On a brighter note:  you KNOW spring is here when the ferns start sending up new fiddleheads.  I saw these all along the hiking trail.  Hundreds of them!

 

Take a little walk soon and venture down the trail a bit and you'll see lots of beautiful spring sights:  violets and chickweed blooming, and ferns doing their spring thing!!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

I walked to the mailbox on Tuesday;  what a gorgeous spring day to be outside!!!!  I carried my backpack with me, and fortunately I had a couple trash bags in there.  I collected two bags full of trash just going down the road and up the hiking trail.

 

Bending over to pick up trash is easy enough, but carrying it all the way home is a drag.  One of them had ANTS!!!

 

I doubt it's being thrown out OUR car windows, but it is unsightly on our roadways.  Please be sure to secure your trashbags on the way to the dump, so as not to add to the problem.   

 

;\\   I bet this isn't how Pepsi and Coke want to advertise their products.  ;\\

 

 

THAT'S MY RANT FOR TODAY!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another good one!!!

 

Sandy Bradley bought this printed panel, and turned it into a quilted playground.

 

She added borders all the way around;  John Deere and Caterpillar actually have licensed fabric!!!  The prints are great: Trucks, tractors, gravel, roads, etc.  Then she sandwiched lightweight batting and tractor print backing.  Then she machine quilted it by following the road lines on the front.  

 

This picture is two of her grandbuddies playing together on it.  They each have one of their own that they play with, and when they come to stay with Grammy, they have a new and improved one to play with.  They love it, and will play together for hours, well, 20 minutes, but that's really good for 2 and 3 year olds!!!

 

GOOD JOB, SANDY!!!  Thanks for sharing.

 

HAPPY QUILTING!!

 

Last week I put out a call for pictures of winter projects.  I've gotten a few.  These are great!!!  I showed you one of  Mark and Karen's projects:  Crazybrook Farm sign.  Let's keep going!!!!!

 

Here is sister Linda's first try at quilting.  WOW!!! 

 

This is called a jelly roll race.  All the short ends of the strips are sewn together to make one extra long strip, then the long sides are sewn together, creating a beautiful mix up of the different fabrics.  That's the quilt top, the exciting, FUN part of quilt making.  Then comes the work part...

 

She had to choose backing fabric.  Some people buy extra wide fabric for the back, but it's not always the print you want....  So she bought the matching striped fabric and carefully pieced the back so you can't even tell it's pieced!! The top then gets basted together with batting and the backing.  Then the binding gets sewn on all the way around the "sandwiched" pieces.  Some people quilt first, then add the binding.  But it works either way, and our motto is:  The right way to do it is THE WAY THAT WORKS FOR YOU.

 

Then!!!  Comes the quilting.  This one is hand quilted.  She stitched in the ditch between the rows.  Hours and hours of stitching.  This is the comforting part, especially for a Winter project.  You snuggle under this beautiful thing you've created and sew tiny stitches in long rows or patterns and admire your hard work.  GOOD JOB, LINDA!!!!!

 

You would think that looking at it would be the end of the project, but it's not.  YOU HAVE TO START A NEW ONE!!!!

 

HAPPY QUILTING!!!

 

 

First that one, now this one!!!!!  Aren't they beautiful?  They do this year after year. 

 

What a lovely gift from a dear friend.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

This is a carrot grown by Sandy and Mickey Bradley.  Florida garden, raised bed, very fluffy soil.  Not everybody can grow carrots like THIS....but....I thought you'd like to see it.

 

OK....back to NC.... If you love carrots, radishes, turnips, beets...it's time to plant seeds in the garden.  It's a little early for potatoes, but while you're out there and enjoying the beautiful weather, just do it!!!   My calendar shows April 1, 2, and 3 as good planting days for root crops and perennials. 

 

What perennials don't mind the cold....oh, wait!!  Perennials live year after year; they have their own ways of dealing with the seasons.  So now might be a good time to plant Hostas, azaleas, rhodies, ferns, clematis, echinacea, Shasta daisy, peony, phlox.  Check out the garden center in your area.  If they are selling them now, it's time to plant.  

 

Not annuals, though, not yet.  The garden center probably has some for sale, but we still have cold nights ahead.  You CAN plant geraniums and marigolds now, but you will most likely have to REPLANT after they freeze to death.  So let's wait on the annuals.  And start with root crops and perennials.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

 

I've never tried to grow Easter lilies in my garden, but I found a good site to tell you how to do it.

 

Go to   How to replant Easter lilies   for all the scoop on growing them in your garden.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

This picture is the real thing in Yorktown.  Linda sent it to me today with an update:

 

There are 5 eggs, the last one laid on Thursday.  That means they should start hatching around April 11.                  Keep watching!!!

 

Thanks, Linda, from ALL OF US.

 

Here's a FUN thing!!!  My sister in Yorktown VA sent me this link to Wild Birds Unlimited in Yorktown.  They have an angelcam inside one of their bluebird nest boxes.  It's a live video allowing us see into their world.   We watched last year as the eggs hatched and the babies grew and fledged.  FASCINATING TO WATCH.  Right now, either mom or dad is sitting on the nest.  

 

Just click on the link to the     Bluebird camera   and be amazed!!!

 

I bookmarked it, and check several times a day.  Try it!!!

 

Thanks, Linda!!!!

 

How beautiful is this!!!!  My friend Betty Bridges sent us this Amaryllis bulb 4 years ago, and it blooms every year.  It lives outside all summer, and rests in the basement for a couple months.  Then, about Thanksgiving I bring it up, water it good, and wait for this!!!!  This blossom is 8 inches across, and there are two more buds ready to open.

 

The first two years she sent them, I tried planting the bulbs outside in our perennial garden.  It didn't work:  too cold.  So now i put them out in summer, and keep them protected in cold weather.  We still have bulbs from the last 4 years, and they always make me happy.  

 

Thanks Betty for the joy you bring into my life!!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!