quiet weekend

It has been a quiet weekend.  There have been a few errands to run but I really wanted to work on Miss J's quilt.  I have other sewing projects I want to work on as well and am excited about but I would really like to be able to mail this off.  

I got the back finished and the pinning/basting done.  All the time, I was listening to an audiobook from the library.

At this point, it is over half quilted.  I may get some more time at the sewing machine today.  I may not.  Sweet Small Mister is back from his Dad's and his Mom is working so we have him.  I also have a skating lesson and there is the possibility of a movie in our evening.  

Quiet weekends are always quite full.

more letterpress - steps back

Saturday, I spent a good amount of time working with my letterpress.  I did pull some nice prints but there was a lot that I was not happy with.  It felt like a day that I went backwards.  The heat did not help either.  The ink was getting tacky.  It was really hard to clean up it was so tacky.

At the end of the month, I am taking my press and working with a gentleman in New Jersey.  I am excited by both the time to learn but also getting out of the town.  It has not been the hottest summer in Houston but I could do with a change of scenery.  We drove a bit out of town for dinner the other night mostly to see hills.  A change of scenery.  

adirondack

I like adirondack chairs.  I actually have an adirondack rocker that I bought myself during graduate school.  It was the one gift I bought myself as a summer intern when I was making three times a month what I made during the school year.  Since I only worked 2 1/2 months, I saved the rest for when it got tight or little tiny things like Christmas or birthdays.

When the Small Mister was born, we let the Tall Short Person use my Beloved's overstuffed rocker.  This means we have been without a chair for a bit of time.  There is a blog I read, Ana White's blog, that had a couple of adirondack designs.  Ana White actually did a class for Home Depot.  After reading this blog, my thought on most furniture is "I can do that."  Like I need anymore projects!  But this one I really wanted to do.

I bought the lumber with the help of my Beloved and Small Mister.

You have to realize that I thought I was building this but due to wood and power tools being involved, I became the assistant.

I had lots of help measuring.

With a few screw ups, the chair went together in a couple of hours.

We used plane white board (fir or pine, cheapest on the shelf).

And exterior screws.  The screws were the most expensive bit of the whole project.  The project called for wood glue but we did not use any.

We have a new chair.  I find it very comfortable.

We pushed back the mess and the chair has found a home in our main living space.  Actually, mess is gone too.  What an impetuous to clean:  new furniture.  I have a place to sit now when I come home from work.  We need to make a few of these for the land.  Maybe even one with rockers so I can still have a rocking chair.  Short people have a tendency to end up in my lap and spin or read or rock.

and here is what I did

This is what I did between cooking meals and watching children.  Everyone else worked on the shed but I move gravel and fixed the drive and the road.  My Mom was a lovely help with this bit.  Actually bit is such an understatement.  We worked hard together.  We also kept the fire going.

The next day, I fixed the road in the rain.  Our road to the top of the mountain has not had a lot of attention over the years.  Having the D-7, tractor, Lowe's truck, and gravel truck did not really help anything.  And then it rained.  My Beloved, the Tall Short Person, and her Love went off the road in the Suburban.  I had not even been thinking on fixing that part.  I knew there were soft parts all the way down.  I was headed down the mountain one wheel barrow at a time.  They went off the road close to our neighbor's property.  I tell people it was up and down 110 yards but it was more then that.  Getting the wheel barrow up the mountain empty was as much work as getting the wheel barrow full down the mountain.  Getting it down was not easy because it just wanted to go!

Talk about a tired chilled lady at the end of this day.

the shed

We really love the land but the main reason we went up there this time was to build a shed.  We had people who know one end of a hammer from another but had never built a building.  We had a book.  I have actually  had a bit of carpentry expierence but my work on the land has a lot to do with keeping people fed, dishes washed, trailer swept, rebuilding the driveway and road, and then I had time to help help.  We had small hands.  We had large hands.  But not having that experience showed.

My Beloved wished he had started with a chicken coop and understands the meaning of square and level.  When we built the floor, I told him it was not level.  And we really did not build 12' x 12'.  That was part of the problem.  Like I said learning.  A chicken coop is next.

 

My Dad had some helpful suggestions but I am not sure how helpful my Beloved and the Tall Short Person's Love thought he was.  I think that had a lot to do with when in the process the advice was given.

 

The short people learned a bit about building.  The hammer was used and so was the tape measure.  My Beloved taught the small people how to measure.  We heard a lot of counting.  Small Mister wanted much more chain saw even though last time he was terrified.

We did a lot of the work in the rain.  It was a good soaking rain and it was in the high 50's, low 60's.  It meant that people got cold and were very thankful for the roof.  I was actually the one who got the most chilled but I was moving gravel to repair the driveway and road.  We ran out of roof 3/4s of the way through and had to get more.  

 

The shed is more then 3/4s done.  We still need to close up under the eaves and around the roof.  But there is a place to put tools and lock the door.  We are thinking about a bath house next.  The chicken coop and dog house next on the list so there can be more practice on a small scale and male bonding work parties.  I am told there will be no beer but cold bean salad.  I have interesting people in my life.  I cannot be as specific as to say men.

Can I say I am tired of breaking computer and vehicles, down internet providers and blog hosts?  Technology this week has been working against me.  My treadle sewing machine, spinning wheel, and letterpress are all fine.  So is the cast iron and the yeastie beasties in the sourdough.  And why do dresses not last longer the two years?  It has been an interesting week if I do say so myself.

By the way, I have been having problems with computers, internet, and hosting so if you do not see me here, you know why.  I do not have pictures on my phone that work yet.