OKSGlad ... are any of these dogs, those adorable puppies? They lose some of that adorability, don't they, when they get up to their mischief! AS a good farmer, electric fence would be the solution!! :D

Anael ... of course, the cheese is in your native blood!! :D Closer and Closer for the SewGrands homecoming!!!! :D

JanieW and MiraB ... oh how lovely!!! A perfect garden block for JanieWs garden!! As alwaysk, precision piecing and points by our MiraB.

JanieW ... Your Fairy Garden is such a special part of your garden. The imagination and anticipation for your Grands as to what they might will hold memories for all of you, for years to come! Look at those boys investigating and checking every detail. Do you have surprises in the Fairy Garden periodically throughout the season for them to find?

QNSue ... your egg delivery to the LQS made me think of Eleanor Burns' book, Egg Money Quilts! Is Saturday your lesson on your new machine ........ of course, along with getting your new embroidery machine!

This is the first long weekend of the summer with Monday as a Stat Holiday. I usually plan the longs as sewing times, but this time I am relinquishing and my priority will be the outside flower beds, etc. UGH! I enjoy the results, just not so much the process! :) So I'll start tomorrow/Friday with a visit the chiropractor to get tuned up, and try to make it a little less agonizing. Then on my way home, look for some flowers, plants, perennials or whatever happens to jump into my car along the way! :D

However, I will fess up ... I am secretly hoping to stop early enough in the day and allow myself some sewing time to recover for the next day's work! :) And hoping to make it a little less of a marathon than I seem to make it!

And the show begins!!! What beautiful blocks. Honchey, like you, I've been studying GrannyQ's block to see it I could make it too. Really striking
Janie...luckily you. Great block and such eager Fairie hunters. Thanks for the pictures...
Jeanie...such a cute little one. Is your DH feeling better and is the renovation progressing?
QNS....what a whirlwind of accomplishments you are! Quilts, ducks, food, gardening, errands, etc.....
OK....dogs and cats seem to love the soft dirt of any kind of garden. Does it help that you have raised beds? Have you considered fencing? I had to last year because the deer were bedding down in my garden. I've taken most of it down this year because my raspberries and roses are taller this year and I haven't seen any sign of deer at all...just foxes. There is a den if babies across the block from us and I can hear them at night sometimes.
Anael...Bram's health could be challenging for your DS and DDIL but I'm sure they will be glad to have their babies home. May 29 will soon be here.How far from you are they?
Yesterday I got more pavers for edging, mulch, and plants so I can finish this year's project. Today I got started on a MB....finally found the right pattern....and it took much longer than I anticipated...had to go to a second try as the first one went together wrong and didn't reveal the mistake until it was too late to even rip it out. It makes a great orphan block for a future time.
Dubib...did any of the bad weather affect you at all? The headlines are all about towns east of Midland.

Wow just read all the posts I have missed since yesterday..

Beautiful blocks Grannyq loving the black white and red.

JanieW I'm pleased you liked the block, I always worry that I have chosen the wrong block or used the wrong fabrics, but that is just me..

Lovely photo of you and your sister Honchey, so nice to "see" you.

I have a busy day of errands and it is only 11.00 in the morning, have already done the grocery shopping, had to stop at the stationery store and pick up some printer ink, then to the vets for heart pills for my little boy. Printing off some documents while I get this typed then I am off to the Post Office. QuiltE your signature block is winging its way to you, hope you like it. Lunch with DS then he is having his car serviced so I will drive him home and wait for his phone call to go pick him up so he can collect his car.

I really really want to just hide out in my sewing room, like you QuiltE I want to get some projects finished up before starting anything new. BUT this morning I had a postie delivery of a new patchwork book and oh there is some lovely quilts in it. It is called Big Book of Scrap Quilts, note to self, hide book for at least 6 months:D. NinaSue our weather is really stupid at the moment, I haven't had blue skies for 2 weeks, just grey so waiting for a nice day to take pic of the house. If I have forgotten anyone I apologize but I had better get my butt off this computer and get moving, cause the little café we go to is really popular and if you are late you won't get a table..

Stretch, stretch, stretch all you gals working in the gardens..especially after the hot shower or tub when the muscles are nice and warm....

Wow! You all *were* very chatty today! :)

Janie--great job on GQ's MB. That is an interesting block. I am sure your GSs have fun visiting the garden each time they come over.

GQ--hope your DH gets to feeling better soon.

OK--how did the gardening go today? Looks like rain tonight.

QNS--busy day for you as usual.

Ggal--have you gotten any pictures of the fox? We have some that live around here. Don't have anything for them to get into so they don't come too close.

Karen--your block for Janie is great too. So much fun to see how they go together.

Anael--praying that Bram's oxygen can be regulated so he can go home soon.

QE--I am happy to have DH's help for this quilt since it is for a friend of his. He decided on the layout with the 4-Ps all around the compass. I will have it all on the display wall tomorrow including the outer border so will take a picture then.

DD--I too would be interested in seeing pictures.

Bev--have you gone to look at any more houses this week? You *will* find the right one!!!

If I missed someone...sorry!!

We were extra busy at the shop today...anniversary sale, 21 years! I did get the border fabric needed for the airplane quilt and also the fabric for the wedding quilt gift...it is batiks. Plan tomorrow is to get the right layout for the planes on the display wall and then start cutting the fabric I bought today for the gift.

DH is taking off at noon tomorrow. We have an appt at the bank, then going to lunch and a movie.

