Happy Last Day of March 2019!!

Get a cuppa something yummy and sit for a visit today… I have a fun share today!

Look at this cute bag I saw on Facebook today… that fabric is by Gail Pan for Henry Glass fabrics (she is an Australian designer) and I LOVE it 🙂  How fun is that!

It has been a busy and productive week here at Daisy Meadows and the weather has been totally fabulous!!!  Today we are ending March with a bit of snow though! lol  The snow didn’t stick around but it was quite interesting for sure 😀 

This week I was at this point Monday… I spent all day Sunday slow stitching last week to get to this point 🙂

And on Wednesday I was ecstatic to find myself here…

 Yep… off the frame and hand quilting complete!!  Then time to sew on the binding 😀

 I used Cleo (short for Cleopatra) my trusty Singer 319w for the job.  And added a label to it as well…

And this binding I decided to try the “ladder stitch” I had seen and used on the quilt front for a mending moment where the seam didn’t get sewn well if you recall a couple weeks back me sharing that.  Look how invisible the stitches are though…

 Here is the rhythm of a ladder stitch… it is really a running stitch where you go 1/4″ in the batting layer then pull through then 1/4″ in the fold of the binding and pull through then back down through the backing to the batting… then back up to the batting fold.. until you are done!!

 It made me giddy to make a binding finish I was proud of!!!
 Here is where I was this morning early…. with about 2/3 completed on the binding…
now I am DONE!  Spent most of my Sunday slow stitching it on with that ladder stitch and I LOVE the results of it… Hope you try this method on  your next binding finish…  Linking this to my favorite Sunday stop .. Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday linky party HERE. 

But before I share the reveal lets talk about the life this quilt top has had before getting this far along…

It got “finished” in May 2016… yes… 3 years ago almost… then it was layered with it’s same backing it has today and same batting it has today and put on the frame for quilting… this was the 1st quilt to ever be loaded on my frame too!!!

This was when I realized how wavy the outer border was… never knew it could happen as it never had for me… so somehow it then became a UFO as I moved forward with other quilts and other projects… I remained unsure how this happened and how to fix it. 

Fast forward to our move to North Carolina when it got unearthed in the unpacking and I realized why it had become a UFO… and investigated on Bluprint how to fix the problem… take off the border was the obvious fix and put it back on… consulting my bestie who is my quilting mentor too told me the same thing!

Well I took 3/4″ off the top and bottom borders in length last month when this quilt finally got a seat back on the frame and WOW!!!  I am so glad I did that… the sides were a bit ruffly in spots still but not like the top and bottom… now for the reveal.. now that you can appreciate how this quilt came to be 🙂

 And to see it in context in the kitchen… PERFECTION!!!

I am linking this finish for the month to Julie ~ The Crafty Quilter link up for March HERE .  You can link up 2 finishes to her linky … my second link up will be another most proud moment…

Wrangling my fabric storage got completed this month… this was on my things to do list she gave out in January as a blank and I finished it this month!!!

There is just a bit of my colored fabric scrap separations… and all of my bolts of fabrics (fat quarters and larger separated by color and some by type as well.  I am really proud of utilizing my fabrics for projects like the applique and quilt making I have done since finishing this organization… and putting everything back away… I even organized my cutting table to only have currently used fabrics on it !!!

I haven’t touched the Rooster EPP this week but I bet I do next week 😀

Daisy… our doxie we rehomed to my bestie in the Nashville area… is very happy with her new home situation… it is a great fit for her 🙂  Her granddaughter took this photo and I just fell in love with it!!!

Our Molly keeps me company as I stitch and loves to hang with Rick as he work in his building or relaxes in his recliner… she is full of energy but getting easier to tame these days… she is now 9 months old so still very much a puppy… lol!  But settling in to life in NC 🙂

Now that I have the wall hanging done… I had my honey fold up the quilting frame and I brought back in the PVC frame that holds the wholecloth quilt…

 this quilt has history too… it is now 4 years old in the making of it since I took the first stitches… it is a large queen sized quilt and will grace our guest bed whenever I finish it… it is about 1/3 or a bit more done at this moment.

Here is my current position on the quilting and all the threads I am using! lol ….

This will be a momentary quilting period as I love to hand quilt each day most of the time… This quilt I am working on will be next up on my frame but I am waiting to get it into a proper flimsy finish… almost there (just some machine applique and a couple seams to add the appliqued strip to the quilt body and I am done with it!!!)  … and waiting on batting to come that I ordered last week.  So no rush atm… but I want it done by end of the April or so…

No quilting plan decided yet on this one… ideas anyone???

Linking this near flimsy finish that will be my goal for the rest of this Sunday with Wendy and her Peacock Party HERE… I am surely happy to crow about all the work that has happened between this becoming a flimsy and the quilt getting hung in the kitchen too ❤

Look at this cool artwork decor piece my honey made with his awesome crafty skills…

This actually came from some treadle irons we have been carrying around with no center parts available to make it into a usable treadle base.  We never had the centers only rescued the side irons.  We reckon they are from about 1900 or so. 

Rick came up with this idea from an inspiration online he saw and made it come into being… we sold this one and have another sold when he gets it made up… gives all new life to the cast iron too while maintaining the original patina of the center part 🙂

Here is a great thought I found online this week…  you know the internet can be food for thought in a positive light if you choose it to be…

 We sure are.. and I am glad we are!!!

Thanks for stopping in this week… I hope you leave a comment if you made it to this point of my post… I would love to hear from each of you and thank you personally for the visit time!

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Happy Spring Y’all!

Finally Spring has come to our calendar in North America …

March 20, Wednesday here in the northern hemisphere brought us the welcoming of warmer weather and my arthritis is sooo happy to hear that warm weather will be coming! lol

Actually I don’t have any photos of flowering happening this week but soon we will have lots to share I think… we have green plumes all over the yard… just no colors emerging just yet.  I am just happy to have made it through our colder than normal winter here in the mountains of North Carolina 🙂

I have been making steady progress on the Spiral Log Cabin this week…

 I am sharing this photo and this post with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Linky Party HERE.  Kathy is asking what we watch or listen to as we slow stitch… I loved watching Bluprint and learning as I stitched… I am letting my subscription run out though for now and may reup if I miss that… I also watch Youtube learning videos from other quilters and bag makers and enjoy the Hallmark Channel NOW all on my phone with headphones on 😀

As for progress now… I am halfway across the last row of the quilt as you can see in the photo above.  I will be hoping to finish this and be binding if not completely done for next Sunday’s post 😀

And I redesigned the baby quilt I shared last week…

 I got all the blocks I planned to applique except the name strip of fabric complete and ready to machine applique…

 And this morning I finished all the chain blocks (13 of those) as well!!!

