Alex is supposed to be shipping off his Christmas present (I know - it's almost June.....) to his host family in Japan soon.  He had asked for a quilt to send them and went through my stock of quilts and picked this one out last year.  Then, to add to the present, he asked if I could make something for each of them - we decided on aprons (which I finished in January - a little late for Christmas, but not THAT late!)

Here's for his host Dad - he took Alex and the family to a baseball game while AJ was there (and tried to talk "baseball" to Alex, but....Alex doesn't talk "baseball" in English, he only listens to me talk about it.....  I don't think the Japanese conversation went well.)

For one of the two boys:

Here's what the fabric looks like:

For Mom:

For the other boy:

For the girl:

More pictures of my lilies in the koi pond - I think this is the first time that I've had two blooms at once so you can see the different colors.  Even better, there was a dragonfly on one.

 

Here's another project I got done while Cindy was here - it didn't need her construction knowledge, just someone to shop with to find what I was looking for....

I have a fairly ugly stand pipe right at the corner of the walk by the front door.  I need access to it because it has a filter in it that I need to check once a month, so I needed something light enough to move as well as something large enough to cover it up, and...not look like I was covering something up.

The solution was a large planter turned upside down over the stand pipe, and a smaller planter put on top with plants.  

I think it turned out actually quite pretty!!!

One project done!!!  Cindy came down for the weekend, and I put her to work - she has tons of experience building and remodeling, so we made a plan to tear out the desk in the corner of my kitchen.  Not a big task, but daunting to me - I had no idea where to start.  The hardest part was finding the tools, I swear!  Between Alex and I cleaning out the garage a few years ago, the massive amount of tools in the shop, and me not knowing the name of tools, it was bit tough.  (I had no idea what a 'cat's paw' was, or where it would be.....but we found it!)  I did have to buy a miter box - we probably have one somewhere, but I have no idea where.  Everything else we were able to find.

 

My "harvest" so far this year -  I had one snap pea pod last night to go in my salad.  I do have peppers set, the zucchinis are growing, and lots of tomatoes, so there will be more, but this is it so far.....

 

 

Allison's Day Program (that isn't open for in-person attendance) delivers craft packages twice a week.  Since Alli is anti-craft anything, most of the projects are either done by her helper, or are passed along to other small children I know.

One project this spring was decorating a pot and planting a bulb, with no indication of what type of plant it was.  The helper de jour did that, and....the plant grew!  Not only that, it flourished!  The pot that was sent to decorate was about 3 inches across and 5 inches high.  I moved the plant out of that quickly when I realized it was a begonia......and I should have picked a bigger pot then, too - I think it's going to outgrow this pot soon.

 

The garden is growing - I have a couple of yellow zucchini set - and they are very small still.  My tomatoes are doing good - I planted them very early this year and luckily for me we did not have a killer frost in April.

 

The lilies have started blooming in the koi pond!  The koi seems to be quite happy and are quite big - hard to believe they are only two years old!

Here's a photo from June, 2020 - look how little they were!!

 

I, once again, had help putting a quilt sandwich together.  I'm trying a new-to-me type of batting - fusible batting.  Sounded simple, and it actually worked out that way, if you ignore my helper.  I still have to spread it all out on the floor (Picot's cue to come help) and then I iron the whole thing together instead of pinning and basting it together.  The second picture is when I have the quilt on the ironing board - Picot lay down on the quilt underneath - making it hard to move the quilt along as I pressed.  The end result is a lot better, but it takes me a lot longer.  (My end results before might have been better if I had taken more time pinning and basting though....)

 

Sorry I've been MIA - my mornings got busy, so I need to adjust my time for posting.  I'm trying to adjust my work schedule so I'm not putting in as many (unpaid) hours.  After so many years of working so much, I was surprised at how hard it is to not "over-work" myself!  So.....to relax a bit, here's one of my roses....

 

And the finished project!!!