Seeing Stars

You know the drill - cut lots of little pieces

and then sew them together.

I decided to use half square trianges for this one instead of flying geese.

I find that after sewing and cutting for a long time - my back gets tired. And the easiest way to relieve that ache, for me, is to just lie down on the floor and get my back straight. Do  you see that look?  Bruno is wondering WHY are you on the floor, Mom?

But all those pieces are starting to come together. Which is a really good thing because the shower is on Sunday! Will I finish it? No clue.

This is one of the narcissus from our yard. Isn't it pretty?

And since I can't actually send you any sunshine I thought I would do the next best thing and send you lots of views of Springtime here at Muddle Manor. I for one am thankful that it is warmer!

I hope you're having a good week and accomplishing lots of fun things!

Hugs and kisses,

Leftover Sunshine

This is the quilt I made with leftovers from the Streaks of Sunshine quilt I posted yesterday. I got the binding sewn on last night.

And now it's been washed and dried and all posed for its commemorative photos.

Some of my totally inexpert quilting. But I did have fun with it and that's the main thing!

The backing is another orange. You can see Miss Dinah there supervising activities.

This was last night. She is resting (or was until I flashed that light in her eyes!) quilt comfortably, thank you very much, in the middle of two sewing machines. I made the mistake of tossing a quilt I use to cover the longarm when it's not in use over there and she quickly took advantage.

Oh, yes, she does feel that nothing around here can possibly be done correctly if she is not involved.

Happy Valentine's Day, by the way! I hope you've had a lovely one. Mine was. Part of it Mr. Muddling and I spent working out in the yard. It has been a beautiful day. Glory to God! I am so thankful for this life He has given me!

Hugs and kisses,

Streaks of Sunshine

Here it is just coming off the quilting frame. 

I had a lot of fun playing with the quilting on this one.

Not even claiming to be professional about it at all. Just having fun.

The wonderful Mr. Muddling holding it up for me in the late afternoon sunshine today.

And how do you like this wild backing?? It's fleece, and it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Our first red rose of the season. I planted this climbing rose on our back fence many years ago and it still delights us every year. The red is so dark it is almost black in spots.

We've had some really nice weather and the minions (chickens) have been busily preparing the garden beds for  planting. (That is a joke. They are making a mess everywhere!  Mostly they are just enjoying the fresh worms they are digging up out there.)

I hope you've had a good week and are planning something fun for the weekend.

Hugs and kisses,

Pets - Love Them or Not

To start, I'll just tell you that I've had an intense week with Mr. Bruno. This the first day I did not wake up to a mess to clean. He's had vomiting and diarrhea, been to the vet twice, had a shot, medications and we were considering an ultra sound. Today, I woke up to a perfectly fine, healthy, normal Bruno. Thank God!  I did not realize quite how much I love him until the vet told me it might be the "C" word. Bruno is twelve years old. He's my constant companion, my protector, my friend.

Miss Lady got her stitches out on Saturday, two weeks after her cat chasing adventure where she was hit by a car. She doesn't look at all repentant, does she? Once again, we are thankful. It could have been so much worse.

I am very happy to say that I have no adventures to report for Ariel. She is such a sweet girl!  Ruthie made us promise that we would not get rid of any of her pets. As if that would happen!

This is the sight that greeted me yesterday when I went to the dining room. That Christmas cactus was sitting on the treadle machine in front of the window. The cats have complained that those plants were blocking their access to the window and their view. I chose to ignore those complaints and so they took matters into their own paws.

Today I wanted to take a picture of our one and only camellia bloom and of course one of the nosy chickens had to get into the shot.

She even came in for a close up!

Really, you might as well laugh. At least they keep me entertained along with their aggravation.

A couple more of blooming things today.

And, if you've made it this far.......

This one got quilted last night. I haven't decided on the binding yet. I made this one with leftovers from this one:

This top is now finished, and maybe it will get quilted soon.

I am so thankful for so many things. God has truly blessed me and He continues to do so every day. I'm thankful for my blogging friends. Thank you for taking the time to read my muddlings and for commenting. You are a blessing to me!

Hugs and kisses,

We Have a Finish

It is a gloomy, rainy day here, so we will have to settle for an inside shot. I have finished this one, and my two quilting friends and I will add a few more and they will all be donated. 

There are so many fabrics in here that just make me smile. I hope they will do the same for those who use this quilt.

Here it is just after quilting and trimming. If you enlarge this photo, you will see that I just doodled all over with my longarm. It was fun, but not a professional effort by any means.

The backing is a simple red and green grid on cream and the binding is a green and white stripe.

This is my favorite view of freshly made quilts, after going through the washer and dryer, all crinkly and cuddly.

Since there was so much interest in my mult-colored egg laying chickens last time, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of their latest efforts. Aren't they pretty!

And yes, Lady is recovering nicely. That item on the left is a flexible Elizabethan collar, designed to keep dogs from biting parts of their body that have been medically treated. If you zoom in on it, you will note that she has done a bit of chewing on IT!  You might also note that she is playing this invalid role to the hilt.

But look at that face. How could you resist spoiling her? Mr. Muddling surely can not! (I'm guilty, too.) We are both just so thankful that she is doing so well. And that it was not worse.

Of course, I started playing around on the design wall. I thought I wanted to make some of these blocks Wanda told about here.  She gives a tutorial on making the blocks and several ways to use them. I wanted a simple project and I thought I would just put them together randomly.

But, no, I decided I wanted more of a zig and a zag running where you could see it. Still not right.

More cutting.

Yes. This is more like it. I've added those few missing blocks in now and done a little more rearranging, though I didn't get a photo, and I will probably get them all put together tonight. Then we'll see about some borders.

As I said earlier in this post, it is not a pretty day out there today, so I have been very glad I did not have to go out in it. 

I have a friend who is in her late eighties. Her husband, a really sweet man,  moved off to heaven and left her several years back. She told me once that she liked to tell people she was a kept woman. She did not work outside the home, but kept it always running to please her husband and care for their children. She said that her husband had "kept" her very well all those years! I like that.

I hope you are having a wonderful week and finding plenty to keep you happy.

Hugs and kisses,