Everything is in bloom

I love geraniums.  I'm always looking for an unusual or different color, petal shape, or foliage shading.

They just make me happy.

 

I've bee working on a UFO.  Do you remember when Barbara Brackman did the Civil War Sampler Block of the Week?  It was 2010 or so.  I made a number of blocks and put them together with an appliquéd border and figured I was done.  The top has been sitting in the closet waiting for it's turn, and waiting, and waiting.  

I got it out to look at it and felt like it needed more.  So I'm making 36 more sampler blocks to go around the outside.  It's a fun finishing project because the blocks are 8" square and I get a couple made each day.  It's like a couple of finishes a day.    Wohoo!  I've got 21 blocks made so far.  That block at the top needs a different colored border.  The red is just too intense.

I got a root canal last week.  It was fine until it wasn't.  I was in a lot of pain and I had a slight fever so I had my husband go pick up the antibiotic prescription.  The pharmacist told him to tell me to drink lots of water.  Great!   It's been an interesting week

 

I went shopping for new carpeting Saturday.  The basement is finally all painted, the old carpet has been torn out and taken to the dump.  So, it's time to pick out a color.

Above are the colors that the first store I went to had to choose from.  Really?  I found two samples of color other than brown or gray.  I'm not a gray decorating person and I was hoping for something with a little more vitality than brown.  I don't know what I'm expecting but we'll go shopping again tomorrow and hopefully find something I like.

My youngest son's family came over Friday night for a short visit.  I don't know who had more fun, my son or the kids.   (Sorry the pictures are a little grainy).

I was out hunting for a new geranium plant and found this cute little flower.  It's an annual so I'll only have it for this summer but I'm anxious to see how it does.  The yellow is just so vibrant.

It is a Calibrachoa.  I've never tried to grow one so it's something to look forward to.

This geranium, the same one that is pictured at the top, has white buds that you can see on the outside of the blossom.  It is just so pretty.

"Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them. Sooner or later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums."         Beverly Nichols, Merry Hall

Robin

Two Weeks under the tree was his record.

 Well, it didn't exactly turn out like I could see in my minds eye. . . 

And it had a few make-overs as well a drastic designer revision.

(Imagine me whispering)  "I won't tell you or show you the mistakes."

 THE CHRISTMAS QUILT TOP FOR #3 SON IS COMPLETED~

TA DA!!!!

That's a lot of mid-day brightness.

Robin

Doings around here

 

Well, Easter is over and so I put all the decorations back in their boxes and took them down to the basement.  All except this little guy that I just got yesterday.  I needed to enjoy him for a few more days before he went into hibernation for a year.   My oldest daughter made him for me.  So cute!

We worked on a Wysocki puzzle this last week.  I bought this over a year ago but haven't been doing very many puzzles like I usually do and so it has languished in the puzzle closet.  It was a really fun puzzle to do because there is so much going on.  There isn't a lot of water or sky (or snow) to try and match similar colored pieces.  I just really enjoyed it.  I'll have to get another one out soon.

The apricot buds were starting to swell so my husband brought in a few branches.  

They bloomed in no time. 

 

I'm working on the Christmas quilt (still).  It just wasn't looking right and I came up with two reasons why.

1.  The stars were taking all the attention from the center.  The whole point of making the quilt was to have the focus on the little boy sleeping under the tree and that wasn't happening.

2.  I used white for the star backgrounds because I thought the background print of the center was white.  It's not!  It was just not right. 

So, I've spent a lot of time unpicking.

I decided to take a page from Laurie Simpson's book.  She often makes quilts with lots of applique framed by a really simple border.  Here are two examples;

Kato's Garden Quilt

and Hartfield.  I have wondered why she uses such simple borders and I figured it out.  It's so the center can grab the viewers attention, so the center can shine.

And so, with that in mind, I've put a simple surround to compliment the center.  And I used off white fabric - snow to be exact.

I put a 6" solid red border around it and called it good.  That was a week ago.  The quilt keeps whispering from the closet that it's not through with the stars yet.  So I've cut out an outside border of double stars.  

Only time will tell if it will look better or if I've got 28 more star blocks without a home. ~sigh

I thought I was going to have jury duty this month.  I sent in the questionnaire and haven't heard a word back.  Maybe I've reached the "too old" status.  When I watch courtroom dramas I seldom see a grey haired granny in the jury - ha!

Robin