Spring Overload

At the risk of becoming a flower/weather blog, boy howdy - how about this spring!  There have been years when our first daffodil hasn't bloomed until March 17, and here we are March 21st and some things are already finished blooming.

These pictures (along with probably a hundred others) were taken in my yard on St. Patrick's Day -

To keep it quilt related, they all inspire me with their color and form. And who knows - maybe they'll end up in a quilt someday?

Down in my lair I've been quilting birds and branches (maybe a little hard to see here - this is the back of the quilt). I'm hoping to make slow but steady progress.

Normally this is the ideal season to photograph birds in silhouette on the beautiful sculptures the branches create. This year I'm afraid the leaf out will be too fast to get many good pictures. Oh well, at least what winter we had is over!

Scenes of Summer

School ended *very* late this year, due to all the snow, so we've only had 2 days of summer vacation. Here's what it's looking like so far.

Daylily "South Seas"

Maypop (or Passion Flower)

I think this kid has it pretty good. A little computer time after swimming with 8 friends plus his brothers.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Yesterday morning I sneaked out of the house early, and went to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens on a little photo excursion.

I've passed the signs to the gardens countless times on the way to visit my family, yet never got a chance to check it out. I'm so glad that now I have!

These photos are just the tip of the iceberg of what you can see there.

Just one of the large ponds of lotuses.

There are not just lotuses, but water lilies, other marsh flowers, and a boardwalk through a swamp. As I walked along the boardwalk numerous birds and butterflies flew through the air and landed on the plants - difficult to capture in a photograph, but just beautiful.

There was not a tremendous variety of water lilies blooming in the large ponds at this time, but if you go be sure to look behind the park office. There's a little sign that says "more flowers", and there you'll find three small ponds filled with a variety of beautiful lilies.

If you live in the Baltimore/Washington area I highly recommend a visit. The park is open from 7am to 4pm, partly because the flowers eventually close in the heat of the late afternoon, so plan accordingly.

Accidental Tourist

I made a tote bag for my niece's birthday using some Laurel Burch fabrics.

Last week was Spring Break for the kids. My husband was going to a conference in Norfolk, Virginia, so at the last minute we all tagged along. We stayed in a hotel on the beach in Virginia Beach. Though quite chilly a good time was had by all. Here's a token seagull shot (clickable).


On the slooow return trek I made considerable progress on Lorelei - the bottom is essentially finished.

It's been quite cold here too (28 degrees F when the Easter Bunny put eggs outside for the hunt yesterday - good thing she's covered in fur). The tulip magnolias are suffering, the cherry blossoms are barely hanging in there, but the weeds look great!

A lovely gal named Anne left a comment the other day about Lorelei. All the comments are still saying "no reply" so I'll answer her question here. Anne, I think the yarn you described would work great. A cotton/linen mix would have a nice drape in the lower section, and since Lorelei isn't fitted there I think the drape is needed. Let me know how it turns out!

Eggcellent

First off, thank you guys for any and all comments you've left! I've discovered that since I switched to the new blogger, every comment I've received says "no reply" for email. Aaack! I usually try to email anyone who comments, but this has added just enough of an extra step to the process that I've really failed with the email lately.

I did a little test, and discovered that my profile also was producing "no reply" for email. I had to change my profile so that "show my email address" was checked, and now I think I've fixed this issue for myself. So, if you're leaving comments on folks blogs and not getting email, check out your own profile and see what it says.

I wish I could say I've finished umpteen fabulous things to show you, but alas this is not the case. Things like cub scout stuff, helping children with (insert anything here), having a sick child etc. have lowered my productivity. However, today I won a whole wack of Swarovski crystal flatback rhinestones. Go to Jerry's Beads to enter and win some yourself. There is irony here! At Monday night's Knit Knight some classy folks were discussing/questioning the whole bedazzling thing after I (jokingly) suggested that Jody's skull bag and needle case could benefit from red rhinestones in some of those eye sockets. I'm not one to put crystals on quilts, but they are kind of fun to put (sparingly) on note cards, Christmas ornaments, little boxes etc. (Or even needle cases.)

So what's so eggcellent about this post? There's no school today, so we've had a little egg dyeing, and I've thrown in some crocuses.

Springing Forward

Sunday I went over to Frederick to check out the Rose Hill Manor Quilt Show. Imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I realized that I'd won Best of Show with Grotto. I'm still pinching myself!

The crocuses started blooming on Tuesday. Then it snowed on Wednesday (yesterday). Oh well, I've always wanted to take pictures of crocuses blooming in the snow.

Tuesday

Wednesday

School was cancelled (???). I won't question the wisdom of the School Board as I'm sure they had good intentions. It did afford me the opportunity to make some eggs ala Martha with the able assistance of at least one of my children. My workspace looked a little messier than Martha's but I'm pleased with the end result. Note that I haven't applied a coat of Mod Podge to the outside yet to seal them.

Origami covered eggs

As you might guess we have a little more fabric lying around here than fancy origami paper, so I tried out some of that as well.

Fabric covered egg - ostracized by the other eggs because it isn't as smooth as them

The fabric egg looks OK, but I prefer the origami ones. It was harder to get the fabric to lie flat. This particular fabric was hand painted and I think that helped to keep it from fraying during the gluing process.

I made a very cute tote bag last week to give to a 7 year old girl for her birthday. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it as the camera was already with Team Doran Racing (at the Pinewood Derby) by the time I finished up the tote. (Aside: I'm finally hip and cool enough to have a camera on my phone, but not hip and cool enough to remember I have it.) Anyway, it was so fun and fast that I'll probably be making another one for an upcoming little girl's birthday and I'll be sure to take a picture of that one.

Happy Spring!