Look what I started!!

Hubby and I went to the local hardware store. He needed some wood/screws/putty etc, and I decided to shop. Well, I purchased a new bird feeder, but put the shepard's hook off to next week, because the clerk told me it would be half price.

:-)

Then I found a finch sock. I've never seen one of these before, but it contains a lot of niger seeds which I new my mom had in feeders for finches. This sock also contains red millet and sunflower chips. It is a little mesh bag, with very tiny holes, filled with seed.

I put the sock up on the string I had for a humming bird feeder, turned around, and had some type of little bird. I'm not kidding, in less than a minutes, the little sock looked like this:

OH, you want to know why the background of my pictures is so fuzzy?? Well yesterday I showed you tulips and daffodils. Today we have snow. Twice now it has covered the yard, then melted off. And it is in the process of covering the yard for the third time. It is true here - if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes. About an hour ago (after the first two occurrences of snow covering the ground today), it was blue sky and sunshine. Now it is grey and snowing. It looks like winter, not spring.

One Project FINISHED!

Finally I have a finish to show you.... OK, it is NOT anything to do with quilting, but I did use my sewing machine. I have made 12 of these patches, and you see three of them below. The two not on the shooting pouches have just been glued on, and they will be dry tomorrow morning. That will make all twelve finished! Oh, what is SCTP? It stands for Scholastic Clay Target Program. It is a program sponsored by Game and Fish (in Arizona), but is a National Program. Youth are taught proper handling of shotguns, and compete in Trap, Skeet, and Sporting Clays. State Champions go to National. The first year of this program in Arizona, my husband coached some of the youth that went to National, and one placed 1st in trap in the nation. What an honor.

Anyway, these are the pouches the Williams Bird Busters youth will use to hold their boxes of shot gun shells. I really hope they like them.

Next is a picture of my raised garden box my hubby constructed. It is 4 ft by 10 ft, and 18 inches high. This picture is before I planted anything, but I now have tomatoes and cabbage in the frame. The new plants have either "wall of water" around them, or I have sheet plastic over the top to prevent freezing at night It is again going to be getting "cold", and maybe some more snow. I may have to put a light under the plastic to keep them warm.

And talking about snow - we did have a storm last week. No, the bushes below are not flowering, that is snow stuck all over them. I actually was driving in my car, and drove around the block to come back and take this picture.

But now some real spring pictures: This is one of my daffodil bulbs.

And a few more of my daffodils, and that little plant on the right is actually an iris. I thought it was dead, but obviously I was wrong. I have a second of these iris plants, but don't see any sign of life from it yet. But I still have my fingers crossed.

Yes, I know I seem a little obsessed with my tulips and daffodils, but this is the first year I have ever had any. And I love them!! Below is the first buds on the crab apple we planted last fall. they are getting bigger, and I'll take another picture after the tree looks like it has leaves. (LOL)

And below are the first leaves appearing on the wild rose plants I transplanted last fall. I understand that these will multiply by runners, and I'm hoping I get a few more of these. The plants will have small pink flowers when they bloom. I hope I get some blooms this year! (I hope they get big enough I can call them bushes! LOL)

OK, a few more tulip pictures: I showed you this before, but there were fewer flowers, and now I have added 6 other little plants. You can see three of them on the left, and the other three are on the right, just out of the picture. I can't remember what they are called, but they should spread and fill the area. So the tulips will appear first each year, and then the other plants. I'm going to get some more of these plants, when the nursery has smaller pots ready to be transplanted. I'll show you more pictures when these new plants have flowers.

And this is my last picture today. Of course it is another tulip. This is a group out front, and is one of 12 bulbs that were supporting raising funds for breast cancer. I love the two tone petals, and that they are pointed. This is the first flower, and I think I will have more in the next few days, if we don't get weather that kills them all. (Our wind has blown all day today. Max speed was 43 mph, and maybe snow tomorrow??? Ugg!)

Oh, I have started working on a quilt that will be a gift for my secret sister. It is more of an arty quilt. I'll show it when I get a little more done.

Leave me a comment so I know you were here. What projects have you been working on??

Orchid Update....

