"In My Garden Quilt" and My "real" Garden

Here are the next blocks for my "In My Garden" quilt.

Block number three is my favorite so far. I love the colors in it. I'm just using scraps to throw this quilt together with but if I had thought about it in the beginning I would have used these colors throughout the whole thing. Oh well, maybe next time.

Block 4 seemed to take me forever to get all the stitching done but it's finished and looks cute in all the spring-y colors.
I already have block 5 done but I'll wait until I get the bonus block as well as 6 done before I show it.

Speaking of gardens, I finally got mine tilled up yesterday. Well actually I just watched as my husband and son tilled it up. First tilling - not planting for another week or two. It was a busy day! 

Friday we hauled in 3 loads of firewood to burn throughout the summer and fall in our little firepit. It all needed split so again hubby and sons worked their tails off to get it all split and stacked. ( I did help them stack it and no that's not all of it. It extends farther to the left than what my picture shows.) Needless to say we have plenty of wood. Probably enough to last us a couple summers. 
Well I'm off to spend the rest of my afternoon working on more quilt blocks.
Enjoy your weekend!

It's Fire Season

This is what the hillside at the top of my street looked like last weekend. 
What began as a small garbage burn turned into a much larger brush/forest fire. 
Here in West Virginia, fire season begins March 1st and continues through May 31st. 
No burning allowed until after 5 p.m. and it must be put out by 7 a.m. the next morning.
You'd think we'd be safe from forest fires with all the snow that we've had this year. However, there are plenty of dead leaves, trees and grasses that can ignite rather quickly. Add a little wind to that mix and you could have big trouble.

The fire department was called back a second time for a rekindle the same day. I saw at least 5 other departments from surrounding towns coming up our street to help put it out. Thankfully it didn't make it to any houses.
Five days later and after a rainy night the fire department was called back a third time to extinguish some brush that began smoldering again.
I think it's safe to say it's not worth burning right now. It's just too windy and there is too much dead foliage laying on the ground.

Fall Foliage

Just a few fall photos to share today.
Katie and I went to Grand Vue Park Friday afternoon so that she could play and of course I took my camera in hopes of finding some beautiful color along the way.

This first one is the view out my backdoor.

The park must have been getting ready for a haunted event of some sort as these were sitting along the edge of the parking lot.

A hillside dotted with orange.

One of the zip line towers surrounded by lots of colors.

I love the bright yellows on the left!

Katie-bug and the dolphin.

This looked like such a peaceful spot. If it wasn't so cold and windy up there it would make a great spot to just sit, relax and read a book.

I'm off to do a bit of work around the house and finish our schooling for the day. Have a great one!

Down by the River

It's been a while since I last posted or even read any blogs for that matter.
I seem to be in a "mood" lately.
One in which I could care less to get on the computer at all. 
I haven't even been sewing much lately and yet my days still seem full.
Oh well, the "mood" shall pass and I'll get back to my usual sooner or later!

Our ducky pictures were taken last week down by the river.
Katie finished her schooling up early and since the weather was nice we headed out. She played on the playground for a few minutes, watched a few boats on the river and then noticed this trio walking around.

She's never been around ducks before, up close and personal (I know, sheltered huh?) so she wanted to get close enough to touch one. Once they realized that we didn't have food they wanted no part of us.

However, I picked up one of the many fall leaves lying around on the ground and rubbed it up against a rock and you should have seen how quick they came quacking towards us again.

Katie continued with the leaf trick and they followed her everywhere. There are signs posted asking you not to feed the ducks but obviously people do. I'm sure when the heard the crinkling of the leaves they were hoping we had food for them.

Sorry little ducks...no food here!

But they still didn't wise up to the leaf trick. They continued to follow us in hopes of scoring a treat. We played with them for a good while until a car full of teenagers drove up, jumped out and started chasing them everywhere. 

After that, we headed back over to the park again. As I was standing there watching Katie I noticed this guy working at the top of the bridge. (same bridge pictured at beginning of post)

This bridge has been getting a new makeover for the past year and the project is almost finished. Look how high up this guy is working and can you imagine what the winds would feel like up there?
I don't know if I could work a job like that. I'd probably get up there and get sick as I'm not a big fan of heights.

Well that's all I have for today.
Hopefully my "mood" leaves soon and I get back into the blogging thing but for now I'm heading outdoors again.
It's too nice to sit inside.
Hope you're having a great day!

Fence Buddies~ Let the Digging Begin!

                                      (neighbors new dog) 

The neighbor got a new puppy from the pound a short time ago and it seems now, a whole month later, that the dogs have just realized that they had a pal on the other side of the fence.

