Knee Deep in Summer

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I love Summer. Always have. My first memories of Summer is playing with my brothers in the yard on the swing set I believe Daddy had built. It was made of wood which is why I believe he built it. I would sit in a swing on that swing set waiting for the school bus to bring my brothers and sister home from school. Under the big walnut tree, swinging back and forth and watching for the yellow school bus. Then when I got to go to school, I looked forward to Summers and all the freedom we had as children on the farm to play and explore and help Daddy and Mother with chores and gardening.

I remember one Summer strolling down the gravel road to my sister’s , who lived just about a quarter of a mile from our house, singing “June is Busting Out All Over” from the musical State Fair. Dogs walking beside me about half way and then they would turn back and go home. We always had dogs which is why I think I love dogs so much. Mother did not have to worry about anything happening to me with the dogs along. My sister lived across from a big woods and anytime I went to visit her, I always made sure I was home before it got dark because the woods spooked my at night. I just knew something or someone would run out of them and catch me.

Summer was picking strawberries in the garden, gathering eggs, helping Daddy with the hay bailing by helping put the bales in the big red barn. He would drive the tractor and wagon stacked with hay bales in through the big center doors of the barn and my brothers would throw the bales up into the hayloft. I would help by dragging the bales to where they were to be stacked using a kind of hook to grab the bales. Summer was hours of badminton, weeding in the garden, playing with new kittens in the barn, playing baseball in the barnyard and taking hikes with my brothers. It was time for swinging in the porch swing kicking it back and forth as I read a library book. Playing hide and go seek and kick the can and battle stations( a game my brothers made up where we ran every time we saw a car coming down our road.) Oh, Summers were wonderful. It was catching lightening bugs in jars and taking the jar to my bedroom at night and watching them flicker off and on. It was swimming in the little pond my brothers made by damming up a little stream that ran through my Daddy’s woods. I never thought of snakes or anything else in the water, it just was fun to play in it. It was playing Davy Crockett at an old cabin behind Daddy’s farm where my brothers and their friends threw walnuts at each other as I hid in the cabin pretending they were Davy Crockett fighting the Indians.

My mother was a gardener and I got the gardening gene from her. I love the flowers of Summer.

We have had so much rain the flowers have grown big and blowzy all over the back yard. See the new fence David is building to keep Molly Marshmallow out of the garden? It almost disappears with all the flowers around it

Bonnie stays near the water bucket on these hot Summer days. She is twelve years old this Summer. Seems like we just got her as a pup.

And what does Miss Molly Marshmallow have in her mouth? I hope it isn’t another baby rabbit. She keeps all wildlife out of our backyard which probably is a good thing with all the flowers and vegetables growing there.

It’s pretty big, isn’t it?

It’s her chew bone that weighs about two pounds and she carries it around like it was nothing, but as long as she is chewing on it, she isn’t chewing on something she mustn’t.

Because it has been raining so much, I have had some time in my shop working on a few projects.

This barn quilt.

A chicken in the barn door.

Chickens marching across my shop.

And more chickens.

I especially love this polka dot chicken. Everyone needs a polka dot chicken.

Or two.

I bought a retractable clothes line, they call it a dryer. Ha. Just have to find some place to hang it now. I have yearned for the smell of sheets fresh off the line on our bed for a long time. I will just have to hang them where Molly Marshmallow cannot get to them.

I baked bread the other day in tiny loaves. Six of them. Three were regular bread and the other three were these….

Cinnamon bread. Yum, yum and yum. It didn’t last long around here with David’s sweet tooth, or mine for that matter. I plan to bake again this Saturday.

I will leave you with a picture of a big spider web that was built at the top of our back door. Big enough for David to walk into. And a poem.

COBWEBS

By E.L.M. King

Between me and the rising sun,

This way and that the cobwebs run;

Their myriad wavering lines of light

Dance up the hill and out of sight.

There is no land possesses half

So many lines of telegraph

As those the spider-elves have spun

Between me and the rising sun.

Bye.

Summer Fun

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Summer. Lazy days when you lie around and do nothing, read a book by the pool and just have some time to daydream. Oh, is that how your Summer is going? That’s nice. Mine has been less than relaxing. There is so much to do. So little time. We mixed Grandma’s Camp with a weekend in Cincinnati at the Creation Museum and going to a lacrosse game our grandson was playing in.

Got to spend some time with the grandkids which is something I always love. They are growing so fast that soon I will be having Great-Grandma’s Camp!