Wow, just checking and it was April 3rd when I last showed you my oldest orchid that was sending up a new bloom... So 2 weeks later it has finally opened enough to show you the flower.

This first picture is shows all three orchids. The new bloom is the dark purple one, and the branch of pink orchids is actually closer to the camera lens than the purple. If I remember right, the purple will turn it's face a little more upward so you can see it better. But I couldn't wait to show you.

So with a little help (me tipping the orchid back), here is a direct view of the face of the flower. Isn't it just gorgeous? I think so! The deep purple in the lower center is bucket shaped. And to me, it looks like fluid may run from the center of the flower down into the bucket. Now I can remember why I picked this as my first orchid. I always have liked the unusual!

OK, just a quick look at some of my tulips. I actually have bulbs in three different areas. One area is now flowering. This is just a little patch of dirt beside the driveway where our gas meter is. Yes, I definitely need something else in this area, but the flowers are so pretty, I just wanted to share... My rows are too far apart, so maybe a few of the bulbs I have in the house will go in the empty spots.

The little tulip in the top left corner is such a pretty color, I took a close up of it. The one in the back beside it will be the same color when it opens.

And this is a group of tulips along the back fence. I can't wait till their flowers appear!

Have a great day. I hope you are enjoying the spring flowers too.

Voting...

I hope you are voting for the Williams Recreation Center... We are moving up in the voting, but I'm afraid it isn't fast enough. Please remember to vote everyday (log in before you vote or it won't count!!) There is a link to the voting site on the top right of my blog.

Thanks so much!

You don't see this very often; Or Flying Bell Tower

There are many other things I should blog about, but I just need to share our "fun" this afternoon. The church I attend is over 100 years old. The bell tower has been leaning more and more over the last several years. The culprit? A foundation that is failing. They didn't use to build things the way we do today. The foundation was repaired once before, but sadly is in need of more care.

The plan - Remove the entire bell tower, rebuild the structure that is dry-rot, etc; put in a completely new foundation, and replace the refurbished bell tower. "What" you say... Replace??? Yep, they took the top off of the bell tower today. Here are the pictures...

First you can see the crane, and the straps that will be picking up the tower. They are getting ready to put the straps in place, on the ends of the large boards sticking out the sides of the tower. Besides the guy on the cherry picker, there is a guy in the open frame work below the boards that are sticking out. (There used to be more brown shakes on that part.)

Below, the straps are now connected, and the crane begins it lift of the top of the bell tower.

Will it lift?

Will it come down in one piece??

Yes, the church members that were there, gave a quick group prayer.

And the picture that you are waiting for...

IT FLIES!!

And it is down. Safely. Amen.

You can't really tell from the pictures I have posted, but the "top" that was removed is about 25 foot tall. Below is a picture of the real bell in the tower. (No, it is not a speaker with a recording!) And yes, we ring it just before service every Sunday.

OK, I couldn't resist loading one more picture to show you how big the top of the bell tower is. I should also let you know that the crane operator told us it weighed 4200 pounds!!


In this picture is the contractor and his helper, the pastor, the town mayor, and my hubby - chairman of the trustee committee (this is not the order they are standing in - LOL). (oh, and the back of the "official photographer!" Anyway, this gives you a little more perspective on the size of the tower.

I hope you enjoyed the process of removing the top of the bell tower. We sure enjoyed the day, and are very thankful that the top came down safely!

Plans...

I'm thinking I should start posting every month the quilty things I want to get done. I'm already at the 9th of this month, but it probably is better to start now than wait until the beginning of next month. So here goes:

1. I've been trying to get a stock-pile of things to quilt, so I can take the machine I use for piecing in to get it serviced. At this point, I think all I have left is to finish the borders on my 2007 Block of the Month from Odegaards. The first border is on, so just 2 more borders to cut and sew. Then I can start quilting on my little stock pile.

2, 3, and 4. I have three quilts from my charity quilt group that I said I would quilt. We normally tie all the quilts (I guess they are really comforters then, aren't they!) Anyway, I have three of these to get quilted.

5 and 6. The batik table runner and table/candle mat need to be quilted

7. The wedding ring table runner needs to be quilted. It would be really good if I could get this done by Monday, as I started this in my neighborhood group, and I'd like to take it finish to our meeting on Monday. But not sure that can happen if I stick to my plan to finish the borders on the BOM first.