                                                   (my Maggie)
It was so cute to watch these two try so hard to get through that fence. Cowboy (my big dog) on the other hand just had a few barks about it and then went and laid down.

I went back out to check on them a little later and this is what I found.

They had broken a small part of the fence off so I had to improvise with a large rock and a piece of firewood. That seems to have stopped my Maggie from digging but I can't say the same for the neighbors dog. It looks like he's got quite a few piles of bricks piled along his fence to deter the digging.

Oh the joys of having a new puppy!

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes & The Big Storm

Baked potatoes are one of my favorite sides to any meal but I dread having to turn the oven on to make them during the hot summer months. And yes, I know I can make them on the grill but I think it takes too long and I'm not a fan of microwaving potatoes. 


Picky aren't I ?


I simply wash the potatoes.
Prick them a few times with a fork or knife.
Spray a small sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray and then wrap the potato up in it.
Place wrapped potatoes in a crock pot. 
Add about 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the crock pot.
Place lid on and let cook on HIGH for at least 5-6 hours.
Now I have to tell you that in 5-6 hours they will be done however  I prefer to place mine in the crock pot and let them cook all day on High. (like about 8 hours)
They come out perfectly steamed!


~The Big Storm~

                                       storm clouds moving in


Thankfully we have power after the big storms that went through the other night. I tried to take a few pictures during the worst moments of it but it was impossible. There was so much dust and dirt swirling in the air that as soon as I opened the door to snap a picture I immediately had to shut my eyes. This was all I managed to get.

Doesn't look bad but trust me it was. There is only one other storm that I can remember being worse than this one.


No major damages here! We lost power only for a brief few minutes however my Mom & Dad (who live right across the street) as well as most of our town were without electric for the rest of that night and part of the next day. Lots of trees and power lines down all around.

                                 Broken tree limb in my parents' back yard


There are still many without power which makes it miserable in this high heat.
The chance for strong storms to come through our area is forecast again for Wednesday. I'm hoping for the rain but I can do without the heavy winds.
Hope you all are staying cool!

Encased In Ice

This is what we woke up to this morning.
A dusting of snow on top of a layer of ice.
It began snowing last night but by the time I went to bed you could here it changing over to little ice pellets. Needless to say everything is coated with ice.

We sprinkled a little salt on the sidewalks in hopes of breaking up the ice a bit before we tried to shovel.
It took a good while of chipping and shoveling to get it all cleared. 

We didn't leave the house all day so no need to clean off the vehicles. I'm not even sure I can get the doors opened. Maybe it will warm up tomorrow and make the job much easier.
After clearing the sidewalks I came in to get warm. 

I thought about stitching a bit

or grabbing my hook and thread

but instead decided to work a jigsaw puzzle.

We love puzzles so each winter when the winter blahs hit we set a table up in the living room and have a puzzle going that everyone is welcome to work on at any time.


So how's the weather in your neck of the woods and what is your favorite thing to do when the winter blahs (blues) hit?

Back in the 70's

                         me, my Grandmother (Mee-Mee) & my brother
In the past few months my kids have asked me several questions about my childhood so while I had some extra time yesterday I went over to Mom & Dad's to dig through some old photos. While I was digging I ran into an old bag that contained an assortment of newspaper clippings and recipes.

They were from the 70's!
And so were these styles!

                                  my brother and me
Don't you wish they still made pants and jackets like that?

I did find a few old recipes that I'd like to try and alot of funny photos of me and my brother as we were growing
up.     
                             Lots of great memories!

Hope you all are staying warm. No snow here yet but it's on it's way. Only calling for an inch so no biggie.
Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Playing with my New Camera

I've been wanting a new camera for a while now but really hated to spend the money. The camera that I've been using is a good quality camera (that actually belongs to my Dad) that still works but is very outdated. It still uses floppy disks which also seem to be outdated because it's getting harder and harder to find floppies available for sale.
Anyways, Santa (otherwise known as my hubby) put a new camera under the Christmas tree for me this year and I finally got some time today to mess with it a bit.
I love it!
The colors are so much brighter and I'm able to take a close-up easily without blurring it. It has so many settings and options that I will probably have to carry the manual around with me for the next year until I can memorize it all but so far I'm really liking it.
Here's a few more pics that I took today as I played with it.

This is the first project that I'm using my new punch needle kit on. It's a snowman freebie pattern from Bird Brain Designs.
The rest of the photos are taken outside on my porch. It was a nice warm (40's) and sunny day but the clouds started coming in just before sunset.

              ~looking north from my front porch~

            ~looking south at the approaching clouds~

Can't wait to try it out on something pretty outside like SNOW!