 This week I will snowball the 12 applique blocks and start putting this top together 🙂  I am sharing this project as my focus at Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE!

The quilt will be a mix of machine and hand quilting I am thinking… the batting will be coming to me by way of my bestie who bought it during a sale at JoAnn’s.. I don’t live anywhere near one and soon she will be delivering a quilt for me to hand quilt… and will drop off this batting for all the quilts I have been piecing of late.

No work has happened this week on the EPP Rooster this week so hopefully that will change today and this week.  Molly says hello to you all also!

 My honey is doing stellarly well after his hip replacement… he is still having a bit of post operative pain and finds it difficult to find a comfortable position for any period of time.  But he graduated to a cane and now to nothing at all most of the time and is losing his pre operative limp they said could take months to overcome!!!  So he is doing well.. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Take time to find something in your life to be in love with y’all and have a great Spring or Autumn if you are down South 😀

Hope you had fun & productive National Quilting Day / Week Y’all!

I want to open this post by wishing you each a Happy and Blessed St Patrick’s Day…

I used to know all the history of our holiday celebrations… but now I just focus on quilting and current events more than anything… so I thought this sweet wish to each of you would be nice whether you are Irish or not I hope you pursue good luck each morning and night too!!!

I know National Quilting Day was supposed to just be Saturday but after sharing it’s coming with you last week… I had the MOST PRODUCTIVE WEEK SEWING & QUILTING & ORGANIZING TOO!!!!

Sunday I spent between focusing on slow stitching on my quilting and my english paper piecing to sewing this on Gloria for a sweet 5 year old named Jasper…

But what to my tired eyes appeared when I took this photo but a big OOPS!!!  Do you see that on either side of the center panel both sides are laid out the same instead of mirror image…OH NO!!!

So out came my trusty seam ripper and bit of coffee and patience to fix it right up and re sew!!!

 The photo above made me say “Tah Dah!!!”  I was sooo excited to see what I thought I was gonna see in the first photo happen finally in the second.  This sooo energized me that I pieced together a backing for this 47 x 53″ flimsy and figured the binding and found a square of fabric to make a nice label too & took another photo…

Now the 2 brother’s quilts (I shared Simon’s flimsy last week) are ready for some quilting… but I need batting and that isn’t in my mind at the moment… because I have lots of other things happening too.. and a large batting will hit our budget next month for sure and then I can focus on 3 quilts that need to be quilted… for now production continues!!!  lol

For Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky HERE I wanted to share a fixed seam… come see what she is slow stitching today!

I used a ladder stitch I found on youtube HERE… I loosened the tension of the top and batting only… so that the backing remained taut.  I thought this would lessen the chance I would catch it and that was true for me… Then I used 50 wt Aurifil that I use for regular machine piecing and knotted a single ply of it and inserted it into the fold of the fabric on top and started ladder stitching into the good part of the bottom fabric … I had completely missed this in the preparatory ironing this quilt top got as it waiting 2 or more years to get quilted… CRAZY!!!  But it happened and it is now fixed!

Here are some progress photos of this Spiral Log Cabin too…

 Last week I was smack in the middle and thought I could avoid hand quilting some this week to slow down the progress I was making as I let my best friend finish my next project to hand quilt… I do not like an empty frame gawking at me… many of you commented that I should keep on quilting and the urge was too great in the end… I did as you can see above.

In the photo below in you lok to the far left of the photo where the green marks of the baptist fan disappear… THIS is the area I had to fix that I shared above!

 And here is a view to the top and end … Just one more row of baptist fans.. and not even a full row really… and I will be on to the top border!!!

So as not to rush my bestie as she works 50 plus hours each week and has a very busy life otherwise too with kids, grands and a guy besides finding time to piece her quilt she wants me to quilt together… I will focus on binding and labeling and enjoying this quilt when it gets done and now on the empty frame that will be left in it’s wake.

I also have another hand project I can more fully focus on then too… many of you wanted to see progress I was making with my English Paper Pieced Rooster 🙂  I am sharing this with Wendy’s Peacock Party Linky HERE.  Come find out how cool SMOYG is 😀

Here is my basic setup… batting on a tray from the meat department (cleaned of course) is my holder of these little pieces of varied sizes…

 above you can see the cool pin cushion my bestie made and sent to me… I ❤ it!!!

Here is my progress if I flip over my progress to see the front with all the papers still in place of course!

 And with 2 more pieces in place this will be the head of the rooster and the eye is a sultry grey 😉  I may change that… but we will see as this project progresses… I planned it grey for a reason I think and that fabric is VERY special to me too!

 Here is the project all put together from the back side…

 This rooster finishes as a 20″ square wall hanging then I may add a border… this was Violet Craft’s colorway… My colorway is red and black and tan neutrals….

I can tell my EPP stitches are getting more small and less noticeable as I go along… I have watched many many vids on EPP stitching by Violet Craft, Rob of Man Sewing, and several others on Bluprint and youtube to mix it up for me to think of a bit of each of those teachers in making my stitches the least noticeable… I enjoy the thread I am using for invisibility and durability… I will be glad to get to a place where I can take some papers out too! lol
Right now it is a struggle to remember all the things of making my stitches stay small and not to take big bites of fabric with my needle… but I am persevering and it is getting easier… this will coordinate when I am finished with the Spiral Log Cabin Quilt too ❤

I have been working all week on finishing the organization of my sewing room and stash… I have lots of progress to share and this is the only part of the room I haven’t done yet … so I may finish that today too… it is hand work anyway and not a machine that does the sorting!!!

 I sorted all I had containers for and bought all they had (two!!!) at a store while my honey saw the surgeon for his follow up appointment (2 weeks post op now 😀 )….

So yesterday while I was out to go to the quilt shop and some other errands for Quilting Day… I stopped by Dollar Tree and got one more container for my white scraps that need desperately to be divided to cream and white instead… so the lids will go on and stay on until needed… like all of these are now!!!!

