Our Mother's Day Present...

So, for Mother's Day, Rebecca and I got ourselves a gardener to plant some plants in our backyard.  It turns out we are too out of shape to do this ourselves...and it was nearly 100 degrees outside today!  We have been working on this yard for a year and a half...

This is what it looked like when we bought the house (it was a foreclosure)....  We removed all the rock (probably 12 tons, and most of the bushes a year ago....

 The trees were not doing well without water....

A stolen spa left a weird unpainted space on the patio...and what is that extra wood fencing in the background??  No idea...

We had the house painted and we installed grass last summer...that involved re-plumbing the entire yard with soft and hard line and adding curbing...Rebecca and I also installed the sod....

This year we planted more Photinia around the perimeter of the yard...and more plants around the patio.  We had gardeners put in the plants but we did the preliminary irrigation...The back tree and bushes were there from last year.  Yes, that is a dog bed that Buddy doesn't use.  We will finish this section next year when we have a brilliant idea about it....

The covers were painted last year...perimeter plants!

Now you can see the grass we put in last summer.  More plants!

The little flowers in the back are Lantana--the most durable desert flower available.  When it is hot as hell, they grow like crazy!  Love em....and they come in lots of colors--purple, yellow, red/orange/yellow, deep red, pink/peach/yellow....I'll post pics when they are in full bloom.

Lots of Lily of the Nile flowers....since it is a shady area they should survive the summer....

We needed another Photinia but all they could fit in the empty spot along the wall was a little one due to the foundation of the wall coming nearly out to the curbing.....LOL!

Our side yard without all the nasty rock.  The trees are doing awesome!  African Sumac and a Chaste tree....the purple flowers will be on the chaste tree soon.  I'll post pics...the bench is heavy as hell and I've been dragging it from house to house for a few years.  It is made from an old Mexican door....awesome!

We are going to install outdoor carpet on the back patio...maybe next weekend??  Anyhow, this was our Mother's Day present to each other this year....fantastic!!  We have finished about 60% of the yard...yeah!  There are only a few more weeks before the wicked heat of summer makes it nearly impossible to work outside so I'm glad this is done.  Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms!

Scrappy Trip Along class...

I have been so busy at work that I haven't had much time to sew or post....Yesterday I went to an all day sew-in at Quiltique.  We brought pre-cut 2.5" x 16" strips and made Scrappy Trip blocks!  I had a great time and look forward more sew-ins...

I finished 9 blocks and have another 5 nearly done.  I used aqua, red, pink and whitish colored strips....

All of the participants were having a great time.  We did a potluck so I didn't even have to leave to buy lunch!  It ran from 9am to 9pm but I gave up at about 6pm.  Buddy needed a walk and so did I!!  I'll finish up some more blocks later this week and see what I want to do with it...keep it?  Sell it??  Who knows!

Happy Quilting!

Only 16 more days of school left here in Las Vegas!

Rebecca's Quilt....

Rebecca made this quilt for her niece in NY....it is an over-sized twin measuring about 72" x 94".  The pattern is disappearing 9-patch.  Rebecca ironed, cut and pieced the whole top herself.  I did the quilting, and then she learned to bind.  She liked binding...how awesome is that!!!

The panto was Daisies Galore...again.  I've had enough of this one for a while...

The colors are a bit wild, but they match the girl's room.  She is 8 years old and her First Communion is this weekend.  We will ship it out tomorrow....Nice job Rebecca!

Happy Quilting...

Denise's Quilt...

I quilted up a gift quilt for Denise today....her friend's birthday is next weekend so she needed it ASAP.  I used the panto Starlets on it...

She did a barn raising layout with half square triangles.  The line of fabric was Moda's Old Glory...I think.  Anyhow, it was flat as a pancake and the quilting was easy peasy!  Nice job, Denise.... ;-)  I hope she enjoys it...

Happy Quilting!

Sharon's Charity Quilt...

Sharon gave me this quilt top for a charity event in the fall but it turned out I didn't need it.  So I wanted to give it back to her but then she realized she could use it for a different charity event in May so I offered to quilt it up for her.  I used the Daisies Galore panto again....what a cute panto!

An up close shot....

Anyhow, she has about two weeks to get it bound and ready for the charity event.  Good luck!!  Someone will be very lucky to get this quilt...

I have lots to do right now...more on that later.  But I do need to quilt two quilts very quickly for friends and piece a new pattern that is in progress...fun times!!

Happy Quilting!

Sunday Happenings...

We've been decorating our house a bit.  It has only been about 16 months and I'm tired of looking at the boxes still stacked in the corner of the bedroom!!  ;-)  One new purchase is a cute coffee sign for the kitchen...I've been making iced coffees at home and apparently they are a little on the "light" side--color wise!  Rebecca doesn't drink coffee so she doesn't get it....but she bought me the sign. ;-)

I'm quilting a charity quilt for Sharon.  The panto is Daisies Galore, I believe....I've been having some tension issues but I think I have it all worked out.  The fabric is Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane...right??

Quiltique, our local quilt shop, celebrated their 10th anniversary with a big sale last week.  I bought about 25 yards of fabric...Fat quarters of Honey Honey...it was buy 10 FQ and get 5 free!  I bought a total of 30 FQ...

Then it was buy 10 yards of fabric, get 5 yards free!  Lots of Pam Kitty Love by Lakehouse...and some other assorted cutie prints.  Very springy....

I think I'm about done shopping.  It is time to start making some new projects!!!  More to come soon...
Happy Quilting!

Beginning Quilting class quilt....

Joyce made this quilt in a beginning quilting class she took at the Christmas Goose...check it out!  I think it turned out cute....

And an up close of the star....

It was small, but I spent quite a while on the border....using the ruler and ruler plate!  I need more practice with that, of course, but it was fun....I'll post more stuff later this week!

Happy Quilting....