Peas In A Pod

Really Kinda Random

 I am linking up with Cindy at Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday.  Hop on over there to check out more random posts.  (Cindy's random posts are always awesome!)

 

Last night, we got to go see Mannheim Steamroller!  I have wanted to see them perform for YEARS!  It was such a treat.  I have many favorites....of course this is one of them.  My others are O Holy Night, Silent Night, Halleluja, and my most favorite:  The Little Drummer Boy.  Loved it.

 

We were very sad when our very good friends let us know that their wonderful dog, Skardu, died this week.  He was 16 years old.  He is one of the best dogs, ever.  Our friends race sled dogs....big time.  Skardu was one of their lead dogs.  He had retired about 5 years ago to be a house dog.  We loved him.

Skardu and Sweet Pea have been friends--best friends--for a LONG time.  When Sweet Pea was very small, and we were all camping together, we found the two of them walking (Sweet Pea was toddling) along together in the early morning around the campsite, just having a conversation.  In this photo, Sweet Pea is about 2.5 years old...again, just having a conversation with Skardu.  This was from when we lived in Idaho.  Oh, will we miss Skardu.  I had a good cry over that one.

 

This past week, we rented Flowers of War.  Wow.  Have you seen it?  Powerful movie.  Very sad and troubling.  Get your tissues out.  But, Christian Bale....hubba hubba.  ;-)

 

This week, I went to get my oil changed in my car.  Sweet Pea found a little cross-stitch project a friend of ours had given her.  She decided she wanted to learn to cross-stitch while we waited for the oil change.

Here is how far she is.  So far, it's all outline stitch.  In the empty squares, she'll cross-stitch some little houses.  She's doing great!  And this is TINY!  Imagine how she'd do if I got her some big Aida cloth!

When we moved into this house, we took all the doors off to paint them.  After we painted them, Papa Pea hung them back up.  But they didn't close right, because the paint in the areas where we put the hinges on was too thick and hung them up.  So, for the past couple of years, our doors haven't shut all the way, and we hadn't put  new doorknobs on yet...so they just had holes where the doorknobs went.  Over Thanksgiving, Papa Pea fixed all the doors,and put these new handles on the door.  So much nicer than the 1980s brass, cheap handles that were on them.  I love our new doorknobs.

Sweet Pea was a big helper.  (Pay no attention to the mess over Papa Pea's shoulder!  Egad!)  At least this taught Sweet Pea to be thankful for small things!  She is so thankful for a bedroom door that closes and has a doorknob!  I told her, "See, your friends have had those things, and they don't even know to be appreciative of them.  YOU, on the other hand, know what to appreciate in life!"  Haha.  She has walked around all week, telling me how happy she is to have a door that closes and latches--and how grateful she is for it.

These two friendly visitors have been coming to visit us almost every day lately.  Almost every night when I come home from work, they are hanging out in our front yard.  One day last weekend, we saw them just hanging out in our back yard in the middle of the day.

Here's something that just makes your day....I received an e-mail from Ginny, who said she used my "How to Make a Quilt Label" tutorial to make a quilt label, and it turned out perfect.  Ginny said she's only been quilting for a few months.  I was super impressed with her work!  She agreed to let me share it with you.  Let's hear a "Woop Woop!" for Ginny!  Way to go!  And thanks for making my day with your note!

 

This little princess turns 8 years old tomorrow.  I can hardly believe it.  She is the light of my life.  She got a new dress from someone special for her birthday, and she wore it to the Mannheim Steamroller concert last night.  I thought she looked gorgeous in it.

Well, those are my random thoughts for today.  Tomorrow will be busy, what with the birthday and all, so I probably won't be back until next week.  Sorry some of these photos are grainy.  A lot of them were taken with my cell phone!

How about a random act of kindess today???  Have you found an opportunity yet?  Did you hear this story about random acts of kindess?  Pretty cool.

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend!

Until next time,

 

 

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Mug Rug for Papa Pea, Need a Little Advice

Hello All!

