Hexie doll quilt and a UFO

linking to 
 http://sarahdidit.blogspot.com/#

I finished a lap quilt I have had ( for a very long time) pinned and ready to quilt and bind. The quilting part always put me off on bigger quilts.I decided to do it the same way I do my little quilts with a wavy line of stitches. I do not like a lot of quilting and this is kind of like free motion with out the loop de loops. I love doing the binding. The picture shows how scratched the sofa was.I gave it a cleaning today.Will do the 2nd coat tomorrow.Looks loads better.

 













I really enjoy making hexies. I finished a doll quilt last week.














 Our Ziva went to a new groomers .Donna's Grooming and Boarding.She has a face book page go visit. Very nice place.
She does a really great job and Ziva had no stress.A very good thing.She does NOT like her picture taken.Like our oldest daughter Ziva hides. Takes 2 of us to get her picture. Donna was surprised at the amount of hair she got off this 26 # pup.She looks so pretty with her new summer hair cut. Hope you have a great week. j

Decorating porch/Back garden

Link to

 http://www.tootsietime.com/2014/06/fertilizer-friday-flaunt-your-flowers_12.html

These are a few of the plants I saved from last year.

Good to have a small greenhouse.I did a bit of decorating on the front porch.

 The peonies are beautiful this year. I will be moving all the plants into one area of the north garden after they are done blooming.

I like the wild look in my gardens. Not manicured or matchy matchy. The back garden/pond area is a favorite. I planted my grandma Morton's roses back here 43 years ago.The blooms are short lived but I love them. The spider wort is beautiful this year. Ziva loves to sit on the footstool, under the window,and look out.

Grandma's roses

spider wort

hypertufa ball in the pond.

view out the east window

pond

The wild columbine is about done blooming.

Spring flowers 3 fountains.

Linking to   http://www.tootsietime.com/2014/05/fertilizer-friday-flaunt-your-flowers_29.html

This year the flowers are later than usual. They are beautiful.The spirea bush is the prettiest it has been for several years. The wild columbian has spread from one plant to several back by the pond. The maple is beautiful this year.The last 2 years frost did damage to it.The area under the little leaf linden  does not do well.The tree kills the grass out to the  edge of leaves.We put in the planter a few years ago hoping to get hosta to grow but they struggled.

 

 

II dug them out and we put down landscape cloth and white rock. The potted plants and rocks look much better.We tilled around the planter AGAIN and planted shade grass seed AGAIN in hopes of getting the grass to grow. I think we did not water enough and the tree just takes ever bit of rain water. We are going to continue to water into the summer to see if that helps.The old fashioned iris smell wonderful. The garlic is up under the flowering almond bush.




























 We have 3 fountains set up.One in front of the porch to the right of the spirea bush (West).
One in the south patio and one in the east patio. I love the sound of the water.We also have the spill way in the pond(north).The bamboo fountain in the copper boiler is outside the door(east) and it is so nice to hear when I am sitting in my chair stitching hexes.I will be adding plants to the copper bowler soon.

Last but not least.I planted my Christmas poinsettias in a pot with  ageratum. They were to pretty to throw away. It is a busy time here Time for my tomatoes and pepper plants to go into the garden.The corn ,green beans and potatoes are up and looking good. We have dug hosta and will be building a planter in their place for cucumbers to grow. We took out an apple tree and lost the shade. We will be replanting the hosta in shady areas. So much to do and of course it went from winter to hot humid weather (which I really do not like) Work needs to be done early in the mornings. That is ok then I have the rest of the day to stitch. Wow this was long Hope you have a great weekend. j

Hexie update.

 I have become hooked on making hexies.I started sewing them together using multicolored thread, and a decorative stitch on my machine. It takes about 3 hours to make the 17 hexies all hand sewn together, so I decided I would use the machine to put them together. Call me lazy. I know I should do it by hand but that part is not fun. Making them is the fun part. This is not a matchy matchy quilt. It is very scrappy. Using any fabric I have. There is some vintage feedsack fabric but most is quilters cotton. I am trying to get one block done a day.No design and I love it. j

The view from my chair

I love watching the birds out the back patio door.

 a crackle, a blue bunting, and a female and male  Orchard oriole .I had never seen the orchard orioles of the blue bunting before.A very nice surprise.The Crackle has amazing feathers.

The Orchard oriole differs from the Baltimore oriole in the color.The Baltimore is bright orange.The Orchard oriole is a burnt red color.

I had to cover the plants last night.Frost on the 15th of May in Iowa is not a good thing. Hope you have a great weekend.j

New family member

 This is Nemo. The new member to the family. He and his humans came for a visit over the weekend. He did not like Ziva one bit.Ziva tried to play but he was having none of that. He has his humans totally wrapped around his paw.I had never seen a bengal kitty.He can purr very loud and can growl and hiss very loud too. Funny kitty. His fur/hair is the softest I have ever felt.

 These are Nemo's humans.

We loaded up the van with a dresser,table and chairs,pet crate and a picnic basket. So glad they can use things we no longer need. It was good to see them. December was a long time ago. Have a great week. j