Flying Geese, Mountain of Mulch, Woodland Gardens and Baby Gifts

This has been a fun week. I like when there is a little of this and a little of that. Maybe I just have a short attention span. Actually, I don’t have a super long attention span so it is likely that is why these sort of weeks appeal to me.

We had dry (but cold) weather this week so Ray and I did a lot of work outside. My muscles are feeling it but that is a good thing. The perimeter of our property is surrounded by wooded land. The previous owner went with the ‘au natural’ look which is fine to a certain extent. But we wanted to clean up the many, many trees that were down and left to rot. That way we could have some walking paths through the trees. To that end, Ray did loads of chain saw work and even pulled a dead tree down using his car. (That was a bit unnerving!)

We have had an arborist out to take out some larger trees and to clean dead limbs off of others. He and Ray struck it off well and now we have a source of free mulch when we need it. This week the arborist dropped off another load for us. This is so useful when there is lots of property to be maintained.

This mountain of mulch won’t last too long around here!

Lenten Rose, Primrose, Astilbe, Caladium and Snowdrops

Here is the start of my woodland gardens! Not pictured are a bare root rose, two hydrangeas and a rhododendron. All of this was planted except the caladium which will be started in small pots and transplanted when the weather warms up. I am so excited to see some blooms come spring time.

For now, the primroses give me a little burst of color.

SAHRR 2023, round 4

This week’s round for the Round Robin event was decided by Anja (AnjaQuilts). She has declared it to be the week of flying geese blocks. I decided to get all fancy schmancy and try making the Stroked Flying Geese that I saw on a tutorial at Art Gallery Fabrics. They are super cute but the middle stripe is uneven which is a bit bothersome. So…… this is my plan. Today I will try making them again today and if I can get that stripe to be more even, great. If not, I will declare this was on purpose and these are improv geese. More on that as I make some progress. Either way, I am not going to sew this border on. Instead, I’ll wait to see what next week’s round is and decide if I want to combine the rounds.

Who likes a striped binding??

I am sticking to my plan of sewing my stash but come on…. I am out of stripes and who doesn’t love a striped binding? I ordered a 1/2 yard of each of these and they are set aside for use as binding.

On a recent Instagram post I asked everyone if this wall quilt should be finished with a circular quilting design or matchstick quilting. Most people called for circular and I was going that way as well. However when I looked closely at the fused arrows, it seemed like the fuse was not super tight. Matchstick to the rescue. This quilting will reinforce the fused arrows and it looks cool too! The quilt won’t be handled or laundered so this should be great. (Not sure if you remember but I bought this Alison Glass kit of laser cut, fusible pieces at a quilt show last fall – for a buck!!)

Another project that happened was stitching and assembling two cloth books. My niece is having her first baby this spring and I plan to send these off to her. I love these soft books for babies. The colors are bright, the pages won’t tear, and the story is simple. I had the pieces all cut out so this was super quick.

Well that was my week in a nutshell, or a blog post. This weekend my husband and I are heading north a bit to help my son and daughter in law move into their first house. I am so excited for them – home ownership is a huge step in life.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Linking to my favs – check them out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

28 thoughts on “Flying Geese, Mountain of Mulch, Woodland Gardens and Baby Gifts

  1. Wendy

    Your week of this and that sounds lovely. I enjoyed seeing those colorful flowers you are planting. I cannot wait for spring, green grass, sunshine and color. Congrats to your son and daughter in law on their first home!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thanks Wendy – it is slightly early to be planting but we had the itch. The things we put in the ground should do fine even tho they won’t make much progress until there is some warmer weather. It just felt good to be out there. Enjoy the weekend. 🙂

      Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      It was – some outside time and some sewing time. Even got a batch of cookies baked. All sorts of stuff happening. We are taking off for Ian’s house now – can’t wait to see the house. They have been working so hard to get a few rooms painted and they put in new flooring in several rooms. Yahoo!

      Reply
  2. Diann@LittlePenguinQuilts

    Can’t believe you can plant in February, Bernie – it’s wonderful to see blooming things already! We still have snow on the ground in Colorado. Those are really neat flying geese – hope you can get them figured out! The arrow quilt is beautiful, and I think your quilting is perfect for it. Enjoy the time with your kids this weekend!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Our weather is so much milder than yours Diann. Lots of the new plantings won’t do much for a bit but it feels good to be outside and playing in the dirt.

