Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Today was my laundry day, and since we are finally having warmer weather I can hang my laundry outside :) It was a speed dry day, today. The winds were 25 - 30 mph, with some gusts up to 45mph!!!! It only took the jeans about 45 minutes to dry... the picture shows why :) I must say it was quite a challenge to get those clothes on the line; and the jeans could have easily become lethal weapons, the way they were whipping around in the wind!

And here is an updated picture of the baby bunnies :)

April DJ Secret Pal Gift :)

During this past week I received this awesome gift from my Dear Jane Secret Pal. I have never taken part in a Secret Pal exchange before, and I don't know if all Secret pals are like mine... but My Secret Pal is just the best!!!!!





She made me the wonderful Travel Sewing Kit, and sent me the beautiful spring colored Fat Qusters:) She is really spoiling me, and I love every minute of it!!!






Here is a picture of the inside of the sewing kit.
Complete with ziplock baggies sewn in to keep
all my little projects safe and sound. :)

Baby Bunnies

Last Sunday while we were mowing and gardening my husband came across this group of 6 baby bunnies. They are so cute and so very small. Their little "nest" is right out in our back yard! I will keep a check on them and see how they progress :)

This Year's Flower Bed

Our little flower bed is now all cleaned up, with some plants up and bloomimg. We also planted several packets of wild flower mix seeds. Hopefully these will all come up and attract the butterflies and hummingbirds. If it does, there will be many a picture coming to this little blog :).












My Bleeding Heart bush just keeps increasing and spreading. This is one of my favorite flowers.








This little angel and cherub look over my flower garden.

Sure would be nice if they could shoo away all the plant eating bugs!!!!

Garden Time :)

Last weekend we were finally able to get the garden turned over and everything planted!!!! That was an unbelievable feat for us...the whole garden in one weekend. I had lots of help, though. Two of my daughters, 1 daughter-in-law, 5 grandkids. I told everybody, that if they planned to eat out of this garden, they had to come help plant and take care of it (LOL). It worked for the planting part :)

We have planted corn, green beans, 3 kinds of potatoes, 3 kinds of tomatoes, 3 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of lettuce , 1 type of spinach, canteloupe, 2 kinds of watermelon, zuchinni, and cucumbers.

The kids had the most fun planting the potatoes. They all thought that was the greatest thing!!!!

Names of Jesus Quilt Top

I have finally started quilting my Names of Jesus Quilt, yes, I am hand-quilting. I don't have have a long arm quilter and I can't afford to send it off to someone, so "it's a hand-quilting we go". As you can see my stitching is being watched carefully by Samson, my infamous "quilting buddy".

I will be following the pieced blocks with quilting, while the alternate blocks will have a shell design quilted in them. The alternate blocks are a white-on-white shell print. I have chosen a medium to dark purple for my backing, which will wrap around to the front and create a border.

I am very anxious to finish this quilt and be able to cover up with a quilt made of blocks representing so many different Names of Jesus. This is also the first quilt that I have done with an on-line group, and there was an awesome Bible study that went along with it :) This quilt will be treasured by me for so many reasons.

Easter Weekend Project

Over Easter weekend I decided to make this table runner for our dining room table. This is the first one I have made, and I must admit I enjoyed making it very much. I chose Spring colors, so this one will be my Spring Table Runner....Oh, that sounds as if there could be more table runners in the making. Summer, Fall, Winter, Valentine's, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and on, and on, and.....Oh No, I'm becoming a table runner addict!!!!! AHHHHH, then I could make matching placemats & napkins, someone stop me, I need HELP!!!

NEW BOM GROUP!!!!!

Okay, okay, I know the last thing I needed to do was join another on-line Quilt group, but this one is going to offer Basket BOMs...Now how cool is that??? I just couldn't resist :) This is a practice basket block from the group. And the group name, you're not going to believe this.....Basket Case Quilters!!!!! (ROTFL) Is that appropiate or what????

