Getting Started

Getting started--that's a really difficult thing for me to do. I have fabric, I have some free time, and the two just don't seem to meet with any results.

Occasionally I get results. My friend, Mrs. D, and I recently went to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX and purchased copious amounts of fabric and projects. I have completed one project since then, a wool-felt, pumpkin applique. Very cute! Just 10 more projects to do! Well, I don't know how many, I didn't necessarily keep track! But I do daydream about the 2-3 quilt projects I have lined up, the 2 felt projects, 2 redwork projects, 3+ shibori ribbon projects, and 2 cross-stitch projects. Okay, that's more than 10l But I do THINK of them often (and fondly).

I am currently prepping one of the felt projects from Plum Creek Collectibles. You have to preshrink all the wool/rayon felt for the applique. Bummer. Not hard but not fun. But soon they will look like this:


Super cute! Mrs. D has a kit too--we're shrinking together!


Today, Mrs. D and I delivered some COMPLETED sewn hats to the Pediatric Hospital at Medical City Dallas. The Girl Scout troop that I'm leader of made hats for kids with cancer. We used polar fleece and sewed some darling caps. The girls originally wanted to crochet the caps, but our skills didn't advance quite that far. I crocheted some hats during the learning process and donated those along with the polar fleece hats. Good job, girls! It's great to help others and to be "considerate and caring" and "friendly and helpful"!

While we were in the Medical City area, I pointed out to Mrs. D that we were close to North Haven Gardens--one of my favorite nurseries! I wanted to show Mrs. D their vegetable gardens and see what they had growing for fall. We saw some Malabar Spinach, which resembled a Hyacinth Bean vine. It was lovely, with purple vines and glossy, edible green leaves. We got to try a sample (with assistance from an employee, of course) and it was spinachy, lemony, and had a bit more "tooth" than baby spinach--more of a succulent plant. But very tasty. The veggie beds were inspiring--maybe, maybe next spring, we'll get those raised beds installed.

The roses were on sale! The roses in the fiber, biodegradable pots were half off. Ten bucks for roses. So I purchase a Pink Promise, a Hot Cocoa, and a Kimberlina. They are not in the best of shape, but I have planted worse! I also purchased some pansies for the fall/winter season. I found some lovely orange ones and I also purchase some Johnny-Jump-Ups for some containers.

Do you know that Johnny-Jump-Ups are native to Spain and the Pyrenees Mountains? I wonder how you say or pronounce their original name?

And to celebrate my first blog posting, I now leave you with one of my favorite photos. It just absolutely makes me laugh every time I see it. And after 14 years, they both still exhibit this same relationship! Boy, it starts early doesn't it?