First Things First

I need to add one more vertical row to the right, but the first two vertical rows to the left are now sewn together.  Progress is good!

"Cowboy" Bruno inspecting the newly laid mulch.  We've had a good bit of rain since then, so it is nicely settled in now.

"Princess" Chloe not at all happy that she's being held captive inside.

Bush Lantana in full glorious bloom.

We bought this one last weekend.  It's a pink jasmine - very pretty and very fragrant.

Carolina Jessamine

Topsoil spread in back yard and sown with mulched grass seed.  Now if I can only manage to keep the chickens off it we might actually get some grass out there.  One hopes.

The bees are loving all the flowers.  

We've been having some rain the past few days and it's been cooler, but that won't last for long.  Summer will soon be here, so I'll enjoy the mild weather while it lasts!

I need to go and bake a lemon meringue pie now.  Have a great rest-of-the-weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Things Move Pretty Fast

Not me, so much, you do understand that, but the turning of the season - that is what is moving really fast this year.  We had a very mild winter and now everything that can is blooming its little heart out.  You can see a bit of the azaleas there and next to them is a rather large pile of topsoil and aged cedar mulch we had dropped off today.

I spent a large part of the afternoon spreading mulch in some of the flower beds around the house.  Not nearly done, but I did make a start.

They do look so much happier with a layer of nice mulch.

I took this picture before this pretty azalea got its mulch, but it has a nice covering over the dirt now, too.  That's Carolina Jessamine on the lattice above it.  Pretty flowers and very nice fragrance, too.

My Meyer lemon is blooming all over itself.  We had a nice harvest last year.  I'm hoping for more of the same.

Our church youth group is raising money for a trip they are taking later in the year and one of our members, a young man, harvested 200 (yes, that's right two hundred) lemons from his Meyer lemon tree.  Those who chose took lemons home with them and froze the juice.  We'll have a bake sale with the products of those lemons this Sunday.  That's a pretty unique idea, isn't it?  It should be interesting to see what everyone brings.  I'm planning on lemon meringue pie myself.

These are still on my design wall.  We have rain forecast for later in the week, so I'm sure I'll get some sewing in then.  Until then, I'm playing outside!

Hugs and kisses,

Little Baby Girl Quilt

I finished the little girl quilt very early in the morning on Thursday.

I am very pleased with it.

After completion, it took a little trip through the washer and dryer and is now very soft and crinkly.

The previous pictures were taken inside, but this was taken out in the back yard, and you can see what truly brilliant colors there are in these fabrics.

The backing is sweet and super soft.  I like the looks of it here with the light shining through it as it mingles with the plum blossoms.

I'm sure the little girl, due next month, will be a blessing to her family, and I hope this little quilt will be as well.

On my design wall right now these happy little strips are playing and discovering (along with me) what they will become.


Today was a work-out-in-the-yard day, so no sewing.  Hands looking quite a bit less than ladylike after digging out in the garden this afternoon.  There is just something very calming to the spirit about getting your fingers in the dirt.  For me anyway!

Hope you've found something to do that makes your spirit happy.

Hugs and kisses,

Pretty Flowers

The African violets on my kitchen windowsill are blooming their little hearts out right now.  I guess they feel Spring in the air, even from inside the house.

It just makes me happy to see pretty flowers in as many places as I can get them.

 The azaleas are in full, glorious bloom outside, so of course I have a few of the flowers on the kitchen countertop.

Not flowers, but still  pretty - today's egg harvest.

One of the azalea bushes in the front yard.  Sorry, I waited a bit late (after six) and the light was not that good.  This one, for some reason, has two different kinds of blooms on the same bush.

I got this little baby girl quilt top sewn together last night.  It was not quite as easy as I thought it would be to get Margaret's beautiful stitchery in there perfectly, but I finally did it.

Her stitching is really exquisite, and you might be able to see there at the bottom, I added a line of decorative machine stitching all around the edge.  I really like how this one is working, so far.  I plan to get it put together and quilted tonight.  I have the backing picked out already.

I'm not sure exactly how I did it, but I let this little quilt get out of here Sunday without getting its final portrait taken.  Bummer!

This is as close as we get.  At least you can see the front, the binding, and the  Victorian circus print on the back.  The little boy, our great-nephew, will have it by now.  His Grandmother, Mr. Muddling's sister, was in town for a few days and we had a family get together here at Muddle Manor on Sunday.  Lots of fun, food and people.  We do not have a big house, but we do have a lot of fun.  

There is an older song titled, I Hope You Dance, that I like.  Try something new. Let your creativity shine.  Dance!