Hope you had a good Monday.  I had a really good, busy one.  ;-)

I did accomplish one small bit of sewing this past weekend.  Remember when I made the Halloween mug rugs and I said that Papa Pea said he really wanted one, but he wanted it smaller, and he really liked the plaid fabric?

I sewed up this little round one.  I just made a quilt sandwich with two pieces of the plaid fabric, quilted it, and put some of the black binding on I had leftover.  No pocket, no label.  Nothing fancy.  I just grabbed a lid I had and traced it for the size and shape.

For the quilting, I just did straight lines.  I guess this is the back, because on the front, I quilted the lines going right down the middle of the white stripe.  Doesn't matter, the quilting blends in so nicely.  Anyway, he loved it and thanked me this morning before going to work.  He said it was the perfect size, and he likes the fabric.  It's nice when something so simple makes one's day, huh?

Okay, now I could use a little help from you.....  Remember when I told you Papa Pea had saved up enough money to pour the concrete for my new sewing room?  Well, we're getting ready to break ground, because we have enough saved up to frame it in and get it all weather tight before winter.  We had the contractor over the other day to give us some prices, etc.  So, let me explain where I need some suggestions.  Here is the front of our house (you can see some of the new planting I did this year, where we tore the bushes out and poured the new sidewalk--I added a climbing rose and two hydrangeas, and there are some little small, creeping plants around the base and in front of the brick, but all that is for another day).  You can see the color of the house (I'm so glad I painted that brick!) and the color of the shed, as well as how close the shed sits to the house.  When we bought the place, we felt it had a certain curb appeal, even though the color scheme is a little dated.  My sewing room will get added to the back of the shed.  Here, come take a look....

Here is the side of the shed.  I am standing in our back yard looking at the side of the shed.  (Those little plants you see to the left of the window are more hydrangeas I planted this year.)  The front of the shed/where I was standing to take the photo above is to the right.  We will build out behind this shed 30 feet.  (The addition will be 30 feet square.  I will lose 10 square feet to a portion of the addition that will be for lawn mowers, etc.)  The clothesline will have to be relocated.  The new roofline will form a T with the existing roof.  The front wall of the addition (facing where I'm standing now) will be set back a little from the side you are looking at, so that I have a little covered front porch that faces the back yard.  I hope that looks okay.  What do you think?

Here is my dilemma.  The contractor brought us these siding samples.  We have to pick the color of siding we want on the addition.

The color on the bottom here is basically the color of our current siding.  The green I'm holding is the color I wish our house was.  The taupe is a close second for the color I wish our house was.

Someday, when we do the addition to our house, there is the possibility we might reside it.  But that is probably 5 years down the road.  (I hope sooner, but it could be that long.)

I am not sure if we would change the color of our house at that time.  I do feel like the color scheme is sort of dated, but it also kind of works with the house.  Do you agree the colors are dated?  Or is it just me?

• Should we just side it the same color as the house and let it be?  It will keep some continuity in everything.   If we do that, I can see Papa Pea saying we aren't going to change the color when we build the addition, because we just put brand new siding on the addition....he won't want to replace it. 
• Should we change the shed color (existing and addition) to the color we may put on the house later?  If we do that, then the shed won't match the house and we may lose some curb appeal.  But then when we do the addition to the house (assuming that happens), it will match again.
• Should we side the addition in the new color and leave the rest the old color?  You wouldn't see the new color from the road, so you wouldn't lose the curb appeal.  But would it look weird to have half the shed a different color?

If we change the siding color, that might mean we have to change trim colors, which also might mean we need new downspouts (which we just replaced when we moved in 2.5 years ago....).

Sigh.  I'm so scared of commitment on this whole issue.  Help!  Those of you who have an eye for this kind of thing need to help me.  Please share your words of wisdom!  Thank you in advance!

Now, let's hope the contractor bid comes in at a reasonable price we can afford!

Until next time,

 

Vintage Cowboy Books

I never got to show you my vintage purchase at the antique store I visited while on retreat with my friends recently.  I blogged about our field trop to the antique store here.  Would you like to see?

