The Front Porch Back Story

Today my husband finished replacing the steps on our front porch - and there was much rejoicing.  Ostensibly, this was the completion of a 2 year project - started July 2012 - when we prepared to replace the decking on our front porch, realized the porch was rotted through, and ended up tearing out the porch AND the concrete steps AND the entire front sidewalk.

True to our usual style, we jumped in to DIY mode and figured it all out - or so we thought.

The porch was rebuilt the first season - but we ran out of warmer temperatures here in western NY and could not pour the new concrete for the sidewalk in time... and the stairs could not be replaced until the new concrete was down.

The concrete took us ALL of last summer.  Granted we ran into a few snags - like the mold we used to make our cobblestone looking walkway only held 40 lbs of concrete - but the instructions had said 60 - so we had extra from every batch that had to be cast into something or thrown away (no - not that!) - so birdbaths and stepping stones and more were made... it was a slow process.

And again - we ran out of good weather before we could stain and seal the concrete.

Finally - this spring, after ridding the sidewalk of thousands of baby maple tress, we got it cleaned and stained and sealed - and the step replacement began.

The true significance, however, is not the steps.. or the porch... or the sidewalk...

It is that during this time, hubby also replaced the front door AND installed a new lockset.

See - when we purchased our house in 2001, it came complete with a gumwood door and the original 1929 lockset - which was broken.  Because it was vintage - the door was cut differently than you would for a modern lockset - so it was either get that lock fixed ($$), buy another vintage lock ($$$), or replace the entire door ($$$$).  We opted to keep the door deadbolted (with blue painters tape holding the latch open) and come and go through the side door - which was the cost-free option.   We had never been able to use our front door as our main portal - we'd go in and out when we were home -but never had we come home and unlocked the front door to go inside.

Finally, after having a home heating assessment done, we realized that the old door was a liability and opted for the total replacement.  Finally - a lock that worked... but that happened while we were still without steps...

... so today was a first.  We left the house to go out for a Memorial Day picnic - exiting out the front and closing and locking it behind us - then coming home, up the steps, and opening up our front door to go inside.

It felt really really really good!

Things that get in the way...

Sometimes it is just hard to find the time for everything I want to work on. In the summer especially - my sewing gets short shrift because there is so much else going on.  I normally sew from the time my son heads to bed until my bedtime - usually by the time I get upstairs that is 8:30 - 10:30 or 11.

With a later summertime bedtime - I've lost an hour - and that really wipes out my momentum.
It's also hot upstairs - even with the A/C... which wipes out my motivation.

So I sew when I can - and shift a lot of my focus to some other projects.
Like these:

Perler bead quilt blocks made by the Munchkin - magnets will be added and these will be sold at our guild quilt show in August.

Perler bead sewing machines - vintage or modern.  Again -will have magnets added.

Black raspberries -with a few wild strawberries thrown in  Have been harvesting about 9 cups at a time- though they are starting to taper off.  My first batch of jam this season was overcooked- so was like fruit leather in a jar.  Freezing the rest and will try again when the weather cools.

This is our BIG summer project - replacing the sidewalk we tore out last year.  The only hitch has been the mold takes 60# bags of concrete - and we ordered 80# bags (that's what the website said... oops!)  So I get to play with the leftovers.

Casting stepping stones over rhubarb leaves with leftover concrete.

Making handprints and concrete votive candle holders.

Cast a rhubarb leaf in a curve over a pile of sand.

And more handprints.  Basically anything that can hold concrete has been cast.

And this doesn't even cover the growing that's going on in the garden.... I will leave that for another post.
 

Birthday Party #3 - the Cake-inator

This year's entry into Hubby's album of AWESOME CAKES. The Birthday Cake-inator was born of the imaginations of Hubby and the Munchkin, inspired by the Disney show Phineas and Ferb.

It was awesome, it was yummy, and the family that gathered devoured about half of it - the rest went in to work with Matt to be enjoyed by his co-workers.

And Party #3 was complete. This one is a lot easier - as the cake is the "centerpiece" and that is all Matt's doing. I just clean, prep the munchies, and wrap the presents.

The Munchkin had a GREAT day and LOVED his cake!!!

Candlestick Horses

Tonight we spent about 90 minutes in the dark, courtesy of a blown transformer on the pole just in front of our house. 9 of our neighboring houses joined us in this little outage - while others nearby were blazing bright, with lights in every window and Christmas lights on every lawn.

The temperature? A blistering 9 degrees F.

While Hubby worked diligently outside, connecting our generator to the furnace, sump pumps, fridge and freezer - keeping us warm and dry, and saving the products of our summer gardening efforts, I was inside, twiddling my thumbs by candlelight. The Munchkin was tucked warmly in bed, under layers of quilts, contentedly going to sleep knowing Daddy had things under control.

