kitchen photos

 
 
 
 
Amy here are the photos I promised to post!

What a difference

 

 

Came across this photo I took of the backyard looking at our patio before we moved in, and then added the latest shot I took to see the difference. I know we have been busy ripping out, but I had forgotten the jungle it used to be.

It's fall!

 

Well, I just had to take time today to take a picture of my garden mum. It is such a bright yellow and I am so glad I took the little shoot last spring and stuck in the ground near the patio. I love the little miracles that happen everyday, and just wanted to share the joy.

Double Flip Star and Nine Patch

 

This is the latest mini, I have been working on. The center square measures seventeen inches, I still have to quilt it, I am still deciding on the quilt design to use on the border. I think it will contain stars, but I am not sure yet. I love using bit and pieces of scraps that I have accumulated over the years.

Tom playing in the backyard!

 
We had fifteen yards of dirt brought in, to fill in some low spots and level others. Tom spent most of the day riding around in the bob cat. He still has to do some final grading tomorrow and then we should be done. We had a small hump along the curb on our side yard that had some sickly large bushes growing on it. We pulled the bushes out earlier this spring. Tom used the bobcat this morning to relevel the whole area. The ground was so hard that it was almost too much for the bobcat to handle. I sure am glad that Tom didn't try to just till it, the troy bilt would have met his match. LOL

My Lucky Day

 

 

 

Well, today the Delta River Nature Center in Pine Bluff had their annual quilt show. I entered two quilts in the show, one in the wallhanging category and one in the project category. They both won! I was hoping my wallhanging had a good chance but didn't think they would both do well.
I met some really nice ladies, and there were some really nice quilts. I received two baskets full of quilting goodies, so now I can have more fun.

My garden is growing

 

 

I finally have a cone flower growing again. I haven't had any since we lived in Wisconin. I call this my little secret garden because the white crape myrtle kind of protects this statue and cone flower. My watermelon is starting to take over the patio. So far, I see three growing, Max loves it cause he goes hunting for salamaders in the vines. I guess he feels like he is on safari. LOL We had a lot of rain again yesterday but I think today we will see blue skies.

Quilt Show

Well, Tom convinced me that I needed to enter a couple of quilts in the local quilt show. I am entering Amish Garden and Bluebird of Happiness. They only allow 100 quilts in the show, so I hope mine make it in. The show is on August 15th so I guess we wait and see.

Bluebird of Happiness

 

 

 

I just finished this wall hanging. It was designed by Pat Sloan as a machine applique pattern. I decided to machine piece it. I then needleturn appliqued it, and hand quilted it. The background grid is a half inch grid. I really am happy with the way it turned out and think I am going to hang it in the foyer. I learned alot about needleturn applique doing this project.

Arkansas Beans

 
I know that Texas is know for big hair big oil money etc. But here in Arkansas we can grow some big beans. I have been going out everyday this week and getting a handful of these beans that are a foot long. I know it doesn't look like a lot but each bean is like 8-9 regular beans and they really taste better than regular beans. Now I wish I had kept the seed packet. Will definitely try growing these again.

shamrock plant

 

This is a shamrock plant that my MIL gave me in May. It was a just a tiny sprout that she wasn't sure would take hold but it did. I planted in my hosta bed, I think it will love it there. It seems to be doing really well. Today I was weeding and I notice a big tall week in my geranium pot and I tugged it out. When I saw the root, I realized that it was the avocado plant that sprouted from an avocado pit I had planted in the spring and forgotten about. I guess I will have to try again next year. I have always wanted to see if I could get the pit to grow, maybe next year.

Too many trees

 

This is a cluster of three oaks we are having removed from the north east corner of our yard. I know the ones that are left behind will be so happy to have room to spread their branches. I know that trees weigh a lot as some of the tops of the trees fell from seventy feet up you could hear the blunk. I can't wait until tomorrow when the big trunks go timberrrrrrrrrr!

Visiting Liana and Gael

 

We headed to Springfield last week and got back yesterday. Liana and Gael have only been down there permanently for a week. We helped them take down part of a fence and trim some trees to make way for the two car garage they are having built. We had a lot of fun, and were able to get 5-6 things done on Gael's honey do list. Tom installed an above the stove microwave/vent for Liana, we then had to pry a 31 year old whirlpool microwave that still works out of her fingers so the trashmen could haul it away. Can you believe a microwave that old would still be working. It had a knob you turned to set the minutes. I know she will come to love her new microwave. We also were able to see Chad and Tiffany. They had a new arrival to their family on July 1st. Logan was a little over seven pounds. Kaeley and Garrett their other two children are adorable too.

Max and his nephews

 

Max was a very good sport when it came to the boys. He was there victim one day when they decided to put him in a towel straight jacket.

