Flora and Fauna

Here's a little front-yard flora for you! Just a pretty pic of my purple coneflower and my portulacas ;) I love portulacas and find them to be a very underrated flower! They're part of the succulent family, grow great in the ground or containers and are very drought tolerant. And they come in a rainbow of colors! The main draw-back is that the flowers only last a day or so..but it blooms all summer long ;)

And of course what better fauna than another shot of those baby birds! LOL They're alot bigger now and will be leaving the nest by early next week!

Dino Chicks!

I think someone stuck some Velociraptor babies in where the cute hairless chicks were! This is a pic from this past Monday...ooooo scary babies! LOL rather Jurassic park-ish! They are sure keeping Mama and Papa robin busy with the worms and bugs and all! They should be fledging by early next week so I'll keep you all posted!!

Oh and for some quilt-worthy news, I have finished my first Christmas-In-July project for the month! Peg, Michelle and I are doing a little challenge for this month with Christmas-related projects and Peg is in the lead! LOL So here's my teeny Thimbleberries tree quilt, jingle bells and all!

The Chick Cam

Still pretty featherless, but getting cuter!!! ok...maybe not that much cuter LOL but still entertaining! LOL

THE BABIES ARE HERE, THE BABIES ARE HERE!!!

OH GOSH!! Sorry for the yelling, but I am just too excited ;) I'm a mama! I mean the OTHER robin's a mama! LOL Today on the way out the door, I made Bill stick his head in the nest and check the babies...2 little hairless chickies greeted him and one more was there when we came home! Mama did a good job of cleaning out the eggshells from the nest too..no sign of 'em in the nest or on the ground! She's back sitting on the babies as the sun was setting tonight! Nothing like being 2 days old and featherless! LOL

Saltbox stitchin'!

I recently started a new BOM (yes, ANOTHER new BOM! LOL) called Saltboxes through the Year, and it's being offered by Karen Perry of Farmhouse Woolens. I finished my first block and it was a surprising amount of work! LOL It was alot of fun though, and I'm very happy with how it came out!

Nature's Treasures

We were out in the front yard this afternoon, poking around and watering, when a robin flew out from our maple! Now since we live in a townhouse, we don't have a very big front yard, or even a very big maple (about 4 yrs old), but this robin was making herself right at home in our little tree! Would you believe that she built a pretty cup nest right at eye level on one of the lowest branches!!

Now being the curious nature-lover that I am, I had to stand on tip-toes to peek inside the nest! I put my camera above my head and snapped this nifty shot of Mama robin's treasures! She was waiting impatiently for me to finish with the shutterbugging so she could keep get back to the hatchin' business! LOL

I'm going to mind my own business til I know the babies have hatched..and then I'll see if I can get some additional pics! WikiAnswers.com tells me that they should be hatching in about 2 weeks...so check back around then!

Just in Time!!

I know I'm not the only "last minute Charlie" out there...anyone else wait til the last minute to finish a project for a specific holiday or event? Well this year I finished my 4th of July project around 4pm ON the 4th LOL I'll leave it out for the rest of the month and pack it away til next year ;)

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July everyone! We are just BBQing at home today, a nice quiet low-key celebration! I wish you and your families a safe and happy holiday!

Rain, Rain GO AWAY!!

We are having an incredible amount of rainy days here on Long Island! I have not heard the monthly totals, but we are well up over 7" for the month I am sure! We had another tremendous thunderstorm roll through around dusk last night, with more of the same forecast for the next few evenings!

But after the storm past, there was a rainbow at sunset...makes the storm all worth it!

And of course I had to get a picture of Bill in here somewhere LOL I know you all miss seeing him ;)

All Hands on Deck!!

OK, OK! Sorry for the bad pun ;) BUT..there is a purpose for the pun! Our deck is finally finished! Here are some pics of the work in progress! I knew almost nothing about deck or any other kind of home construction before this project and found the whole process to be very interesting!