I found four really great old cowboy books.  I am putting them down in my cowboy bedroom.  There is a shelf that runs 'round the room.  I'm putting them there, with these really awesome pots I have.  They are made of gourds...dried and hallowed out, then woodburned, and the top is made of pine needles.  I picked these up at an art fair once, a long time ago.  I love them.  I need to put some sort of dried flowers in them.  But I like them with the books.

Donna, I sure wish you could come over and help me set up my "shelf-scapes."  You are so good at it!  I am not!

Great titles and authors!  I also love the colors.

I think this one is my favorite.

Pretty old book.  It's very hard to read the copyright date.  But it's 1909.  I have a thing for books.  All books.  I love them.  I especially love old books and first editions.

My mom and dad instilled a love of books in me.  (Thank you, Mom and Dad!)  I remember when I was a kid, Dad would take me to Iowa Book and Supply, on The University of Iowa's campus.  It was about 35 minutes from our house.  He'd get a hankering to go peruse books.  It is still a great bookstore today.  I visited it when I was back in Iowa City last fall.  Anyway, he'd go look at books, and I would get to wander around doing the same.  An unspoken rule was always, "Pick out whatever book or books you want."  I'd always pick out some choice books, and Dad would always--without question--buy them for me.  I loved those trips together.

I thought these were pretty neat, too.

How about these end papers?  They are pretty wonderful, I think.

These aren't quite as old, but they really fit with the 1950s style of the cowyboy/cowgirl quilt I made for this room.

These are some of the other things that are going in this room.  These very well worn cowboy boots.  They are Papa Pea's.  He has had them forever.  A few years ago, he finally had to give them up, because the leather got a hole in it.  He bought new boots several years back, but he couldn't part with these.  I was going to turn them into planters or something.  But I decided to just use them as a decoration.  And those are his fancy spurs (for when he rode in parades), and that's one of my spurs, too.  Can't seem to find the other one, with our most recent move.  I am thinking of hanging these on the wall in the room somewhere.  Haven't decided yet.

Sometimes, when I look at this stuff, I really miss our horses and the many hours we used to spend with them, riding, camping, etc.  To be honest, the only time I ever forget about work completely and feel "spiritual," is when I'm on the back of a horse in the mountains out west.  For me, it's one of the most relaxing activities I can engage in.  Even more so than sewing.  Many times, even while sewing, I am ruminating about stuff at work.  Don't get me wrong, it is certainly my release.  Sadly, however, there are no mountains in Michigan.  And we don't have our horses anymore.  Sigh.  There is something special about being out in nature with your horse.

And these are Sweet Pea's boots, which don't fit any more.  I think those will stay in the room, too.  I have had this lunchbox for a while.  It is from Moda.  I was thinking of putting spare toothbrushes and other items for our guests inside.

I can't wait until we can get this room carpeted.  This summer, my goal is to finish painting the window and get the curtains made.  I'm looking forward to that, too.

Hope to get a more quilty post up for you shortly.

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

Painting the Brick and an Awesome Tree Swing!

Remember the weekend that Papa Pea and Sweet Pea went away?  Well, I spent that weekend painting the brick on our house.

One beautiful sunny morning, I got the primer on.

And I ran out with this much left to go.  Rats!!!  I had to quit for the day due to other commitments.  Went to the hardware store on my way home and finished the next day.  Then, I put the paint on and finished that before Papa Pea and Sweet Pea came home.  (Don't tell anyone, but it's amazing how much more quickly I can get things like this done when they are gone!)

I stood back.  Didn't like the color.  It was too light and too yellow.  Dang it!  The swatch perfectly matched the house.

Back to the paint store for more swatches and a new can of paint.

Then, when Papa Pea and Sweet Pea came home, they both helped me with the final coat.

Ta dah!  It's still not the perfect color, but it's close enough!  (Sorry this is a little blurry...)

As a reminder, this was the before.

