Happy Birthday My Little Guy

Today is my little guy's special day. Happy first birthday my little love. Oh I love you so.

Bright blue wide eyes, thank you for the joy you bring.

Finally... Signs of Spring

Spring definitely has taken its sweet time to arrive in the north country. The transition this year however seems a bit gentler and sweeter than most years. The air is still cool and its been breezy but the sun has been shining strong and bright, nearly all the snowy patches are gone (there are a few left in the shady corners of the yard but they aren't bothering anyone). The grass actually has a greenish hue to it. 

I've found a few signs of life in my garden...

~Day Lilly Buds~

~ Here Comes The Rhubarb Ethel! ~

(and I am going to make strawberry rhubarb pie this year)

~ And finally we can take the wagon for a walk 

down the road to see the sheep! ~

Hope your enjoying your Spring.

And Another!

Surround Yourself With Pleasant Things is the title. I pulled this group from my favorites. 

I love these items and hope you do too! 

Here's the link... Surround Yourself With Beautiful Things

My First Treasury

I had my poster sketch ready and on the advice of a Quiltsy team member I had already typed my title and copied it. 

I felt my palms sweating up a bit as the number of lists dropped.

My mantra: Don't refresh, Don't refresh. 

Then it hit 222. I moved my mouse around frantically looking for the box to paste my title in. What? Where is it? What have I done??? Reading closer ~ the number drops Below 222 ahhh..

Well I did it! My first treasury. Mostly from Quiltsy team members who are really just a great bunch of folks from all over that like to quilt and do it very well. (go search etsy ~ tags, titles, descriptions "Quiltsy Team" and you'll see what I mean!)

Click here to go on over and see it for yourself!

Confessions Of A Modern Day Quilter

I just love my digital camera. Remember the days of worrying about having enough film or even wondering if you got that precious shot and having to wait to develop to find out? ~ So over! 

I confess I have even used my digital camera to sort of cheat while quilting! After I made up the blocks for my string quilt I laid them out and rearranged until they were just where I wanted them to be (a different arrangement would make it look completely different).

Traditionally the next step for me would be to put a little piece of masking tape to each block and mark it according to row and block order (ie. A1 to denote first row, first block). You then take the blocks to the sewing machine and sew them up, hoping all the while you are holding them in the right direction!

This time I took a photo of the blocks in their desired layout. I then moved my machine to the kitchen counter so I could see my blocks that were laid out on the floor. (don't worry I cleaned it first!) I then sewed the rows together. There aren't many blocks in a row so it wasn't too taxing of a job to do while standing and I do take frequent breaks to chase the baby!

After I had my rows sewn together I moved my machine back to my sewing area (aka dining room table) and used the photo I had taken to put the rows together in the right order. 

Viola! The wonders of modern technology! 

Update!

Today I finished and listed my string quilt.  It was so much fun to make. I named it Crazy Kaleidoscope Quilt. It is now listed in my etsy shop. It is also featured in this lovely treasury thanks to a fellow Quiltsy member Kimbuktu! So glad to have the snow melted and the sun shining. I can now use the barn as a back drop to take photos. 

In other news my cat quilt has been sold. I am happy to say those kitties have gone to a wonderful home, their new owner is very happy to have them. 

Freecycle ~ use it and pass it around!

I like to think of myself as "earth friendly". When possible I do what I can to lessen my impact on our environment. There are so many ways to do this, start with use less, then reuse what you have, and finally repurpose by finding a new use for what you no longer need. 

A great way to get rid of unwanted items when you no longer want them without throwing them away is finding others that can use them. Freecycle is a yahoo group where people post items they want to giveaway or are looking for.

I've a tendency to hang onto things I no longer am using. Yesterday I found 2 wonderful people to take some things that I no longer am using. One fellow freecycler was looking for containers to put her seedlings that had outgrown their pods into. She picked up my 20 large yogurt containers (see I knew they were "too good" to throw away) which she said will be perfect. Another freecycler came and picked up 3 pregnancy books & old issues of Parenting magazine for someone who is expecting. 

To find a Freecycle group near you go to www.yahoo.com click on groups, then type freecycle. There are currently 10,828 freecycle groups worldwide! 

What are you doing to lessen your impact on the earth?