A Proud Mom

I have to take a moment to write about our oldest son, Justin. After many years of study, he successfully completed the coursework, and defense of his doctoral dissertation. Here he is - Dr. Justin Marquis, PHD (philosophy).

 We were able to attend his defense. What an experience! Rick and I kept looking at each other and wondering "this is our son?!" Andrew and Eric were with us and we all celebrated by going out to eat at one of Justin's favorite restaurants in Chicago. What a wonderful day! Congratulations, Justin!

Some Things I'm Working On...

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! We had a relaxing time with the kids (minus Justin, we'll see him tomorrow). A cookout, strolling around the yard and playing with Tad.

Besides gardening I have been trying to finish up a few projects on my very long list of things to make. Well, this quilt is not finished but it is sewn and waiting to be quilted.

It is from the Moda Bake Shop site. As soon as I saw it I wanted to make it. So fresh and bright, and I love the prairie point border.

It's hard to believe that for as long as I have been making quilts, I have never made prairie points. How could that be?! I love them.

I just made this little cross stitch into a pillow. It is from a Helen Philipps book. She has so many cute designs. I know I will be stitching up more of them in the future.

Now, here is a peak of some little embroidery pieces I'm working on. Does anyone remember the Alene's TV craft show? Years ago I ordered a couple of iron-on transfer books from them.  I always knew I would stitch up these alphabet flowers some day. I just didn't know what to do with them. And I still don't! But I'm working them up anyway and hoping something will come to me. Any ideas?

The gardens are right on the edge of exploding into bloom. I just spent a couple of days weeding and getting the beds ready for the show. I'll leave you with a few views around the yard.

Almost ready!

A volunteer foxglove in the raspberries.

An oriental poppy.

Japanese iris with  metal hummingbird art.

 

Just for fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Time of the Year

It's that time of the year again. Planting time! I've been at the garden shops and gotten all my fill-in plants and seeds. Everything in the greenhouse is ready. And every evening I'm crippled from putting it all in.

This is what the greenhouse looked like earlier this week. Now it's pretty much empty.

Most of our beds are full of perennials, so I just need a few annuals for edging and for potting up. Next year I'm going to grow more annuals from seed and save even more money (and get more varieties.)

I also got the vegetable garden in. It really doesn't take much time now since we downsized. Just tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and salad stuff.

Here's a few things that are blooming now:

I have columbine reseeding everywhere.

A new Blue Girl rose.

I love planting our hypertufa containers.

WelI, I've got to get ready for work. I will be back soon with some pictures of my stitching projects. Have a great weekend!

Road Trip

My husband and I like to explore the little towns around Lafayette, and I had just found out about a new-to-me quilt shop in one of them. We had a destination! We found the shop and it was wonderful. Rick sat in the car reading while I had the hard job of choosing  some fat quarters.

I had pretty good luck, didn't I? I love that bee fabric and the tiny roses are so sweet. And look at this pattern:

I can see fussy cutting it. Now I have to come up with the right project.
After the quilt store we had lunch at a small diner, then we walked the square in search of antique stores. Every little town has them and this one had several good ones. We don't always buy, but this time we found a few well priced finds.

A wire pie stand. (I added a couple of pie pans from Julian, CA.)

A wooden pull toy to add to my collection. It will be fun to see Tad playing with it.

And then there's this little planter. Not the kind of thing we would normally buy, but it was kind of cute and for only a dollar, why not?

Before going home we decided to take a side trip to a covered bridge and mill we had been to when the boys were little. After a couple of wrong turns, we found it and walked around the park and along the creek.

It was a beautiful day and a great road trip!

Two Quilts, a Bag and Some Other Stuff

We had perfect spring weather today; sunny, warm and not windy. I spent a large part of the afternoon putting straw in the strawberry patch and cleaning out the greenhouse. We have several trays of perennials that are going to be flowering soon. But I can't plant them out yet, we keep having frosts and freezes.

A young woman from work raises show rabbits and offered us some manure for the gardens. Even though rabbit manure can be used "green" or fresh, because it doesn't burn the plants, this manure was nicely aged. When it dries out I'll mix it into the soil in these raised beds. Along with our compost, it will make nice rich soil for healthy veggie plants.

It was also a great day for photographing quilts outside. I finally got the binding on this one. And doesn't it look like stained glass from the back?

This one is ready to be quilted. I think I might scallop the outer border. I also have some extra "tulips" left over so I might make some matching pillows.

And lastly, I made this little purse from a pattern in the new BH&G All Small magazine. I changed it up by adding batting to make it sturdier, and doing some embroidery instead of buttons on the front.

I know I said lastly, but really, I have to add my latest favorite pics of Tad. He had fun rocking backwards on our little rocking chair.

 

Loyal says "hi" and "I'm going back to sleep now".

So Much to Do!

I can't believe that it's been two weeks since my last post. Besides work and the house, I'm now busy getting the gardens cleaned up and ready for planting. I had today off, so I weeded the strawberry and raspberry patches, swept the house and porches, and cleaned my craft room. Now I'm stiff and tired and all I can do is sit here on the sofa. Luckily, I have a good movie to watch (Contact) and stitching to do.

I finally finished this afgan. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since I used two different types of yarns to get the right colors. But I think it will be alright. At first I tried crocheting the squares together, but that made them bubble up. I guess I did it too tight. So I ended sewing them together and I like it much better.

 I finished it off with my usual scallop edge. I really need to learn a new border:)
I also finished the quilt top I've been working on, but I forgot to take a picture. I'll be back with it tomorrow.

I just had to show this picture of our pink dogwood. We planted this baby about five years ago and this is the first year that it's bloomed. I'm so excited!

I know it happens every spring, but it's like I'm seeing all these flowers for the first time. They are just so beautiful and they make me happy!

This area at the side of the house by our main door is what we call the shade garden. Last year we had a big maple tree removed so it's not as shady now. The plants did fine last summer, and we are going to put in some roses in the sunnier areas.

Tomorrow I plan to clean, cut up and freeze these carrots that got left in the ground over the winter. They will be perfect to add to our vegetable soups and pot roasts.

I also have to show you a picture of our little guy, Tad. He's getting so big! And don't you love the red hair? It's even starting to curl a little. 

He loves eating Cheerios!

A Spring Quilt

I started a new quilt this week to use as a bedspread for our bed. I love working with these colors. Very different from my usual.

Now that I look at it, I should have photographed it with  a vase of daffodils:)

 The pattern is from one of the older Thimbleberries books. I've made so many of her quilts, but I was saving this one for the right fabric combination. I've had that blue and yellow floral print for awhile and now I'm happy to use it.

As I said in my last post, I can't believe how fast the spring flowers are blooming, then dying back. I think we are about a month ahead of usual. The redbuds are open and the crabapples are almost there too. It's like viewing spring in fast forward!

For some reason these pink cupped daffs haven't bloomed for a few years. It's good to see them again.

Our beloved grape bubble gum tree (aka: sand cherry.)