8. Quilt the 2007 BOM. This is a queen size quilt, so it will take a while. But, boy, will it feel good to get this quilt finished!!

I guess I should have 2 more items to make an even ten. I don't think I will plan on having ten each month, but....

9. I almost forgot that I also have a table topper to quilt. It is blue and rose colored, with roses in the fabric design.

10. I also want to start cutting out the pieces for the pieced sashing on the 2009/2010 BOM. Once the pieces are cut, I can start sewing them together. BUT I will wait for the sewing of these until my machine is back from being serviced. Otherwise I will never get it in (for service). But if I get tired of quilting, I can do some cutting!

So that makes 10 items to do the rest of this month. I won't beat myself up if I don't finish all 10, but it is nice to have a priority list to work from, and it will be nice to finish some of these up. (And bonus.... numbers 5, 6, and 7 are pillowcase style, so they won't need binding after quilting. They will be "done done" after I make labels for them!!

OK, I know you are saying "why can't you get the borders on, and get the wedding ring quilted by Monday. Well, I'm having fun tomorrow (see below) and then church on Sunday. And I need to get plastic lining the wood box hubby has made to be used as a raised garden. We think it will be better to line the sides with plastic, to keep some of the moisture off the wood sides. The bottom will be open.

So at the end of April, if I don't report right away what I've got accomplished, please keep me honest, and remind me to post where I'm at!!

OH, and the fun planned for tomorrow - I'm going with my friend Judy to the quilt show in Prescott. We leave here about 9am. I'll take my camera, and see if they will let me take pictures.
Have a great night.

Tulips, garden starts, and Quilt Blocks

It's been fun to watch the tulips grow in the house. I wanted to show you the orange-yellow one when it was open. I just love this color.


My garden starts (tomatoes and cabbage are below. The tomatoes look like they are doing great, but my cabbage is a little sad. They have had a "greenhouse" lid over the top, but I've pulled that off for now. I learned a lesson in that one of the tomatoes and three of the cabbage seeds did not germinate, so I planted a couple more seeds in those "pots". My lesson is that I need to plant more than one seed and then thin, even in the house. (yes, I know, DUH!!). You might have trouble seeing them, but there is a little tomato and two small cabbage plants that have come up. This is an experiment this year, so we will see if we get anything to eat from all of this....


And last I want to show you this year's block of the month progress. I just finished the April block, and put the 7 finished blocks up on my design wall, in order. (the bottom left is the new block. These really aren't my colors, but it is growing on me. This is a Marti Mitchell template quilt, and I think the templates really do help with the accuracy!!

And if you are helping us with the recreation center votes on the Pepsi refresh site, please remember to keep voting. You can vote once a day. and log in before you vote, or your vote does not register. (Yep, I discovered this myself!!)

Water Falls and Wedding Rings

The Wedding Rings that I want to show you is my latest quilt project. But first I want to show you where we went on Easter afternoon. First you need to know that most of the snow in our area has melted, but we still have spots of snow all over. The drift in my back yard is now only a couple feet high, but it is that last of the snow in my yard. When the snow melts around here, it flows into little streams, and then into larger streams.

While at church Easter morning we talked with some friends that had gone to a small church to do some mission work - repairs, painting, etc. During their break, they went to see the waterfall created by snow melt runoff. This waterfall is on Indian Reservation land, and generally lasts for only a few weeks. It is only about an hour from home, so we wanted to go see the falls while they were still flowing. After the last ten miles (on dirt road) we came to the river. It was pretty wide, and flowing right along. You can see little "falls" that were about a foot drop each. On the far shore, on the top of the hill, is a building. Not sure if it is a house, or some other ranch building.

Then I walked a little bit down river and took this picture. Hmm, looks like more is going on, and we could see vehicles a little farther down the river. So we got back into the truck, and found our way to the lower area to look at the falls...

This is the view from the side of the falls. Wow, it really is a waterfall. I walked farther around the bank, and kept taking pictures. (I took almost 60 pictures, but I won't bore you will all of them - lol). Notice the spray coming up from the falls. The side of the truck was coated with dried spray when we got back to it.