The Creation Museum is just outside Cincinnati in Kentucky. There is so much to see and do there. It all centers around God’s creation and Noah’s Ark. There are vignettes all around like this with scenes from the Bible. This is Adam naming the animals.

This was Cain after he slew Abel. The first murder. Mankind didn’t take much time in starting to do criminal activity. This is where the famous quote, “Am I my brother’s keeper,” came from.

There were dinosaurs there.

Don’t throw him to the dinosaur!

After Adam and Eve were sent from the garden where they had everything they needed, they had to learn to till the land and raise their own food. Why did Eve let satan talk her into eating that apple and why did Adam join her?

The tree of life. “Don’t eat of the fruit of this tree, ” God told Adam and Eve, but they were tempted by satan and sinned against God and mankind has lived in a fallen state ever since.

There was a petting zoo where we laughed at a guinea hen chasing a peacock around and around the pen until the peacock finally flew out. There were camel rides and all the grandkids rode a camel. I told them that now if anyone ever asked them if they had ever rode a camel they could say, “yes.” One of my grandsons asked me, ” When do you think that question would ever come up?” “You never know, ” I answered.

They are building the exact size replica of Noah’s ark on the grounds. You can take a drive out to see the process, but we just ran out of time. I guess we will have to go back some time. It was a fun day. The next day we watched a lacrosse game. Our grandson’s team lost their first game, but won the second. He was in a tournament and had three or four more games to play, but we needed to head home. First, we had lunch with our son who lives in Cincinnati. He gave our grandsons some money to go play games while we waited for our meal. They were so happy.

Back home it was pool time. We had bought a big blow up turtle and it was enjoyed by the grandboys.

Molly enjoyed the boys being there. They are making friends although I do have to watch her because she can get a little rowdy.

She and Foster are becoming good buddies.

She spent most of the time just watching. Hard to believe just about a year ago, she was a tiny puppy. Time goes so fast.

The three “boys” had a great time in the pool. It was really hot so the water felt especially good.

We watched a mother bird feeding her babies next to the pool area.

“Where’s the food, Mama?” Almost big enough to leave the nest.

I will leave you with a walk through my garden. It’s in its yellow period now.

Yarrow.

Hollyhock.

Coreopsis.

Hollyhock. I made a quilt called Hollyhocks Around the Barn and this color was in the quilt.

Asiatic lilies. They are so beautiful and so easy to grow.

I just planted this Rudbeckia. It is different from my other Rudbeckias.

More Asiatic lilies with Autumn Sedum Tapblow Blue behind them.

We have Stella de Oro all over the garden. They multiply and it looks like this bunch is ready to be separated.

Hope you enjoyed the walk and hope your Summer is wonderful. Bye.

Rhubarb, textiles and a Really Cute Quilt Book

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Enjoying your Summer? I am enjoying it so much, except for the really hot days that seem to sap all my energy. We are going to be in the nineties for the next few days and I am not looking forward to it. That is possibly why I love Alaska so much. I was never hot while I was up there.

We have had a bumper crop of rhubarb this year. For years I tried growing it, but never seemed to be able to until the last three or four years and now it is growing very well indeed. We had rainy, cool weather earlier, which rhubarb loves, and it grew and grew. I think all the chicken poo and composted cow manure I put on it last fall helped too. I have made rhubarb pies before, but this year I tried something different. Rhubarb and strawberry crunch. I have used this recipe for years to make apple crunch. Now it is David’s and my favorite way to eat rhubarb. Here is how you make it.

First you go out in your garden and cut several stalks of rhubarb.

Wash it well and then cut it up into small pieces.

Doesn’t look like much after this, does it? But then you do this.

You get these luscious strawberries that your husband found at Aldis and wash and quarter them.

You mix them all together with sugar. I used one and a half cups for two pies.

I also mixed in about a half cup of flour to thicken it because rhubarb makes a lot of juice when it is cooking. I think I could have added just a little more, but David says he likes the juice.

Then you get out your pfaltzgraf? pie plates. Don’t have any? Well, just any ol’ pie plate will do. I spray canola oil in them, but you can butter them if you want to add even more calories.

Now for the crunch part.

Mix one and 1/2 half cups of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp. of salt, one tsp. of baking powder together.

