Sweet Hyacinths and Neighborly Love

Spring coming to Preston at last brings these fragrant, beautiful hyacinths in bloom, and their existance is a story about kindness and service.  Last year, in early summer, I got the usual wonderful offers for bedding bulbs to be sent in the fall for late fall planting.  Of course, I assumed that I would be able to handle this, and enticed by the beautiful pictures, I ordered a good assortment of hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips.  What I didn't count on was being knocked out of commission for two months and more, unable to carry out the work of planting when the box arrived around the second week in October.  One of my neighbors, a young mother, came to see me, and asked the usual "Is there anything I can do for you?".  Instead of my usual response, "No, thanks", I told her about the box of bulbs and suggested that she take them home and plant them in her yard.  I didn't hear any more for a couple of days, but when Saturday came, the three young mothers who live in our cul-de-sac were outside cleaning out my four flower beds, and asking for instructions about where I wanted the bulbs planted, as well as how to plant them, because none of them had every planted bulbs before.  I could still demonstrate which side of the bulb goes up, and tell them about my plans.  Everything was done in the yard in a few hours, and I was totally amazed.  (Ah, youth!)  You can probably tell that we really love this cul-de-sac where we live.

Sara's Blooming Nine-Patch

The Blooming Nine-Patch was a challenging quilt for me - I think backwards, so there is lots of fun in putting it together.  The top picture really shows that I need to press more carefully before this quilt goes to the quilter.  The quilt is too big to go on the design wall, so the bottom crags on the floor and the sides overlap - but you can get the gist of the colors.  I loved the batiks that went into this quilt - We can find such beautiful fabrics today.  I feel like celebrating today to have this quilt this far along.  (As far as I'm concerned, pressing is drudge work, but it's very necessary before the quilter sees this.)  The quilt is for Sara - if she wants it?

Check This Out!

The internet was made for carefully exploration, and I've been doing just that this morning.  Since I am a member of the Utah Quilt Guild, I went to their web site,   http://www.utahquiltguild.org/.  (I know, you'll have to copy, cut, and paste that URL.)  Last fall, I had finished a quilt called "Grandmother's Garden" (Eleanor Burns' design), and so in between everything friends entered that quilt in the Utah Quilt Guild's Quiltfest show that was in St. George Utah.  Much to my delight and surprise, the quilt did place.  If you'll go to the above-named web site, you can go down on the left-hand side of the home page and click on gallery, choosing the show winners.  Just enjoy scrolling through the winners, and you'll find my second-place quilt!  Big deal for me and probably the only time I'll ever get that ambitious.  And, since I have not got any pansies in the yard yet, I include this block (probably put it on here before, but oh, well) for my share of the pansy parade.

Ramblings on a Sunday Morning in Preston

This is a "wish" picture - taken last year.  So far, these tulips on the south side of the house show lots of green, but nothing is blooming as yet.  We get very anxious for spring in this mountain valley.  Pictures of the flowers in Salt Lake that were shown during the last General Conference lets us know that, as usual, we are a few weeks behind, although just 100 miles to the north.

The whole family, with its assorted blogs have been doing zilch.  Did we all get tired at once?  Sunday mornings are quiet times at our house.  Ron leaves for meetings before 10, I have choir practice at 12, and then Church meetings beginning at 1-4.  Nothing unusual for those of our faith - Sunday is a busy (restful?) day, but the activities are different from the week days we have.  The longer I live, the more the weeks fly by - there are still so many things I want to do before I leave this world.  Right now, Judy, Ann, and I are getting ready to work on a joint project that we've discovered via the internet.  Who will finish first?  I'm betting on Ann, since I'm still working faithfully on the Blooming Nine-Patch for Sara, but I know that my project will be done by summer.  This morning, half of the quilt top is up on the design wall, so I just have another half to put together!  Then I will post it for all to see.