I couldn’t find the link where I had printed off the colors initially so I found this link and saved it… but I need to make a handmade one for offwhite or cream for the not really white box… what do you all think???

So my door is skinny but I wanted to share all my fabric stash in this closet away from dust and light and our low dander pup too…
Above you can see the shelf that is to the left at eye level

To the left is the left side of straight ahead… the shelf system my honey built to the wall for me to use with my board wrapped fabric system.

To the right is more of that shelf system and you can see the rest of the U shaped shelves with book and such at eye level (yep even phone books for string piecing – thanks to Bonnie Hunter for that tip! )  And a bit more fabric in that tower of shelves on the bottom right of the photo … I am sorting that into my main fabric storage as I get to it though 😀

Here is the photo I will share at the Crafty Quilter end of the month though… more concise 🙂

Finally for my sewing room review is a corner I haven’t shared in AGES because it was piled up with civil war fabrics and junk… now it is actively holding only what I need to see for current and future projects 🙂

The green tray is my EPP stuff and also has the binding for the Spiral Log Cabin… along the back of the table are frequently used rulers and other such things that I need quick access to that I haven’t seen in ages so I was happy to find some of those things again and get reacquainted.  

On the front edge is fabric for my granddaughter to be’s quilt I am planning… more on that as it happens 🙂  My grand daughters name will be Elliana… I will be appliqueing her name on her quilt as well as some wilderness animals at her parents request… it is their anniversary tomorrow on the 18th… 2 years married!!!  I will probably work on that project then as I enjoy thinking of them and maybe ring them and see if they can chat! 😀

Here is the backing I will expand and plan to use… it is Moda and Flannel and soft!!!

 Here is the print I plan to put into use on a bag for a friend of my daughter’s… she will pay for the supplies for a purse and has chosen blues and elephants and this print from several I shared with her…

I am excited to have a bag to make and another coming soon too… more on this stuff next week though!

If you have Bluprint or access to it and are looking for a good comprehensive applique class… check out this one … Bluprint was Craftsy in the past…

I have 1 class I can buy and this may be it before my subscription expires… I may re up next month for a new year but it isn’t in the cards this month and that is okay too… I have certainly enjoyed it… if you ever want to expand your crafting horizons consider a year of Bluprint as a gift for yourself… I did and I have and I don’t regret a penny I spent doing it 😀

 As part of a parcel of loveliness I got from my bestie yesterday (she sent me the pink fabric I shared in the fabric for my grand daughters quilt to become)…. she sent my honey a sweet “get well” card and a gift card to his fave store!!!

He was floored to get such a thing from her and excited to start a post op project he had wanted to do… so off we went on our way to the quilt shop to afterward take him to Lowe’s for wood to expand our bedside tables….

We both use cpap machines at night… his is a fancy version that is top of the line sleeping assist for severe sleep apnea called IVAP and mine is the low end version for minor sleep apnea … just CPAP… he converted a couple 2 cube tables into pull outs on the top for our machines and baskets below to hold our supplies… now he is adding wood to the tops of each to give us more room for books and remotes and clocks and change… the list goes on… he made us hooks off the lamps that hang on the walls… so it has been a project to get us all fixed up to sleep well… but these table tops (thanks to Connie) are something he really really wanted next month… so he got them this month and found the energy to cut the wood and fit them yesterday and let us try them out before staining them to match the bases then poly will cover them to make them fluid resistant since we like water or a soda to drink at bedtime.

Rick got out yesterday and fed our fish in the pond for the first time since winter… they hibernate and won’t eat in wintertime!  CRAZY!!!!  So he grabbed my phone and took some pictures… the ground is still saturated from all the rain we have had of late… but he managed to find a dry enough spot to stop on the golf cart to take these photos for you all…

Soon it will be warm enough out I can go out and swing on the swing and watch the nursery grow in the pond (nursery of fish that is)… I love our home and our pond and yard!!! I feel so blessed to have the grist mill attached to it too… it is fun to feed the fish and watch the little ones become teens and the teens become grown ones… we love having friends stop by and fish in our pond too!!!  I enjoyed winter… don’t get me wrong but I love spring too.. and here it comes!!!!

So take time this week to be in love with your life… share your fave part of your life with me in a comment if you will… give gratitude for what is going great for you or what makes you happy!

Appalachian Delight becomes a flimsy and one more does too!

Welcome to my blog y’all!  It has been a busy yet still restless week of recovery around here… and LOTS and LOTS of rain has been going on!!!

And now it is our time in most of the USA to lose an hour… so spring forward if you do… don’t forget every clock in the house too! lol

For those of you that aren’t regular visitors to my blog … my honey had his right hip replaced on Feb 27 and came home on the 28th.. Whirlwind major surgery and now he can’t cross his legs anymore either!   Physical therapy started this week and in depth exercising and lots of healing and more independence by my honey is occuring… so all is going well.. but leaving us both rather sleepless still in the whirlwind of so much going on… I think when it is time for our next joint replacement (I have 2 knees that need replacing yesterday or last week even … and what caused his right hip to need replacing may take precedence for the left hip to get replaced next though…. so time and healing of this hip will help us decide which is coming up this summer when he is properly healed from this.

Meanwhile… I have been hand quilting and sewing like crazy!!!!

I got all 4 borders mitered on my Appalachian Delight Quilt…

 And made this collage of all my efforts 🙂

 I used a youtube video by Laura at SewVeryEasy where she actually showed how to make a nice wide border on a signature quilt… with miters… her directs were precise and easy to follow… my mitered border wound up measuring 13 1/2″ wide and 3 yards long… the bottom side was pieced to keep it on on the length of fabric to avoid any waving border syndrome with this one ! lol

Now all the pieces … flimsy top, binding strips already cut, leftover outer border fabic and backing you see peeking out from below the border fabric… are in a basket in my sewing room as it will be mid summer or later before this sees the frame.

With that done and still sleeplessness abounds I started trying to figure out the Rooster EPP project I shared a couple weeks ago…

It is a Violet Craft pattern I bought last year and prepped to coordinate with the spiral log cabin quilt… so mine won’t be these colors exactly.

