Is it Spring Yet?

The signs are there!  The migrating orioles returned this weekend.  I’ve been expecting them with our record setting high temperatures lately so I was not too surprised to see one at the feeder.  The males return first and the females will follow in about two weeks.  The hummingbird numbers are also increasing each day. 

It was a busy weekend around here, but I did manage to get the blocks sewn together and the borders applied to the Disappearing Hourglass quilt.  It went together very easy even though there are many bias edges to it.



We had the children’s school auction this weekend and the doll uniform went really well, as it does each year.

We celebrated a birthday with one of the grandsons yesterday.  I was responsible for the cake.  This child LOVES to put Tapatio hot sauce on everything so I did a cake that fit his likes perfectly.  He got quite a kick out it. 



This has been a year where it seems like it is one sickness after another in the family.  From talking to others, it sounds like it is not isolated to us.  I am just eager to get it out of here and move on into the healthier summer months.   Our 18 year old granddaughter has been in the hospital since yesterday on IV’s while they are ruling out appendicitis.  We are hoping that it is not and she will be released tomorrow.

I hope the warmer temperatures are finally reaching to the frozen areas and that the hope of spring is on everyone’s mind.  

Weekend Stitching

With an unscheduled Saturday I was able to take some time for myself and do a little stitching. 
I was a month behind on my Soul Searching blocks so I caught up first with my September color of ORANGE.



Then I went ahead and did my October block of darks.



There are now nine of them and I believe that this is where I will stop.  It is big enough as it is and three more colors will put it over the top.



As well, I made my newest letter in the mini alphabet blocks.



There is a new book coming out in the quilt world and I am super excited about it.  It is written by Wendy Sheppard.  Most of you will be familiar with the name because she is a prolific quilter and has had her work in magazines around the world.  I have followed Wendy for years and I must say that she is an incredible machine quilter using her home machine.  The book is available for preorder here and will soon be available at Amazon.  Meanwhile you can read more about it here.  Good luck with it, Wendy.  A blog hop is coming soon.



This is my birthday week and my husband brought me a flower..  He definitely put a smile on my face.



A few of the children and grandchildren joined us for breakfast after church this morning.  It is always an adventure going out to eat with a large crowd.  These are happy, pancake filled tummy smiles. ;-)



The days seem to be finally cooling off a bit for us.  As well, the daylight hours seem to be shortening.  I guess autumn is arriving.  Where did summer go?

From the Land of No Sew

Greetings from the Land of No Sew.  Life has been busy in other ways than sewing.  We've been busy celebrating family times with birthdays and Easter while enjoying house guests.  It doesn't get better than that.

Any spare time has been spent in the gardens.  One of the nice signs of spring's arrival is the blooming of the cacti.  I love this very prickly cactus with it's heart shaped paddles and stunning flowers.



This cactus was started two years ago with a single paddle.  It is almost to the roof now.



The flowers on it bloom in yellow.




This pink cactus is one in a pot with giant and showy flowers.






We had several birthdays in April including these three grandchildren.

The active little one with a pink cast for Easter!!!!

Easter was celebrated at our son’s home with the extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  It was a spectacular day filled with fun and joy.  We took lots of photos, but here is a shot of the grandchildren all together (minus 1).




This is a picture as we were trying to round everyone up for a group shot – not an easy task when there are around 150 people. 




I’ll try to do a better job of showing some sewing projects in my next post - if I remember how to use the sewing machine.  ;-)  

Birthdays and Goals

Not having my computer has really been a rather nice break.  I do have it in a temporary fix mode for now, but I am sure it is on its last legs.  I just hope to keep it running until they come up with a fix for the Win*dows 8.  I've heard such nightmares about the one out there now.

I got to test a cute little finger puppet from Little Black Duck.  These are the cutest little critters and the grandchildren just love them.  The mouse is the newest addition.  They go up quickly, are beautifully packaged and have plenty of needed supplies in the kits.  These would be perfect for a beginner hand sewer.

We've been celebrating birthdays here this week.  I love it when the girls ask me to make something for them for their birthdays.

The blouse looks distorted with the hanger inside...sorry.

For this one it was all about princesses.

Everyone enjoyed the cake.

I have played a bit with some different fabrics for Christa's QAL, String of Pearls.  Although the colors did not come out well in the picture, they really look pretty together. 

