Day 7 of 2026

This zipper pull had come off the track and 

I was asked if I could fix it. 

The process involved unstitching, 

replacing the pull, adding a fabric pull stop, 

stitching the main fabric back to the zipper tape, 

stitching the lining back to the zipper tape 

and redoing all the topstitching. 

Because the spaces were awkward, bulky and not at all flat, 

all stitching was done by hand.

Whew.

I have to say though, I am pretty happy with the result.

 

Day 321 of 2025

I recently thrifted a pair of matching chairs. 

One of them has wobbly legs. 

I know I have to remove the dust cover on the corners by the legs

 to get to the bolts I need to tighten. 

That's what I'm doing today. 

I'll tighten the other chair too just for good measure. 

Tomorrow I will staple the dust covers back in place 

and give the chairs a good upholstery cleaning with my little machine.

Day 352 of 2024

I need to do a little touch up painting in the den. 

When I was finally able to get the can open, 

the paint inside looked more like a dried up hair gel than paint. 

It had completely pulled away from the can. 

 I'm hoping we have a spare unopened can in the garage  

that is in good enough condition for me to get my touch ups done. 

 

Day 318 of 2024

I've encountered a small setback in my knitting. 

I've got the tool I need and will drop each column

 down to the offending row 

and pick it back up correctly, 

but we've started a movie 

so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Day 195 of 2024

Today's activity - top can. 

Tomorrow's activity - bottom can.

 

Day 192 of 2024

I'm trying to get some home projects done here 

instead letting them stay stuck in the 90% done phase. 

Still to be done: 

Prep and repair surrounding wall, 

paint same wall, 

prep trim, cut trim, install trim, 

finishing caulk, 

reinstall over door shelf

 

Day 172 of 2024

Well, this can't be good. 

Power washing will be happening tomorrow with a new hose.

I do like the water droplets I captured though. 

 

Day 171 of 2024

I'm gathering supplies for some intensive deck improvement.

 

Day 165 of 2024

This is not how we planned to spend part of our day today. 

The quick version goes like this: 

About three weeks ago, we had the flooring replaced in this area of the house. 

When the flooring was done the installer hooked the water back up

 but did not turn it back on. 

I discovered this the first time I tried to start laundry after he was gone. 

Fireball turned the water on. 

Fast forward to today. 

I started a load of laundry on cool water setting. 

I opened the washer to add one thing I forgot 

and almost burned my hand in the very hot water. 

I mentioned this weirdness to Fireball. 

I grabbed the two water supply lines and found the hot was very cold

 and the cold was very hot. 

The installer failed to check to see 

if he was hooking the water supply lines

 to the correct spots.

Fireball and I got ready to fix the problem. 

The turn offs are very hard to turn. 

It felt like they were off, but water kept spewing everywhere. 

The laundry room began to flood with water

 as Fireball and I each tried to turn the water off. 

In the end, we got the water to stop, switched the supply lines, 

turned the water back on

 and I was able to finish my laundry with the cool water that I desired. 

I ended up doing an extra load to wash all the towels 

we had to use to mop up all the water. 

I guess the quick version didn't turn out so quick. 

Congrats if you actually got to the end.

 

Day 71 of 2024

I bought a new-to-me pair of pants over the weekend. 

I got them at a thrift store so the first thing that happens is a good wash. 

That happened today because Monday is laundry day around here. 

The stretch at the waistline is almost nonexistent

 so I will be replacing the elastic. 

Unfortunately, this means tearing out three rows of stitching. 

I started that task today, but then my neck light started to lose power 

and now I have to wait for either my light to charge up or some daylight. 

And since when did pants get so expensive? 

This pair is the same brand and exact style and color 

I had just tried on at the retail store earlier in the day. 

These pants were just over 10% of the retail cost.

 

Day 64 of 2024

Fireball and I have the task of choosing new flooring

 for one of our bathrooms. 

These are just some of the samples we are looking at.

Decisions are hard for me. 

Please wish us luck.

 

Day 63 of 2024

Besides a good power wash, the deck needs a bit of repair. 

It has come to our attention recently that the two boards

 which I have removed were rotten. 

Upon closer inspection, it appears that I will need to remove more boards 

to determine exactly how much will need to be replaced.

 

Day 23 of 2024

This quilt top found me on Sunday 

as Fireball and I visited the antique mall we used to frequent

 when we were working on the Old House. 

It has some issues with a major spill of unknown origin, 

a giant hole and a few seams that need work. 

I really love the pink and navy combination though 

and the price was very reasonable for a top in this condition, 

so I brought it home with me. 

I'm thinking of using the leaf print

 to replace the blocks with the largest spills. 

Some of the smaller ones might get a little appliqué.

Day 358 of 2023

One more sleep 'til Christmas. 

I made this for my in-laws before they were my in-laws, 

so probably in the 50 years ago range. 

The beard and hat bobble were made out of a fuzzy yarn 

which had lost most of its fuzziness up in the attic. 

I find crochet stitches baffling to mend, 

so I used a weaving technique instead adding a new fuzzy yarn.

 

Day 317 of 2023

There is something you need to know about Great Grandpa H. 

He loved to shop at Goodwill or better yet, at garage sales. 

This picture shows his signature "fix" 

for anything that had a logo, name or monogram on it. 

This one is an iron-on patch meant for little kids' pants with ripped knees,

 but he would also use some kind of plastic-y paint to cover the offending words. 

And he did not limit himself to sweatshirts. 

He also "fixed" t-shirts, tote bags and containers - really anything. 

I kept these two sweatshirts to make a muslin of a new pattern

 to check the fit I have before I cut into my fancy fabric. 

When I pulled them out of a box yesterday, I had to smile.

 

Day 308 of 2023

I'm working on some late night knitting with all my little lights 

and I've made some sort of mistake on the edge stitch. 

I don't intend to tear back the last three rows 

so I'm going to drop the stitches and pick them back up again. 

I'm not holding out much hope

 as the edge stitches do their own kind of twisty thing 

that I can never quite figure out.

 

Day 303 of 2023

This new-to-me knit sweater has a couple really bad snags. 

My thought is to redistribute the snagged yarn 

back into the original stitches 

and then do a gentle hand wash and flat dry. 

I'm hoping the wash will serve as a wet blocking

 and even out the stitches.

In case you have not seen them yet, all the vacation days are filled in.

 

Day 243 of 2023

I've made a little mitten repair today. 

It's a little rough but it will do.

 I'm hoping I can improve on the second mitten tomorrow.

 

Day 295 of 2022

I moved a lot of stone today and my gloves show it. 

There were no holes at the beginning of this work. 

I'm thinking I should mend these gloves as they are my favorite. 

I have a container of leather scraps I bought at the thrift store

 that should come in handy.

 

Day 184 of 2022

Here is a full shot of this completed, repaired quilt top. 

I'm second guessing some of my fabric choices

 but will probably not change anything. 

I feel it is more important to move on

 than to spend any more time on the repair, 

so I'm calling this one done. 

It's going into the quilting queue.