Take two of your disproportionate eggs that you found under your free range chickens. Don’t have chickens? Any chicken eggs will do. Break them into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until well mixed. Then add 1/2 cup of canola oil. (Do not use olive oil in this.) I have always used canola oil so that is the only thing I can tell you will work.

Your dough will cling together which is exactly what you want it to do.

Now here is the tricky part.(Or not, but you may think it is.)

After filling your pie plate. And I mean full, you pat the dough all over the top of it with your bare hands. Try to cover everything. You will think you don’t have enough dough, but it will cover it all if you work at it.

Now it is ready to bake. Wait a minute. I like to sprinkle sugar over the top as this is not sweet enough yet. When I make apple crunch, I sprinkle both sugar and cinnamon on the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 to 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and dry to touch.

Now I doubled this recipe because I had enough rhubarb to make two pies. Doesn’t this look yummy? Sorry, both of these are gone already. We had company and someone really loved this enough to eat two helpings. It’s really so good.

If you have been reading my blog for even a short time, you know I love fabrics. I have been in love with textiles ever since I was a girl when I sewed my first doll from an old sock my mother gave me. I have been in search of fabrics and things to make with it ever since.

I also love ironing. I was cleaning out a dresser this week and found some old handkerchiefs I forgot I had. I have collected old handkerchiefs for years and have a lot of them.

I washed them and ironed them. I love to iron. Yes, I know, I am a throwback, a crazy woman, someone you must think has too much time on her hands. There is just something about taking a wrinkled piece of cloth and making it smooth.

How could I have forgotten these beautiful handkerchiefs? How could women blow their noses on them? They use to, you know.

Also found some curtains I bought at an auction years ago. I think I will hang these in my shop.

I washed and ironed this fabric I have had for years that we sold in our quilt shop years ago. I am working on doll quilts and this will be the backing for some.

I am using a lot of 2 and 1/2 inch blocks for these doll quilts.

I got this perfectly darling, wonderful quilt book in the mail the other day. I have been looking at it a lot the past few days. There are so many wonderful projects in it.

It is written by this very talented lady. I have been reading her blog for years and she has written some of the cutest quilt patterns and designed some really pretty fabric. She is a farm girl like me and her book is right down my alley.

Sorry for the poor quality of my pictures, but if you can see, this is a really, really cute barn quilt. Inside each block is another smaller block where the barn door should be. I am loving this.

This is another version and this is the one I am working on now.

This is one of the six inch blocks that go in the barn block.

This is another one. There are many quilt blocks to make. Boy, am I going to have fun.

This is my attempt at my first barn quilt block. A lot of tiny pieces. This is going to be FUN. Did I already say that? You are probably thinking, this girl needs to get out more. No, I just love quilting and cute patterns like this.

Oh, oh, oh, look at this darling chick quilt made with one of the six inch block patterns. What a cute baby quilt this would be.

This pattern was worth the entire cost of the book for me. A chicken quilt. I have made a chicken quilt before, but this one in pastels is just so, so, have I said cute enough? This one will get made by me.

Here are a lot of 1and 1/2 inch squares cut ready to make this six inch block.

Inserted into a barn block this will be, well, CUTE!! Have I gushed enough about this book and the cute patterns? I am just so glad I decided to buy this pattern book. It has already given me hours of happiness.

Now to the garden. My vegetable garden already looks like a weed patch although you can see the tomatoes, pumpkins and sunflowers above the weeds. I go out occasionally and pull a few weeds and a few hundred more grow up to take their place. I have never seen weeds come up and grow so fast before.

My flower gardens give me so much pleasure. In my little kitchen garden(kitchen garden used loosely as the only edible plants growing in it is the rhubarb.)

I am not sure what this is called anymore, but I know it just keeps spreading more each year.

Hiding among the foliage I found this lily reaching for the sun. Behind it is perovskia and love in the mist. This garden holds mostly blue flowers and this lily stands out like a sore, but pretty, thumb.

Here’s to rhubarb crunch, textiles and a quilt book that sends me over the moon. Bye.

Windows, Chickens and Flowers, Oh, My

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Been busy around the old house the past few days, or is it weeks? I’m not sure, time is flying so fast. I have to keep my shirttails tucked in to keep them from flying, time is going so fast. Did I say time is going fast? In my Bible study this week I learned that time is not going, it’s coming. There is something really big coming our way. The Bible speaks of her time coming, his time coming, the time came. I find that fascinating. I don’t really worry about time. We all have a certain amount of it on this earth and we should make the best of it and give God the glory and love one another. That is really all we can do. We cannot change the weather. We cannot change time. We really don’t have control of much of anything when you really think about it, but if you put it all in God’s hands, it will all work out for the good(to those who love Him.)

