Baby doves!

Mama Dove had two babies in the nest. Here you can see them from the back--I didn't want to get any closer or turn the pot.

DH and I have been working on erecting a simple "shade house" in the backyard for some of his plants. We got about half of the frame up today. It will have lattice sides on it to let the breezes through.

I have been making progress on the black and white table set. I finished 4 coasters today, and cut the backing for the table runner and six placemats, which are ready to be quilted. I just need to pick up some more batting to put in them, and some bias tape to bind the placemats. The table runner will probably be self-bound with the backing fabric folding over to the front.
I am toying with the idea of getting some Insul-Bright for the inside, as well--that way I can set hot dishes on it and know the table will be protected (when I get a table!)

I washed the red and green quilt top in some dye fixative to make sure there wouldn't be any bleeding of the color. It is HUGE, and I need to measure it this week so I can cut the backing strips and get them sewn together. Looks like I'll be busy this week.

A Mother's Dedication

Look closely at this hanging basket--there's a mother dove sitting on a nest! This basket is hanging on our patio, and she doesn't even flinch when we walk up close, or when my husband uses his circular saw only a few feet away. Rain, wind, nothing stirs her! I don't know how many eggs she has, or if they have hatched yet. The plant doesn't seem to mind her presence.

I'm making good progress on the black and white placemats, and I'll have enough blocks for a matching table runner, too. I had to redo the pattern to fit, because the pattern called for 2" HST's instead of the 2-1/2" ones I had cut out. Maybe by next post I'll have some pics to show.

My son and DIL gave me my Mother's Day gift early--a new digital camera. My old one was being very difficult, not wanting to upload the pictures. It was one of the very first digital cameras, so the new one is much smaller and more sophisticated. I'm still learning how to work with it, but the above photo came from it.

I got to talk to my grandson on the phone yesterday(or was it the day before?) He's two, and not a great conversationalist, but it's the first time they got him to speak on the phone. It was a treat to hear his voice! They live in Virginia and his dad's in the Navy, so they don't get to visit very often. But they call and talk to us when they can. I am lucky to have two great sons and two great DIL's!

Gingko Glory Quilt

Well, I said I was going to start a few projects...

The second thing I started was this quilt, which I bought a kit for last summer. I just intended to cut it out, but the instructions were for cut-as-you-go, and once I got started, I just kept going. It took me three days. It's about 60" x 60" and is called Gingko Glory. The pattern and fabrics are from Michael Miller, and each fabric is gorgeous. I'm pleased to say that I had quite a bit of fabric left over. My DH is holding it up by the corners in the photo. It's just a top for now, I will get some Asian fabric to back it with, and it will go to the quilter when the red and green quilt goes. I also have a kit for another kimono quilt in different fabrics, but that one will wait awhile.

Other projects in progress: the black and white placemats; a turquoise and black wrap jacket; and a couple of other small projects that I'll keep to myself for now.

Our TV is STILL in the shop, but they told me they would have it ready by the weekend. It's been three weeks without it.

I opened our electric bill for this month, and nearly fell off my chair. The amount due is NOTHING. In fact, from the looks of it, next month's bill may be zero as well. It seems they had been overestimating how much our monthly average usage would be, and were overcharging us for a whole year. What a great surprise to be able to skip that for this month!

We've been watching the news about the shootings at Virginia Tech. I firmly believe that the worst thing the courts have ever done was to make it so difficult to have someone committed to a mental institution. This kid was clearly in need of some serious long-term psychiatric help.
So often it is when they go off to college that schizophrenia rears its ugly head in an otherwise normal person. They are facing life-changing stressors for the first time, and have less of a support system than ever before--and some of them crack. What a horrible event, to lose so many bright minds in such a senseless way. Heaven, help the Hokies! They will need it for a long time to come.

Red and Green

This is the bolt of fabric that I purchased for the backing of my red and green quilt. It cost me $2.33 per yard on eBay. I think it will work out nicely. It isn't easy finding red and green prints in April.


Isn't this fabric adorable? When I saw it on eBay I just had to get it. I have no idea what I will use it for, but something will come to me. There's a little over three yards of it.

My niece, her husband, and their two kids were here this afternoon on their vacation trip from Arkansas through Texas. We went out to lunch at Luby's cafeteria, then we went to the USS Lexington Museum downtown. The kids really enjoyed the tour, I think. Then they brought us home before going to the beach. It was delightful to see them; we are so far off the beaten path that family members rarely come to see us. I hope they enjoyed the day and will have a safe trip the rest of the way.

This week, since I have finished all the small projects I had started, I will be starting some new ones. I like to have three or four things that I can alternate working on--as I start them I will post about them so I will have more of an incentive to get them done.

Moving right along...

This is a Amaryllis sprekelia, also known as an Aztec Lily. It is a native of Mexico, living in the mountains. DH has several of these blooming right now. (The white thing is a twist-tie holding up the stem.)

