Secret Garden

Last weekend we had 7 ton of rock delivered to be placed in my secret garden area.

It was really hard work removing the cement divider.

At first Mike was using a sledge hammer and crow bar........

but they finally borrowed a cement driller from our neighbor

and it made the work a little easier.

And hauling all of that rock was no picnic either.

But boy does it look good now!

Future plans include making more flower beds along the back side of the fence. I think that might be this weekend's project. The weather has been absolutely beautiful here, however they are forcasting 90 degree weather for Sunday. NOT the best way to begin March! Hopefully it won't get TOO hot TOO soon!

I've started COMPOSTING!

Here is one of my bins:

This year we gathered all of the leaves that

fell from the trees and have

been putting them into these makeshift bins.

I put all of my kitchen

scraps in here, water it down,

and mix it up from time to time.

I've already used one pile to enrich a

newly planted garden in another area

of our yard.

I've got the neighbor bringing me HER kitchen scraps too!

Mardi Gras

Yes, it is the Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday celebration today,

but did you know that it was also National Pancake Day?

I made pancakes from scratch this morning for my family. They were very yummy. I even warmed the syrup! We had a couple left over and I will warm them up for breakfast tomorrow morning!

I've been working hard in my studio. I've completed a customer quilt top and am near completion on a t-shirt quilt that I pieced and quilted.

Here is a picture of the quilt and a couple of detail shots:

The weather has been so very nice here the last few days. We have had 80 degree weather so I've been busy working out in my garden pruning and planting and pulling weeds.

Tomorrow is the start of Lent and while I am not Catholic,

I like the idea of participating in Lent.

In years past I have always forgone something...

like CHOCOLATE

or SUGAR

or my glass of wine.

This year I've decided that I would ADD something,

More daily devotion time,

daily exercise and

daily decluttering time in my home.

Discipline.....could be harder that giving up chocolate!

Wish me luck!

Free Placemats

Check out this website for monthly themed placemats...........
Free from Jackie Robinson - Animas Quilts

Jan/Feb/March are already posted.

http://www.animas.com/Placemats/Placemats.html

These placemats really look cool!

Organize!!!!!

I had a dear friend come over today to give me some pointers on organization. I REALLY need to get my quilt studio organized. Sometimes it is hard to work because I don't have my "things" where they should be and I spend alot of time looking for things I need. She gave me some great ideas............now I just need to DO IT!

At our FNQ meeting on Friday night we celebrated the birthdays of

two of our members. I made them each an embroidered apron.

Kerry's says "Sizzlin' Hot Mama"

and Dolly's says " Dinner is on ME!"

So now I"m off to start quilting a quilt that needs to be done

so the maker can put it in the quilt show. I need to get it done so

she will have time to do the binding before the show.

THEN I need to start implementing some of the changes I need to

do in my studio to get it organized!

River Rock quilt

Phew! A couple of days ago I finished up this large quilt.

The quiltmaker wanted me to quilt rocks and river on it and

wanted heavy quilting on it.

At first I started out with the darker thread

but was alarmed when it

showed up so vividly on the lighter fabric.

Using the darker thread with heavy quilting

would have completely changed the color of the quilt.

I ended up picking out this quilting (no small feat!) and using the softer color thread on the entire quilt.

This is a picture of the back of the quilt.

The quiltmaker used up any squares that did

not make it on the front of the quilt.

Now she will have 2 quilts in one!

These are pictures of the back of the quilt where you can

see the quilting lines better on the solid colored fabric.

There is ALOT of close quilting in this quilt.

Sure hope the quiltmaker likes it!

Twilight

It was a rainy day in Phoenix yesterday.

We don't get many of those days.

So I took the day off and spent the entire day reading.

(okay, I also made a big pot of chili and cornbread, but

you NEED a big pot of chili and cornbread on a rainy day too!)

The book "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer has 498 pages and

I read the WHOLE book yesterday.

Fortunately it is a very easy read.

The book takes place starting and ending in Phoenix,

Arizona and in the Olympia Pennisula in the middle and is about vampires!

Good vampires.

Go to this site: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

to read more about this book.

Stephenie has written several sequels AND

"Twilight" is being made into a movie!

One of my favorite tv shows while I was growing up was

Dark Shadows with the vampire Barnabas Collins.

I watched it with my great-grandmother after school.

Makes me wonder...........are there vampires amoung us?

What do you think?

The Secret Lives of Bees

I watched "The Secret Lives of Bees" the other night and it was pretty good. I've read the book previously and it was fun to see how the movie was portrayed and how it differed from the images that I had in my mind.

The story is set in N. Carolina in the early 60's. It touches on themes of mother-daughter relationships, gives some insight into the struggles that blacks (and women) still faced in those times and also it gives you some information about beekeeping.

I'm sorta afraid of bees. Unfortunately this movie did not change that, but its always good to have more information!