Maggie Rabbit, Soup and Other Things

Only 36,000 Feet..that's how far away I am from high speed internet. That's what the phone company told me the other day when I called inquiring about a new package they are offering. They're working their way toward our house. Progress. I guess flickr has made some changes, I can't get it to load yet. I'll be trying again later. But today Bloglovin decided to load for me. It's nice to see what everyone is up to. I missed Blogger's Quilt Festival, that's a bummer. I've seen some of the quilts entered and they are gorgeous.

 I did get some sewing time and knitting too. I made a Maggie Rabbit from Alicia Paulson's pattern for one of my girls. The instructions were so clear and it was really enjoyable to put together. I decided to make Maggie an apron, because you know, a bunny has to have an apron.

I'm not much of a knitter (really) but the little capelet was simple enough for me. I did buy the hoodie sweater pattern too. My oldest girl is an awesome knitter and crocheter so she's gonna make that for Maggie. That's all the sewing I've done lately.

But I have been cooking. We've had warm weather for the most part but there was a brief cool spell and I seized the moment and made soup. Creamy potato and kale soup. So, so yummy. It's my favorite. I could eat bowls and bowls of it. I'm sorta glad soup season is over for that very reason. It's also so much better the next day but there is rarely a time when we have much leftover for the next day.There's really no "recipe" for it. Just throw your carrots, celery, onion in a pot with some butter and olive oil saute, add garlic. Add peeled cut potatoes, salt, pepper, chicken bouillon, water. wash kale thoroughly, cut or rip into pieces. Cook forever...or about 2 hours. There is never enough kale in this soup in my opinion. I use 3 bunches. Add heavy cream. Enjoy!

Outside, we are still working on our garden. I can't tell you how happy these asparagus plants make me. I hope they do well once in the ground. The chickens and ducks are growing like crazy. They are really entertaining and we pull up a chair near the coop and just watch them. a lot. When the baby naps my little shadow follows me around and picks all the flowers I take pictures of. She's really good at it!

Chicken & Duck Love

 

I hope all you mamas out there had a lovely Mother's Day! Mine was wonderful. My husband built our chicken coop this weekend and then took me to pick up my chickens. We found this nice couple that has a really cool homestead a couple of counties over from ours. The only chickens the lady has are Americanas and those are the only ones I wanted. They are the kind that lay tinted eggs in blue, green, pink and sometimes yellows. I'm hoping for blue! My husband got 4 ducks. They are adorable. Three of them are about a week old and one of them is about 3 weeks old and it is living with the chickens right now. The man that we bought the chickens from gave us some quail eggs for eating. They are really pretty eggs and are very small. 
My daughter's rose bush is blooming. It's beautiful. We have blueberries on our blueberry bush. My husband cut back our Lemon Verbena plant. I've had it for about 6 years and it was getting very thin and spindly. Now there is a lot of new growth coming on. Have you ever smelled Lemon Verbena? It's such a great smell. My Hens and Chicks that my mother potted for me before we moved are coming back around.  I'm really excited that my Echinacea sprouted. When we moved I had to leave so many perennials. A really well established patch of Echinacea and my three Clematis plants that were 8 years old, lush and beautiful. So I'm spending most of my free time working on getting more perennials started. Our garden is growing with much more to put in still. That's what I've been up to. Enjoying all this beauty that surrounds me.
 Sorry I have no sewing to show you right now, but I did cut pieces for some Honey Bee blocks. I'll be squeezing in some sewing time here soon. We are going to be having family & friends visiting throughout May and June so I'm really excited about that. Hope you all are well and getting some time to sew or do whatever it is that makes you happy :)
xo Erin

Sweet Quilt Finished

I finished my "Sweet" quilt!!! The quilting was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It was heavy and big but I broke it down into quarters and never had more than that under my machines throat at one time. I only quilted about 1 bobbin at a time. That's all baby and my shoulders would allow. So 11 bobbins later (including binding) it's done and we have been sleeping cozily under it. This is about a 3 year old (slow) work in progress (WIP) and my all time favorite fabric line (Sweet by Urban Chiks for Moda). I am so happy it's finished.

The weather has been gorgeous and it's hard to stay indoors when the sun is shining and birds are singing. We found a hatched Robin's egg and that led us to do a little study about Robins. Here is neat site with lots of info. They are very interesting little birds. All the buds and blooms are beautiful and smell so good. I receive a bundle of wildflowers almost daily from eager little hands. There really is nothing more sweet. The windows are open at night and we fall asleep being serenaded by some of my favorite sounds, peepers and the whippoorwill.

Have a happy weekend!!!
xo Erin

***pattern is from Crazy Mom Quilts Flea Market Fancy quilt***

The Sun is Shining

I got the chance to baste my Sweet quilt. I used a cafeteria sized table to baste it, as many of you suggested. I think it's gonna have some puckers because I couldn't get it as secure as I do when I floor baste. I'm going to quilt slowly and adjust as I need too. It's the biggest quilt I've made, like a queen/king size. Wish me luck.

I made Kerry a house block for the cocorico bee. She gave this link to a free pattern. I used the paper piecing technique. I think it came out really cute. I could totally see a whole quilt made of scrappy houses. This was a fun block.

I painted some clothes pins with the Valspar Tranquility paint I mentioned in the prior post. I love this color!

We've been spending a lot of our time outdoors. Planting gardens, flowers and veggie. Hyacinths have always been one of my favorite flowers. Don't they smell wonderful? Everything is starting to come alive. I love this time of year. We have always gardened and started seeds but this is our first year starting asparagus from seed. They actually germinated rather quickly. It was so exciting watching them pop up through the soil. Now just three years until a good harvest!

My father-in-law was visiting this weekend and he and my husband built us a deck from repurposed lumber. A friend of ours asked if we wanted an out building he was gonna tear down. So my husband and his dad took it apart and salvaged all of the good lumber. It was really cool to watch them work together. My FIL is an excellent carpenter.  My husband's not half bad either ;)

I hope the sun is shining on you wherever you may be!
xo Erin

 

Hey, Hey, Hey...

What's happening?! I started this post 2 weeks ago. The title and first picture are all I got on here before I had to get off. I just wanted to take a minute to say "hey" and catch up. I finally made a permanent little sewing space for myself. I'm really happy about that. I painted an old sewing table we had and added new knobs that I also painted. I think I found the perfect shade of aqua. It's Valspar Tranquility. Love it! I have only had the chance to use my sewing space to make a few small and quick things. I made these cute little fabric baskets from this tutorial as thank you gifts. I machine bound mine. They sew up in about 20 minutes.I wanted to make the baby a few dresses. I found this cute Peasant Dress pattern here. They sew up in about 20 minutes also. I got two made and have fabric pulled for one or two more. So no quilting going on but I am drawing out quilts again and have the backing almost ready for my "Sweet" quilt. That is going to be a beast to quilt on my machine.
 I hope you all are well and hopefully having some nice weather.

Hope Valley Twister Blocks

I'm trying to decide what to do with these blocks. I'm not sure if I should just make it small like this and use it as a wall hanging or if I should use the little bit of Hope Valley I have left and mix it with some other prints to make a bigger, more useful quilt. Any thoughts?