A friend of mine and her husband are leaving for Ireland, Scotland and The Netherlands on Friday. Will be visiting family in The Netherlands. A 3 week vacation. Maybe you will run into them. Look for a lady that is knitting.

Hahaha Blue Bell, if The Netherlands were that small and she was the only one knitting I might find her. Wish her a great holiday!

NZ Quilter - so happy you are joining in! Mine too is scrappy, with a creamy background. I will enjoy watching your progress and comparing notes.

Didn't get much done on Sylvia this weekend, just one block finished which I will wait to show when I have a few more. My husband retired on May 1, and my daughter & I put together a book of all the nice comments, cards & e-mails he received. He doesn't know about it - I asked people who worked with him or were in one of the camps, youth groups or Habitat for Humanity groups that he led who are on Facebook to send me their memories privately. 84 participants, and some really lovely, meaningful comments made. So we spent the weekend getting that compiled & looking up old pictures. It is now off to be printed, so back to Sylvia for a little while. We are having a family retirement party on June 3, so I'll be busy cooking as that gets closer.

Teen - looking forward to your big unveiling of your Sylvia!

That's such a lovely thing to do DonnaPea!! Do we get a peak too? I would love to see one or two pages of that very special book.

Wow, that must have been a lot of work, DonnaPea! But what a lovely gift!! I'm sure your husband will treasure it.

Anael - I'll probably have to wait till the book arrives from the printer then scan some of it, as the program I did it in will not let me copy & paste the pages. At least not that I can figure out.

And I wanted to mention how much I enjoy your pictures of your lovely country. Like here, things are very green there.

Awesome celebration gift for his retirement. Love that idea. And,would love to see a couple of pages, too. You will, indeed, be busy Donna, as you prepare to honor your husbands accomplishments. Great response of notes from people, which tells me he is respected by many. Such a beautiful thing! Hope you have help in the party preparations. That's a lot of work...... Have fun!

Thanks, Teen. Here are a few blocks I've recently finished:

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Oh dear, curved piecing. You're so brave!! Lovely colours!

Fantastic, Donna!! Love the orange!

I'm planning the next trip with my brother :D Not the same distance, this time about 65 km. And of course I'll post some photos! Temps will be quite high, we're not used to those this early.
It's too dry, no blue berries this time, we really need some rain. Too late for the berries though :(

How fun, Anael, to spend so much time with your brother the way you do and doing something you both enjoy. I prefer the heat so your weather is probably right up my alley. We've had a rain and cloud cover the last week. I need to work on my tan so this not helping. Lol! Though my roses love the wet...

Ohhhhhhhh those roses are gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These were supposed to become apple berries:
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and these are watered on a daily basis:
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Maybe those and the raspberries will keep me alive :D :D
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We had a few drops of rain last night but not enough! The soil still is very dry.

My brother is 11 years younger. We never did anything together and started cycling together about 2 1/2 years ago. The first ride was a short one, just to find out if we would have fun together. And we had so we're cycling about every 2 months now.
I only work on my tan while cycling......hahahaha!
Do you prune your roses each year? When? I Love the bright yellow color!! I think I need some of those too!

Blueberries and strawberries are almost ready for picking. We had a cold and wet spring so our berries will be late. But my friend will give me more rhubarb today for another pie. Yummy.

Oops-----raspberries!

Oh rhubarb, nice!!! One of my friends promised me a rhubarb plant twice now and I still didn't get it hahaha.

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Babysitting duck :D :D Just had to share this.

Oh...this is darling.... Great picture...

yes, I prune my roses though, I was late this year with the 2 bushes pictured. I have yellow rose bushes everywhere but these are my best performers. These bushes will be twice the size in a month. Love yellow...lol!

I've never attempted growing berries but, in my new home, DH is building me a greenhouse. I have lots of ideas for that thing. Never had a greenhouse so this will be fun...

Spent the day at a Veteran community awards luncheon. My best friend was recognized for his service in Army and to the community. So proud of him and all he does for his comrades. Lovely time and very emotional... Busy week with the holiday coming. Lots of Vet stuff I participate in, chili cook-off, parade, National cemetery volunteer stuff. Thousands of flags to place, which is my favorite to do. I love our National cemetery...so pretty...

So jealous of the roses, Teen...I've been in my garden...not one rose survived the winter. I had 10 drift roses on a slope with big limerock in front...all gone. Two bushes close to the house...gone. One on east side of my garden shed...gone. Now what to put in place of those drift roses? Maybe a bunch of nasturtiums for this year..

Hi OK!!!!! Great to see you here!
Sorry to hear your roses didn't make it through the winter. I love roses though I have only one, and it's an old one :) Hopefully it will last for a few years more.

I should be in bed right now, it's 1.45 am here.

Teen, a greenhouse!!!! I wish I had enough room for one. I love growing food related stuff. It doesn't always work out but hey, it still is fun.

Oh, OKsewglad....that is awful. So many rose bushes gone. Not sure what state you are in but such a tough winter for so many regions in US. My property is a riot of color right now but it had nothing to do with my care. Lol...mild winter with more wet than normal. I did lose a few of my bougainvillea but the nursery just told me to cut back and water them and may sprout again. Only one so far has done that. It seems every time I get them to the size I like, winter comes and I start all over. Ugh!

