This is my sad face!

                                                          BLOG2PRINT

I am sure you do, but making sure you all know Blog2Print is going out of business and the last day to order is May 15.  It's 50% off with code FAREWELL50.

Geraniums

 I think you either love 'em or hate 'em or could possibly be indifferent, I suppose.  I fall into the love category. 

I don't think there is a happier flower out there. Sure, we all have our opinions, but when I walk or drive past a window box planted with geraniums I smile.  Can't help it. 

I have a friend who doesn't like them at all, she calls them 'cemetery plants' because most cemetery pots are filled with them, they're 'common, ' she says.  And with good reason.  Geraniums are so forgiving.  They don't mind if you water them or not, they don't mind if it's cool or hot, they don't mind if they live in sun or shade.  We live across the street from a cemetery and when I walk through I dead head the planters. 

Years ago I worked at a nursery for one season and learned a lot.  One of the tips I learned was how to propagate a geranium.  The ones they sold were all from cuttings, not seeds, and they did it themselves.  They said you really only need one good geranium plant because you can keep taking cuttings and replant and get a good, healthy plant.  Well, I don't have that kind of patience nor space but I have done that often on a small scale.  Besides, I need just way too many of them.  

Right now I have this on the counter in the kitchen - here getting a breath of fresh air for a few hours.  

While they come in so many different colors, and I sometimes give in to buying something different,

my go-to color is the caliope red.  It's an intense bright red with no hints of 'geranium red orange'

it's my favorite because it's so bright.

Next week my car will look like this again, filled with geraniums and just a couple of little bits for small pots around my reading space on the porch.  

Retreat Part 2

 These are the photos of what people were working on - at least some of what they were working on for part of the time.

I just realized I don't have Ines' project.  She was working on some paper pieced block that had teensy little pieces of fabric.  It's no wonder she needed a nap!

                                                                                Lisa

                                                                                         Me

                                         Barb's work station for her Susan McCord vines

                                                                                     Jan

                       Joyce.  This was only a small thing she was working on after her back started to hurt. You can see the control for a heating pad dangling at her side. Most of us now bring our own ergonomic chairs.  She had a gorgeous piece up on the design wall that I neglected to get a photo of.  

Sally argued with this a lot.  She is an impeccable piecer and for some reason those side pieces just would not cooperate.

So, that's a sampling.  I could have shown more photos of the Inn, the beloved innkeepers, the food we are served, our deluxe rooms, and maybe will focus on that in the fall, but I've shown them all before and most of that hasn't changed except we are all older.  We are certainly all older but those years melt away when we get together these two times a year.  

Retreat

 Well, another retreat is over.   Wouldn't it be nice if the times that we are enjoying go slower than the times we aren't?  We were at our lovely retreat home Saturday-Tuesday.  And it feels like four hours, not four days.   

We worked on a small challenge since last fall.  Here are pics of the projects everyone created from their piece of fabric provided to everyone last fall. The challenge was simple.  Giver everyone a piece of fabric (small) and if you had specifics then say so, if not then have free reign to make an 8.5 inch block using the fabric provided.  

But first, the bad news.  This is how Barb limped into the parking area.  She hit a deer not 3 minutes from destination, there are hunks of fur in the center if you look closely.  The grill is somewhere in a ditch and she isn't sure about the outcome for the deer as there is no blood.  But it took a toll on her nerves on day one.  By the time she left Tuesday a tow truck had come to take the car and she was given a ride home from one of the other girls.  Surprisingly, the car repair place said it didn't look like the car would be totaled.  What a way to start, huh?  Good news, we kept telling her, was SHE wasn't hurt.

OK, here is Ines' project.  She gave small pieces of her focus fabric.  I mean small. Like little paint swatches and we were on our own.  I think we all did a good job of it!  She is so good at paper foundation piecing, look at those points on her corner squares!  By the way, Ines is 85 years old.

Jan made this table runner.  Her focus fabric is the background behind that tulip just at the top.  I found it hard to imagine using a busy fabric but she said to go for the colors in it, and that helped.  It's beautiful!

Joyce's focus fabric was the background piece.  We were told "do fall leaves" and she put it together immediately.  The only part she had to do at home was quilt and bind.  Her sashing between blocks is the reverse side of her binding.

Lisa gave us a lot of red, white and blue fabric choices but asked for stars and she got them!  

Sally's focus fabric was the one most of us used on the background.  She challenged us to use HSTs.  That meant more math for me.  But we did it, there isn't a curve in that quilt!

Barb said "red."  She likes red and works with it a lot. She used our squares and then other orphan blocks she had on hand to make something bigger than a table runner, and it gave her orphans a home.

There is no photo of mine at the reveal but this was what I did with my basket blocks. The table runner goes perfectly end to end on our dining room table. 

So, that's retreat part 1.  

Just a Quickie

 Just a quickie post before I leave for retreat weekend.

This is my April Chookshed Stitcher project...and finish!  Someday I'll remember to straighten things out before photographing them but (there's always an excuse, isn't there?) I took this photo while zooming last night and just kind of laid it on the bed in the sun and  - done!

This is obviously a small one and while I chose projects that needed to be finished this one was a new start.  And finish.  The piece I used for the binding was color perfect with a dash of red and I do love this little thing.  And the truth squad will make me admit to machine piecing and quilting it.  New to me for sure.

I absolutely loved this blue strawberry for years and just didn't want to cut it up.  But as we said last night during zoom, we aren't getting any younger, we have a lot of money tied up in our stashes and in the end our kids would rather disperse our finished quilts than put our stashes in an estate sale. I decided when choosing this little piece that if I used the blue strawberry it would not get lost. 

Wonderful zoom last night, too!  Now, off to retreat weekend.

Milestones

 Well, looky here.  Somehow fifty years have passed.  They say the days are long but the years are short and they aren't kidding.

 Our daughter arranged for the marquee in town to announce to one and all we've had a milestone anniversary. It didn't take long, those fifty years.  No, we didn't join the line dancing.

We had a very nice dinner at one of our favorite places, even sat on the porch because the weather was so nice.   After all this time he still gazes at me this way!

Tuesday we waited for the eclipse.  Here we were supposed to have 95% coverage and because it was a gorgeous day we sat on the porch playing cribbage while we waited, checking with our safety glasses every few minutes.

You can see by how much shadow there is we still had a way to go, but even with 95% coverage we had quite a bit of light and never felt like it was even twilight. Still, it was a milestone event for the entire U.S. and the anticipation was fun.

April Number 9

It looks like my number 9 is a simple project even though it's a new one, not a finish. It's a small one, too. 

I printed the pattern and it's still dark here this morning so the colors aren't bright but you get the idea.  It's a small wall quilt so I could actually finish this!  I AM also working on those yellow daffodils from the previous two posts, too. I started cutting them the other day.  They don't even have a number but my thumb split and that prevented me from getting March's project pinned.  It's layered but folded and waiting for the thumb to heal. 

We are expecting the usual spring break weather, the first half of the week is going to be rainy and cold so I do believe I'll get these cut.  

On your marks, get set, go!