Whew, I didn’t mean to get all theological on you, but that’s how I am. Things have been happening around here. We called our ever faithful contractor to replace more windows. This house has so many windows and they all have been in the house since about the fifties, I believe, so one by one we have been replacing them with brand new insulated, double paned windows when we save up the money. This time we replaced our big window in our dining room. Our contractor said we saved the hardest window for almost last. It had to be rebuilt, repainted and replaced.

Here it is taken out. Nice breeze today.

We have a nice view. Well, when the trucks and ladders aren’t there.

Reframing it. These men are pros. They have worked together for years and work like a well oiled machine. They almost know what the other one is going to say before he says it.

New windows at last! I was a little afraid that by replacing these windows we would lose some of the old woodwork around it and change the look, but now that they are in, it looks just the same, except we don’t have those awful, old, ugly storm windows on them any longer. They will be so much easier to clean.

I couldn’t wait to get some curtains hung. See my new ladder. It’s mine. I picked it out and I will be the one using it for painting walls. It’s sturdy, not like our old wooden one that rocked when I climbed on it and swayed with each movement. This one stands strong and firm and I love it. Really.

I am using lace curtains this Summer, but I have bought new insulated checked curtains for this Autumn and Winter.

After the windows were in, I painted our dining room. A soft grey. Sometimes it looks cream colored and other times really grey depending on the light. I like it. I was getting tired of the yellow walls that I really loved when I painted them a few years ago. I’m fickle like that. David and I went to Hobby Lobby this morning because we(I) wanted to get some flowers to put in my chicken feeder that I received as a Christmas gift last year.

Remember when I wrote about this surprise gift that appeared on our front porch? I didn’t know what it was or who it was from.

It was this really nice, antique chicken feeder. I told my friend who gave it to me that I was going to design a room around it, and I have. Here it is, Shannon. Look what you made me do.

I sent away for these chicken posters. The flowers I found at Hobby Lobby had feathers in them! How appropriate. Now the feeder sits in all its glory. I love how this turned out. Hanging the pictures was fun(not.) David measured and measured and measured again and one of the pictures kept looking lower than the other. I measure things with my eye and kept telling him they were not level with each other. He measured and measured and measured again and finally decided our lopsided old house was the problem so he let?! me eyeball the pictures and we finally got them almost level. As a friend use to tell me, “You will never notice it on a galloping horse.”

I love these pictures.

He could be the husband of one of my barred rock hens. Wish I could have a rooster.

We rehung this picture our daughter gave us last Christmas. Kind of goes with the theme of farm and chickens.

I have been picking these the last couple of weeks. My favorite flower. The peony.

I have tried to get a little of this in, but haven’t got much done on the doll quilts lately. I am hand quilting them as I get them pieced.

I saw this purse on a blog, I wish I could remember which one and got on Fat Quarter Shop and ordered the pattern. The Abby Bag. I hope I can find time to make it. Of course, I will have to make my granddaughter, Abby, one some time.

Just finished reading this for the second time. I got this book either at an auction or an antique store. It’s about a woman who was left behind at her family’s cabin in Alaska one winter when her husband couldn’t get back to get her. She went through many trials and tribulations like being in a landslide and breaking her arm and hurting her leg right off the bat. Besides that, she was expecting a baby and had to deal with that and give birth all by herself. It is a true story and when I read it, I realized I don’t have it hard at all, although I would really love to live in Alaska.

Maybe hard times is what hones us and makes us stronger. To live a life of ease and relaxation all the time would be a complete bore to me. I like action and hard work and doing things myself even if they don’t always turn out so well. Anyway, if you ever get to read this book, I think you would enjoy it. It was also made into a movie. I’d like to find it. I saw it a long time ago.

Just wanted to show you something my Sunday school children made last Sunday. They did all the cutting out and gluing and putting on stickers and I brought home the squares and tied them all together and will take it back to show them next Sunday. We should do as the words say, “Love one another.” Bye.

Marjorie’s Almanac and Opie Taylor

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Ah, May. The time when flowers are fairly bursting into bloom. When gentle breezes and sudden showers make the world green and glorious. I came across this little book a good while back. These books came in the mail back in the sixties and one would be sent to you every so often as long as you subscribed. I didn’t get very many of them, but this one was a favorite and had some favorite poetry called Marjorie’s Almanac.

