I have traveled in just about every state in our union except for Hawaii and Rhode Island and David thinks we have been through Rhode Island, but I must have blinked.  In all our travels we have met some nice people.  Helpful people.  Friendly people.  No state holds a corner on the market for friendly people.

During our visit to North Carolina I got to meet a friend of my sister-in-law’s.  She is a quilter. She showed me several of her quilts.  She also showed me a quilt block she had had trouble making.

This one.  With all the points that have to come together it reminds me of Lemoyne Star, a block I have never mastered in all my years of quilting.  I even taught classes on the Lemoyne Star block and my students could make it better than I could.   For some reason I could never get the points to come together neatly.   It shouldn’t be that hard, but it is for me.

I have a feeling these points are going to be the death of me!  Arrgh.  But I am going to try it.

Today I got this pattern in the mail from Jan, my sister-in-law’s friend.  I was so surprised.  And not  only this pattern, but she sent me this….

A box crammed with pieces of fabric of all colors.  Christmas!!!   Thank you, thank you, Jan.  This was so nice of you.  But now I am going to obsess about making that block come out right.  The block comes from this block of the month quilt. Wait, I just noticed the pieces were cut for a large Dresden plate quilt with some already pieced!!!!  And patterns for a large Dresden Plate block.   I will have to retake my pictures and show you what she sent me.  What a treat.   Wow, am I blessed.

This would be a gorgeous quilt to make. The block pattern I got goes in this quilt. Do you see it?

Flowers are everywhere in my garden now.  It never fails to amaze me how there can be no leaves on trees one day and no flowers and the next day it’s like there has been an explosion overnight and there is color once again after a long season of grays and browns.

Foggy mornings usually mean it’s going to be a sun shiny day.

Absolutely love redbuds.  Saw so many of these in the North Carolina mountains.  Like they had been planted, but were actually growing in the wild.  Well, I know who planted them.

Daffodils of all colors.  I can never get enough of these.

My little magnolia that I protected from the builders last Spring while our new porch was being built.   I was so afraid it would not survive all the activity around it, but it did, and is so pretty.  I bought another one to plant in another part of the garden this year.

This particular magnolia bloomed a couple of times last year.

I told my North Carolina relatives we couldn’t grow azaleas here in Indiana, but I guess I was wrong because this azalea lived through a pretty bad winter and is blooming profusely now.  I planted three more this week.   I want my garden to look like those gardens I saw in North Carolina.   Some of those azaleas there were probably decades old.

Hope you are enjoying Spring where you are.  It goes so quickly which is why it is so special.

Here’s to nice people,  Spring flowers and surprises in the mail.  Bye.