February 2018 - Lots going on.

Last week I went to my annual Featherweight quilt retreat in SC & got 2 quilt tops done. I used the same pattern but different fabrics. The blue one is for my 87 year old FIL who is recovering from having his hip removed but is finally home from re-hab. Hopefully we'll soon find out if they will be able to put in another hip. I finished it this morning & will gift it to him this afternoon. 

The earth tone one is for me! My friend Jenny found the fabric for me & the squares are made using the 4 patch posey technique. The lines inside are more green than grey. I hope to finish it before fall of next year!

When I got home from SC I went to an Estate Sale that had an original Featherweight table for sale. It is only 31" x 31" & is portable & was reasonably priced. The top is all wood & the metal hardware to hold the machine is very sturdy. I think it's very cute & will keep the FW off my dining table, making room to lay out more quilting projects.

And, here is a picture of the T-shirt my Greg got me for Valentines Day.

I forgot to mention in my last couple of posts that my niece got engaged, to a really great guy, in early December.

It was a complete surprise as you can see by the photo. No, it wasn't staged. Her BFF (who knew about the engagement) was taking pictures of their group at a plantation they were visiting for the day. She had been taking 'artsy type' photos all morning. She had asked these 2  to stand back to back & take 2 steps before turning partially around. Of course the soon to be groom kneeled instead of taking the steps. The wedding is in November & the planning has begun. We went Wedding dress shopping last Sunday & she found exactly what she wanted. She will be such a beautiful bride.

Hope everyone is having a good week. We have a few house & land projects going that I hope to post about soon.

New Year, Oranges & Snow!

We had a great Christmas. Spent it with family. My FIL had his artificial hip removed back in October & has been in re-hab ever since. SIL & family came down from Atlanta to spend Christmas with everyone. We took Christmas Eve dinner to the re-hab place, then niece opened her gifts. We stopped exchanging with the adults on hubby's side of the family several years ago. We were just exchanging $$ & gift cards & decided to stop.

We still exchange with my family so we headed to my sisters on Christmas Day. Had a wonderful late lunch & after gifts were opened we headed to the country to work on the Barn Apartment.  We have been working on it since late 2015.

Yes, we take things a little slower here in the south ...lol. Really though, the reason is that we save up to do what we can & then stop & save up some more so we can pay off as we go. We were in the final stretch & only had to install the plumbing stuff (faucets, toilets, etc.), get a septic tank installed & then hook up the water. Greg got the plumbing done & we got the septic installed but not inspected before we left (that happened yesterday). He'll hook up the water when we go back. Then all we have to do is take all the crap things that I have been accumulating. Once my wrist(s) heal I will be able to clean cabinets (need water for that), install shelving paper & get the kitchen set up too. I can't remember what I have bought (mostly at Estate Sales) & what I still need.

It was cold the whole time we were there & the only thing I got done was get my asparagus beds ready for winter & pick the oranges that had finally ripened.

42!

We headed back to the city on the 30th because it was supposed to get even colder in the country. When we got back, the Christmas Cactus was almost in full bloom.

Pink is pretty but I wish I had a red one too.

We had a low key New Years Eve dinner & the usual for New Years Day (pork chops, turnip greens, black eyed peas, rice & cornbread). Greg headed back to work yesterday (bummer for him).

We are having cold weather here in the city & it is currently raining which may turn to sleet later this afternoon if the temps continue to drop (dropped from 36 to 34 in the last hour). There was snow just west & north of the city & quite a bit near our country house. Here's a a couple pics of relatives kids.

These were taken about 5 miles from our house up there. Here's a couple closer to the house, not as thick but accumulation none the less.

And last one, taken in town about 8 miles away.

It will most likely melt by nightfall or tomorrow morning. Fun for the kids & a novelty for the adults as this only happens this far south every 10 years or so.

Headed to the kitchen to make 15 bean soup as we are supposed to have hard freezes (20s) for the next 3 nights. All animals are hunkered down trying to stay warm. For those not allowed inside I've created warm boxes with bedding & quilts, under shelter, out of the wind, to keep them warm. Plus, they have very thick coats of fur & are doing fine.

Hope everyone has a great New Year!

Quilt Gifts & Merry Christmas

I finally finished  & gifted some of the quilts I have been working on. Some, for a very long time. It feels good to have them done so I can begin work on a few new projects next year. Although, the tendons in my wrist (from thumb) have gotten worse so I will be taking the entire month of January off. Other than surgery, the Dr. said that non-use is the only thing that will heal them. Oh well, such as it is with aging!

Here are photos of the finished quilts.

