We had a wonderful long weekend with family. We drove out to Lake Pleasant Friday, getting there in time for a quick boat ride and a late dinner. Saturday the rest of Ryan’s family showed up and we spent the day on the boat, it was very relaxing. Sunday it rained on and off all day so we mostly stayed inside and Monday we drove home. It was a great weekend and since I took Tuesday off to get stuff done around the house it felt productive too.
Tuesday I got the cars vacuumed, the laundry finished up, the dog cleaned up and the front of the house painted!
First coat on!
I also got to enjoy the gardens quite a bit…
Red roses in bloom!
Raspberries and Lilies!
Daisies!
I have two different clumps of daisies that sprang up from last year, they are blooming now, the ones I bought this year were earlier bloomers and are already gone but these yellow ones are quite a treat too!
Another busy weekend working on the house. Saturday we got up nice and early and started working on the siding. First up we had to make the window/door caps. Each piece had to be made and installed then primed. By lunch we had the windowcaps done.
Window cap on!Door cap!Cap on the cupola started.
After a break for lunch we got to work on the siding, it started with some really tough pieces that had to be cut around the window caps, luckily Ryan is really good at that. We got the siding installed all the way up. All that’s left for the front section is the frieze board which we don’t have the wood for yet (and the lumber yard was closed). So I ended the night by caulking the front section.
Caulked and sanded!
This afternoon I got set up on the porch and got the siding sanded and ready to be primed. There was a little bit left that had to be stripped as well but once that was all done I got the whole front primed!
Primed!
Next week we’re away so it will be like this for a little while but it’s SO much better than it was all winter! I also started working on stripping the left side of the house so I can refinish that eventually. I think with a few weekends in July we’ll have the front all buttoned up!
What a great weekend. Friday night Ryan had plans so I spent the evening quilting and finished up the baby quilts for my nephew! Perfect timing since we went down to see him on Saturday.
We spent the day at my sister’s house feeding, burping, changing and holding little jason! Couldn’t have been better, he’s getting so much bigger and he stayed awake for most of the day so we took TONS of pictures.
Today we drove home – with Fitz (he spent the week at my parent’s since I was in CA) – and took him for a nice long walk while Ryan mowed the lawn. Then we worked on windows panels for a few hours and made some good progress.
Window panel progressPanels close up
We’ve got 2 of 5 sides done (below the window caps). Next weekend we’ll switch to finishing the window caps so we can finish the siding on the front part. They go slow but faster than when we started this project last year.
On Monday I flew out to CA for work, I almost missed my flight, waking up at 5am instead of 3:30 as planned but somehow made my 5:45 flight thanks to being packed the night before and Ryan driving me to the airport.
I had planned on working on the flight but couldn’t VPN the night before and download the documents I wanted to read so that was a bust and I was up much later than planned trying (hence the over sleeping). However I can’t complain because I got the applique on my nephew’s quilt all finished! They look a little funny without faces (that’s next) and it’s all beads and embroidery. Most of the animals are from a pattern but I drew out the monkey based on the monkey in the fabric to match. Applique done!
I didn’t get any other sewing done this week, just worked every waking hour and then took a red-eye home (during which i attempted to sleep which was almost impossible). I’m finally home and ready to work some more but Ryan has plans tonight so if work goes well I hope to work on the quilt some more tonight!
Busy weekend with work (traveling monday) and my cousin’s graduation all day sunday. But we did manage to do some more siding on the front, we went as high as we could without putting the caps on the windows/door. (which we have to make still.
Siding progress!
Then I spent the evening saturday finishing up my nephew’s quilt! One of his quilts anyway, the other I got all the pieces for applique ready and i can bring it to CA for with me 🙂
Crib quilt finished!
Off to the graduation – and little Fitzy is going to his grandparent’s house for the week – quite an adventure!
What a great weekend, we made a lot of progress on the siding this weekend. It started friday night, we got to work on the window panels on the cupola, the goal was to get the left side window done so we had something to butt the siding up to on the front.