Oh so much agoin' on. I spent the last 2 days scourin' the internet lookin' at houses & then doin' drive by's. Dh took taday off but we only actually got our agent ta take us ta see one. We just loved everythin' about it except the inside o' the house. LOL I even was considerin' the inside as OK but DH hated it. It had 2 acres,w/48 pecans trees. The gardens around the house were wonderful. It had a great 2 car shop w/a storage room on the back. It also had a 2 car attached garage. It only had 2 bedrooms & 1 livin' area. I couldn't carve out a sewin' room or area a'tall. Not till #2 DSon leaves. I know that might be this fall or it might still be a couple o' years. Sigh. I don't want him ta feel pushed out. At least not yet. LOL DH hated the kitchen & all the tile was a cream & pink. (DH is the cook & the cook has ta like the kitchen.) Sigh!!! We'll keep lookin'.
We didn't even git a drop o' rain & yes the storms were 5 hours away. So I'm pretty safe for now.

To all those who have worked in field and garden bed--a hot soak in the tub with some epsom salts do wonders!!!

Yes Carrie, I got my tomatoes in; then dug a 20' trench to lay the drain tile for the down spout of the eave trough. Water has been going down through the flower bed. Eave trough is on the high side of the house--it's set in the hill. This should solve the soil washing through my flower bed. When I got the trench dug, DH "mentioned" that I could disc chisel if I wanted to. Well beans weren't planted yet-but I guess I "wanted" to. So I headed to last year's cornfield with the Case and Disc chisel[ATTACH=CONFIG]413945[/ATTACH]. This is similar to the piece I was using today. A moldboard plow digs into the ground and turns the soil over. The disc chisel first slices the ground with the metal discs and then the chisels dig into the dirt like heavy duty fingers. It's much narrower than a disc [ATTACH=CONFIG]413950[/ATTACH]so takes a while to go across the field. So for the next four hours I'm bouncing over the field while DH is seeding alfalfa in the field next to me with the seeder we brought home from our road trip last Friday[ATTACH=CONFIG]413948[/ATTACH]. There are 2 sets of rollers. The first rolls out all the lumps in the soil. The seed flows out of the red hoppers and the second set of rollers in the back firms to teeny tiny alfalfa seed into the ground. This is about the same width as the chisel plow, but he could drive faster as he was going over the soil and I was digging it up. Previously he had drilled in the peas and barley with a John Deere drill. [ATTACH=CONFIG]413949[/ATTACH] Those seeds are much larger so mechanics are sized for the bigger seeds. Later in early summer we will cut the peas and barley before the barley heads out and ensile it for the cows to eat. They love this sweet, tasty forage. The alfalfa will be short (3-5") when this happens. Once the grains are off the alfalfa continues to grow. Later in the summer we will cut the new alfalfa at least twice and put them into big square bales for animals to eat.
Okay enough for Ag 101--Spring Tillage and planting!
The field I was working once long ago was a farmstead. Always eerie when I work down there; like I'm working sacred ground. Inspired me to write a poem about it.

Oh Karen has put together another beautiful block; lucky you Janie!

Anael-hoping for the best for little Bram--

What a lovely fairy garden, Janie! (Cute kids, too.) Sure would be easier to care for than the big beds behind you.

Oh a Ben Franklin store--they were Walmarts of yesteryear but with lots of charm and you always found what you needed! Sorry it's closing QNS. Glad you have an outlet for your eggs. Nothing beats the sunny yellow of farm fresh eggs.
No QE, the puppies have been gone for quite some time--end of March. And yes GGal the soft soil is exactly what those dogs like. Not only that but my beds are set in the hillside. They can rest in a soft bed and look out onto the road--thrones fit for the Queen and King they think they are!! I have placed some old side delivery rake teeth across the tomato plants for now. Hopefully that works tonight. Not sure if we will get rain or not-wind has picked up now.

Time for this tired lady to head to bed. Another full day ahead. Guess what--no sewing today!! I miss my fix already.

OK. thanks for your story and pictures! It's nice to read what you're doing and how you do it!

Some more info on Bram: most of his lung tissue is damaged. Because of that when he's angry, hungry, crying or even coughing he turns blue because of lack of oxygen. He needs lots of time to stabilize and often needs help (more oxygen). So he has to grow more healthy lung tissue to overcome this problem. They expect him to be on oxygen for at least 3 or 4 more months. When he can use his energy for growing only it might be sooner.

I decided to do some house cleaning today :) In the afternoon I have to run some errands, don't feel like it but tomorrow I won't feel like doing that at all!
Again no sunshine today :(

Oksewglad what an interesting life for you on the farm. I am a city girl through and through, have brown thumbs and my DH will tell you that I loathe getting my feet dirty:D:D

Anael, Bram and Isa remain in my prayers, will say a special prayer for Bram tonight that he can overcome his lung difficulties and grow stronger with each passing day. He has been through so much.

I am off to bed to regain my sanity after today, I wanted to sew the panels together for my Marjen for Error embroidered quilt. Measured, measured and measured the lengths of the pieced panels, cut the sashing strips, sewed them onto the pieced panels and then very carefully trimmed the embroidered panels to the correct width and measured them to fit the pieced panels and gee they are too long, if I cut them to fit the pieced panels I cut the tops off the last embroideries. I cried. I have worked on this quilt for the past 6 months.. SO I reread the instructions from start to finish and worked out the calculations for putting it all together and the measurements in the pattern are WRONG WRONG WRONG. I cried again. I've been doing that a lot lately but for very different reasons.
So I think I will sleep on this one, fold it up very carefully and calmly:o put it out of sight so I don't have a meltdown and throw it in the trash. Do you ever feel like you are having one of those days, well I am having one of those fortnights and its not funny anymore.... thank you for reading my rant I shall go to bed now, tomorrow is another day and there is always another quilt to make. Now where is my Valium:D