Cultivate beauty and wisdom in and around you

I am on a learning curve to get used to this new laptop. I hit the space bar at inopportune times and because of the difference in keyboard, I can't seem to spell. I am sure I will get better. Our kids from The Netherlands arrive next week so we are getting a bedroom ready for Nora and cleaning like one does when guests are coming. Nora is 3 now and I am looking for some serious playtime. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am working on a few projects that I thought I'd share. I started this a long time ago and decided to finish it. I have a friend, Tracy, who has one in her kitchen and it is beautiful. It is an old Linda Brannock quilt called Gallaxy This is the book it is from. Nancy Edmonds took a class from Jen Kingwell and is making this quilt called Halo. I am not so ambitious and only want to make four blocks. Mine are hand pieced and I like them a lot. I have b...

Loren got a new laptop upon retiring and I'm going to give it a try today. Sure is different from our old computer. Very excellent. We returned from our camping trip to the Oregon beach and up the Washington coast to Port Angeles and Port Townsend and then down to Oregon again. It was a nice time away. I'll included a few pictures if I can figure out how to do it. whoopee!!! There is Sharons' cute Christmas project. Cindy combines her ideas and some of Sue Spargos' and came up with this great quilt. She is amazing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From our trip You might not know that this is the bark of a very cool tree that is next to the biggest Lovely evening watching the sun set. **************************************** Now for the August schedule. My Dutch family will be here part of the time so the days are a little different than usual. Thursday  8/3  10-4 W...

Retirement day has come for my husband and now we are free to travel. We are off to the beach tomorrow and will be gone for a little while. Here is the schedule for classes in July. Sat. July 22   10-4  Open Sew/ Spargonians Sunday July 23 Open Sew   11-4 Monday July 24 Open Sew  10-4 Wednesday July 26 Open Sew  10-4 Monday July 31 Open Sew   10-4 Susan P has finished the top of this quilt that has turned out to be quite popular. It has a wonderful background and beautiful applique. I've been making Nora a kitty face quilt and with left over fabric I am making a doll quilt. At this stage I had just a few rows left to do. Another of those beautiful quilts in process. Getting ready for my favorite season. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Our backyard getting ready for Loren's celebration of retirement!! My outhouse with the Privy sign Wider view We had a great time. 30+  people c...

I guess you can tell it's spring when all kinds of wind and rain and thunder and lightening and hail and then a little sun all show up in one day. I see green everywhere and flowers outdoing themselves in bloom. It is a riot of color everywhere. More beauty to come I'm sure. Lots of classes coming up so here is the current schedule for the rest of  May.... Sat. 27th Sunday 28th and Wed. 31st All classes are from 10-4, $10.00 with lunch included....Sundays start at 11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ June I'd like to remind you of the class on Monday June 12. It is called Slow Stitch Journal ideas. We will cover some of the ideas of Slow Stitching, slow food, slow everything! There are lots of ideas floating around on how to slow our busy lives down a bit. Sometimes when we sew we are just focusing on the finished product and don't pay attentions to the process.  In a Slow Stitch Journal we will let our stitches take us...

Since the sun has been out more lately I thought it was time to freshen up the Blog look and get rid on the rain! It is so refreshing to go out in the evening and it's still daylight. I'm getting anxious to plant some more flowers in the back and to pick some of my rhubarb, it is looking great. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.. Here is the schedule for the rest of April and all of May Tomorrow, Thursday April 20 Saturday April 22 Sunday April 23 Monday April 24 Wednesday April 26 May Thursday May 4 Wednesday May 10 NO CLASS ON SUNDAY MAY 14 MOTHER'S DAY Monday May 15 Thursday May 18 Monday May 22 Saturday May 27 Sunday May 28 Monday May 29  Wednesday May 31 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are a few pictures from our classes. Nancy finished this amazing bag. Lots of wool applique and a background of  Army blanket.  Great job Nancy!! A while ago some of us purchased kits from ...

I enjoyed doing the first one so much, I thought I'd do another one. This one will be about fun sites to look at and a couple of books that I've read that you might enjoy. Now for a few sites. http://www.stitchingbasket.com/site/ This is for those who like to cross stitch. It has some cute spring patterns and is pretty to look at. http://shelly-anarizonastitcher.blogspot.com/ Another cross stitcher. She is in Arizona and her pictures of her area are really pretty. http://hildisgoodlife.blogspot.com/ Not sure where this lady is from but I needed to hit the translate button. She takes beautiful pictures and has a lovely home. http://threadworkprimitives.blogspot.com/ Many of you know her patterns and here is her blog. Very nicely done. http://countryrusticprimitives.blogspot.com/ for those of us who like fall projects ************************************ For Embroidery lovers https://www.frenchneedle.com/blogs/frenchneedl...