Eye candy while I'm gone

Just some close-ups and details of the anniversary quilt for you to peruse while we are on our anniversary cruise from Vienna to Amsterdam.

Here is the entire piece..  many of these hankies belonged to my late mother-in-law.. The base is a vintage table linen with crocheted edge.  The entire piece is about 34" square.

 

We had our first date on Halloween and flew to Hawaii 3 weeks later on Thanksgiving and got married.  It was definitely love at first sight.  We met at a bridge game and 40 years later he tells me almost daily that I'm still his favorite partner.  Here are close ups of different sections..

Here you can see the button trail upper right.

I'm really happy with the way the border turned out.

This brooch is one I have save for years and years and this was the perfect spot for it...

 

And as a recap my inspiration for this project was this counted cross stitch sampler I did when we got married in 1976.

 It is less than a week now until we leave on our long awaited and long planned anniversary cruise.  I wanted to do something special for the 40th anniversary and  it became my most beloved piece of CQ.  ..  

The inspiration for this project was a piece of cross stitch I did for our first anniversary.   So I began  by doing the main focal point  of a floral heart and bluebirds.

Now what to use for a foundation?  I had an vintage tea table cover of lace and linen.. The linen had several holes and was stained spots.  I had just waiting for the perfect project...  The linen center is about 20" square so it is a substantial piece.  It not a piece I can carry about to work on.






I had been collecting hankies for years and had all these lovely hankies.. and with all the hearts and roses it seemed like a match made in heaven.  Many of the hankies belonged to my late mother-in-law.

Once I got started the rest just seems to follow...I surrounded the focal piece with laces and began the secondary bluebird images. Except for replacing one hanky that didn't work, there were really no big problems or decisions...  It all just flow from my heart.  I never worked on it that I didn't think of our marriage and all the memories.

Our first date was Halloween 1976 and we eloped 3 weeks later Thanksgiving weekend...flew to Hawaii and got married..  Everyone thought we were crazy but it has been the best decision I ever  made...

 

Daffodil days - finally!!!

 Daffodils at last... My favorite spring flower.  I had to buy these at the grocery store as it is still a couple weeks away before any bloom in my garden.  It has been such a long hard winter and we were having company for dinner Sunday.. I just couldn't resist setting a yellow table.. daffodils and goldfinches...

 

Lily's portrait on a button

Beloved Lily is Nicki Lee's theme for CQJP2017 and she had me paint her portrait on a button... Have you ever seen a dog with such a happy smile.  It kept me smiling as I painted it... The portrait is on a antique 2" MOP button.

I'm so grateful I can still paint on buttons... In  fact it is the only stress-free  hobby I have now...  The only really useful vision I have left is the peripheral vision in my left eye.. and it is nearly impossible to keep anything focused as either things or my head shifts.  But because the size of a button is such a small field of vision and I can keep it both it and my head still, I can still enjoy painting....or course the large magnifying lamp is a godsend..

Talk about nit-picky!!!

There were times when the chickens got table scraps and were glad to get them but my chickens are not only particular about their scraps, they are particular about how they are served.  I had lots of squash I grew for them last summer and every week or so bake one for them... One time it was a larger squash so I put half in their usual paper bowl and wrapped the other half in aluminum folil.   The following day I folded the foil back and put it by their chicken food.  By the end of the day they had not taken ONE bite of the squash.  I took it back in the house and served it to them the next morning in a paper bowl and they gobbled it up.

 Sunday we had breakfast out and I brought home a carry out container with grits, biscuits, and  cooked apples. Wasn't sure they'd eat the grits but I KNEW they'd love the biscuits.... Yum!  They refused to even look at it.  So this morning put it all in one of their usual paper bowl  and they were immediately fighting over it,

They  will eat stale bread but pick at it...  They prefer I put some broth or soup on it.  They will not eat vegetable peelings unless I cook them in the microwave.  I was a mom who was relentless about her kids eating everything served to them and here I am coddling these silly chickens...

And I suspect they sent me this email!....