the end is in sight!

i threw this picture in just for fun; i found it again when i was going through my computer uploading my RSC pictures.

way back in the spring, when social distancing was in full force, a local photographer had this "virtual photo session" as a fund raiser for a local charity. the girls and i thought it would be fun to participate. we were all tickled with how it turned out: B (13), hubby Dave, me and A (14). even the cat, Millie and Walker the beagle are included. and believe it or not, it's a fairly accurate portrayal of our family. 

i missed posting in September (par for the course for me) so here's a bit of catch up on my RSC canoodling: 

4 yellow quilty stars blocks, my attempt at showcasing different yellows. and yes, the first one, cheddar yellow, does look quite a bit orange... 

i did show one of the August red stars in the proper month, but here's the rest of the red quilty stars. 

observant, (and regular?!) readers will notice that i had to switch the background fabric yet again for these guys. 

again, i tried to differentiate and showcase each of the different reds: red, maroon, rusty red and white reds. whenever i post these blocks on my Facebook page, they get alot of likes, so they do seem to be popular. 

 i'm nearly done with these quilty stars for RSC20- i'm just finishing up the brown, grey and black ones, so hopefully i'll be back soon to share the final installment... 

Instagram has been all aflutter with this year's #snowflakesewalong. i jumped in this year, and i'm pretty chuffed (been watching too many BBC shows and/or following British blogs/feeds...) at my snowflake- i used grey, aqua, navy, purple and black. 

i may pop back in to share that progress, too, soon. my snowflake quilt is already ironed and pin basted- nearly a personal record for me! in the meantime, be sure to click on over to Angela's blog on Saturday morning to see what everyone else is sewing for RSC20. 

the horse got out. i will shut the barn door now.

we had a very nice family gathering for July 4. just about the whole fam was there. and: all FIVE grandchildren! that makes any gathering, on any day, extra special! 

i started this crumb flag way back in April of 2018. (didn't actually post about it on the blog; had to look back at my RSC albums on Facebook) 

now that July 4th is over and done for 2020, i thought it would be the *perfect* time to finish this quilt. (but, in my defense, there are lots of patriotic holidays that it could be used/displayed for, right? Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4, Labor Day, Patriot Day, Veteran's Day... you get the idea.) 

and since i just finished a July 4thy quilt, why not start another?!

i recently bought an accuquilt Studio2 cutter. (not regretting that purchase at all, i might add...)

and had a brain storm to use up some hoarded fabric to make a rectangle quilt, much like the two by four quilts that seem to be pretty popular right now. i'm using the above die, after doing some "research" on Katy's blog to see which one she used. 

before inspiration hit with the RWB quilts, i made this quilt for our church sewing group, Scraps to Wraps, from fabric that i found in our sewing closet. lots of our quilts go overseas with MCC, but this one we'll keep for local donation. 

anyway, here's the (8) reds i pulled from my stash that i thought went well together. on a side note, one of the things i've learned from doing RSC for all these years, is that i really like to work with fabrics that are monochromatic. good to know, i guess...

and ages (and ages!) ago, i had purchased this star fabric, and the presidential/patriotic fabric, along with a pattern to make a quilt. the pattern obviously went by the wayside, but now i'm excited to start making this quilt. 

and just becuase my family mostly all dressed up so patriotically and coordinatedly, i'll share some more RWB pictures from our get-together. 

(you can't see the GIANT pile of fireworks stacked up at their feet...)

youngest daughter, B, with middle granddaughter, L.

D (oldest son), M (oldest child, oldest daughter) A (middle daughter, fifth child) and A. (M's daughter, youngest granddaughter) 

i guess i should also say: thanks, Old Navy! haha!

my twins, D & N. they'll be 30 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in September. they both have 1 daughter. it's so cute to see them with the other's little girl; they refer to each other as the counterfeit daddy.

on a side note... it really warms my heart and is so special to me that the grown children spend time with each other, separate from me. i feel it's important that they build adult relationships with each other. and A & B are always so happy to get together with their big brothers and the nieces and nephews. 

and A again, with L.

click on over to Angie's and see all the other colorful projects!

oh, almost forgot! here's another flag quilt that i made ages ago, and almost forgot about!

so you say you'd like to have some children?

Okay, but try this first!

*Go to bed, get all comfy and warm….have the fire alarm go off unpredictably all night. Repeat this every night for at least 17 years.

*Take a bucket full of vomit and dump it in the back seat of your car, on your couch, all over your carpets, splash it down the front of your clothes and then put a few drops in the toilette.

*Take another bucket of vomit and soak all the bedding, towels, your clothes, your neighbor’s clothes and the cat in it until you have enough laundry to fill the entire house and keep you washing until the the next round of vomit…which will occur right after you make up all the beds with clean sheets.

*Okay, now you’re going to need some urine….put it in a spray bottle and have fun.

*Grab a couple of puppies, set them loose in your living room…leave the house for a few days.They will simulate what a couple of kids can do to a room in a few minutes.

*Take a few of your precious collectibles and smash them to bits.

*Stain all your shirts with blood, paint, boogers…whatever is in the fridge.

*Cut a tiny hole in your curtains.

*Get a permanent marker…get to coloring! Walls, floors, furniture, the entire world is your canvas.

*Buy all the Lego’s you can find in the world along with Matchbox cars, Barbie shoes, hair bows, tiny socks, candy wrappers, McDonald’s french fries, Goldfish crackers, Crayons and crushed granola bars: mix up in a tub and freely sprinkle the contents in your vehicle, garage, yard, under your bed, in your bed, under the cushions of your couch and every corner in your house….make sure you stand over floor vents and drop handfuls.

