It's Never Too Early for a Heart

Last night I was working along on the baby quilt. Mr. Sweetie Pie was working late, and I started thinking how much I "heart" him. So one thing led to another and I made this little heart to hang on his armoire.

I like it!

Red is my favorite color and he is my favorite man!

Only problem was......when I looked for a needle to close the heart, I had to go back to the package. Somehow needles just disappear around here.

That led to another brilliant idea. I made this little needle book.

I got to try out another of the decorative stitches on my new sewing machine.

And now I have a much better place to leave my needles after I've finished using one. (The arms of the chair I've been sitting in is really not a very good place. )

I got all the squares finished last night, and hopefully tonight I'll get the top put together. I have ideas for the sashing. I'm sort of a make-it-up-as-you-go-along kind of person, in case you hadn't noticed. The pattern I'm using is a free one . You know "free" is my favorite word, right?!

Hope you're having a great day with lots of fun thrown in!

Hugs and kisses,

Little Peek

Yep, I was right. I had to start a smaller project. This will be a quilt for a little girl I've known since she was born. Or more accurately, it's for her baby who will be born soon. Time flies!

Of course, some of us are not concerned.

About anything.

My camelias are budding beautifully under the sewing room window. I can't wait for those buds to open into glorious bloom!

Chloe is not impressed.

I have one surviving Christmas cactus which is blooming its heart out on the kitchen windowsill.

Yep, Chloe has to keep an eye on everything that's going on.

Ha ha, she couldn't see this flowering quince. It's in the front yard.

It is so good to see our yard starting to come back to life.

Hope you've had a good day!

Hugs and kisses,

Better Choices

Yesterday I had to do one of my least favorite things in the world - go to the doctor for a check up. I need to lose weight. It's pretty hard to do when there are all these pretty things beckoning to me.

That looks like a good idea! I like the sound of "Guilt-Free", don't you?

And I like the look of these pretty little hearts!

And how about the changes in the plain little house? I'm loving the wrap-around porch.

I'm also loving my little Goodwill Store coffee mug. It's got a comforting feel to it (and it holds a lot of coffee! ).

I foolishly did not eat before going out yesterday and had shopping to be done after I got through at the doctor's. So when I finally got back home, I cooked the fresh mustard greens I had picked up at the grocery and had it in a bowl with some potatoes, carrots and onions and only a few slices of smoked sausage.

It's a beautiful day here today, and I've been out working in our yard a bit. There's a lot to be done!

Hope your day is going well.

Hugs and kisses,

A Little Different Christmas Present

I know, Christmas is long over. But I just get such a smile every time I see this that I thought you might get one, too.

Right before Christmas Mr. Sweetie Pie and I visited some of our neighbors with bags of cookies. Our dear friends across the street handed us a nicely wrapped gift in return. They instructed us to shake it. It rattled. Then they said we should go ahead and open it. We did, and inside was this very nice little metal dish with two walnuts in it. I know we looked a little confused, because she then told us, "Robert told me to wrap this up for those two nuts across the street."! I'm still laughing. Did you smile?

Something else that makes me smile is good old comfort food. The other night I boiled some potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage with just a little bit of sliced link sausage.

A nice piece of cornbread on the side, salt and pepper and I was a happy camper! Sometimes the very simplest things are the best.

Hope you've got something going on that makes you smile!

Hugs and kisses,

Mercer Arboretum

It's kind of a gray day today, interspersed with bright sunshine - you know: one of those "can't make up its mind" kind of days. Mr. Sweetie Pie and I decided it would be a good time to go and take a little stroll outside.

We haven't visited our local botanical gardens in quite a while, so off we went.

There were not many people there, so it was quite pleasant to walk around and see the changes that have been made since we were there last.

Their growing area is full-to-bursting with new plantings getting themselves grown enough to join the established ones growing out in the public areas.

This part was not accessible to us. We could only peek in through the fence.

I love the verse on this sundial:

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth;

One is nearer God's heart in a garden,

Than anywhere else on earth.

Believe it or not, there is actually a very small maze in there! Who knew that yew trees would grow here? True, it IS a Southern Yew, but it's still a yew.

And how do you like this bird house? The roofs are copper. Quite a mansion, isn't it?

There are all sorts of walks and paths

with plenty of places to stop, sit and enjoy the view. This mosaic is in the center of the floor of the little "rest stop" above.



And they're working on several new features. This is a wall of water. Won't that be refreshing in the summertime!

Hope you've enjoyed your day.

Hugs and kisses,

This Quilt Top Is a Quilt Bottom

I've been working on the backing for the Christmas quilt (I know, I know Christmas is over). I decided to make the quilt reversible (especially since Christmas is over).

Well, I've been working on that other side for the past few days. I'm using Charm Packs of Charisma and Nostalgia, with just a touch of Louisa thrown in for fun.

Anyway, I thought I would share my brilliant idea for keeping up with what I'm doing. As we found out, I'm not going to have a design wall around here anytime soon. And frankly, I'm just not there for crawling around on the floor. So, that leaves the dining room table, since most of my best work time is in the middle of the night when Mr. Cutie Pie is occupying our bed. Somehow it doesn't seem like a good idea to spread out my work on top of him. :) Obviously the whole big quilt top/bottom will not fit on the dining table, so I have to move it into the sewing room to get more of it onto the table. And I don't know about any of you smart people, but I have a tendency to forget which end is up sometimes. So I hit on the idea of pinning a safety pin at the top of each row of quilt squares after I pin them together. I've also been known to mix up the order of the rows I've so carefully laid out. So, I've started marking the back of the top square with its own little order number. (See the number 2 above?) I'm using a marker that will wash out, but even if it doesn't, who cares? It's on the back side of the fabric that will be sewn to the batting and never seen anyway. I'm going to start sewing these squares and rows together tonight. We'll see how far I get.

In other news, Bruno finally got a bath tonight.He had just about given up hope. It's been so cold I just hated to get him wet.

But now he's clean and happy. My little boy doesn't like to be dirty.

He likes to get dirty. He just doesn't like to stay that way! Doesn't he look excited?

Hope you've had a good day.

Hugs and kisses,