I Like Thursday, May 31, 2018

Hello and welcome!

It's "I Like Thursday" and there is plenty to like this week!

Link up to LeeAnna for other likes as well too!

The roses are in full bloom here and it seems like everywhere I walk, I can smell the fragrance of roses, peonies and honeysuckle.

I'm thrilled because I had moved this bush two years ago and I was concerned that it would never recover.  But it has and it is spectacular!

I like this sign I found for our garden last week.  My husband has a good sense of humor and he took it well :)

I had lobbied my husband to add a new water feature in the garden but he said NO!  We've done a number of features the last two decades.  Our garden is littered with the ghosts of fountains past and he thinks we are getting too old to take on extra work.

I like walking pretty Scout in the park.  She loves watching dog tv at our home (here she is viewing George the cat who lives next door).  But she really loves going to the park!  There are so many wonderful things to see!

  

SWAN SIGHTING!

 AND GEESE!

Scout isn't sure what to make of all the creatures she is seeing but it is fun to watch her curiousity and we are both getting good exercise.

Well that is all I have this week.  I've been resting my lower back (from too much gardening) and have been doing inventory of my quilts and organizing things in my home.  Hopefully I'll have more to share next week!

Have a wonderful week!

I Like Thursday: May 24, 2018

Greetings!  It's time for another "I like Thursday" sponsored by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.

Likes this week:

1.  Sunshine!!!  We finally have some sunshine and it should be nice here until Sunday (or so they are predicting). 

2.  We had a young woman visit our guild in April and give us a lecture on Modern Quilts. It was very interesting!  Jessica Skultety is fun and young (about my daughter-in-laws age) and very informative.  I liked her quilts too, even if I don't do modern quilting right now.

Be sure to check out her website at www.quiltyhabit.com

3.  Walks in the park with Scout.

 

4.  YARD SALE SEASON!!  I got this glider rocking chair for $10 last month at a local yard sale and it was a great addition to my sewing room!

5. New Fabric!!!!   The fabric is called Portofino. 

Have a wonderful week!

Carol's Corner

I haven't been doing much sewing lately but Carol has so I thought I would feature her occasionally on a blog post.  This way, our friend Sandra gets to see what she is up to and I can share her lovely quilts.

Carol's Exbury Azalea is blooming!

You already saw her pink quilt that she is donating to the bloodbank's fundraiser on yesterday's post.

Today I'd like to show you her sudoku quilt that she finished this past week!

Terri Trotter machine quilted with a neat asian style graphic pantograph.

Carol often leaves the quilt she is binding here and then works on them in the evening while we all watch tv together.  Here's a sneak peak at what she is working on now:

We have rain again today.

Good thing the royal wedding is on tv!

Have a lovely day!

I like Thursday: May 17, 2018

Greetings and welcome to another day of "I Like Thursday" hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  This week must be the pink edition; I noticed the theme after I did the post!

This week I love

My son Peter who brought me a Martha Washington geranium and took me out to lunch for Mother's Day!

I love spending time with him!

and I like

Pink Pathways:

Tree Peonies:

We had a bumper crop of blooms this year which is a bit unfortunate as it has rained so much and the flowers are looking a bit soggy.

Rain chains are good too!

I finally got one for the downspout where we once collected rainwater for the garden. It works well!

I love this quilt that Carol completed yesterday.  Carol has really good blood and has donated something like 100 gallons of platelettes to the blood bank.  She is donating this quilt to the blood bank for an auction/fund raiser they are doing.  Isn't it absolutely perfect?

And finally, I like being able to plant the annuals.  Around here Mother's Day is the traditional time the frost is over.

This year I planted pink impatiens, begonias and petunias!

Have a wonderful and safe week!

Happy Mother's Day 2018

Have a safe and happy day with those you love!

Garden Time

I spent yesterday in the garden.  It was a glorious day and not too hot and not too cool.  I still have so much more to do but the wonderful thing about a garden is it is never finished.

Teddy in 2012 in the upper bed of the yard. 

Eventually I moved the center bed and expanded the borders on the side.

My husband and I are never afraid to experiment in the garden.  Years ago we had to replace our much damaged sod with gravel.  When Teddy and Seamus were alive and puppies, they were just too rough on the grass and the yard was always mud.

June 2016, Seamus was ill with hepatitis and I let some weeds invade the gravel and added stepping stones; Seamus didn't like walking on the gravel at that point.

I've been missing grass in the upper bed for some time.  I like GREEN and I like having a place to rest one's eyes.  The problem was that I didn't want to have mow up there or have other people mow in there.

This year, I'm experimenting with Irish moss.  I'm hoping it will take over the area and provide me with the much yearned for green.  The moss isn't toxic to dogs and will not need to be mowed.  Yesterday I removed a trench of soil and gravel and planted the moss.  I also moved half the stepping stones and built a path through the lower garden.

I'm hoping the gaps between the stones will be filled in with sedum and forget me nots.

The moss is being protected by a set of outdoor chairs.

We don't want a naughty puppy digging things up!

My husband doesn't do any of the gardening but he is supportive of my endeavours.  He is excited to see if the moss will spread and is excited to see how our experiment does.

Today Scout and I are getting much needed rain and rest.

My son will be visiting later on and I'll be glad to spend some time with him.

Have a wonderful day!

I Like Thursday: May 10, 2018

Happy Thursday!  

Spring is in full bloom here and we are enjoying more outside time!

How are you doing this morning?

We've had a busy week.  Scout met a new friend, Ginger.  

She is a poodle about Scout's size!

 There was a lot of playing around.  Ginger could be a little rough.

 But Scout held her own😄

This is our special friend Carol.  Carol is my neighbor and accomplice in fabric accumulation.  

She has had a special relationships with all my dogs and especially Scout.  Carol babysits Scout these days while I am out lecturing.  On Tuesday, Carol was binding a quilt while hanging with Scout.  Typical poodle, Scout made herself comfortable on what she considered was a new bed:

I had two bookings for my sunbonnet program this season.  The program is one of my most popular and keeps the audience engaged and laughing.  Anyway,  it got me in the mood to embroider.  It also doesn't hurt that my shoulder is doing better in this warm weather.  No matter how many years I do a program, I'm always adding or tweeking it.  I like this piece.  It's a wallhanging I call it Swing into Spring!  

The border fabric is an old Hoffman fabric (no name on the selvage) but I love it.  I can't even begin to count all the projects I've used that fabric.

It's beautiful outside right now but we are expecting a rainy weekend.  I need to get into the garden while I can.  Have a wonderful day!

Link up to LeeAnna for more positive posts!

Finished and handed in

Camp Erin quilts were turned into my guild last week.  

 Terri Trotter did the machine quilting.  Look at the magnifying glass pattern she used for the I-spy quilt!

 These were fun!  I have a second I-spy to take to Terri that I'll donate to the local children's cancer center.