Interior decorating

I tend to keep things very simple when I decorate.  There's not a lot of stuff sitting around my house because I dislike dusting.  Most of my interior decorating schemes follow the "less means less dusting" theme.  I'd rather have stuff on the wall than sitting on a shelf or table.

I was recently digging through my stitching fabric storage (a blueprint flat file) when I noticed a couple of pieces I'd done in 2007, "Calamity Pippi" and "Beau Leggy" by Ink Circles.  I had the frame, glass, and foam core board all ready for them, I just hadn't gotten around to framing them.  So I did.
  
Then I had to find the right place to put them.  They ended up on DH's dresser with "Texas Nutcracker" by Mosey 'n' Me hanging on the wall over them along with a rustic bluebonnet hanging DH and I got at Canton First Monday many years ago.  

DH thinks I need to stick something over the nutcracker to even things out, and we found a pattern of a Colt .45 gun in my stash that I'll stitch as soon as I get done with "America."  The gun pattern I found on the orphan pattern table at a retreat; it's from 1977.  

LoneStar

WIP update

Here's my WIP, "America" by Blackbird Designs, as of today.  I think this is probably the funnest thing I've stitched ever.  I'll be a little sad when I get it finished.

LoneStar

Summer is blazing by

I can't believe a whole week has gotten past me; summer always seems to fly by (as opposed to winter which crawls coldly along).  

Monday, I had jury duty.  In all of my years as a registered voter not attending college, this is the first time I've been called up.  It was as tedious as expected.  (Note to self: if you take your Kindle with you to read while waiting, make sure it is charged up.)  The case we were to hear was settled without need of the jury, but it took the judge and the lawyers three hours to get to that point.  

Since I couldn't read, I passed the time by people watching.  Lawyers look like lawyers, but in Texas a great many of them wear fancy cowboy boots.  Some of my fellow jurors came in off the ranch.  A lot of women wear stupid shoes that will eventually damage their feet, with spike heels that cause them to slip on the cement staircase.  Spike heels make you walk like you have a corncob stuck up your bohonkus; it ain't sexy.  Young women who are dancers can fold themselves up into small corners while reading books.  Most people under thirty amuse themselves by playing with their phones.  People over thirty read newspapers or books.  The Texas Ranger I saw had a decided limp.  The parole officer attending was pretty scary looking; he'd frighten me into behaving if I needed his services.  Some folks will talk to anybody, and others you know to leave alone.  A local police officer gave me a start as he looked exactly like my cousin's husband.  Some people can sleep anywhere.

We've been working on the bathroom and I expect to be painting stuff for most of the coming week.  DH is out in his workshop making doors for cabinetry as I type.  They will be among the items I must paint.

I have been stitching some on "America" and am having a blast stitching it.  I'll post an update tomorrow.  As I stitched yesterday afternoon, DH and Emma vegged out on the couch for a bit.

 

I'm working on framing a couple of pieces I finished year before last.  They've been languishing in a drawer waiting for framing.  I've been doing a little interior decorating and finally have a place to display them.  Once I get them framed and in their proper place, I'll post a picture.

LoneStar

He's got it pegged

DH has been nesting in his shop most of the weekend.  He spent yesterday getting all his lumber properly located.  He says he feels like he's moved all of it around the shop at least twice.  He also did more organizing.  

As he thought he'd lost them, he was very happy to find his pegboard tool racks when he was looking for something else; they were buried in the bottom of an old toolbox.  So he went to Lowe's for some pegboard to hang up all those tool racks and hang tools from the old toolboxes out where they'd be easy to find.

On another note, it's so hot today that the caulk DH is using is practically setting up as it comes out of the nozzle!  But in the last 15 minutes, clouds have rolled in and it is sprinkling rain and thundering and lightning outside.  If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a bit as it is sure to change.

LoneStar 

Paint your wagon

I realize that I am not posting a lot this summer.  Blame the paint.  It seems as if I am spending the majority of my days painting or polyurethaning something.  This week I have been finishing up the painting in DH's workshop.  I finished it before lunch.  Whee-e-o!!

This afternoon I am going out riding on the riding mower for a bit.  The driveway is "shuushhhhing" the underside of the car/truck due to the high grass and it needs attention.  

