What Do I Do With My Time?

I make lists of things I want or need to get done - on paper and in my head - yet it seems 

I never cross everything off my list. And, it makes me wonder what exactly am I doing that 

I am not able to get it all done.

So today while my husband is doing this

I was keeping track of the things I was doing.

First, was laundry.

Laundry never seems to be finished. 

There are only the two of most of the time now, 

but I feel like I am always doing dishes and laundry.

Before you think I am complaining (I am a little :)  ) let me be clear that I am so grateful 

for the appliances I have that make doing these chores a little easier. 

I have a dishwasher. It isn't built-in because there is just no space in my kitchen to do that without losing a lot of drawer/cabinet storage and I don't have enough of that as it is. 

But, that's okay because I have found that it makes a great little cutting table, too!

And, even though my washer and dryer are in my (dark, damp, sometimes really wet after a big rain) basement I am glad to not have to haul my laundry to a laundry-mat. I have had to do that. 

Having a laundry area at home allows me to do other things in-between loads.

Then, I sorted through the items on my quilt frame and 

organized some projects I need to get working on.

On the left is a panel my husband picked out. Our neighbor loves, loves Christmas and he thinks she needs a Christmas quilt. I will add a border of the black with white snowflakes and bind with 

the red & black check. I have a light gray swirl flannel for the back. Fast and easy.

The middle pile is t-shirts ready to be sashed and sewn into a top. The gray on top is for the sashing. 

I will use black for the outer border and binding. Oops, just realized there is no backing for 

that one yet. That's ok. I have time to get one since the top isn't completed yet.

On the right is a Dr. Seuss fabric that will turn into a cover for a media cart at school.

Next, I had started digging out some dead plants along the side of my garage, but it started to rain. 

So I sorted a big pile of papers and got them filed. 

That seems to be never-ending also.

(This isn't even close to how many papers there were!)

Then, I took my husband lunch in the field. Lucky for me it is right across the road from my house.

He will most likely finish up the harvesting today. 

That leaves field work, but that is one more step to being done for the year.

I was able to go back to the yard work. Got the dead stuff out.

Filled this tub up, plus another armload.

My neighbor (the one who loves Christmas) shared some Autumn Joy Sedum 

that she was digging out so got I them planted.

I plan to fill in more in the spring with some other plants that I haven't decided on yet.

This side faces north and some things just didn't do well. 

At the far end you can see one survivor of thesix Knock Out Roses we had planted here.

We planted eight (four on each side of the door) on the east side. 

They are doing quite well, except the one on the corner that didn't make it.

These pictures are from a few years ago, while the ones on the north side were still doing well, but they continue to look this good on the east side.

I have been organizing current projects into these great bins my husband got for me. 

He really is an enabler!

These are meant to be vegetable bins, but he thought they would make great fabric/project bins. 

I think he is right. And, the green handles are perfect since green is my favorite color. 

I like that they stack. The legs fold flat underneath also.

He ordered them from Gardner's Supply.

Next, I took a break to write this post. And, that takes a long time.

I used to be able to connect my camera to the computer and it would automatically download pictures that I was able to quickly edit, name and save into files.

A few weeks ago my computer updated itself in the middle of the night and now I can't do that. The only way I have been able to figure out how to get the pictures off the camera takes nine, NINE, clicks for each picture, going through the Control Panel to Devices, and so on. 

And, I haven't figured out how to edit them. 

Oh, well. At least I am able to get to them, but it sure takes me a long time.

And, in-between all that I checked out PBS stations to see if there was anything interested that wasn't a rerun on. So, while I don't get everything checked off my list, I do get some things done.

Monday

To see what other quilters are doing go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Over the weekend I worked on my exchange blocks for the new exchange my group is doing.

These are my blocks with my fabric. I am using bright, mostly batiks.

These are Harriet's blocks that she made with her fabric. She is using flannels.

These are Harriet's blocks (on the bottom) and the blocks I made with her fabric (on the top).

You can see the Knitted Knockers on the right in this picture. I haven't sent them yet because I am making more!

It appears that the old picture of me and my brothers didn't show up in my last post so I am trying again.

