It all began in a Garden

Phew! Finally a full day to just quilt!

Things have been so busy that I have not been able to block out enough time to QUILT! (ie....WORK)

I've just about finished the large king-sized quilt that I have been wanting to work on for weeks now.

There always seemed to be a reason that I couldn't start on it................my batting was not wide enough, the store in California where I get my batting did not have any in stock when I was there, not a big enough block of time to actually work on the quilt and finish it, (I don't like to leave my quilts on the frame for long periods of time) and the last reason, I guess, is that I was just procrastinating doing this quilt because of it's size. I was worried that I'd flare up my elbows again and that scared me.

Well............GREAT NEWS! I was worried for nothing.......I've been quilting most of the morning and I feel pretty good! Maybe the long absence from quilting helped the ole elbows heal abit. Hallalujuh!

Since I'm taking a little break before I finish off the quilt I decided to write about my garden.

Last year for Mother's Day I asked my husband for a tree.

We have this beautiful mulberry tree in our side yard that has a wonderful large and shady canopy.

That tree is one of the reasons we bought this house.

This tree shades over 1/2 of the side yard.

But I wanted another tree at the other end. Sorta as a back-up in case anything ever happened to the mulberry.

So this is the way the yard looked on Mother's Day 2008:


Mike is out digging the holes to plant TWO trees

This is what it looks like today! May 2009

Mother's Day 2008

May 2009

My Pot sculpture has really grown in a years time.

I received some hollyhock seeds from a good friend and just

yesterday I finally got my first blooms!

What a Weekend!

I started off the weekend by finishing up my last customer quilt (to be done before the wedding). I took some pictures but somehow the picture I took of the whole quilt disappeared from my camera, so here are some detail shots of this lovely southwest inspired quilt. I'll have to ask Carla to send me a picture of the whole quilt!

Friday night was of course the Halloween party at the Boojum Tree. I think that one of the things I like most about this party is that my quilting friends like to dance! We have an absolute ball! I figured that I must have lost about 10 pounds just from dancing alone, but alas the scale told me something different. Stupid scale!

Friday Night Quilters

Back row: Katrina, Cheryl & Linda

Front Row: Tammy, Kathy, Sharon & Mary

Another great thing about this party is that my whole family attends. This year Darcy joined us!

Saturday morning I went shopping with Jenny to look for a dress for the rehersal. She found a really pretty white and black dress. We went to Fry's food store to get the Coke products that were on sale. I also bought a trellis that was clearance priced for my front entry way! How cool is that? $20 was a steal! Oh! and BONUS! I took the display model and all I had to do was screw the top part back together! I already had the plants, so I installed the trellis and planted the plants that very afternoon!

In the afternoon I went with Jenny and Rafael

to thier final wedding planning meeting.

Saturday Evening I went to a Margaritaville party at Tana's house. I was a little apprehensive about going since Mike was on his way to India and that meant I would have to go alone. But I went and had a great time with the many friends who were there, some of which I had not seen in ages!

On Sunday I was up bright and early and working in my secret garden. I worked on the ground under the gazebo area, trying to smooth it out and remove any scraggling grass. We plan on doing something more permanent in that area, but really didn't have time to get it done before the wedding.

I cleaned up all the leaves, groomed all the plants picking off any dead flower heads. I completely cleaned all the unnecessay junk out of the area that we tend to store there. I powerwashed the side of the house and the furniture and sidewalks. I installed a couple more screws in the bricks so I could hang some flowers. (Major task for me! I'm afraid of the drill!) Rafael and Jenny came over and helped me cut down and haul away a bunch of dead branches from the tree and then we finished installing all of the white lights in the tree. It was a long, tiring day but the yard looks o-so-nice!

To end the Evening I went outside and sat under my twinkling tree with a margarita and had a great visit with my mom, and then with Lisa.

The weather is beautiful here now.....