Thursdays Thoughts

A day in town for Mr. Outdoors and I ...a very windy day!  Bringing in a storm from the west, always Thankful for the rain.  The price of gas is getting very scary...where oh where will it end?  They do it to us every year when the weather gets warm and we all start thinking about vacations.  We always spend our vacations in Colorado and I see where the brookies (trout) are running and it gets my fishing fever up.  HA!  We bought our tomato and pepper plants a couple days ago and Mr. Outdoors says the garden is ready to be worked and planted.  We will be planting 50 tomato plants and 10 various pepper plants.  And of course zucchini and cantaloupe, maybe some sweet corn....sounds yummy!  I hope the tomatoes do better than last year...we had 6 foot tall plants and no tomatoes to speak of, it was that way for everyone, just too danged hot.  But here again everyone and his dog are saying this will be the hottest summer ever because we had such a mild winter..so we will see.  I hope they are wrong!  I know one thing we have seen more snakes this spring than we ever have,  Mr. Outdoors was putting a new tank on our well the other day and saw a huge one...and when he says it was huge you can believe it was!  When he was mowing the yard he saw three of the dang things...yuck...I don't like snakes!  Here's  a trout picture from last year......can you tell i'm ready to fish?!  LOL

Fried pies

I made fried pies today....fried peach pies...I know I know...bad for you  ( does it help I used canola oil?) nope... I didn't think so.... but oh so good!  Just your favorite pie crust recipe, fav pie filling, cut circles, fold in half, fill, seal and fry. Mr. Outdoors liked em!

Grandmas quilt

These are two quilt blocks from a quilt my Grandmother made, we always called it the lady with the umbrella quilt. As the quilt became too worn for use the good blocks were divided up between my sisters and I. As a young girl I snuggled with this quilt a lot!  I hope to make a quilt from this pattern some day. Grandma also made pillow slips for me from this pattern when i married almost 47 years ago  I still have them, they are blue and soooo sweet.  Isn't it amazing what inspires us?  I can see Grandma sitting there working on her "handy work" as she always called it. Even in her 80's Grandmother belonged to a quilting club where every month they would go to a members home, spend the day and work on that persons quilt.  Can you imagine 10 ladies sitting around your quilt frame working on your quilt...wouldn't take long to get the job done! Back then it was called a "quilting bee".  Wee more yard work for me today and I have a spinach casserole on my mind, my sis made one last week and it was so good!  Have a Blessed and Terrific Tuesday!

Blue dishes

My Mother collected a lot of blue dishes, some transferwear and some not, I have added to the collection over the years and now call one of the upstairs bedrooms the "blue" room.  The chest of drawers and mirror belonged to my Grandmother and I can remember her always having her linens stored in the drawers.  All the crochet here was done by my Grandmother and the old time photo is of my Grandfathers family.  On the top of the chest is a small case which holds all my Grandfathers WW1 uniform buttons and insignias.  The doll was crocheted for me by a niece, she makes these with no pattern and is so very talented,  I love the curly auburn hair!

A perfect Saturday

 What a perfect day, the red birds have been singing to us all day.  Mrs. Redbird is more elusive than the Mr. and it's hard to get a picture of her.   Hung out our laundry and worked outside in the flower beds and yard doing lots of cleanup.  I have added some feather stitch to the leaves of the lily blocks...i know   i know...when will it end...LOL!  I love the Valdani pearl cotton...works up so nice!  Have a Blessed day.

Thankful for the rain.

We have had lots of rain this week, around 4 inches total I believe.  Everything is green and fresh and smells so sweet!  Last evening the sun came out and shone on the barn and I captured a picture of it in all it's glory.  If it ever dries up it is def. time to mow, we have 80 degrees coming next week so that should work out about right on the mowing. The red bud trees are almost blooming, as are the tulips and the iris are growing daily, can't wait for their sweet smell.  We are always so Thankful for the rain, fills up the ponds and our wells, you can never be Thankful enough for that!  I have hung the angel in the living room for now and she is so sweet. I am about to finish sewing all the "ruching" on the lily blocks, 10 yards total.... sewn by hand...... I have to say i will be glad when those 10 yards are done! LOL As we head into the weekend we have a funeral to go to today and Mr. Outdoors has a shopping  list for supplies he needs from town and I do too.  So it is a day in town for us and a beautiful weekend coming our way.

Estate sale finds

My sister and I went to an estate sale yesterday, pouring down rain but so worth it.  Found this lovely "winking" angel plaque which I love !  She was 25% off and cost $5.50...what a buy huh?!  When my sis saw her she said "that is so you"...could not resist! I collect carnival glass and i found these 6 sherbets for $9.00....how could you pass that up?!  This estate sale was in an older home and just filled to the brim with lots of treasures, we spent a great amount of time just digging thru lots and lots of boxes and drawers full of neat "stuff"!  I like that the prices were reasonable, some sales are just off the wall with their prices and I wind up not buying anything.  Today that sale is 50% off and Thursday is 75% off, sister is going back Thursday to get some more things she wanted, if they are still there, as for me i am happy with what I got and won't be going back...I mean really... my house can only hold so much ...right?  smile!

Red and white

Sister Linda gave me some red/white fabric and I can see adding some blue to this stash and a USA red/white/blue quilt coming from it.  So nice to have generous sisters!  Rainy Monday for Kansas today, at the farm we got around 1 1/2 inches so far.  I am still plugging away at my Lily blocks, decided to do some feather stitching on the leaves and I like the looks of it.  So many quilts so little time...LOL!

