I like Thursdays, March 22, 2018

IT'S SPRING!!!

Wait what? We thought it wouldn't be so bad yesterday morning.

But then we got a foot (at least) of snow.

I followed LeeAnna's example and did some decorating.

LeeAnna is our hostess for our I Like Thursdays.

I like the movie, "Goodbye Christopher Robin"

I know it's not that accurate to the true story but you get the gyst.  It is well written and acted.  I love A.A. Milne's books so it was interesting to me.

This Saturday is March For Our Lives day.  I love this generation of children who have moved our country.  It is appalling to me that children have to practice what they would do in the event of an attack on their school.  I'm looking for a local event to attend and want to support these kids in any way I can.

I'm off to cut more fabric for my next quilt.  Have a great week!

I like Thursday, March 15, 2018

Linking up to LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for this week's post of positive energy.

5 days until spring!

Honestly I can't wait for it to warm a bit and I can start working in the garden!  It's been terribly windy this month and we've had a number of nor easter snow storms passing through.  We are all ready for a true spring to arrive!

I'm working on my list of tops I'd like to complete this summer.  My guild does a challenge each year and we show our pieces at our annual potluck dinner.  This year I LOVE the challenge.  This year it is called "Panel Play" and we are encouraged to use a panel from our stash.  There are two categories one can compete in:  a quilted or non quilted piece (non quilted pieces would be purses, jackets, etc).  

I sometimes have problems with challenges.  Sometimes the perimeters are too narrow to inspire creativity or it might mean buying something that I don't  wish to buy.  This challenge defies those problems and what makes it brilliant is that most quilters have a stack of panels in our stash.  I know that I often have buyers remorse a year after I've purchased a panel.  

I'm very jazzed about this challenge and yesterday worked out the math for one piece I'm hoping to sew.  

I've wanted to use this panel for a long time.  That brings me to my second like:  I like Mary Engelbreit and her fabrics!  They are cheerful and colorful and I enjoy the fun nature of her illustrations.

I've been in a creative funk for months and this past week I visited my friend and sometimes business partner Beth.  She gave me a tutorial the Blind Applique technique she uses.  It is very relaxing and I've been basting pieces to apply to a project in the works.  It shakes out the cobwebs in my brain to do something very different!

I like a few of the things I purchased at the flea market last week.  You saw the hankie wreath but I also purchased this little duck pitcher:

I also found these beautiful framed pieces.  At first I thought they were pressed flowers but they were delicate embroideries!  I haven't found exactly where I would like to hang them yet but they would look great in my dining room.  My friend Linda (best decorator I know) will help me choose a place for them.

Lastly this week I like Scout's current favorite toy at night--Kongs!  

I usually keep her kong on a shelf in the kitchen but couldn't find it for two nights.  DANG!  We went to the petstore yesterday and purchased a new smaller one.  I gave it to her last night and she was so pleased!  And then, 5 minutes after she finished her Kong, she brought the original one to me.  The little minx!  She had hidden her big Kong.  I'm still not sure where she had it but I'm wondering what else I will eventually find in her secret hiding place.

As my husband says, it's a good thing she is so adorable!

Have a good and safe week!

Think Spring!

I Like Thursday, March 8, 2018

12 Days Until Spring!

How are you doing this week?  We just had (still) another snow storm yesterday.  Fortunately for us, the roads are clear and we haven't got ice.  I'm counting down the days until I can garden!

I like that the days are getting longer.

I also like when we "spring ahead" and re-adjust our clocks.

We've had two Nor-easter storms in the past week.

 Happiness is a new toy on a snow day.

I like that snow days are sew days!

It's time for the annual Premie Palooza! 

I finished 16 premie quilts yesterday.

My neighbor Carol and I often swap fabric.  It saves us both time and money.  This winter, Carol gave me this fabric for the premie quilts.  Isn't it adorable?

 And of course I had to use some poodle fabric.

My husband was home for a few days and I got to escape and get out without worrying about Scout.  I like going to flea markets.  Just walking through the aisles relaxes me.  I've been antique-ing for decades so I rarely find anything that I want to buy.  But this week was different. My favorite buy this week was a hankie wreath:

 Spring flowers on embroidered hankies attached to an old embroidery hoop.

Isn't it wonderful?

Well I hope you have a wonderful week!

Think Spring!

March 6, 2018

I like Thursdays, March 1, 2018

🎂Happy Birthday Scout and Milo!  Today is their first birthday!🎂

Scout and Milo are siblings.  Milo is part of LeeAnna's family--our hostess with the mostess for the "I Like Thursdays" celebrations (here).

Milo, the day we picked up our babies!

Scout-tessa in June,

We will go for a special walk today at the small park and have a birthday visit with Greta!

19 days until Spring!

The aconite are blooming!

Robins are singing and the willow trees are starting to yellow-up!

