Is May really almost over?

I'm still waiting for spring.  The winds have been incessant, but I'll still take wind over gray, drizzly, wet days.  Our tanagers have mostly left, but then a hungry straggler showed up and has been feeding regularly on the oranges but also on seed. 

We got the wedding pictures disk--over 1,000 pictures!  There are some wonderful photos!  Way too many to post here.  But here are a couple.  Here's the myth buster to FLPs have FLKs--funny looking parents don't always have funny looking kids!  Everyone had a wonderful time.

  

Another one finished...

 Thanks to all that donated tops!  I was able to get another kitty quilt done.  This one is 30s kitties, and I just don't tire of all the different kitty quilts.  It's a good thing because I have one more to go.  This one is from Ellen.


I got brave and did some feathers on the borders.  I hope the kitties didn't create the feathery border mess from hunting!  ;-)

We noticed yesterday on our walk to the post office that the tanagers seem to be all over town.  And late yesterday we had a pair of scaled quail feeding.  We've had them come through our yard, but never hang around and eat.  I hope they start coming regularly. 

I spent the rest of the gorgeous day trying to put some order in the sewing room by cleaning out my scrap drawers, which of course created much more of a mess than it fixed.  Back to it today...  

Slow spring

Spring has sure been slow in coming here.  Nothing like this, although we had a late snow on Sunday, May 2nd that didn't stick.  Our birds apparently weren't aware of the lateness and have arrived mostly on schedule. 

We've been getting Western tanagers, hanging around more than in previous years.  They've found our oranges, and have been steady customers.  We have at least two really brightly colored males.  It helps add color to our yard since flowers are having a difficult time adjusting to the yo-yo temperatures.

It's cool out there today, and there is rain in the forecast.  We could use the moisture.  I am quite ready for some warm sunny days though.
 

Ahhh (sigh of relief)!

It's been a very busy couple of months.  It started in March with the arrival of Cybelle.  She's a wonderful guest and we have a good time together.  Then in the beginning of April my dad arrived.  Then there was the wedding, getting Cybelle and my dad off to visit other people, and it all ended yesterday with dropping my dad off for his trip back to Brazil.  And so our house is quiet and back to normal.  
 
I finished some quilts this past week, finally getting to the pile of donation quilts that Pat and I have gotten.  This first one is a great oriental themed quilt which will, I'm sure, become a favorite of some teenager.  Thanks Judy H!  

This next one is one of our favorites, a kitty quilt.  Pat had a wealth of these blocks, and then got even more from Sue, another about.com quilting forum member.  I have a couple more kitty quilt tops to quilt yet.  


I also signed up for a class, Impressionist Portrait, but of course with everything else going on, haven't done much of anything except get an 11X14 print to use.  Yesterday I picked up a teflon mat and some tracing paper which I needed to begin working on this in earnest.  We'll see what becomes of it.

Where is spring?

When we lived in Tucumcari, it would sort of instantly go from winter to summer in a matter of days, windy days, and the temperatures would be too hot for me.  I love it here where it cools down at night, and we seldom have to use the air conditioner.  But yesterday it snowed!  This is a late snow for sure, and of course none of it stuck, and it's good moisture, but I'm ready to enjoy some sunshine.  We've had lots of windy days, and cooler temps after a brief hint of spring.  I'm hoping the peach blossoms survived, and that we will have fruit. 

The week in Colorado ended with some of this same weather.  There was snow on the ground when we left a week ago, but was warm and sunny here when we arrived home.

Here is the finished KING quilt.  It certainly was a monster to make.  I'm not sure I loved working with homespuns, but I'm going to make a lap quilt with leftover fabric that they can use when napping.

This little rascal kept me busy at their house, enough so that I didn't gain any weight over the week there, despite eating like I was on vacation. 

I was able to coax some scaled quail to come and eat outside the kid's house with crumbs I scattered.  They are such cute birds, but disappear in the brush so easily.  I was able to get a picture, though not very well focused, and through the window.    

