Thinking of Posting Again

You know, I'd totally forgotten about this blog and from looking at the date, over 6 years ago, it's been a long while since I posted anything.  Well, a lot has happened in those 6 years and I've been thinking of posting again.   For example,  DH has retired and we're living the "good life".  I've had 2 new grand-babies and 8 new chickens since my last post.  I'm still quilting, sort of, and still crocheting.  We haven't moved, although we have put on a new roof, redid our bathroom and driveway.  So I may just have a lot to talk about.  We'll see how this goes.  I'm not making any promises.

Giveaways!

Everyone loves giveaways and I've got a couple to tell you about. First, Tonya is giving away lots of goodies including FQs and your can find out more about it here Check out splitting stitches for a great fourth of July giveaway. And if you just love the new honey bun packs that have started to come out, check out ranettes daily stitch Finally quiltqua.com is having a tell a friend giveway with a frosted memories FQ bundle in the offering. till next time.....

Notes from the River House

I thought you might like to see some pictures of what’s growing here at the River House.  Here are my beans and peppers.  And the second picture is our tomato patch.

 

This is our dill.  And our patch of grapes.

  

Here is the punkin patch and I wanted to show you the empty space.  Well, it’s not really empty, it’s waiting for tobacco seedlings to come from Tennessee.  They were supposed to have been here about a month ago, but the grower had terrible weather so they are running behind schedule.  But the good news is they are promising shipment next week.  Why grow tobacco, you ask.  Well, how many people can say they grow tobacco?  Besides it has purty flowers. 

Next time I’ll post some pictures of the flowers.  They are getting a slow start, like Tennessee, our weather hasn’t been perfect.  Lots of cool days and nights.  Since it’s technically still spring, I guess I can’t complain.  I’m sure come this time next month, I’ll be getting cabin fever because I’ve had the house closed up with the air on for waaay too many days.

Till next time…..

Chicken coop quilt is finished

I am so pleased with the way this turned out I just had to post a picture of the completed project.  I really love it! 

Till next time…..

My weekend…so far

This weekend at The River House has been another busy one. DH worked hard all day

yesterday and got my rain barrels set up. You can see here how they look. We saw a set in a catalog and they had this nifty gauge thingy on the side so you could always tell how much water was in them. He said he would add that for me. Now I’m just waiting for the next rain for free water, whoo hoo!

While DH was busy with rain barrels I was busy with a project of my own. If you look at my side bar you’ll see a link for info about quilt barns in Ohio. Well, not to be outdone, I decided to do my own version of a quilt barn. Mine is a quilt coop! I have been working on painting a hens and chicks block on the back of the chicken coop. I need some

help though. I had originally planned for a navy blue border around the block, but I kind of like it the way it is now. (Ignore the blue painter’s tape, the red still needs a second coat.) I’d like to know your opinions.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to head out to the strawberry patch and see if I can beat the chipmunks' to the ripe ones this morning.

Till next time…..

Twiddletails is having a teenie giveaway

Just head over to twiddletails and post a comment under her "just because" post to be entered in her giveaway. Till next time.....

I'm baaack!

Sorry it's been such a long time since I posted. Spring is a very busy time for us here at The River House. We got the garden in, mostly. Still waiting for our tobacco plants to come. Seems the grower down in Tennessee has had lots of rain and then frost so we're not expecting our plants until mid month. Which for us here in Northeast Indiana means, we'll probably not get much in the way of harvest. I told DH we would have to build us a greenhouse around them come October. But the tomatoes are in, the peppers are in, beans, cukes, squash, onions, and pumpkins are all up. I picked strawberries today and had them for breakfast. All the flower gardens are planted and have started blooming and the chickens have started going broody. Dear Hubby has also been busy fixing up some rain barrels for me. We drove to Lima OH to get the barrels and he's been busy building a stand for them. Once done, I will be able to attach a hose to them or set a bucket under a spout. Can't wait till they're finished. They each will hold 55 gallons of water and later this summer when the weather turns dry they will come in pretty handy. I haven't had a lot of time to sew, but did get the second half of the Lone Star put on. I'm floating the star and now all it needs are the borders and off to the quilter it will go. Also got a couple of sets of 9 patches done that I'm doing for a quilt along that crazymomquilts is doing. I also managed to get a schlep bag finished. Got the pattern here . I bought some oriental FQs to make another one. The one shown here is quilted. The next one I make won't be. Just the thing for shop hops, don't you think? Speaking of which, if you live in NE Indiana there is one coming up this month in and around Shipshewana, June 26 and 27, nine shops total and all in beautiful Amish country. If you smell burning plastic around that time, don't fret, it's just my credit card overheating from over use! Well, guess that's it for now. Time to go out to the coop and gather eggs. I promise not to be so lax in posting now that things have settled down. Till next time.....

