A Pretty Blooming Spring

No matter what you throw at it, 

Spring finds a way to add a little beauty to it.

A charred trunk gets a helping hand from an early wild flower 

One of the red buds gets helped along by one of our big bumbles.

I absolutely love these bees. They will fly right up to you,

hovering at head level, as if they are trying to determine 

what you are or what you are doing,  Once satisfied, off they go.

They will even move out of the way if I am weeding the flower bed

and then resume what they were doing once I have finished.

Others are not as patient but still have a job to do.

Wood sorrel blankets huge areas of the yard

along with dutchmen's breeches 

and wild phlox.

I'm not certain when I have seen so many May Apples either.

And red buds bursting with pinkish purple blooms bordering the woodland areas.

While all our storms and drenching rains have caused many difficulties

it has been a bonus for the plants.

A Surprise Comment!

I was so surprised to get a comment on my

Cats, Quilts and Wild Woodland Things blog.

I haven't updated this in a long time but

I think I need to get back to it, keeping

it separate from my other blog.

It made me realize that I don't have photos of

some of the finished projects so once again,

I will need to take inventory of what I still have.

I made this out of owl fabric for my daughter

(pictured on the left) who is crazy about owls. 

This table runner is made out of bee fabric.

My mircrowave bowl cover to protect my hands

or to nestle a nice cold bowl of ice cream in! 

The quilt I made for Mom.

One of the blocks in my BOM, still unfinished!

This is my Wickedly Red quilt that I keep on the bed.

It's an easy fat quarter pattern that you can

stack and wack and then mix up the pieces.

This is the center block of my BOM.

Mom's table runner.

Some silly Christmas fabric that is so pretty

and goes with the funky Santa!

This is Quilty, my winter snuggly quilt that I keep in the living room. 

It's a flurry charm pack with an uneven nine patch design.

I'll post more as I come across old photos and make new projects.

Hitting the Fabric Jackpot

It was sitting on my counter when I arrived home!

My box from Connecting Threads

full of yummy fabrics at pennies on the dollar.

I hit their Pink Sale for Valentines Day

plus a few of their clearance fabrics.

All this, 15 different fabrics,

with 14 of them at 1/2 yard and one is a full yard,

for a mere $29, fantastic in my book.

I made use of their Get5Back code that discounted

my order by $5.00, or enough to fully cover my shipping.

I also hit a half price sale just before Christmas

so now I have oodles of fabric to play with.

 You don't always get an entire collection when you wait

for their clearance sales but you can come up with some 

really fantastic deals, especially when they offer 

free shipping or a coupon code.

There are lots of free patterns/projects to choose from

and even a kit builder where you choose your fabric,

put in onto a pattern and they will make up a kit for you.

What fun!

What are your favorite On-Line fabric stores?

I  have a couple local quilt shops that I always purchase from

but when I can add to the stash at a great price, 

I will take advantage of the opportunity

and I know I can trust Connecting Threads.

Great customer service,

Ability to track your package,

fast regular delivery -and I don't expedite shipping.

Woodland Finds

Whatever could have caused this?

This is a solid rock with deep crevices in it, 

perhaps carved from water runoff over the years?

My husband and granddaughter say 

dinosaur print!

I think it's Big Foot !

Crazily enough, Google Earth used to report Big Foot sightings

and someone reported one right in our valley.

Personally, I think it was our hairy construction worker friend

scratching his back on a tree in the dark. LOL

Then, what's this?

A opossum paw print, perfectly made in the moss? 

What a shaggy tree-

one of our many shag bark hickory trees.

I wonder why the bark does this?

How about this tree root with rocks wedged inside.

Beautiful patterns.

Last but not least --

I really want to know what these two plants are.

It grows everywhere, even though snow,

so I am wondering if it would be a potential food source?

Any guesses?

The things you can find during a walk in the woods!

Woodland Cats

We took advantage between freezes,

Mother Nature's little hint of Spring

with a sunny Saturday-

just before the midnight icing.

I found some time to take a walk 

around the property to see what there was to see.

I spied some catnip, still growing beneath the rosebush.

Somebody was very happy about it!

See the little green leaf by Gimp's ear?

Gimps got her name when, as a kitten, she fell off the woodpile

and was gimpy for a few days.

It sort of stuck.

Spot came along for the walk.

He's the tough guy- loves the females but you'd better not be a tomcat!

Our other male keeps his distance.

Lizzie sleeping in her potato bin in the garage.

Rumbles wondering why I am taking a photo of her.

Specks

Currently, we have

1. Lizzie- Grey tabby.  Deaf and lives in the garage, hates other cats, loves people.
2. Rumbles- lives in a woodpile, gentle and tortoise shell colored.
3. Gimps- sweet, scared of everyone but me. Lives in the garage with Lizzie but keeps her distance.
4. Spot- black and white, thinks he is my baby but aggressive towards male cats
5. Specks- short for specter.  She is tortoise shell, loves people, drools on you when she's happy
6. Sugar Bear- male, tabby.  Loves my husband and I.  Husband can never remember the cat's name.  No photo, he doesn't care to have his picture taken.

None of them are inside cats.  After 30 years we are cat free indoors and it's helped my husband's migraines.  I can't have any more in the house but desperately want a kitty condo (I call it a cat house but get strange looks from people).  I want to try making one from pallets, but I need help with the tools--if some nice husband will help me make one!

Please?

Main Blog:

Moving On To The Past

Linking to Feline Friday

A Wild Turkey Sort of Day

It was a wild turkey sort of day.

No, not that Wild Turkey, the birds!

I sort of scared the little guys

as you can see from the flapping wings.

They mill about, 

hanging out with the chickens

and hoping to get a bit of grain here and there.

I've gotten pretty good at calling them

using a Baak, Baak noise, very clipped

almost like a pop.

I don't know if they think I'm a turkey,

or a chicken but either way

they seem interested.

Our chicks think it's ok too,

gives them something to look at.

We have two groups that visit:

One is all male, all gobblers.

The other group of about 13 or so is a mix.

They have a particular path.

They start over at the neighbor's place

walk across the street and down by the garden

then circle round the back of our house

and up to the chicks.

Then they either continue on through the brush piles

or wander downhill scratching around in the leaves.

Then, in Spring,

when a young turkey's fancy turns to love,

the guys go into a beautiful full display, 

dancing and strutting around the gals, 

gobbling here and there.

I hope to get some photos to share later in the year.

BOM Progress

This was copied from my 

Moving on to the Past blog

which is probably where it should be 

since it's quilt related- however- now it's on both.

Block of the Month- Amish with a Twist

using fabric from Marcus Brothers 

designed by Judie Rothermel.

This week it will be block 9 and maybe 10

depending on how my quilt shop structures it.

( quilt photo credit on Sew Susie Q site link.)

You pay for the pattern up front

then each month you get the fabric for that block free

and whichever installment of the pattern you are on

This one is broken down into several installments.

It's a basic quilt but I've never done a black quilt before.

Once we have completed the 12 main blocks 

you can choose to purchase the finishing kit

plus she is having an applique class for the border.

There will be an optional border if you don't like applique.

I'll see if I want to complete it or not when the time comes.

But for now, I'm just practicing blocks and meeting up with 

the quilters each month to see what everyone has made.

I see optional background fabrics on the Marcus Brothers BOM site 

that might be interesting plus an Amish with a Twist II

that is much more intricate.