*Have a friend hide your shoes, all of them. Wait until you’re ready to go to an important event to try to find them.

*Go on a long trip with a very loud and emotional person who will talk and cry and scream for the entire trip except for the quick nap they took right before you had to pull over to get gas…which caused them to wake up and be extremely irritable.

*When you stop to eat at a nice restaurant your travel companion tells you they forgot their shoes.

*Find a store to buy them some shoes.

*They will lose those shoes at some point during the trip and you will buy them three more pairs of shoes that are so ugly and cheap that you’re embarrassed to be with the person.

*They never lose the ugly shoes, they wear them everyday much to your dismay.

*Have someone call you to tell you they forgot their lunch at least three or four times a week.

*Put a sparkly unicorn sticker on the rear of your jeans and wear them in public all day.

*Take something sharp and scratch the crap out of your vehicle.

*Throw away three billion 5 dollar bills because that is what your children will need for this thing and that event and blah, blah, blah.

*Say the following every single day, “Put your shoes away. Pick up your jacket. Eat your dinner. Pick up your toys. Flush the toilette. Be nice to your brother. Stop talking. Listen to me. Be quiet. STOP! NO! We’ll see. Maybe. Go get your shoes. Find your shoes. Where are your shoes. Why? Go ask your father. STOP IT! I said NO! What did Mommy say?” add a please and thank you occasionally until you realize it’s just a waste of your breath.

*Load and unload the dishwasher at least three times a day.

*Buy enough groceries to last a month, take them home. Invite a teenager to come over and help himself to any food in the house.

*Go back to the grocery store…invite teenager….go back to the grocery store…invite teenager….

*Yell at a wall that it needs to get its room cleaned, wait for a response. Yell some more. Walk away defeated that the wall will never clean its room.

*Hope that the wall will move out of your house someday and have twenty of their own walls that never do anything you ask them to do.

If you can smile at the end of all of this…go start a family.

i don't claim to have written this funny (but too true) list. it was written by April, one of my favorite bloggers.

but if you think this was funny, wait till you read about her recipe to make sour cherry crumb pie!

I'm picking and picking, and canning and canning, and freezing and freezing, and still we can't keep up!

you'd think with 7 CSA boxes weekly, 4 pigs and numerous canning/freezing days a week we'd be able to keep up better.

but no.

so off to the hot kitchen i go again!

watching a miracle ~ up close!

even though I'm all grown up now, i sometimes want to dig up the seeds I've planted to see how they are coming along. (what are they doing down there, anyway?)

I'm sure that A and B are equally as curious.

this morning we did a quick little project so that they can see the miracle that happens every time we plant seeds.

first, i used a wide mouth pint jar, and some leftover cotton batting that i had from a quilt I'm working on. i rolled up the batting neatly, and put it into the jar.

after i soaking the batting with water, i helped the girls push bean seeds down inside the jar- abut 1 ½" down.

we put the lid on (just until they sprout) and set it on the kitchen windowsill.

B was proud to tell M what they had done. now, we'll all have to wait patiently!

because i want playing in the dirt to be as much fun as possible...

it's hard to believe, but this long, cold winter finally seems to be drawing to an end. and with the arrival of DST, we can enjoy the longer days in all our sleep deprived glory!

as usual, we feel as if we're running just a tad bit behind here, but now that we're "almost" over the hump of "finishing" the schoolroom and putting the house back to "normal", I've been concentrating my efforts outside.

*working in the high tunnel

*planting the cold frames with lettuce, spinach and radishes

*supervising the building of our raised beds

*hauling manure hither and yon

of course, the girls are eager and very willing to help. A is 3½ this year, and B is 2. both girls, but especially B, are too young to understand the concept of walking between the garden rows.

as opposed to smashing every delicate plant and seed in sight.

*ahem*

we were working in the high tunnel this afternoon, planting more lettuce, spinach and radishes, as well as beans and peas, and i had an idea. what if i clearly marked the rows where the girls could walk?

i took a roll of orange surveyor's tape and laid it down between the rows in the high tunnel, lining the rows where the girls could safely walk.


this simple idea greatly reduced the frustration level, and enables the girls to be in there working with me- whether planting, picking rocks, weeding, harvesting or watering.


happy little gardeners works for me!

can it be? is it really true? could spring be almost here?

A and i discovered these crocus's (crocusii?) in the flower bed yesterday.

we also noticed that the daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are waking up from their long (and cold!) winter's sleep.

better yet- the weather today was warm enough that both girls got on their boots and played with their boats in the duck puddle.

the ducks didn't seem to mind too much, and of course, both girls had lots of fun.

what are the early signs of spring where you live?

this is what memories are made of...

Florida.

February.

beach.


cold and rainy.

mittens and umbrellas.



seagulls.

oyster crackers.

more seagulls!

cold noses.

mobbing seagulls.

sand castles and happy smiles.

seashells for daddy.

heaps, loads and bucketfuls of love!

the weather isn't quite as warm as we were hoping, but the company is quite cozy!


papa loves his little girls, and they spend lots of time together.

nanny loves cardinals, and we brought their Christmas presents with us.

the girls have really been enjoying riding the trikes up and down the driveway. with our thermometer in PA lurking around 20 degrees, the 50 degrees here feels quite temperate!

the swing set is seeing quite a bit of use, as well. and on tonight's agenda: a picnic in the gazebo!