      Reply
  3. Kathleen McCormick

    The plantings look lovely…too early for that in New England. Love the matchstick quilting on the arrows, and I think with the fusing it is the right choice. Fun to see the new homeowners, and I am sure they will appreciate your help!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Helping the kids was great and also a bit tiring. So proud of them buying their first house – makes us remember when we were at that stage.

      Reply
  4. Mari

    Oh my gosh– flowers! I am so jealous. We are probably a month away from planting anything. Your matchstick quilting is so good! I love the arrows and it’s going to look great finished. What a great house, too! I love all those windows! Have a great weekend, Bernie!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hey Mari – those windows are the best feature of the house! I am sure it is one of the main reasons the kids chose this particular house When it is a clear day, there are just gorgeous views to enjoy. They have 90% of their belongings moved from the rental to the house so we made good progress yesterday.

      Reply
  5. Kristin

    Hey, Bernie! We made it taking care of our grandson in Gig Harbor, plus their St Bernard and Great Dane! Whew! It was a wonderful time to bond with our 14 month-old grandson. Bliss with exhaustion!! Being back in Bellingham and home is good. Knitting and quilting is top of my mind!
    You must not have any deer in your outdoor space. We’ve got SO many here that I have to put fences around all the new plantings.
    Have a fabulous weekend!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Wow – those are two very large dogs!!! I bet the little guy loves them.
      We do have deer around here but the previous owners had dogs so the back yard is completely fenced. Only once last summer did a deer jump the fence. So we can plant with some safety. The rabbits are more of a problem for us. Very hard to keep those critters out!

      Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Well I made another batch of the geese and my strips are remain uneven. I still like them but it is tough to get this right!!

      Reply
  6. Laura V Riley

    Thanks for sharing your garden photos. I enjoy hearing how other gardeners deal with too many trees, which is a problem we share.
    Your geese are a style I’ve never seen before, so you get extra credit for creativity.
    Enjoy!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      The flying geese block looks great when done right. I can’t get there though. Everyone keeps suggesting paper piecing which I don’t know how to do. At this point, I am unsure if I will use them or not. Now we are on to Square in Square blocks. Those I can handle. 😉

      Reply
  7. Linda

    Your woodland gardens should do nicely, I’m envious of that climate! All your choices are lovely. Good luck to your son and his wife on their new home!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Hi Linda – the climate is great for us. We had such a long hot spring/summer in northern CA and wanted to be done with that. Now we are adjusting to very long days of sun in summer and super short daylight hours in winter. So much fun though – I am very happy with the move. Can’t wait for spring to arrive and plants to push their green leaves. My daffodils are popping through now. Yahoo!

      Reply
  8. Alycia Quilts

    Those trees are a lot of work – but how pretty it looks with all the branches cleared. Brave move, using your car!!!!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Well Alycia – it was a brave move on Ray’s part – as for me, I watched from the front deck hoping it fell in the right direction. I shouldn’t have worried tho because my husband isn’t a risk taker. If he felt comfortable taking the tree down like that, it was going to be ok. It was so dead and he was mostly worried it would fall when someone was around – which of course would be catastrophic. Anyway, it looks great.
      Hope all is well with you!

      Reply
  9. Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting

    Do I ever love your arrow quilt, Bernie!!! One buck!?! Wow! Love the matchstick quilting! And of course I read everything else you wrote with great interest!!!

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thanks! I really like it too. I am getting close with the quilting. I don’t know why it was priced like that. I was at a quilt show of what I felt was a fairly traditional guild and they had several of these – two different styles – all priced for a dollar each. So I bought one of each. I wondered if they had planned to do a class around these and it didn’t happen? But when they were released (a while back) they retailed for $50 each. It was a fun purchase.

      Reply
  10. Bernie

    Oh I love that soft book with the bear. I’d love that panel and will have to see if i can find it. Ugh mulch. I move MD 35 yards last summer. Ugh. I still remember! Love your woodland plants and the lovely stripped binding.

    Reply

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