Here is our "before" picture..just a bare yard with steps!

And here is the deck after the framing is complete!

now add some steps!

And there you go, the finished product!

and of course, every deck needs a fern, with a lobster in the corner... YES..that's a lobster..whatsamatta, you got a problem with lobsters? LOL

oh and I can't forget the sheep ;) He's obviously here for the clambake as he brought the corn! I wonder if that's what the lobster showed up for too ;)

Stitchin' up a Storm!

Would you believe that I haven't turned my sewing machine on in about a week? I've been embroidering instead! The embroidery bug bit me bad, thanks to Peg and Michelle!

Here's the Christmas Wish BOM that has a link on the sidebar of this blog...

And here's the new crow BOM that I'm doing through Stitch-N-Tyme in Unionville, MO, owned by Deb Smith and Janet Rowland!

I haven't given up sewing but it sure is hard to put those stitchin' projects down! LOL

Purse appeal!

Here's a quicky update on what I've been working on! I've finished a new tote/purse and zippy bag and thought I'd share a pic with you all ;) It came out really cute if I may say so myself!

Hope you are all enjoying the month of June so far! It's a bright sunny day today, but we've had a tremendous amount of rain here this past week and it's delayed the finishing of our deck. We hope the contractor can get it finished by the middle of next week! I'll post pics of that when it's complete too!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Please keep all of those who have given their lives for our country in your thoughts today! They, as well as all who have served our country, are directly responsible for our freedom!


Click here to find out more about the history of Memorial day!

Update that blog!

Well, it's about time, isn't it? Sheesh...talk about taking forever to update my blog..no wonder no one visits me anymore, it's always the same OLD THING! LOL I don't blame 'em ;)

My quilt frame is finally put back together and waiting patiently in the basement! I hope to get a practice piece up on it this afternoon and actually put a REAL QUILT up on it within the week. I've been busy getting ready for our BPF retreat, which is the middle of May! I have 2 sets of 4" shoofly swap blocks ready, and my charity quilt top and backing are all ready to be quilted!

I hope to undate this thing more often, and have ALOT of finished quilts before Summertime! Can ya believe Spring is THIS FRIDAY??? WOOHOO for SPRING! I am SO ready as this has been a very long, cold Winter!

I've been tagged!

Leave it to Peg to tag me with the "Honest Scrap Award"! Is that her way of telling me that I need to organize my scraps? LOL Here's Peg's original post. I am suppose to reveal 10 honest things about myself that I have never blogged about, as well as list 5 addictions! I'm then suppose to tag 5 of my blogging friends to do that same...Considering how busy I've been I'll be lucky if I tag 2 of 'em LOL

So here are 10 honest things I've never blogged about:

1) I've worked in the same industry, military and commercial electronics, for 25 yrs.

2) I've lost almost 50 lbs over the last year! (woohoo for ME! LOL)

3) My favorite food is pizza...contrary to popular belief that my favorite food is anything from PANERA'S! LOL

4) I LOVE WINE!! did you notice the caps on that one?

5) Bill and I are not married and have been living together for 10 years.

6) I have enough projects stockpiled to last me the rest of my life!

7) I also knit and use to work part-time for a yarn manufacturer in my 20's.

8) I was an avid roller-skater in my teens and 20's and still occationally dream about roller-skating!

9)I love horror novels and horror movies, even the gory, campy ones!

10) Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!

ok..now for the addictions:

1) I love a cup of coffee and a buttered roll from 711!

2) toast with peanut butter

3) coffee..did I mention coffee? did I mention HOW MUCH coffee? LOTS AND LOTS..that's how much ;)

4)fabric, quilting, textiles, yarn, embroidery..just about any handwork

5) I LOVE computer and video games..they're about the only thing that can distract me from quilting ;)

I've tagged Barbara from Pineland Patches!

oh and my sewing room is almost up and running! so you may be seeing some sewing updates soon on my blog! woohooo!