More About the China Flower

I wanted to show more pictures of the china flower that Ron's sister, Evie, gave me for my birthday.  As I stated before, it was the creation of a lady in her gourd craft group.  The whole thing is so cleverly done - the copper pipe fits over an iron rebar so that you can put it in the ground anywhere, or in a pot as I have done.  Something to think about to do something with those orphan beautiful dishes that aren't Antiques Roadshow quality.  I love the ingenuity of people who can think outside the box.

Guarding the Nest or Just Posing?

There is a ledge in the brick above the patio door, and every year robins attempt to build nests there.  We have given up discouraging them, and one couple came back this year, adding to the nest that was already in the corner.  They come and go without being discouraged or afraid when we are on the patio.  (I think that they are less afraid of us than of the large numbers of predatory magpies that inhabit the long row of evergreen trees to the northeast.)  We've decided that this is the father, and he often stands guard somewhere near the nest.  Yesterday morning, in the drizzle, he was posing perched on the Earth Box, next to the flowering chives.  Nice pose!  Now, if we just can be lucky enough to be around when the babies fly away.  Last year, it was quite a show.  The last little chick teetered on the edge of the nest, finally took off, and took a loopy flight to the nearest evergreen tree, doing some real acrobatics to hang on to a limb.  Ah, spring!

Visitors and a Unique Birthday Gift

Ron's sister, Evie, and husband Dick were here over the weekend - they are always "good visiting".  Family is very special.  Evie brought me a very unusual birthday present.  A woman in her crafty group is making these special flowers from a plate, a white dessert bowl, and a clear tumbler - if my other flowers fail, then this one will keep blooming.  It is cleverly made, and will only need to be removed when frost comes in the fall.  Birthdays are special, and even though this one means that I am moving right along, it has been a good one.

Mother's Day Flowers

Nothing brightens up Mother's Day like flowers.  After church, we always receive flowers to plant in our yards or containers, so we have a living reminder of mothers.  There is something symbolic about receiving a living plant on this special day.  Anyway, thank you from the North Carolina Dorothy and Sara for sending these from your great distance.

Roses on Fabric

This was just for fun.  I have enjoyed taking the online quilting classes from a site called Craftsy (one sees their ads all over the place on the internet.)  This one was taught by Beth Ferrier, and involved a different way of doing applique, using pattern templates and glue, and then stitching onto the background and quilting.  There is a machine quilting suggestion that says a person should practice a little bit each day before doing the actual quilting.  I took a real shortcut on this one, so why you enlarge the picture, please do not look closely at the machine quilting.  Still like the colors, and the brightness of the whole piece.

Shamrock Time in May

Last year, our local quilt guild, The Preston Piecers, had a quilt block exchange every month.  A group of us agreed to make the same block each month, and then there was a drawing to see who would win the blocks.  One of the nicest things about the blocks, is that each one is signed by the quilter who made it, so I'll have reminders of these good quilting friends for a long time.  Try enlarging to see if you can see any of the names.  Although I'm certainly not Irish, I won the March drawing, and ended up with 15 shamrock blocks.  Nine went into this little table topper, and the remaining six will be divided into two table runners.  The leprechaun in the middle block came from a book of transfers that I have; he was enlarged and then colored with crayolas - (back to the fun of school.)  His gold coins didn't gleam enough, so I had to satin stitch them.  The neat thing about this quilt is that it is so seasonal, that I can finish a bunch of other quilts before I need to get this one done for next March.  Because there were some months when there were two sets of blocks, we ended up with an extra set of December blocks - a stocking.  I won the drawing for those blocks, so I'll have to get creative with them.

May Day Unusual Celebration

Life is full of lessons - I am aging, but there is always someone older than I;  I can't do as many activities as I used to, but a friend has to use a walker; we had about an inch of snow last night, but Denver had 12 inches.
We woke up to this scene this morning - the trees in bloom in the orchard must be shivering.  My lovely hyacinths are wearing a snowy cap, but we do know that at this time of year, the snow won't stick around long.  By the end of the week, I should be able to go outside and finish pruning the roses (which should have been done a couple of weeks ago.)  Spring really is coming - some time.