Hood River Valley fruit trees

They grow a lot of fruit in the Hood River Valley.  This year the fruit trees are blooming about a month ahead of schedule.  That's Mount Hood in the background.

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How it is at our house

We've had an incredibly dry and warm March.  It's been lovely.

The front

We replaced our azaleas in front.  We never really liked them but they were evergreen and low and easy.  Then they got lacewing and that is hard to control.   You have to use strong chemicals and be vigilant.  So, now we have gardenias!  It will take a while for them to fill out.

 The back....

Our dogwoods are looking good this year.  Some years they don't bloom well.  The concrete looked pink this morning but you can't really see it in the photos.

Nine wonky blocks

block 7

block 8

block 9

Block 9 being sewn onto the batting

Portland Nursery

We are fortunate to live very close to Portland Nursery... close enough to walk there but if we buy much, we drive.  We seldom get plants anywhere else.  They have a great selection and wonderful people work there.  Can't beat that!

John's new chair

John has always wanted a comfy chair.  Today we got him that chair for the opening of his 65th birthday season.  Happy birthday, John!

Amazing sky

We get amazing clouds in the spring.

From the kitchen window

Fairy garden in that light

Portlandia tiny house skit

I follow a few tiny house blogs.  Here is a Portlandia skit about tiny house living that I found on one of the blogs.  I especially love the toast cutting.

Outdoor stained glass panel

Well, the supposed to be rinky dink glass panel is finally done and even installed!

Some photos along the way...

Chiseling out the corners.  The glass is installed directly into the wood frame without any copper foil.  After laying the glass in the frame, John nailed in sticking to keep it in place.  We also left open spaces between the long curved pieces.

 Cutting glass

 Installing the panel.  John nailed a 2x4 between the posts and attached the panel with screw eyes.  We intend to hang more objects from the 2x4.  I want some strings of lights and maybe another panel.  We are going for fun and funky here.

Yeah, John!  Good job.

Look what I won, look what I won!!

Vicki Welsh did some fabric giveaways last week and I won one!  This is one of her hand dyed fabrics.  I love her fabric and this one is really really cool.

her blog where I won it

I feel like I got a major award.  Maybe someday I'll get a leg lamp, too.

Bathed in color

I stumbled across this unusual house with colored glass in every window.  Wouldn't it be lovely to sit here and be bathed in color?

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More photos here and here.

Six wonky blocks

I am still making wonky log cabin blocks.  Here is my most recent one before it was sewn.

They are fun to make.  I've adjusted my technique.  I start with 2.5 inch strips.  I use my rotary cutter to cut a wavering lengthwise line.  I place the strips on my batting so the wave undulations are where I like them and then trim any extra from the ends.  I pin them in place and zig zag the raw edges.  Then I do some simple hand quilting.  And I may add some beads or other decorative elements.  It depends on how I decide to use the blocks.

I think that individual blocks would make great cushion fronts.   I am going to make more before I decide what to do with them.

The later ones (upper right and lower left) are more curvaceous.

The six wonky blocks

The calm after the storm

We had quite a storm these past two days with about 2.5 inches of rain.  Yesterday we had a major windstorm, much stronger than predicted.  The peak winds were about 60 miles per hour.  The wind blew plants and furniture off the porch.

We lost power at 1:30 pm and didn't get it back until midnight; that is the longest power outage we have experienced in our 20 years in Portland.  In fact we rarely lose power for more than a few minutes and even that is rare.

In today's sunny calm it was hard to believe yesterday's weather was so violent.  These photos are from our walk to the bank.

Part of a a handmade gate with a nice garden space beyond.

A house I liked

Walking in Portland

We needed coconut oil so we walked to People's Coop because they have the best coconut oil.  

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Here are things we saw on our walk, starting with our very own fairy garden.

my fairy garden

Huge cherry tree

Walking route