This is much fresher, I think.  Of course, then we noticed that the shutters were REALLY faded.  And so was the trim.  (And so it begins....)  So, Papa Pea gave them a fresh coat of paint, too.  I think it brightens up the entryway a lot.  (Oh, man...lots of hornets' nests behind those shutters!  Not fun!)

We still have to paint the shutters on the garage.  Maybe you can tell the difference with how faded those are.  Today, Papa Pea is working on getting forms for the sidewalk built and getting that all graded.  We decided the dirt was too high up on the foundation by the garage with how high they had the sidewalk before.  So, we're going to add a step up to the front porch and lower the rest of the sidewalk a bit.  That will get the dirt a foot below the siding, like it's supposed to be.

We are still trying to figure out what to do for a front door.  It is so dark inside that foyer.  I want a full sidelight and a door that is 3/4 window.  We are looking at some.  Also trying to decide what color the door should be.  Now that the brick is tan, I think it could handle an accent color.  Maybe sage green or blue?  I'm going to upload the photo to Sherwin Williams and see if I can try some door colors.  I'm very happy with how this is shaping up.

On the lighter side, we have been promising Sweet Pea a swingset forever and a day.  We haven't been able to find one we're happy with.  So, in the meantime, Papa Pea said, "Let's build you a tree swing!"

They went out to the workshop and cut out this flower-shaped piece of wood.  They sanded all the edges.  Sweet Pea was out there with her safety glasses on and everything.  (Oh, see the John Deere stuff behind them?  We sold it for what we wanted to get!  Yay!  Paid 2/3 the cost of the new mower and cleared up the shed!)

With her dad, she painted the seat purple.  (These are all paints left over from painting her room and our kitchen.)  Next, she wanted to paint some pink petals and a yellow center.  I offered to pencil in some lines for her, and she did the painting.  She painted the edges of the petals, too.

She was quite blissful while doing this.

She wanted to do polka dots on it, too.  So, I gave her one of my sponge daubers from my scrapbooking days.  She's just like her mama.  She had to sort of measure out and plan where she wanted each color of dot to go.

Eventually, she gave that up and just let loose with a little.  It was fun to watch her do this.

We had this rope laying around.  My dad had given it to us some years back.  It was perfect.  Wrap it around the branch....

Thread it through a hole in the seat and tie some good knots.

Give it a try to see if the height is good.

Practice getting on!  We had to teach her this strategy...it's too hard to climb onto it like a regular swing.

And start pumping!  (Don't you just love the outfits she picks out for herself?!)

Of course, it's much more fun when Mom or Dad is willing to push you!

Oh, yeah.  There was some squealing going on here!  (We've since trimmed off that low hanging branch!)

She likes how this one will spin her around as she swings.

It's one happy kid!  When she stopped, she said, "I'm so glad I didn't get a swing set.  This is WAY funner!"  LOL.

As I left for work this morning, she was already dressed and ready to go out for some more swinging.  It was not too difficult a project, and she loved the fact that she did so much of it herself, too.  A nice father-daughter project!

I'll be back with more quilty stuff tomorrow.  Friday Night Sew In photos from last week!  And I actually have a small finish to report!  Woo hoo!

Have a wonderful day!

Untill next time,

Mama Pea

 

Boys and Their Toys

Yesterday, I showed you this.  Papa Pea rented a Bobcat to start dealing with our sidewalk issue out front.

How about some flashbacks?

Here's how things looked when we bought the place...Overgrown trees and bushes (mostly dead underneath), rickety old fence, really narrow walk to the front door, and lots of dead grass between the fence and the walk.

Another view.  And we hated how that gutter ran along the house as you approached the door.

We had redone the gutters, torn down that fence, torn down the bushes out front, and cut down that big bush in front of the house.  Because we were gone so long this summer, the weeds really took over where those bushes used to be, but since we were tearing it up anyway, we didn't worry about it.  See how narrow that sidewalk is?

Bring on the Bobcat.

Papa Pea was in heaven.

The kitties were terrified and ran to hide in their little box!

Papa Pea hates this bush by our garage, so it also went bye bye.  The kitties will miss it.  They like playing and hiding in there.  We'll plant something else here.

