A nice visit

Yesterday, our son-in-love, Tim, stopped by on his way further east.  He and our daughter and grandchildren live in Oklahoma, and he is stationed at Ft. Sill army base.  He is attending a month of school at Ft. Lee, in Virginia, and our home is approximately the halfway point for his trip.

He arrived at 3 in the morning, and only got to sleep over and get ready to move on.  But we got to visit for a few hours and it was so good to see him after nearly 2 years.   Hopefully, when he gets back home, after a little bit he AND the rest of the family can come back out and stay for a few days.

Praise the Lord (by Chris Chistian) - A powerful song of Encouragement

Just documenting the seasons of change

First off,........PRAISE for my saviour, Jesus, who gave his life for me, and rose again to reign as my King !  Oh, how I love you , Jesus !

I spent this Good Friday doing my first real mowing of this year.....I got the entire front and alot of the back mowed.  Before that, I mopped the kitchen floor a couple of times with Mop N Glo, which I have neglected to do this winter.  I've been using Pine Sol, and didn't realize how UNSHINY my floor had become until I moved the washing machine looking for a leak.   What a beautiful shiny floor I found hiding underneath it !  (And no leak there.......it must be coming from the connection, inside the wall or below floor....YIKES).  Now the place smells so good (from the Mop N Glo) when you walk in from outside....love that smell !

Pausing to catch a second wind, I had some yummy Cheddar Broccoli soup for a late lunch, and then I got the tiller.  After having difficulty getting it to idle, I adjusted the carburetor and reset the idle screw (sounds all smarty, doesn't it?)  What really worked was praying, "Father, please let me get this thing going so we can be blessed with a good garden to share again !"  And HE did !  I tilled about 4 passes and emptied the gas tank, so I hope to start again tomorrow.

Cable guy came and did some rewiring and stuff yesterday since my phone was dropping calls.  He's the one who discovered the dripping underneath the trailer.  I've called a guy to come have a look at it next week.

So, that was my day.......and I had a lovely date night with the hubby tonight,---upon HIS request !  Can't beat that after 37+ years !

Oh, and 15 Irises bloomed this week along the front of our home, all purple blooms, just the way I like !  On a couple of mornings, the temperature dropped down to the high 20's and nipped the newly opened leaves on the Maples and on the Crape Myrtles and Rose of Sharons.  I hope they come back okay !

Have a blessed Easter weekend, everyone.  Look to the Lord !

Feeling better, and showing off a finish !

I've been silently lurking around blogland for a week.....a crazy week.

I started throwing up last Friday, .........and had family/company on the way here, from out of state, to spend a few days !  Needless to say, I wasn't the best hostess, but we got by and hubby enjoyed seeing his nephew for the first time in nearly 40 years.  They grew up almost as brothers, so that was nice.

After checking with a local doctor, I found that the sickness was caused by acid reflux, not the creeping crud that everyone else has had.  I totally lost my voice off and on for days, and it's still not stable (not that I ever have MUCH voice anymore).  And, I couldn't eat, so I lost ANOTHER 5 POUNDS......not good !   I'm looking emaciated now.

I've scheduled a checkup with my surgeon for Monday afternoon, and am asking him to refer me to a gastroenterologist up at Vanderbilt.  I hope I can get some kind of solution to this aggravation.

Meanwhile, we've had some beautiful Spring days here, and I've been working in the yard again, now that I've recovered some of my strength from last weekend.

  Rose gave me a whole bunch of different styles of buttercups/Daffodils, and I spent most of today setting them out in various places.

While I didn't have much strength, I was able to do enough handwork to get the brown quilt bound. 

I present.................DIAMONDS IN THE DIRT........finished !

Before washing.  All of the quilting was done using my Brother walking foot.  I drew the cables with a stencil, and did the wiggly by using the 3-stitch zigzag.


Since I had to piece the backing, I inserted red diamonds, like the front of the quilt, and the arrows just came to be because I liked them.  I used the half-squares leftover from trimming the diamond-in-a-square units on the front.

Also before washing (check out how the center quilting goes right through the center of the  backing !)

 I machine-quilted it until I got sick, and then finished the last of it a few days ago.  Today I washed it and threw it into the dryer before I went out to do the yardwork.   I FORGOT all about it, and pulled it from the dryer when I came in around 5:30.

It did the cotton-shrink/crinkle-up more than one has in a long time, but it looks good.  That USED TO BE my favorite thing about a cotton-battinged quilt.

Picture's a bit fuzzy........quilt's nice and crinkly.  This design is my own adaptation of a quilt I saw offered as a pattern in a catalog.  I made a few changes but can't totally claim it as MY design.

 I have a recipient in mind for it, but I have to admit that I like this quilt more than anything I've made in a very long time.  My hubby does too !   If it had a flannel back I might have had to give it to HIM.

Nice and wrinkly after washing

I can't believe it lined up that well !  Good thing, too, with the arrows pointing it out !

The quilt started out measuring 56 x 80 inches, but shrunk a bit in the dryer, to finish at a measurement of 53 x 76 inches.  That's a LOT of shrinkage......I was making this for a TALL guy to nap under....hope it still fits !

Maybe I can get a full length shot of the quilt on the clothesline next week.

And, now, .......... I get to think about a NEW PROJECT......... YAY !
Have a great Sunday......and don't forget to thank God for this week !

Praise God for gifts of talent, busy hands, and peaceful days !