I hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend. We did and I even had time to make a quick patriotic star mug rug (it is big enough to also use as a candlemat or even a small hot pad). It was quick and easy. It was a tutorial by Jenny of the M*QC. I think I will be making some of these in Christmas fabrics and also in whites because it will look like a snowflake. Stay tuned — I’ll post them when I do them too. We spent lots of time outdoors this weekend even with the rain on Friday. Our veggie garden is looking good: 
Tomatoes 
Broccoli 
Cucumbers & 
Zucchini The broccoli and cucumber will be on our plates this week. 
And maybe the banana peppers will be ready soon too. Our flowers are doing well too with the exception of two of our butterfly plants. We had 3 of them. We put two in the ground and one in a large pot. Well the one in the pot — which was the runt of the original three and I wasn’t sure it was going to do well — it took off like crazy but the other two started looking pretty poorly. We went and got a couple of large pots and some potting soil, transplanted them into the pots and moved them to a new location and they are starting to perk up. Keeping our fingers crossed. Have a good week everyone — go outside and play in your garden if you have one. Ginny
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Three cheers for the red, white and blue!
Made some patriotic tablerunners for the craft fair and they were good sellers. Luckily I still have some of my favorite fabric left (the light background with the stars) so I can make one for myself. 🙂 
Wine bottle carriers 
and tortilla warmers 
were also very popular. Got an order for some wine carriers, potholders and a quilt too.
It was a good day and I wasn’t even there! Hubby did it by himself since I didn’t want to take another day off.
Ginny
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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Made a couple of Christmas tablerunners for a friend. She has a couple of bridal showers coming up. I really liked them and I want to make one for myself before I use up all the fabric. While I was working on them, I was humming Christmas songs. I was tempted to play some — but I will wait until July. 🙂
But it is also looking a lot like summer here:
My roses are blooming beautifully. Yes, June is finally here.
And I have a “surprise” flower too. I remember someone at work giving me this plant to put in the garden a couple years ago. I don’t remember the name and it was just sort of there and being green. Then today while taking a walk in my front yard I find this:
I am thinking it was called an angel plant but I’m not sure.
Got a Summer craft fair coming up at the end of June so I won’t be working on any Christmasy things for the next few weeks at least (unless I do get to make one for myself). Instead I will be working on burp cloths, wine bottle bags, casserole carriers, potholders, microwave potato bags and tortilla warmers and a few other things I have in minds.
Looks like I will be busy. Better go get some sleep. Good night, sleep tight — with visions of sugarplums dancing in your head.
Talk to you soon.
Ginny
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Some of my tulips
“Wine & cheese” Tulips
We are getting lots of yardwork/gardening done. So many pretty flowers — finally! I really loved my tulips this year. I guess the snow was deep enough to keep the squirrels from eating my bulbs. 🙂 Sadly, the tulips are finished blooming for this year. I will miss them. Dare I say that I hope we have lots of snow again next winter to keep my bulbs all safe and cozy? Stop throwing things at me!!
But, I’ve got lots of other flowers blooming to keep me smiling when I am outside. I have a couple of mums that are showing signs of life. I thought they were goners and almost pulled them out but I decided to wait a bit longer this year and then I saw those little leaves popping out! Glad I waited. I’ve got my petunias, marigolds, pansies, celosia all blooming nicely. The azaleas finally bloomed but not very profusely. The rhododendrum is showing a bit of pink buds.
So much gardening to do to get the season started. Not enough time in my sewing room. I will be spending some time in there this weekend being creative and will share what the outcome is.
Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend everyone. 
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Baby Quilt
Well I made a few more of those baby quilts. I always wanted to make a double wedding ring quilt but I never thought my first one would be on a baby quilt.
I made them with two different backings — one a blue plaid and the other a really cute print with ladybugs, bees flowers etc. I think they are very cheerful, happy quilts and would be great for baby’s playmat.
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Getting Veggie Beds ready
Well, we finally got to work a bit in the yard over the weekend and got fresh garden soil and food into the veggie beds. Also put down some more mulch and raked the leaves out of the flower beds and even put some lettuce seeds in. If you look closely at the wine barrel planter at the front of the picture, you can see my strawberries. Yay! We were certainly tired after a full afternoon of work.
And now the rains are arriving so I am very glad we got all that work in.
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Spring is here — I think
Did a lot of sewing yesterday with spring-like fabric. The weather actually felt like it was actually spring too. Let’s hope it stays this way and continues to warm up. Yes, I love snow, but even I am saying “Enough!”
I made an adorable playtime mat too but forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to our grandson today. I do have more of the material and will be making more so I will be sure to get a picture of them.
Pretty soon I will be torn as to what I want to be doing — sewing? gardening? Decisions, decisions. But for the next few weeks sewing will be winning out since it really is a bit too early to be putting much in the ground and I have a craft fair coming up in a couple weeks that I need to get ready for. Of course, we can always work on getting the veggie beds ready and raking up the leaves still left from last fall. We’ll see — maybe.
Happy Spring! 
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Baseball season is here
And it is bittersweet for sure. I am going to so miss Derek Jeter when this season is over. It is hard not seeing Mo in the bullpen, Jorge behind the plate and Andy on the mound. Then next year, who will be at 2nd? I will continue to love and support my Yankees but it will definitely be a different feeling without The Core Four.
Here is hoping for a great baseball season. A Yankee/Dodger World Series would be a great way to cap the season but I guess I am getting a little bit ahead of myself here. And I certainly don’t want to rush to the end. I want to enjoy and savor all the games.
So, Let’s Go Yankees!
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Blogging at my age? Why?
That is a great question. I guess it’s a new way to keep a diary (like I did when I was a teenager—oh, the angst!) or a journal, which I have done on and off in my adult years. The subjects I will probably blog about now are going to be quite a bit different from what was in my diary or my journals. I will be sharing about my sewing and quilting — which I think about a considerable amount of time during my day.
Love making these cute soft blocks. Lots of little ones arriving so I’ve got a lot of stuffing to do.
Spring is here, or so rumor has it anyway, so our garden will be occupying a lot of time soon. Our successes and failures will find their way to these posts too. I already have some plants waiting to go outside as soon as the weather is appropriate or, in the meantime, move into larger pots. And I already have one failure to report — my dill. I love having fresh dill to use for fish but I find it so hard to grow. It is so very fragile.
The bulbs are popping up all over and I hope that whatever snow we will be getting tonight won’t damage them too much. Those crocus are hardy little guys.
We have a few concerts to go to over the next few months so I suppose a bit of my teenage diary will find it’s way here. And, of course, baseball season will be arriving next week — go Yankees! Hubby is quick to remind me that baseball season has already arrived for him. He is a Dodger fan and they have already played two regular season games in Australia of all places. Of course, since they won both of those games, I am having to hear about how “his” boys in blue are in first place.
Well, there you have it. That’s what I’ll be blogging about. Exactly why, I’m not sure. I guess just because I feel like it. And there should be some things you can do as you get a bit older just because you feel like it.
Till next time, go create something and do something fun just because you feel like it.
Ginny
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