There was a poem for every season. This one was my favorite and I memorized it and can say it even now.

I do think Maytime is pleasanter than March although I do like March too. One of the poems for Autumn is very politically incorrect in this day and age of speech control, but at the time it was innocent and did not demean anyone, but it would certainly be looked at differently today. I will not show it here, but I have it memorized also.

Green things are growing everywhere you pass. Even Molly Marshmallow likes it so much she does this……

Picks one of my biggest and brightest irises and brings it up to the back deck for me. Such a thoughtful puppy!

Glad I got a picture of them before they became Molly munchies.

See how proud she is of herself for picking my flowers?

I’m thinking she belongs in jail. She looks good behind bars. Don’t you think?

She has brought up dead birds, moles, broken toys, pieces of board and other things to share with me. She will soon be one year old and I am hoping that this chewing and destroying will come to an end sometime.

This past Sunday after church, we headed to Danville, Indiana where they were celebrating Mayberry Days. If you don’t know what that is, I will explain. Back in the sixties there was a television show called The Andy Griffith Show. It starred Andy Griffith, of course, and was a bout a sheriff in a small southern town called Mayberry. The town had a lot of quirky, funny people. People like Gomer, Goober, Earnest T. Bass, Aunt Bee, who was Andy’s aunt in the show, Opie, Andy’s red headed son, Floyd the barber, Howard Sprake, Barney Fife, Andy’s deputy sheriff and Ellie May,(correction. Thelma Lou was Barney’s girl friend. Ellie May was a Clampett.) There were lots of others, but these were the main characters. Anyway, Danville has a Mayberry café in town and every year they have a Mayberry day. The only reason I knew about it was that this year our grandson was entered in the Opie Taylor look alike contest.

Several boys and I guess a man or two entered the contest and they had to go and be in a parade on Saturday and be judged. Sunday they announced the winner.

This man played Barney Fife, and if you ever watched the show, you would not believe how much he looked like and acted like Barney. He was kind of the master of ceremonies at the event. Here he is getting ready to announce the Opie look alike winner. We all sat there on pins and needles. (We adults already knew who had won because the parents had been called the night before to be sure the winner would be here.) Barney took forever to announce the name. My grandson sat there in suspense. Then, suddenly Barney said, “And the winner of the Opie Taylor look alike contest is…….. Adler Grey Craig!” Well, we all screamed as Adler went up on stage to get his prizes.

Here he is talking to Barney Fife. It was almost surreal to see those two together.

Adler received a really nice gold trophy, one hundred dollars and free meals at the Mayberry café for one whole year. That was pretty nice, I’d say, for a boy.

He became kind of a celebrity as he had his picture taken with several people. Here he is with Aunt Bee.

This little boy was also in the running and they got a picture together.

Here are the actors who played Gomer Pyle and the mayor of Mayberry.

Gomer and Goober did an act.

Floyd the barber and Barney.

There was a Mayberry band and they played a couple of original songs. One was about a rooster which got me laughing so hard tears were running down my cheeks and my stomach hurt and one of the guys on stage said I was shaking like a bowl of Jello and another guy offered me his red handkerchief, but I was laughing so hard I just wanted them to ignore me. You had to hear the song.

Danville has a really nice museum and we got to look through it a bit although we really went there to see Aunt Bee.

There she is in her kitchen.

Her famous pickles were on the counter. If you were a fan of the Andy Griffith show, you will remember when Aunt Bee was making pickles for the county fair and how many Barney and Andy had to eat. One of the more memorable shows.

Barney was handing out tickets and David got this one for walking too fast on the sidewalk.

We learned that all the characters who were there that day came from all over the United States. Only two were local people.

Nostalgia was everywhere. I even saw an old Farmall tractor like my daddy use to drive on the farm. All in all it was a fun day and I am so glad we went. If you are near Danville Indiana this time next year, you really ought to stop on by and visit the Mayberry festival. There is a Mayberry café that serves really good food and all the televisions around the café show the Andy Griffith show continuously. It is open year round.

Here’s to good times and good memories. Bye.

Flowing Along

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My very favorite month, April, came and went so quickly I hardly had time to turn around. I wait for twelve whole months for the flowering crabapple to bloom and the lilacs to come out and now they are all almost gone.

