It's Monday morning!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. It was actually somwhat pleasant here (the wind wasn't blowing a gale!). I managed to get outside and scrub up a Little Tikes desk so one of the granddaughters could use it.

I also got the blocks done for a Turning Twenty block exchange I'm in. The last one we did was black/red/white. This one is any floral. Anything goes as long as you can find a flower in it. Mine will be in today's mail to their new owners. It's fun to see what design others send you. You send for blocks to each of the others in the group and they add two strips and send them back. When you get them all you decide on the layout, sew the blocks together, and...you have a quilt top all done.

Monday Thanks

That I don't have a mortgage
That my husband has a good job
That my car is paid for
That my family is healthy
That I live in the country

Have I mentioned Fat Cat Patterns before? If so, disregard. I'm really enjoying applique and am itching to get started on some of her patterns. If you like applique, go on over to her site. Sindy has a special for the months of April and May. Believe me, you won't want to miss it.

I promised my Mom that I'd get her quilt quilted before Mother's Day. It's creeping up fast! I have another one that I want to 'practice' on before I make a mess out of hers. I'm not planning on anything too ambitious, I've only machine quilted one other quilt and that was a disaster 30 years ago! Hopefully I've learned a few things in the meantime.

Have you heard Susan Boyle sing? If not, go to Google Videos. There is one of her singing Cry Me a River that is just beautiful. You really need to experience her singing.

I'm STILL working on my April bunny basket. I just have the eggs and a little chickie to do. All the thread changes take up so much time! It's not perfect but I hope with each one I do I get a little better at it.

I also have Esther Aliiu's Mystery BOM called Red Delicious, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with apples, by the way. She only leaves the pattern up for a month. If you miss it, there is a charge. So I'll have to buy the first three. Believe me, they are worth it!

I got a phone call from my granddaughter Aspen a bit ago. What's unusual about that, you ask? This is the very first time she has called Grandma, 'Ma' to her, and actually TALKED to me, rather than it being a one-sided conversation. Those are the kind of things that are precious to Grandmas.

Off to enjoy a teensy-weensy bowl of ice cream. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Saturday Blessings

A day of rest
A beautiful Spring day
Bird songs
Grandchildren
Computers

Rainy Days and Sundays

Drip, drip, drip! Not complaining in the least. I was about to drag out the sprinklers, my flowers were getting very thirsty. The grass is getting very tall though, I need a day that's dry and warm enough to mow before I have to call a friend with a swather and baler!!

It would be a good day to sew but it's so gloomy I just haven't been in the mood. So I've been browsing online, looking at all the free patterns and quilting sites.

I saw the neatest idea...somewhere. They had mounted photos, all the same size, on cardstock and then clipped them to a wire mounted on the wall. I want to do it a little differently and clip the photos to a piece of clothesline. Hmm, maybe even cut the cardstock in the shape of various clothes and use clothespins. Wish I still had all those cute little plastic ones from when I was a kid! Remember them? Back in the 50s, if I remember correctly.

I did work on one of my blocks-of-the-month, A Tisket, A Tasklet. The April one is a basket with a chocolate bunny, colored eggs and baby chick. I cut my chick facing the wrong direction so need to cut another chick. I have discovered I have a real passion for applique, much more so than piecing actually. above is a picture of my block so far. As you can see nothing is stitched yet, it's just in the arranging stage. Now I need to splurge and buy some of those really nice threads I've heard about. I love the way the egg that I used the batik fabric for turned out.

Hope you all enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Sunday Smilies

The rain
Daffodils
A roof that doesn't leak
Greenery Outdoors
Baby Animals (as long as they belong to someone else!)

Spring is getting closer

It's a beautiful morning. The sun is shining. Unfortunately, the wind is blowing also so it's not very warm.

Mercy me! I just heard this terrible racket and looked out to see what Keith is doing now. You know men, sometimes they can do the crazest things! Well, he's off the hook. It was like an old DC-3 flying very very low a few hundred feet from my house. I never heard a crash so I gather the pilot knew where he was going. Certainly not to our local airport, much too big to land there. That was enough excitement for one day, for sure.

My crocus are blooming and the daffodills aren't far behind. Now, if it would just warm up so I can get out there and clean out the flower beds. WHY do weeds grow so well over the cold, cold winter anyway?

I'm moving the computer into a closet that was just full of 'stuff'. A lot of it was clothes that realistically I know I will never fit into again. And, if I did they'd be the wrong color or whatever. So huge gulp, I'm cutting up some of my favorite shirts for quilt scraps. The rest are going to SA (Salvation Army).

I picked up the new issue of the Fons & Porter quilting magazine and there is the cutest round table topper in it. They did it in reds/yellows with chicken fabric and chickens appliqued around it. Since those aren't my colors, I decided to do blues/whites and applique teapots and cups/saucers where the chickens are. It may be a bit before I can start it though. I PROMISED my granddaughter that I wouldn't start anything else until I finished the three quilts that need quilting and then did her quilt. Well, perhaps I can sneak it in-between somewhere along there. LOL

Friday Finds

Best Friends
Blue Sky
Too much stuff (some people don't have enough, let alone too much)
Oldest daughter's birthday today
My fun, fun, fun Janome 6600P