An Evening Project & Easter Cactus Blooms

Hello Dear Friends,
Good to see you.  I always like company! Would you like a cuppa? I'm having Echinacea Complete Care by Celestial Seasonings... one of my favorite teas.

I've started a hand sewing project for the evenings. (Keeping my hands busy while watching TV with the Hubby helps me to stay awake, and I've noticed my hands don't swell so badly if I keep them moving in the evening.) Here are the pictures...

 Yup! It's hexies! One of the quilts on my QBL (Quilting Bucket List) is a Grandmother's Flower Garden. My Grandma made one for each of her grandkids. Mine was a gift at my wedding shower along with another quilt. (I'll show it off one of these days.)  I thought I could make one for my grands, too. This one is pink flowers with yellow centers and greens all around. On the right is the first cutting, and sewing, below the second set.

 

 

Here's the first flower done.

 
I know it takes a long time.  I should have started these when they were babies.  I have 8 grands... I wonder if I can stay interested in this process for 8 quilts. Luckily Mason, #8, is only 8 months old.


 And this is my Easter Cactus - finally it's blooming.  I guess with Easter coming so early it got confused.

 

Hope all is well at your house. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Hugs,

Terri

H2H done!

Here's my latest innovation to my quilting regime... hair clips. Okay, it's not new to lots of you - where do you think I got this idea?  I really don't know from whom I got it, but I know it was from someone that I follow. Thanks for the great tip! They are not only easier to use than pins, but they don't distort the quilt or prick me. Best of all it was a package of 10 or so from the Dollar store!!!! So only ONE DOLLAR!

 

 

How did this  plant picture get in here?  It's the flower on my Croton. I've had the plant for 16 years or so, and this is the first time I'm seeing a flower on it. Not much to see, but it is the flower. When I bemoaned the fact that it probably won't make seeds due to no pollinator, Hubby said we should let in a couple of bees. Honestly, I worry about the man.  

 

 

Back to the quilt.

 Here are its final pictures.  Sunbathing!

I call it California Earth Tones. Our dirt (in lots of places) is orangy, and the sky is nearly always blue, and there are greens in here, too, for the multitude of trees of all different kinds.

(You know I'm not much for browns and beiges.)

 

The backing is light blue with stars.

 

And now a couple of close-ups.

You can see the wobbly line quilting I did through all the centers and then a thinner wobble crosswise through the seams - I won't try that again. It makes the squares look like they are badly seamed.

Live and learn.

I do love the binding I chose. All the edges are blue, so to keep the binding unobtrusive I chose a blue bubble fabric.  I like it, it's fun!

 

Sew I'm linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict. This is what floats my boat, this week.

Happy Weekend to you all!

 

Hugs,

Terri

H2H quilting and antisnow pictures!

Now quilting on the H2H. It's going along so nicely since I have the new walking foot! Just wavy lines down through the middle squares. I like the way it looks.

 

 

 

 

 Anti Snow pictures for all the Spring Challenged:

This is a lavender rose! (Also shown: the dripper hose = not a snake.)

Seeds on my Japanese Maple... it was only a couple of inches tall when we bought it for $1.49! - 13 years ago. (Now about 10 foot tall.)

Day Lily from a free root.

 Pink Geranium

 Vinca Minor, a ground cover... blue flower in the lover middle.

 

 Orange rose I started from a stem of a dozen purchased from Costco. I noticed that there was a sprout on one of the stems, so I experimented. It's been a little bush in a larger pot (that's the key, I think) for 3 or 4 years now. Blooms spring and fall.

Little pink on the side of the house.

Bush roses that came into my yard via #1 son. He took them (brown) out of a dumpster where he was working as a roofing supervisor. (He figured I could bring them back to life... You have to love it when your grown child still has some confidence in your knowledge.) He dug the holes. I applied rooting compound - the secret to my success.

Lavender - food throughout the year for my bees.

Princess Diana roses.

Don't remember the name of this beauty, but it starts out yellow and turns gradually pinker.

Yellow roses with chives blooming at its base.

and some of the reds - see the bloomin' CA type dandelions at their bases? Our d's have a much smaller leaf, stem and flower... meant to conserve water, I'd guess. I do love the extra color... been thinking about collecting the seeds and offering them as a devilish Halloween seed packet. See, I am a witch.

 

Hope all my peeps in the Midwest are getting Spring soon!

 

Hugs,

Terri

Still no quilting....

I thought some Springy pictures might give you white blanketed folks some HOPE.

Joseph Coat roses in our front garden.

 CA poppies in a neighbor's side yard.

 

 

Above and below - Lupine in a vacant lot in the "Industrial Park" in Folsom, CA.

I call this one "Green Grass with a Goose".

Some pink flowering bushes near the highway. 

And this is a tulip tree... See if you can find the tulips. Hint: they are yellow and light green with orange centers.

 

So again, no sew. I just hope these Spring flowers will give you some color in your all white environs.

 

Hugs,

Terri

Bet you thought I was quilting...

Had  to get the hubs to add to my design wall today, so maybe I could get the latest quilt up there and baste it. Fuddled all week trying to get it up right. (Some of the blame goes to time spent on Facebook and blog reading.)

Here's a photo of the addition... gotta get it up higher.

Here's a current picture of my magnolia (from seed) started last year. And below is a close up of the new leaves this year.... They are an evergreen so only drop a leaf or two once in a while. (That's the best kind of tree to offer to the Trick or Treaters or else I offer sticks... some trees drop their leaves just before Halloween, so there are only sticks to show for all my hard work.)

Isn't that a beautiful thing? Some day it may have those lovely (huge) white yummy scented flowers.

 

 

Here's the ones I planted early in winter... just after Christmas, I think. One on the right has been up for a week or so... the other two are a surprise today. Go babies! Mama wants to offer you for Halloween this year.

 

 

And this fine youngster is the last of the cork oaks that I planted just after Halloween last year. Usually I don't do so good on the percentages. Planted 11 Elm and I have one, only ONE! and I feel  lucky to have that one. The cork oaks are at a whopping 100%... all the seeds I planted germinated! It's an evergreen, too. So there will be 7 of 7 to offer up this year, complete with leaves.

 

So no sew, but grow baby, grow!

 

Hugs,

Terri

The Latest...

A flimsy done (actually a UFO) for the H2H challenge:

 

 

 And below is the cheater quilt I made for the Project Linus Open House. The front looks like quilt squares, but is solid fabric, and the backing is a wild kitty print. I used my new walking foot and quilted it with wavy lines within an hour!!!!! (I love that thing.) The binding is all set to put on in time to do the hand work while watching TV tonight. (It's that roll of turquoise on the right.) 

 

 

See you in the funny papers!

 

Hugs,

Terri

Easter Cutie Visits and Hedwig is finished

Easter cutie with his Daddy, our #1 son with our #8 grand. (Shirt says "Chicks Dig Me")

Again with Dad. Cutie is 7 months old now. (Hugs and Kisses quilt is Hubby's 70th birthday gift.)

 Now with his favorite "chick", Mom.

 With Daddy again. Cutie weighs 22 pounds so he gets passed around alot. I held him as long as I could.

And Hedwig is done, ready to go to the Fandom in Stitches Project of Doom Block Drive.

 

 

Hope you had as wonderful an Easter - did I mention it was sunny, too.

(Rained last night, and after our company left!)

 

Sew I'm off - but you knew that.

Hugs,

Terri