Next week, or possibly starting this weekend, I'll be painting the cabinet in the bathroom.  I'm happy at least that I will be inside in the air conditioning for this paint job; all the painting and polyurethaning I've done in DH's workshop has been in the heat.  And boy! has it been hot.

Speaking of hot, why is it that people complain about the heat?  It seems like every message board or blog I've read this week has people complaining about the heat.  It's summer time folks; it gets hot in the summer.  I love the summer.  I like the heat.  I don't like cold weather or snow.  I guess that's why I live in the south.

I'm enjoying stitching on "America" when I'm not reading.  It's coming along and it's a very fun stitch.

LoneStar

Too much water and things that creep in the night

Yesterday afternoon, as the grass had finally dried enough to mow and rain was forecasted for the evening, I got out the push mower and mowed the front inside yard.  I was nearly done when I accidentally hit the outside faucet water pipe with the mower.  This resulted in an instant gushing yard-drowning stream of water.  Luckily, I hit the pipe right above the shut off valve, so I got the water shut off quickly.  So there I was, covered in grass, dirt, mud, and pollen with no way to take a shower as I'd just had to turn off all the water to the house!  Ugh.

So I called my knight in shining armor (okay, a button-down shirt and khaki pants), and he got off work a little early to fix the pipe after making a plumbing supply stop at Lowe's.  I had to take a couple of pictures of the pipe and send them to DH so he'd know what he needed to buy at Lowe's to fix it.  DH soon had water flowing again and I got my shower.  Finally.

At about 2:10 a.m. this morning, I woke up and turned over in bed.  I wake up several times a night and usually go right back to sleep.  So there I was, lying comfortably in bed with my good ol' CPAP mask strapped to my face and drowsing back to sleep.  Suddenly, I felt a multi-legged creature run over my lips and up the side of my nose and face.  I brushed frantically at my face, sat up, ripped off my CPAP mask, and leaped out of bed.  I didn't holler because it's hard to holler with a CPAP mask on.  Of course, all this commotion this woke up DH.  He asked if I was alright.  "Of course I'm not alright," I exclaimed, "a bleepin' spider just ran across my face!!!"

So we turned on the lights and DH searched for and killed the offending arachnid.  I, of course, had a hard time going back to sleep after the adrenalin rush of finding a spider on my face.  Cursed spider!

I am really enjoying stitching on "America" and plan to spend the afternoon stitching.  May y'all have a spider-free afternoon and evening!

LoneStar

Bump the BAP!

Well, I've decided to ignore the BAP for awhile.  I'm planning to take it to the I35 Stitchtogether on Saturday and work on the never-ending border, so I'm not completely ignoring it.  Maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder.  ;-) 

I'm now stitching on "America" by Blackbird Designs.  The cover model was stitched on 10 count Betsy Ross linen which I do not have in my stash.  So I decided to stitch it on a piece of regular linen that I do have in my stash.  I chose to use 32 count Exemplar by Lakeside Linens.  I ended up changing a few colors to more suit the linen.  Those cover model pictures on patterns never seem to match "real life" do they?  Oh well.  That's why I have a whole set of DMC to pick and choose from.  And so far, it is a joy to stitch; great colors, easy pattern, and NO confounded confetti stitches!

LoneStar

Whee-e-o! A finish!

I managed to finish the backstitching on "Santa Claws" this morning.  Here he is all ready to be finish-finished.  He is stitched on 28 count tea-dyed Monaco with DMC.  He will probably be an ornament, but I haven't ruled out making him into a stand-up instead.  

LoneStar

Hurricane blues

Independence Day - Happy Fourth of July!  
(That's red, white, and blue if you didn't cotton on quick.)

No, we haven't been blown away or flooded out by Hurricane Alex, but it has made our lives miserable this last week.  The pressure system from this hurricane is parked over much of Texas and DH and I have had major problems with our sinuses.  We've both kind of felt like one of the living dead and our brains have taken a vacation without us.  Or maybe an alien sucked out our brains - who knows?

I haven't stitched much this week thanks to the weather; not being in my right mind, I was afraid of heavy frog visits.  DH is working on the cabinet for the new bathroom (with Emma's help).  He should get finished installing it over this long weekend, and then I will paint it.

LoneStar