NOW THAT'S A FORT

 

As you can see I am catching up on the blogging. When Zach and Trevor came to visit for a week they had fun, did a bit of work and built this awesome fort

Dinosaurs in Austin

 

I loved Max face when we peaked thru the woods and found this! BARK! BARK!

Austin Botanical Gardens

 

When we visited Amy and Dolphin and Xander last month we went to the Austin Botanical Gardens. They were quite interesting. Max loved walking thru the water in the Japanese Gardens and sniffing for salamaders.

MJ

Today as I am cleaning as I usually do on Fridays, I decided to listen to All Michael Jackson on AOL Radio. It sure does bring back a lot memories. People can say what they want about him, but he was quite talented. It is sad to think how his greatness really affected his whole short life. Anyway MJ really makes vacuuming more fun, and I am cleaning in corners I usually pass by.

Swinging

 

This is my newest grandson Xander swinging on a swing for the first time. He doesn't like his hat but forgot all about it while swinging. I think he likes it!

Hydrangeas

 

Well, I had to share my pictures of a hydrangea we have behind our house. I found it after we moved in and it looked really pathetic on the south side of our house. It wasn't a good location and after we ripped out the overgrown shrubs behine our house, I discovered the perfect place for it. They love shady moist spots and this area was perfect. Knowing the right thing to do is to cut them back after transplanting, I snipped them down to the ground. Of course, that mean no blooms last summer, which made me envious of neighborhood hydrangeas that bloomed all around us. This summer things are different as you can see by the photos. There aren't many plants that have true blue blooms but the one in the front of our house is blue. The variety in the back leans toward being pink to almost purple.

Quilt slideshow

This quilt slideshow was shared by one of the women on my quilt forum. The last quilt is a memorial to the Hudson River Plane landing that happened last year.

American Idol winner

Well, I am so happy that Kris Allen was the winner this year of American Idol 2009. He seemed to be he underdog, but America voted and he won. Did anybody watch the finale tonight? I thought it was one of their best, alot of stars. Quite entertaining, especially when the idol contestants got to sing with different stars.

Do birds have more than one life?

Today, as I was getting the mower out a car hit a little bird and the young man stopped his car and picked up the bird and it flew away. I kind of caught all of this action through the garage window as I was pulling the mower out of the garage. When I finally reached the driveway, I see Max standing over the bird in our front lawn. So I told him no and he backed away, not that he wanted to but he does obey his commands. I made a couple of rounds with the mower and the bird just sat there and Max kept circling it. So, I decided to go in and grab my camera to see if I could snap a picture of Max drooling over this little bird. As I approached, it looked as if the bird was not injured, so I wondered if maybe it had broken a wing or something, why wouldn't it fly away? So I bent over to get a closer look. I guess that was a bad move as Max decided he needed to go in for the kill. Not sure if he thought he was protecting me, or he looked at it as his last chance at the bird. As I was yelling no and Max was trying to grab the bird, the bird took off in flight. I was so glad to see it hover for a few seconds before it took off. Thankfully, it must have only been stunned by it's accident with the car. I was just thankful I didn't see dog teeth pierce bird feathers. I also wonder if any of his bird friends are believing the story that he is telling at dinner tonight. Sure you were hit by a car, and a schnauzer sat and looked at you for ten minutes and then you flew off.

When it rains it pours

Well, we have gotten over 15 inches in 14 days here. I actually think it is more. We had an afternoon of sunshine, so I thought I would go out and mow at least the front lawn before we leave for our long weekend. It was pretty squishy and I left mud tracks across the lawn, so I finished the front saying there is no way I am doing the back. I was trimming the st augustine vines as I call them from the front curb and I turned the trimmer a bit and sucessfully sprayed myself. Enough of that I just came inside took my shower and am going to sit and relax.

Amish garden finished

 
Well, it is finally done! I had a lot of fun making it. It measures about 25 inches square. I had never done a curved binding before and it surely isn't perfect but I did learn alot doing it. My next project is a scrap quilt that I am making out of scraps I a have collected over the years. It will not be a quick project. I am using a pattern called a split nine patch. It consist of nine squares but half will be dark and half will be light. Therefore the squares on one diagonal will be formed by two triangles in order for that square to be half dark and half light. There are alot of configerations that can be done so I am not sure what the final look will be. So I guess I will be actually doing more design and I hope to add some kind of applique border, but the final design will have to dictate that. It should be fun, but I feel I will be working on it into next year.

Rose

 
This is a rose that was in our yard when we moved here. It is a tree rose that is called Sentimental. It was planted out front along the sidewalk, but was in bad shape and didn't look like it would survive another season. When we redid the front bed we had to move it since the landscaping blocks had to go right where it was planted. I moved it in a corner until I could find a more suitable place for it. It lived there all last summer and even produced two blossoms. Then in late summer I moved it to the bed outside our bedroom window. This spring it is covered with blooms. I guess it likes it's new home.