Friday, April 22, 2011

Timber !

Don't you just love an Oak Tree? One that gives lots of shade and is so nice to sit under during those hot summer days.  This tree, as you can see, dwarfs our house and if you look real close you can see the branches are touching our roof.  I just love this tree - but unfortunately its time has come to go. 

With the  recent hail storm and high winds, we found that we have roof damage and will have to replace the roof.  The limbs, while not the main cause (that would be the hail), are contributing to the decline in the roof.  Also - during those high winds, we had a fear that one of those limbs, or maybe even the tree was going to crash through our roof.

So it had to go.  I was at work the day, but my daughter captured the event in pictures. Here is the big hole it left in our landscape once gone. I was thrilled that they were able to save the dogwood!

And see the peek at our renovation?

We are adding on to the porch.  We had already hired a builder to do this work for us, before the hail storm.  So he has just added the roof to his work plan.

A before picture of our house.  The ramp was a hurry up job we did so that we could get my Dad in and out of the house when he had his stroke and was confined to a wheel chair. 

The paint continued to mildew, no matter what kind we used, and it was just a horrible eyesore.  Now that I was not sorry to see go.

And here we are, at the end of Day 1 - old ramp gone - new porch started.

We have a good many plans in this renovation project, including covering all the wood trim and siding on the back of the house with vinyl - no more painting.  Can you tell we are getting ready for retirement?

Stay tuned....more pictures tomorrow.

There is a wonderful exhibit in Rock Hill now called Quilts Tell Stories.  If you are in the area before the end of the month, you should really check it out. 

This quilt just blew me away.  Its hard to see in this picture, but it is a YoYO quilt.   I show this view in hopes that you will get an idea of how big the quilt is. 

The YoYo's are only the size of a dime!  There are over 18,000 yoyos. Can you believe that!  And here is a picture of the lovely quilter.  Click on the picture and you should be able to read the story of the quilt.

I will close with one more picture - this one of one of my quilts that is on display.  Its queen size and I call ir Christmas Beauty.  I designed it in EQ, paperpieced the blocks and machine quilted it on my home sewing machine. 

Teresa
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6 comments:

Julie Fukuda said...

Too bad the tree had to go. What kind of oak was it? It has such a wide crown. I should have been glad not to see it being cut. The renovations are quite nice. Will you screen in the porch?

Shakerwood said...

Give me the name of the timber guy, PLEASE! We have an oak tree about 20 feet from the house. It was huge when we moved in 25 years ago. While it provides great shade, it also provides horrible pollen, bag worms, inch worms and acorns in the fall that sound like hail. It's very messy. House looks so much more open now. Can't wait for your next tea party.

Unknown said...

We lost two big oak trees, it is painful. You will really enjoy your porch.

Anonymous said...

Hello Teresa, enjoyed catching up with your posts.....especiall the DWR quilt construction...hugs lyn

Candace said...

Wow Christmas Beauty is amazing. Sorry for the damage, I know that you are getting along on the construction projects now, hopefully the end is in sight.

Lino Kosters said...

It's really hard to see a tree go, especially if it has something sentimental to share. It's like those trees which are older than you, or trees which hold fond memories of having a tree house up above, sitting on one of its sturdy branches. Your oak tree was surely memorable. But if it was really doing damage to your house's roof, then it had to go.

Hmm, a lot more to come on your home renovation, huh. Hope it all goes well!