Hugs and kisses,

New Growth

The little plum trees in the back yard have covered their branches with promises of tart juicy plums later in the season.

The peach tree outside my sewing room window has peaches for the first time.      I hope, I hope, I hope they thrive and grow!

All sorts of little bits and pieces are bursting into bloom out there.  Spring is here!

Meanwhile, it looks like the girls may have been trying to tunnel out of the chicken yard.

"Web of lies!"

But, since my minions have been doing a pretty good job of cleaning up the garden, we won't look too far into the attempted escape.

This is from last weekend, a great little steakhouse the desk lady at our motel told us about.  She said it was the best in the area and I think she was right...

I didn't get a picture of the outside when we were there on Saturday since it was raining and dark, so we went back the next day, because of course I had to show you.  They had men there working of the door, but you can see that the building dates back quite a few years.  It's in the little town of Winchester, Texas, and the Post Office is in the front of the restaurant.

I especially like this sign posted on the wall.

I finished the latest tumbler quilt.  All it needs is a label and we're done.  Hopefully I'll get it delivered next week.  The backing fabric is an all-over print of these brilliant tiles.  I used this Phillip Jacobs shell montage fabric for the border.

The light is not good outside today.  Sorry I could not get a better picture.  This quilt is for an 80-something-year-old friend of ours.  She became a widow over three years ago.  We've known her and her husband for a lot of years and she has always been an inspiration to me.  She's one of the strongest women I know, while still always giving honor and deference to her husband.  She has three children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren!  I sewed all their names into the quilt.

It's cooler here today and sort of gloomy, but there's always plenty of pretty fabric here in the sewing room to brighten the day!

Hugs and kisses,

Favor

One of the definitions of favor is unfair partiality.  I like that!  That is what Mr. Muddling and I had last weekend at the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange.  We were driving around waiting for noon when the Quilt Museum opened and we chanced upon the Czech Museum there.  It was not even open yet, but as we walked around on the outside looking at the sights - the people inside opened the door and let us in.  We were asked the sign the guest book and given a tour by a member of the Board of Trustees!  Wow!  It was so interesting, and there were lots of textile items there that were just amazing.

They were having the grand opening and dedication of their Music Museum that afternoon, so everything was in readiness for that and we got the benefit!

I was especially impressed by these blue print fabrics.  We were told that it is a batik-like process using hand carved wooden blocks to apply wax.  The fabric is then dyed and later the wax is removed to leave these intricate designs.

Here is a picture of one of the carved blocks.  Can you imagine carving something like that?

One thing they were understandably proud of was this gorgeous crystal chandelier which hangs in the banquet hall.

As you can see, it is a replica of the one hanging in the Prague Castle.

Notice, also, that they had the good taste to include chicken art in their textile array.  There are also restored houses, a store, a twin log barn and a brand new amphitheatre.  Lots to see.

It is such a beautiful place, and we could see the great pride they had in it and in their heritage.  Did my heart good to see people honoring the contributions of those who have gone before.  It's way too easy to forget and to act like we actually deserve all the blessings we enjoy here.  But people fought and struggled and died to obtain those blessings for us.  Good thing to remember.

Hope you enjoyed sharing a bit of our little trip.

Hugs and kisses,

I'm Back!

 My Honey and I took a little trip to La Grange, Texas this weekend to visit the Texas Quilt Museum.  We had a lot of rain the day we left and some more after we got there, but today was beautiful and we enjoyed the rest of the trip.

There was no picture-taking allowed inside the museum (bummer!), but there is some wall art on the side of the museum depicting quilts, so I guess we'll just have to be content with that.  Inside there are some beautiful quilts, as you can imagine, but since I couldn't take pictures, you'll just have to take my word for it.  Or you could go and see for yourself.  There is also a garden area on the side, with some pretty nice seating.  The signs say that they have planted a traditional flower garden, such as grandmother might have had, and that we can expect to see flowers there next year.

La Grange is a small town with lots of old buildings, as you can see.  They seem to take pride in keeping a lot of those building looking good.  That makes me happy.

One thing that made Mr. Muddling and me both laugh was the trees in La Grange and also in Columbus, which is a little over twenty miles away.  Apparently when they widened some of the streets they just left the trees there and paved around them.  It was really kind of strange to see a tree in the middle of the road and I wondered.  Well, I wondered lots of things, including, "What on earth were they thinking?"

I have some more really neat things to show you that have nothing to do with the Quilt Museum.  It was a sort of surprise Mr. Muddling and I stumbled into. But tonight....I'm going to bed.

Hugs and kisses,