Saturday, April 28, 2012

Flowers for Leontien

(This was supposed to post last Saturday, but somehow the scheduling clock didn't do its thing.  So, better late than never.   Shucks, see that date?  Oh well.  )


This post is especially for Leontien, a fellow blogger who is bravely battling cancer.  


Leontien, I admire your strength and attitude in taking this beast by the horns.  You are in my thoughts and prayers daily.  YOU GO GIRL!!!   


Tiger Lily 


May the beauty of these flowers give you encouragement every day. 
Gardenia -- my favorite flower
Stargazer lily 


Keep fighting, sweet lady. 


Flowers for Leontien


Y'all take care.  

Saturday, April 21, 2012

All Is Well

All is well.  Just busy.  Will be back soon!   

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Time's A Flying!

Where does the time go?  Every time I blink, another week has passed!!  My mother always told me that the older you are, the faster time passes and, boy, do I believe here now!!! 


So, what's been going on around here?  Shortly after the Arcadia Mill foray, I hosted a String Piecing Workshop here at my house.  The teacher didn't have room at her house, so I volunteered. 
This is the pattern we were working on, using whatever kind of fabrics we wanted.  We could make the "star" all in one fabric or we could mix them us as was done here.   This class was inspired by the following quilt which is just gorgeous.
Sorry I can't show you all of it, but its huge and was made by various members of the instructor's family for a young lady who is about to marry into the family.  Now, isn't that sweet?


Then, of course, there was the Pensacola Quilt Show.  It is always a good show and I enjoyed it immensely.  The talent and creativity exhibited there (or at most any quilt show) simply astounds me.


Over the past number of months, I've been slowly, very slowly, working on a charity quilt from donated fabrics.  Discovered that I didn't like the fabrics and it was hard for me to work on.  Not that I didn't like some of the fabrics individually, but collectively they were a bit much. I finally got it finished and was surprised to find that its not half bad!   


Then, there was the Jelly Roll Race at the Guild quilt bee.  What a blast.  I was the timekeeper since I had done this before and none of the participants had.    I think most of them agreed that it was a great way to quickly get a quilt top done.  But I also think once and done is the attitude of a couple!!!   There's a bit more stress during the race than if working on it at home, so maybe they'll give it another chance.   Here's my quilt top from an earlier race. 
So many of the ladies were skeptics at the beginning of the day that anything attractive would result from just sewing stuff together.  But, at the end of the day, there were lots of believers.  The strips can be sewn together diagonally as above, or simply straight sewn.  They look great either way. 


And there were a couple of birding trips thrown in the mix.  I actually start having withdrawal symptoms if I don't get my bird fix ever so often!  I do have lovely birds in my back yard, but its not the same as getting out into the woods or to the shore and seeing what is traveling around. 


Last week, I went with Birdlady to Ft. Pickens for her "birthday" bird walk.  We didn't see her coveted hooded warbler, but we did get to see a pair of prothonontary warblers like this. 
So, it was a successful day for me!


That very same day, DH and I treated Birdlady to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and a couple of her other friends came along also.  Was a lovely evening all around. 


Okay, so what else?   Oh, the never-ending yard work!!   Spring is not an easy time when you have lots of live oaks in the yard.  We've been raking leaves for weeks and will still be at it for several weeks to come.  


I hope all of you are enjoying this lovely spring. 


Y'all take care.