I and my friend Tricia have both decided to do Amandajean’s quilt along. We’re both doing two tops. This is the first block for my second top.
I had planned to use Christmas fabrics. While looking through the stash, I found the white snowflake print and the blue one and decided to use those instead. I like the contrast.
~~Rhonda
I finished putting the blocks together.
I’ll rummage the attic stash and see if there is something I can use for the borders.
~~Rhonda
I’ve decided to put together two quilt tops following Amandajean’s quilt along. I finished the first block last night.
It’s a star quilt made up of 13 different star block patterns and set with 12 other blocks. I’m making this one in palest pinks, yellows, and blues. I’m want to redecorate the guest room in shabby chic / cottage style and plan to use this quilt in there.
The second top will use Christmas fabrics (big surprise I have a ton of those!). DH was going to bring that box down from the attic, but was in a hurry this AM. I may have to wrangle it down myself…or go up and get the few pieces I need for today.
I went to the attic yesterday to peruse my fabric stash in prep for Amandajean’s quilt along. Found quite a few boxes marked “2007 – fabric to sort.” Last year in January, I worked through a lot of stuff in the attic, including fabric. At least it was all in one place. LOL While looking through box after box, I came across one with unfinished quilt projects in it, including one small pieced top that is so garish I may never take a picture of it. But there were enough finished quilt blocks to make at least four quilt tops. I must have made these 15-20 years ago, before we moved into our current home.
Nine patches – 32 green and 30 pink.
And Jacob’s Ladder.
I’m putting Jacob’s Ladder together today, but need to decide what kind of border to put on it before it will be finished.
Sewing is OK while the weather is chilly, but tomorrow I’m headed outside to work in the yard. It’s supposed to be 70 and sunny. A welcome change!
~~Rhonda
It’s spring at our house. Really spring. Deep green, deep grass spring. Monday the ground was too wet from previous rains to mow, but I mowed the yard on Tuesday for the first mower outing of the season. DH has Wednesdays off and we spent a lot of time out in the yard that day, doing those spring maintenance sorts of jobs…pulling henbit, putting down mulch, trimming shrubs, etc. A fun day. Winds were blowing at 30+ mph, but that didn’t stop us. The temps were in the low 70s and it felt great outside.
The early daffodils are finished, but the mid-season and later ones are still beautiful.
We have a friend with a tree trimming business and he gives us wood chips for the gardens. A wonderful gift.
These lovely Poet’s daffodils came from DH’s family farm.
The Honesty just opened yesterday. Soon the tops of the plants will be covered with beautiful purple blossoms. They spread easily and come up all over the yard. They provide easy and beautiful drifts of color in lots of areas of the yard this time of year.
After working in the yard, we picked DD#3 up from school. On the way home, we made an impromptu visit to our friend Laurie’s house. Her granddaughter was there and asked to fly kites. They had a wonderful time!
When we had to leave, DD said, “I’d forgotten how much fun it was to fly kites.”
I love this time of year…all those beautiful flowers.
DH had an all day meeting on Thursday, so was able to come home much earlier than usual. We worked in the yard until dark. We cleaned the raised beds in the veggie garden and planted five kinds of lettuce, herbs, green beans, sugar snap peas, yellow squash and three tomato plants.
I am so looking forward to that first fresh-from-the-garden salad.
While we worked, we had an overseer. Zilli was totally intrigued by all the weed pulling and dirt digging.
After the veggie garden was in order, DH and DD took a bike ride, while I walked around the yard and took more pictures.
The redbud blossoms opened yesterday, April 17.
This bench is the perfect spot to sit on a spring afternoon or evening. It offers a view across the northeast part of the front yard. Right now, it’s the daffodils. In a month it will be the irises, and a month later the daylilies. A beautiful view.
Zak caught the last of the evening sunshine on the sidewalk.
Spring. Love it. ~~Rhonda
This inspirational couple, members of our church, are celebrating Moore’s 100th birthday and Dorothy’s 99th birthday. They are looking forward to celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary this year. Devoted to one another and to their God, they are an exemplary couple for all of us to look up to.
Congratulations, Moore and Dorothy!
~~Rhonda 🙂
The spring flowers are popping out all over the yard.
The yellow, white, and lavender crocus are done blooming, but the large purple ones are still in full bloom.
The Tete-a-Tete daffodils are the first to bloom in the yard and are still going strong. These minis are only 5-6″ tall.
Happy enjoys the warmer sunshine these days. The flower bed by the kitchen door must have suited her just fine this particular day. Doesn’t she look comfy among the budding daffs?
How can yellow be that yellow? Simply glorious.
I love the Siberian Squill. Such a gorgeous shade of blue. These tiny flowers were in the yard when we bought the house in 1994.
We planted the Glory of the Snow several years ago and it is slowly spreading around the yard outside the kitchen door.
The lilacs are looking great. Can’t wait to smell them!
I don’t know the variety of daffodil this is, but it is beautiful and we have a LOT of them around the yard.
Another flower that smells wonderful. The Star Magnolia is just bursting into full bloom. We forced some of these blossoms several weeks ago and they were small and had no scent at all. A shame, because the scent is heady and not to be missed.
Oreo walks the fence around my fenced garden. Take a look at that chip pile! Our friendly neighborhood tree trimmer keeps us well supplied.
The daffodils are blooming in every corner of the yard.
It will just get better and better from now on. Lots more flowers to come! 🙂 ~~Rhonda
DH always takes requests when making pancakes. This is a bunny and Easter eggs…
Just a bunny…
I think the dyes are as pretty as the colored eggs.
Easter eggs today…deviled eggs tomorrow.
Did I mention I like Snickers eggs? My favorite.