We did a bit more than we ‘had’ to, pretty much sticking to window panels and prep work friday night and saturday. Sunday we then proceeded to install the siding on the front, and a block for the mailbox we plan to build. We got about halfway up and we’re very excited by the progress!
Window panels on the left of the cupolaA few boards we continued, including the start of the window cap around the cupolaOn the back side we cleaned up the existing board and primed it, we didn't finish all the way around yet though.Finishing up the removal of the old siding so we could put up tar paper in prep for siding.Started the cap on the front doorRyan made a new base piece by planing down a piece of 5/4 and then putting an angle on it, then I primed it.We couldn't resist putting one of the window panel pieces in, just looks better that way.A close up of the siding on the right, with the new backplate we put in for a mailboxThe siding - halway done on the front!
That was our weekend, not bad for sleeping in late each day. Hopefully the weather is good next weekend and we can continue the siding on saturday!
It’s been a crazy couple days but finally I can post with some pictures from this weekend. Friday night Ryan sanded and caulked the exterior window panels around the diningroom windows that have been half finished since last fall. Once the caulk was dry I primed them so they are more protected. At some point we need to actually finish them still …
Window panels primed.
Saturday we went down to my sister’s house to visit with family for the weekend. I got to see my little nephew again – he’s still in the NICU but he’s growing steadily! Sunday we had a BBQ with all the family coming down and it was very relaxing. We had a great time.
Monday we spent the day around the house, ryan’s back was bothering him so he relaxed but I worked in the gardens. I finally got them cleaned up, planted my veggies I started from seed 6 weeks ago and planted a few new plants I got before mulching. Every year the plants look more robust, the ones my mom gave me 2 years ago are really full now.
Annual under the front tree (impatiens and coleus)Mint (from mom) and baloon flower along the driveway, hoping the mint will spread to fill this area in the future.Veg garden from last year still has the original oregano, I planted sweet basil (on the right) and the rest is carrots this year.The rest of the veggies got planted in front of the roses this year, squash, cucumber, beans and pees.The lilies were getting overwhelmed by the raspberries so I moved them over to the side and the blueberry pushes were planted in front of them.Perrenial garden is really doign great, new additions include daisies on the right and some smaller colored daisy like plant to the left of them.The mountain bluet, chives and dark geranium are all flowering beautifully! (All from mom 2 years ago)
We’re home this coming weekend, hoping to work on the house, unfortunately Ryan’s back is still bothering him so he’s got to take it easy. I hope to get some stuff done myself though even if he’s not up for it. I’m feeling overwhelmed by the passing spring, need to get more of the summer projects started already 🙂
Well plans don’t always work out and this week no quilting happened Tuesday or Wednesday night due to a continued headache. Yesterday however I had no headache! And after work and a few episodes of Castle while eating dinner, I got to work on the crib quilt again and finished up the top!
It’s not done done as it needs to be quilted but I’d say conservatively this quilt took about 4 hrs to piece maximum, maybe 3. It went really fast and I like the pattern a lot.
Crib quilt for my nephew Jason
I’m very excited to go see little jason this weekend. And once the quilts are done I’ll have another excuse to go down and visit again in a few weeks 🙂
Work has been a bit busy lately because of an impending deadline but after working a bit Sunday and late tonight I am feeling ahead of the game (I was feeling on track but ahead of the game is safer since you never know what will happen the last 2 weeks of testing). I’m feeling good enough that tomorrow night I’m taking the night off to quilt since Ryan isn’t home anyway.
I’m not sure I’ll make it but my goal is to finish the top to the crib quilt. Fitz is not liking all this rain, he doesn’t get his long evening walk when it’s raining like this and it puts him in a whiny mood. Luckily a short walk and some training (he can jump through a hoop now that’s about a foot of the ground so he really has to jump), tires him out enough for bed. Maybe tomorrow he won’t sleep in so late (he’s my alarm clock and he got up late this morning) 🙂
