Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Week 20: Project 365, the 2015 Edition

Thursday, May 14

We've been doing a lot better at taking a walk every day. Walking is a win/win because it's helping increase my stamina and, since we're next to the river, the scenery is beautiful. I've mentioned in the past that after we bought this property, the municipality paved the street right along the river near our house. Someone convinced them to save this algarrobo (carob) tree down the road. This tree has become a marker for turning around and heading home some days.

Friday, May 15

It was pretty overcast today but still no rain. Perfect weather for walking, and we actually made it all the way to the bridge by Playa de Oro today! I was pretty "chuffed" as the British say :)

Saturday, May 16

After an exceptionally rainy summer, autumn has been much drier. Which is typical here, and it's not unusual to go months without rain. It hasn't been months, but it has been weeks so Ivan's using the sprinkler to keep our fledgling lawn alive.
Not the greatest photo, but you can kind of see the water spraying out from the sprinkler.

Sunday, May 17

After spreading all the blue and gray fabrics on the bed this evening, I started deciding which fabric I wanted to use where and then laid them out in order. There will be three rows of triangles and parallelograms that form the bottom section of the quilt.
Blank areas will be where white pieces go. Really happy that I have enough left of the white-on-white tiny footprint fabric for this quilt!

Monday, May 18

During siesta Ivan took a pickax and shovel back behind the casita to dig out trees that had started growing right up against the house. We never go back there because the back of the casita sits right on the property line and our fence starts at the edge of the casita. Anyway, when Ivan went to start sealing and painting that back wall the other day, he discovered the trees. What a hot, sweaty job! And in the process he found something that confirmed our suspicions that we have a leak in the wall :(  So he started digging into the wall in different areas, trying to find the leak. We were really hoping he could find and fix it from the outside.
Sadly he wasn't able to...

Tuesday, May 19

...so this morning he tore into the wall inside the house. We were pretty sure it was in the wall between the kitchen and bath and, hoping to avoid breaking up tile in the bath, he started on the kitchen side.
Thankfully he found the leak and fixed it. Or at least we hope so! We're letting things set up and dry out a bit right now. Ivan is helping on a project over at the church this afternoon so when he returns we'll turn the water back on.

Since there has been no water to wash dishes, clean or do laundry, I happily started working on the baby quilt.
This is the top row of the bottom section. After tracing, stay-stitching all the lines on the bias and cutting out each piece with an exact 1/4" seam allowance, I laid them on the ironing board and took this photo for reference. I really don't want to accidentally sew the wrong pieces together and then have to use the seam ripper. See the little blue piece off by itself? I had hoped to use that fabric for one of the triangles but that is some seriously frustrating stuff to work with! While stay-stitching it stretched out of shape. Ugh! So I chose another fabric to use in its place. Now I'm ready to start hand sewing the pieces together, being careful to match points.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Week 19: Project 365, the 2015 Edition

Thursday, May 7

We went to Sta. Rosa to help launch a new Bible study, which was rescheduled for Friday and then canceled altogether. Looks like it will be a couple weeks before we actually get started. But while we were out there we enjoyed a walk in the neighborhood. This is a not-so-great photo taken with my phone:
We initially thought this was an avocado tree because the leaves look so similar to one, but someone working nearby said it is an ombu (technically not a tree at all). I'm not entirely convinced since it looks just like the avocado tree we had in the backyard on Canning Street. What do you think?

Sunday, May 10

Iglesia de Gracia Monte de Luz celebrated their seventh anniversary today and part of that celebration included a potluck meal after the morning service.
The couple who started the church in May 2008 had to return to the U.S. about six months later, leaving the new congregation in the hands of Pastor Jorge and his wife Bilma. We have come to dearly love this couple and appreciate their faithfulness and his teaching. He may have come to the pastorate late in life, but he surely has a pastor's heart! Here he is speaking with Joaquin, a young man we hope will lead the next generation.
It was a good day of remembering the past and looking ahead to what God will do in the coming years. We are greatly encouraged by the faithful men in the weekly Bible studies.