Below you can see about 3/4 of the width of the falls. For a size reference, notice the small structures on the top of the cliff. These are shade structures you can stand under. Also, if you enlarge the picture, and magnify it, you will see several people standing next to the structures. Next, notice the gap in the lowest falls. In the space before the water goes over this last falls, on the right side of the gap, is a HUGE log - the trunk of a large pine tree. You will have to magnify the picture to see it. It is probably at least 18 inches in diameter! My hubby told me this is probably a 400-600 foot drop from the first picture to the bottom of the falls.

And to think... All this will be gone in a few weeks.

Next I want to share my Easter gift from hubby. A new orchid plant. This one has large white flowers. Very appropriate for Easter, I think.

And last (finally!!) I want to show you my Wedding Ring table runner. I still need to quilt it, but I did a pillow case turn, so the edges are already finished, and the batting is inside. I've already sewn closed the opening in the back that I used to turn it right side out. I'm pretty pleased with it. I think when I quilt it, I'm going to outline the arcs and put something fancy in the three centers. Maybe something in the little "football" areas too.

But for now, this will go with the other things I need to quilt. I still want to finish the borders on the 2007 BOM quilt top. Then I will have enough ready to quilt and I will take that machine in for service, and use the Juki to quilt all these items. It kind of eases the separation of having the machine in for service, if I have projects to do on the other machine!!

Leave me a note as to what you think of the table runner, and the waterfall!!

Thanks.

Are you voting?

Are you voting for keeping our Recreation Center open for the town? I hope so. We were 41st in the 250,000 category, then dropped to 45th, and now we've made it up to 39th. We have to be either 1st or 2nd to get any funding, so please vote everyday. It will mean so much to so many people.
http://www.refresheverything.com/williamsyouthcenterproject

Thank you!

Tulips and Orchid

First I want to show you some of the tulips I have planted in the house. If you remember, I had too many bulbs last fall, and did not get them all planted. A couple of weeks ago I found they were starting to grow, so I stuck them in dirt. Now, I did not have enough pots, so I "made do" with anything I could find. Here are two of the cut off plastic gallon milk containers....

I can't wait to see what the pink/yellow flower looks like when it opens. Maybe that will be tomorrow. Doesn't it look interesting???

Here is another "pot" with two red and a yellow bloom. And they smell so nice too!

Now I want to show you the orchid progress. If you remember, the bud was about leaf level, and was just a teardrop shape (upside down teardrop!) Now look at it... the stem is 3 times as tall, and what I think will be the flower has emerged from the bud.

Here is a close up of the bud. The top portion was all there was before. The larger part hanging down is new. I have no idea how much longer before the flower opens, or if there are more "steps" before it becomes a flower. I'll post the next development when it happens.

Have a great night!

First Sighting of Elk on the Golf Course!

I was going to say this was our first sighting of the year, but actually this is the first time I've ever seen elk on the golf course! Deer, yes, lots of times, but this is the first herd of elk we've ever seen. As you can see, they are enjoying the grass that has just been "greening up".


The bottom picture I should probably try to run through photo shop, tho I'm not good at that tool yet. It was dusk, and for both pictures I was at full zoom, so they are a little grainy. But aren't the elk just regal animals??? No horns at this point, but still beautiful.

I'll show you an update of my orchids (no I haven't forgotten, and the purple one is not yet in bloom - getting close, but not open yet.) And an update on my quilting too.

Have a great night

Easier Way to Vote.

The direct link to our Williams Recreational Center Pepsi request is http://www.refresheverything.com/williamsyouthcenterproject

Please Help!

Our little town has already closed the pool due to lack of funds. Now we are doing our best to keep our recreation center open for all our youth in town, especially our at-risk youth. Please go to www.refresheverything.com; select the Neighborhood tab; Select 'vote for "current leaders" ' and Select the $250,00 category.

Scroll down until you see "Keep programs alive for at risk youth in under resourced community" Williams Youth Center Project.

You get 10 votes a day, and can only vote for each item once, so if another project warms your heart, you can also vote for it. Please vote every day if you can!

Thanks so much