I have blooms on the tomato plants!

 

Monday night did not go as planned - not that things usually do around here, but it was especially "not planned" last night.  Alli, AJ and I spent a couple of hours at the emergency room - Alli had an allergic reaction to something - I suspect it was walnuts.  She didn't react as badly as she did with fish, so I took her to Urgent Care first - she was itchy, sneezing and coughing, and had rubbed her eyes so much they were almost swollen shut.  They decided she should go to ER instead because they weren't equipped to handle the reaction if it got any worse.  So....off we went.  

I hadn't grabbed Alli's travel bag when I left, so by this point, I needed more diapers and a change of clothes for her, so AJ drove in to drop them off and decided to stick around with us at the ER.  It went a lot faster than it could have - the waiting room was full, and we were in the "outside" waiting room - some chairs set up outside the ER, which was perfect - Alli did so much better outside.  My biggest issue - getting her to walk through the ER itself - any change of color on the floor triggered to her that it was a step, so it took a few tugs and "help" to get her across the floor, since she was stopping every couple of steps due to a color change in the floor (gone are the days of a single color floor - everything now has decorative stripes, color blocks, non-slip adhesives sections, etc.  I never noticed until recently!)  She was doing much better last night after a dose of benadryl, some dinner, and a movie.  We'll see how she is when she gets up this morning.

 Here was our Easter luncheon table!  Pixie made tzatziki dip, baklava, and falafels.  I made a grilled pork roast, orzo salad and tabbouleh, and feta cheese dip, along with some purchased hummus.  It was very tasty! 

 

One of the projects AJ and I worked on this weekend was setting up a separate space for the baby chickens to stay outside, but separate from the big girls.  This was their first taste on life outside the box! 

 

They still get covered up at night, since we dropped down to 45 degrees last night, but they no longer have a warming light in the cage, and are free to run around during the day.  We did immediately trim their wings though - they would be terribly hard to catch if they got loose! 

 

 

Happy Easter!

 

 Yesterday AJ and I did some yard projects - we put up new lights up in the patio area, cleaned out the koi pond a bit, cleaned up the last of the leaves and dead plants - ready for Spring!  I love the new lights in the patio - multi-colored, changing patterns and I can make them brighter of dim them, depending on my mood (my favorite RBG led lights). 

I have a water lily blooming already!

One of the neighbor's tree buds.

I filled in a little bit more of the quilt option #1 (the blank spaces are for fabric that would need to be cut for this version or left whole for the border to option #2, so I need to decide which version before I cut it).  I also don't have room on my design board for the whole quilt to go up - there is one more row on the left, the top and two on the right, so you definitely have to use your imagination on this one!

And here are two versions of Option #2 - the difference between the two are the placement of the gold blocks.  This version has a wide boarder around the edge.

I got the Big Reveal for the mystery quilt - and I like it!  I didn't look at the instructions, I just started putting it up, based on what I "thought" the pictured showed me.  Here is my first attempt: 

This is about the point I realized I didn't have enough of the turquoise blocks to finish the quilt.  I spent a few panicked minutes looking for the "missing" turquoise blocks before I really looked at the instructions.  The purple blocks go in the middle, the turquoise will go more on the outside corners (I didn't get that far yet).  This is closer to what the quilt should look like - still a lot of blocks to put in:

My roses are blooming - just in time for the rain, unfortunately.   

 

The last set of blocks are done for the Mystery quilt - ready for the big reveal on Wednesday.  This should be a fun quilt to put together - the blocks are a lot of fun to rearrange - below are the same blocks in two different arrangements - we'll have to wait and see what the designer had in mind, and if I see something I like better.

I also worked on my Lady Liberty quilt and now have to go back and get more fabric.  Since it's a "block a month", the pattern came with Block 2 on one side of the paged and Block 3 on the other.  I didn't realize I hadn't turned the page.....duh!  I now have a duplicate of the 2nd block - not what I wanted or needed. The worst part, I didn't even realize it until I put it up with the other blocks for a photo. Best laid plans! 

