Anniversary and tragedy...

What a mixed-up May this has been.

 

Just two weeks ago, we woke up to an unprecedented May snow.

Then Monday, I lost my 17-year-old best buddy, Butch.

 

Yesterday afternoon the weather was warm and sunny, and Mom's roses were blooming beautifully. She brought this rose with us from California (the peace rose in the foreground - the smaller pink blossoms are from a different plant). I believe she said that it was from a cutting from a rose that her mom owned. This rose bush fell over in the snow two weeks ago, but with some sun, a supporting pole, and some supporting words, it seems to have re-established itself.  





 

And this happy little rose bush was blooming up a storm.

 

And then, speaking of storms... I suppose many of you have heard about the deadly tornado that hit Moore, OK, last night. So far the authorities are reporting at least 24 dead, nine of them children from the school that received a direct hit. What heartbreak!

 

We were hit with 60-70 mph winds at my house last night along with some torrential rains and even some hail. I took the pictures of Mom's roses before the storm hit, so I doubt that there are any blossoms left on the bushes now. Mom drove over to Oklahoma City yesterday (a 3 1/2 hour drive) so that she can attend my niece's high school graduation today. She arrived in OKC to the sound of tornado sirens. Thankfully, my sister's home is far enough away from Moore that everyone in my family is safe. I have much to be thankful for.

 

With so much bad news, where's my silver lining? Well, I did mention an anniversary. Today is my husband's and my 25th wedding anniversary. Over the years we have planned many plans and dreamed many dreams about how we would spend this day. As it is, we are both at work - my husband giving final exams and me in the middle of my summer semester. Not quite what we had envisaged over the years.

 

However, we did sneak off for a quiet couple of days in Tulsa last weekend, where we visited some lovely gardens and shopped for new rings. I'll post the garden pictures later, when I'm in a more cheerful mood. I'm guessing that the beautiful flowers we saw just two days ago have probably all been destroyed by the storms of the last two nights. *Sigh*

 

But back to the silver lining... Would you like to see my anniversary gift? Good, because I'd love to show you! My husband and I were supposed to buy each other new wedding rings to celebrate our 25th, but I really like the wedding band that I'm wearing now. So instead, I got this lovely opal and diamond ring for my right hand. I just love the old-fashioned setting of this ring. The pave diamonds around the stones really flash in the light. And the white gold setting (which absolutely refused to photograph well, so I didn't include a photo) is an intricate filigree, with swirls and hearts underneath the stones. It looks very old-fashioned. *happy sigh* What a romantic gift, no? 

 

 

 

Oh, yes, and my husband got the new wedding band he wanted, but it won't be in for a few weeks. It's mixed white and yellow gold and had to be ordered in his size. It should come in in early June.

 

All around, a very confusing month -  a mix of happy excitement and heartbreaking loss.

 

 

I'm going to end with a gratuitous kitty photo - just to cheer me up. : )

 

 

I've decided that Callie is my Visa cat:  she's everywhere I want to be - on the quilt I need to bind, beside the sewing machine that I need to use... It's a good thing that the weather was so scary last night, because I sure wasn't going to get any sewing done with my little helper around! Love ya anyway, Callie!

 

Until later. Stay safe, everyone.

Debbi

Spring is here!

Yep, that's my sentiment exactly! The spring semester is finally over. Whew. I just want crow along with my roosters. Of course, I started a new semester today... : / But on to happier thoughts...

In an upcoming blog, I will introduce you to the newest member of the family - Teddy. I need to get a photo of him first.

So in the meantime... it's SPRING! Finally! Here's what's going on in my garden.

A flourishing of wild irises. My cultivated irises taste too good. The chickens eat them every time I get any planted. The wild iris don't seem to be as scrumptious. And they bloom longer and more prufusely, too.

A bit of petunia love for the humming birds. (I was dive bombed twice while planting this.)

Some bright and lively coreopsis.

A bit of pink stuff. (Yeah, well, I don't have to remember the names of everything, do I?)

Some cosmos. I love these happy little flowers. I prefer the full sized one, but I'm sticking to container plants this year, so these are just perfect. I boughts LOTS of them.

A little taste testing...

Yep, it's confirmed. Petunias are as tasty as they smell. : )

More petunias and some verbena.

I bought three different colors of African daisies. This is one of them. I'll show you the others in another post.

Well, that's all I have time for today. So from all of us here at the farm, from kitten...

to chicken, we wish you a good day. I'll post again very soon with some more photos, including some new blocks for my kit quilt.

See ya later,
Deb

The end is coming! The end is coming!

That's right. The end is coming. Next Friday, to be exact. Thank goodness! It can't come soon enough in my opinion.

