Surprises on my quilts and in my Garden!

So, I am still working on my quilter's castle quilt and as you can see I have added Repunzel, a man reaching out for her falling off of a tree and six birds (for my six Grandchildren). It is turning out quite wonderful and is so much fun to dream up these things, add them and bring
smiles.

Above is my cousin Lance and his wife Linda on the left just home from Zambia to visit for a day (I see him once a year) he and his wife work in Namibia, Zambia and South Africa to fight AIDS (this is their year number eleven and they had only planned on staying one year). They are so much fun and I want them home but admire them for their work. On the right is my cousin Carl and his wife Sherry (from Coeur d'Alene) who are planning their daughters wedding next month where we will all meet on a boat on Lake Coeur d'Alene for the exciting event. Can't wait to see more cousins, Aunts and family. We have been close for many years.

So as you can see there are flowers of all kinds growing up around my bottle trees and filling in my garden. So much fun!

Here is one bottle tree I showed you not long ago and you can barely see the bottles but they once you can see leave a blue cast on these leaves...it is quite wonderful.

So I have always loved this yellow birdhouse that has had many little birds build nests inside for their little babies. Upon further inspection, I noticed the birds left and we had new neighbors.
YIKES! Mark has now moved the bees elsewhere and we plan to clean the birdhouse out so the birds will come back and the bees will find some place other than this house.

I love this fountain that I bought with my very first Benartex check. I will always love the way this looks and sounds and many little quail were hatched underneath it.

The large lump of greenery on the left of this photo is a big church birdhouse- long ago covered by large leaves. I still see little birds sneaking in there and not being detected by the cats that love to come and play in my yard.

More of the ever changing flowers in the back.

The sign that you see above is beneath this trumpet vine....no one can see the sign that says "Don't Pick the Flowers." They don't pick them anyway. Unless a Grandchild wants to get your attention....that is a good way to get me to notice them. :0)

Like you don't work when you garden....but it is fun work!

A better view of my large church birdhouse that you would never know was under there. I would cut it back if not for the fact of the bird family that is in there to be obviously hiding. The only problem? Watering without getting the birds wet. :0)

Today Mel comes to town, we are going to Idaho to see where I am doing my retreats next year and then on to the river to see my children. Tomorrow early we will leave for Whidey and meet Island and meet up with our other gal friends for sewing, laughing and eating. It is always an adventure. Stay tuned for photos of this beautiful place.

Lance comes home from Africa today for a quick yearly visit

As many of you know, my cousin and his wife work with AIDS victims in five countries within Africa. He went there to set up a program with his wife and to stay one year. It has been eleven years now. I admire them for their efforts and heart. Can't wait to have our yearly Mexican dinner (the one food he cannot find in Africa).
Carol from Sacramento (a good friend) reminded me about this site and asked me to post it. I am posting it because we are lucky as women to have our own computers, safety, homes and freedom.
I believe in this woman's work. Please check it out. http://www.upontheroofwithcarol.org/
I think you might enjoy this woman's spirit also.

Bottle Tree Madness! Oh, I LOVE it!

So, I am so tickled about bottle trees as most of you know and my friend Pam from California got her husband to build one for her and isn't it great? She is counting on her friends that drink alcohol to help her out. I wish there were more blue bottles out there with soda or pop in them.

Or cleaning stuff or....anything. It sure would help us out!

Pam, tell Steve he did a great job!

More of Sisters- people, blocks, quilts and fun

I had to laugh because about fifteen minutes after I took this photo, the street was packed and no way could someone ride their bike without hitting someone.

Ahhhhh, a little oasis in the heat-beauty and coolness in the back of a building.

Are you seeing how the crowd is building up? All ages. And below I took a photo just for the outfit the lady was wearing. Such a great idea for a quilt.

Below-I don't recall so many people selling things on the street in the past. It used to be inside the stores and only the Stitchin Post. Now there are all kinds of people selling things on the street. I got a class of cold lemonade that was just the ticket to cooling off.

The Antique shop got into the spirit and sold all kinds of cool stuff-I couldn't get anything I couldn't get on the airplane.

Above is a better view of the Stitchin Post and the Gees Bend quilts.
Below is more of the walls in the quilt shop.

Above is a pretty display of interior things-lovely colors.

Above is a nice display of fabrics to tempt you....and believe me I was more than tempted

Above is the lovely artist and quilter Lure Schwartz Smith who is married to Kirby Smith- so nice and a wonderful teacher too. We teach together at Asilomar.

Now here is a sample of someone who has alot more time on their hands than I do! Wonderful.
And this is a totally different car! WOW.

Below is the closeup image of a quilt about summer that I loved. So pretty and fun to see.

Below is a mural on the side of a building. Nice colors and graphics too!

Sharing photos from friends is always fun! Check these out!

This wonderful quilt by Peggy Baldwin hung at the Sisters quilt show and I missed it but I heard from many many people about seeing it and how wonderful it was for a story quilt about the Hurricane in Texas last year and how poor Peggy lost her job and loads of other things. She has an amazing sense of survival and I think this quilt is marvelous and will be a piece of history for many to study someday. Great job Peggy!.

My friend Molly is in Ireland and hey, isn't this funny? The Quilty Tavern-how imaginative! Wonder how much sewing they actually get done?

Here is Molly with her husband who is a professor. They went to England and Ireland to attend the wedding of his pen pal from Grade school. Beautiful photo.

The quilt above is from Peggy Baldwin of Galveston. Who says pumpkins have to be orange?? And isn't her use of my alphabet fabric GOOD? Love those letters and all the things they can say just by cutting them out and stitching them together! Thanks for sending those photos Molly and Peggy! Wonderful stuff for sure.

A Gift of Love

So, I think I showed you the angel I painted for a friend who is going through a really sad time and grieving. This painting had messages of friendship, angels, hope and love.
I gave it to my talented friend Mel, who turned it into a pillow and sent it to the person who I think needed it. I thought it might be a nice idea for you to share with someone you love. If you click on the photo, you might be able to read some of the sayings.

A closeup of the things I painted into the angel's dress

This backing fabric that I happened to have on my trip was perfect and hey, what could be better than cheddar fabric for the piping?

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT

Hi Friend,
This week I asked my Aunt to send me a couple of cookie recipes that were my Grandmother's. She did such a lovely thing. She photocopied the recipe cards that had my Grandmother's writing on them. I started thinking about this seriously today and what that hand writing means to me and wishing I had my Mother write things (which I had intended to do) for some additions to my story quilts. I wish I had followed through and had my Mother write out a couple of recipes, a piece of paper that said "I Love You", a little list of things she loved and was greatful for etc.
I want my daughter's to write for me and I have some other relatives and dear friends I am going to ask for a handwritten recipe from.
I am telling you this because I think that you might like to think about this also. Someday someone you love will not be here and wouldn't you love to look at something they had handwritten? With this ever fast paced world we live in, it is nice to see handwriting and to think how individual it is and lovely. We need to keep ever mindful of the things that matter and are lovely right in front of us because the media and our outside elements are taking those things away and we are missing so many blessings right in front of us. I am telling you this because YOU are my friend and I do so appreciate you stopping by.
I will be selecting (out of a box) ten names tomorrow to send fat quarters to to the lucky ten people that commented in the last couple of weeks and shared this blogsite with friends.
Happy Fourth of July and today Happy Canada day to you special Canadians.