Lilacs! Some of my most favorite flowers! And they smell SOOOO GOOOD!!!! An empty jar was just the handiest thing to grab to hold them, and the smell is so good I figured it didn't matter what they were in!

They graced our table for lunch yesterday. Beth and Joshua came home with us after church to eat lunch and then move on to the afternoon's activities. (Of course, they had to see what the Easter Bunny had left them here first...!) Evan went to the nursing home to stay with his mother for the afternoon, Joshua had computer stuff to do for a programming class, and Beth and I worked outside. Mowing, flower bed, etc. It was all great.

Today I had taken the day off, and I worked on a couple of small quilt projects...didn't get any pictures, though. Maybe tomorrow. Then this afternoon the sunshine called to me and I did a bit more in the flower beds. Got rained on and thundered over - it's just that weird time of year. Last Friday at work there was a tornado warning and we had to gather up all the patients and everybody and go to our designated safe places in the clinic building for a while.

Pillowcase with crocheted flowers and edging done by my great-grandmother. I always loved these dimensional roses and even as a child did not want them to be damaged. Isn't it funny how you sometimes feel about things when you're a kid? At a time when I normally didn't think about such things, I was always very careful with these pillowcases.

Block in baby quilt done for Evan by his grandmother....very pale because the floss colors were pastel anyway and have faded with years of washing and being hung on the line. I love that we have it. It has prairie point edging.

Blessings: family, items shared through generations of family, safety from weather disasters

A lovely day. Warm and breezy and redolent with the scent of lilacs. No hint of the storms and rain and cold temperatures to come.
Managed to take care of a few weekend chores while Evan was at the nursing home with his mother this afternoon. She's going downhill, and it's so sad. Her physical self is outlasting her mental self. For over a year, one of us has been there with her most of the time. Not that it's actually necessary, but she's always happier with someone there. (she always preferred to be surrounded by people) It is quite heart-breaking to see her always trying to check the pantry to make sure there's something to fix for everyone for supper and to make sure there are clean pillowslips for the guests and take care of other such things. She has always been the one to take care of everyone and feed everyone and she simply doesn't know what to do with herself not having those chores. It's getting to the point that she doesn't always know us, either. She somehow recognizes that we belong, but she mixes us up with folks long gone.
This tattered quilt below is one she gave us to use for packing material when moving years ago - Beth has had it over a chair in her room for a long time. Many of the blocks are just fine, and then some are tattered as you see here. Below is a hooked rug thing my mother worked on while recuperating from open heart surgery years ago. It looks much better than this picture, and is a great memory.

All in all, I am prompted to be mindful of and thankful for my many blessings. I don't deserve any of them, but oh, how I have been blessed with my family, Evan's family, friends, food and shelter beyond that of most of the world....on and on.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Done by me a long time ago for my mother...very faded because of having been in a chair that got a lot of sun...but I like having it now because I know how much she loved it for all those years.

Beautiful spring day today with lots of sunshine and birds and burgeoning life everywhere. The lilac even has its clusters of florets beginning to open and already giving out that heady fragrance. I was amazed while mowing this afternoon!


This pillowcase is one I managed to use most of the time as a kid...not sure why I loved it so much other than that Nonnie (my grandmother) had embroidered it, but I did. A good friend who was making pillowcase dolls gave me a naked one for Christmas a few years ago and told me she would dress it with the pillowcase of my choice. So I chose this one! I love it.



This picture of a wedding always hung above my grandmother's bed. At some point from the angle and distance of the side of the bed I saw the 2 black hats as being a tiny black being of some sort and was afraid of it. Isn't it funny how a wrong interpretation of what you see can stay with you?

A little doll that Nonnie painted...she did many of these little jewels. Most were given away, but I have a few of them. Will show more later.

Rough week at work which would jaundice any reporting - so I decided to share some treasures with you.

Have a blessed weekend.

Pillow bought at antique store...made from piece of old quilt...

Today Beth and I got a few things for the flower and herb beds and some fence to try to protect plants from the Sweet P's. The bigger girls never bothered the flower beds until PittyPat came along and taught them how nice it is to scooch down in the dirt to sleep - whether looking for warmth in the winter or coolness in the summer. Now all three are addicted. Relocating flowers planted there also provides an interesting diversion whilst working out just which spot would be best for napping.

