This and That

Fall is finally here (although the temperatures are still above normal) and another grandson has discovered how beautiful my mums are.

Here's a close up of the yarn my daugher spun for the Sweepstakes Prize at the Tulsa State Fair.  She told me that the "stuff" she started with was quite ugly and greasy. (I know "stuff" is not the correct word but I'm not a spinner so I don't remember the right terminology).  She used her spinning wheel to spin it into something beautiful.  She added metalic threads and tiny, shiny beads.

This is another piece she won a prize on.  It's a collar, shawl type of thing.  The next picture shows it opened up.

And here are the latest of my applique blocks.  Right now I'm working on the last two and then it's on to the border.

Early Summer

Since last I blogged I found out that Sew Neat in Joplin (that I visited just 3 weeks ago) was destroyed by the tornado.  I've heard that the owner is not going to try to build it back.  So sad.  My quilt guild (Green Country Quilters' Guild) has sent 40 small quilts over to help those in need in Joplin.  If you have a desire to make one, I'd be glad to get it there through our guild or other shops in the area that are helping.  Joplin is only an hour and a half from my home and is located in my home state of Missouri.

In other news:

My tennis elbow was a good excuse to get my daughter over here to do some weeding and planting for me.  (That, and the fact that I hate doing it and she doesn't mind).  She got a little help from the youngest member of the family.

He started out on the blanket....

....but that didn't last long.

There's something about dirt that attracts boys.

He likes rocks, too.  It comes from being the grandson of a geologist and a rock collector.

He'll be walking soon.

Recently we celebrated my second daughter's birthday.  Since it's so unusual to wrap a present in this family (in anything other than a Wal Mart bag) we thought we should get a picture of it.

Yes, I AM still sewing.  This is the next to the last border of my applique quilt.  The last one is almost done, too and soon I'll be putting it together.

In the meantime, I started the quilt that I'll use for my bedspread.  Nothing else matches since we painted the walls this past winter.  3 blocks done....78 to go.

The flowers are blooming...

These lilies are doing well.  The ones in the backyard are being eaten by a family of rabbits.

Somehow they managed to bloom anyway, even though they have hardly any leaves left.

This hydrangea survived the winter.  It's partner 2 feet away did not.  Sigh.

Skippy, our cat watches tv...

...for hours sometimes.  She changes positions from time to time and gets up for a snack and a bathroom break occasionally.

woops...more flowers.

My oldest grandson "graduated" from 5th grade and will go to a different school next year.  The second one finished kindergarten and tells me he'll be skipping 1st grade.  Since I don't have a picture of either, I thought I'd post a picture of my high school graduation some....years....ago.  Thanks to Jeff Neier for posting it on Facebook for all the world to see. 

April Showers

APRIL SHOWERS BRING:

May flowers



Irises--Love, love , love them!



Climatis.



Lettuce.  For now it's really good.  But, there's a rabbit in my yard and today he stripped my lily leaves.  The lettuce has been moved to the patio table.  Can rabbits climb?  If they can, he may meet an untimely death.

Peonies--my absolute favorite.  The smell is intoxicating.

Miniature roses.  I sent this rose to my Mom two years ago for her last Mother's Day on earth.  Now it resides in my garden.

Green onions.

This one was taken a couple of weeks ago when the creeping phlox was in full bloom.

April showers cause little boys to have to hunt their Easter eggs inside.  Thanks to Uncle Patrick, we're still finding hidden eggs!  Poor Uncle Aaron had a cold and spent the day hiding in his cave to keep from giving his cold to the little guys. 

Hope ya'll had a Happy Easter !

Fabric Collage

I finished my fabric collage and got it framed at Hobby Lobby.  I'm very pleased with the outcome.  It will hang in my "humility" room as my grandson Timothy calls it (utility room) and I'll get to look at it every time I do laundry...or go into the garage....or leave my house...or when I just want to go look at it.

My inspiration came from "Vertigo" by Kathy York in Quilting Arts Magazine --Feb/Mar 2009

Close Up:

Summer at the Marlers

I've been trying to keep up with my flower gardens and my "sharecropping" garden that I'm helping with out in the country. 

I haven't had a lot of time to quilt, but I'm working on a few small projects.  I'll have a bunch of pictures later.  I keep adding to my "feeder/ender" scrap blocks.

And this is a table quilt I made a few years ago.  I think it looks good with flowers from my garden.

And oh yeah!  There's the new baby in the family.  What grandmother would pass up an opportunity to show some more pictures of him.  He's so adorable.

And the rest of his family is pretty cute, too.

One more thing....In the midst of all this, Calista and I have managed to can 71 pints of dill pickles using my mom's recipe.  It's been a pickle factory around here.  We pickled the day before Wesley was born and 6 days after he was born.  Kinda reminds you of pioneer days, doesn't it?  LOL  Just so you know, Calista insisted on helping.  I didn't make her do it.  It's just that's she's a dill pickel fiend.  (As is her sister--guess what she's getting for Christmas! haha)

Is there anything more peaceful than this?

Goodbye for now...back to my crazy, busy life.

Last Week

We've been gone for a while...then it takes me a while to catch up around the house after I get back from a trip. We went to Missouri for our neice's wedding on the Current River near Eminence.

Then we spent the week at our Moms' houses going through and cleaning out their things. It's been almost a year since they both passed away. Here are my mom's irises blooming just like they were last year this time when she was alive.

And here are her peonies. They smell so good. My sister and I were able to go through everything in the house and separate it out into piles. I brought home a few things; she took some things home with her and my brother and sister-in-law took a few things. The rest will be sold. It was a hard and sad week for us all.
I took the quilt that I made for my brother and sister-in-law to them. They loved it. (see first picture)

While we were in the area in southern Missouri, I went to visit my dad's grave near Poplar Bluff. He is next to his parents near the land that my great, great grandparents homesteaded many years ago.


One of my dad's cousins still owns part of the land and the house where my grandpa was born.

We also visited the graves of my maternal grandparents near Doniphan, Missouri. We saw the church where my parents were married and where my mom went to grade school (the same building). We also saw the house where my mom lived as a very young child. My grandpa built it. It's still standing with a "no trespassing" sign in front of it.

Tim and I also helped with the picking out and ordering of tombstones for our moms' graves. So all in all, it was a very emotional week and we're glad to be home.