our Cherry Tree 

Closeup of Jennifer and I outside right before she and Trin had to go. 

Cheese! 

We had some "company" this weekend and we had a blast. Here Jennifer was trying to get the kids to settle down with her on the couch because they were so excited to be together that they were running amuck! She had just gotten Trin and Charmie to lay down and they were so cute. Charmie had gotten up by the time I got the camera, and Jennifer had snagged Mardie, but here they all are. 

Stripey

I finally finished a sweater that I started on my trip to Myrtle Beach almost 2 weeks ago. Here it is. It's my own pattern. . . but I designed it after a sweater that I saw and fell in love with in the Noro collection Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Book 2. I have no Noro, and no Book 2, though I found out after I started that my sister did have the book and I could have borrowed it.

Anyway It's pretty simple, instead of separate rectangles for the sleeves and the body, I did a continuous rectangle for all of the sleeves with an opening for the neckline. Then I picked up and knit the body part in the round and finished up by sewing up the sleeves. It has that favorite sweatshirt/ kimono/ weekend sweater feel.

I used 8 balls of Karaoke in Durango, a super soft wool/soysilk blend yarn that's self striping. I'll be looking to make anothe project from this yarn I loved it so much.

Rest after a hard day

Rocky works so hard and Charmie plays so hard. . . eventually they just have to stop, and when they do, this is what you get!

Piano time

Our beloved retired pastor and his wife are moving away. We are really going to miss them. They didn't want to take this piano, though they've had it for years, it was just too large of an item for them to move to their new home. Here the boys play a little while as I am taking pictures and details down to try to help them sell it.

Biker boys

The weather has been so nice the boys have been going outside and making good use of all of their toys.  Here they were inside the garage, they hadn't really made it out yet, but they were playing with their bikes.
Here's Charmie the stunt man practicing something dangerous for when his bike is actually moving.



Mardie thinking he's such a big boy!

Pride before the fall

Well I have to admit that I've been wrong. . . Janet and Jennifer I give you many apologies. . . Janet to you first because you were right after all.(Implied I was wrong) Jennifer second because though you don't know it yet, I taught you how to knit wrong.
I'm so at a loss for words right now. My stockinette fabric didn't look twisted so I had no clue. Evidently twist my knit and my purl stitch so when I alternate rows of knit and purl I don't have a twisted stitch pattern. However when I knit in the round I do. :(
I decided to knit this sweater project that I'm currently working on in the round for the body part because I HATE sewing seams. I already have to sew the arm seams so I am doing everything I can to eliminate any more sewing. As I transitioned from my garter rib rows to the stockinette stitch rows I noticed that my stitches were getting awfully tight all of the sudden. I looked and couldn't believe it, my little v's were all twisted at the base. I reversed those stitches and knit the rest of the row through the back loop and then started knitting as I evidently should have been all along. I'm going to have to relearn purling too. Guess better now than later, huh?
Jennifer call me and I'll see if we can work through this hitch over the phone for you! I'm soooooo sorry. And I can echo Janet's wisdom and upside to my predicament, luckily I've only taught one person to knit so far!

Well since you asked. . .

I have several projects that I'm planning to do but only one right now that is in progress (on kneedles). I am working on a sweater for myself. . . I've finished the sleeves and upper bodice and need to knit the bottom of the body part and it will be done.
I have some projects that I either want to or need to work on but I haven't started because with me I pretty much like to go all out on one thing until it's done. This is random order
design and make lap or wall quilt for livingroom
quilt friendship square quilt top x4
back/quilt and bind grandma's quilt tops x5
Lace sweater/ or shawl from some luxury silk/wool blend yarn my sister got for my birthday, actually she got some for her too so this is a project that we will do together, though we may or may not make the same thing.
spring/summer top/sweater/tank from silk/rayon blend yarn
spring/summer top/sweater/tank from 100% cotton yarn
spring/summer shrug/shawl to wear with my peek-a-boob top to make it a little more modest in public
socks
knit cotton vests for Rocky, Charmie and Mardie
anniversary quilt wallhanging for my sis and bil

I could go on and on but that's what's pressing for now.