Step Mom Quilt

 I used leftover weave fabric to create the binding for this one.

Two friends Quilt

I finished 2 of these for friends. Only difference is the borders & binding. I still have mine left to finish.

For a dear friend who loves Christmas.

Wish I had swapped out the upper right block with the lower left one to make it more balanced. But, you don't notice when it is wrapped around your legs keeping you warm.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Years Celebrations. Stay safe out there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

November! Where Did October Go?

I try to post at least once a month but somehow October came & went way too fast. Nothing major going on just a few random things.

While cleaning up from Irma at the Country House we ran across a Muscadine vine by the road, that became accessible after a tree fell down. We picked 2 huge bowls. I gave one to MIL & I juiced the other, after I had my fill. It made about 2 1/2 pints of delicious, sweet juice. We also picked a few persimmons from a wild tree but not enough to do anything with & I forgot to open one to look at the seed to see if winter will be mild or not.

I went to the Jax Quilt Fest in late September & as usual saw some amazing quilts.

After that, I went to SC to a surprise Birthday Party for my friend Debbie from
Fox Trot Farm. I stayed w/her on the Farm & finally got to meet Porkchop, their adorable & very friendly pot bellied pig.

Then, in mid October I worked the Ag Expo at the Hoss Sustainable Living Center. The weather was perfect this year! The plants were also pretty spectacular.

5 Different kinds of okra (zinnias to the left)

Broccoli & Cauliflower

6 kinds of Eggplant

Buttercrunch & Red Leaf Lettuc

There was also corn, cucumbers, micro greens, kale & rainbow chard.

Last weekend I decided to clean up my 3 raised garden beds in the City. They were all in terrible shape.

Here's a pic with them all cleaned up. The 3rd one on the right has some horrendous weeds growing that I couldn't get out. Will cover w/black plastic over the winter to hopefully kill them.

I also had a couple of whiskey barrels filled with Amaryllis that were falling apart. So I separated & put them all in pots to take to the country next spring. No pics but when I was putting them in the plant hospital in the corner of the yard I looked up & there sat this guy.

I finished placing the pots & went inside to get my camera. I was sure he would fly away but he stayed there for about 30 or 40 minutes. I was literally about 8 ft. from him! Note: Broken fence courtesy of Irma.

We are in the process of having the siding replaced on our city house. with Hardy Board. It was cedar & rotting in spots. It was over 30 years old so I can't really complain ... about the product.... but I can complain about the contractor. Will get into that in another post.

I think that gets me caught up on what's been happening. Still working on Christmas gifts, will also post about those soon.

Irma Update - Trees Down

As promised, Irma rolled through our city around midnight on 9/10 & continued howling throughout the day on 9/11. Unlike Matthew from last year, Irma's winds were stronger & the tidal surge was worse. Jacksonville & surrounding areas were badly damaged. Several downtown riverfront buildings are still closed. I think all counties in the state of FL were affected one way or another. Here are links to 2 slideshows of the damage nearby:

Nearby Beach Damage

Jacksonville Damage

Irma didn't stop w/FL she went up the gulf coast into GA as a Tropical Storm. The county where our country house is located was directly in her path.

The good news is that we were spared any damages to our home(s) & structures at both locations. We didn't have any electrical line damage in the city or the country so only without power for 3 days in the city & only about 24 house in the country (thanks for neighbors that kept us informed). We were lucky. We are in a small neighborhood in the city & a very rural area in the country & prone to be last to get power at either house.

We had generators running here in Jax (until the big one died on Wed. morning. Greg went to his shop & brought another one home). We had running water, some lights in the house, ceiling fans & could keep freezer & fridges running. If power had not been restored after 24 hours in the country I was prepared to high tail it up there w/a generator in tow. Did NOT want to lose all that beef in our big chest freezer up there.

Like last time, we had lots of limbs down & a ton of debris to pick up at Jax house.

We went to the country over the weekend to inspect things there. Like I said, house & buildings were fine but we are now without shade on the pond.

This post was originally supposed to be an update on the country tree progress. One of those that I was so proud of was one of the FL acorn oaks. It was literally a twig when I planted it never expecting it to actually live. (I planted about 10 of them & only 2 survived.) Here are pics showing 2 years worth of growth for one of them.

2017

2015

And, this is what it looked like when we arrived on Saturday:

The other surviving FL acorn oak had the top taken off but wasn't leaning. Also had 2 of the pine transplants blown over:

Got them all staked & hoping they will make it, especially the oak. We also had to cut away some blown down small trees in the branch blocking the driveway & of course pick up a few limbs there as well.

