My Newest Quilt

I've went through many stages. First I sewed, then I crafted, then I made a few quilts. I haven't made one for a while, though. I'm impatient and it takes so long to make them. The first one I ever hand stitched was a king size one and boy did it ever take me a long time to finish it.

I love quilts. I have posted here and here about them before. I think it is amazing what a person can make with patches of material and thread. I've made six blue jean quilts. Here is one hanging on a quilt rack. My son, Andrew, made the quilt rack.




My newest quilt is one my husband inherited. I love it.



The stitches are so perfect. Much better than I can do.



Do you like quilts?

Breakfast

I hope you didn't come here expecting to see a big plate of sausage gravy and biscuits or drop biscuits and creamed tomatoes. Because that is not what you will see today. You will also not see fried potatoes, eggs, bacon and toast. That sure would have been a good breakfast, though. Just thinking of it right now makes me hungry!

I had a healthy breakfast this morning of :

2 toasted slices of double fiber bread
spray butter
blueberries
confectionery sugar
sugar free pancake syrup


It really wasn't that bad. Honest!

What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Look What I Found

I've been so busy around here. We are doing a deep clean of the garage. It would be nice just to be able to walk through it without stubbing your toe on something. We have taken 3 loads to the thrift store.

For those of you who don't know, I also write. It is very time consuming, too, just ask my husband.

I finally took a break and went outside. In addition to the weeds that have taken control in a few places, I also found a few other things that seem to have popped up over night.

This is in my blackberry patch:


Filled with these beautiful blue eggs:


My pear tree has little pears, hope a frost doesn't kill them this year:


The ferns are pushing their way up among the rocks and weeds: I love ferns!


These little plants are popping up everywhere. I have to go and pull these up before they get any bigger or they will take over. Their very long roots makes them hard to pull up when they grow larger. They grow fast! Know what they are? Answer at bottom of page.



These purple and pink flowers are everywhere! They spread like crazy! Their name escapes me at the moment.


These peonies will be gorgeous in a few weeks. . . or sooner!


Plants seem to be blooming earlier this year. If we blink an eye, we will miss its beauty.

Answer from question above: Rose of Sharon

What's coming up around your house?

What You Been Up To?

What have you been up to lately? We've been doing a little bit of everything.

While my husband tilled the garden. . .


I put together this shelf thingie. I love these types of shelves. They are very easy to put together. I have two larger ones in my laundry room. I put it together and placed it in the middle of my bedroom closet. We have one of those long and narrow closets that used to have sliding doors on it. I took the doors off and hung up a curtain. We had two shelves across the top (my son had installed a higher one so we would have more storage room). I took the bottom shelf out and took the rod out. Then I re-installed the rod up under the top shelf. This thing I put together then fit underneath and in the middle of my closet. I bought a little rod and attached it below the upper rod on one side so I could hang two rows of clothes, one on top of the other. It's a lot better now. Don't you just hate small closets!


My son climbed up on a long ladder and hung a star on the side of our house.



We planted a blueberry bush.


We hung out under the apple tree and took pictures of the blossoms.


While looking for something in the junk drawer of my son's dresser, I took the time to clean it out.


You would not believe the things I found. . . pkgs of pictures from long ago, fake teeth, a set of valentine cards my son got when he was in grade school, various types of old trading cards, yoyos, yellow diaper pins, money and lots and lots of stuff. Just don't ever store shoe strings in the same drawer as the long curly metal thing you see below. . . I probably don't have to tell you why. I wasted a lot of time in that junk drawer the other day!


But it was worth it, because I found this!


It says Charleston Area Medical Center on the back of it. It is so tiny! It was worn by my now 30 year old, 6 ft tall son. Isn't it just precious!

So what have you been doing lately?

The Molly Moochers I Promised You

Yesterday we went hunting for molly moochers! We went to our favorite place to find them, but I'll never tell where it is. That is our secret.

I found one of these while I sifted through the dead leaves:



and I found many delicate ferns pushing through the ground:


But, no matter how hard I looked, I never found any of the molly moochers. What is a molly moocher? It is another name for morel mushrooms. They are easily identified. Here is a picture or one hiding in the leaves.

They are hard to find. They blend in with the surrounding leaves. Here is a picture my son took with his cell phone. He says there are three of them in this picture. Can you find them?


My two sons found around 18 between the two of them. I never found any.



There are many places on line to find out about these delicious mushrooms. This site is a good one. There are many ways to fix them and many ways to prepare them. You will find many different opinions. So, just take your pick on how you want to do them. We cut them in half lengthwise and soaked them in salt water. We only soaked them for about an hour or so. This kills the pesky, tiny bugs that inhabit them. Some people soak them overnight.


We took ours out of the salt water and rinsed them thoroughly. We laid them out on a wet paper towel and covered them with another wet paper towel and kept them in the fridge overnight.


We cooked them for supper today. I did it the easy way of just coating them with flour and frying them in oil for a few minutes.



They may not look very good, but they are mmmmm, mmmmm delicious. The best mushrooms you will ever eat.


This is the time to look for them. They grow in the woods. Look in damp areas around old fallen trees. You may want to get a stick and push the leaves around a little. My sons found them sticking up out of the leaves. Take your time and keep looking, as you saw in the picture above they are hard to find. Don't pull them up. Pinch or cut them off.

Good luck. Have fun mushroom hunting!

Sunday Sightings

Thought I'd post a few pictures of my Sunday sightings:

an old barn and tractor

chickens crossing the road

rooster strutting behind them

hay in the field

Jackson County Courthouse

The local Flea Market.
My husband informs me that years ago this was the Kroger's Building

I love large old trees.
They have their own personality.
This one hasn't yet been told that it is spring.

Blurry redbuds taken while whirring past them on Interstate 77.
I love the redbud trees and there are many, many of them along the stretch of I-77 between Ripley and Fairplain.

Come back tomorrow and I will show you what else my camera shot today.
We went hunting for Molly Moochers!

Remember When?

My children aren't young any more, but I remember when they used to pick wild flowers and bring me bunches of them in their little hands.

Their smiles were as bright as the yellow dandelions they carried to me.

I miss those days and I miss those little bouquets of flowers they thrust towards me with smiles on their faces.

My youngest son is out cutting the grass. I noticed the many violets that dotted our yard and he was cutting them down! I just had to pick some before they were all gone.

I added a few yellow dandelions to my violets and put them in this little cow creamer. Isn't she pretty with her flower hat. I think she could be one of those California Cows they talk about on TV.



Everything is growing now. We're cutting our grass for the second time. The hostas, the iris's, the tiger lillies and the peonies are all popping out of the dirt.

My Bleeding Hearts are already in bloom.



My pear tree is in bloom. This is a pear tree that has pears on it, not just the flowering ones. I sure hope the frost doesn't kill them this year.


It seems like when winter quit, it really quit!

But, I know the frosts will still come and my flowers will get bit. So I am going to enjoy them while I can.