March was such a wonderful month!

Not only was the weather perfect with some record breaking 80 degree days, but we had another Spargo Sistas Weekend..... plus Mark and I went to Arizona to visit family and had the best trip!

So the first set of photos are the 'creative juices' ones:

This is Beth's block which is from a Civil War quilt she is working on.

This is one of Linda's Crimson Tweed blocks that is embellished. Love the cranberry colored wool!

Another of Linda's Crimson Tweed blocks all embellished.

Here's Linda's tree block I showed her working on last month.  It's all embellished now too.

Here's the next block she'll be working on.  Wonderful birds!

Beth and Paula hard at work and Sue taking a break or that could be called "Hardly working"....lol.

Sue's house block in her Magnolia quilt. The fabric she used for the windows makes them look like lights are on inside!

Linda with her Magnolia quilt!  Awesome isn't it? This is what an overachiever looks like!!! Hi, Linda!

A little exercise thrown in:

Here's my handsome hubby finishing the Scioto Mile(s) 5K, which he walks.  It was my 2nd 5K to run this year.  I did pretty well, 2nd place out of 4 in my age group. I'll take that.

Garden shots:

A tulip the deer didn't eat in my flower bed.

This Eastern Redbud (not in my garden) is so great....click on it to see the little pink buds on the trunk....it's just loaded!

Family photos:

Here ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at my beautiful cousin, Connie, who after going through chemo and radiation for 6 mos. has just learned that she is cancer free!!!!!  We are ecstatic!!!  Cute shirt she got since our maiden name is Berry.

We went to Monti's in Tempe, AZ to have lunch with Mark's Uncle Glenn and Aunt Joy.  It was a great reunion!

Siteseeing:

Bloooming cactus outside of the chapel in Sedona.

Mosaic artwork piece inside of the chapel.

The beautiful red rocks outside of Sedona!

The Holy Cross Chapel built into the red rock.  That in itself was the miracle.

We had lunch at the Junipine Resort....out on the deck in the beautiful sunshine!  We finished off the day with our drive to Flagstaff to have dinner with Randy, Dennis' brother, who was fun and a great chef!  He's available ladies!

I hope you enjoyed March wherever you live as much as I did. 

The trees bloomed early which thrilled me.

Next up....golf season and more 5Ks! 

Photos from our Spargo Sistas Weekend on Feb. 17th.....

Paula got her basket quilt center blocks pieced during our Spargo Sistas Weekend.  That always feels like quite an accomplishment!  It's very folksy and will look great hanging on her railing as you come in her door.  Most of the blocks have sayings embroidered on them.  LOVE it!

Linda worked on her borders for her Magnolia quilt.  I just love looking at her embroidery stitches! Mostly wool fabric was used in Linda's quilts and mine. 

Then she showed us her new table runner she made which is one block of the Red Clover pattern.  We loved it too....I especially love her embroidery on the leaves below.

Here's the full view....isn't it beautiful?

Here's a close-up of the flower on the table runner.

Ok....then she started stitching her first block of yet another pattern called Crimson Tweed.  Let's all say this together...."Linda wins for being an overachiever!"

Her blanket stitch around the branches of this tree reminded me of pine needles.  Her fly stitch on the ornaments with Dazzle thread were gorgeous and shiny! 

Here's a close-up of one of Paula's basket blocks.  I love this one....isn't that great?  Laughter is the best medicine! 

This is a photo of my one block I worked on the whole weekend.  The block did have 3 of these flowers on it (in my defense) but I definitely did not achieve as much as my friends.  It is all fun however, because we eat, drink and be merry!



Three 5Ks, holidays and two pet deaths later......

I have been in a blog stall.  This may be a longer post than you care to read because I've not posted since last April.  I have some finished projects to show and tell, vacations, updated grandkid photos and 5Ks that I've participated in. 

 I finished this little sweater for our niece who had her little girl in August. It's a free pattern called Helena:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/PATThelena.html

Little Ballerina Wrap Sweater I made from a Debbie Bliss pattern and

Sublime Yarns Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK.  I will eventually make booties to match and gift it to a special little girl yet to be born.

We went to Florida and Key West for my 60th birthday to be with our friends the Hemenways and Brays.  They sure made my birthday feel special instead of 'old'!  My one wish was to go back to the same place on the Intercoastal waterway where we saw this dolphin last year....he's still there!  It made my day!

I made these French Press Ballet Slippers in charcoal Cascade 220.  It's not a free pattern but you can purchase it here if you'd like:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/french-press-felted-slippers.  The buttons are adorable, eh?  They can be purchased from an Etsy designer here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/92053427/2-handmade-oven-baked-polymer-clay-heart

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I made a reversible hat for my honey.   It's very warm and he's very happy!

Can you believe this????  My good friend, Linda H., took a few photos that were taken of Luke and created this fun quilt for a challenge!  She's so talented!  She did some painting, applique and wonderful machine quilting. This quilt will be up for auction at the NQA show this coming June....guess who will be bidding on it??

I went in September to Arizona to visit my beautiful cousin, Connie, who had just started her chemo treatments.  We had a great time jogging together, eating out and swimming.  She has been such a role model of strength during this whole time of her chemo and radiation.  She has her last chemo on March 1st so Mark and I are going to fly out to celebrate with her and Dennis the end of March.

 

In October our beloved Portuguese Water Dog, Lily, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  I am sad to say she only lived 3 wks. after the diagnosis.  I miss her fun personality and still get teary eyed when I think of her.  Shortly after Lily died, my 20 yr. old cat, Cosette, died too.  It was a rough year in the Kelly household for our pets.  We lost 3 (I believe I mentioned losing our cat, Tara, in April).