This past week, Scout went for a grooming.  She was very matted, mostly from the cone she was wearing on her head and of course the snow does a nice number on poodles' fur.  Unfortunately, the clump on her head had to be removed although the groomer left her with "bangs":

She doesn't look bad from the front.  But then she walks by and you see her flat head:

She reminded me of a haircut from the 1950s.  You've seen Lucille Ball sport this with a lot of curls around the forehead.

The hairstyle was called "the poodle cut"!

Carol and I went shopping and I finally found some fabric to buy.

I realized I was almost completely out of fabric for a baby quilt.I love this Robert Kauffman fabric!

 I was out of cat fabric and this is terrific!

 Plus some Fat 1/8ths for donation quilts!

With the warmer weather, Scout and I have been walking more.  We went to the "big park" yesterday.  I like that there are all kinds of sculptures there.  This was a new one I hadn't seen before:

An old favorite of mine had a rose placed on the sculpture.  I wasn't sure why but my friend suggested it was because of the shooting at Parkland.

I have a great admiration for the children in Florida and others that are organizing protests to ban assault weapons.  We hope to attend a local march on March 24.

Have a sweet and peaceful week!

I like Thursdays, February 22, 2018

I woke up thinking today was Wednesday!  But Thursday is always a fun day because I get to think positive and share some of the things I appreciate.  Link up for more likes at Not Afraid of Color.

There are 26 days until spring!

This was a weird week.  The weather was fairly mild and even on Saturday I was frolicking with Scout on Saturday afternoon.  Although snow was expected in the evening, I didn't think it would be that bad (famous last words).  The snow started at 5 p.m.  By 8 p.m., we had 6 inches.  By 11 p.m. when the storm was ceasing, we had 8 inches. 

It was an amazing amount of snow in such a short amount of time.  My mom and her brother got caught in the storm and it took her twice as long to get home.  My friend Beth had gone to the town next to hers for groceries (about 5 miles away).  It took her and her husband 5 hours to get home.  This week, I am grateful that I wasn't anywhere but at home with my little puppy.

It was so nice before the storm that I took Scout for her first walk at the big park! It was sunny and about 40 degrees before the snow. Scout was intrigued by the swan that resides on the lake.  She actually would have gone right in the water to see the bird up close if I had let her!  Poodles are supposed to be water dogs but I've had a few that wouldn't venture in the ponds around here.

The weather has been weird to say the least.  Yesterday at 5 p.m. it was 80 degrees Farenheit. 

I like the first true sign of spring, my snowdrops!

Scout is going to be 1 year old on March 1 and I can scarcely believe it.  I just brought the mail in and our dear friend Sandra had a surprise for us.  A special birthday card for Scout!!!  Sandra is our friend from Canada and she is so sweet and thoughtful.  Scout says "thank you Auntie Sandra!!!"

I don't know how Sandra knows this but our girl is quite a jumper and prancer and the card is PERFECT for her!

Well I hope you have a great day! 

Have a wonderful week!

I like Thursdays, February 15, 2018

Link up to Not Afraid of Color for more likes.

Greetings friends!  Can you believe it:  

Only 33 days until spring! 

My first like is that Scout is finally able to exercise and be a normal puppy.  Even though she got the cone off after 2 weeks but the doctor felt she needed an additional week of rest.  She is free!  Free now!

Greta was glad to see her again!

We are happy that we can walk again and the weather has been wonderful this week.  We are supposed to get some snow again on Saturday but next week looks wonderful so we will be able to keep exercising.  

I like walking.  It allows me to appreciate so much in our little world.  The wonderful thing about winter is that it heightens my appreciation for springtime.  Right now, I see the world through "spring eyes" which is a mixture of emotions: relief that the weather is turning and joy at everything that is emerging or appears beautiful again.

Doesn't this Red Twig Dogwood look lovely in the sunlight?

I like donuts but these goodies are different.

These are FASTNACHTS!

I live in Pennsylvania Dutch country and in our valley, we celebrate Fat Tuesday by eating Fastnachts.  Fastnacht translates to "fast night" and are special donuts made just for this day.  For our local bakeries, it means an overwhelming amount of business.

The line outside our local bakery.  By the time I got my donuts, the line had tripled.  It's a fun day because as we all wait patiently for our pastries, we chat about which topping we prefer and how far we travel.  There are always some newbies to our region who are intrigued (and delighted) about a special donut day and we welcome them with opened arms.

These donuts are the ONLY thing bakeries make on Fastnacht Day.  You can get them plain or sprinkled with sugar or powder.  The newspaper reported the one bakery was prepared to make 60,000 fastnachts for the day.  I know that our local shop had 10 people baking in the kitchen.  Most places run out of donuts by 2 p.m.

Well that is this week's edition.  Have a good day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a great day!