Signs of the Times

Here is a photo of the new fencing and Century Farm sign that we did for my inlaws for Mother's Day and Father's Day.  I had been meaning to snap a photo, and finally did today after Willow and I took the stampede down with the weed eater and weed killer to trim everything out.

Willow and Friday were exhausted after an early morning adventure to somewhere that had lots of those little green sticky balls.  When they arrived back home, they actually looked green they had picked up so many of them.  David did the first brushing and the I spent over an hour this afternoon brushing and picking them out again.  I even used the leaf blower to blow them off the deck there were so many.

I have discovered Esme's newest hiding place..............under the quilt in Sarah's bed.  I took the sheets and pillow cases off and washed them and then stored them in her closet so they would be clean when she comes home again.  In the meantime, I put an old sheet and pillowcases on the bed for Esme to use.  I think she hides from Cici here.  I have never known her to want to be UNDER a quilt, but apparently this makes a nice hiding spot.

And Mabel continues to look plumper every day.  She can still shimmy down the tree branches and through the rails of the deck, but I don't know how much longer that will be the case.

I did finish setting the leaves together and it makes a nice sized quilt for my bed.  Counting this one, there are 11 quilts in the TBQ closet.  I quilted a small wall hanging for Sarah yesterday, but didn't even get into the sewing room today.  

I had to do something with the rest of the strawberries so made another batch of jam and a strawberry pie which David was delivering to his aunt and uncle.  One box of strawberries made it into the freezer.

I also swept and mopped all the floors, so hopefully I can spend a good portion of the day in the sewing room tomorrow.  I'm hoping to quilt Sarah's t-shirt quilt.

Well, it's been a long day.  I'm looking forward to more sewing time tomorrow.

Christi

 

Cats and Quilting

 As I said at the end of the last post, there were 8 things in the TBQ closet when I returned home from the beach.  I quilted 5 last week, but somehow, there are now 9 things in the TBQ closet.  I quilted the turtle quilt which Sarah is gifting for a baby coming in June.

A close up so you can see the turtles in the quilting.

Sarah and Aaron picked this plush backing which really shows off the quilting.

I also quilted another quilt for myself, but don't have the binding on it yet, and I did a turtle placemat for our guild charity project.  The other 2 things I quilted were for my mom and they were delivered over the weekend.  And, she gave me three more quilts to quilt.  I also got the basketball quilts set together and they are ready for quilting, and a lady at church handed me a quilt to quilt on Sunday, so the closet is still full at 9.  While the longarm was running, I did all the pieced backings I needed and I have cut all the battings, so let the quilting commence!  The scary thing is that I opened the last big roll of batting that I have in the closet and am using from it.  I haven't been this low on batting in awhile.  A trip to Marshall Dry Goods in Arkansas to restock will be happening this summer, sooner rather than later.

I missed the May guild meeting while I was at the beach, but did get the instructions for the block lotto blocks coming up.

This one is for the July meeting.  It's supposed to give the feel of sparklers or fireworks I think.  I wasn't too excited about this one until I made it.  It turned out much better than I thought and it wasn't difficult.

We don't have a meeting in June, but we are having a two day retreat and there will be a block lotto for that.  The theme is berries so we are making strawberry blocks.  One of my berries is a little riper than the other.  These weren't difficult, but there was more work than you would think.

And speaking of strawberries.............

I bought some from the Amish when I was at my parents house this weekend.  I made some jam and

a strawberry pie for David.  Well, I actually made 2 pies and he took one to his parents.

 

I still have 3 quarts of berries left to do something with.

Upon returning from my trip, I was so happy to see my pets (and they were happy to see me).  Willow was dirtier and needed brushing, Friday was bigger, Esme was matted and needed brushing (and finally just got a bath yesterday), and Mabel seemed fluffier.  Well, it turns out that Mabel is pregnant.

And growing kittens is exhausting.

She even had to lay down to eat.

She did assist me in cutting the fabric I purchased on my trip for another quilt, but she was still laying down and almost asleep.

I also started repurposing an old quilt that had some holes in it.  Part of it became this Mondo bag.  I gave it to my mom.

And here's a little fun I found on the bathroom wall in a restaurant I stopped at with my cousins this past weekend.  

Nice word list don't you think?!

Christi

Beach Vacation

 Our vacation to Long Beach, Mississippi was wonderful.  We left on Mother's Day after attending Sarah's church together.

