It is spring - even if it doesn't feel like it!

I thought I'd post a few photos of our backyard. We had a patio built for our hammock. We also had a firepit built. Joel and I spent most of the afternoon, yesterday, laying down landscaping fabric in the backyard around the firepit and along the back flowerbed. We will put bark over it. When that is completed the yard will be "done". Obviously there is plenty of room for flowers and bushes that will find their way home with me from the greenhouse in the months and years to come!

Signs of Spring

I went on a walking tour of my yard yesterday. The sun was shining, and it must have been close to 50 degrees. The sun felt so good shining down on my face! I actually found signs of life in the garden. The Delphiums were growing. They were up about an inch. The Silver mound was starting to show signs of growth. When I checked for signs of life on two of my roses, I was so happy to see that there were still some green stocks left on them. Just the top of the roses were frozen an ugly brown color. Spring is such a magical time.

I was looking through my gardening photos from last fall. Here are some of the last photos I took before the frost hit. The Zinnias and Sweet Peas were so beautiful! My sister, Joan, gave this Aster to me. It was georgeous.

Another Quilt

This quilt is the one that I originally bought the cute vintage fabrics for. As you can see, it didn't take many squares to make it. So I made the Vintage quilt. Then I STILL had more squares, and I made another one.
I seem to do that a lot. (I still have enough fabric for another tractor quilt) What can I say?!
Notice that my quilter put bunnies, butterflies, flowers and ducks in the quilting pattern.

Tractor Quilt for Crew (My new grandson)

I wanted to make a tractor quilt in honor of my son-in-law who is a farmer. The other quilts I made for his son weren't very masculine, so this is for Abe! (And Crew) My quilter sewed tractors into the quilting pattern. I really like her work.

Cross Stitch

I wanted to finish some projects that have been in the works. I don't even remember when I started this cross stitch. I know that I got the pattern while we still lived in Virginia, but I think I started this in about 1991. It is very detailed. It has tons on half, three-quarter, and quarter stitches. Then it is all very detailed in the backstitching. I'm so happy to have it done. Now I just need to frame it. I love all of the vibrant colors. I will hang it where I can enjoy it everyday.

Anne's new jumper

Anne wanted a new jumper to wear to the February Stake Dance. She chose this one. I lined the whole thing so she wouldn't have to wear a slip with it. I think next time I will just buy a new slip! It has 8 yards of fabric in it. I really like how it looks on her. The shoes are very cute. We found them for $5 at Wal-Mart.

Another Vintage quilt

I had enough squares left to make another Vintage quilt. I wanted to show a photo of the grid that you draw on the fabric. It shows you where to place each square. I pin each square in place, then sew all of the vertical lines. Then I turned the quilt and sewed all of the horizontal lines. If you have a desire to make this quilt you should try it. It was very satisfying to make.

If I can't garden, I'll create something else!

I thought I would share with you some of my recent "winter creations".

Quilts I made for baby Schank

This duck quilt was introduced to me by my sister, Valine. It is sooo cute! But it was a bear to make! I threw out the pattern when I finished it.
This minkie quilt is very soft.

Baby Schanks blessing clothes

I made this jumpsuit, hat, blanket and booties for my soon-to-be-born grandson. I can't wait to see him in them!

Dresses made for Tracy's grandbabies

I made these dresses for a wedding at the Rick's. They were much more challenging than they look.

Winter Projects

This is a quilt I made. It was fun.

More fountain photos

Camille sent these pictures of the fountain. I thought I would share.

Progress

Here are some photos of the gardens' progress through July. We haven't been home much this summer, but we managed to get quite a bit accomplished when we were here. Enjoy. I have!

Rock Fountain

We have been looking forward to having a rock fountain installed in our backyard landscape. When I was at my physical therapists I learned that her husband owned Cascade Landscape and Design in Ammon,Idaho, www.cascadelandscape.net. They helped us find the rock that we wanted. They drilled the hole through it and installed the water feature in our backyard. Joel and I had gathered rocks that we liked, and I placed those around the fountain. We are really pleased with it. We wanted something that kids can play on. It met all of our expectations.