The last few weeks of Winter are quickly passing.  I was looking forward to Winter, surprisingly, this year as I had a lot of projects I wanted to complete before warm weather.  I have finished three quilts since the beginning of the year which is good for me.  Small quilts, though.  Not king size like I have been making.   I have managed to clean out drawers that haven’t been touched in, gulp, years and found a boy scout flashlight that belonged to one of our boys.  It’s surprising what you will find around our house if you look.  We have closets full of old stuff from the sixties and seventies.   With three children growing up in this old house and me as a collector, things have managed to pile up.  I’m not a hoarder, though.   Everything is put away and has its place.  I just have to find it!

Today it is raining and the house feels so cozy.   I wish you could hear the rain beating on the metal roof of our front porch.  I love the sound.  I told David if we ever built our little house in the woods I want it to have exposed beams and a metal roof so we could lay abed and listen to the rain overhead.

The weather has been topsy turvy the past few weeks.  First we have this…….

Then we have sixty degree days.  On those warm days David and I have been cleaning up the yard.  It’s nice to get out and work in the sun and clean up debris in the yard and find all the flowers that are starting to peep through the ground.  I think we are going to have a beautiful Spring this year with all the daffodils, magnolias, azaleas, and other plants blooming.  We planted two more flowering trees last year so I am looking forward to seeing how they will look.

I am already planning my garden and what more flowers I want to plant this year. More hydrangeas, I think.  Another tree, perhaps.  Pumpkins and tomatoes are all I am planting in the vegetable garden this year.  With just David and me, it’s too time consuming to put up so much food that we won’t eat.  I have fought the critters who come and eat my beans for years and when I can buy a can of beans almost as cheaply as I can put up my own, it seems silly for me to waste my time.  I really don’t think home canned beans taste much better than store canned beans if you cook them with a little bacon fat and onion and I always put garlic salt on ours and they are very good.

I have been sewing some dolls for Samaritan’s purse.  Samaritan’s purse is an organization headed by Rev. Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, that fills shoeboxes for Christmas for children around the world. The boxes are filled with toys, school supplies, candy, clothes and anything that can be stuffed inside them.  These boxes are handed out to the children at Christmas time.  Our church has been filling shoeboxes for years.   Here are my little dolls.

I designed them myself and each has his or her own personality.

For instance, Rose, who wears her floral hat quite beautifully.

Mary, who is so proud of her new glasses.

Frankincense, Frank for short.

I hope some children will find them fun.  They all come with their own little quilts too.

I finished quilting my chick quilt.   I love, love, love it.  It’s so darn cute and I could make another one.

Oh, I did.

This one is ready to be quilted.  In blacks, reds, greys and pinks.  I love how it turned out.  It’s a small one.

These chicks were so much fun to sew.   They can become addictive to make.

Lori Holt, who designed the pattern, really came up with something entirely too cute for words.

This is the third quilt I made and it is completed. I hand quilted most of it.

Looks so nice on the back of a chair in my girly room.

Yes, you may come and sit on this chair and visit.

With the days still chilly and needing comfort food, I baked this week.

Apple crunch.  One of my favorite desserts because it is so easy and quick to  prepare and David loves it.

Cracker Barrel biscuits with dried beef gravy.   I don’t mean to brag, but my biscuits are better than any I have ever eaten at Cracker Barrel or anywhere, for that matter.  I make them extra thick and they are so good.  Definitely don’t last long around here which is why I only make them occasionally.  They are wonderful with strawberry jam or blackberry jam on them.  I am making myself hungry.

Hope your days are filled with comfort and contentment.  Remember it’s the little things that really do count.  Count your blessings.  You may have more than you realize.  Bye.