Beautiful wedding

Our daughter's wedding was wonderful.  She looked beautiful, as generally all brides do.  It was a couple of late nights for us.  We left Friday morning early on our drive up to Colorado.  We had great weather and arrived in the early afternoon.  The rehearsal dinner was that night.  We rehearsed minus younger daughter who couldn't leave Albuquerque until after 1 p.m.  She made it for the dinner, and there was really not too much to rehearse.  My big part was to stand after the flower girls which signaled Dale to start walking Jackie down the aisle.  I had to dig my nail into another finger to keep from bawling!

I have few pictures, but they aren't great and I am working on my laptop, and so not able to edit well for red eye, etc.  Rosie used my camera since I was more into the experience rather than photographing, and the official photographer took hundreds of photos.  He went to the rehearsal, the hairdresser, the getting ready.  I'm sure there will be lots of wonderful photos.  (I told him I believed in retouching!)  I liked this one Rosie caught of Dale dancing with Jackie.  They were up to mischief!

Lindsay and Geoff looked great.  She is more like her mother, and less likely to dress up.  We all clean up well!  On the left you can see the quilt I made for Jackie & Justin.  I managed to get the quilting done Thursday night before we left, and trimmed it.  I have since finished the binding--I hand stitched it down, which is rare for me.  Thankfully my thumb surgeries have been successful, and I managed to finish it without pain from the hand stitching.


We are now spending a quiet week taking care of the house and puppy while the kids are on their honeymoon.  More pictures after I get back home.

 

Peach blossoms

Our peach tree blossomed out and looks beautiful.  This is an early morning shot with the sun coming through a bit of fog.  I'm hoping the blossoms don't get a late frost, spoiling the possibility of fruit.  The apricots blossomed much earlier and lost a lot of the blossoms, but had enough to put on a second flowering.  We've never gotten usable apricots.

 Of course my chronic procrastination led me to be working all this week on Jackie's quilt, a king quilt 120 inches square! 

Super socks

I picked up my knitting again, and finished these socks.  I actually had very little left to do, just the toe decreases, but since my surgery I had been out of the mood to knit, read, or sew.  Well, these socks are finished, and true to their label, they are super wash, and survived the washer (cold water) and dryer without shrinkage or felting.  I have since started a new pair of socks with Kaffe Fassett's Regia yarn.  The colors are beautiful, and the yarn comes with a 10 year guarantee! 

On the quilting front, I have only seven blocks left to piece on Jackie's wedding quilt which is less than two weeks away!  Didn't get out to the sewing room today, but I should be able to finish the piecing in a few more days, put a top together, and get it quilted in time for the wedding.  I work best under pressure!?  I am a master at procrastination.  Of course I would feel like knitting when I should be sewing!   

Disappointed!

I finished up this little quilt that Pat put together.  First one I've quilted on the longarm in a long while.  As I was doing the binding, I found a spot in the backing.  Looked like a tear or flaw in the fabric.  On closer inspection, I found two more similar spots.

What a bummer, and now I need to be more careful about picking backings!  Since the quilt theme is three little kittens who lost their mittens, I thought some mitten appliques would look okay on the back.  

Pat has offered to make the needed repairs, while reminding me that I really need to get back to working on Jackie's quilt!  Only three weeks until the wedding.  Yikes!  I do work best under pressure though!

Total Knee Card

Two friends had total knee replacements and I made them fabric postcards.  I thought I should make one for the doctor at the VA that did my total knee replacement.  I made one for the hand surgeon that worked on my thumbs, even after my ordeal with a post-op infection last summer.

 

Recovery is going well.  It's a lot of work regaining strength in that leg.  Tomorrow I get the stitches, staples, and steri-strips out.  I think my doctor is a belt and suspenders kind of guy!  It was good to spend some time in the sewing room.  Of course, it is in complete disarray again as only postcard making can accomplish.  I need to get back to work on Jackie's king size quilt...April 17 is not too far away.