IT'S MID-MARCH ALRIGHT

 They are just beginning to open up around the yard--

the amaryllis are just show stoppers!

I had to head back into the lab for a re-draw;  one of the vials was 'corrupted' and so the tests couldn't be performed.  The tech told me it's a code word for 'someone dropped a vial'! lol  As long as we were in town, Bill ran a few errands, too.  I was tired when I got home, but I could sit and group some colors for tulip blocks!

SOME FRAME WORK!

Yesterday, I took forever to load a quilt and layer it up, arrange the panto and then to begin to quilt.  I felt so rusty and then realized it has been a long time so of course, I was rusty!

But like most skills, with the continued practice, 

it becomes more natural again and I got two rows done.  

I am slow but I did it.  I had earned my bed time!

 

A LITTLE YARD WALK

Remember last summer when Bill and I built the 'old ladder lattice' and planted wisteria at the two sides?  Well, there are flowers!!!  

The vines have greened up and blossomed so quickly in this warmer weather we've had lately; very exciting.

This is one of the last calliandra flowers.

Likewise, the camellias are just about finished.

Giving way for the azaleas along the driveway

to show off all their colors!

I do love to see color in the yard!

There were quite a few plants that were bitten by the frost, this is my cereus cactus but it will recover.

 

WORK AND REWARD

I had to fast for four hours before the CT scan so I figured I needed to keep busy so I stitched all of the blocks together into a real top.  I was whooped afterwards but pleased that I accomplished something for a change!

I had several hours of imaging; first a CT scan , which was the first one I have had to do and then it was time for the dye which was quite a surprise because it was very different than the one I have for the MRI!!! (a bit overwhelming in the warmth throughout my body from the dye!) I was glad they could leave in the same IV when I next moved to the MRI room because it was a struggle to get one in my vein.  I am quite used to the MRI and all of its noise!  When I was finished, two hours later, I waited outside to enjoy the beautiful roses.  I appreciate the beauty added to a space that could have been left barren but wasn't! They have several beautiful roses and I sniffed every one of them!

The creamy one smelled the best but I do love red roses!

On the road side of the imaging center, they have a retaining pond.  While waiting for Bill, I saw a mud turtle and a skinny snake slithering on top of the water and over the lily pads! 

 I was far enough away to just be curious!

Since the technician suggested food and drink to flush my system of the double dose of 'glow juice', Bill surprised me with a visit to Corky Bells restaurant!  The front of the building has plenty of garden beauty here also!

Our view southward...

and also the view toward the north along the ST Johns River.  

 

It was calm, warm (80*) and a perfect reward for the end of the testing!

ANOTHER SET BACK

It's been a hard week, we started out with a bad reaction to meds, then getting a new one.  It is so hard to get in touch with the doctor's!  Anyway, here are the green beans I planted--

all growing nicely.T

The radishes are growing quickly

 and I am anticipating a good crunch soon!

The summer squash are off to a good start 

though it will be a longer wait for these to be ready!

And I did pick the last of the carrots!  I sure did enjoy them!

I have an appointment for an MRI and then a CT scan today. 

 Lots of fun ahead.  It's a good thing I excel at just laying down.

 

WATERCOLOR FUN

I enjoyed my last book so much,

 I ordered this one of different landscape scenes!

Yup, it is so wonderful to just savor the joy of color!

 

A LITTLE HOP

While I had plans to meet Mary for our send off for the shop hop, things got rearranged a bit.  The antibiotic I am on has decided to make me so nauseous  I could barely hold my own head up!  Bill drove me to our local shop where I met Mary for a brief shop.

This is the quilt I picked out for this year and I bought the fabric I needed.

A quick hug and Bill whisked me back home!  My body is over all the meds, too, I guess but it sure has a nasty way of letting me know!  So grateful for Bill to give up his Saturday morning to haul me in to town and back!  Mary is a good friend to be so flexible with my health ups and downs! (mostly downs)
 

ANOTHER ACCOMPLISHMENT

I designed and executed the corner blocks using foundation paper piecing which I drew--it proceeded pretty well, considering! 

 Now I need to sew all of the outer blocks to the center panel, load it onto the quilting frame and stitch and bind it--that's all.  

I had hoped to have it done before today because today kicks off the beginning of the All Florida Shop Hop 2025! 

 At least I am closer than I was last week!

 

A LITTLE VISIT

My quilting buddy, Mary, invited me into a trip to the soon-to-close JoAnn's store, about an hour away.  I didn't really feel like going but I did want to pick up a few backing and background fabrics

 so I pushed myself per doctor orders. 