April BOMs

This is the 2005 Block of the Month for April. This BOM I can see all 12 blocks ahead of time and plan my fabric selection in advance. Four down eight to go :)

And, this is the 2009 Block of the Month for April. I am really enjoying this BOM stuff. It's almost like a mystery quilt, since you don't know ahead of time what each block will look like. There is also the challenge of choosing fabric too!!!

April Card-Making

The Kitty Cat card was made for my granddaughter for her Birthday this month. Finally got the Cuttlebug out and played with it for a bit. I really need to use my Cuttlebug and Cricket more :)

This card is the one I made for my Son-in-Law's birthday.

These are the cards I made for two swaps this month. Instead of making several cards I am trying to make less cards, and putting more thought into them :)

WOW, It's Already April!!!!!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I blogged! Where has the time gone???? I have been trying to organize and re-organize my sewing and craft areas...this is a never ending job (LOL)

I have also began the task of painting the bathroom and trying to declutter and organize it....Oh My, What a task!!!

This picture is of some of the Finches that have returned to my backyard this Spring.

These pictures are of the Flowering Crabtree in my front yard. When the wind blows just right, the wonderful sweet smell of these blossoms comes right in my sewing area window, LOVE IT!!!!

And look how green the grass is right now. Spring is such a beautiful time of the year, everything is wonderfully fresh and new, and the air just smells so clean.

Spring????

Though Spring doesn't officially arrive until this Friday, today felt like and looked like Spring.
Our temperatures made it into the lower 70's, the sun was shining, birds were singing, and there are patches of green appearing in the winter-browned grass. I also noticed that my Bleeding Heart plant has tiny new sprouts poking through the ground.

The robins, bluebirds, and a few finches have returned. And all the male birds are doing their cute little "look at me" dances for the females! I do believe I heard one bird couple arguing over the construction of their nest...such back & forth chattering they were doing... I had to laugh out loud at them.

I was able to hang my laundry out on the clothes line!!! There just isn't anything like the smell of clothes that have hung out on the line, and the whites just look so much whiter after a good dose of sunshine. The grandkids rode bikes, and played pitch & catch; and are now fast asleep, completely worn out from all that outdoor play and fresh air.

I have now begun to plan my vegetable garden. Hopefully the potatoes will be out on April 10th, with many more veggies following soon after. I am looking forward to eating fresh from the garden this year, and of course I will do some canning and freezing for the winter.

I truly love our change of seasons, but I was really growing tired of Winter this year, it seems to have drug on and on. I am ready for Spring!!!

GIVE AWAY PRIZE

The prize for Rhonda's Give Away, that did I mention I won (hehehe), arrived today!!! Six absolutely wonderfully beautiful Fat Quarters :) Thank you so much Rhonda. The fabric is beautiful and I very much appreciate you doing the Give Away...lots of fun. I never knew how much fun could be had on the Internet, until I joined all the quilting & scrapbooking groups. Both have such wonderful, caring, sharing people in them. I feel so blessed to be a part of these groups.

GIVE AWAY WINNER!!!!!

Remember the fat quarter "Give Away" I mentioned last month, over at Rhonda's blog, Patches and Pieces. Well the winner was announced.......
and, "IT'S ME... ME, ME, ME"!!!!!! "YES, ME" Talk about doing the "happy dance"- that's what I'm doing for sure :) Now, that's how I like to start out a new month. When I receive my prize, I will be posting a picture :) Thank You so much Rhonda & "Mr Random".

March Card Swap Cards

These are the cards I made for the upcoming March card swaps. I love making cards and scrap booking. Another creative outlet.

The first set are a "Sketch" card, "Birds of a Feather", "Anything You Want", and "Friends Forever" themes.


The second set is obviously for Easter.

