Layers -

The back hallway and stairwell at Quiltville Inn are getting a bit of a spruce up with new paint.  The hardest part?  The taping off of stair treads and banister rungs and window panes.

But sometimes we do the hard stuff first because it makes the next part, the main part, that much easier.

This bit of ship lap on the side of the stairs is original.  Or at least very very old, and I found myself wondering just how many times this ship lap has been repainted.

The grooves are still visible, but barely.  Coats and coats of paint by each generation that has lived in this house have happened.

We chose not to change the color.  Just upped it a bit brighter as the previous grey/white was a bit dingy in an area that doesn’t see a lot of light anyway.

This looks so much better!

At one time I was thinking that it might be fun to paint the under part of the treads with chalkboard paint so that the ladies could leave messages, etc – Or I could write “Welcome” or something.  But at this age?  Who wants to get on their knees to clean it off and start new again?

At this stage, I’m much more of a wash & wear girl than a high maintenance one.

I am thinking of hanging a quilt in this stairwell for some color.  

Darkish photo -

It’s hard to see, but this area is now done – including the window frames, door frames and doors.  It will be bright and clean and ready for us to open again.

Cookin’ in the Kitchen!

With so much going on, I decided to just bring the ingredients I had on hand and start up a crock pot of chicken soup at the inn.  It felt great after 3 months of standing empty to have good smells coming from the kitchen.

This is kind of a combination between my chicken taco soup and white chicken chili recipes because I had 1 can of black beans, and 2 cans of white northern beans.  No pintos or kidneys!  but it’s SO good and has been my lunch over the past few days.  If I have something on hand I am less likely to eat junk.

And while the red onion looks really pretty here - it was the ONLY onion in the house. After cooking it looks like a purple grey.  But it's still tasty!

In fact, we’ve been eating VERY well -

And saving money in the process.

This was Tuesday night’s salmon ala Blackstone.  I had some leftover baked potatoes that we cut up and sautéed in the back.  Hint – if you like yours with onion as I do, I found it best to cook the potatoes half way on the grill before adding the onions so they don’t burn to crisp black little tasteless bits.

This was such a great way to do the zucchini also – just a bit of oil and seasonings.

Yesterday was a no-hike day.  My legs had been feeling it from the previous two days, and rain is supposed to come this afternoon so I may alter things a bit with my usual schedule and get our hike in this morning after this posts.  As summer falls upon us and things heat up, if there is going to be outside hiking it is best for me to do it in the cool of the mornings.

I have added a couple more rows to this -

And I am about half way done with the quilting on Casden’s quilt.

Taking a peek at the underside!

The swirls make it fun!

After dinner last night we headed back over to the inn to get some weed eating and watering of the sod that we had put down in various places done.  Evening is my favorite time of the day – and the temps are lovely right now.

While the weed eating was going on, I came in to add a bit more quilting to Casden’s quilt – and I turned around to find this:

That WAS my favorite decorative thread! LOL!!!

ZOEY!

(Don’t let that face fool you! She is NOT sorry, not one bit!)

Again, my thanks to everyone who sent so much fabric love my way.  At this rate, Casden can have FIVE quilts.  LOL! Thank you.  Sincerely.

The sun is setting just behind the ridge on the right.

It looks good.  Really good.

The grass is now green and lush and the patches we started filling in 2 years ago are doing great.

I am still searching for another patio dining set that seats 6.  The last one I saw sold before the guy got back to me.  So I’m still looking.  At this time even a beat up farm table would be great so I am on the lookout.  Folks are going to want to eat outside on the back porch.

And today – it’s right there in front of us.  What are we going to do with it?

Walk this morning, mail after lunch, and hopefully finish up this quilt and get the binding on so I can start stitching it down tonight.

And make sure ALL THREAD is out of doggie reach!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Actions have always spoken louder than words.

Today, speak a little kinder.

A little softer.

Or maybe stay silent and just listen.