Last Day for Going to the Pool

I'm off soon to take Lacey to the pool for the last time this summer. Tomorrow is the last day it's open - already. She doesn't know how to swim yet (took lessons last year) but loves the water and makes me stay in with her the whole time! I'm trying to remember what they had us do when I took swimming lessons and do that with her - but that's been a whole bunch of years ago!

Bill & I went to Des Moines Mon. night and got back last night. He's on the Board of an insurance company and has to take 3 classes - one per year - to be "certified". This was his 2nd one. I was planning to relax by the pool and read while he was at the class yesterday but it rained there all day. So I shopped instead, or I should say mostly looked. There's an almost new 2 story mall there that I had only been to once so I checked out lots of the stores there. We mostly needed to get a bunch of new shirts for Bill which we did find the night we got there.

I'm participating in a mail in Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Christmas card swap so need to work on those this next couple of days. They are to be mailed to a demonstrator in Mi Wuk Village, California. I'll send in 21 of my cards (all the same design) and get back 20 different card samples from demos all over the US! Always a fun kind of package to receive!

Garage Floor - day 2

This is Steve, the owner of Floor It, Inc. The floor is finished and drying now. Looks really nice but the true test will be when it's wet. He ground it down so that it should slope right for water to run to the drains rather than the wall.










Close up of the speckles. They have a clear coat over them so it won't be hard to sweep or clean. Bill tells me that he added something to the last coat too that is supposed to help it to not be slick for walking on it when it's wet.

Garage Floor

Bill and I were on our way home tonight, but the road was blocked by a train that was stopped. Then all of a sudden Bill saw a vehicle in the ditch on the other side of the train so we thought the worst, that the vehicle had hit the train. So we stopped and Bill went between the train cars to check, but it turns out the guy in the SUV had tried to turn around rather than wait on the train, and accidentally backed into the ditch! He was ok and soon friends showed up to pull him out.

Our garage floor is being worked on by this company, Floor It, due to problems with water going toward and under the wall instead of into the drains. He'll be working here for a couple more days.




It seems nice to have an empty garage! Some things now have a permanent home in the basement like the freezer, refrigerator and a set of shelves. Some things are temporarily in the old garage.

Finished Rag Quilt Purse

Isn't this rag quilt purse cute????! I finally got back to it, got it done and gave it to Michelle this past weekend. I think she really liked it!

It really is an easy sewing project and doesn't take long at all if you stick to it. You just cut out your squares of batting. Cut 5" strips of fabric. There are so many pretty choices of fabrics that go together in the quilting shops!

Then you fold your strip of fabric up over the Big Shot square scallop die (contact me to buy a Big Shot or shop through my web site above right!). The Big Shot can cut about 7 scalloped squares at a time!

Put a square of batting (the white cushion) between 2 squares of fabric and stitch an X. Once those are done you start sewing your strips together. Then there are the handles to make and the closure piece. Sew a button on, snip all the edges with sharp scissors and wash on delicate in a fabric bag to give it the rag quilt frayed look! This one has not been snipped or washed. Some people like this look.

These pictures are a mixture of 2 purses - the pink and brown one and a black & mustard one.

The video I watched for detailed instructions is here.

I have a link for the Big Shot on the right side of my blog - just click on the picture to go to it. We love the Big Shot for card making and scrapbooking and can't imagine making those things without it anymore! I hope you'll make a Rag Quilt Purse - and then a rag quilt which would be even easier!

More La Crosse and Misc.

More pictures from our recent getaway. Hiawatha was in the park where the paddle wheel boat was. Bill's brother thought maybe he's a cousin or something to our Pocahontas we have here! :)























On the boat ride, we went through a draw bridge. I don't remember how many trains a day go over this bridge but it's a lot. They said the boat usually has to wait on a train about once a day - and they have 3 sightseeing tours go out a day.

The last 2 pictures were taken outside our hotel.

It rained here last night - 1/2". The way it was pouring and storming, I thought it would be more.

The next project here is totally cleaning out our garage. The floor is going to be worked on. We have an area where water runs to and under the wall instead of to the drain and a couple of other places where water stands. The company that's going to hopefully fix it is called Floor It Inc. They're going to then paint the floor with a paint they say will not peel off. We're choosing "dirt color" this time (beige) instead of gray - with flecks of another color in it.

Misc.

Remember when I started making rag quilt purses back in April I think? I finally got one completed! It was a door prize for one of my downline in Stampin' Up! I'll show the other pictures of how to make it after this weekend.
















This is the Pocahontas courthouse. I think the Master Gardeners plant and take care of all of these flowers.














I've been meeting Diane and the girls at the Poky Farmers' Markets Tues. afternoons. This last Tues. the mosquitoes were terrible so Camry had to have her bug net down!