All in all we were very fortunate, again. Hopefully all those storms brewing in the Atlantic will keep their distance for the remainder of the season & for many years to come.

Pot O Gold?

A couple of weeks ago in the Country we had a massive thunderstorm come up. Then this happened:

It was huge & if only there had been that proverbial pot, it would have only been 100 ft. away. Then it turned into a double. Kind of hard to see but it's there & it lasted about 20 minutes.

We also hit a good weekend for the crepe myrtles.

About 90% of them were blooming. Just lovely. Hard to get a pic of all of them. Will be headed up there tomorrow, wonder if any blooms will be left?

Bambi & Other Wildlife

A few weeks ago Nelly & I left the house early to go on our morning walk. I hadn't yet put Nelly's leash on & once we got out of the garage she took off running to the vacant, wooded lot next door. I looked up in time to see what I thought were 2 small red dogs. When they turned to run I realized that it was wasn't dogs but a pair of foxes. We've always had them where we live here in the city because much of the lots & land around us are very wooded & there's still quite a few vacant areas where they live. But, we haven't seen them in awhile. I have a 'pit' on the lot next door where we throw yard debris & things that won't compost well (or draw too many fruit flies) such as watermelon rinds, corn cobs, etc., so I guess they were scavenging. Glad Nelly didn't catch one.

Went up to the country house for the 4th of July weekend. Greg closed his business on Saturday, Monday & Tuesday so we had a nice long weekend. I drove separately so that allowed me to have a couple of extra days.

We got up on Saturday & drove to get sausage. There's a place about an hours drive from our house, that has the best sausage. We like the fresh links & buy a whole bunch of it & vacuum seal, in small portions for the freezer. As we drove through the branch area on our way home, a huge doe jumped up in front of us & ran all the way across the field & jumped the fence on the far side of the property. Later in the afternoon, we noticed that she had returned. My Dad & his wife were also up for the weekend & he remarked that she probably had babies nearby.

Greg started mowing grass that morning & a fawn jumped up from beside the railroad ties that line the driveway & ran off only to get caught in a fence. Greg was able to free it & it ran off but was staying the area because he saw it (or it's sibling) in the adjacent field several times that afternoon.

I got up early Sunday morning to let Nelly out to do her business & noticed something over by one of the maple trees. A fawn was lying the grass around the tree! I ran inside to get my camera.

He/she just laid there like that until the sun rose over the house then it turned around. It eventually moved up by the front porch to sit in the shade for awhile. Then ran off back towards the driveway & branch.

We didn't see them anymore through the 4th. Greg left to get back to the city & I stayed on for a couple more days. As I was packing to leave on Thursday I looked over & it was back in the same spot.

Hopefully they will stick around & we can watch them grow, but I doubt that will happen. We put some corn out in the branch. Will check the game cam next time we are up there.

Gotta love the wildlife.

It's not Capistrano, but they still return ...

A few years ago, we had a swallow take up temporary residence just outside our side door (the main one we use to go in & out) up at the Country House. We let them hatch out that 1st year but after that we would scrape the nest down before they could lay eggs each year. It seemed they had stopped until a few weekends ago I was washing dishes & noticed they had found a new spot to build & lay eggs.

It's on the corner of the front porch. At least they are not in the direct access to the house & it's kind of fun to watch them. They do make a mess but it only last a few weeks so I guess we'll let them continue to return.

We have had a decent amount of rain up there lately & most of the trees seem to be doing well. Here's a shot of the orange tree which has quite a few oranges. there was a LOT more blooms but I guess many got blown away before they could form.

Here's a pic of one of the oaks in the field. This one has a very strong trunk but it will still be a few years before it provides a nice shady spot to sit.

Although I got the asparagus planted this year I didn't get anything else in the ground up there. Too bad too, since the rain would have been plenty this year. I did plant some squash, cucumbers & beans in the raised beds in the city. Not even 1 squash or cucumber formed even though they had a ton of blooms. I guess the neighbors bees never found them. I did however, get a couple of servings of beans.

I have picked them twice now & got about the same amount each time (just enough for supper & then lunch the next day). I may have one more picking left.

When I was at the last quilt retreat my sewing machine had some issues & my friend loaned me hers for the remainder of the retreat. I sort of got it working when I got home but it still wouldn't keep the feed dogs up enough to work properly. So, after much research I bit the bullet & bought a new machine from a nearby dealer.

She sews like a dream! The first thing I made was a table runner for my sister.

I'm going to give it to her this afternoon after I pick up their pup, Lexie, to dog sit for the next 10 days! Nelly has met Lexie before & they seem to tolerate each other. We'll see how it goes!