No, no. No need to hide, Sinbad. Come on out of the cupboard. It's not the end of the world, silly. It's just the end of the semester.

I've been on my computer non-stop for the last month, but obviously not on my blog (sorry, Sis!). No, I've been getting ready for the end of one semester and the beginning of another. We finish with the spring semester on Friday, May 10, and begin the summer semester Monday, May 13. No rest for the wicked!

By the way, how is your weather? We're well into spring, but look what I woke up to this morning! Snow! The first snow in May in recorded history in my state.

 Above - My windshield from the outside.

My windshield from the inside.

 

 Now you see it...
 

Now you don't!
 

Mom's front yard.

 

I took this photo of grass seed heads last Sunday while out looking for morel mushrooms on a warm, sunny day.

 

Now I have snow petunias.

 

 And toasty warm kitties!

 

 

And if you promise not to tell my boss, I'll show you what else I was able to sneak in these last two weeks between grading papers. 



I made this block for my kit quilt.

 

 And this one.

 

And this one. I now have baker's dozen blocks finished. I need seven more before I can start with the sashing. I'm really liking it so far.

 

 I also managed to get the binding finished on this quilt.

 

 I still need to add a label, but then it's done! I like it!

 

 

And then there was this little project. Three weeks ago, my husband and I bought a new chick coop for the chicks. In came unassembled, of course. It rained every day for the first week, so we couldn't get out to build it. Two weeks ago, Mom came over, and she and I got this little baby together. We're the talented ones in the family with hammer and screw driver. Of course, it helped that this project was super simple to assemble. : )

 

 Isn't it cute? It has three access doors and a back hatch.

Peeking in the back hatch, we can see the two nest boxes. (At the bottom of the photo. You can see the divider in the bottom middle.) Later this season, when we have nesting hens, we'll put them in the coop to protect them and let the eggs hatch there. All we need is some straw to fluff up the nests.

 

 The chicks seem to have settled in quite nicely. Now the big chickens want their chance to get in!

 

And I'll end today's post with a preview of some upcoming photos. This was the Best of Show quilt at our local guild quilt show last month. It was made by around a dozen quilters (I forget how many exactly). They divided up a photo and each one made a section of it without showing it to the others. Then they sewed all the sections together.

 



 

The two photos below show some closer views. If you look closely, you can see the joins of the sections. The entire quilt is incredible. What a fun idea!

 

 

 

Oops. Two more photos - Below is my sweet, little baby quilt that won third place! Hurray! I finally got to mail it off to my new grand-niece. I got an e-mail yesterday saying that it had arrived safe and sound. Her mommy loved it. I'm so pleased. 

 

And lastly, Mom's second place win. An adorable baby quilt featuring baby bunnies. Congratulations again, Mom! Well deserved.

 

Next time I'll share some more photos from the show. There were some fabulous quilts there! And maybe I'll have another kit quilt block done...

 

Til then,

Debbi





Laryngitis

Who knew that losing one's voice could be accompanied by a loss of interest in talking with one's fingers as well? I was in the middle of a class lecture last Monday when my voice suddenly started to fail. I think it was caused by allergies, but I've heard that there's something going around that seems to be causing this in a lot of people. Anyway, I've been fairly silent until the last couple of days. I missed Tuesday through Friday of last week. I've rasped my way through this week so far. I'm hoping to get back to normal by next week. I think I will have to stay quiet this weekend, though, if I want that to happen.

The good news is that I managed to get a lot of sewing done while I was out. I couldn't move a lot without coughing, so I restricted myself to working on my owl quilt.

As you can see, poor Swirly Belly's left eye went on crooked, so I actually removed it and resewed it straighter. This is a photo before the repair. I haven't taken a "fixed" photo yet.

I also had to tear out the eggs from little Mama Owl's nest and redo them. They were very lumpy looking in my first attempt. This is a photo of the repaired owl. A little better anyway.

 

And following are the reasons for my allergy attack. We have been enjoying some much needed rain after this summer's drought. Unfortunately, blooming flowers bring pollen, even in the fall. Aren't they lovely, though?

We're expecting a major winter storm to hit this evening, and the temperature is supposed to drop from 81 to 49. Ugh! There go all of my lovely flowers! Our lows are supposed to hit the lower 30's, so my flowers are going to be frosted. I'll have to take in all of my indoor flowers that I still have outside.

And finally, my gratuitous kitty photo of Sinbad praying for a warm bed to sleep in when this cold weather hits. Isn't he a sweetheart? Don't worry, Sinbad. You can come cuddle with me.

Until later,

Debbi