Here is my kit set up…

 Above you see everything posed on a melamine tray we have in our stash for just such a project… to keep glue from getting on everything and keep it all together.  My portable design wall I thought would do well for a start of organization and a box I bought just for EPP organization from Dollar General stores… 3 layers with the top layer having dividers .  You can see it better below…

 She says you can start anywhere you like but she had intended the pattern to be started with the #1 and progressed to the end… so I am 🙂

 Above you see the back side of the pattern… she uses pictures to designate a fabric color.  I then used my vintage dry iron and a piece of fabric meant to help keep my iron clean as a pressing cloth between the glued piece and my iron 🙂

 In the box in the photo above you can see my planned use of items.  And below in a well cleaned and ready to use meat packing styrofoam dish I have all set up…

 And I am making good progress with all my excitement for a new skill to learn…

My stitches are a bit more obvious than I first hoped … but this is new to me … so off I went to find a great video on Youtube by Sara at SewSweetness on EPP and making a pouch from the pieces of hexi shaped EPPing… I learned a lot more from her than I did from the video she recommended… she is very sweet and knowledgeable!  I have tackled a few more pieces and will share more of BOTH sides of my work next week.  I am much happier with my stitches though as I progress which is expected I would think.

I finished the row of hand quilting I was on last week and rolled the quilt… Now I am at the center and moving over that center to a down hill pace…

 Here I am sharing the border completed on this section and the center marked and started on….

 I actually am at the center of the center now though!  But I must slow down a bit unless I want an empty frame with I do NOT… my next project is a quilt for my best friend … she is piecing it and while all the blocks are done life still happens and she won’t have the sashings and borders done properly for another few weeks I am afraid.  So I am trying to pace my finish on Spiral Log Cabin.

Linking both the EPP and Spiral Log Cabin hand quilting to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post HERE.

I did take these messy sheets for the UFO/ WIP challenge Julie is hosting as a linky party the end of each month…

 And reprinted sheets on card stock and rewrote things I had on this list making better use of my space…

Some of you mentioned rewriting sheets and not keeping track of the completed projects but even if each page grows to the next page or even a 3rd page… I will keep them all to look back at years end and see all I have accomplished 😀

I love the wristlet purse I made and shared last week… it is soo handy and awesome!  Everything has a place in this bag too ❤

Gloria (my Singer two toned 301a) and I pieced a quilt top this week… but I used Cleo my Singer 319w to do the applique zig zag stitching…

 Here is how that panel I appliqued turned out …

 And here is the quilt top flimsy in full…

 Here is the backing folded (had to border it to make it big enough for the quilt top.  Also there is a label and binding already cut there too!!!

 Simon is an almost 1  year old child of my daughter’s good friend.  This friend is taking her to GED classes and such so Brandi and her boyfriend Timmy requested a quilt for their 2 kids… above is the younger one’s quilt to be and below is the beginning brainstorming of the older one’s (almost 5) quilt to be…

His name is Jasper and it will be somewhere on the quilt too.

I hope to be quilting these both during the worldwide quilting day next Saturday… what do you plan to do during the worldwide quilting day???

Linking this quilty post to the Peacock Party by Wendy Welsh who is traveling around New Zealand this weekend and knitting a scarf too ❤ HERE !!

Have a great week ahead wherever you are and hope your weather and projects are both enjoyable to you…

Surgery a success & LOTS more to share!

Hello to March 2019!!!  Here is a snapshot of my calendar this month….

“Journey through life happily and full of joy”

I turned the calendar soon after we returned home from my honey’s right hip replacement surgery.  Before I get to that though… look what I completed before we left to go to Asheville for his surgery!!!

 Not only are the colored bins below all organized and put away neatly as possible but almost all my wrapped fabrics are organized too..

It took some finagling to get the fabric and the scraps all organized in the closet of my sewing room but I did!

All that is left is to address the elephant in the room now… my cutting table with all my civil war fabrics from the last 2 quilts on it… not ready to organize them yet because I have pillow shams to fashion for Appalachian Delight that I am adding borders to this morning! 🙂

I put this quilt up for sale this week… 

 The fall wall hanging quilt sold last week….  this is the only one I still want to destash.. it is a lovely quilt but just doesn’t fit our mountain decor here … so hopefully it will fit someone else’s decor and find a fitting home.  The fall wall hanging got glowing feedback when the person received it.

Also before we left for our journey to surgery… I started cutting out and assembling the Diamond Clutch Wallet that I planned to make into a wristlet!

So Sunday and Monday were busy days… I doubt I touched the hand quilting on the wall hanging but the sorting did take a front seat and that is hand work of sorts… so I feel I accomplished a lot getting my sewing room in order before we left Tuesday to drop Molly at the groomers for a trim and boarding too… and then on the Asheville as the VA was putting us up in a motel before surgery to be close by for a 6 am arrival time.

 We found the motel and spent a sleepless night awaiting a 4 am wake up call from the automated motel system.  The VA was only 15 or less from our motel though so that was a definite blessing.  We also found parking close to the front doors to go to the pre op waiting room and Rick was changed and ready for surgery by 6 am as scheduled!!! yay 😀

Here is a photo I took the morning after surgery… for our best friend Connie.  He was so happy to be able to be out of the bed and up in the chair under his own steam with leadership from a great occupational therapist and physical therapist too… the day of surgery was rough all around but the next day was GREAT… and soon he was actually being discharged!

While he was running laps around the surgical unit I spent the night at a great place called the Rathbun Center… think Ronald McDonald house for adults.  It was a beautiful hideaway behind a subdivision of Asheville and is monitored 24 hours a day… your stay is free or they accept donations and they provide some basic food stuffs but you can cook and store food in their kitchen… watch tv in public spots… use a computer in the library or relax in your private room with bathroom.. very nice… here is a photo of this sweet spot…

It was ramp accessible which made it a perfect fit for me… so when Rick has to have his left hip replaced (near future we think) I may try to get an appointment to stay there again as I only stayed 1 night and thought it would be 2 or 3!!!  My honey just did GREAT though 😀

We got home Thursday evening and within 1 hour of getting home we had the car unloaded and Rick had switched walkers to one more keen for outdoors and walked along the flat path to his man cave outside… he loves that spot… and he enjoyed the fact he could walk there by himself too!  This was unexpected for us pre operatively!

