How did it get to be the middle of February already? I know I am always writing about how time flies, but it really does. First, I must say, I have never been bored in my life. I learned early that if I was bored, my mother would find something for me to do and it usually entailed working in the kitchen with her, which I hated. I never have enjoyed cooking. I like to bake and I keep David supplied with the sweets he so desires. I guess never being bored means your time is filled all the time and it seems like I always have something to do and if I don’t, I love reading. I never have enough time to read. Most of my reading is done in bed and just before I go to sleep or a few minutes after I awake in the morning I try to read a few pages.

I joined a quilt block challenge online where we make so many blocks every week. I don’t join these things very often as I get too busy with the challenge and less busy finishing projects I have already started. I planned to finish several quilts this year, but instead, I have pieced five more small quilts and hand quilted two of them already.

This is a Kathleen Tracy quilt challenge she had earlier. I really loved making this little quilt and have it quilted and half the binding on it now.

Here is another small one I made from Kathleen Tracy’s book. of sampler blocks. The quilt took seventy-two small blocks and somehow I ended up with eighteen extra blocks so I made two more small quilts with them. I do like blue and brown together. It looks like a vintage quilt. Hand quilting is so relaxing for me. The easy going in and out of the needle in the fabric and seeing the quilt transform from a piece of fabric pieces to a quilt with substance. I really believe quilts get heavier as you quilt and add more thread to it. I can watch tv and quilt at the same time. I really cannot just sit and watch tv. I have to have something in my hands to work on.

The small block challenge I started has three different sizes of blocks you can make. I tried making the smallest one which ends up being only one and a half inch square. Here is it by a button. This is my one and only one of those I made. Too fiddly for me so I decided to make the three and a half inch blocks which are much easier.

Here are the two different blocks together. I know some ladies are trying to make the smallest blocks and I cheer them on, but me, I will stick with the larger one.

Here are more of my blocks by the tiny one. Can you imagine how many blocks it will take of that tiny one to make even a twin size quilt? I am hoping to make a full-size quilt with my blocks, but we shall see.

These blocks are like potato chips. You cannot stop at one, or two, or three or……….

Here is one of the quilts I have finished this year already. I just quilted it on the sewing machine using straight lines and it was done very quickly. I will probably give this one away to someone in the family.

This is one of the two small sampler quilts. It has already been quilted. Sorry I don’t have a finished picture of it right now.

Besides making quilts, I had one to repair. I have given all my grandchildren at least one or two quilts and one of my grandsons had loved his so well, it needed some repair on the label and one of the blocks.

This is the label I put on my grandson’s quilt. At one time the family raised goats so I put goatsby the truck and one of their dogs and my grandson’s picture in the window. His name begins with an F so I put that in the truck. My grandson is a lot older now. Just got his driver’s permit. He is my youngest grandchild. They have all grown up too fast. But that’s the story of my life. Everything is fast forwarded it seems.

We took a trip to Cincinnati and took our daughter-in-law out to eat and gave her and my son and grandson their Christmas gifts. Kind of late, but they have been busy, our son has been in Florida and so we never could make the connection. Anyway. She was so happy with the picture I painted of her son, I think. I sure enjoyed painting it.

David finally got the 2000 piece Gone With the Wind puzzle done. It was quite a puzzle. It filled up almost our entire dining room table. Now it is back in the box and we have our table back.

I bought this wonderful sign recently. There is a reason I bought it. I want to put a green house around it. Yes, I am getting a green house later this Spring. Look up Yoderbilt greenhouses online and you will see these wonderful pictures of people’s greenhouses. Some have decorated their greenhouses with lights, furniture and rugs. I plan to grow things in mine, but that is not to say I won’t decorate it a little bit. I am never anywhere for long before I am filling it with something. I have wanted a greenhouse for a long time. It will be nice to be able to start flowers and vegetables earlier. I told my doctor I would raise some tomatoes for him next Winter. I hope I can keep that promise.

Since we are putting the green house next to our house in our driveway we had to cut a tree down. I hate to see trees cut down, but David showed me this Maple was split down the middle and was liable to fall in the future on my shop and greenhouse so we had it cut down this week. It was interesting to watch. We have had the same family business cut down trees on our property before. They have become hi-tech since we used them last. They have a big saw that is operated off a guy’s belt! No one climbs a tree.

Limb by limb they took the tree down.

These big claws wrapped around each limb and cut it off the tree. Sawdust would fly everywhere.

This is the operator. Several other men stood around and waited until all the logs were down and they cut them into pieces for us. So we will have wood for our firepit for a long time.

Now it is nice and sunny where the greenhouse will sit. All we need to do, well, David needs to do is lay down some special paper that keeps out weeds and lay gravel and level it all and we can have the greenhouse delivered. It comes from Arkansas, I believe and they deliver free in several states.

So that is what has been going on at our house. We have gone over to our daughter’s house and cleaned one day. She has MS and cannot clean so she usually hires someone to clean for her. We took an afternoon and hired a cleaner to come in and deep clean and we organized a little. Now I wish I could get my house deep cleaned. That lady really did a great job. The rooms were spotless when she left. i am so thankful there are people who do this for a living as so many people need the help.

We finally had some snow this week.

It was so beautiful. it didn’t last long, though. Today it was in the forties and the snow is quickly disappearing. I really wanted to see a deep snow that lasted a few days.

We went out to eat for Valentine’s Day at Red lobster, but there was an hour’s wait so we picked up some White Castles and went down by the river and ate them. That is how we roll. But we did finally eat at Red lobster’s last Sunday and it was very good and not crowded at all.

I’ve ordered our seeds and now we just have to get some warm weather and planting season will start again. Seems like time is flying! Yes, it is. Bye.