Now it’s time for peonies,

and irises,

and snowball bushes. I have planted three more of these. This one came from David’s grandmother’s garden years ago.

Right outside our back door so we can see it as soon as we get up in the morning.

The garden is almost all planted. Pumpkins, Indian corn, sunflowers are planted and tomato plants and cucumbers will be planted today. I have cut back on vegetables and added more flowers.

Our little patch of rhubarb has provided us plenty for pies.

So yummy.

I made this sponge cake for the Bible study that meets at my house. It took eight eggs which made me thankful we raise chickens. One of my friends made cucumber and egg salad sandwiches so I said we were having high tea. It was all good.

Speaking of eggs, or, rather those that lay them.

The hens give me endless entertainment. Abigail is looking at me as if to say, “Why does Colonel Sanders get away with murdering all those chickens?” Shhh, don’t tell her I love Colonel Sander’s fried chicken.

This is chicken scratch, or as I like to call it, chicken crack. The hens are addicted to this stuff. They recognize the bowl in which I bring it to them.

See, they are all crammed against the gate waiting for the crack.

I set the bowl on top of their nesting boxes and first one hopped up.

Then two. Beatrice and Dorcas are always first in line.

Then there were three. Abigail came up for her fix.

Then Ada says, “Where’s mine?” It was getting crowded so I began to throw it all over their pen. Chickens are funny. They can be eating in one place with plenty of food, but if they see another one eating at a different place, they all run there. I like to play games with them.

First here.

Then there.

Then all in one place for a short while.

Ada was not happy with me taking pictures.

She disappeared behind the door. She is so pretty. She should be posing.

Teal feathers are really standing out. From afar she looks all black and then you see these feathers.

Abigail has such pretty markings too. There are so many kinds of chickens and I wish I could have one of each, but my little plot of land could not sustain them.

Speaking of dogs. Oh, I wasn’t? I saw in the paper that there were chocolate lab puppies for sale. David thought I was just kidding when I told him and told him I wanted one. But, alas, I cannot have a fourth puppy.

We are still trying to raise this little lady to be a good, well behaved dog.

What is this, you are asking? This is a clean, fresh t-shirt that I put on one morning and went outside to start the day. What you are seeing is Molly’s paw print, in perfect outline, smack dab in the middle of my nice clean shirt. Such is life when you have a puppy. I have taken to wearing aprons when I go outside to protect my clean clothes.

Here’s to crack eating chickens and dog printed t-shirts. Bye.

One Day at a Time

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You just have to take one day at a time or things get out of hand. If I take the time to think about tomorrow, I start getting tired because today is not finished yet. One day passes after another and suddenly you look up and a week, a month, a year has passed and you wonder where it went. Time is going faster. I truly believe it is. What do you think?

I am blessed that my days are full. I have something to look forward to and work to accomplish. What would life be without work? Work is invigorating. I love work. I learned a good work ethic from my mother and father who were certainly not afraid to work.

We are having more new windows installed this Spring. Today the contractor came and nothing was happening so I went outside and the contractor was looking at windows that were not going to fit. I felt for him. His day was not starting out very well, but I just knew it would all work out. They were special order windows, too, so he was worried that the lumberyard would not take them back. I told him I would pray for him. He left and later in the morning he came back with a smile upon his face. The lumberyard had taken them back and ordered the larger windows and gave us the discount we had gotten on the first windows. Anyway, we got one window replaced in our livingroom and tomorrow they are replacing one in my shop. We only have seven more windows to replace. Next year. This old house may get done one day. I tell David we are sure making a nice house for the next owners.

DSCN0758

This is the first sunrise I have seen in a long time. I am a late sleeper and miss these beautiful scenes. I had to get up to let the contractors in so up I got.

Remember last post I told about the lady who sent me all the material? There were pieces like this already made for a large Dresden Plate.

Piles of pieces for Dresden Plate blocks.

Such cute fabric.

This fabric had chickens on it. Yay. I will cut some of my fabric and put it with her fabric and make a Dresden Plate quilt. But first, I have three other quilts I have to finish. I am trying to get some of my quilts done. Quilts that have been laying around for months and some even years. I also am making doll quilts to use up my little pieces of fabric. I may sell some, I don’t know. Just love piecing them and all the cute fabrics I am using in them.

The garden is looking so pretty. Every morning there are new surprises.

The flowering crabapple is glorious.

I can see it from my front window.

Or sitting on my front porch. See the lilac bush? It is loaded with lilacs and smells heavenly.