Thursday night… as it turns out was his best sleeping night of all our nights home yet.  We each slept in shifts as he couldn’t settle and I was exhausted… so I slept first and deep and good… then woke to catch up on missed hand quilting time… He took a round of medicine for pain and I got him cozy in the bed and he slept with me just checking in on him until 4 hours passed and it was time for more medications… we used the bathroom and we re-positioned him and off to sleep he was again!  lol  He slept another 4 hours and woke to get up and work on little projects around the house he had on his mind… moving around and adding pull bars in the bathrooms… packing something we sold while he was in the hospital… and going to run errands with me in the afternoon  🙂

Saturday I decided it was time to finish the wallet I had started before his surgery…

 Working on the zipper… had to remove metal teeth to shorten it and move the stops to where the teeth were removed required some tools my honey donated to my bag making stash from his tool stash 🙂  I love that we share passions in some ways too!

Tah dah….

 Here is a betting photo of the whole Diamond Clutch Wristlet Wallet I made from a pattern that was very well written with photos and a video for a few parts too…

In the light peach change pocket I added a swivel clasp to hold car keys so they don’t run off on me 🙂  I also put one of my Handcrafted label sin this wallet you will see 😀  I learned a lot making it and think there will be another in the far future for me to make for myself but all together I don’t think the pattern directions could be improved upon !

This weekend has gone so well… last night I sat down and figured and measured and CUT the borders for Appalachian Delight!  This morning I attached the freshly pressed borders and am now planning to lay them out on our kitchen bar to figure the mitering that needs to happen…

 Isn’t this lovely!!!  The center I pieced measures 80″ square and the outer border is an additional 13″ of top quality quilt shop quality fabric I bought for a song in bulk from a quilt shop closing and advertising their remaining things on eBay over a month ago.

Yesterday I also rolled the quilt and will now be going right across the center of the quilt and that top border is noticeable!!!

This morning I have already put in some baptist fan stitches and have 2 of the 8 needed fans complete… I am pointing to my current spot where I will spend this day stitching below with my finger…

Linking this progress to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday Party HERE << see her applique!!

and 

The Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilt and More HERE << where Wendy is showing a Giraffe stitchery by Kim McLean that is very cool!

Here is a photo of Molly.. freshly groomed and looking cute and our freshly pre-op organized living room… you can see Fiona behind the sofa now and my quilt frame beyond that…

 Here is a close up of my Fiona… she is a straight stitching Morse and she began this drive to own only vintage machines… we bought here without the beautiful case my honey bestowed on her … for $15 as found on Craigslist… she took a bit of work but she is a fave of mine and will always hold a special place in my heart 🙂

Someone posted this on facebook this week… so I will leave you with this thought… if you Rise … why not Shine too 🙂

Well … off to be busy hand quilting and pressing Appalachian Delight and figure out those miters for the 4 corners… this quilt will be neatly folded once finished as I focus on finishing the wall hanging on the frame and wait for Connie to find time to finish a quilt she wanted me to hand quilt for her bed 🙂  I also am planning a couple toddler quilts for my daughter’s best friends kids…  No rest for the weary… sleep will happen eventually! lol  For now I am just glad we are in love with our life here in NC… every minute of it!!!

Sewing Sewing Sewing and Raining Raining Raining!!!

It has been raining every single day here folks!  Wow… the Valley River runs through our yard and we are concerned that at this rate the constant slow rain may make it overflow it’s banks!  So to not think about that I have been Sewing and Organizing!!!

Here is a photo of Holli, my friend who has a farm in Kentucky and is a military wife as well… so she dreams of retiring to her daddy’s farm there while they are about to move to Washington DC!!!  She is excited for her husbands new post… and their plans… she may even take this banner she requested with her to keep the farm nearby while 11 hours away!!!

Once I figured out how to make this banner for Holli… personalized as she specified (she sent me a charm pack of her fave fabric and answered some questions for me… I got it together…

 And before I knew it … a bit at a time… it was all working out!!  I even found a needle in my stash…

 meant for elastic threading … that I used to thread the red ribbon in the lace at the top of the banner pieces 🙂

Then I finally mailed it… & she received it on her 3 year quilting anniversary 😀

Isn’t Holli just glowing in this photo… the first photo above of the banner was in my kitchen on a mocked up window… now it hangs on the fireplace at her farm… it may go to DC before it lands in the windows of her sewing room at this same little farmhouse !!!  Glad I made it durable!! lol

So this is one start and finish in the same month for Julie at the Crafty Quilter’s UFO/WIP Link Up… but anyone that follows me knows I have a major UFO that got finished this month as well!!!  I will show this one to Julie as my finish for this month…

Stars Among Us was pieced and borders taken off and redone and quilting plan revamped SEVERAL times before it was a finished quilt… now it hangs proudly in our kitchen on the hanger my bestie brought to us on a visit last fall!!!  See Julie’s Link Up HERE!

See my pages that keep me in focus this year here…

Today I am focusing on organizing and slow stitching …

My first slow stitching focus will be to sew on this new hanging sleeve onto my bulls eye wall hanging…

 We had it hanging on the wall in Florida with a skinny pole and I (for what unknown reason) made a skinny hanging sleeve on this quilt… so now it is time to get a proper hanging sleeve on it… it is made and pinned to the top evenly ready to stitch down as soon as I finish this post.

I spent a good bit of the last of the week organizing my sewing room…

 By Colors!

 See all the organizers from the dollar store I got… and I had to get more to make this work right…

The last photo shows all the scrap reorganizing I have done… and the bit left to do as well.  Much of that is donated scraps from my friends and batting though… this last part will be a true joy to go through ❤

I had all my scraps organized by size … 5 ” 2 1/2″ strips and scraps too… I redid ALL that to color family instead… I had to divide the blues into 3 containers… light, medium, and dark!  I also have a full shelf of blue on the boards I organize with in the closet!!!  I will show you all my closet in next weeks post but here are some of the boards of luan that my honey cuts for me and I wrap fat quarters and larger on…

And here is a whole stack of those boards… 96 to be exact as I keep running out so while I napped one day my honey cut a whole big board of luan into little boards for me 😀

These are now in the sanding process to make sure none of my sweet fabric gets splintered 😀

Each quilter is different when needing to organize… I am glad I have a mentor like Connie who lets me do things my own way and find out what works for me through school of live and learn for yourself! hahaha… she helped me organize like a well known quilter suggests… only for me to realize over time THIS WAY may be better for my kind of quilting.  We will see!!!

Here is my newly recovered ironing board hanging by a hook on the back of my sewing room door … safely hidden until I need it again!

 Here is a little bitty pair of pliers we got in a lot of things the other day… my honey said I could have them for my bag making supplies!!! AWESOME… posed here next to my small gingher scissors so you can see how small the pliers really are!!!

