Maya the Reader!!!

Maya is just about to finish kindergarten. She is the only one in her class who got this t-shirt. She got it for reading 30 books in 30 days. It was for a March of Dimes promotion.  This was in addition to all her regular reading. Congratulations, Maya!!  Great job!!! She has always loved books. She would rather sit with a book than a toy. When she was 18 months old, she was "reading" a book from memory.

This is a picture of Maya with her two neighborhood playmates. One last picture to remember them by before the move to Colorado.

Art Class

My daughter, Jeannine, volunteered this year at Sofa's preschool in the art department. They did a study of Kandinsky and this is an example of one of the works. I think she did a terrific job for a 4-yr old.

Jeannine did one for herself. She had so much fun working with the art teacher and the children, and Mrs. Sharp and the whole school are really going to miss her next year.

Playing Catch-Up

Lately things have been pretty crazy in my life. Haven't been able to do much quilting. Since my daughter and family are moving from SC to CO, and Charles is already there, I've been spending a lot of time in SC helping with the girls and selling of the house. I was in SC a week; then she and the girls came home to B'ham with me, and now we are back in SC. Today I picked up Maya (6) from school, and we went to Barnes & Noble for a special treat. She luuuuvs chocolate (and so do I!), so we shared a triple chocolate cookie, she had hot cocoa, and I had a cafe mocha. 

Then she wanted to buy a "chapter book." She is learning to read in kindergarden, and she thinks it is a big deal to buy a book that has chapters in it - like the adults. So we bought a book about Ribsy, a dog that goes shopping with the family, gets lost in the parking lot and ends up in the wrong car. Now he is trying to find his way back home.

This morning it was picture time for Sofia (4) at the dance studio. They are preparing for their recital June 1.

 

Here she is with her little friend (left) that is in her class at school.

Boy, I'm going to miss these little granddaughters!!

Block #3

This is the 3rd block I've completed.

Worked at planting some tomato plants yesterday.

There are 3 tomato plants in this planter.



This planter has chive, curly parsley, and sweet basil seeds planted.  Can't wait to see the first little green shoots.





Some Landscaping

For some time my husband has wanted to put rocks around some of the areas of our front yard.  He finally bit the bullet and hired a local landscaper to do just that.  I think it turned out quite nice.  Really adds a lot of curb appeal to the area.  The first picture is in front of our master bathroom.

This didn't show up as nicely from the road just because the first layer is embedded in the dirt evenly with the cement of our drive.  But he couldn't add another layer or it would impede the sprinkler that is right in the middle - kind of where you can see that "crack" or dark area.  Also, if you get it too high, it would be higher than the  porch and water trapped from rain in the enclosed area would run onto the porch.  I do think it adds such a finishing touch though.  The next picture is in around a tree in the front yard.

Behind this tree is right in front of the garage where the next picture was taken.

They also replenished our ground covering with fresh bark.

Sunday afternoon, Marsha (my friend and former coworker) came by to pick up her Grandmother's Flower Garden that I had been hand-quilting for literally years.  Now, of course, I didn't not work on it full time for years - probably should have, and she would have had it long before now.  Her mother English-pieced it during the 1970s.  Sadly her mother has passed away.  I'm just sorry she was not able to see the completed project.  But after all this time, I had become quite attached to this lovely quilt.  I didn't realize just how lovely it was until I took it to our Birminham Quilt Guild meeting and was able to hang it (for show-and-tell) so that the whole quilt could be seen.  All of a sudden, this thing that I was rather sick of working on became a thing of beauty.  And I was dreading having to part with it.  What it did was inspire me to begin working on one of my own.  Certainly, I don't lack for any scraps to use!!  I know this will be a veeerry loooong term project.  I'll make little baggies of fabric and freezer paper to take along and work on it 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there.  I should eventually get it done - if I live long enough!

Let me tell you, this quilt must be miles in circumference!  To finish the edges, I turned the backing under to meet the turned edge of the hexegon and whip-stitched it together - ALLLL the way around.  I remember when I got all the flowers quilted, I felt like I was almost done - NOT!  I had to quilt the white outer edge and inside the green outer edge and along the outermost edge - ALLLL the way around.  That took nearly as long as quilting the flowers.  I think it must be about king-size, although I never actually measured the whole thing.  The hexegons are 1" finished along the edge.  There are eight flowers across and 8 down.  When I do mine, I don't think I'll do the edges this way.  Not sure yet just how I'll do them, though.  By the time I get there, I'll probably have changed my mind 3 or 4 times anyway!

I think I'll say "ta ta" for today and go play the piano for awhile - something I've not done in quite awhile.  Not sure why, since it used to be such a big part of my life, but I guess "life" has just gotten in the way.

Playing Catch-Up

I've been working on a four-block wallhanging. It is a Piece-O-Cake design made using a layer cake. The blocks are in varying stages of completion. I just love to needle-turn appliqué.

Spring is Definitely Here

I just love Japanese maples.  My husband collects them.  He has all sizes.  The one below is in front of our bathroom on the front of the house.

This one is in the corner of our backyard.



Here's another little one, and I love the dark red leaves on it - also in our backyard.

I just love the red ones, but we we also have a beautiful green one in the backyard, too.

Last year this tree was so beautiful - also a red one - that is right outside my kitchen window.  This year it seems to have bit the dust.  Really hate that because I so loved looking at it several times a day.

Perhaps one of these will eventually take its place.  This is my husband's little Japanese maple nursery.

The ivy in these little pots is doing really well.  It is actually the same ones that grew here last year.  They suffered greatly during the winter, but they didn't die. I just cut off all the old dead stuff, and they took off again.  I love this little wallhanging we bought several years ago at a local nursery.



This is one of three rose bushes we have of this type.  I can see this one from my kitchen window.  It is just popping wtih buds.