Goal setting time...... I think this month I am going to try to finish my Halloween Schnibbles from a couple of years ago.  I wanted to do this a couple of months ago and didn't get to it.   Let's hope I can accomplish it this month.

It's time to finish preparing for houseguests and a big celebration of the 4th of July tomorrow.   Happy birthday, U.S.A.!!!

A Hint of Spring

 

Although our temperatures have been unseasonably cool with some freezing nights, I can start to see that spring is coming to the yard. 

Busy bees!!!

Peach tree in bloom

Pear trees in full bloom too

The kids were all over this weekend helping to reduce the abundant supply of citrus that is currently ripe in the orchard.  Thank heavens for the help!  At the moment we are loaded with tangerines, Meyer lemons, naval and Blood oranges as well as grapefruit. 

Tangerines



Blood oranges

Lemons

I even put up some preserved lemons this year.  I recently attended a cooking class and they used the preserved lemons in a salmon dish.  It was heavenly!  They will be ready to use in a month.

Those of you who follow my blog know that spring is also the time when I make a doll's uniform for the grandchildren's school auction.  That was my project for the weekend. 

I also finished up the last of the stars for my Starburst QAL.  Now to assemble it!

Saturday I received a wonderful box of fabrics in the mail from Jacquelynne Steves of The Noble Wife.  She is a new sponsor to my blog and her fabrics are beautiful and fun.  I am really looking forward to playing with them over the next few weeks.  Oh....the ideas I have for this line are numerous!!  The line is called "Happy Town" and it certainly lives up to it's name.  As I said in my last post, the royalties from the fabric sales are donated to Quilts for Kids - such a great cause.  Be sure to check out my sidebar for a link to the contest using the fabrics. 

We enjoyed celebrating another birthday in the family over the weekend.  Why do they grow up so quickly?  The years are just flying these days.

Cousin love

I had to waste time this morning canceling my credit card.  Someone decided to use my numbers to book tickets on Exped*ia and Or*bitz.  Grrrrr.  Need I say more?

This and That

It has been a wonderfully busy week, but I do sometimes feel as though I am chasing my tail.  I am definitely enjoying these longer hours of daylight.  I always dread when we turn the clocks ahead and know that we have darkness so early.  Spring is in the air and I LOVE it.   My male orioles have returned and the females should soon be following.  I get a chuckle out of the males returning ahead of the females to settle in and start the nests.  I wonder if the females ever get back and question what he was thinking.

Over the weekend we had the christening of our newest grandson.  It is always a delight and a great reason to celebrate. 

Monday we had three sons in Las Vegas for a big food and beverage convention so DH and I drove over, met them for dinner, donated a few dollars and drove home the next morning.  I was disappointed that the desert flowers were not in bloom yet as we both love to see the showy colors.  Guess it was a bit early for them. 



I love this lobby.  Don't you think the floor would make a great quilt?


Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining several of the grandchildren and my daughter at the zoo.  It is always such fun to see little eyes in wonderment.   They have just opened up a new reptile and invertebrate display and it is wonderful.  You feel as though you are swimming with the turtles. 



Such beauty!





This little guy is 6 months old and had captured the hearts of all.  Gotta love the wind blown hair!



We celebrated several birthdays in the family this week as well. 



Mr. J is eight.




Seems like only yesterday our first son was born.

 

I would so love to be able to wear a hat so beautifully.

 The week also included some sewing.  I worked on my blocks for the It Takes 2 project.  I think I took out more stitches than I put in on my Feathered Star.  If there was a wrong way to sew a seam - I found it.  Since much of the block is done in quarters, I sewed the wrong seams not only once, but four times!!!!  I am GLAD it is finished and I do love the way it turned out, but do not think I will be making a full sized quilt of that block any time soon. 

My March mug rug arrived from my partner, Shari Butler.  I like the fact that it is not specifically for St. Patrick's Day and I can leave it out past that day.  I tried to do a similar thing with my own partner's mug rug.  I just love the fabrics and the design of the one Shari sent me.  Shari is a fabric and textile designer and has a wonderful blog with her fabrics shown.

Also arriving in the mail this week was this wonderful selection of threads from Connecting Threads.  I won these in a giveaway hosted by Stephanie at Loft Creations.  The colors are so rich and beautiful and will really come in handy with my sewing. 

If you haven't yet signed up for the Blog Hop Giveaway, be sure to check out my previous post.  It runs until March 23rd.