 Waiting patiently is the quilt and fabric for the 14″ outer border to be cut and fit…

 And our sweet Molly in her crate in my sewing room … watching and sniffing all the fabric as I sort it! lol

 She got a name badge with my phone # on it for her collar this week too… we found it from a nice Etsy seller very affordably 🙂

Next up is my awesome progress on the Spiral Log Cabin quilt on my frame!!!!

Taking pointers from a fellow quilty blogger… I turned OFF the lights and lightened this photo up some using my phone camera options….

 I think that shows off the quilting better than I was able to get it before for y’all!

And our fireplace has kept me warm on these not cold but cool and wet days… will it quit raining y’all???

After consulting with Connie… I decided the center would be best with an overall design like I did the stars quilt… except this time I wanted something a bit looser so I decided to go with a “baptist fan” design…  Here I am marking baptist fans on the center…

 I made my template with quilters template plastic I had and a hole punch (regular size) at 1 1/8″ from the starting hole.  Then put a pin in the starting hole as in the photo above to let the template swivel without moving the fixed beginning hole.  Then I mark the 5 holes above (odd numbers are recommended for this template)… I got most of my information for this template making HERE. And look how it turned out!!!

 Here I am already rolled and working on the second row…

 Here you can see WHY I chose the green chalk to mark with.. it shows on all the colors in the center of this quilt…

 And here is a good photo of where I am at this moment…  I will be back here later today when the hanging sleeve is on the quilt and it is all being washed 😀

Here is a look at my shangri-la spot in this home… this and my sewing room… okay the whole 1 1/2 acres is my shangri-la spot!!!! hahaha  But this ranks in one of the highest areas in our home I enjoy…

I am linking all this slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching party HERE …. and
Wendy’s Quilts and More Peacock Party HERE for lovely hand stitching and photography from down under too!  Please take time to follow the links to each.  They should open in new windows so you don’t lose your place here… then come back .. I have a few more things to share!!!

I think last week when I was sharing our home renovation plans I didn’t well explain what we were doing… here is the kitchen reno that occurred this week…

And a video of Molly figuring out that my honey is really making those noises coming out the end of the 12 foot tube left over from the vinyl we put in the kitchen!!!

and the finished result …

Transitions between the vinyl level and the laminate level still to come but we got oak 1/4″ boards for that 😀  Soo excited to see this kitchen all coming together!!!!

Here is a Singer Sew Handy Model 20 sewing machine we have up for sale this weekend too… it certainly is a beauty and the case in such nice condition is a rarity to come with a working sewing chain stitching hand crank Singer…

We have a Sew handy similar to this one in our collection already… and it has the case just like this one… we love using it and it is such a conversation starter when we have company too!!!

I am reading this book now a bit each day too…

 So as we prepare for my honey’s upcoming surgery (hip replacement on the 27th if you can send up happy thoughts/prayers they would be appreciated) you can see we are staying busy busy busy!!!

Stay in love with your life though and you won’t falter in your plans to succeed 🙂

A Finish and a Beginning… and lots in the Middle too!

I finished and washed the throw quilt last week… and it became a wall hanging!!!

My honey loved it soo much he wants Stars Among Us hanging on the quilt hanger in the kitchen 🙂  So here it is!!!  The colored chalk was completely gone after my traditional first TWO washings… when I took it out after the first there was a bit of pink chalk still in it… but I had used pink pounce AND pink cartridge chalk on marking the center… so back in the washer it for 1 more wash and all looked great… dried it and look how wonderful the texture turned out… we are soo pleased ❤

One day is all I could handle having empty nest syndrome…..

This is my Spiral Log Cabin quilt flimsy that has been fixed (the outer border was waving too much!) and is now became one with the frame and a flimsy no more on the Tuesday!!!

The rest of that day was spent at doctor appointments for my honey’s upcoming surgery for his hip replacement.  It is our first joint replacement in this house so we are starting the prep work in earnest now!  Keep reading you will see 🙂

Then Wednesday errands for prep and more doctor appointments for both of us locally… then it was Thursday!!!  Happy Valentine’s to me from my honey…

This expensive chocolate is our tradition for him to get me… I got him a bit of chocolate this year too and he loved the new tradition of getting some himself 😀

Here is hoping you had a great Valentine’s Day… if you celebrate where you live!

We also put this cool little Singer sewing machine up for sale on Valentine’s.. it sold out quick too!!

It is special because most of the metal parts are black.. this is called a “blackside” finish on those parts made around the 40’s in wartime to preserve the best metal for war time needs.  This machine was actually produced according to our information… in the mid 1950’s… but with parts in the 1940’s primarily on it … and sketchy records kept during this time on these machines anyway… it makes it more valuable… but it is on it’s way to a great home where it will be loved and appreciated ❤

Finally Friday rolled around and we were rested and I took a few photos and made some progress on this project…

 After assembling the tools I would use I did some stitching… this was the initial look… I knew it needed more depth though…

 So I phoned my bestie Connie and she had some perle 8 in a light brown… PERFECT  for this quilt… she said she would pitch it in the mail for me… well Saturday I got it to my surprise!!!

 And I made headway with it earlier…

 I have the bottom border mainly marked now… you can see the blue lines of what will be a natural YLI thread stitching…

 And I took a photo to include the new ball of perle in this beautiful color ..

 And here is a photo I shot this morning 🙂

I don’t have any plans for stencils on this quilt… but the center is yet to be decided… do you have ideas that strike you when you look at this photo for quilting the center inside the black border???

Linking the quilting in this post to:

Kathy’s Quilts… Slow Stitching Sunday HERE

& Wendy’s Quilts and More … Peacock Party HERE

Along with the 2 spools of thread was a surprise….

 Connie made us this most BEAUTIFUL doily to go on our wood shelf… you can see this wall in our kitchen below houses lots of vintage stuff and a while back I had asked her if she could crochet us something for this long shelf…

 I think it turned out perfect too ❤ 

I mentioned last week that a friend asked me to make something for her sewing room on her farm.  The girl in the photo below on the far left is Holli… she is standing with her hubby who is a Chief in the Navy…

 Holli is such a joyful friend… that is rare these days too!  So when she sent me a charm pack of her theme fabric I was thrilled to play with it and make her a banner bunting personalized for her…

 Here I am sewing on my Singer 319w… boy did this baby handle all that thickness like a dream!!!