Well, most of it is gone, anyway.  Haha.

First, he began tearing up the broken up part of the sidewalk.  Papa Pea had broken it up last year when we reran the gutters.  This downspout runs under the sidewalk now.  We broke up the sidewalk last year to do that.  Now, we'll pour the new sidewalk over that.  Our friend, Shawn, came over to help.

The concrete got dumped in our trailer.  This morning, Papa Pea took a big load to the dump.  We still have more in the garden.  We'll have to take that on another day.

Papa Pea would lift up a piece of sidewalk, Shawn would whack it with a sledge hammer, it would break to pieces, and then Shawn would load it into the bucket so Papa Pea could go dump it in the trailer.  They also pulled up all the stumps next to the house, all the stumps over on the other part, and the big bushes that were left.  I'll show you that in a minute.

Out back, you can see the big satellite dish is gone.  Papa Pea cleared a spot for where we're going to pour a concrete slab for the hot tub.  It's sort of far from the house, but if we can ever afford to build the addition, we think we'll need it back a little ways like this to accomodate the house and new deck we'd like to build.  We're trying to plan ahead.

Here's the front after the sidewalk and stumps have been cleared.

And the big shrubs and stumps gone on the other part, too.  Isn't it awesome?!  It's so much better.

I think we have a plan now...we're going to pour a curved concrete sidewalk up to the front step.  We'll put brick along the edge of it (a compromise between the brick I wanted and the concrete Papa Pea wanted).  There will be a curved dirt patch along the garage there for planting.  I think I'll put a climbing rose between the two windows (with a trellis) and hydrangea bushes under the windows.  There will be a little planting area along the outside of the sidewalk too...probably for annuals.  On the other part (to the left), I think I'll put a kidney-shaped planting area, and fill it with hostas.  It's pretty shady there, due to the big trees in front of the house.  I like the green and white variegated hostas with the purple flowers. I'd like some of those there, I think...something relatively small that won't cover the windows.

As I'm writing this, Papa Pea is powerwashing the brick.  I'm going to paint it the off-white color of the house this weekend.  Yay!  Thank you to those of you who saw my last post about this, where I was thinking of painting the brick.  Your encouraging words and photos really helped us make a decision!

We tore up the yard pretty good driving on it, though.  It had rained recently, so the ground was pretty soft.  This is the path to our garden that Papa Pea drove on several times.  We will have to fix that up now.  (The apples are starting to come in on our trees!)

Here's the debris pile.

And then there's this.  Looks pretty shiny new, huh?

I just have a few things to say about this:

• At least it wasn't my birthday present.
• I'm glad we decided it was time for a new one.
• I'm glad Papa Pea finally agreed with me it was time for a new one.
• It's not as powerful or versatile as the John Deere...it's a dedicated mower rather than a garden tractor that can mow, snowblow, etc.  Much less expensive, too.
• We don't need to be able to blow snow; we already have a 4-wheeler with a blade on it.
• We can probably sell the John Deere for about 2/3 the price we paid for this.  So, that's good.
• Sorry John Deere.  Normally I'd be more loyal to you, but you were just too rickety.
• Mowing will be much more of a pleasure on this one.

It has been crazy busy around here.  And I did it again to my poor friend, Holly tonight.  I was supposed to meet her and some others for dinner and to attend our Art Quilt group meeting.  I was really looking forward to it.  And I plumb forgot.  Totally stood her up.  I feel like crap about it.  I told her this is how I know I'm over-the-top busy.  I just don't miss appointments.  Sigh.  I'm so sorry Holly and gang.

Come back tomorrow for Glamp info!  I finished mine, as did the rest of the Design Team.  And a bunch of others should have their photos to Amanda tomorrow.  Amanda has been good enough to supply me with a giveaway for you all.  So, come back tomorrow to check that out.  Also, the other Design Team members have giveaways, too!  So, you'll have to hop around, check out what they made, and get in on their giveaways!

Until next time,

Mama Pea