If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again!

With the help of Mr. Sweetie Pie, I put a small design space up on the wall in my sewing room.

So far, so good. I don't think Chloe has noticed it yet. I'm hopeful it may survive, unlike the last one I tried. As you can see, I have another little idea working in my head. We'll see where it goes. That's always so much fun, isn't it? I have an idea of how I want things to work out in my projects, but it's always interesting to see where they actually go.

It's a beautifully breezy, sunshiny day here today and I'm loving how it looks and feels.



My Honey and I worked out in the yard yesterday getting the lawn mown and some of the bushes clipped back and some that didn't survive the winter dug up. Busy day.

Our baby daughter is coming home for a visit tomorrow. No, she isn't a baby to anyone but us - she's twenty-five years old. Seems hardly possible to me. Anyway, we're all just so in a hurry to see her again! We've missed her.

Hope your day is absolutely wonderful!'

Hugs and kisses,

Lisa's Quilt

I have the best daughter-in-law in the world. (I know you think you do, but sorry, it's I who have her!) She has loved our son through all the good times and bad, and I'm thankful for her. Lisa and her sister and others in her family quilt. So, I was hesitant to offer to make a quilt for her.

But I did. I finished it last night. Lisa likes bright colors, so I tried to incorporate some of those for her.

I like it!Ariel is not terribly impressed though. Other things more important to her.

These little bears on the back are so sweet! They're doing all sorts of things in the kitchen and they look like they're having a great time.

Meanwhile, since I was out in the back yard taking pictures, I had to show you a few of the things going on out there. Isn't this rose gorgeous! Those colors are just almost iridescent.

And look. Our little plum trees that had the pretty flowers such a short time ago now have tiny little plums!!!! I am so excited about that. As I've told you, we had those same type plums in our back yard as children. How we loved them!

And here is the fierce, wild beast Chloe. She thinks she's a wild thing anyway. :)

And yes, she has now climbed her first tree. And her second, too. She also climbed into the mimosa, but I didn't get a picture of that because I was too busy grabbing her while I could! I have the distinct impression that she'd be off "into the wild" in a flash if I didn't keep a close eye on her.

And this little guy sits on the kitchen windowsill. As you can see, he has no worries about anything!

Hope you don't either!!!

Hugs and kisses,

Spring Is Here!

I love spring! But you knew that already, didn't you. We don't usually have much of a winter here in Houston, but we had one this year. Not one that you in the northern parts would call winter, but for us down here - it was cold!

I guess that's why it's doubly sweet to see all the flowers, grass and trees coming back to life again. We're spoiled. I admit it.

We are so accustomed to flowers blooming pretty much all year around.

We're used to looking out our windows and seeing green everywhere.And blue skies. You can see from this one that all the trees have not returned to their spring wardrobe yet, but oh, the ones that have just make my heart sing.

I LOVE seeing life outside my window. (Truth of the matter is, it's so bright out there right now, I've had to close the bottom curtains.)

Life is good.

Hope it is for you, too!!

Hugs and kisses,

Restoration

Today is an especially happy day for me. I'm really happy for this pretty sign a friend gave me at church last night. Thanks, Brenda!!!

I'm happy for these brilliantly colored mums I picked up at Sam's this morning (even though I know that a lot of their color came from coloring added to their water).

I'm happy because the roses are blooming again.

I'm happy that there are lots of blooms on the blueberry plants.

I'm happy because the bees are buzzing all around the abundant blossoms on the blackberry vines.

I'm happy that the six-packs of plants I bought at the hardware store last week look so pretty in their new homes.

I'm happy that the azaleas and the spirea are starting to bloom and the grass is getting green again.

But THIS is what's making me so happy today. I have my old, faithful friend back again!

When my sewing machine stopped working, I took it in to be repaired and was told that the motor was burned out and that it was so old there was no replacement available. So....I bought a new sewing machine, and I have been very happy with it. It's light and nimble and does things my old one never did. But. I missed my old friend. And then I found this place . Even though I couldn't find the model number for my machine (it IS almost forty years old, after all!), by looking at the pictures I found a motor that looked like it would work. I ordered it, and when it came today in the mail, I put it on my machine.

And we've been sewing and sewing and sewing. Happy. Happy. Happy!!

I hope you're having happiness, too!

Hugs and kisses,

Little Refurbishing

I was doing a little sprucing up of the dining chairs today and thought I would tell you how easy it is (for those of you who don't know already). It's amazing what a little time, fabric and tacks can accomplish!

These chairs were looking pretty tired around the seat cushions. That's what comes of plenty of people sitting on them eating lots of good food. Of course part of it is due to the cats who live here and feel free to nap anywhere they choose.

All you have to do is unscrew the seat from the chair. Usually there are four screws - one at each corner. You'll see them when you flip the chair over. You don't even have to take the old fabric off. Matter of fact, it's usually better not to take it off. Just cut your fabric to size. Do this by laying the seat on top of a piece of fabric. Measure so that there's about an inch overlap on all four sides. Then just round off your corners. If your chairs are all the same size, you can use that first cut of fabric as a pattern for the rest of the chairs.

Start by tacking or stapling each side. Then add a tack or staple to each side of those fastenings. Now, ease the corners and tack. Screw the seats back onto the chairs and you have a brand new look.

Now, doesn't that look better? I've had this fabric for a while now. And this is what I intended to use it for the whole time. I just hadn't gotten around to doing it. But now it's done, and I LIKE it!

As you can see, Chloe supervised the whole process. I wonder how I managed to accomplish anything before she came to live with us.

Have fun with your projects!

Hugs and kisses,

New Growth

I had thought I would show you the fabrics I had selected to piece for the back of the quilt I'm making. The orange print is what I'm planning to use for binding, and the darker fabric on the upper left is actually a rich, deep purple. I tried taking the picture in several different places and it still looks blue.

But I was on a roll last night and finished the back, pinned it all together and now I'm ready to quilt it!! Yay!

This is what's left of that big, beautiful angel's trumpet outside my sewing room. It just makes me sad every time I see it.

But look! There's hope and new growth coming out right there at the bottom. This plant (tree, really) was twisted badly when Hurrican Ike paid us a visit a couple of years ago. That's why it has a piece of metal there next to it. I had to sort of prop it up, but it recovered beautifully and gave me a lot of joy last year.

Here's another Ike survivor - my fig tree. It was HUGE before the storm, but afterward it had been twisted almost out of the ground. We had to cut it back drastically to save it, but you can see that it's putting those branches back and is starting to leaf out again. Along about July we'll have figs! I like to eat them fresh off the tree. Yum!

Now that my ginger lilies have all been taken down, I can see the neighbor's orange tree back there. I want one of those, too!

And look at my little plum tree. I'm so excited about this one. I have high hopes for some plums for the first time this year.

I got some more of the seedlings I had started planted out, including this hanging basket of nasturtiums. Spring is definitely in the air here. It's quite warm today with a gentle breeze. Love it!!!

Look at these little woodland violets peeking up from all the dead leaves. Aren't they sweet?

And here's what I see when I walk into my kitchen. We've only had a few flowers on this camellia so far. It's still very young. But what beautiful flowers they are!

Here's a shot of it outside where you can really see how pretty it is. Hard to believe it's only one flower, isn't it?

Enjoy YOUR day!

Hugs and kisses,