taking a turn . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

Well.  The week started out just fine.  We woke up one day to a lovely blanket of snow.  I love March snows!  Remember, just the weekend before, we were out on the boat!

But, as is typical of March snows (not March ice storms, mind you), twelve hours later, it was back to Spring! And three days later . . .

By the end of the week, I was feeling poorly.  By Saturday morning I was feeling bad enough that, for the very first time, I took a covid test . . .

It didn't even take sixty seconds for the "positive" to show up.  Ah Bach. Talk about a turn for the worse.

Thankfully, I didn't feel terrible.  One day with a fever and bad headache, and then I was just tired.  I spent a bunch of time out on the deck (covered and with the heater on) . . .

And enjoyed the wildlife show . . .

By Monday, as hard as he'd tried to stay away, Todd had also succumbed. By Wednesday, I was really feeling fine, so I nursed Todd and took advantage of being home and worked on (and completed) my March UFO challenge project, which was to piece the T-block quilt (minus the border) that I'd tentatively named Oriental Tea Garden.

Yay!  I also worked on finishing the hand-quilting the silver spiderweb on my Halloween Hexi table topper . . .

This was actually May or June's UFO challenge project, but I've got the time, so I went ahead and finished it up! 

I did end up missing some big things. Ellie did her presentation on the fabled Babylon Hanging Gardens:

I was supposed to receive a Quilt of Valor at a presentation on Thursday, and our guild's quilt show, which is always spectacular, was over the weekend.

Luckily, I've got good friends who sent me some photos!

I can't believe I'm saying this ... but I'm ready to go back to work next week.  <grin>

:)

the undiscovered country . . .

Did the title of my post cause you to scratch your head or raise your eyebrow? Let me just say that my darling hubby is a bit of a Trekkie.  'Nuff said.

I have to admit ... it's not been terribly hard to stay away from blog writing.  Is that a shameful secret I should have kept to myself?!  But when something that doesn't pay the bills starts to feel like a burden or a "have to" or starts to impede upon other areas of life, it's definitely time to step back.  And we've been so busy! Todd now has just THREE more shifts.  He's only working the full twenty-four hours on TWO of them and taking off the full twenty-four hours of the last one! That means he has two more days to work and then we're DONE! It's a very happy, exciting time!  We're charting off into our own undiscovered country!  :)

Well.  It's been happy and exciting EXCEPT for the time I've been down with strep throat and a sinus infection. That hasn't been happy time.  LOL!  Luckily, though, it's only been since Thursday.  I felt so bad I missed a guild meeting. That should tell you something! I'm feeling better -- about sixty percent -- today. And since I hope to take Sawyer to dinner at the fire station tomorrow -- it'll be his last time to see Paw-paw in action as a fireman -- I hope to be at least up to eighty-five percent tomorrow!

We've been busy, especially in the Camp.  Spring and fall are our biggest camp usage seasons and we've had visitors most every weekend.  I love it!  And of course, I've also had fun doing some quilty, sewy, crafty things, too.  I continue to work on Joc's Wedding Quilt.  And I finished up the little Cardinals in Clover piece I'd EQ'd:

And of course I've been reading (though not doing a lot of commenting) my favorite blogs!

Speaking of which, I'd won a little giveaway over at A Little of This and a Little of Pat.  

It was this darling "Gobble Till You Wobble" pattern.  That is so totally me! Darling that she is, she also tucked in a little children's fabric she'd found that she thought I could put to good use . . .

Wasn't that sweet?  The space rockets are totally Buzz "Sawyer" Lightyear!  And I loved the cars and fire trucks and planes, too.  But the paper dollies made me *swoon*!  Totally darling!  And believe it or not, it's the ONLY fabric I've acquired over the past twenty-one days.  Of course, since I'm headed to Paducah, KY and the AQS show next weekend, that's all subject to change!  But, because I do want to keep up with this (for my own sake) I'm going to go ahead and report:

Used/donated this month: 0.75 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 12.75 yards

Purchased/added this month: 3.75 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 42.50 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -29.75 yards

I also participated in a fun thread swap with my StitchMAP group. (Good thing I'm not doing a thread/floss stash report!) We were to exchange two skeins of specialty threads/floss in colors that represented Spring to us.  I opted to swap with three folks, so I send off six skeins and got six in return.