Just a note on my exercise program in case it could inspire anyone to become healthier....I ran four 5Ks last year and one this year so far.  I run about 3 times a week and go to Jazzercise 3 times a week.  Only one day off, but I'm committed to live longer than my parents did ( mom died when she was 50 and dad when he was 55) and I'm sure hoping exercise and eating right are the key. 
My two bad habits....red wine and chocolate!

This weekend is another Spargo weekend and this time it's at my house. 
Photos to follow that fun time with great friends!

Thank God for a/c, even though he really didn't create it!

This hot weather is not conducive to productive knitting or quilting, but I was determined to have something to show before I would post again.  I don't remember the heat bothering me when I was young.  That story has changed since I went through menopause.  While wallowing in our air conditioned home and riding in the car while Mark is driving, I managed to make progress on a few knitted items and one little quilt.

I'm half way finished with this little decorative scarf that's worked in garter stitch with leaves growing up the side.  I got the yarn while on vacation in Cape Cod at a little yarn shop called The Black Purl.  I think when I block it you'll be able to see the leaves better.



The Noro cardigan has some of the left front finished now to go with the back that I had done earlier.

Another Noro project (I guess I love Noro yarns) is this lace patterned scarf.   I am almost finished with this one.  It's made with sock yarn and I'm using the whole skein.

My Mandevilla



One of my flower pots that I like....coleus are so interesting.  I had to throw some flowers in not only because I love flowers, but because we went to the WesterFlora Garden Show this year.  I got a few ideas and I'll work on those ideas in the fall and next spring.

This is a little I Spy quilt I've been working on since the spring.  Hopefully, someone will enjoy playing I spy a spider or a grasshopper or Santa Claus, etc. with it while they ride in the car. 

....a close-up.

 ....a peek at the marble fabric I used on the back.



.....another close-up to show the narrow red accent fabric I used on the outer edge next to the binding.

Well, stay cool everyone....until next time.

Wow is it hot in Ohio!!!

After all the rain in April and May we jumped right into August heat and humidity even though it's only the beginning of June.  My projects are moving along slowly....I'm not sure I can blame it on the heat, but it does seem like planting the flowers and weeding have taken precedence over my knitting and quilting....oh, and a little anniversary vacation took place too which was followed by the birth of our newest granddaughter! So, on with the photos and comments....

This is the Noro Summer Cardigan I'm knitting, being used as a blanket by Cosette.  This is the back with the cables.  I love the color of this yarn!



These are my alliums that I planted in memory of my ex-father-in-law.  He used to grow these and I think of him alot when they come up.  As I was weeding around them I felt a tug on my shirt and thought it was Mark trying to get my attention....I was wrong.  No one was there.  It was Bernie letting me know that he thinks of me too.  That's the first time that has happened with him.  It gives you a warm feeling to know their spirit lives on.

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Our trip this year was to Cape Cod.  We had never been there even though we have visited New England and Martha's Vineyard on two other trips.  It rained 5 of the 7 days we were there, but it didn't stop us from doing the siteseeing we wanted.  We drove to Provincetown, Chatham, Sandwich, Hyannisport, Dennis, Woods Hole and we stayed in a cute little cottage in Barnstable Village which was centrally located to all the places we wanted to visit.  The only place we couldn't go to was Nantucket Island because the waters were too rough...oh, well, I guess we'll have to go back another day....sigh.

 The rhododendrons were blooming at Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich.  It was truly beautiful.  If you look hard at the right side of this photo you can see a flume with water flowing over it down into a pool.  What a peaceful place it was.

Here's the flume from the top...just look at the gorgeous color of that rhody!

 Look at this handsome guy I picked up while I was there!

Another rhody up close and personal.

 This is the antique car museum at the Heritage Museum and Gardens.  Mark loved visiting this part.  All of the cars were from the collection of Mr. Lilly, the son of the famed Lilly Pharmaceuticals.

This was the only car that could be touched so of course, Mark jumped right in. 

This was the view out of our cottage window.  There was a pond right there that Mark fished in and I got to enjoy the beautiful lilac tree. 

 

You can't go to Cape Cod and not see lighthouses!  This is the one in Chatham.  It was overcast that day but it was pretty neat all the same.

We cooked lobsters one night in the cottage lobster pot and they were great tasting!  Enough about our trip...on to other things....like grandchildren!

On Memorial Day we went to the Columbus Zoo with Stef, Joel and little Luke who turned 2 yrs. old today.  We saw the polar bears, penguins, lions, tigers and bears and then went into the petting zoo where Luke was fearless with the grooming brush and the goats.

"Hey, Mr. Goat, I'm pretty good at brushing, would you like brushed too?"

The other highlight of his day, after riding the choo choo was riding the carousel.  Look at the happiness on his face!

.....and then there was Haley Marie Swaggard's entrance into our family!

June 3rd was the birthdate.  We had a long day at the hospital waiting for her arrival which had to be C-section after 16 hrs. of labor for her mom.  Here's dad getting ready to go to surgery.

She wasn't too happy about the nurse checking her all out so she stretched her legs out as far as she could which shows how nice and long they will be like her mom's.  She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20" long.

She is just as cute as can be and look at all of that hair!  Her cousin, Maya, is in love with her and wants to hold her all the time.  We're all in love with her and can't wait to see her again.  We are so thankful that she's a healthy baby and that she and mom are doing well.

Until next time.....