Weeds

Spring is definitely here. Finally!!! But just look. The weeds are just everywhere. I have to confess a real hang-up of mine. I hate to get my hands dirty. I don't know why but I always have. I don't like to dig in the dirt. I don't like to touch meat. I just don't like for my hands to be dirty. I know -- weird. But, with all that said, this is the first house we have ever lived in with wonderful landscaping. I love what they have done with all the beds. So, I'm going to put on my big girl pants and get out in those flower beds and pull those weeds. I can do it!!

This beautiful plant is around the corner from "the weeds". I have to tell you that I think this is about the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. They are climbing up the antenna beside
the house. They bloom all summer.



















Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

Mayberry Again

We stayed at the home of some dear friends while in Mayberry. (Thanks again Lynn and Larry!) They weren't there so we sneaked in (Ha -- not really). Although they are on vacation they offered their home to us for the weekend. Such great friends!! Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church sweet kid #3 called me down to the kitchen. I couldn't believe my eyes. Here's the story as it unfolded.......


Hey, I see something moving inside that house.

I'd better go check it out.
I need to get a little closer.
Hmm...This trip is taking longer than I thought. I think I need to stop for a snack.
Better! Now I just need to get serious and get there.
Finally, I've arrived. Now, I'll just be subtle and sneak a look.
What is it?
Oh, nothing exciting. Just a couple of idiots. I think I'll just go find something else to eat. Oh, nuts!! One of them has a camera.
OK, enough already. I'm outta here.
I SAID ENOUGH ALREADY!!
Sheesh, Paparazzi!!
Well, maybe that is not exactly what happened but we were mesmerized. I had never seen an albino squirrel. They are common in a small town nearby but I had never seen them. It was so cool that I nearly made us late to church.

Sorry again no quilting. Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Quilting!

Our Weekend in Mayberry

Not really Mayberry but that's what we called the small town we moved from last July. After living in Houston, TX for 23 years, moving to a community of around 6,800 was a breath of fresh air. We loved it. In fact, we would not have chosen to leave but...(that's another story for another day). Anyway, it was graduation weekend back in Mayberry so we traveled the 5 hours (even though gas was $3.99/gal.). We made such special friends there(Thanks Lynn and Larry!!).

Friday night was Oblong's graduation. Yes, there really is an Oblong, IL. It was great to see old friends and watch two special friends graduate. There were more in the class graduating but only two were special to us. The one of the left is my sweet kid #3. The one on the right is the graduate.





Saturday night was graduation for "Mayberry". Again, sweet kid #3 is on the right and the graduate is on the left. There were many special ones to watch here since that is where our kids went to school. This one was the best bud for sweet kid #3. They were inseparable until we moved.












There are many more stories from our weekend but those will come later. Sorry there was no sewing going on. I didn't even take a project with me as I knew there would be no time for it.


Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

Mother's Day Flowers Arrived Today

My mom received her mother's day flowers today. For the past couple of years I have sent my mom flowers for mother's day. This year I decided that they would be flowers that wouldn't die and fade away. I know it's late. I'm always late but this time the project was finished. I ended up sick in bed for over a week and didn't get them mailed. Anyway, here's a picture of them out in our back garden.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

I Can Do Better!!

I have certainly failed at the Post a Day in May commitment I made at allsorts. Here it is May 18th and I have only posted 5 times. We'll see how well I can keep up from now on. Besides the trip to the ER, our middle son moved back home from college last week and we are trying to get him settled in. What a mess!!

I have been sewing away on a couple of projects. There will be pictures of them soon. I thought I would share a couple of table runners I have finished this year. The first one is a free pattern on the Fat Quarter Shop website. It was really easy. Don't you just love those Moda Swirls? The other is obviously a Christmas table square which was also a free pattern on Marcie's website. It was a really fun one to do.
















Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

You know you're getting old when.....

you wind up in the emergency room due to back pain and you didn't do a dog-gone thang to cause the pain. That day would have been last Tuesday. I then spent the rest of the week in the bed on a heating pad and pain medication. And what do the doctor's say???? It's old Arthur. Arthur-itis, that is. A steroid shot to the hip should cure me, they say. We'll see. Just let me get back to my sewing machine, please!!