A new snowball bush I planted on the north side of the porch.

Planted three azaleas like these.

I looked out my back door and saw what looked like a little tree, but it’s really a columbine. Don’t know how it grew like this, but it is interesting.

Can’t you almost smell these right from the screen?

I bring in big bouquets of these and the house smells so good!

The azalea that I didn’t think would grow here.

Isn’t God good? Look at this beautiful bunch of lilacs.

This little solar hen lights the garden at night.

Meanwhile, Molly sits in her chair and guards the backyard.

No one gets this seat but her. I love this dog. She is getting sweeter every day. Not as many Tasmanian Devil antics where she would suddenly start biting. She loves being with me. And I love being with her. I love just sitting and petting her. I knew she would make a good companion. David and I saw a huge Mastiff at Rural King yesterday. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and jumped and David laughed. I thought someone was leading a pony through Rural King. I pet her and she was so gentle. “This is my next dog,” I told David who I had told only a few months ago that Molly would be our last big dog. Ha. I knew that wouldn’t last long.

Here’s to new windows, quilting, Spring bouquets and sweet dogs. Bye.

You Meet the Nicest People

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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.

Driving Miss Crazy Part Two

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It’s been a wonderful week of family, sightseeing, eating good food, laughing, relaxing and just having an all around good time. David and I have spent a few days in Wilmington, North Carolina. We went to see these people.

David’s brother and sister-in-law and their son and his family. We had the pleasure of having these children visit our house last Summer.

This little girl is a free spirit and makes me smile.

And this little boy happy to show his missing tooth. Just like my grandson.

We had fun with them one night shooting at cups with nerf bullets and knocking the cups down. Of course, it got out of hand and several shots hit some of us accidently on purpose!

David and I also went to North Carolina to see the azaleas during the Azalea festival in Wilmington. Wilmington was dressed in the most beautiful flowers all over the city. We took tours through the gardens and through some houses. I will just let you look at the beauty that is Wilmington.

These were everywhere.

Pretty girls in pretty hoop skirts in every garden.

This was someone’s back yard. A really wonderful place to entertain.

Someone had a lab and had this statue in their garden. I got to pet the real lab. I missed mine.

There are beautiful houses everywhere. Wouldn’t you just like to walk up these steps and move right into this house? The flowers were gorgeous. Well, maybe the occupants might have something to say about that!

Loved this house. It has a very unusual porch ceiling like the ribs of a ship.

I’m a sucker for lace curtains at the window. So pretty.

Another house we went through. It was so cute.

Historical houses everywhere. They really take pride in keeping their old houses well kept.

Azaleas were not the only flowers blooming.

Even some of the sidewalks were unique.

There was a street fair going on also and I think this man was trying to sell everything!

I even saw a woman leading a llama down the street while walking. I thought I was on Mulberry Street.

If I had to live in a city, Wilmington would be high on my list. It’s Savannah without the commercialism and heavy traffic. Don’t take me wrong. I love Savannah and have been there a few times, but Wilmington rates right up there with it.

We had to go to the beach. The first time we went, Terry, my sister-in-law and I sat bundled up in blankets sitting in chairs trying not to freeze. The wind was blowing and it was cold. We didn’t stay too long that day. Then another day David and I went by ourselves to a beach north of Wilmington and found it much warmer and the beach was so nice to walk on.

While David did this….

I did this…..

Then we walked a couple of miles on the beach. It was so nice.

For some reason quilts and fabric always manage to be incorporated into any trip we take. This time I met a friend of my sister-in-law’s who was a quilter and she brought over some of her quilts to see. I loved this one.

This floral one was bright and cheerful.

I especially loved this one. I like how the black and white fabric sets off the bright spokes in the fans. I want to make one of these. When you meet someone who likes to quilt, it is like you have met a kindred spirit. Talking quilts always makes me happy. I did not buy one yard of fabric this trip. I had to make myself stay out of quilt shops as I am trying so hard to finish up several projects before I buy one more yard of fabric. Believe me, it was hard. Even when I wasn’t looking for them, quilt shops would appear.

I am so looking forward to seeing my dogs and chicks. Molly had surgery while we were gone and I am sure she is ready to come home. It’s been fun, but back to reality. I am actually looking forward to planting my garden. My brother-in-law already has most of his garden planted but he also has a palm tree in his front yard. It’s still too cold to plant most things in our state. But boy, have I been inspired by all I have seen.