We spent the first night in Grenada, Mississippi in what is definitely the worst hotel I have ever been in.  We didn't let our bare feet touch the floor the whole time.  Showers had to be quick because the water didn't drain, and the only way I could get the TV off was to unplug it from the wall - and these were just a few of the issues.  It also thunderstormed that night.

The next day we rolled into Gulf Port and had lunch at a Whataburger since it's Patrick Mahomes' favorite burger and we'd never been to one before.

We arrived at our hotel well before check in, but they let is in early and we promptly unloaded and headed to the beach just across the road.

Sarah really enjoyed playing in the sand.

This is the view of the homes next to our hotel from the beach.

That evening we walked down the beach to Steve's Marina Restaurant and I had seafood!

The next morning we visited the Mississippi Aquarium.  We saw everything there was to see and enjoyed touching the rays, watching them feed the alligators, and the dolphin show.

We left the aquarium in the early afternoon and found a QUILT SHOP!  I didn't take any photos, but did pick up a couple of pieces of fabric for a quilt I am working on.

Then we drove through The University of Southern Mississippi campus (as Sarah said, can you imagine going to college practically right on the beach!) and stopped to see the Friendship Oak, a live oak that is over 500 years old.

It was difficult to capture the whole tree in one photo, but it was huge and the limbs went into the ground and then back out again.

Then we went back to the beach.

I read five books and this was definitely the best one!

Our hotel was amazing.  Breakfast every morning offered a wide variety of foods and I was loving the fresh fruit.  They did made to order flavored pancakes and Sarah had chocolate chip pancakes every day.  I also discovered the fresh squeezed orange juice machine and had a glass every morning.

We went to the beach in the morning on our last full day there.  Sarah wanted to be there at different times to check out the tidal changes.  That afternoon we drove over the 2 mile bridge to Bay St. Louis and had a late lunch and explored the down town renovated area that had antique stores, gift shops, and flea markets.  We met Handsome, the local cat in one of the stores.  The Flirty Girl shop was our favorite and it also wins Best Bathroom Award for the trip.  No photos, but it was delightful.  We also walked around the marina that evening and went on a dolphin watching cruise - yes, we saw lots of dolphins, including a baby!

We headed back on Thursday and made several stops as we traveled north.  It took 3 stops at fish stands before I could buy gulf shrimp WITHOUT the heads still on them.  We also stopped at the Pecan House and got some treats for David (I think he likes the shrimp best).  And we stopped at produce markets and brought back watermelon, peaches, and a mater.  Even with all the stops, we were making really good time and ended up getting all the way back to Sarah's house by 8 that evening and I headed back home the next day.

I'll do a quilting catch up in another post.  When I left for the beach there were 8 things hanging in my closet to be quilted.  I quilted five things last week, but now there are 9 things hanging in my closet to quilt!  This math is not adding up.

Christi

Friday Antics!

 First of all, some May flowers!  This was a lovely planter that I received from the bell choir at church.

I'm hoping Friday can stay out of it.  He's really starting to like to dig.  He has dug up this area of the flower bed revealing the soaker hose in an attempt to bury a pair of my shoes I kicked off on the deck one morning.  Shoes have been rescued and washed, and David has put some fencing around the flower bed, but I'm not sure it's going to help.

Surveying his kingdom...........

It's hard to be disciplined when you are so stinkin' cute!

I spent a little time in the sewing room this week working on basketballs............

It's difficult to slice them in half and add a black strip in, but you do that twice to each one.

I did get 12 more basketballs finished, so now have enough for 2 throw-sized quilts.  I was auditioning greys for the sashing and selected the one on the right.  I have the sashing rows sewn, so will soon get the basketball rows together and have a couple more quilts!

Playing basketball seems to have exhausted Mabel.

While sewing the basketballs, I looked down and noticed Cici being friendly and hanging out under my sewing table in a basket of fleece scraps.

This Elizabeth Hartman pattern might be next on my list.  I have been eyeing it for awhile.

I won't be doing any sewing for a week or so.  Sarah and I are heading out on a beach vacation.  I do have a cross stitch with me and a bag of books to read and some graph paper and pencils in case I get the urge to design something and a quilt book with some fat quarters just in case we run across a quilt shop and I might find some background and accent fabric to go with it and my tablet with more books and some quilt magazines to look at. Wow, was that a run on sentence.  It does feel like I'm taking a lot, but we're driving so why not!  

Anyway, we'll chat in a week or so (because I'm not taking the computer so won't be able to blog).

Christi