Sundays are special

 Sunday dinner at my sis' house, her magnolia tree is in bloom and just lovely.  There are lots of treasures at her house and i'm sure she lost count of how many quilts and dolls she has a long time ago.  Always good to spend time with my sisters. after the food is put away, dishes are done we sisters gather at the dining room table and work on our knitting, crochet and appliqué. Such a relaxing and fun day.

GrandmaR's quilt

Finished up Grandma R's quilt today...yea!!!  I cannot believe how heavy it is, she used a lot of dungaree pants so possibly that is why.  The blocks are all hand pieced (precious little stitches) and I added the borders and quilted  them.  I wound up tying the blocks as they are so fragile, i'm guessing she made this quilt in the 1950's and it is made entirely from her families clothing.  I will be mailing it on Monday next to my SIL as it is her quilt.  This is a quilt that should never be machine washed..so very fragile.

What is your inspiration....

Still working on my lily blocks and Grandma R's quilt.  We are having the nicest weather in this our early spring, 80 in the daytime and 60's at night.  And here it is Friday again!  The weeks just fly by!  Mr. Outdoors is busy on the farm he always has many projects and is in the process of working ground for spring planting.  Talked to Grandaughter last night and she always has the best stories to tell and gives me such a lift just to hear her sweet voice.  What is it they say...if we had know Grandchildren were this much fun we would have had them first!   LOL  The word of the day is inspiration...what is yours....something that gets your mind and emotions working.  Happy Friday!!!!!

Beautiful day!

Washed all the Roxannes out of the lily blocks, ready to start putting them together.  Always exciting to see how it all looks when the quilt top is assembled.  I am anxious to quilt this one, with the blocks being french linen i think they will quilt up very nicely.   A beautiful day in Kansas USA, 79 degrees, west breeze and everything is greening up so very nicely.  Actually wore flip flops and shorts today ahhhh love the warm weather!  Happy Wednesday!

1st snake of the season...yikes!

Best snake eliminator going...such a good cat!

Paper piecing

So.... having lots of scraps from the Carolina lily quilt I have been playing around with 1/2 inch hexagon paper piecing...what fun!  I can see where this will be a quilt in my future, maybe a doll quilt but still a quilt..right?  LOL

Grandmothers Flower Garden

This is my Grandmothers flower garden quilt, she was born in 1888 at Fondulac, Wisconsin.  Don't really have a way to know when she made this lovely quilt, wish I knew more about how to date fabric.  I love how she "fussy cut" many of the blocks and her quilting is impeccable.    The green border diamonds are nickel and dime size, very tiny, can't imagine in what order she put this together.  The green is of a color we don't see today and has minimal fading for a quilt this old.  Grandmother taught my sisters and I how to embroidery, crochet, tat and sew on her treadle machine..the oldest sister can tat I on the other hand have all but forgotten everything I knew about it.  I am so happy to have this quilt in our home and so enjoy looking upon it's beauty and  always gives me warm memories of the kindest woman I ever knew.

Birthday celebration

My sisters, niece and cousin and I all got together on Friday to celebrate my Aunt Violets 86th Birthday.  Auntie is the 3rd from the right, still has her natural hair color....no gray at 86 even!  Aunt Violet is my Mothers younger sister and we all love her dearly.  She is traveling next week to her granddaughters home  for a 3 week visit and still lives in and cares for her home with lots of family visiting and checking on her thru the week.  So great to visit with her, she always has a good story about back when she was a young girl with my Mom and the things they used to do and see.  It is a rainy cool Sunday in Kansas today but after today we will be in the 70's all week long, need to get in gear with my yard work!  My cold is going away, thank goodness for nose spray...I can breathe! LOL  Three quilts going at once around here, Grandaughters signature quilt from her wedding ( we need to decide on the colors) would love to have it done for their 1st anniversary on July 2nd. Grandma Ramseys' quilt in the frame ( tying the center and quilting the borders) and the Carolina lily quilt ready for the "ruching" to be sewn on the flower pots.  Mr. Outdoors and I had a day in town yesterday getting tractor parts, picking up shingles, visiting sister and brother-in-law, getting quilt fabric and a tasty lunch out...no cooking for this girl yesterday!  Retirement is such a joy, all those years and years of working and working lots of overtime have certainly made me appreciate being able to wake up without an alarm clock and pretty much being able to plan my day the way I want.  I am Thankful everyday for Mr. Outdoors and the love we share and the many the Blessing we have.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Been away for awhile.

Been absent for awhile, a cold has a hold of me and won't let go!  When my sis visited me in Colorado she shared it with me, hope it decides to leave SOON!  Part of Mr. Outdoors childhood includes chocolate gravy with biscuits.  Found the recipe the other day and will make this for him soon.  Photo from pinterest.  Sounds yummy doesn't it!  Happy friday! Every day is a Blessing.

Ruching the flower pots

I knew I wanted to add some element to the flower pots on the Carolina lily blocks, talked to my sis about it.  She came up with adding some" ruching", I love it!  Just what I was looking for!

Colorado to Kansas

 Made the drive yesterday from our Colorado home to our Kansas home, simply beautiful.  Going from 10,000 feet in the Colorado mountains to the plains of Kansas such a pretty drive and i never tire of it. The wheat fields are green with sunshine and a storm brewing across the plains to a beautiful Kansas sunset.  Thankful for all the beauty around us.  I try to never judge people by their appearance, when I stopped for gasoline the young man helping me had tattoos on both arms to the point of no actual skin showing, he had on neon green fingernail polish.  He was so nice and polite....you can't judge a book by it's cover...eh?