 Off we went-I haven't been there in more than 6 months!  

On the way, we saw this sight--very unusual for us--it's a rather grand pile of rocks!  Some company much closer to the coast must've been doing some construction (digging a foundation) and needed a place to store it before they resold it.  Where I live, you can dig more than 100' and never run into a rock but along the coast it is a different story.  The pile is 100' long and about 50' high--

a really big pile of very large boulders!

The fabric supply was fine at the closing store. I found just what I had written down to purchase but as for notions; very slim pickings!!!  The lines were atrocious--easily and hour and a half of our visit was waiting for the cutting counter and then again to cash out!  Yikes!  It was good to be with my friend but I was exhausted and glad to be back to my bed, too!  Let's be honest.

 

THE NEXT STEP

I stitched the last churn dash block 

and now I have to decide what to do with the corners. 

 I will use some more of the navy fabric for spacers on the sides.  It's getting easier to think and work on the piecing.

And then I get a text---Ethan's school planted an oak tree in his memory and his fellow students all painted rocks to decorate the ground around the tree. I'm so glad they care enough to do this and to help the other 3rd graders grieve. 

 

A BRIEF WALK

The azalea bush is beginning to glow with color!  This bush is always the first because it gets the most sunshine!

I've been picking some carrots from my veg bed

 and thoroughly enjoying them!

The bird of paradise clump on the palm tree survived the freeze!  So many other plants are going to have a lot of regrowing

 to do before they will bloom again.  

I hope we are done with the freezing cold mornings!

I put this together yesterday;  an early Mother's Day gift from my daughter and family.  I will make a cement pad for it to rest on out back by our pond!

 

THE SAGA CONTINUES

 Knocked down with another migraine this week-let's add vertigo and vomiting with this one!  Fun. Marsel bought me this pad of watercolor paper that is a watercolor coloring book!  It's a great way for me to play without too much strain!  It's also good therapy because my hand shakes now and it is helping me to steady it!  Also, I can play while sitting in my bed which has been my world again this week

I know how fragile my emotions are still because I was sobbing when awakened to texts for prayer because a man under the influence of drugs caused this accident.  It is my daughter-in-law's vehicle;  she and daughter were on their way home.  He drove them right into those cement traffic barriers.  My son and his son were following  right behind them and saw the accident and thought they had witnessed a fatal crash!   Ella was taken to the hospital and released, her mom, Cassandra was take to a trauma center and just came home tonight.

Ella is one poor bruised body but her Mom has fractured her sternum and T2 vertebrae but she is alive and there is no spinal cord injury!  

I know this sounds like the worst case of bad luck for a family but I don't believe in luck--and yes, we think these are all bad things happening lately but I will just say, I believe God will have his own good reasons for all of these tears and I trust him, shakily some days but still I acknowledge him as God Almighty in all things.

Steel is strengthened when it is heated up and beaten-I have a whole new understanding of refining faith!

ADDING A FEW EVERYDAY

I added some more blocks.  

It seems to be going easier each block.

Lena found a more comfortable spot to nap while I sew!

Does anyone have a cat that likes them to stand by them while they eat?  Of course, I accommodate her.

 

WOOD RE-WORKING

When we sifted through the ashes, there were some treasures we were able to save.

I made this bowl for Ethan in 2021 from the grapefruit tree he used to love to climb. It was badly singed and covered with the thick, toxic smoke.

After a good bit of sanding, I was able to save the bowl

 and then I put wood sealer on it.

This is one of those things I will have to save for a while

 before returning it to Matthew and Will.

Both of their bowls were burned beyond repair. 

 See on the right hand side--Ethan wrote is name in marker

 so he would know it was his!  

 

PROGRESS

Look at that!  Two blocks done--I had to resize the pattern to fit the center shop blocks but it worked! 

 The hard part is really done, now it is just manual labor! lol

 

LOOKING AHEAD

Next month the All Florida Shop Hop begins and I didn't finish last year's project.  I pulled out the pouch of fabric, the sketch I had made and hoped to get some brain cells moving around.

I am making a less ambitious layout than originally thought but even so the choices are causing a lot of sparking and sputtering! 

 I will make a fresh start today.

Reminders like these cause both pain and joy.

(we had measured his height again on my birthday, not knowing it would be the last entry.  And the dirt from handprints on the doorway from my sewing room, where this is marked, to the garage will not be washed for fear of removing these precious markers!)