Spring

The flowering crab in our yard is so full of blossoms this year.  We were afraid with the early warm weather, followed closely by development of the flower buds on the tree, followed by some frosty nights, that the buds would freeze.  Thankfully, they didn't, so now we have a beautiful tree for a few days.

I also found one Johnny Jump-Up near the house.  They are such cheerful little flowers.

Happy Spring!

Furniture Transformations

Here is a pair of ice cream parlor chairs I bought for my parents about 40 years ago.  I inherited them a couple of years ago, and since we didn't really have a good place for them, I tried to sell them but was not able to.  Now that we have redone our front porch, I thought that would be a good place for them, but I'm sort of getting over the "white paint on everything" phase.  Black seemed to be the right color.

Now that garage sale season is here, it's time to look for a smallish round table to put with them on the porch.

Furniture Makeover

Here's a cute little rocker I picked up at a garage sale last summer.  It was unpainted wood and had old worn fabric on it.  After I let it sit around all winter, I thought I might just give it to Goodwill, but decided to spray paint it and make new cushions.  (Sorry that I don't have any before pictures, but, believe me, it didn't look very inviting for a child to want to sit in.)  The above picture is a better depiction of the true color (turquiose rather than light blue as it appears below).  The animal fabric is nice and bright and appealing to children, I think.  I didn't have enough of it to do the back also, but I did have this piece of bright orange which matches the orange in the animal print.

Quilts

Happy Easter!
We had a great day with family today at our daughter and son-in-law's house.  Everyone was there except our son who is in Afghanistan. 


Here is a picture of another quilt top I have almost finished; it still needs a border, then sandwiching, quilting, and binding.  This is a Darlene Zimmerman pattern and uses 30s reproduction fabrics set up in a random matter.

I really enjoy piecing the tops, but it always takes me a little while to finish the rest of the quilts.

Home and Family

Hello there on this beautiful spring day!

These pictures were taken a couple of days ago.  We live in a 150 year old farmhouse, which we have almost completely redone over the last 7 years.  Last year we tore off the front porch and put a new one on to resemble what it might have looked like in the past (not an exact replica).  We used treated wood for the posts and floor and allowed them to completely dry over the winter.  As soon as the temperature is consistently high enough, I'm going to paint the posts white.  We will probably leave the floor alone, but I can live with that; it doesn't have that same "green" tint as the posts do.  And I've started doing some landscaping along the front.  I'm about half done with the mulch, and eventually will probably put in some peonies and daylilies to brighten things up and make it look more complete.

We are looking forward to spending Easter at our daughter and son-in-law's house this year. His parents will be there as well, and we just found out that our older son and his family will also be there. Their younger son just turned 5, so we will be celebrating his birthday that day, too. What an exciting day it will be!

We are looking forward to the time when our younger son is back from Afghanistan, so he can also be with the rest of us on holidays.