Faster, Faster, Faster

If you haven't gotten it figured out by now, my posts are going to be less frequent as we move further into Spring. Here's why; the crabapple tree in front of our house is in full bloom so why would I want to be inside when I can be out looking at this. Be sure to click on this picture to enlarge. The tree is beautiful!


Mary and I made a trip to Hoover's Nursery north of Basset on Wednesday and I got 20 of their gorgeous Rocky Mountain Red geraniums. Got those in the ground this morning before the rains start. My Spring plantings always start with these favorites of mine. I need to be patient this year until find out about the acreage. Only 2 more weeks before the auction. Tick-tock, tick-tock... It's driving me crazy. Mary and I went out the other day to look around and I see how big a job I'm taking on. I'm not sure the gardens were even worked in that much last year. Lots of weeds. And things coming up that I'm not familiar with. Patience, patience--not always one of my virtues.

Wednesday my friend Jean Elliott and her friend, Betsy came to see me. I met Jean while I was at the Spring retreat in Spring Green, WI in March. We had so much fun. Jean is an extremely gifted person. Her range of abilities to make things out of nothing is mind-boggling. One of the things she does is decopauge old cardboard suitcases. I talked her out of one at the retreat and yesterday, as promised, she brought me a personalized label for it.



The inside is completely covered with fabrics, buttons, etc. It's the perfect thing to use for taking projects to class or a retreat. She does all sorts of themes; mine is sewing related. I will treasure it forever. Again, Jean, thank you so very, very much!!

Well, we had so much that I fogot to take pictures of them! I really enjoyed meeting Betsy. She's a quilter from Denver that I suspect I would have lots in common with . Jean and Betsy were off to a quilting retreat in Oelwein when they left here. However, I bet they made time to take in a few second stores on the way as that is where Jean picks up all her supplies. I've got to go with her some time.

This will be short as I'm trying to stay on track to get that @#!! quilt done. I only have 10 blocks to go. Afternoons I'm cross stitching and I am almost finished with another pin cushion and sicissor FOB. If I get it done today, I'll stick it on here. Otherwise, 'til next time.

SPRING!!

I guess Spring is finally here. Our magnolia tree is in full bloom today and smells heavenly. It's only the 3rd year for it, so I'm surprised there are so many blossoms. Of course, there will be wind and rain tonight and tomorrow so most of the blooms will be gone after that!! With another 80 degree day today it will be hard to keep my mind focused on sewing.




Lately I have been intrigued with sewing accessories. Especially the ones that look kind of old. Yesterday I finished this cute needle book with scissor FOB.

Designer, Linda Lautenschlager of of Chessie and Me taught a class at Country Sampler this Spring. The model was made up in the shop and I just loved it.





I didn't have any wool on hand that I thought looked good, so it took an extra day to get that dyed. I have enough to share with my friend Jean Elliott who is coming to visit next week from Wisc.








This is a Biscornu....it's a pincushion with an unusual shape. I wasn't really interested in them at first but they kind of grow on you. Actually, all they are is 2 squares put together with the corners offset . They turn out really cool and now, as you can see, I'm hooked.

This Stacy Nash pattern is aged with walnut stain. It's about 4 1/2 inches across. It's usable.



This set of 3 have tiny rabbits, birds and beads on them. Really fun to do--some of the stitching has been done with silk threads which I find tends to "fuzz up" when brushed against. And they are only about 2 1/2 inches across. The designer called them "stackers". They are cute stacked up, but not really very practical.















Braylon and Amanda stopped by last week!! He's getting so big. At 5 months, he's now rolling over both ways and trying to get up on his hands and knees. He's a busy little boy and I had lots of fun while they were here! Don't get to see them much. Hoping now that winter is over that will change.

Down Memory Lane

I did get something finished yesterday! I got the binding sewn on to my new quilt for summer. I loved this fabric collection the first time I saw it. It's by Fig Tree and was named Fresh Laundry. The fabrics look a little bright here, but in reality it looks like a quilt that has been faded a little by the sun. The pillow on the bed is a Crab Apple Hill Embroidery pattern that I did last year. And the picture to the left of the bed is one of my sister and I.






We are in our hand-crocheted dresses and tap shoes. I would have been 6 or 7 and Mary 4 or 5. (She's the pretty one.) I got this picture from my Dad. It's in a beautiful old frame with a convex glass. On the back of the picture was a United Airlines flight schedule from 1949.









This bedroom has really turned into a nostalgia room for me. I have some old pictures of my family. And I have decided to stitch some cross stitch samplers representing the women in my family. My favorite patterns are from Blackbird Designs and I've been taking their suggestion to create these family records in stitching. This sampler is for my paternal grandmother. The date signifies the year my dad was born.






This is my Grandma O'Neill. I believe we lived in California at the time. I don't remember her at all when I was small, but I did meet her when I was 17 and visiting my Dad.











I stitched this sampler in memory of my mother, Mildred Lucille Usher. The house reminds me of her parents house when I was really little. I remember it being 'big and gray'. The original pattern did include age 12 so I used 1932 as she would have been 12 years old then. I don't know if she sewed much when she was a little girl. I know there was lots of work for her to do as she was the second oldest of 7 children. But I would like to think that if she had time she would have enjoyed doing something like this.



My mom and I. Looks like the same house. Look at those jowls!!

That's it for today. Pardon my reminiscing....

Happy Easter Everyone!!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last blogged. Well, it's not like there's 500 people sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what I've been doing.

To be honest, I've been sort of in a state of disconnect since we learned that acreage is going on the auction block. I'm nervous about it and I don't do well when I don't have a vision for what's coming up. I really should just trust that things will work out as they are supposed to. That's what I preach to other people, but the control part of my personality keeps feeling like I should find a way to make this happen.

So I haven't been able to really settle down into any kind of a project. I have several hanging out there that aren't completed, so today, I'm gong to concentrate on finishing something.


First, Easter. We always enjoy time with our family. Angie hosted an Easter brunch. We start with our traditional mimosas in the kitchen while waiting for the food to be ready. Angie had a really good egg casserole with sun dried tomatoes and sausage and lots of stringy cheese. We had fresh fruit, pastries, oven roasted potatoes and one of her signature cheesecakes. This one was a chocolate chip, something....indescribibely delicious. I took my lemon bundt cake with raspberries. Way too much food. But good!! Here we are in Angie's kitchen. Not room to get everyone in.





And the ones that couldn't leave the ball game on TV. Wes and the girls. Mike R was in his chair and out of the picture.








It was a nice day to be out. Not too cold, not much breeze. We only had Olivia and Carson taking part in the hunt this year. Bailey (center) has decided she's too old. Next year will start the cycle over. Our first great grandchild, Braylon, will be old enough to walk and hunt eggs. I'm sure everyone will help him. We look forward to it! Olivia and Carson spent the afternoon sorting and trading candy. Some was put in a pile to 'donate to Haiti'........that was cool idea.



Memories of days gone by go through my mind every Easter. Grandma Johnson started a tradition of an Easter Egg hunt the first year our Mike was old enough to walk. He was their oldest grandchild. The hunt was always after Easter dinner. The kids would be looking out the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of an egg that they could quickly get before anyone else. There were 10 grandchildren all pretty close in age. Our Mike was very competitive and we always had to lecture him about giving the others a fair chance. We all laugh about it now, and over the years, I have seen that same thing happening with our grandchildren.

It was a great day, but too short. Hope all of you had a great Easter, too.