What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Chester made a couple of appearances over the past couple of weeks. He doesn’t always stay around to get his picture taken, but this day he must have been really hungry as he was on the veranda trying to beg a treat.

I’m delighted when he stops by, and wish he’d come more often.

In the meadow, a couple of dozen robins came by and stayed a couple of days. We saw them many times, and then they moved on.

The photos had to be taken with the long lens on the camera from inside the house ...

I don't know where this month has gone. It's been filled with activity, not the least of which is keeping up with breadmaking from two different sourdough starters! What have I gotten myself into? Loaves are being gifted continually. I've branched out into English muffins, cinnamon buns and multi-grain breads too.Without a lot of words or explanation I'm going to catch up with a post 

I don't know where this month has gone. It's been filled with activity, not the least of which is keeping up with breadmaking from two different sourdough starters! What have I gotten myself into? Loaves are being gifted continually. I've branched out into English muffins, cinnamon buns and multi-grain breads too.Without a lot of words or explanation I'm going to catch up with a post 

It has been a warmer than usual winter so far, with a few cold days here and there. We usually have two snows in a winter, but there hasn’t been a single day of snow this year so far. It makes me concerned that we will get a late freeze that will damage the local apple crop. Anyway, the warming afternoons have woken up some bulbs. I first noticed these coming up around the dormant lemon tree that is in a pot. The pot was in the Carolina room to protect it from freezing. I actually don’t remember ...

I am thinking about my garden again, and my plants in the Carolina room are doing well. I cut off the amaryllis leaves a few weeks ago and put it out in the cold. I brought it inside last week, hoping for another bloom this year. It didn’t bloom last year, and if it doesn’t grow this year, it may be done. It bloomed for seven years in a row, so I do think I got good value from it.

The orchid is teasing me again. It has put out several air roots, and recently looks like it ...

This one, a block-of-the-month from 2015 that was known as "Creative Options", became a top last year when the blocks were released from their storage bin where they'd been languishing for six+ years. I used creative liberties in setting it together, mine looks nothing like the finished shop sample from almost seven years ago! I loaded it up on Snowbird and quilted it over the weekend. This is,

This one, a block-of-the-month from 2015 that was known as "Creative Options", became a top last year when the blocks were released from their storage bin where they'd been languishing for six+ years. I used creative liberties in setting it together, mine looks nothing like the finished shop sample from almost seven years ago! I loaded it up on Snowbird and quilted it over the weekend. This is,

 I received this as a Christmas gift from Greg and Julie.

It has been cold most of the week, rainy for the past couple of days, with just one warm day to go for a walk outside last Tuesday. We took more boxes of books to the sale site, then did a walk around the outside loop at Flat Rock Park. It was hard to find a spot to park that day, the warm day brought out a lot of folks to enjoy the trail. The loop is a one and a half mile walk, a good bit of exercise on flat ground. Back home, Oliver showed up on Friday after ...

This past week has been a lot of piddling around, and not finishing much. I’ve done a few embroidery motifs using the new cards purchased for my 20+ year old Brother Pacesetter machine. I showed this one last week, as it was stitching, here it is completed. I’ll add two more to this one for a three-panel wall hanging.

Several asked about the darling pattern that I have for this hand stitchery when I showed it before. It is a Stitcher’s Revolution iron on transfer. It is available on Amazon – Stitcher’s Revolution Ktichen Sayings. There are ...

Cold weather and snow days mean there is not much to do outside, but the garden still has growing going on. I have two garden spots to keep plants over the winter. One is in my kitchen, where I have the Thanksgiving cactus, the orchid, and my eight-year-old amaryllis. That is indeed a flower spike you see!

So exciting to have it bloom for the eighth year. It has five leaves, and is about 18 inches tall now.

My plants in the Carolina room on the back of the house are doing well, protected from the most extreme cold and ...

Two fun things in one weekend, we got a couple of inches of snow on Friday, just in time to hunker down for Wild Card Weekend. Before the snow came, a new visitor came to sample the handouts. Apparently, Oliver has a buddy. The second little guy has been here before, but not as consistently as Oliver. I can only tell them apart by where they choose to eat their treats. I know it isn’t Jack, as he always goes to the other side of the house to munch down his tidbit.

The new, yet unnamed, furry friend took ...

Even in December, there is something going on in the garden. The plants in the sunroom continue to do well, and I am hopeful that they survive the winter. Recently, I uncovered my amaryllis and brought it into the kitchen. I gave it some water, and hope it will wake up soon and produce another gorgeous flower. If it does, it will be the eighth year it has bloomed. It is green on the bulb, surely a good sign.

Dawn on a cold day in December, low clouds reflect the golden, early morning light. I love this time of day ...

The groundhog predicted an early spring for this year, and the flowers seem to agree.  All around our place the crocuses are popping up and showing their happy faces.  I just love this one, with the variegated purple petals and the intense color stamens.

The crocuses are planted around the iris in this bed for a longer show of color through the season.

The white ones are beautifully pure and undamaged by the last snow.

In the lower island in the driveway, another bouquet of crocus is flourishing.

Daffodils are budding, and just days away from opening up.

One flower ...

I am still operating with my guiding word for the year: "vision"; I have that, but time is FLYING already. It seems like I take one step forward and two back. Sigh. As promised in my last post, I am reporting on my progress. Here are all the scraps from my bin cut precisely and accurately into sizes that will play nicely together. This amount of work took me two days! So, as impressive as that

I am still operating with my guiding word for the year: "vision"; I have that, but time is FLYING already. It seems like I take one step forward and two back. Sigh. As promised in my last post, I am reporting on my progress. Here are all the scraps from my bin cut precisely and accurately into sizes that will play nicely together. This amount of work took me two days! So, as impressive as that

January in the garden is not really very colorful, but here and there we find some things to make us smile.  The geranium didn’t know it was winter when it bloomed in December.

And it still didn’t know in January, as it is still blooming.  I have high hopes of overwintering these again.  They are the same ones that I successfully kept alive over the winter last year.

I whacked off the parsley to harvest the last of it in October.  It is putting out new growth again, so I’ll have some fresh leaves for cooking over ...

There is always something going on in the garden, even in late November when the air is chilly.  We’ve had several dark and overcast days, lovely rainy days to stay inside to sew or stitch or read.  Then we get brilliantly sunny days that set the colors in the trees to light.  While most of the leaves are now gone on the deciduous trees, there are still some left to enjoy.  The birds are coming around a lot now too, so get ready for a long and picture heavy post.

It has been a couple of weeks since I ...

Autumn color is slow to develop this year, and it will be well into November before we can say we are seeing the peak.  Rain this past week should help some leaves stay on the trees, and freezing temps overnight may bring out some color before they all fall off.  At least I hope so.  Still, there are things to do in the garden before it gets into winter.

The hydrangeas continue to bloom, last week the shrub was covered in these pink and green blooms.

Here and there, a beautiful lavendar one will appear.

The dahlias are going crazy ...