I had planned on cutting some felt horses out this evening... so I figured I would do it anyway - by candlelight. How hard could it be? Quilters and crafters in the pre-electric days had worked by candlelight, right? And with my big Yankee Candle jar candle, I should be fine...

Right??

Wow - it was so much harder than I thought! I was cutting dark colored felt with dark colored markings, and every time I shifted the felt to get a better angle with the scissors, it got between me and the candle and then I lost the line. Maybe if I had a second candle behind me - but that would have been just decadent!

I cut out 6 felt horses - and these will be my "candlestick horses" - when I get them all done, I will post them - and set them up side by side with the ones cut with those newfangled electric lights.

I can't even imagine sewing, darning, embroidering, or more in that light... and I hope it is not something I will need to get used to.

Lets chalk it up to an evening "interestingly" occupied... and great thanks to Hubby and the village electric crew for braving the cold and getting us back in the brightly lit present so quickly.

The Missing Cake

The custom deluxe Cakes by Daddy began on the Munchkin's 2nd birthday, and to date I have been bragging on cakes for years 3, 4 and 5.

I realized I never posted Cake 2.

Here it is: And yes -those are chocolate covered donuts for the tires - this also entailed some waffles.

The Perfect Storm

The past few days we have been getting bombarded by snow. Not DC/Virginia/NYC snow - but a good foot or so of nice, wet, packing snow.

With some milder temperatures today, no wind to speak of, and a house full of HEALTHY people for a change - it was the perfect recipe for some fun in the snow.


First we got all suited up - thanks to some great hand me downs from Uncle Bill and family, and a wonderful polar fleece from Disney, the Munchkin was nice and warm.

The first order of business was building a snow family. Matt was busy snowblowing the driveway - which was a daunting task due to the drifting, and the sidewalk plow, and the snowplow residue at the end of the driveway - so the Munchkin and I picked a spot on the opposite side of the house, within view of the dining room windows, to build our family.

The one on the left is Daddy - constructed the old fashioned way by packing the snow into a pile and building up and up and up. Very tiring as the snow is very heavy and wet.

We soon got smart and grabbed some buckets to build Mommy - in the middle. A packed bucket of snow, then some packed on the outside for rounding and shape, and then another sized bucket and a smaller one - this went together so quick.

Two buckets combined made the Munchkin - and a few handfuls made Snow Maggie (on the ground in front of the Munchkin). Carrot noses, black eyed susan seed pod eyes and a few carrots rounded out these characters - no handy branches for arms so we used stalks of black eyed susan's... the birds will be happy!

Then the Munchkin decides he wants a fort - so Mommy starts building some walls using the bucket-of-snow method. Matt has by now finished the driveway and gets in to help - and one thing leads to another and we end up with this:

And most importantly - with this...

The Perfect Storm -all the way around!!!

Turn the Page

My calendar loving son has been fascinated with the approach of year-end, especially since it is also marks the last page in his beloved wall calendar. Santa made sure to bring him a new calendar for 2010, but we spent the last few hours of 2009 reviewing the old calendar and flipping through photo files on the computer to remember some of our great activities this year.

I won't give a play by play - but here's a bit of our year in review. What a great time!

Happy New Year everyone!

Rock on!

Little accomplishments

I was AWOL the better part of November, preparing for a craft show. It went well, and now it is over and I can set my sights on finishing up what I hoped to finish by the end of the year. Some things are Christmas gifts, some are not.

Today I finished up a quilt that is a gift for a friend "just because" - it just so happens that it will be sent off around Christmas. Since it is a surprise (well -the person knows they are getting a quilt, just not what it looks like) -I will just show you a little tiny peek...


OK - that's it.
Today I finished the top by adding the borders and was able to set it aside and work on another project - finishing up the Block of the Month for the Munchkin. Tonight I got two more blocks done on that - bringing me to 8 of 12... and after that I will still need to piece the sashing and borders. This will probably be a birthday quilt for his 5th birthday in February.

I struggled a bit with block 8 -block 7 went together nicely. I am doing this scrappily, so the most time consuming part of each block is picking the fabrics and making sure I have enough to do the block. The sashing and pieced border are supposed to come from these same fabrics, and you cut them as you go along. I have not had large enough pieces to be able to do that for all the fabrics, and will supplement with more scraps for the borders when I get to that point. It is using up a lot of odds and ends though - which is really fun. The truth will be when I lay it all out and see what the overall crazy effect is! I think all the white in the outer part of the blocks and in the sashing will really tie it all together.


And since I have not posted a picture of my boys in a while - here's the Munchkin and Hubby with the first batting lesson!!!