 

My "side quilt" is growing!  I make a block between other quilts - just whenever I fell like it.  I have all the white background fabric and book fabrics cut out, so I just have to cut the cat out and put one together.  I'm liking the different colored cats. 

The garden is growing!  I have cucumber, zucchini and beans coming up!  We have 2+inches of rain forecast for this week, which will give them a good soaking, and hopefully will not wash them away!

Jessie followed me to the bathroom the other day, and noticed the second hand on the clock.  She spent a few minutes trying to figure how to catch it. 

 

Here are some of the blocks for the latest Mystery Quilt, the Mystery Five-0 Luau quilt.  I should have the "final reveal" next week, so will see what the quilt looks like when the blocks go together. 

 The RBD Challenge quilt is coming along - around the half-way point for blocks.   

And how NOT to put your quilt block together.....eventually (after ripping out the seam and resewing) this became the bottom right block in the set above.

 

'Tis the season - I walked out this weekend, and the pool is covered in pollen.  The poor skimmer was chugging along,doing it's best though.  The cars are green, the driveway is green, everything is green!

 

The garden is in!  This is the earliest I've ever put in the garden.  I'm taking a chance that the heat dome doesn't disappear under a cold front, but it doesn't look like it will.  I got everything in - tomatoes, peppers (thought I could use some bell pepper plants) beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and eggplants.  I'm ready!

 

The babies got their first outside day on Saturday.  We were a balmy 80+ degrees and no wind, so they got to play on the patio.  I even found a couple of sticks to put in their cage for roosts. They are still too young to be outside at night, but with our heat wave, they can stay out during the day. They should be fully feathered in a couple of weeks, so will be able to go into the chicken pen close to the big girls, assuming we are done with winter (I know, never assume - I just have a feeling that this is going to be one of those years that we skip spring and go from winter to summer).

 

Cindy and I went out to the gun range this week for a little target practice.  My last trip out I had issues with the slide on my gun, so I was testing my fix (or rather, Willy's fix - he took a look at it for me) and it was working fine, thank goodness.  I was even doing decent at hitting the target!  We were leaving as the sun was setting.

Yes, another mystery quilt is under way.  This is the fabric for the Luau Mystery Five-O quilt.  It will be interesting to see what it looks like when it's done.  I love the fabrics. 

The chicks are a month old (we bought them on February 20th, and they were a couple of days old then....) and are definitely in the teen-age phase.  They are covered in half adult feathers and half down, growing like weeds, and eating everything in sight.  I've moved them into a bigger cage and they can start going outside during the day.   

I set up my quilting frame with practice fabric, and have played with it a bit (along with Cindy M and her mother-in-law, who was wondering if she could quilt her own quilts).  When not it use though, it is a wonderful kitty hammock.

 

A quick last look at some spring-time flowers before they wither away in the heat.  We have a forecast of 86 here today - a bit high for March. 

 

Done!  I got all the garden soil moved into the beds - whew!  I finished up before 9:00 on Sunday morning - while it was still cool, and in time for my normal Costco run with Alli. 

 

I took a break from my "weekend project"and finished up last week's block or the RBD Challenge.  I'm loving the different blocks - fun to make! 

I did get some dirt moved into my garden beds yesterday, just not as much as I should have - time and temperature caught up with me.  (Alli wanted lunch and it was almost 80 degrees!).  We are up for another 80 degree day, so hopefully I'll get moving this morning and get 'er done before it's too hot.  I sent pictures to AJ with the caption "Wish you were here".  (He is quite happy that he is in Denver, thank you very much!)  Besides the soil to move, I added two bags of mushroom loam into each bed, mixing with the old soil before I added the new soil. 

I dug out the ramp for the back of the shed to get the wheelbarrow high enough I can dump it - an extra pair of hands would have been handy, but I made it work!