It's a beautiful day

Oh my gosh - yesterday was such a beautiful day. I got back from the walk with the girls and we sat out on the deck with NO jacket on to enjoy my tea. I was sitting in the direct sunlight so it was warm and it was glorious.

I spent a good part of the afternoon out there as well. I had lunch outside, then retired to the gazebo with my book. I'm sure I had a wee snooze or two and that's OK. We're lucky the way our yard is positioned as we get sun in the morning and throughout most of the day. This brings up a good point when you're buying a house.

We LOVE a house that is filled with light. The moment we walked into this house, we knew it was for us. However, we didn't know what benefits we were getting when we bought it. Our house faces the sun for the afternoon so in the winter, after you've shoveled the driveway, the sun melts all the little bits that didn't get shoveled away so the driveway is dry.

Throughout the day, we get sun in the backyard in different spots, but a great deal of sun. Those are things that you don't know when you walk into a potential house and unless you stay there the entire day, you might not think about those things. We certainly didn't, although now that I think about it, our last three houses (including this one) have all been within 10 minutes of each other and all of them have faced in the same direction. This one is angled slightly off from the others so we get more sun. Yeah!!!!

The Debbie Downers would say that all that sunlight fades things and the hot sun dries out the plants in the backyard. I don't care - it's just furniture. That the dog (guess who?) secretly removes the foil from the seats and sleeps on at night!! And that's partially why we have mulch.

Anyway - something to think about - we LOVE the sun, although we are not sun worshipers.

So the two Zoom classes went amazingly well. I'm thrilled with this format and as I said yesterday, I've got ideas on how to take this further. I think everyone was excited to see each other and we had a group chat which we haven't had in some time. That was great. I almost felt a bit deflated when I ended the second meeting!

I've got one more document to finish writing up this morning so I can get that sent out and a few seams to sew on some of the blocks and then I'm all caught up with those four classes. There's another assignment due this coming Friday! Oh yes - with FIVE of these ongoing classes - it takes some planning to keep up, but so far so good.

Our front yard is not huge. All that mulched area - that's our front yard. Which suits us fine as who sits in their front yard anyway??  The green grass belongs to our neighbor.

Our front yard

Yes - I need to get out there and cut down that grass as there is already new growth for this year. I should have done that yesterday when the weather was so nice. There are a couple of hostas living in that mulched area.

The front yard from the other angle

Now there is a small patch of grass attached to this property. It's on the boulevard section of the street. This belongs to the City and so we didn't touch it. We have a push mower to do that small patch or our neighbor does it for us. I don't know why cities are not promoting getting rid of the grass thing to more people. In all my walking around this area, there is NO ONE else who has done what we've done.

The small patch of grass that belongs to the city

I would love to find some flat rocks to paint into colorful flowers to put on the mulch. I saw that on social media and it's very cute. Now, who has some kids with nothing to do? I need kids, paint, and flat rocks. Can you buy flat rocks?

The fish were happily swimming around the pond yesterday. I'm still trying to get rid of more leaves from the bottom so it's less stuff to decay and make a mess. And the lily pads are starting to grow and I imagine the leaves will be hitting the surface by the end of the week. The fish will be glad as it's going to provide some protection. I saw a large shadow fly over the backyard yesterday. Not sure if it was a heron or not, but Murphy was outside so there was no danger of the heron landing in the yard.

The fish pond

I haven't seen any baby fish yet this year. They are black so very hard to see, but so many of last years' babies survived.

We have a retirement/nursing home near us and as we walked by yesterday, I saw this sign outside. It's a bit hard to read - but it says "heroes work here". This is the same place that had the blue and yellow ribbons a while back. I don't know what their situation is for COVID-19, but I'm sure like all the other homes, that they have been hit. I'm just not sure how hard. At least it isn't one of the really bad ones that were mentioned in the news.

Heroes work here!

I did a wee bit more tidying yesterday. I found a cover for my serger so it now has a cover to protect it from the dust and lint that collects with amazing speed.

Cover for the serger

I also found a home for the accessory box of the Ruby which sits in my small portable cabinet. It wasn't easy and I ended up having to lift out the plastic insert and moving the machine slightly to wedge the accessory box beside the machine. Then I moved the machine back in place and reinstalled the plastic insert.

The accessory box beside the sewing machine

Will it fall off the shelf? Not likely as it's wedged against one of the bars that hold the shelf in place.

The accessory box is wedged against the bar holding the shelf

So that's a good thing. If ever I want to pack up the machine and I'll want that accessory box, I know where it is. I may not remember, but I'll see it when I take the sewing machine out of the cabinet. There's nothing in that accessory box that I need. I have duplicates of all the feet so that's good. It's a good thing to have multiple machines from the same brand and they all can share feet.

Here's another UFO I found. For a long time, I had wanted to make some doll clothes for an 18" doll. No reason - just wanted to make some. I had this pattern and found all this with the pattern. The shirt is finished except for sewing on the buttons. The pants need hemming and elastic for the waistband. Lucky for me, this elastic was with the project. That all got tucked into a bag and is going in one of the two boxes that are currently housing UFOs.

One more UFO

This is one of the ongoing projects that we're working on. Technically, this is one that we're doing at The Hobby Horse. It's a block of the month called Celebration. The pattern is colored quite weirdly, but we'll all taking our own direction with it. I recreated the quilt using EQ8 and shared the file with those that have the program. We got to see some of their virtual quilts yesterday as well as fabrics that they're going to use. It was quite fun!!

Celebration quilt

This is my center block. No show and tell from the others yet as they just got the first homework assignment yesterday. I do have other show and tell to share with you - just need to get the photos together.

My center block for the Celebration quilt

Now that the table in the office is cleared off, I might be encouraged to grab a few things and start tidying up. I've already removed a couple of things so that's progress. Of course, the table isn't quite clear anymore. It has the paperwork that I need to work on for this week and now that I can see what needs to be done - I might be inclined to get it done. I'll see how it goes, but sometimes, it just takes an intervention (like setting up for Zoom) to make things happen.

OH shoot - I see I've got a few windows open in my browser. ACK!!!  Here's a couple to share with you. I love this one - some brilliant ways to recreate some famous paintings. If you haven't seen these - it's a quick look.

And look at this 89-year old sewing up a storm to the Beatles. She's making masks!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. I've loads that I want to do today since I goofed off for most of yesterday. I'm perfectly fine with that. All the pressing deadlines are met. A few more things to be done for tomorrow, but nothing that a few minutes at the computer won't fix.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!