February

I am not sure where January went or even February as we are about to head to the end of that!  I seem to get less done in retirement than I thought I would.

Emma turned 25 this week.  It seems just yesterday that we brought her home. . .  and then she was one.  It's the days and nights that get long but the years just seem to fly.  The school she works at was closed on Monday for President's day so we went to a Korean restaurant in Plano for lunch to celebrate early.  She picked out a James Avery charm for her gift.  Then on Wednesday I made red velvet cupcakes to put in the teacher's lounge.  She wanted a strawberry cake for supper so I dug out my grandmother's recipe.  It is always a little dense and never turns out too pretty as the layers sort of want to slide but it was so yummy!  She's been doling out slices to us and some of her friends at work.  

 My cake decorating skills are lacking but it tasted yummy.  Told her next year, she might have to have the number candles as the cake might melt with more candles.

I took some pictures of the few flowers in my yard.

Yesterday I went to Telephone for the funeral of a teacher where I had gone to school.  I went by the place where one of my grandmothers lived.  My nephew still owns the property.  She always had tons of flowers of every kind.  

 I picked myself a bouquet.

 

Then I went by our family's homeplace and saw 3 large blue herons.  I was able to get a picture of this one.

 

 

I have not done much sewing.  I am still working on 2 projects but I did start these little mug rugs for an online swap.  As you can see they are still in progress.  Cookie has been watching birds from the window and decided that she liked the robin on this top one.  It is done except for sewing the binding on the back and a little more quilting.  These are very small pieces with tiny applique.  Still trying to decide how to applique the owl's eyes and beaks.  I want to finish these up this coming week and get them mailed off.

December quilts

I did not post a picture of the Christmas quilt I finished in December.  I originally made it for my family's gift exchange game.  Then we had really bad weather on Christmas day and we decided to not travel the 2 hours there and 2 hours back on the icy, snowy roads.  So I still have the quilt.  Either I will keep it if I get another quilt made, or save it for next Christmas!
It is a disappearing 4 patch that my husband helped me to calculate the block sizes and cutting measurements to come out to the size I wanted.  I really like the disappearing 4 patch pattern (I found somewhere on the internet) that ends up with tiny little squares in the middle but I wanted to make this one a little different so we fiddled with the measurements. 

 Here it is lying out for show and tell at our quilt club meeting.

 Here is another view so the whole quilt can be seen but the colors are washed out some.

I also finished up my great niece's t-shirt quilt.  These were t-shirts from her high school years in basketball and some track.  She is now a college graduate but sacrificed gave me her t-shirts last year for the quilt.

  I am still in possession of this quilt but hope to see her soon to give it to her.