I got to use this special applique foot too… and I see why people love it now… and I love it too for applique to look more professional… I think I could use this on bags too!!!

So that bunting is about 2/3 done or a bit more… and we have a “mock up ” area in our kitchen set up so I can hang it when finished and custom fit it to her windows where this will be hanging 😀  YAY!!!

Finally … what I am most excited about!!!!

Yesterday this happened!!!  My honey was out in his man cave building and came in to tell me he found a drawer that matched our kitchen.

And the day ended with the floor removed on this part of the kitchen proper… 

 And another view…

 And here is the bar top marked for removal…

The sample just to the left of the demolition line is a 12 foot by 8 foot piece of vinyl thick flooring we have had about a year… waiting for the opportunity to move the bar out and change about the kitchen… well that is happening NOW! lol

This prep for surgery is taking on lots of angles for sure… Rick understands as the day for surgery gets closer that he will be recuperating for A WHILE and unable to get down and up so much and learning new ways of doing things so he doesn’t make his new joint pop out … oh my!

Meanwhile the weather here has been mainly rainy but that took a hiatus yesterday and we did a ride about on the golf cart… things are starting to bud out a bit… I am getting excited that during Rick’s recuperation we may have the windows open at night again… I sure miss that about winter… I am not wishing away the seasons .. I love each one.. but this has been a very cold winter and we haven’t gotten the worst of it for sure!

I hope this post has brought you thoughtfulness about what you could do to shake up your own life .. or at least brought YOU some joy in reading about our escapades this week! lol  Take time to evaluate and be in love with your life my friends <3… every minute of it too.. if not make changes so you are!!!  No time like the present 🙂

Binding My Finish!!

I can’t believe what a week we have here in North Carolina… it was warm… now it is cold again!!!  So I stayed busy and decided it was time to empty the frame and yesterday I got to this!!

 I started the week looking at this…12 columns to stitch and the center would be done!!  Linking my progress on this project to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy’s Quilts in Canada where she is stitching away in the cold weather they are getting HERE!

Soon enough I was on to this and chipping away at the finish!!!

At finally it was time to trim the quilt, decide on the binding, figure it and cut it and make it one long piece… then to sit down at Cleo and give her a chance to sing as she sewed down the binding 🙂

 My favorite accouterments for binding…

 And getting it started with a tan 50 wt Aurifil thread 🙂

Soon I had made my way around the first corner and down a bit and got a picture… I am sure not all my corners will miter so nicely but this one turned out nice I think… as did my label 😀

Linking all this to the Peacock Party Wendy is having HERE!

Also this week was continue to remove and replace the bottom outer border on this quilt flimsy… it is next to go in the frame….

Here is a close up of what a properly pinned border left me with… you see I placed this length of fabric border on here in a rush and measured down the center but somehow miss-measured the borders when I cut them… AND they are also set in place with miters too! lol  I can’t make this redo job easy on myself now can I!

Anyway this was taken off the bottom.. so I decided I best check the top better too so I pressed it and sure enough it waved back at me … so I took it off in the photo above you see a bit less left but still quite a chunk of fabric was removed as I removed and replaced these borders.

I will share my plan for hand quilting this wall hanging next week 🙂

My honey has been busy working on tiling this tile we have in our kitchen in 4 separate areas…

That fruit tile is Italian maybe in the bottom left???  Well didn’t suit our river mountain home anyway so in his stash my honey found and figured how to utilize some tile left over from our Florida home… that is  the bottom right.  Then properly grouted is the top photo… the glass tiles really took on a deeper color once grouted 😀  

Does he get to count this as hand work for these to linky parties this week???

The background tile was roughed up as it is very shiny and white… next week I will share a photo of our kitchen with all 4 areas fixed to forever hide this fruit that just didn’t go with wood cabinets and all… I am excited to see it all grouted myself !!!

We got a little Singer Sew handy #20 Sewing Machine in Case this week… it sold within 5 minutes on Facebook too ❤  So nice to see this go to a home where it will be enjoyed.. and it works too !!

Today our sweet pup Molly is 8 months old!!!  Hard to believe !!! 

We teamed up and gave her a haircut and bath this week (the middle shot on the right above was before her haircut and bath).  She needed both!!!  She sure enjoys me taking quilts off the frame… she jumps right on them so it was good she was all clean!!! lol  She likes playing with sticks and wood outside, playing fetch though is still a favorite!  And she will do anything for a treat!

Last week I said I was going to keep the same closing until we got fresh flowers… well I found this quote this week (thanks to Bonnie Hunter) and investigated and found this… we live in the mountains with water beside and behind us so what could be better!!!  I quote by Jack Kerouac for you from me will be my closing until we get some fresh flowers and some new inspiration this year!!!

 

So take time to evaluate how much you are in love with every bit of your life I pray!  Life is short and we need to make changes as needed to be all we can be…

Happy February … Working towards a Finish Here !!

As we welcome February in I have been quilting by hand quite a bit!!

I want to invite you to look at all my photos and visit my bloggy friend Kathy and consider doing her scrappy football sew along mystery.  Read more about it HERE on her blog today is a link to that blog 😀

I started off the week of snow and very cold temps looking at this…

 And before i knew it is was ready to roll!!!

 Once rolled the left side got marked and started on…

 The pond is now unfrozen and the sun is out and we are back to doing things outside but it is a tad muddy ! So I am careful…

 This morning I took this photo for you…

 And a closer up of where I am… see my bronze thimble there on the quilt??  That is where I am this morning on the quilting… my last swipe of it going across the center part 😀

 So yesterday I pulled out this wall hanging that has a ruffly bottom outer border and started the slow arduous process of taking that border off… repressing it all and sewing it back on… mitered corner and all y’all!!!!

I added these corners without pins or measuring … do not do as I do but learn from this photo… 3 went on fine but one did not and needs removed… I will finish this today during Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and the Peacock Party too right HERE!!!

Are you watching the Superbowl today??  We may or may not … we have no vested interest in it and I go to bed early so I will say I probably won’t ! lol  How about you though… tell me if you are rooting for one team or the other… I do look forward to seeing the stadium in Atlanta that this competition is happening in 😀

I am curious… are you making anything for valentine’s this year?  I hadn’t planned anything… well I did but other things got in the way.  So now it is near and I have nothing made! lol

I did get a photo of the ironing board cover I sent off to my good friend Debbie for her birthday last month!!!