I'm really not a gardener, per se. I've tended a few food gardens in my time but not disciplined enough with working fulltime. Now that I am part-time, I'm finding it more enjoyable. Plan to grow more foodstuff...store bought tomatoes are awful.

I only eat tomatoes when they don't taste like tomatoes....:D :D :D
Like in a sauce with so many herbs you don't taste the tomatoes anymore. So I don't grow tomatoes haha!

I had an extensive flower garden at my first house (in suburbs) since we moved rural, I've not had a lot of time for flowers, but have a very large veggi garden.

In Minnesota, I had a lot of roses and "tipped" most of them for the winter. Only way to have them survive the winters. That was before the age of digital, so I only have a few pictures that were scanned and saved online. I hope when I retire and we move, I'll be able to grow flowers again. It's too harsh where we live now.

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After moving to SD, I got interested in growing and processing my own food. Went overboard and I still have stuff that was put up in 2010! With two of us, I put up a lot less now, and only every couple of years.

I had a green house for a while here in SD, but it was too much to keep warm enough in the winter and cool enough in the summer. We took it and the building it was attached to down, and used the slab to build a home for the LA.

I hope to spend quite a bit of time with the LA over the weekend. Since DH and I aren't from this area, we have no connections or family to spend time with over the holiday weekend.

Got to thinking, during the time I had the flower gardens, I did almost no sewing. But that was after living in apartments for 11 years so I think I just went a bit crazy once I had a bit of yard to play with. Sewing was my main passtime before we owned property, and it's been my main passtime for the last few years, after we got done with the remodeling. But for the 15 years between, I hardly used my machines.

Beautiful gardens, Macybaby. I've always had a garden here in NE Iowa, but has gotten smaller as the years have past. Overboard in preserving...LOL one year I put up +200qts of tomato products. In my defense we had four growing children. Tomato blight is an issue, too. In addition to all the other beans, corn, apples, etc. Now put up enough to eat fresh and tomatoes for a year of usage. I now freeze more...have about 5 quarts of asparagus and the same of puree frozen up.

The drift roses were supposed to require less care. Recently we go from nice fall weather to a cold cold blast...then it tapers to warmer weather..then a blast of bitter cold. So hard on so many perennial plants. I try to plant carefree plants...hostas, peonies, cone flowers, lillies, day lillies and a few tulips. Garden is calling...getting a pickup load of mulch this afternoon...

Wow what a beautiful garden Cathy!!! I'm green...........mine is just stamp size compared to yours.

Yes, gardening takes time, just as any other hobby. You can only do so much! When the kids were small I was sewing all day every day but as they grew older not that much anymore. Like you I hardly used my sewing machine for a long long time. Then I started quilting and now I'm addicted again.

Lovely garden, Cathy! I love flowers, but I don't have much luck beyond bulbs. I would like to try a veggie garden next year in our new home.

My SBS book arrived today! I can't wait, but i think I'll start on it after the move. (Maybe... This weekend might see otherwise! :D)

I was originally thinking of making it with a variety of scraps, but then my DH saw one online done as in red, white and blue patriotic style. Now he wants me to do it that way, and actually I like the idea too. I just checked my stash and I do have enough to get me started.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh soon we'll have some more eye candy :D :D
Why don't you make two? One scrappy and one patriotic style?
I'll shut up now......hehehe

NZquilter - a patriotic Sylvia sounds beautiful. Glad your book is here - isn't it fun to flip through it, see all the fun that lies ahead?

NZ..ooooh....I love the patriotic theme....that will look fantastic. Super excited to see it unfold. Your journey awaits when you are ready. This was such a fun project and you sew beautifully. Will be eye catching, for sure.

Macybaby...wow...lovely gardens. Looks like a lot of work but fun planning layout and planting. I will need to learn a whole new climate of plants when I move. The state of Idaho encourages natural habitat planting and offer many programs for new builders (free plants!!!)... I went to the botanical garden there and took pictures of many plants I liked. We'll see what comes of it..

I have almost finished clipping SBS and will be pressing tomorrow, hopefully. I'll get a picture before I take to LA and share with you guys. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Simple border design but I think just enough....if it's not, too bad.....lol! I'm not sewing another thing on this baby...

Here's my Sylvia... I originally just did 2 opposite corners, but when I laid it out, I decided to do all four. Glad I took the time to do that... She's going to LA next week...

Teen, it's so, so beautiful!!! It was worth the wait to see while you added the borders. Wow! You must be very proud of your accomplishment!

Gorgeous, Teen...the applique frames it so well!

Teen, Your quilt is outstanding. So beautiful. I, too, love the applique border. Blue is my favorite color, so if you tire of this quilt, send it along to ME!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that's stunning Teen!!!!!!!!! Absolutely breathtaking!

Oh my goodness Teen - your Sylvia is FAB - U - LOUS - I would so love to see it in the flesh. Congratulations, the colours are wonderful and the border is so lovely. You must be so thrilled -- ? Houston ? You definitely should enter her into an exhibition !!!! Stunning x

Teen - I have spent the last several minutes just sitting here admiring your beautiful Sylvia. You were right - the applique in the 4 corners is the perfect ending to this oh-so-lovely quilt. I agree with Dotty - definitely needs to be entered in some exhibitions. As we say in Tennessee - ya done good! It was fun to be in on the process with you and now see the final product. NZquilter - looking forward to the same with you.

Teen, I think we need a close up of the appliqué!