Some Things I Do/My World Outside of the Nutshell

When I come across folks that I haven't seen in a while, one of the things that I most often get asked is, "What are you doing now"? Well, I decided to add this page to post some of the things that I do to occupy my time.  If you're like me, you stay busy most all of the time but there are days when you get to the end of the day and really can't list a lot of things that you accomplished that day. You know you didn't hardly stop from the time you got up until you went to bed but as far as putting down on paper the things that you actually got done? hmmmm... That would be hard. Posting this will help me remind myself that I really DO stay busy at home.  In I Thessalonians 4:11, Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to mind their own business, and to work with their own hands.  In other words, regardless of the point in life you are, don't meddle in other people's lives, don't be a busybody. Instead, be busy working with your hands doing good things.  Hopefully, these things that I like to do in addition to all of the regular, stay-at-home-mom stuff, would qualify as "working with my hands doing good things".

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Rag Quilting
August 21, 2013

I've taken up quilting...rag quilting, specifically. Now, I've made what I would call a real quilt - one. It was the kind where the top was pieced together to make a design, then batting and a backing was sewn to the quilt top, then all of it was quilted together by hand. That only took me about 10 years from start to finish!!! Needless to say, I wasn't serious enough about it when I started and got sidetracked often and for long periods of time.  But I can say that I've made one.

Rag quilting is much more my style.  The preciseness and "eye" that I believe is required when making regular quilts isn't required when making rag quilts.  In other words, rag quilting is very forgiving. If there ever was a person who needed forgiving hobbies, it would be me. 

I've made a few for baby gifts and graduation gifts and I must say that I'm really enjoying it.  They look like they require a lot of time, a lot of know how, and a lot of precision.  But I'll just keep all of that as my little secret!

 

 

 

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My Flowers
August, 14, 2010

I have several different kinds of flowers in my yard.  My favorite flower though probably is the daylily.  Some of them came from my Grandmother, some of them came from sweet friends, and some of them came from Walmart. I couldn't tell you what most of them are called - their proper names. Seriously...I usually check out Walmart's flowers most times when I go and if I see something I like, I watch it until it goes on clearance, then I snatch it up! If I actually buy one, it's because I think it's pretty not because it's a hybrid or whatever they're called.   Anyway, I've posted some of my daylily pictures. Hope you enjoy looking at them. 

 

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We Have Babies!

June 30, 2010
I have a backyard pond that was a Mother's Day gift to me about 6 years ago from my husband and kids. They actually went to our backyard and dug it! It holds approximately 1800 gallons of water. That's love, huh! The pond has definitely evolved over the years with my becoming more knowledgeable about the types of fish and plants that do well for my location as well as how to keep it from turning into slimy, pea soup. I knew basically nothing to start with about how to care for a pond, but I've learned a lot over the years. Most of that has been through trial and error and out of a definite necessity.

My pond is currently home to about 25 fish and various water lilies, a bullfrog and aquatic plants. I've had as many as 75 or more fish at a time but a great blue heron has found an easy feeding spot and has decided to snack on some of my larger fish. Yes, we do have herons in North Alabama!  Also, something, probably water run off from fertilizer after fertilizing the yard, killed about 40 or 50 that had been born in the pond about 3 years ago.  I am currently down to about 25 that is until just a few days ago.

My fish aren't the fancy, expensive ones. I just don't spend a lot of money on fish. The small goldfish from Walmart will do just fine in a backyard pond and will grow large if they are placed in a large pond. Some of the fish that I have were given to me as gifts. Some the fish came from Walmart and some of them came from local shops that specialize in Koi, Comets and Shubunkin fish. I have some of all of these in my pond.

My most exciting news this summer is that at least one, maybe two of our fish had babies! It's exciting to me because this is only the second time that this has happened since I've had the pond. They're very tiny right now, probably about 1/2 inch to 3/4 of an inch long although they look larger in the pictures. I have anywhere from 40-50 babies right now! It's hard to count them since they're never still. Hopefully, some of them will survive as little fish in a big pond.

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Spring Has Sprung! (cont.)

June 21, 2010

Although this is being posted a little bit past springtime since today is officially the first day of summer, I wanted to share with you some of the things in my yard that usually start the "blooming season" off around April. I love to work out in my yard in the springtime when the weather is just beginning to warm up a bit and things begin "popping" up out of the ground but come summertime, you will usually find me in an air-conditioned house somewhere. We have very, very warm and humid weather here in North Alabama!

This past winter was a hard one for the south. It was much colder than it normally is around here but all I can say is that it must have been good for my azaleas and red bud trees. They were beautiful! Take a look.

Spring has Sprung!

Sweet Home Alabama

These dogwoods are not in my yard but in a yard in my neighborhood. Aren't they just beautiful?

Welcome little cardinal friend... Hope to see lots of you this year.

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Handmade Baby Bibs
July 15, 2010

I recently made some of these for some folks having little ones.  I saw them in a specialty baby shop and then made the mistake of looking at the price tag on them.  WOW! Not cheap!  I thought...I can do that!  So I did.  Here they are. The bibs are lined with absorbent terry cloth fabric and fasten at the back of the neck with Velcro. They are sewn by putting the right sides together, then turning the bib right side out.

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Crocheted Baby Blanket
July 30, 2010

I am not a very advanced crocheter.  I know some of you out there are; I've seen your work and it's very detailed and intricate...just beautiful.  I can crochet basic stitches but I'm not very good at reading the instructions that come with all of the beautifully crocheted afghans that we see. I'm also very, very slow and don't have the patience that it takes to do complicated, huge afghans.  These baby blankets are easy to make if you know how to crochet a simple granny square. (Trust, me. If I say they are easy, they are definitely easy!)  My sister-in-law, Carol,  told me about them several years ago.  It takes about 1 1/2 skeins of baby yarn and I used the crochet hook, I.   On the ones that I've shown, I actually crocheted these blankets using 2 colors at the same time - a mint green and white, and a pink and white. (Instead of holding 1 thread in your left hand, you just hold 2 threads.) That makes it twice as thick as it ordinarily would be using just 1 thread. Then, just make a Granny square and continue going around and around until you get it the size you want.  These are approximately 36"x 36" completed and when you give them as gifts people think you've done something major when you know how simple it really was. But, hey...I won't tell them if you won.'t That will be our little secret. Shhhhhh!

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