It's been 2 1/2 years since we bought this mini 14ac ranchette...

Well,, we moved into this house Dec 2nd, 2017.. so we are at 2 1/2 years here and still working on this place...

 

It was built as a Earthen House,,  with the earth coming up to the windows and a sod roof.. Not to long after, the original owners had the sod roof replaced with a new roof..

 

And now we are putting in a private well and removing the earth/soil away from the back of the house.. We will fill over the concrete wall with River Stone...

 

After the back side is finished, we will do the same for the front side. And then last, we will replace the windows.

 

We have removed a lot of dead trees and bushes,, re-located others, not to mention changed some of the landscaping...

 

We hope to have most everything finished by next Summer... but for now, with the COVID-19,, we have a good excuse to stay home and work around the property....

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy Stay Kind.  

 Our Son-in-law has a bulldozer and Backhoe that he is bringing over next week so we can level and move away the dirt. In the mean time, Gary is working the old fashioned way,, to clear the dirt up against the house.

If you look at the concrete semi wall on the right,,, that will give you a visual of how tall the dirt was,, The dirt berm was just 4" below the windows. 

 this is what it looked like when we bought this place...

Got it cleaned up but our plan is to take down the dirt hill by the house and replace the front with river rock.

 

 Well fiddles! I know I have some "'Be-4"  photos somewhere... now if I could just find them...

 On a plus side... I picked some Lilacs for my sewing room...

 Oh My Stars! my sewing room smells heavenly...

If only the Lilac blossoms lasted more then just a couple of weeks..

 

May 24th and 25th...

Well yesterday, May 24th was such a lovely day...

I got to spend some wonderful time with all 3 grand kiddos...

They helped me in the garden,, and then they painted old cloths pins for my garden and then they painted rocks,, for their mother's garden at their home..

We ate lunch and topped it off with Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) on orange slices...Yummy!

 

It was a much needed visit for all of us.. and even though we didn't have direct contact we still got to be together...

 

May 25th,,, I awoke early this morning and watered my garden first thing,,, thinking it was going to be another sunny warm day... Nope!.. about 1/2 an hour after I came in from my garden.. it rained,,, off and on lightly for the better part of the day..

Good thing I didn't wash the car or we might have gotten a down pour of rain! :>)

 

So,,, I decided to sew something... and ended up using some bits-n-pieces to make some mini aprons.

I didn't use my flash because the flash washed out the colors.. but at least you get the idea.

Now to figure out what mischief to get into next...
Have a wonderful week....

 

Rainy Days are Here Again...

The rainy weather is here again and due to stay through this week and possibly until next week.. Oh Joy!

 

In the mean time,, I have been sewing little projects  and using up some of my scrap fabrics..

 I made this little banner/bunting to decorate in my little camp trailer....

 It's such fun to be able to use up even the small scraps of fabric... I had just enough fabric to make my own Bias/binding tape....and I used the really small pieces to make mini YoYos on the binding/Bias tape.

 A friend of mine has a daughter that will be graduating from High School this month.. but because of the COVID19,, Schools have been canceled.. and there will not be the normal graduation ceremony.

 So I machine stitched up this little motif,,, so it can be framed or stitched into a small memory pillow.

 Then I made another mask for myself... I machine stitched this silly smile...

 I decided that if people can't see me smiling, at least they will see this smile...

 

Well,,, time to make another pot of tea,, and perhaps make a small batch of Chocolate chip Scones.. and watch the rain... bring much needed water to my garden....

Stuff, Stuff and more Stuff...

Well, to keep busy and out of mischief.. I have been playing in my sewing room...

Lots of stuff to do,, just which 'stuff' shall I do first?

 

I decided to putter with quilting patterns and other stuff......

 I sorted out and decided to only keep these quilting books,, the rest are slated for WSQ aka Washington State Quilters group... and others to the local Thrift shop.

 I had this pattern  in my quilt container,, I don't even remember when or where I bought!,,, and in my fabric stash I found these remnants of fabric,,, Here is how it turned out....

 I haven't decided what to make it into yet, so for now it is going into the UFO pile...

 I came across a "Allpeoplesew" pattern, '4-Patch' and decided to use up all my Batik fabric pieces.. 

 I literally had a small handful of trimmings  left after cutting out my squares.

 The pattern called for 41/2" and 8 1/2" squares.. but I had to reduce the size by half,,

2 1/2" and  4 1/2" squares.

Now it is all sewn together,, just needs to be ironed and then it to will go into the UFO pile... It is roughly 20 x 20 inches square.

 Then today I pulled out one of my older Mary Jane's Farm magazines and came across this idea..

A 'jacket' for my French Press coffee maker.

 I had to make my own pattern,, and I scrounged around in my Mary Jane fabric scrap stash...

 I used a light weight batting for  the inner padding,, I didn't have enough 'Thin-sul bright' padding so I used the fiber batting...

I think next time,, I will use wool felt for the lining...

 I used 'Hook-n-Loop" tape for the closure ...

All in all I think it turned out quit cute.. and was fairly easy to sew...

 

Well, tomorrow is another day to get into more stuff and mischief...

Went to the Lake...

Yesterday, Gary and I loaded up Ginger and we drove over to the Lake for a bit of a stroll in the sunshine..

 Yes, Ginger gets to ride in a Doggy Stroller..  our excuse is because she has such short legs and can't keep up with us... haha!

 I spotted some Bees buzzing around the wild strawberry plants...

 We know it is Spring,, when the Balsamroot plants start blooming...

 

 The only problem about Spring around here,, is the Deer are out a lot, foraging for young leaves,, and that means, Tics,,, lots of Tics... and sure enough, when we got home I found one on my sleeve.

We always do a Tic check, when working out on our property, or are out at the Lakes and Parks and Campgrounds.. where the Deer like to frequent.

But,, non the less,, we are happy to have some nice Spring weather.