Today was a very productive day. I finished two book covers with embroidered OES symbols on them; a bookmark for my ritual; two OES aprons with DH's name on one and mine on the other; two reversible cushions for my Adirondack rocker; and 4 red arm-bands to honor our troops on Fridays. There is a movement going around to wear red on Fridays as a reminder of what our troops are going through, and DH wanted to have some way of wearing red without having to buy any new clothes.

I am trying to get all my sewing projects finished before the needle breaks on my machine. I tried to change it to an embroidery needle and the screw broke off in the hole! So when the needle breaks, I will have to take it to Portland to the closest Husqvarna dealer to get it fixed.

My demonstration went well at the quilt group meeting on Monday. I now have six sets of fat quarters ready to cut into half-square triangles for a project I haven't even picked out yet. I am thinking about a set of placemats, maybe in a Lady of the Lake pattern, in black and white so they will be usable for any holiday. I want to make napkins in different colors to customize them for the seasons. I saw an episode of Sewing with Nancy with Mary Mulari demonstrating how to make different types of napkins--one reversible style looked very simple to make. The funny thing is, I don't have a dining table! That's on my list of things to get within the next year. I've got lots of scraps of Warm & Natural cotton batting that are just the right size for the placemats, so I might as well use them up.

My niece and her husband and children are coming for a visit on Sunday--I haven't seen her in 5 years. I'm really looking forward to seeing her and how her children have grown. I want to get a cleaning project in the bathroom done before they get here, so I'll be doing that for the next few days. I'm scraping old mineral deposits and caulking off the bathtub and the shower doors, cleaning with bleach, and re-caulking. I've already done the outside of the tub and shower doors, but the inside is even worse. Our water here is very hard, and lots of mold and mildew grows in the high humidity of south Texas.

I've ordered the backing fabric for my quilt, 15 yards of it, from an eBay seller. It should get here any day now. It's a pattern of Christmas wreaths on a white background. It should look very nice against the red and green blocks.

Bloom and gloom

Dh got a box of iris rhizomes from Northern Ireland about 10 days ago, and promptly planted them out. Within a few days one had a bloom on it! I guess South Texas feels like high summer to them. I love bearded iris, and we'll soon have a whole garden full at this rate!

Tomorrow I will finish putting the second coat of "Grass Green" acrylic paint on my Adirondack rocker, then it goes back outdoors and gets at least two coats of clear polyurethane spray. It really looks nice. I thought about doing some decorative painting on it, but decided I like the way it looks now. I intend to make a cushion or two for it out of some upholstery samples I bought at my quilt group's silent auction last month, as soon as I can pick up some fiberfill.

I still need to measure my quilt top and press it, and I hope this week I can find some fabric for the backing. Once that is seamed and pressed, the two parts will go to the quilter, who already has her own preferred type of batting on hand.

The spaghetti luncheon went fairly well at OES yesterday, despite a steady rain. We had way too many cakes, and several of them returned home with their bakers. Mine was one of the many that were sliced and placed on foam plates and covered in plastic wrap for people to choose from. There was some grumbling from one quarter that I had sliced too many cakes (I had, I'll admit it, but I didn't know how many to slice ahead of time) and that the cakes had been "wasted." I got upset about that--I wasn't the only person slicing cakes, and I had stopped long before the others quit slicing. I felt that the criticism was unjust and unfair. After thinking it over, I decided that I was being too sensitive; perhaps the remarks were not directed at me alone. We'll see if anything further is said at the next meeting. If so, I have a $20 bill that may settle the problem. The extra cake slices went into the fridges for the Monday night Lodge meeting, etc. I sincerely doubt that much will be actually wasted.

I do tend to take criticism much too personally; I am thin-skinned that way. If I get my feelings hurt I either retreat into my shell or lash out in anger. I came dangerously close to lashing out at the offending person--a real no-no at an OES function. I managed to bite my tongue, finished the clean-up, and drove home, muttering the entire way. It has taken me several hours to rethink the whole episode, and I still feel mistreated, but at least I am trying to be rational about it! I know, I need to "be a duck..."

Our OES chapter is collecting children's books this Tuesday night for some charity or other, (I forgot who.) I had some discount coupons for Half-Price Books, so I have already purchased three books and will probably get one more before the meeting. I picked out multi-story treasuries that would be good for reading aloud to a child: Paddington Bear, Beatrix Potter, and Hans Christian Andersen. I am pleased with my choices, and I know the children will enjoy them.

Our large TV is still in the shop, but I hope it will be fixed this week. I still need to put together my demo for the quilt group on the 9th, so it may be a few days before the TV gets picked up anyway. My car is the only one large enough to carry it.

A busy week ahead.....Happy Passover to my Jewish friends!