5 hours and counting down...

My sister arrives from the other side of the country in about 5 hours. We have been cleaning and clearing out big time - it's amazing how inspiring company coming can be. It turns out that my hand strength is running at about 40% of what it "should" be. I could understand my recovering broken hand being on the weak side, but apparently my left hand is not much stronger! So, my landscape guy finished doing all the drip sets - along the way making some improvements as I pointed out a few changes that needed to be made for the reality of what I have in that part of the front garden. Yesterday they did all the digging for the stage two of drainage work - now the other side of my front yard looks like giant moles have taken up residence! I need to go snap a few photos before they come back and finish putting in the French drain and so on.

However, I am up early to finish doing the last round of floor cleaning inside. The guest/fabric room is all ready for my sister to move into-and the bathroom nearby is spotless. I shut the door to keep Zoe (the dog) from wandering in and leaving very short hair behind. It is shedding time with the very warm weather we have been having and more on it's way. Thank goodness for vacuum cleaners sucking up dog hair! I think this will be one of the rare visits my sister has made here when we are having really nice weather.

M has done an outstanding job of helping- my side of the garage has grown to about four feet high of "stuff" to be sorted through and much of it will go away for good. I put Alice's toy container and then stacked quilts on top of it in the floor space at the foot of the guest bed. There are 5 quilts on beds with another 6 bed size quilts stacked plus the fleece yardage I had to have last winter.
And, another 4 quilts lying around elsewhere in the house. ( I just counted at least 2 quilts out in the garage). I love them all but boy do they take up inside space. My plan to stack them all on the guest bed when it is not in use will help the storage situation however.

I am almost done hand stitching binding on the framed horse block quilt. Photo once it is totally done.

I keep changing my mind on what block to make for my favorite outgoing guild president. I need to just decide and get it done! And the last block I need to make and mail is a string block. I just need to sit down and work on that.

With those two blocks done I will be at the end of my "have to's" and can turn my creative energy loose on several ideas I have been considering over the last few months. Plus, keep cleaning/clearing out around here too.

I probably won't do any sewing while my sister is here to play with. So don't be surprised if I disappear for a week - I will be reading but...only during my morning coffee time-I expect to be hanging out with my sister the rest of the time. She leaves on the 31st-a lovely long visit.

Lots of great quilting and knitting and other creative stuff going on at the blogs I have been reading of late- thanks for the inspiration everyone!

Keep sharing the joy....