Hello February

 Welcome February!  How did we get here already?

In my attempt to do a better job of blogging this year, I have several new projects to share.  The first is a small quilt for Project Quilting hosted by Persimon Dreams.  Each season I think that I will participate and end up getting sidetracked.  This week's challenge is Kitchen Influence.  I come from a long line of fabulous cooks.  I remember many days of helping my grandmother cook as well as my mom.  I fondly remember those warm cinnamon rolls coming out of the oven as we arrived home from school.  As a tribute to all of their wonderful recipes and fond memories, I created a small wallhanging for the kitchen.  In the center is a four generation photo of my grandmother, my mom, myself and my daughter.  Surrounding the photo are recipes passed down through the years.  

To create it I made a collage of photo and treasured recipes.  I then copied it onto a piece of treated fabric backed with butcher paper.  Cut to legal size measurements, it easily ran through my printer.  After heat setting it, I used it as my center block and framed it with simple borders.  They look wonky in the photo, but they really aren't. 

Even with all the technology of digital recipes, there is nothing quite like the old recipe box filled with the handwritten recipes.  The additional stains from the years of using them add to the charm and the memories.  I could never move these to the digital format.  

A wee bit more sewing happened as well.  My eldest granddaughter is moving to Kansas City with her husband and grandbaby.  She had started to make burp cloths several months ago and came over to sew a few of them to completion.  I will really miss my sewing companion.  We have spent so many hours over the years stitching together, but I know it is a good move for them.  

While cleaning things out at my mom's house, we noticed her hummingbird nest in the potted plant on her front porch had two eggs in it.  Watching it each day, we were rewarded with the hatchling.  I cannot begin to tell you just how tiny this little nest (and the baby) is.  I am always amazed at the shape of the beak when newly hatched.  It's fun to watch it grow into the sword shape as the baby bird grows.  I guess it would be really hard to feed the bird if it also had the long skinny beak.  ;-)  I wonder if it is the same mother coming to the nest year after year.  Life goes on...........