?

Okay. I have in my possession a coverlet that my grandmother (who is now deceased) made years ago. She always said it was ugly and to be honest it always has been, but in in she hand embroidered 50 state birds on individual flour sack tea towel fabric and then pieced them together with a marigold fabric (which is where it got ugly) and trimmed it with white tassels. Over the years the tassels have started to fray and its not in the greatest shape, but the embroidered bird are still in good condition. I'm a relatively experienced quilter, but I have never worked with this thin flour sac material. I plan to take the coverlet apart and build either build a quilt block around them, or sash them or just generally put them back together with some nice cotton that's not marigold in color and add aa nice border then take it to someone to have it long armed, and give it to my father for Christmas. Anyway, the only thing I'm not sure how to handle is the embroidered blocks, should they be backed or stabilized someway prior to sewing?

Okay, so here's the story. My husband lost his job a couple months ago in the Atlanta area. He found a new job (pretty much right away, thank the lord) 2 hours away in South Carolina. There are some relocation benefits so we will definitely be moving. So, here's the thing. We have a potential buyer that wants to do a lease option. Basically they want to put the house under contract to purchase in 6 months but until it closes in 6 months they want to lease it from us. I'd rather just sell it now but with it being a buyers market we are considering it. So, the thing is I currently have a 3 bedroom with a full basement and 2 kids (one of which is 6 weeks old! so I have a lot of stuff) Unless the house sells outright we're going to be moving into a 2 bedroom apt until it does (just in case the deal falls though I don't want to be stuck with 2 mortgages!) Now, the company will pay for all our crap to go into storage, stay there 30 days, and come out of storage. Anything beyond 30 days I'm footing the bill for the actual storage cost. My concern is what is the typical cost of storing house hold goods? Am I better off getting rid of pretty much anything that isn't sentimental or high dollar compared to it's size? Anyone with any experience in this?

Okay, obviously this in one of those things where there is no right answer on what to do, but I'm looking for some advice.

The story is that I'm 8 months pregnant and a stay at home mom and my husband was unexpectedly terminated from his job today. We do have insurance to get us through the pregnancy and thankfully I'm an RN and already called my former place of employment and will probably be able to go back to work full time there to help try to keep things afloat. That being said we live in a home and have a mortgage (and are about to have 2 kids!) and there's no way that my income alone can support us. Additionally, we live in an area with a relatively high cost of living with no family around for support.

Anyway, I would like to move back home near my parents. They have an extra house there that they have already said that my husband and kids and I can live in rent free, and I grew up there and have a lot of contacts so I'm sure I can find a job (again, thank God I'm an RN and there are jobs out there!) It would be a major move across country, but I know that without having to pay for housing we could definitely afford to survive on my income alone until my husband can find a different job. My fear is just that it's going to take him a while to do. He, of course, wants to dig in and try to stay here so we don't have to sell the house and lose money on it and currently we are in a metro area where work is probably a little easier to find. Plus, I don't think he's going to want to admit defeat and crawl home to my parents!

So, what would you do? I mean, yes, it's possible that he will find a new job fairly quickly if we stay here, but it's also possible that he won't given the current economy. I'm thinking about giving him 6-8 weeks of searching before putting my foot down and calling the realtor and starting the process of selling off some stuff and moving home. What advice might you all have for me? Every been through this?

I had a travertine tile floor installed almost 3.5 years ago and it was sealed at that time. Now, it's starting to become dull especially in areas where there is a lot of traffic so I'm thinking it's time to reseal it. My question is is there anything I need to do to get the original sealer off, or can I just go right over the top with a stone sealer? I'm a bit hesitant to just go over the top since I'm not sure it would bond properly, anyone with advice?

Sorry for the long post in advance!

Basically, I'm pregnant with our second child and since the kids will be sharing bedrooms this baby will be sleeping in the room with my husband and me for a while. I bought a bassinet (used) and am an experienced sewer so I was planning on making a new cover or two for it. Alright, so fabrics not cheap, and obviously I plan on having multiple sheets for it in order to be able to throw it in the wash easily. I also plan to make the total thing so that it easily removes and it machine washable (the cover it came with it isn't!) Anyway, I'm wondering how often I will actually have to wash the padding around the thing and how dirty it might get. With my son's crib (obviously much bigger) I washed the bumper pad once a week, but it never was gross with spit up or anything, just the sheet was changed more frequently. No matter what I plan to be able to take off all the bedding and wash it once/week but I'm just not sure if I need to design and sew something so I can take it off even more frequently. Anyone else with experience on how often they needed to wash the bassinet bedding other than the sheet?

Much appreciated since fabric is so expensive and my design depends on how often it needs to come off!

Okay. So, I have a ranch in Georgia that has an estate grey roof. The body of the house is siding and currently painted grey with gray trim and along the bottom of the house there is a brown brick with light brown grout. The house needs to be repainted this summer and I can't figure out what color would look good, I just know that I don't want to paint the brick. I don't want to go too crazy and paint it purple or anything but does anyone have any ideas about paint colors, just general ideas they don't need to be specific shades as I'll get testers to try everything out?

I live in Georgia and everything I've heard and experienced is that it's impossible to kill a burford holly. A few years ago we even cut some down and had the stumps ground but they still came back! Anyway, we had three right next to the house that were growing out of control and needed to be drastically cut back and I read that I could cut them down to 12" (even though this would eliminate all foliage) and they would send up new growth in less than a month that I could prune into a size that was manageable. I cut them down the first weekend in March and now nothing. I'm not sure if it's the warm weather we've been having, or maybe if I should be watering them or feeding them or something, but I really would like them to grow back. There are french drains running under them so I'm worried about digging out the stumps or having a stump grinder out, plus at a moderate size they would do a nice job hiding the air conditioner and the rain barrel that's behind them! Anyone have any ideas on bringing these plants back to life?

Thanks!

I'm having Easter dinner and one of the guests is a vegetarian. I would like to prepare some sides to serve with the leg of lamb that would contain some protein for her and serve as more of a main dish. Any ideas? She's not vegan and does eat eggs, dairy products, and even fish. Thanks!

Okay, so in the garden around my mailbox I have a lovely Carolina Jessamine vine trained around the mailbox and an ancient (but small, maybe 3 feet) Nandina (heavenly bamboo.) Anyway, every time I turn around growth from the jessamine is tangled in the nan and if drives me nuts trying to fish it out all the time, they were both planted 30 years ago (I believe) and only about 2 feet apart, so it was some poor planning by the original home owner. Anyway, I don't mind the nan, I just don't like it where it is. Any tips on moving it? Can I put it somewhere without a whole lot of sun, and should I prune it first? Or would I be better off just digging it up and composting it? I'm in Georgia if it matters, and I'm not sure the actual type of nandina, I just know that in 3 years it's never put out a single berry so I'm not too worried about it getting out of hand in a different location.

My husband is going to be out and his aunt is coming for a visit. I told her I would take care of dinner and now I can't decide what to do. Normally I cook a big meal when they visit but it's just the two of us and my 2 year old (who eats anything) for dinner so I'm looking for something simple. Should I cook and if so what? Or should I order take out? (Italian, Mexican, Thai, Pizza?) Any suggestions?