Ready for the Onslaught!

Greetings from hot Florida!


For the past six months I've cleaned, weeded, planted, re-planted, polished, thrown out, quilted and purchased. All getting ready for my husband's family reunion we're hosting. Starting TOMORROW!

"Am I ready?" you ask.  YES! Yea!

Here are some photos of our home. This is the entrance (garage to left). I had originally planted seven flats of petunia in these beds. Within four days they wilted and died. I was horrified. What a waste of money and sweat! The only thing I could figure was the overhang prevented them from getting enough sunshine. So, I went conservative and planted caladiums, a shade loving plant. Very low maintenance. So far they've survived my black thumb! You may see the marigolds in front of the caladiums. Notice how the ones on the far right are blooming. They get more sun!

The house extends to the back and right in an "L" shape.

Here is my favorite part, the backyard. I love our trees. They are live oaks, which is a bit unusual in this area. I love their limbs and the wild directions they take. We have about two acres and around the trees you will see native ferns, palms and various plants. (very little grass!). Oh, there are also some wild beasts roaming around (see second backyard photo).

 And here is our Living Room. To the left is the kitchen. The house wraps around the pool. (look, more wild beasties).

As I type this, cookies are baking in the oven. Delicious chocolate chip cookies. With my secret ingredient. Yum!

Oh, I almost forgot. This is a quilting blog! I'd better add a little something to entertain those serious readers....

I have been playing with paper piecing and hand piecing the last few weeks. I made this sampler using hand piecing on half of the blocks and half machine made. I found the hand piecing was much more accurate. For small projects I'm definitely going to hand piece. Now I'm going to hand quilt the sampler.  Which I've never done before! (Hopefully I won't ruin it!)

Have a nice weekend!