Just a quick note

Just wanted to brag on my SW Engineer son, Josh, for making me the Air Force Mom pic over on my sidebar. Great job, kiddo, I love it!

Busy, busy time

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and grandmas out there! My wonderful Air Force son, Peter sent me these beautiful flowers for Mother's Day. And then in yesterday's mail I got two cards from him and from the Utah grands, Paris and Annalynn. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I hope all you mom's out there have a wonderful day today.

Now that spring is officially here with warm weather and rain, things have been really busy around here! We have planted over 50 trees, several bushes, some flowers and have tilled up a new garden area. We already have a veggie garden but we want to plant ornamental corn, sunflowers and tobacco this year and I didn't want that in with my veggies. We have the new area tilled and post holes dug for the fence, just need to get it fenced in--need to keep out those pesky groundhogs--and get it planted. As for the veggie garden, the strawberries are blooming and I'll be picking rhubarb today. Several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, onions, melons, zuchs and cukes will be going in soon. And I'm going to try my hand at butternut squash this year. I have a wonderful butternut squash soup recipe I got from a friend. Butternut Squash Soup

It is supposed to get pretty chilly the next couple of nights so thought I'd wait till it warms up just a tad bit more before setting out the plants.

I've also been renovating and clearing out the flower beds. We have a lot on shade on our property so I'm slowly starting several different shade gardens. I have one full of hostas, astilbes and ferns and one with lots and lots of columbine. I plan on posting pics as I go along. This year I bought about a dozen different perennials to replace some that were lost over the winter and to add to the garden.

We have had a couple of rainy days which meant I got to stay inside and sew! These are the 9 patches I've been working on for the one a day quilt along that

Crazy Mom Quilts is doing. I'm doing them all in pinks and purples. I have a ton of FQs in those colors.

And I've been working on DDIL Andrea's Lone Star quilt. Here's half of the star done. I'm using Jo Parrot's book, "Template Free Stars" and so far it's been pretty easy.

I have the other half completed just need to sew the halves together and do the inset squares and triangles. That's going to be the nerve wracking part. I had a friend who did a very small 8 pointed star and when she added the set in squares and triangles her whole top bowed up in the middle. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen here. A queen sized quilt bowed in the middle would NOT be a pretty sight!

That's pretty much what I've been up to this week.

Till next time......

Diet and Exercise

Since October I've been working really hard to lose weight. I developed "runner's knee" last summer and the amazing thing is a runner I am not! Unless of course you count running between the ironing board and my sewing machine. Uh, there's about a foot of space between them. Anyway, I went to the doctor, he prescribed meds, sent me to PT and I was to use a cane. PT did wonders and my wonderful therapist didn't even suggest I lose weight to help the knee. But everyone knows the more weight you carry the harder it is on the joints so I started dieting. I am a Weight Watchers alumni (became a life time member back in the late 80's) but as you've probably guessed by now, I sort of fell off the eat right wagon. But I did go back to what I had learned in WW, and that meant writing everything down, counting and measuring. I also started exercising. My routine now consists of yoga and walking. I do two different yoga programs. One is Kurt Johnsen's Yoga for Life on the Veria channel and the other one is Deni Preston's Total Body Workout on the BYU channel. I have been doing yoga for about a year and a half now and love it! Not only for a firmer and more limber body but I also needed to improve my balance. Don't want to be one of the those little old ladies who fall and break a hip. Both programs are great and focus on different things depending on the day. On the days I don't yoga I walk using one of Leslie Sansone's programs. We can get them on demand through FIT tv for free. Right now I'm doing her Heart Association's Start Walking 3 mile program. I get too bored just out walking around the neighborhood. Leslie keeps things interesting and although I've seen the show a lot of times I never get bored with her. So anyway, since October I've lost 50 pounds! I got out clothes for this summer I hadn't been able to get into for ever. And I also have noticed when I grocery shop I am now shopping the outer fringes of the store. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies and very little processed foods. I'm also experimenting with new things I've never tried before. And with that said here's a great no bake granola bar recipe using agave syrup (something new I discovered). NO BAKE GRANOLA BARS 2 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal 2 cups uncooked quick oats 1/2 cup yellow raisins 1/2 cup brown sugar substitute 1/2 cup agave syrup 1/2 cup peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp cinnamon In large bowl mix cereal, oats and raisins. Bring brown sugar substitute and agave to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over ceral mixture, stir till coated. Press into a 13x9 inch pan and cool. Cut into 16 bars. 140 cal. each. till next time.....