Hats!

This seems to be the year of the hat for me. It started out with a simple request from Nathan for a hat to take school.

It knit up so quickly and turned out great, so I decided to make another

 and another

 and another

 and another.

I also have a request for a hat from one of Nathan's friends and Nathan has asked for gloves. It's fun to have these quick projects on my needles.

On the quilting front, here are some pictures of the going to college quilt.

It is batiks made using the pattern Good to be square.

My quilting group had our annual quilting retreat in Show Low a few weeks ago.

 Here are the tops I got finished.

This one was our group charity quilt project. I was the project leader this time around and choose the pattern, fabric theme and charity it will go to. The pattern is Starry eyed from the Moda Bake Shop. Red is my favorite color and all reds always seem to mix well together, so that was an easy pick for me. Everyone in the group made at least one star and one square block with fabrics from their own stash. The retreat was the perfect place and time to get this assembled. It will be the next project on my frame.

This one was an old kit I had from 2003ish... The pattern is yellow brick road and the fabrics are from the first Paris Flea Market line by 3 Sisters for Moda. It was a quick sew and I still love these fabrics all these years later. Wonder why it took me so darn long to do this one?

And finally here is my last project. It is the Urban Abacus pattern made with a quick curve ruler. It will look great on my table once I get it quilted.

Until Later

Purple Season

With the preseason well underway, it is time, as Zac says, to start rocking my purple. I love football and I love the Vikings, so for the next few months everything around me will be purple!

This is a quilt I made for OJ for Christmas a few years ago.

I would like to add more photos of the hats and quilts I have been working on lately, but yesterday I downloaded a virus that took over my whole computer. After many hours, OJ finally had to delete everything and reload Windows all together. Right now, Carbonite is restoring my files, I really hope this works! If it does than I will still have all pictures, patterns and music, keep your fingers crossed.

If all goes well with the restore, I should be back soon with pictures of the going to college quilt I made for Nathan, who just left for NAU yesterday, and the pile of hats I made for him.

Adventures in Gardening

After 4 years, we have finally gotten started on the farm garden we wanted to do in the back. As you can see by the aerial shot below, we have quite a bit of back yard to work with.

First up however was the new lemon in the front yard. This is another item that has been on the to do list for years. There used to be a ugly stick in the front that would a get few blue flowers on it sometimes, but now there is the long awaited lemon tree.

I have to say I am very excited about this even though it will take a year or two before we will get lemons.

Next up was to tackle the back. Here is what the north corner of the side yard to the east looked like when we started out

Lots of tumbleweed, branches from trimming in the front and old grass clippings. Now we have the start of 3 raised beds.

The tumbleweeds and branches and dead grass have been cleared away. We also got started on a temporary pathway to the farm garden.

It doesn't look like much yet, but I have big plans. Next weekend I will get my drip system in and fill my boxes with soil and seeds. Also on the short list is fire pit and patio, This one from Pinterest will be my inspiration

On the quilting front, I have made great progress on a new project I will call circle of stars.

The original pattern is by Karen Styles and is called Robin's Nest. Since the mere thought of any kind of bird at all sends chills down my spine, I have renamed my version. The majority of this quilt has been done by hand and I am enjoying the process very much. Not too much to report on the knitting front.

I hope everyone is enjoying spring, wish me luck with my farm garden.