Oops.

This weekend was super eventful or busy or, I don't know what I want to call it, but I definitely enjoyed being at home and getting stuff done.

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but we hired painters last year and they were... not good.   So it's taken me a year, but I finally (almost - I have three touch ups) finished painting the master bath.
And then we hired a handyman earlier this year that was pretty decent;  he told us his specialty was doors and we wanted to replace some doors (from the garage outside, from the back deck outside, and the front door).    What we neglected to clarify was the painting.   I thought the doors would be installed and painted.   Only apparently not.   So I've been super lazy about finishing the doors all the way (painting the inside and out, jambs and all).    This weekend, I was going to finish the patching and painting that I've been mad about (I want to work on the fun projects like stenciling!!!).

Anyway, Saturday morning I had planned to get up early, take Tiny to the lake for a walk, and then get going on projects, but I overslept and it's been entirely too hot to go on a 7 mile hike.  So I went outside to water the garden, only I found Japanese beetles (ugh) on the hibiscus plants I hadn't gotten around to tearing out.   I knew they were on the crabapple tree, and so I looked around, and sure enough, they're freaking everywhere.

So I watered, cut down the hibiscus (to minimize enticing plants), weeded, reorganized, and basically sweat a lot for a couple of hours.    And *then* started working on house stuff.

And then I got tired of house stuff (I painted the front and back doors and patched the wall in the front hallway) and decided to make those wall hanging blocks for my Victoria Sampler state hearts.

And I didn't pay attention... and when I was cutting I felt a suddenly thick slice and (rightly) panicked.    And found this:

Oops

I tried to find ways to patch it back together, but nothing was going to work, and luckily it was something small, so I decided to just order the VS chartbook (I had gotten this as a kit way back in the day) and just redo the stupid thing.    I also decided to go ahead and cut the pieces I would need to finish it as a wall hanging, because why not at this point, right?

But I did manage to not slice the rest of the states and get them sewed together.   Where I also discovered that I'd chosen directional fabric for three out of the four states!

This is the Little Golden Books fabric I found last week that I was so happy with.  I lived in California as a wee kiddo.

Because Cactus.   I love cacti.

And Hydrangeas because they are my favorite favorite thing about moving to NC.   I've never lived anywhere else where I could grow them, so I'm so excited to be planting them all over the place :)

And then finally, I decided to go ahead and put together the wall hanging block for the gift I want to make.  The recipient has no idea I have a blog (pretty sure), so I can show it off here (though not anywhere on social media).    I'm super happy with how the colors came out on this one, and I have to admit that if this had been the one I cut through, I would've likely lost my frelling mind ;)

So that's it for the weekend update.   I did a bit more work on Sunday (painting the bathroom, hanging the window cling on the side windows, etc.)  I'm hoping to finish the bathroom and front hallway this week/weekend, and then I'll have more time for stitching/sewing/goofing off.

I am really hoping for one last quiet weekend before social and doggie things start up again.   I think my next stretch of quiet should be in August, thankfully :)