March 2009 BOM

Here is the March 2009 BOM, that I finished last night. I'm actually running on schedule so far *grin*. And since I was working on it late last night, and not paying attention, I cut enough pieces to make 2 complete blocks instead of one...but my Dear Sister-in-Law said she really, really liked it, so she will be receiving the extra pieces :)

Sharing My Birthday

February was my Birthday month, and I wanted to share some pictures of a few things I received from people on a couple groups I belong to :)


This is the wonderful Sewing Caddy & yummy Chocolate Truffles that I received from my Dear Jane Secret Pal. I love it!!! She made the Sewing Caddy for me, isn't she an Awesome Secret Pal????
Next, from my Dear Sweet Rosa, I received these oh sooo cute "Stick Girls" siggys! *grin*

And last, but definately not least....Over at the Quilting in Indiana Group, I belong to the Birthday FQ Club. And these are the GREAT FQs I received from there.

I "Thank You" all so much for making this such special Birthday :)

Block of The Month (BOM)

Well, since I am not participating in any block swaps this year (that I know of, hehehe) I decided to try my hand at a BOM. This particular one is an old Block of the Month (2005) that I found over at azpatch.com. These are 12 inch blocks, which after working on the little bitty Dear Jane blocks, takes a lot of adjusting to!!! So these are the January and February blocks.

Now I wasn't content with just one set of BOMs, so..... I started the current year's BOM also....

And guess what????

Yep, I have found a couple others that whispering my name. So in the near future there will be more joining my BOM Party.

Samson Goes To School

I don't know if I have mentioned this before... but my wonderful "little" kitty, Samson, thinks he is a human. He loves to help me quilt, make the bed, and dust, and this week he decided to further his education. We are a homeschool family, and as I was preparing to start our school day, Samson decided to enroll in class. I'm just not sure that his learning style of "learning by absorption" will really work. Although I'm sure that the children would love it if it did!!!!

Fabulous Fall Frolic Block Swap

These gorgeous blocks were made by several Dear Jane/Dear Hannah group members for our Fabulous Fall Frolic Block Swap. We made these blocks using Fall colors, which may seem a little odd in the middle of winter...But it gives us a beautiful colorful picture during this season of gray & white. And we should have our quilts, wall hangings, or whatever we decide to make with these little "fall leaves" done for this year's Fall Season, well some of us might have them done this year... me??? I don't know about that.

February Flooding

Ahhh, Indiana weather...You gotta love it!!! One day there is 12 inches of snow on the ground, two days later the temps reach the 50's & 60's and the snow melts! The next day it rains, and rains, and rains for a total of 1.5 inches of rain.

The pictures show you what you get with 12 inches of melted snow and 1.5 inches of rain.

Water in places it does not belong!!! Everywhere in these pictures that you see water...well, it isn't suppose to be there!

The ground was so soggy, it was like walking on giant sponge. And if it was very quiet outside, you could actually hear the water being soaked up by the ground!!!

Of course, today it is back to typical

February weather...COLD!!!

Civil War Love Letters Quilt Blocks

I have been working on these quilts blocks for my Civil War Love Letters Quilt. I had started this project in October, but then fell behind during the holidays. So while everyone was playing in the snow these past few days, I was catching up on my blocks, you know, in the house where it is nice and warm. I opted to use Civil War repro fabrics in lavendars, purples and greens for this quilt. I am working along with Rosemary Youngs' online group to make one block a week, and it has been quite enjoyable.

Snow Play

These pictures are of some of the Snow Play that went on at our house. Our grandchildren had not seen a snowfall of this depth, so they were having a ball! By the way the "big kid" is Grandpa.

There was sledding, snowball fights, snowman building, and even some snow eating going on. Oh, and of course, there was the plenty of snow shoveling to be done!

And I of course only stepped out occasionally to snap a picture or two. Then back to the fireplace, hot tea and quilt work.

Snow, Snow, Snow

On January 28th we woke up to 14 inches of snow at our house. So I thought I would share a few pictures of the beautiful scenery.

Now I am not a snow lover, but it does make for awesome pictures. When the snow begins to fly, you will most likely find me in the house with a cup of hot tea, working on a quilt or reading in front of the fireplace.

But I did venture out long enough to take these pictures. After all, they will make a great scrap book page.