The new, the old, and the road trip

We took our first road trip since the pandemic began on Saturday.  It was so nice to get out and do something.  We went to Seguin and Geronimo, TX.  We went to a garden center in Seguin, but they didn't have many plants yet.  And, a lot of what they had wasn't tagged and I wasn't in the mood to flag an employee down to ask 'what is this?'.  In the end, I picked up a few houseplants, including a bird's nest fern, we got a new datura (angel's trumpet or Jimson weed, depending on who you ask).   We found ourselves in one of our favorite antique shops, a small family business that we like to support, and their inventory was pretty low.  I looked at Rob and said I wanted to spend some money there, so was there anything he liked?  We found some things.  And, it was nice to chat with the store's cashier, Bonnie.  She remembered us, even through our masks and asked about Syd and we talked about how the lockdown had gone. We only went one place where masks weren't encouraged or required and it was a big enough place that I could socially distance, so it all worked out great!   We enjoyed the ride and talked and laughed, and laughed some more.  It was good to be out.  

I finished the Lily of the Valley block...again.  I took off almost all of the flowers and replaced them.  They're so small that I couldn't re-use them after picking them off.  

 If you asked me while I was doing it, I'd have said I was making a huge difference, tho I'd have had trouble defining exactly what that was other than re-positioning.  When I compare it to the other picture, the one I was so unhappy with, (below) it doesn't really look that much different.  But, there's some subtle difference that really does it for me and makes the one above look much more realistic.  

I have a pattern.  I use it more like a guidebook than a roadmap.  I changed the flower shape, which cut the number of pieces in half and I changed the placement of everything but the leaves.  The next block up is the carnation.  It has quite a few pieces, but I think I'll be able to get through it pretty quickly.  

But before that, I need a baby quilt for the neighbors.  Even though we know it's a girl, we decided to go gender neutral (my first idea was a beautiful pink and off white bit of pretty girl fluff).  I spent some time yesterday looking at baby quilts and decided on one and adapted it to fit what I had on hand.  Pattern publishers beware...the first thing my mentor taught me to do was draft patterns and I am good at it and can just about reproduce any quilt picture into a quilt.  

I wouldn't normally use white in a quilt, but...hey, whatever.  All the colored blocks were in my scrap users system, so I only had to cut the white.  I got the four patches pieced yesterday afternoon and I will need to pick something for the QST pieces that complete the rows, then I'm thinking about bricks around the edges and a narrow border to finish it off.  It's going to be a pretty good sized baby quilt.  

In that antique store we like, I found this.  I wanted to spend money, but not this much money.  It was a cool piece, tho...but it needed a LOT of oil and there's NO ROOM in my collection.  

I spent a good bit of time out in the garden.  I've got everything cleaned up and am working on filling in some spaces.  I should have lifted the stones this year and reset the path, but it can wait til next year.  That part is easiest done in January, before it starts to rain.  There are still quite a few pots to be given away; some white and yellow iris and some seedlings I grew of Texas Star Hibiscus.  

Mock orange blossoms

Real orange blossom.  The oranges and lemons are setting tiny fruit already.  I wonder how many they'll keep?  Usually, just enough for one pitcher of juice.

The white iris have already bloomed.  It wasn't a very good show this year, partly because I dug and divided last year, and partly because of the big freeze.  This is the first colored iris.  They came from Syd's house.  They were so tightly packed in that they were pushing out of the bed, so we helped a couple over those last few inches and brought them home.  

This is the first amaryllis.  It came from the neighbors across the street.  When I used to take care of that flowerbed, I dug one of these up and now I have three clumps.  

So, that's it for me.  It was a big week.  I got to play the hero at work a lot, bailing people out of problems. That always feels good.  I still miss my cat, but that's getting better.  I still have to stop myself in my bed time routine and remember that I don't need to draw up the next day's insulin.  Gardening, sewing, and a job I enjoy...it's not really going to get much better than that.  

Syd came to get some mail last night and ended up staying for dinner.  She's having boyfriend problems.  I'm so glad she feels comfortable coming to us to talk about it.  We were great, of course, letting her talk and not judging.  We talked to her about how sometimes, it's not the right match and that doesn't make either person bad or mean there's anything wrong with them.  It's just not a good match.  And, I shared a story about a past relationship that I hope was helpful.  Overall, it was a good talk and we were good listeners.  

Everybody have a great week!  Do something fun.  Enjoy spring!!

Lane