This Holly Hobbie quilt is one my mother-in-law made for Beth when I was pregnant. Louise had one pregnant daughter and two pregnant daughters-in-law at the same time and made each baby one of these quilts. She let each mom-to-be make any fabric choices desired...and I picked fabric left over from my favorite maternity dress made by my mom to be the dress for the Holly Hobbie girl and let Louise choose the others. I did choose the basic color scheme of blue and yellow. Back in those days we didn't know if we were having a girl or a boy, but I knew I'd like blue and yellow regardless.

You can't really tell from this pitiful picture, but the solid yellow and yellow gingham are actually quite a nice and bright yellow. The hearts were appliqued in each corner, angling toward the central picture. And when you look at the quilt you never notice that the horse's back shadows through the dress!
She did a great job of using floss and cutting it for the mane to properly have strands. And my very first few quilting stitches are somewhere in this quilt...very, very bad ones.
I need to get some better pictures.

Weekend blessings: sunshine, rain, the greening and springing earth, time spent with loved ones

Spring is Here!!

Spring, glorious spring! (this to the tune of "Food, Glorious Food" from Oliver!)
It started out quite chilly yesterday, but even with the breeze warmed up nicely to around 60°. Today started at 30° but is supposed to get even warmer than yesterday. I'm trying to make the most of it, because I know there will be more cold, wet yuckiness.
Beth and Joshua came over to help me yesterday, and we got a great start on yard work. We even replaced some broken lattice that spans the 12" between the side porch floor and the ground. It's partly cosmetic and partly to keep the dogs and other critters out. Worked on pea gravel paths, mowed, pruned, worked on a flower bed - and then was ready to DROP!
My fabulous son-in-law even managed to remove the post that held the old satellite dish! It was never my favorite yard sculpture, and now it's gone!! HUZZAH!

This quilt was my birthday present from some folks at the office. I had seen it in a thrift shop in Huntsville and liked it, so they dispatched someone to get it! Quite a surprise.
It is truly a scrap quilt. A utility quilt. Much used and worn - it's patched patchwork! I think flour and sugar sacks and wornout work clothes and scraps from other household sewing are here. I'm not even sure which is the front and which is the back.
It has great personality.

I love the wonkiness - from before wonkiness even had the name. Binding? Maybe? She obviously used stuff till she ran out and then used something else.

The colors are really more reds, blue, and yellows. In spite of being outside in the sun (and shadow - oh, well - a photographer I'm not, as Yoda might phrase it), it looks even more faded than it is in these pictures and more purply.

Spring. Yep, it's nearly here. It was 80° and then 26° (with snow) and then 70° and now 44° with wind and rain.
Here's a nice green to make me feel like spring . . . I've been playing with one of Donna Poster's blocks called Block Party. I saw her "do" it on Simply Quilts several years ago and wrote down the simple directions. It's one of those dummy-proof blocks where no seams have to match, etc. and you can be really scrappy or more controlled. Me, I like scrappy. These retro-ish prints are JoAnn's fat quarters. I'm thinking of maybe a fun little tabletopper thingy that will be okay if gravy is spilled on it, etc. It's really just to have some fun requiring no thought or concentration.

In case you haven't noticed, quilters are just the neatest people. They are so creative, and the creativity goes much further than quilting. I've been trying to catch up on some blog reading, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of Marlene's work including stitcheries and how she uses it in her house. And Melanie always has such neat things, whether quilts or gift bags or bunnies. And there are so many others that I'd like to mention, but the laundry is calling me, and my internet connection is mostly not working this morning for some reason - most likely the wet weather. It almost always causes problems with the phone lines out in the country.

Blessings: this beautiful, beautiful world awakening with birds' spring songs, spirea and forsythia and peach trees blooming, and a different smell to the air

The Sound of Music!

It's back! The sound of music. Frog music, that is. For the last several nights we have been able to enjoy the lovely sounds of the treefrogs. I don't know how many varieties we have here, but there are several different songs going on. It's absolutely wonderful! I keep a window open at least a little bit all year round, and for the last few nights we've had it open quite a bit....for the air as well as the music.

Beth and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show Sunday. There were many inspirational gardens and displays of various kinds. A few favorites were of the Cumberland Herb Society as well as other folks with displays/wares to sell. One of the best things is something I don't have a picture of to show - a marvelous garden of succulents - in an old enamel bedpan of all things!!
this lovely garden miss had motion sensors to let her tip the watering can and to let the other thingy spin (don't even remember what it was)
This is a wide view of a wonderful display full of delightful vignettes of various herbs and sedums and hypertuffa containers...

And EVERYWHERE were variations on vertical gardening...for small spaces, for folks who have trouble getting up and down, and for every other reason you could imagine! Quite lovely and lots of good ideas.