Garden Update and Omaha Vacation

 We went to Omaha last weekend.  We went to the Strategic Air and Space Museum, the Henry Doorly Zoo, Union Pacific Railroad Museum, the Joslyn Art Museum, and the Lee Simmons Wildlife Safari.  I did not take very many pictures with my good camera except at the wildlife park.

This week I finished a quilt that was given to a friend.  The cats approve.

The garden is filling in nicely.

My first dahlia is blooming.

The dwarf sunflowers are pretty.

I also planted a box of zinnias and bachelors buttons.

 I really like the nasturtiums and will have to plant them again next year.

Gardening and Quilting

This week is hot here in Iowa.  I saw the forecast and knew that I had to get the majority of gardening done early in the week.  I planted some more peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, and squash.

The side garden still looks about the same.  The Anabel hydrangea is starting to take, but some of the hostas are looking a bit sad.

All but one dahlia are up.  The day lilies are starting to bloom.

The roses are still going strong.  The white roses are starting to bloom and so are the coral ones.
 

These turn pink when they get older.

In the main garden I saw the tiniest grasshopper.  The cat mint looks great right now. I can not believe that this is only its second year.

 Soon we will have tomatoes!

In quilting news I won 1st in viewer's choice at the Pella Area Quilters' Guild Tulip Time show.

 I had several other quilts in the show also.

Red and Turquoise Pineapples.  A Bonnie Hunter design.

The block of the month I created for my presidential year in 2015.

A finish last year.  I created the star blocks from charm packs.

I also made this with charm packs.

This is a bed runner and pillow.  It received 5th place in functional quilts.

A Christmas double wedding ring bed runner.

A scrap quilt that did not use up much of my scraps.

 In other quilt show news... This year I made the raffle quilt "Quadrille".  I also won the raffle!  I buy tickets in other people's name and the ticket drawn was one I bought in my grandmother's name!

Spring Activities

A lot has happened since I last wrote anything.  I actually graduated!!!  I had an irrational fear that it was not actually true and that I was not really done.  But I have my piece of paper that says I have a PhD, but I cannot convince my family to call me Dr. Mom.  Oh well.  I have not been able to find a job in academia yet, but I plan on trying for a couple of more years before moving on to a different career path. 
This spring has been busy.  It seems that when children get older, a parent gets busier.
Tulip time was different this year.  I did not have to chair the quilt show and that lifted many of my responsibilities this spring.  I did have four quilts in the show.  That was all that I finished this year.  I plan on making finishing my WIPS a priority this year. The biggest quilt I finished I call Purple Peacock tails.  I really like the way this one turned out.  I came up with the color scheme before I came up with the pattern.  I quilted it on my home machine with my walking foot.

 This one is "Floral Libraries".  It was a kit that I bought at the 2012 AQS show in Des Moines.  It is okay, but not my favorite thing I have made and I did not like the way the pattern was written.  I also quilted it using my machine and walking foot.  I used an elongated zig-zag stitch and I like the way it gave the quilt some texture.

 This is a smaller quilt that I made at a quilt guild retreat.  I like the pink and brown together.

 This is a mini that I made to try several new things.  I created my own pattern in photo shop and used a product called Ricky Tims' Stiff Stuff for the foundation.  I liked the way I could run it through my printer and I did not have to rip it out when I was finished.  I also used decorative stitches as my quilting and put in prairie points.

 I also pieced the guild's raffle quilt this year.  I think we did well in ticket sales.  Linda Schminke did the quilting.  It is a pattern called "Winner's Circle" by Glad Creations.

The quilt show had a higher attendance than last year, partly because of the weather.  It was yucky outside and it drove people inside.  There was actually snow!  The parades on Thursday were canceled.  There were tears at our house because Zadok was supposed to ride on a float that night, and he was greatly disappointed when the parade was called off.  It started snowing on Thursday and we thought it would be done by that night. The kids made a Dutch snowman to keep the tulips company. 

We were surprised then on Friday morning when we woke up to this:

 The poor snowman was buried!!!  Both parades on Friday were canceled.  The weather cleared enough that there were parades on Saturday.  This is a good picture of Zadok and his teacher.

 Iris got to watch the afternoon parade from the comfort of a window!  She participated in a living window to help raise money for her trip with show choir next spring break. 

This year we had tulips, but they were not at their peak till a week after Tulip Time.  Sometimes in the middle of January, I wonder why we live here, but then spring comes and I think we live in one of the most beautiful spots there are.  I spent an afternoon just wandering around downtown taking pictures of the flowers and some of the buildings.  This is Pella's central park. 

 This is the Vermeer windmill, currently the tallest in the United States.

 This is Sunken Gardens Park and it is across from Zadok's school.  We often have to check the wooden shoe shaped pond for fish and other critters when walking home from school.

Now that winter is finally over, it is pleasant to live in Iowa again!