Construction... has begun... and finished. And floating bubbles too!!!

We have been planning on building a deck for many months...in fact since we bought the house we live in. Please note, we didn't paint the addition on the house blue, I would have chosen a more neutral color..but it is what it is...and I sure don't want to repaint if I can help it. Anyways, this past weekend... DD and her dear hubby came to assist, between the expertise and the brute force... we have a new deck. And although it didn't quite get finished while all the strong help was here, Bob and I managed to put the last 2/3 of the decking on and do we love it. Have to admit, it seriously cut into my time, but I did get to chase the wee one around... shame, I was so busy, forgot to take even one photo of the gang. But did get a " I am just going to sit here and have a cold drink " when we finished the decking. Since this was taken the PRofessor has added another built on bench along the back of the deck. I did splurge and buy some plants for pots to set out and we will break it in officially this weekend, when the gradutate students and several professors are invited over for the end of semester party. I can hardly believe that the Professor has completed his first year of classes.... so we figure he has just about earned the "P" of the PHD program.
Woohoo!!!!

And I am finally showing the Designer, DD in laws finished quilt, Floating bubbles, hanging in the quilt shop. It should have more circles or bubbles, but I lost a few...then forgot to cut a few more... and I liked it anyway! Just the way it was! I am also posting a few of the quilts from our last guild meeting. I do love these also. The string

quilt is too pretty. And the Christmas quilt is also lovely. I had to share this quilt ...the brilliant one, that came with a traveling trunk show...to a Bernina school house show.... at a quilt shop up in Tupelo I was able to attend last week. What a pleasure to see some really cool quilting. I am going to try some of these on a quilt I am working on this week. Just loaded it this afternoon. Our quilt guild is bringing in a quilt teacher to teach some kind of jelly roll bargello class this weekend. I will so get some pictures. It is my mothers day gift! I have never tried one before, and can't wait to try. Thanks for stopping by.

My favorite quilt for the online quilt festival..... gone but not forgotten....

The online quilt festival...just found it at Park city Girls blog...and have to post my favorite quilt. It is the one pictured in my heading.... it was the first quilt I made in South Africa,and the first quilt that the girl I taught to hand quilt did for me while I lived there. It unfortunately was stolen when our home was burglarized. I offered a reward and the local paper kindly ran a featured article about the missing quilt, but to no avail.... I console myself with the fact that it is most likely keeping someone in South Africa warm, expecially now that winter is coming on in the Southern hemisphere. It was made using South African schwe-schwe, printed and produced by the Da Gama fabric company. I loved those geometric prints. And absolutely loved having this quilt on my bed...for the short time it was in my possession. PS- Don't forget the GIVEAWAY at JEN's Blog.

A giveaway, quilts, Amish photos and South African garden

It has been such crazy weather here.... but finally spring is definitely here. We are preparing to build a deck on the back of the house over the next month or so ... and today the Professor replaced a missing bench on the side porch. The end of classes doctoral student bash is scheduled for our house in a couple of weeks, a good way to wind down after the Professors classes for the semester. There is also one doctoral student who is finishing up and moving away...so all of the professors ( the real ones... :o) ) are invited also to say goodbye. Crawfish is on the menu... I have to admit...I have never eaten them...but I am game. Now, there is a giveaway over at Jen's blog where you can win a gift certificate. Go by and enter. I felt compelled to show the photos of a local school bus, which was parked, running, in the parking lot of a local strip mall. It was there for over an hour that I shopped. But the funny thing was that apparently they picked up their laundry/dry cleaning too... You can see it hanging in the window of the bus. Maybe I am just being gritchy, but this so reminded me of South Africa, where the school buses would be parked...at the grocery store...on teachers paydays. But they didn't just go to the store, they took the kids out of school.... too!!!! Kind of like a field trip... except it was to the grocery store. Several teachers would go together....and leave one teacher watching the children out in the parking lot. A bit of a shock, to see...till I saw this bus. I guess some things just are the same...no matter where they happen. Ok, off my soap box and onto a few quilt photos. I forgot to get a photo of the quilt hanging at the quilt shop, but do have a few photos to share of finished customer quilts. First up is a sweet little charity quilt, I volunteered to quilt for my guild.We are donating this one and a bed sized quilt to the cancer drive fundraiser. It didn't have to be done until October...but thought it best to try to do at least one donation quilt a month... the second photo shows the back side. It turned out really well. I love this red white and blue Carolina Crossroads quilt.It is scrappy...and very well done. Her mini patch squares...were perfect. What a pleasure to quilt. Next up is a cowboy quilt I did for a customer, it was a lot of fun to do.









Then a photo of my summer garden in South AFrica. It was walled in...and so pretty in early summer...this is later in the summer, after many plants had bloomed out. I sure enjoyed having Majuba keep it looking so nice. The first gardener's name was July, I adored him...but he left the landlords employ and was replaced with Majuba, who enjoyed building much more than gardening. I can say that I miss having them water and dig up the garden for me. The Professor has been filling those shoes...and when I laid all the plants out where I wanted them planted, the Professor pointed out that "Majuba" wouldn't be planting them anymore for me, so I might want to get a shovel! He is cheeky! Lastly I had to post this photo of the Amish lady and little girl putting their groceries into their buggy. I shot this when traveling in Pennsylvania last summer. This grocery store has a hitching post at the end of the parking lot...for the buggies.

African books, Mississippi Delta and more quilt photos.....

School girls looking at newly donated books at the Ezebeleni Library in Ezebeleni South AFrica.

More donated books for the SA library

Children at a Library resource day during the School holidays.

Since returning to the US I have continued to focus on books for my African library. These are pictures of children using the Library facility I adopted as my own. All of the books pictured in these photos were sent by very generous Americans. About 8000 pounds of books have been sent to date for which, the library and myself are truly grateful. I haven't posted in so long...that I felt I had to post something. And these pictures of the children in the library and some of the books, say it all. A wonderful gesture.But since living here in Mississippi, I have become aware of some needs down in the Delta area. So I may continue to do what I can for South AFrica, but I can't beleive that there are schools and small rural communities who would love good used childrens books. So I am hunting down the info...and hoping to begin an awareness program, and hope to get something going for children in our own country. I have only heard stories from a doctoral student who taught school down in the delta, but am investigating further. I mean, people can't give away books at a garage sale...so there has to be a way to get something done. More updates will be forthcoming. Had to add this funny sign from Africa.... The Baboon sign...was located in a picnic area at the Kruger Park...apparently there was a problem with baboons and monkeys stealing food in the picnic area... grabbing things they shouldn't ...so it was a warning to be cautious and not to encourage them. Not something you see every day in your local park or picnic grounds. In other news, I have done some sewing. Finished a few customer quilts... need to take photos.... and have quilted a tester quilt pattern called Floating bubbles, a pattern available at Reanalilydesigns, ( my very talented DD in law)I forgot to get a good photo and it is already on a quilt rack at the quilt shop. I will try to remember to take a pic tomorrow to post. But I have made progress with my DD mystery, this was taken before I sewed the blocks together, since the photo, I have sewn them all together, now I just have to sew up a border treatment. Then can quilt it up. I had to add a photo of at least a couple of quilts. This baseball quilt was made by a wonderful lady in one of my quilt guilds, Sarah . She is a prolific quilter with a very dry wit. I love her Mississippi accent...and could listen to her talk for hours. Then this lovely quilt by another amazing lady, Martha Dubard, another one I could listen to all day. They are lovely ladies...and I really look forward to every other Monday morning.... and seeing them. Then the last is the "in progress" DD mystery. I will post another when I finally get to those borders. Thanks for stopping by.