The two I sent off were the green and sparkly purple on the left (yes, I bought two for me, also!).  Then in my swap package were the sparkly skeins of DMC metallics, the two skeins of Italian silk floss in a very earthy pink and a pretty blue, and finally some gorgeous silk floss in a very earthy green and a cream.  It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I participated!  

I also managed to score a couple of samples of tea from Royal Tea of Kenya. There was a terrific write-up about this company in the January/February issue of Tea Time Magazine, so I was thrilled when I was offered the opportunity to try it.  

The company is based out of Nashville and run by Joy (who I had a lovely chat with on Friday).  Joy's grandfather is the oldest living (at 109+) tea producer in the world.  Pretty cool, huh?  

I haven't tried it yet, but do believe that brewing a pot is on the agenda for this afternoon, along with enjoying some appropriate reading material!

The arrival of Spring also brings with it the arrival of birds and critters we don't see during the winter.  For example, the grosbeaks have put in an appearance this week (aren't these striking birds???) . . . 

As have the indigo buntings (which I adore) . . .

And the goldfinches, which do winter here, have returned to their summer yellow (instead of the drab olive they wear in the winter) . . . 

We've also seen our first salamander (Todd captured this picture):

And our first skink of the season (he did NOT want his picture taken!):

And of course, since it's flip-flop (or Yellowbox, as I prefer) weather again, the toes have to be painted!

My SS girls were particularly impressed with my 'rainbow toes' this morning.  I aim to please.  Haha!

And look at this:

My little kitchen herb garden is sprouting up!!  I'm still having to bring it inside (we had frost warnings for the past two nights) but I think after this weekend, we'll be good to go!  I can't wait until I've got my fresh sweet basil and chives and parsley!

Okay, enough of this; I could probably write on and on and blah blah blah.  I'm headed to get that tea brewing!  But before I go ... is anyone taking a trip to Paducah this coming week -- particularly on Saturday??  I'm headed there with my guild and will be there from 10 until 6. I cannot wait!!  If anyone else is going to be there, let me know!!!! 

Auf Wiedersehn!

:)

hither, yon, and dale . . .

Because I'm all *over* the place in this post!!

My goodness . . . how did March arrive so quickly?!  True to form, it's 'marched' in like a lion -- we have *cold* temps and snow in our immediate forecast!  Which is quite funny when you consider my next few photos . . .

Todd and I took a golf cart ride earlier in the week and noticed a bit of Spring making a showing . . .

Those sweet little flowers sure weren't counting on snow falling on them. We spotted them as we traveled down to Hidden Creek -- I hadn't been down there in ages!  

When we got down there, I noticed that someone (probably Sam, one of the Camp's top committee members) had cleared a huge swath of land from the very invasive bamboo that grows down there.  

If you look at the above pic, you'll see a little jut of land sticking out in the center of the creek.

I've always wanted to walk up there -- and now I could!  It's such a sweet little spot, too.  And Todd and I noted that though the bank is a little steep, there are natural steps cut into the side here.  Add a rope and I imagine Sawyer and I will add this to our favorite "spots", come summer.  Especially since in the summer months, the creek is a little calmer and there's hardly any water flow on the bank side of the spot.  But not today -- listen to the creek roll here!

Gosh I do love that sound!!  From the big creek, we headed across the camp to the little creek -- Crawdad Creek.  As we headed out, I noticed how much water has overflowed out of the creek, into what's typically dry paths . . .

Usually that's all dry ground.  We've had a LOT of rain in the last two months, that's for sure.  By summer, it will be all gone.  Crawdad Creek, though small, never stops flowing . . . 

We figure that, like the ponds, it's spring-fed.  I wish there was a way to eliminate mosquitoes down there -- I'd spend a LOT more time there, if there was!

And I had to share this funny picture . . .

What makes it funny is that this is a picture of a purple finch surrounded by goldfinches.  Only the purple finch is decidedly red while the goldfinches are decidedly olive.  They make me laugh!

At Joc's on Wednesday, I decided to throw down a challenge to see if Leia would make a good quilter's cat.

It appears that she would, indeed, make a good quilter's cat.  I figured that was the case, but just wanted to make sure.  Leia's sitting on one of my NewFOs for February, by the way.  That was my February doll quilt swap piece.  I also had a cute little NewFO/finish in the mug rug I made for my pastor's wife:

And I consider my CQ block a NewFO, too!

I got my spider web on it and that ended Lesson 5.  Lesson 6 starts us on beading.  The first thing we do is pull out the matching pincushion and treat the seams on it.

Next up will be the actual beading!  

