Progress on the 2026 Riley Blake Design Challenge - still a lot of parts to put together, but I'm getting there! 

 

I've started a new quilt - I know, what a shock!  This is the newest Mystery Five-O quilt, Surf's Up, and my fabric this time is in shades of brown.  These are weeks 1 and 2 of the quilt.  

All the chickens are now laying - I'm getting 4 eggs a day (most days).  Of course, some of the "new" eggs are a bit small, but they are all laying.  The Easter Egger and Sapphire Gem just started, and the Easter Egger egg is almost a blue.  

Now to get them to go to bed where they are supposed to.  Every night I have to go out and shoo them off the roof of the coop cover and put them in the coop.  I keep reminding them of what happened to the other Sapphire (went missing in the middle of the night, only  feathers left) but they insist on roosting outside of the coop....

 

 

 

My Baskets and Blooms quilt is done!  I took it out to take a picture, and realized I forgot to bring  the clamps with me that I us to pin it to the pool fence.  Luckily, as I started back inside, "the tall one" (aka AJ) wandered outside and offered to hold it up for me. 

I like how the border turned out - I was very indecisive on what to do, and I think the meander pattern I used for the rest of the quilt worked out well. 

What a difference a week makes with the UV filter - now you can see the fish!  We couldn't see the dark gray one at all unless they came up tot he surface to eat.

 

Here are some more pictures showing just how green my koi pond got, and one of the large frogs that is inhabiting it.  We have a number of large frogs this year - more than normal and they are larger than normal.  I like the frogs, but they tend to hide and jump out when I lift up the cover to the filter - scaring both of us.  I'll get pictures of the "clean" pond today to show what can change in a week!

 

 

I had a visitor to the koi pond - we often get orange dragonflies there, and this one was polite enough to pose for a picture.  You can see how green my water was - this was the day before I put in the new UV lamp.  You can now see to the bottom of the pond! 

 

I've been having problems with the koi pond the last couple of years, the pH has been too high, not being able to keep the algae growth down, etc.  I think I found the issue....I went to the local koi place to pick up more algaecide, and another customer asked how often she should replace her UV light bulb.  Replace the bulb??? It needs that??  Who knew (or even thought about it - the bulbs are hidden in the filter so you can't see if they are working or not).  I didn't even know where the UV fixture was in the pond, I just knew that Ralph had added one.  A quick chat with the owner of the store set me up for success.  I was able to find the bulb and replace it.  The water is looking better already, and I just replaced the bulb on Sunday!  Since I was at the koi pond store anyway, a few water hyacinths followed me home. They are a nice addition to the pond.

 

AJ took Friday off with me last week, and we took the dogs for a walk.  I was hoping for a longer walk than we got, but it was beautiful!  I have never gone to Brandy Creek Falls by Whiskeytown Lake, and thought that would be a good, easy walk.  It was a bit too easy - about a half mile of flat walking.  It was also super crowded - our walk took longer than expected because every kid on the walk wanted to pet the dogs.  Luna was in 7th heaven!

To counter the quick walk, we took the dogs partway up to Whiskeytown Falls, just enough for them to wade in the creek for a bit. Luna was again quite happy!

Not a lot of flowers blooming, but I found a dragonfly!

 

All the blocks are done for the RBD Challenge - one had to be re-done though.  I hate it when I don't notice the problem until after the block in completed! 

All fixed now!

Now I need to work on the connecting pieces and put the whole quilt together.
 

I got my first egg from one of the babies!  Since they aren't supposed to stay laying until they are 5 months old, we have an early bloomer in the flock, laying at just 4 1/2 months.  Judging by the color of the egg, it is the Starlight Green Egger that is laying.  The Easter Egger won't be far behind, and should have blueish eggs.  The Sapphire Gem  usually starts at 6 months, so she'll be a bit behind the other two, laying brown eggs.

My egg holder with the new green egg in it, along with some eggs from Cindy's flock.  My Wellsummer lays brown eggs, and since Cindy was going to be out of town for a week, she gave me her surplus eggs before she left.

 

The quilt top is done for another baby quilt.  This is one of the 3-yard patterns that I got at the quilt show, and I really like it - it's very striking! 

 

Look what followed me home!  Cindy C was selling her A-Liner trailer rather than move it to Wyoming, so it is now at my house.  It so cute!  It has 2 beds, a small refrigerator, stove, and heater.  I did manage to break one of the bubble lights on the drive from her place, but I have no idea how that happened.  I also need to get extended mirrors for the Volvo before I drive it very far. I even managed to back it up (almost) right where I wanted it in the driveway once I got it home - not bad!