Me, Ed, Mike

Mike, Ed, Me

Ed, Me, Mike, Mom, Dad

Actually, three pictures of my family. My mom used a large, really large, like 4 feet x 3 feet large, frame and grouped pictures of all of us that were taken through the years. It included pictures of us when we were small all the way to now with pictures of our kids. My brother who was born after me, Ed, has 5 grandchildren now.
Anyway, Mom disassembled the frame to remove pictures of Mike for the photo boards displayed at his funeral. She wanted my sister-in-law to keep them afterwards. I had my son use his phone to take pictures of the pictures.
As you can see, Mike was always happy. I never knew him to get mad, except in recent years when his daughter was making some bad relationship decisions. He was so upset, but she resolved it and is on a better path now. I am so thankful that it happened while he was alive to see it.
He was a great uncle to my son, as well. More like a brother, is how my son puts it. He is an only child so their relationship was very special to him. Mike would make sure they had a good hunting spot every fall during deer season. He made it an adventure for them even when they didn't have any luck seeing deer. October will be hard for my son this year.
So many people miss him. He was a great family man, well loved by his co-workers and community.

I Can't...

...ever think of a clever title so I will just start right in with the post.

I have been having a bad week. I am not sure quiet why. The weather is awful - it has been so hot! My school building stays hot once the air temperature and humidity increase. We went to the air conditioned library for fun educational videos on Thursday and Friday and released the students an hour early on Friday. That will be repeated on Monday. Weather predictions call for a cool down after that. I hope they are correct.

This group of Kindergarten students is larger than we have had in a few years. I don't know if it is because of the increased number or the heat or the immaturity but this group seems to be taking longer to learn the rules and routines. I am tired.

My monthly quilt group met for the first time for our new exchange. We decided to make house blocks this time. Here are mine.

It was fun to see what everyone is doing. There were houses made with Civil War Repros, solids, flannels, 30s prints, one color family (teals), black & white with red roofs, calicos. Mine are mostly batiks in bright colors.

Several of them had lovely show and tell projects and I felt like such a sloth. They seem to get a lot of work done and I can't seem to do much of anything. Thinking about that right now I realized that I am the only one not retired. I have not turned on my machine for a few weeks. Why? Because Kindergarten makes me tired. It's not like I don't have any projects. After talking with my group this morning about all the unfinished projects some of have I decided I needed to just pull a project to work on and work on only that project until it is finished, even if it only for a short time every day. Well....I looked through my nicely mostly organized projects. I finally decided on one that would be fun and is a little smaller thinking it would go quickly. I got all the parts/pieces out and figured out what I needed to do next. This project is paper pieced and I need to copy the patterns from the book. My printer is out of ink. Rats. Ink is on my list, but the last time I tried to buy more the store was out. Hopefully, that can be fixed when we go on our shopping trip tomorrow. So I put that away and am trying to decide what I want to work on. Why is it the the projects that need finished are just not as enticing as a new one?

We were swarmed with hummingbirds a few weeks ago, but hadn't seen any lately until yesterday. There has been a lone hummer flying around once in a while. I am keeping the feeders cleaned and filled.

My Autumn Joy Sedum has been blooming for a little while. I love how it starts out white and changes to dark pink. The bees and butterflies are loving it.

I am also struggling with this. It seems so unfair to me that someone who was so loved by his family, friends and community should no longer be with us. I am sad and angry and grieving. I have days when I think I am finally starting to get past it and then some 'thing' makes me realize I am not. I play the radio in my car so loud I can't hear myself think. I try to keep busy with anything I can to keep my mind occupied, but I have been restless, listless, unable to settle on a project. I know things will change and I will be able to move on, but today I am struggling.



This is me, brother Ed and brother Mike, in birth order. My youngest brother, Mike, is the brother who was killed in late May in a traffic accident. He was always such a happy person, even as a child.
I miss him.

This is the most recent photo of the 3 of us, taken July 3, 2016.

Monday Already?

To see what other quilters are working on visit Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Wow! This week went fast!

The first few weeks of Kindergarten are usually a challenge. New faces, new routines, new rules. Sometimes it takes a while to get used to it, but most are doing well.

My school district has a tradition of  adding books to their libraries in memory of employee's loved ones who have passed. I was given the chance to bring home the books that will be added in memory of my brother. He was a retired security officer from the local univeristy, part-time small town police officer and security officer at the local hospital. He was also a bee keeper and active in conservation. The books selected are The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco and Police Officers on Patrol by Kersten Hamilton. 

There are labels on the inside ...

... and pages that brought tears to my eyes. 

My brother's name. 

They will be added to the library in my building for the students to 

check out and take home to share with their families.

I like a sentence on this page

'Such things...adventure, knowledge and widsom. But these things do not come easily. 

You have to pursue them.'

My brother made everything an adventure. He was on a quest for knowledge and wisdom, learning about conservation and how to make his environment better.

I miss him.

I made a decision and got the borders on the top of this quilt.

I am waiting for the backing to arrive so I can get it quilted.