Monday, May 11

Had to take care of a little banking today. Long lines because tomorrow is a bank strike (not uncommon here).

Tuesday, May 12

We're going to make a fabric-covered headboard for the bed and I took photos of the fabrics I have to work with, and sent them to my fashion savvy daughter and sister-in-law for their input.
Not shown in this photo is a lighter denim. Both ladies thought the darker denim worked better with the floral. I may or may not include a little of the solid green too. I'm playing with ideas on graph paper since my SIL suggested a pieced headboard (I am a quilter, after all!). It will be a while before we get to this, since my current project is new cushion covers for our love seat (using the lighter denim with the solid green for piping).

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Happy Mother's Day to All the Women in My Life

Tomorrow is not Mother's Day in Argentina, (it's in October here) but I continue to celebrate it on the second Sunday of May.

And in October.

Of course I can't think of Mother's Day without thinking of my own mom who's now been gone over 26 years.
She died of cancer much too young, and I don't think I'll ever stop missing her.

She LOVED being a grandmother! In this photo she's trying to keep Jon from crawling off her lap before my sister snapped this photo. He did not want to sit still!
He did much better a few years later when it was time for a professional photo with Grandma and his new baby sister.
Mom died less than two years after this photo was taken and it makes me sad that she missed seeing my kids grow up.

Thankfully they still had their other grandma.
Shortly after my mom passed away, we moved from Florida to Michigan, only two hours from Ivan's folks who had just retired. Growing up my kids knew they could count on seeing their grandparents in the audience whenever they were in a play or concert or whatever, and we celebrated many holidays down at dad and mother's house in Indiana.

And now mother is getting to know her great-grandson. Tina lives about an hour away and is able to stop in and see mother once in a while.

It still blows my mind a little that my baby is a mother herself.
What an incredible blessing to see her love for Simon!

And Natalie's love for Adalyn.
Joy radiates from both these beautiful young women in their role as moms.

And I'm hugely grateful for their willingness to make me a grandma :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the women in my life. Not all are biological moms, but every woman I know has a role in helping mother someone, whether it's their own child or someone else's. May you be blessed this day that we celebrate that role.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Week 18: Project 365, the 2015 Edition

Thursday, April 30

Last week I shared the photo of a house in our neighborhood that got a new paint job, color matched to yellow-orange flowers in their yard. On our walk today we saw the same kind of bush just loaded with flowers so we stopped and took a close-up:

Saturday, May 2

A storm blew through yesterday and cooled things off considerably. On our walk today it was overcast and windy, and we had to wear sweat jackets.
Days like today remind me of growing up in Michigan (I lived there from age 4 to 14). Of course I also lived there for twenty years as an adult, so is it any wonder that I associate cold, rainy, gray days with fall in Michigan?

Sunday, May 3

This evening I cut out cardboard pattern pieces for the bottom half of the quilt -- the part that makes me kind of nervous, because I'm not great at matching points. So I'm taking as many precautions as possible to ensure accuracy. I was very careful to be precise, using the rotary cutter and my clear ruler to cut out each of the various triangles and parallelograms.
For those pieces that will have a long side cut on the bias, I plan to stay-stitch just outside the seam line before cutting the pieces out. Hopefully this will prevent them from stretching out of shape during the sewing process. I also plan to sew this section by hand, so I can (hopefully) match points accurately. Vamos a ver! 

Monday, May 4

After several rainy days last week, Ivan was back to painting today during siesta:
While he paints, he listens to messages using his bluetooth headset. He got more than half the front cut in before it was time to head out for a visit.  

Tuesday, May 5

Today Ivan finished cutting in and then rolled the rest. Cutting in takes so much more time than rolling.
He still has to paint the cement frames around the windows and the edge that juts out above the air conditioner (they'll be white); otherwise the front is completely done, along with one side. Still remaining: the back, other side, and base of the water tank. The goal is to have the exterior done before really cold weather sets in.

We chose a soft gray by Sherwin Williams called 'Gray Screen'.
It's a silvery gray, and in the late afternoon sun it appeared light blue. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in the full morning light tomorrow.

Loving the pale yellow door and light gray walls.