Here’s to azaleas, old houses and fun with family. Bye.

Driving Miss Crazy Part One

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I love to travel. I don’t like long car rides or flying so that is a dilemma when one wants to get from one place to another. I don’t like interstate driving or destination driving like we did the last couple of days. Destination driving, according to David is getting from one place to another as quickly as possible with as few stops as possible. We don’t usually travel like that. When we travel, we usually stop several times at quilt shops or antique stores or just to get out and walk around. We only stopped once in a little town called Clinton to go through some antique stores. I was so glad to get to our destination. David’s brother’s house. Then I was too tired to visit for very long, but we will see him and our sister-in-law several times. Going to the beach with them one day. Can’t wait.

Anyway, as we destination drove we passed so many interesting things we could have stopped to see. Carl Sandburg’s house for one. Carl Sandburg was the poet I believe who read a poem at President Kennedy’s inauguration years ago. Or was it Robert Frost? I would have loved to have seen his house. I bet it was really interesting.

Later, as we drove, we passed an old house and David said, “That’s a neat, old house.” “Yes,” I replied. “Kind of looks like what Carl Sandburg’s house might have looked like if we had actually seen it. “Colonel Sander’s house?” David asked. “Carl Sandburg’s!” I said, giggling.

We have lots of interesting conversations like that. Like when I asked David, “Do you ever wonder why you married me?” “No,” he said. Then, “Do you ever regret marrying me?” “Why?” he replied. “Are you an ax murderer or something?” Not yet.

Or the conversation that went like this. I was watching the car in front of us and I asked David, “If you saw a hand sticking out of the place where the tail lights should be, would you take the car’s license plate number and follow it?” “What are you talking about?” asked David. “You mean to tell me you would not get the license plate number and follow that car if it had someone’s hand sticking out the tail light area?” “Where did this come from?” asked David. “You know all those murder shows I watch on ID where the woman is in the trunk of a car and sometimes one of them has the forethought to break out the tail light and wave her hand and gets noticed and someone calls the police? Are you telling me you would not call 911 and follow that car and get the license plate number? You know that guy does not have good plans for that woman.” “In that case, yes I would,” David says. Conversation closed.

Driving with David can be exciting like when he drove from the left lane across two other lanes to get to an exit and realized it was the wrong exit. It was serendipitous though, as we ended up on streets lined with pink azaleas, white dogwood and purple wisteria. Mentioning these we have seen a lot of beauty the last couple of days.

Spanish moss. It makes me thing of romantic stories.

Dogwood trees everywhere.

Azaleas. We cannot grow these well in our state. At least not like this.

Big southern homes with big porches or verandas as they may call them.

David does all the driving because I am too interested in looking at everything. And besides, we would actually like to arrive at our destination and alive!

Finally arrived in this state, but we took a wrong highway and ended up in this state.

Then we saw these and thought we were in England.

But we finally got back on track.

Driving along David shouts out “Pee Dee!” I say, “What?” “P-E-E D-E-E,” he spells for me. “The name of a river we just crossed.” “Oh,” I replied. “I thought it was something you have to do.”

On a serious note, we passed a funeral procession kind of like the one in “American Sniper” with flags hanging across the street and motorcyclist after motorcyclist with flags on the backs of their bikes roaring down the highway. Must have been a military funeral or someone important. Police stopped all traffic and people stood on the side of the road with their hands over their hearts. In a day of light, and laughter and fun we were reminded that death comes to all of us. That a person’s passing is serious business and I pray all are prepared.

Going through this tunnel reminded me of the light at the end of the tunnel some people say they see in near death experiences. David’s driving did not make me see this. He is actually the safest driver I know even after the incident with the semi who tried to run us off the road. See Miss Garmin hanging there in the window? She laughed and laughed when David took the wrong exit. I have a love hate relationship with Miss Garmin although she has found all our destinations for us pretty well, but don’t tell her because she might get the big head.

Here’s to travels and the things we see. Bye.

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Snicklefritz

So glad you came. Come sit a spell and read about the tale of my life.

Knee Deep in Summer

Summer Fun

Rhubarb, textiles and a Really Cute Quilt Book

Windows, Chickens and Flowers, Oh, My

Marjorie’s Almanac and Opie Taylor

Flowing Along

One Day at a Time

You Meet the Nicest People

Driving Miss Crazy Part Two

Driving Miss Crazy Part One