Weekend project

This weekend my wonderful Aunt Cherie came to visit and we had a great weekend of quilting! She introduced me to the fun and excting world of applique art! Yeah! I also finished another quilt top. When that gets done being quilted I will post pictures of it.

If someone is interested in a somewhat sewing project but not a ton of sewing I would suggest the applique art, way fun and instant gratification. We also visited quite a few quilt shops in the area and took advantage of the nice weather and drove the convertable to visit the quilt shops! What fun!


This quilt is a quilt that I finally finished and sent to my friend Niki, enjoy! You can't tell in the photo but it is flannel.
This is one of the applique art things I did. I also did another one in the same pattern with completely different fabrics but it is not done yet. I haven't found a good border for it yet, so stay tuned.
A little bit closer shot of the chicken...While searching for the perfect fabrics for my chicken I stumbled across a fabric that had drum sticks all over it, I really wanted to base my chicken around that but Cherie put her foot down and said no way, that is too sick!
This is a quilt that my friend Jen finished earlier this week. It is for a friend that just had a baby. It is hard to see in the photo but the fabric has sock monkeys on it. Too cute!

If anyone would like to join me this weekend I am sure that I will be quilting or appliqueing or some other craft project. Too fun!

Photos!

Oh yeah, we also put a mail box. We still have the PO box so you can send us mail to either if you would like. Ron's uncle Dave painted this mailbox for us, pretty cool huh?

more gardening!

Can you say a fantastic weekend?! Friday I took off work early and Ron and I went on the hunt for a rock to place the fountain on. I have been searching for awhile now but have not had much luck in getting the "feeling" of just the right thing.

So we went to this wonderful stone place and it finally all came together. I found some "Light Limestone" from Utah. Not only did we decide to put the fountain on it but we decided that they would also make a really nice border along the flower beds.

So after sorting through a pallet of them we found just the right ones. I am sure that most people think I am crazy but the rocks have to have the right feel and look to come live at my house!

So after the rock place it was too late to go to the nursery but I made it there Saturday and had a REALLY good time! If money was no object for me I am pretty certain I would be working at a nursery, or doing something else with landscaping. I mean really who doesn't love playing in the dirt and watching things grow? I saw a little plaque thing a few weeks ago that said "Gardening is proof that you believe in tomorrow". For some reason that really hit home for me, because I really do think that most people think I am pretty darn cinical (sp?). anyway, I am not, I do believe in tomorrow and look forward to what life has for me everyday.

Now I just get to enjoy it more in my wonderful garden! Oh yeah, so Saturday was pretty much gone with the BBQ and the trip to the nursery so I didn't get anything planted. But Sunday, that was the day of much progress! I also made it to Costco and found some really nice landscape lights. Not the solar kind but the kind that are actually wired in, they are so pretty!

So on Sunday, we got the lights installed, the rocks installed, the fountain hooked up and running, the trellis' hung. Yes I hang my trellis. I don't like hammering them to the wall of the house so I hang them from the overhang, not only does this keep the vines from intruding into the siding of my house, but it also gives the trellis an illusion of floating! Way cool!

So, today I finished the planting, well at least the plants that I have on hand. There is more filler that needs to go in. I also would like to get a Daphne for by the front door so that there is a nice fragrance when you enter the house. I would also like to get a large taller plant/tree of some sort to go on the far end of the house. We were going to put spiral topiary's but I refuse to pay $300 for a twisty tree!

As the things grow and mature I will take more photos but for now you get to pretend to here a light trickle of water while you enjoy the photos of my freshly planted garden...Enjoy! I know I sure do!

The garden is growing!

As you can see things have been growing lately at the Rollins house! The grass is finally starting to really come in. It is a bit patchy but I was expecting that especially with all the rains and snow we had. I have added some rocks to the garden areas and the lavendar is starting to bloom!


The magnolia tree is starting to bloom...

Landscaping

Today we finally started actually planting things! YEAH! So far this is the favorite part of the house building process for me. I love playing in the dirt with plants. I am not very good at it, but I still like to do it.

We finally got all the topsoil spread out and the flower beds laid out where we want them. The one by the driveway is a half circle, hard to tell because my spray lines are worn off, but that is what it will be once the grass is in. By the way, we also put down ferilizer and grass seed today, so please keep your fingers crossed that we have some green stuff growing in the yard soon!