~~Rhonda 🙂
When DD and I walked the back yard yesterday, we saw signs of spring everywhere.
The Star of Bethlehem is putting up it’s bright green leaves. We always called this “Easter grass” when I was young. The clumps green up long before the actual grass does and looks perfect for nestling Easter eggs.
The columbine wastes no time in spring. As soon as the weather begins to change, even a little bit, it starts to green and grow.
Bush Honeysuckle is an introduced species that is a pain to control. But it’s one of the first things to bud in spring. The green is welcome, if the shrub is not.
The daffodils are stretching up and will be blooming in a few days, I’m sure.
The moss on the Southern Oak is greening.
And the crocus are blooming!
With all the rain we are getting today and expecting tonight, there will be no working in the yard tomorrow.
~~Rhonda
March 1 / Saturday / The first March picture is one I took at our DDs’ house, where we stayed overnight on our way to visit DS#1 and his family. DD#2 and DD#3 snuggled up in the recliner and played games while DH made pancakes before we left for DS’s house.
March 2 / Sunday / We got reacquainted with the twins.
March 3 / Monday / I love this picture of Tabitha. Her eyes are so bright and her face is so new and clear. No harsh lines, no worry lines, no grief lines. No “life” lines. Yet.
March 4 / Tuesday / DD#3 was quite taken with the babies. I love the look on her face in this picture.
March 5 / Wednesday / We got some great portraits of the girls in the cute dresses I found for them.
March 6 / Thursday / We got home in the afternoon after a week away. DH and DD#3 spent most of the remaining afternoon outside. They burned the tall grass, a task usually done in February, though weather did not permit that this year. Our spring is late in coming, so the grasses have not shown any green tips yet. Still time to burn.
March 7 / Friday / Hmmm…no pics taken this day.
March 8 / Saturday / I had fun trying some macro photography for my first posts to Macro Mondays.
March 9 / Sunday / We traveled two hours to my sister’s house for a family meeting.
Sibling #7, #1, #2 (me), #3 (one of the twins), #5, #4 (the other twin), #6, and my parents.
March 10 / Monday / I like the way this picture turned out. Buttercup just *had* to investigate the set up for my macro photography of game pieces.
March 11 / Tuesday / I discovered the macro and super macro modes on my camera. What fun!
March 12 / Wednesday / We worked in the yard, cleaned branches and garden debris from the yard, piled it on the burn pile, and had a wiener roast that evening. Hot dogs and S’mores.
March 13 / Thursday / Another shot for Macro Mondays. This one for the assignment: books.
March 14 / Friday / DD#2 arrived home for spring break. It will be good to have her home for the next week.
March 15 / Saturday / DD#3 and DH helped serve at the 4H Pancake Day. I spent some time helping at the ticket table. Saw a lot of people I haven’t seen for a while. This afternoon, we took DS#2 and DDIL to the airport for their flight to London.
March 16 / Sunday / When DH and DD burned the tall grasses last week, they moved this bench away from the fire. DH set it back in place today as we walked the yard this afternoon. Cloudy, breezy, 48*. A little chilly with the wind, but it is good to see spring coming up. We found catnip coming to life in the veggie garden, so we picked some for the kitties. Happy ignored it. Buttercup ate it all.
March 17 / Monday / Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This afternoon DD#2 and I walked through the yard, snapping pictures. The tawny daylilies are always the first daylilies up and they are a beautiful shade of green when they are this fresh and new.
March 18 / Tuesday / Rain, rain, rain. Weather news said Cape had 10″ yesterday, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we are near that here.
March 19 / Wednesday / In spite of my bringing the Von Sion in early, the miniature Tete-a-Tete daffodil opened first. DH picked it last night when he came home from work.
March 20 / Thursday / In the early evening, I caught this photo of the sunlight shining through the goblets on the shelves that display my Christmas china.
March 21 / Good Friday / I assisted DD#2 in picking frames for her new eye glasses.
March 22 / Saturday / DD#3 colored a dozen eggs today. Tomorrow they’ll be deviled eggs for dinner. I think the cups of dye are as pretty as the colorful eggs are.
March 23 / Sunday / Happy Easter! Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!
My favorite Easter candy? Snickers eggs. I could hunt for these every day…
DH’s day off work is Wednesday. Of course, he goes in to do paperwork for four or five hours, but that doesn’t count, right? This Wednesday was the first one this year that was nice enough to work outside. The first thing we did was plant the irises that we had leftover from digging up a bed last fall. They sat in those bags in the wagon all winter. Now they are sprouting green leaves and revving up for spring. So we sprinkled them over the propagation bed and DH spread composted mulch over them.
Hardy little things. They will be up and going in no time.
After planting the irises, we cleaned up fallen branches under the pine tree. They came down in the last winter storm a few weeks ago. DH found a bird’s nest in the debris. We piled all the branches on the wagon and hauled them to the burn pile in the back yard.
We stopped for lunch, then headed back out to clean debris from the flower beds. Asters, purple coneflower stalks, Russian sage, daisies, and other misc. things had to be cut back in preparation for new growth. Lots of green buds and sprouts out there. On the west side of the yard, we have an old glider that came from DH’s parents. It gets more lichen covered every year. It’s one of many resting spots we have in the yard.
The burn pile had not been burned for several years and was as big as we wanted to see it. Time to burn. The weather was so pretty (68*) that we decided to have a wiener roast for supper. DD#3 was very excited when she found that out!
Of course, we had to make S’mores. Ooey, gooey, chewy goodness.
We enjoyed sitting by the fire, watching the flames. Finally, about 7:30, we called it quits. DH doused the coals and we headed inside.
It was great to spend the day outside, working in the yard again. We’re looking forward to more of that! ~~Rhonda