Looking Up

Things are looking up around here!

Even in this drought we've been having there are so many things growing and prospering out in the yard.

And......I finally finished this quilt

And it is on our bed.  I love it.  It is so imperfect I should be ashamed of it, but I'm not.  It's done and it feels wonderful, and it looks pretty good, too.

And here is Miss Ru as she looked before she went to church with us yesterday morning.  Hard to believe that a little over two weeks ago her right lung collapsed.  It was one of the most intense and frightening times we've been through ever.  But God is so good!  And friends and family have been so kind to pray and to offer help.  I am just thankful!

Our son and daughter in law surprised us by showing up at church as well.  It was such a sweet Mother's Day gift for me.  He also cooked us some mighty good steaks out on the grill afterwards!

Our little home is getting back to normal (whatever that is) and, as always, there's plenty here that needs to be done.  So, I guess I'd better get to doing it!

I am so thankful for so many things.  And my sweet blogging friends are certainly on that list!

Hugs and kisses,

Upgrade

I did do a little sewing last night.  LOL  I did an "upgrade" on our backyard swing.  Our ginger lilies used to shade the back of the swing from the late afternoon/evening sunshine, but they have died so far back the last couple of winters that they're not doing their job.  I hemmed around the edges of a piece of outdoor fabric and sewed it to the back of the canopy.

Oh yeah, much better!  I did actually sit here for about five minutes.  LOL  I had the fence opened into that little flower bed so the chickens could clean it out for me.  They're really good at that.  You just have to watch them pretty closely or they'll destroy everything!

Here's a closer look at the flowers on the althea in that bed.  It is really showing off right now and I'm really enjoying seeing it.

I did manage to get the binding sewn together and pressed, so maybe I can get that sewn onto the quilt for our bed tonight.  Fingers crossed.  I'd like to be finished with it.  It's been "in process" for well over a year.  I really do not like to have unfinished things hanging around.  Done is GOOD!

Get out there and do something!  You'll feel better.  ;)

Hugs and kisses,

                                           

Celebrate!

Miss Ru came home from the hospital on Monday, so it's definitely time to celebrate.  This trip was a hard one for all of us.  But thanks be to God!  She is home and on the mend.  Glory to God!  Thank you for the sweet emails and messages of love and support.  They mean so much to me.  You're the best!  I wish I could share some of these cupcakes with you, because they are really good.

I'm taking a little plate of them to my neighbor after Mr. Muddling gets home.  We like to share.

While I've been busy with other things a lot has been happening out in the back yard.  See that one ripe plum I missed there at the top?

These plums turned out to be quite a bit smaller than I had thought, but they're still mighty tasty.  I think I'll make some jam with them.

There's still plenty of noise going on in MuddleLand.  Ray is in wonderful voice.

It is so cute how he guards his "women"!  LOL  He cracks me up.

It's so good to see everything so full of life and health!  We really need some rain, but not the amounts they've had in other parts of the country.

There hasn't been much sewing going on around here.  Soon, though.

Or maybe I should just go take a nap. 

I hope you are having a wonderful day and doing things you love to do.  I am so happy and thankful for so many reasons!

Hugs and kisses,

Miss Ru's Quilt

I finished this quilt for our Miss Ru last week.  I didn't want to blog about it because she hadn't seen it yet.  Miss Ru has been cat-sitting while her boyfriend has been out of town on business, so she wasn't here. 

I also never did quite get around to getting this quilt outside to get good pictures of it, so please just bear with me on this one.

Miss Ru has her quilt now, but unfortunately it is on her bed in the hospital.  Very early Thursday morning she suddenly couldn't breathe and was in a LOT of pain.  After a rush trip from boyfriend's apartment to the hospital it was determined that her right lung had collapsed.  She's had a couple of procedures done and the lung has been re-inflated.  There is a rather nasty tube in her chest which is maintaining that until the lung heals.

I like to "write" words in the quilts I make and this is one that I want to see totally applied to our Miss Ru. 

She's had a lot of trials and a lot of pain, but she's strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and she's coming out of this one, too.

I've made a start on another circle quilt.  I really  like this quilt and it is so easy to make.  (What you can see behind this first row of the circle quilt is leftover blocks from Mary's quilt.  Playing with those.)  I've got a couple more rows put together, just don't have a picture of them.

On my quilt frame right now is the quilt I started for our bed over a year ago.  I had quilted the middle portion of it and couldn't quite figure out how to load it on the frame.  My good neighbor encouraged me to just go for it, so I did. Thanks, Sandy!  XOXO

I like to remember all the good times and forget the bad.  Or as the Apostle Paul said to the Philippians, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:  but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

I was ironing and cutting into strips and squares some fabric I'd been given when I made the mistake of walking away and leaving the basket unattended.  I guess it looked like a good spot for a nap. LOL

So, there have been good things and bad.  And yes, I am still muddling.....

Here in the States, tomorrow is Easter, or as we like to say, Resurrection Day.  I hope you have a really nice one, whatever you choose to call it!

My love to you all.

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

Mary's Quilt

Isn't it funny that a quilt can start off as just a bunch of strips hanging on the design wall?

And that it can grow into something so much more!  This is our younger daughter's birthday quilt, and you see - I did get it finished in time.  Matter of fact, her roommate shot of video of her opening the package containing it today and sent it to me.  She loved it!  That's what makes it all worth while.

I actually like it a lot, too.  This is the fabric I used for the backing.  She had requested a blue and black quilt, so this has a lot of both.

We have shared many cups of coffee and tea over the years, so this in a small way commemorates some of those.

Of course I had Bruno's invaluable assistance every step of the way.  LOL

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Taking a Bath - Chicken Style

                       

I thought you might get a little grin out of this.  They are so serious about it, too!

 Remember awhile back I told you about digging up the rose from a lady's house who was being forced out?  It is obviously happy here!   It was a very old rose bush, and took quite a bit of pruning just to get it to the point where we could dig it up.  The fragrance is heavenly.  I am so happy that it is happy.

              

I think some of the cuttings are rooting well, too, so there will be a whole new generation of this pretty baby to spread around!  Hoorah!

This one on the left I've had for a long time.  It was a cutting from sweet neighbors, long gone from here, but I think of them every time I see this rose.  The one on the right is a plant I bought several years ago.

And if you look closely, you can see a tiny little lemon on the tree out front.  It has lots of siblings on other parts of the tree.  Happy me

I planted some asparagus seeds this year and they grew!  Since I have not yet come up with a permanent resting place for them, I have them in this large pot in the corner of the garden.

Unfortunately none of these little babies poked their heads out of the soil at all.  Hence, I got a late start with my tomato planting and had to go and buy plants.  Not happy about this at all.

 

Out in the chicken yard, they are busy composting and then sifting it through the chicken wire.  It actually works out pretty well, because then I can just scoop it up into a bucket and carry that nice compost wherever I want it.  They are good little workers!

Of course you understand that it requires considerable supervision from Bruno to be sure it's all done correctly.

This rather blurry picture is of the tree directly behind us.  I think this is some sort of egret, but I've not been able to discover exactly which one.  They are BIG birds!  There have been two of them up there building this nest, so looks like another family moving in.

I took a lot of pictures of lunch preparation yesterday so that I could give you the recipe for these salmon croquettes.  Then I remembered that I had already done that, so I won't repeat. 

And.........I got our younger daughter's birthday quilt loaded on the frame and I've started quilting it.  Which is a very good thing because her birthday is next Saturday!!! YIKES!

I hope there's lots interesting where you are, too.  Have a great weekend!

Hugs and kisses,