In the bed in this picture we planted, a Hoops Blue Spruce (it was actually our x-mas tree from '06), a Lion's Head Japanese Maple and a Weeping Eastern White Pine. Hopefully the poor little blue spruce doesn't go into shock from finally being out of its pot. The intention with the weeping pine is to get some interesting rocks to stack under the weeping part of it to help hold it up, then I will "train" it (force it whatever you want to call it) to grow/weep along the driveway edge! Warning, I always have huge plans for my landscaping but only about 1% of the plans actually work out. I will keep you posted.

Closer of the same bed...
A different shot of the same bed...
We also planted a Melrose Semi-Dwarf Apple, a Elizabeth Magnolia and a Fuji Semi-Dwarf Apple along the front of the yard parallel to the road. The third tree is hard to see since it has no leaves but it really is there. The Magnolia is a yellow one and I can't wait to see it's blooms. Although they are messy when they drop the flowers, and they only flower once a year I will throughly enjoy it. I would imagine I will be like on Dennis the Menance when they are waiting for the one plant to open at midnight...
Ron raking in the fertilizer and grass seed. YEAH!
Can you tell I am excited? I love this! I have been searching for just the right fountain for the front flower bed and haven't found it yet. As soon as I do though I will be getting that bed planted and I will again post some new pictures. Stay tuned because one of the flowers in that bed will hopefully be a Camella trained to a trellis! How pretty will that be?! I hope! HEHE!

Just a couple of tips when going to a nursery make sure to check out the clearance plants. At least one of the trees we bought today was in clearance for 50% off. Can you tell which one? Maybe we will be able to tell later when it is dead, but it is worth a shot! Also, the cost normally doubles on fruit trees if they are in the pot. So if you want fruit trees try to get them early on, before they start to pop out any leaves when they are still bare root because they are half the cost! YEAH!

Topsoil

the view was beautiful today...

We brought in topsoil and I can't wait to start planting plants and to actually have grass instead of mud. Yes, of course the day we brought it in and started spreading it, the skies opened up and lit it dump so we really have more mud than topsoil, but it will dry it, hopefully!


I threw this shot in because this is where Ron is going to add another wall (about 2-3 bricks high) and this is going to be Trevor and I's vegetable garden. I ahve never had a veggie garden so it might just turn out to be the weed area but it is worth a shot!

New windows

One of the new windows in the basement. Next will be electrical and plumbing install.

Other new window in basement. We decided to install windows so that we can call these rooms bedrooms.
The wonderfully HUGE sectional that we rec'd from TK and Bill, Thanks! It also has a full size hide a bed so that we have another place for people to crash during our all night scrapbook adventures. They also gave us a queen size bed, we put that upstairs in the guest bed but the full size that was in there will now reside in the basement also! Yeah!

One more picutre

This is of the excercise room or media room. Basically another room that we can't call a bedroom because it has no windows.

It begins again!

The "kitchenette" will be just to the right of the window. One of the bedrooms will be on the other side of the wall that you see. There will also be a window added in that room in a few weeks.
This is of the same bedroom just showing where the door is (all the way to the right) and the closet is also on the far wall all the way to the right.
This picture is taken from the same spot just the other way. The first little wall is actually a closet with a "toy area" for lack of better description behind it. Like a little nook or something I guess. Mainly these are to hide plumbing and such from upstairs. The room behind it is another bedroom. This bedroom door is in the middle of the wall and the closet is to the far left of the room and runs the whole length of the room.
This is another shot of the "toy area" or maybe an "office" area. I don't know what to call it yet.
This is of the bathroom, which will have a tub (obviously) toilet, sink, washer and dryer in it. Yes we already have a laundry room upstairs but thought it might be nice to have one downstairs for washing dog beds/horse stuff/Trevor's clothes. You would be suprised how many people ask me where I do my laundry now when I show/tell them there is going to be a laundry room downstairs.

We decided to start plugging away at the basement, and so now the framing is done. This will be a very slow process as we are now poor, yet still trying to pay cash for the basement stuff. So don't expect many updates on the basement stuff.

More!

This is the "Grey Ghost" that Ron bought on the cruise we went on. It seemed a little smaller on the boat. Hmmmm...
This is the only other none horse art that we have hung up right now. We will be decorating the office in dog stuff, I think and the guest room in other stuff, not sure what yet.
These are the Roman shades that I made with the wonderful help of Jen and Cherie. Okay, I just ironed!

More art!

We have stuff on the walls!