It looks so good and fits so nice to only have general measurements… she loves it and I loved getting the photo!!!

I am anxiously awaiting a charm pack to make a gift requested by a different friend.  She is decorating her sewing room and wanted me to hand quilt her something… but the more we talked we narrowed her real need down to a window dressing across 2 windows that are right together and she looks out of all the time over the farm she lives on when there with her dad and kids too ❤  I will make her a special something fun for that window to dress it up using the 30's charm pack she has in route to me as I write this ❤ 

More to come in a couple weeks… oh but she wants to be surprised so all the info will be happening behind the scenes y’all!  Sorry!  Keep me and my imagination to properly finish this project in your thoughts please… I hope to have it done and delivered before the end of the month!!!

This happened here this past week …

Or can you see it better here ….

I am sharing it  both ways via blogger’s video and directly under that so you might see our SNOW!!!

We live in North Carolina in the southwestern tip of it and had a good bit of snow but not nearly what other’s had!!!  While I was quilting above… my honey was fashioning a return on the chair rail and finishing the pantry he started…

 Here is the pantry… waiting for the tv that will sit on top…

 Here is the whole area so you can see better how important the return on that chair rail was for him to do so nicely 😀

 And after we went to the grocery store and stocked up!!!  It held all we bought and we bought more than usual ❤

After a lot of wondering and shopping about we finally decided a 24″ smart tv from Best Buy was our best bet to fit nicely without looking squished on this pantry… Rick will be able to use his iPad on it or not… and we had have news and such playing in there or casted things from the iPad too while cooking or just hanging out!  It will be as a kitchen should be… the heart of our home as he continues to make little changes … stay tuned 😀

I got this book in the mail this week..

So many of my bloggy friends are joining in on sew alongs that have started and other plans… as for me I will read this book for a sew along that will follow Ask Sara of Sew Sweetness on Tuesday evenings on Youtube!  I am looking forward to this fun read… she has 6 different books in the month planned but this is the only one I have agreed to do… more info coming up on Feb 12th on her show.  I had to get the book from the UK but it looks like the perfect read for me and my honey to enjoy as he recuperates from his hip replacement… so that is what will happen with this book I think 🙂

Meanwhile we are wondering about the outer border for Appalachian Delight… a wide (14″) border is now replacing all those littler borders I had planned.

 We decided this taupe print might work best… so later this week we should order this to go own…

What do you think?  The bottom is what we have left from making the cornerstones in the center of the quilt… we want a little something different and are planning to make a fun design hand quilted in big stitch quilting threads on this wide border that will end in the burgandy solid binding 🙂  This will be on our bed when the current quilt isn’t … this will give us 2 quilts at this point… and then I have more things planned for my time at this moment 😀 lol!

I look forward to hearing from each of you and hope you are each living a life you love … I sure am!

Is remains my sign off as we wait for those hyacinth or some buttercups to emerge… but with the frigid cold we have had… it may be a while yet! lol  Kathi

In LOVE with the Lazy Daisy !!

I can’t believe this paradise of a home is ours forever !!!  It is just so exciting 😀

I have NEVER felt as I do about a place as I do about this place… in the valley of the mountains in rural North Carolina is the place for me!  Now I am soo happy I left my retreat in Fla for THIS!!!

Rick got a RC boat that I snuck and ordered for him… watch the video here if you are interested…

It zooms around our pond for sure and was a fun kind of thing to get amidst all the work we have to do still! lol

Meanwhile I have been unloading boxes and enjoying the view from here as well…

I never tire of the grist mill running… we do have to divert the water to it when it gets below freezing outside but hopefully those nights are now behind us for the year!

I shared last week how Rick got my shelves in the closet for my fabrics… and how I filled them UP!!!

Well this week I have focused a lot on those Kaleidoscope Krazy blocks I have worked on for a while now!

Above you can see me working on them… and below you can see me counting my progress…

 Those little purple circular things are Dove eggs… dark chocolate… yummm!

 Organized my 60 finished blocks above

 And further organized the 72 blocks to go on top of those in a styrofoam tray I harvested for this project… works great 😀

Then I focused on my leaders and enders I had been building …

they look like they need a border and binding to be a baby quilt! lol  We will see if I make it bigger or finish it and call it done!  This was my 1st time to stick with a leader/ender project long enough to do anything with it!

I also put up some memorabilia decor in the sewing room…

And decided instead of buying valances for the sewing room I would somehow rework a vintage improved 9 patch I have been hoarding for A WHILE… to make a set of 2 valances 😀  So stay tuned for that feat!  I do appreciate having my ruler holder back up though!

In the living room area I have been working slowly on slow stitching on the wholecloth with no pic to share as it is BORING yawn… I need to focus and get something worth sharing ready for next week… and on the other side of the living room….

I have the relaxing rocker and the big frame ready for new leaders to be put on… meanwhile a flimsy I finished a couple years ago is waiting for borders to be reworked… then it will be ready for hand quilting… I already have the binding cut for this one but the outer border turned out ruffley for some reason so after examining it again I realized letting it vegetate for a while did NOT change it’s situation… so hopefully this week it will get a seam ripper to it. and get ready for the new leaders to be attached 😀

My honey … is a veteran… and we are both quite patriotic as well… so a flag was a must for our new home….

 He got it flying high… 20 feet high to be exact…

 You can see it from the post office and road above… very cool!

He also got the lawn mower back in working order and the deck painted… it was very chipped up!  It looks sooo nice now 😀

Also I was able to snag a full shot of our golf cart… the rear of it makes a seat for 2 passengers or as it is a flat area to carry stuff… that is our primary way to transport heavy things from the house/garage to the out building. 

Do any of you have these little but heavy pattern weights?  They have felt on the bottom but are plastic on the top and go inside a rectangle shaped box when stored… I saw these on a friends blog and she shared this pic with me… I want some!!!  lol

 Here is a little wall hanging I fell in love with… hoping to use my applique skills soon to make something like this for our home 😀

Here is a fun photo I choreographed for my latest guilty pleasure too! lol

Pretty fun that April 1… aka April Fool’s day is also Easter… so hope you are having a blessed Easter!

Thanks for stopping in … hope you enjoyed your visit… please share what makes you happy as this wonderful month of April begins !!!