I've got my beads picked -- I'll work on that today.  From there, I'll go back to my block and add the beading to it!

Ellie's little broken leg isn't keeping her down.  In fact, though she was aware of it the weekend I stayed with her, by the next weekend she was walking on it again.  Evidently Leia wishes it had slowed her down a bit more . . .

She was hiding from Ellie.  Ummm, yeah.  Gotta love cats!

Ellie was quick to help Leia out, by showing her the error of her ways.  I can just hear her, "See Leia -- it's all open.  I can see *all* of you!"

I suppose, since it *is* March, I could come up with some goals for the month. Let's see . . . number one on the list is the March doll quilt swap. Number two? FINISH my crazy quilt course! Number three. Hmmmm. I really would like to finish up some of the UFOs I've got lying around. To that end, number three will be finishing off the center of the quilt-as-you-go pineapple quilt I resurrected last year.

I need to trim the red to the black center and make sure it'll fit inside the rows of blocks!  And number four--start quilting on Joc's quilt.  Wow.  That's pretty industrious for me!  Especially when you consider that in the first half of the month we'll celebrate Joc's, Kim's and Sawyer's birthdays, Kim and James's anniversary, and my folks will come down for a visit!  In addition to the fun family stuff, Todd and I will head to Shocco Springs next weekend for a missionary training weekend and the following Saturday is National Quilting Day (March 16) and our guild has BIG plans.  Whew!!

I guess I'm out of here for the weekend.  Linking up today's post to the February NewFO linky party over at Cat Patches, the March "Get 'Er Done" post at Patchwork Times, and the Feline Friday linky party over at Sarah Did It!!!

:)

crazy all the time . . .

I cannot tell you how much I'm enjoying the crazy quilting course!!  Monday night I finished up my sample stitch exercise . . . 

I had to incorporate a total of fourteen different stitches.  Whew!  But once that was finished, I was able to go to work on my block.  Oh how fun!

I'm not nearly finished, but I got a good start with it.

One of my favorite elements is where I took the yellow daisy flower from the center and extended it over the seam, into the next patch, using a satin stitch.  I didn't notice the black pencil dot until I saw the picture!!  I've subsequently taken care of that!

And I love this little row of double-feather stitch, with the fly-stitch leaves and French knot buds.  I'm also going to love that little row of French knot hyacinths!

I spent some great time with June and Sawyer last night!  They are so darling ... June is growing like no one's business and so full of giggle and charm!

What fun they are together!  Sawyer is a terrific big brother ... very loving and protective of his "Baby June" and June adores her big brother--if he's talking or nearby, she's only got eyes for him!

While I was there, Kim presented me a final Christmas present!  (Now that's really making Christmas s-t-r-etch!)  

Yay!!  I'm so excited--I've wanted this little wire quilt stand forever!!  I felt bad for Kim, though.  She ordered it on November 29, 2012 -- and it just arrived on February 11.  I was the one who provided her with the link ... and she kept getting the run around about  it being back-ordered and different shipping dates. They weren't very communicative with her--and I felt badly about it.  It was ordered from Nancy's Notions, so I was very surprised that the customer service (not to mention the overall ordering experience) was far less than satisfactory. But I LOVE the stand and am so happy to have a little quilt all ready to go in it! Yay!!

I had a little visitor in the platform feeder yesterday . . . 

He's such a dapper fellow!  But when he's on the feeder, it spins so -- it's hard to get a decent shot of him! 

I've always wondered why he's called a red-bellied woodpecker, when there's not a speck of red on his belly!  I guess red-headed was already taken?

I'll wrap this up with a plug for an upcoming online event I'm helping with . . . 

This online conference will be held tomorrow, Thursday, February 14, from noon to 4 p.m. (central time).  It will feature a terrific selection of very gifted women speakers, all dealing with marriage topics.  What a perfect day for it, too!  Marnie Swedburg is the hostess, and I've followed Marnie for a long time - she's a tremendous women's ministry mentor.  The event is free ... and you can check out the site (and the line up of speakers) on the S.O.S. Training Extravaganza website!  You may not be able to be a part for the whole thing -- but you may see a speaker/topic that particularly interests you and you can check in just for that!  The Facebook and Twitter hostesses (which I'm doing) generate conversation and answer questions on those venues during the expo.  It's pretty cool and definitely worth checking out ... it could be the best gift you give your spouse!!  Plus, if you register and participate, there are some great prizes!

Happy Valentine's Day in advance!!

:)