Im 2016 we enlarged our deck about 4 feet. That 4 feet was not protected by the porch roof. Ended up having to have it stained several times as the sun was giving it a beating. When we had it stained this last time we talked to him asking what would he recommend. We loved his idea of a pergola across the front and then covered with Apollo Skypoly. Last Thursday they got started and finished it up this past Monday. Because of the way the house is built he had to do some creative modifications as to gutters etc. They did a fantastic job. The Skypoly about 1/4 inch thick, uv rated and has a good garentee against hail damage. Fortunately we didn’t have to worry about that this past Saturday night. Round Rock was hit with baseball size hail, a lot of damage to cars and homes. We were far enough East we just had some much needed rain.
Prep workA collage of pictures. The last two- deck at night looking towards the kitchen/family room. Last one opposite direction. Master bedroom on the left. The devk looks much bigger now as we don’t need to have the big umbrellas up. I think we will enjoy it more now. Lady does!!!
If you are local and reading this. L.Miller Decking Solutions and he is a neighnor. Nice to keep it local and deal with a small business.
We had the trees trimmed on the 5th. The big stuff is off the roof in the back and crowns raised on others. They were here all day working in the 100 degree heat.
We did go to Salt Grass Steak house on Wednesday for our anniversary. They had Prime Rib that day. It was good too.
We had unexpected visitors at the LCRA retention lake near us. 2 Rosetta Spoonbills. Galen got a couple of pictures. Here’s one of them. They have continued their trip south.
Maybe we will see this one when we go to Rockport!
While sorting through quilting stuff found a top that needed to be quilted. This one along with 2 others went to Osie for quilting. We traded, 2 that she quilted back to me and 3 to her for quilting! Also gave her 15 boxes of fabric for Linus.
Quilt top. Backing, and boxes for Linus
The past few days been spending more time at my machine. Found some kits that are quick. No sense putting them away for later.
From Fat Quarter ShopOn the design wallRows are webbed, will finish it later this week
And also found this Skinny Tablerunner Kit. Really nice bright batiks. 2 kits, both done and ready to be quilted.
We finally had some rain- 1 1/2 inches over several days. Not near enough but it’s a start. The plants sure were happy. And temperatures in the low to mid- 90’s are most welcomed! We’ve been taking advantage of our deck. We still have Hummingbirds coming into our feeders and also the few flowers that are blooming. And seeing a lot of the smaller birds at our feeders. Of course Lady is on squirrel patrol.
We are having more work done on our deck later this week. Won’t be able to enjoy it for a few days but it will be nice once it’s finished.
Funny things one remembers- I remember growing up Labor Day was the official end of summer and one shouldn’t wear white shoes!! Probably white slacks, dresses and skirts too.
Galen was away for a few days last week Getting back on Friday, they had an interesting trip on I-37. There had been a shooting in Corpus Christie. The suspect tried to out run the Police on I-37. They put spikes across the road, he got out of his pick up wearing an armored vest and shooting. Not a smart move on his part. Fortunately no one else was hurt, but it was a good 90 minutes before traffic slowly started to move in either direction. This all started about 30 minutes earlier, so Galen was not close to any of it. Their plans of getting back early on the Friday before Labor day didn’t quite work out, but they still weren’t too late.
White he was away I found more partial blocks to press, measure and trim. If I ever get all this organized it will be amazing! 3 1/2 inch 4 patches. Think these will end up being centers for some scrappy star blocks. The red and black half square triangles were from me not using the correct size triangle paper! No problem, will get used some where.
I was able to get the rest of the blocks made for the Strips and Strings Rail Fence I had posted earlier. 48 blocks. On Saturday I put the top together using the webbing method. That took me a little while to get used too when I did it for the quadrille quilt last month. But it makes more sense the more I do it. Basically chain piecing rows together!! Everything lines up and doesn’t get mixed up! The top isn’t quite this bright-nice sunny day. But it is colorful! The top is about 54 by 72. Nice throw size. And no it did not make a dent in my scraps!
I have been enjoying watching the Hummingbirds coming into our feeders. The feeders are getting more activity this year since the heat and drought have really taken a toll on the flowers. We have some blooming but not like normal years. The Firebush is doing well as is the Pride of Barbados but not many others. Took this one thru a window with my phone. Not the best picture.
Lady and I took advantage of cooler mornings and had our morning coffee on the deck. Had been missing being able to do that. No it hadn’t rained, had just given some plants a drink.
Tomorrow is our 53rd wedding anniversary but we also have trees being trimmed tomorrow so will fix a nice dinner at home and we will go out later in the week. We need to get some big branches off that are over our roof once again. Hopefully we won’t have a winter like we had in 2021 and this year but you never know. It’s hard to imagine with all that came down or split and needed to come off after the ice storm in February, but the one big Live Oak really took off and unfortunately over the house roof. This evening we will have to get all the birdfeeders down and out of the way.
Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend and have a good rest of the week.
Still hot, enough said! Spent last week filling boxes with fabric for Linus Connection. They will get the fabric into quilts faster than I can. We have Farmbox delivery just about every week. (Texas produce and meat). Linus likes this size of box, easier for lifting.
11 boxes, also 2 not in the photo!
While cleaning out big boxes I found this pattern. It’s my Wedding Dress. Funny to find it right now with our anniversary next week.
Love the price $3.00 in 1970. Mom made my dress. We found the satin at a warehouse and remenant store outside of Reading. Mom found most of my fabrics for gowns there. College recital gowns etc. All told, my Wedding Gown cost all of $100.00. I didn’t find the pattern for the wedding party dresses that I made. We kept everything simple including their dresses. Princess line dress that could be shortened afterwards. Fun to reminisce a little.
I wasn’t able to get back to the Two Rivers quilt last week. Howver I did sew some non-thinking blocks for the String and Strip quilt that I started earlier this month. This is 13 more blocks, not all trimmed to size yet. Should get the rest finished quickly then will get back to Two Rivers!