And since I couldn't post without a picture.
Here's a pretty shot of what's blooming in my back flower beds. Yeah spring!!


Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

Prom 2008

This is our baby. She went to her Jr. Prom last night. I can't believe that she is only days away from being 17 years old. She is a great girl and we are so very proud of her.













Her "date" is a good friend from church. The chaperone at their feet is her dog, Scout. He just ambled over and inserted himself between them for the picture. It was really funny. He is very protective of her. I thought we weren't going to get any pictures without him.



I will introduce our boys another day. They are both away at colleges in other states. We are so very proud of how they have grown up. I remember thinking back when they we all under the age of 5 that I would not live through some of those days. Now, I find myself wishing for those "toddler" days again. The years pass far too quickly.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

A Post A Day in May

Jenny B over at Allsorts has issued a challenge. Are you up for it? Run on over to her blog and join in the fun. Even if you don't have a blog, go on over and check out her blog. She's really got a lot of colorful inspiration there.

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Since I haven't finished anything substantial to show you I thought I would share my sewing space with you today. It is really our formal dining room. We are not the least bit "formal" people so we usually eat at the bar in the kitchen or at the table in the adjoining breakfast room which you saw yesterday. We do however have our farm table in that room so it has become my sewing table. It is ergonomically-challenged but I'm hoping to remedy that soon. The bar in the kitchen is also my cutting table since it is at the perfect height for cutting. It is only a few steps from the "sewing room".

By the way, I cleaned up for this photo. The table NEVER looks like this when I am sewing. Those tubs stacked up there are some of my current WIP's.

Meet Quilt Inspector's #2 and #3.(You met Lily here.) That's Grace on the ironing board and Preston on the table. Grace spends most of her days on the ironing board. She is very "hand's" on with her inspections. This is not a problem unless there are large pieces to press. That's when the power struggle begins. Preston usually sits behind the sewing machine while I'm stitching. I guess he feels that quality control at the machine is the way to go.

I hope you enjoyed this small tour. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

UFO Sighting

Actually, this is no longer a UFO. Wednesday afternoon I was looking over my list of UFO's and noticed that I had not finished anything in April. I remembered that this table square made from a Winter Rose charm pack kit (I've had it so long I don't even remember where I bought it from - sad, huh?) only needed the binding finished off. Another sad point, the binding was sewn on just not turned and finished. So, I quickly pulled it out and finished it off while watching the Idol Results show. I am determined to finish at least one project every month this year. So far - so good!!




Here is a close up of the quilting. I machine pieced the top along with the rough-edged stars(that's how the pattern called for them) but I hand quilted the rest of the top with a stencil made from the star pattern. It was a quick project and I've no excuse for not finishing it years ago.
Well, it's done now!! I love these colors. They have become our new decorating color scheme. This is a real switch for me since I have been stuck on Americana for quite a long time.



This last picture is how it looks sitting on our breakfast room table. The arrangement was from our going away party last year at our church back in Illinois. It was made by some very special friends so it holds a prominent place here in our house.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

Donna

Hand's Down -- I'm a real cut-up!

No, I mean it. A literal cut up.

I volunteer one morning a week at my church doing whatever needs to be done to lighten the load for the staff. I answer the phone, greet visitors, proofread, whatever! The past two weeks I have spent the morning cutting out hands for our children's minister, Jill. She tells me they are actually sunflower petals. All this takes me back to my years as a young mother when I worked at our church's Mother's Day Out program. I always loved this kind of thing. Don't ask me why. Maybe as a kid I didn't get to play with scissors. Maybe I like mindless work. Probably I'm just nuts!! (No comments from the peanut gallery. Ha Ha - pun intended)

Today was especially a blessing to be able to serve Jill all the while praying for her, her husband and their family. You see, Jill's husband had open heart surgery today. In fact, he's in surgery as I type. Life is so strange. Last week, as she and I discussed these "sunflower petals", all was good. This week, as I cut, her life is markedly different. As the song goes, Life is hard but God is good. Please pray for Jill that their lives will quickly get back to laughter and sunflowers!

Back to quilting tomorrow!