The great unfolding

God must have had a lot of fun making these hibiscus flowers! They unfold so neatly into big beautiful blooms. The pink one is about eight inches (21 cm) across.
Every morning He is busy unfurling all the morning glory blossoms.
Magnificent!
The ruler shows the width of this gorgeous flower.


We keep saying that we're just going to sit and watch the flowers open up. They start in little cones, and pretty soon they look like this. So far we've never witnessed the actual unfolding, but I am fascinated by the neatness of it all. Thanks be to God for all this beauty!

Lazy Days of Summer

Cool Cars

Larry and I saw some amazing cars last weekend at the antique car show. The people who own these beauties have put hundreds and hundreds of hours of labor into restoring them.It reminded me of a quilt show! It's a lucky individual who finds something they love to do, and have the time and resources to do it. I count myself among the lucky ones.
The hoods were up to show the immaculate state of the engine and all those other car parts that I find quite mysterious.
I wish I'd taken notes about the year, make and model of these treasures.
Aren't they spectacular?
Unlike a quilt show, the owner was often sitting on a lawn chair beside his vehicle to answer questions and talk cars with anyone interested. Very impressive!

Feeding the wildlife

Good morning, Mrs. Deer. I'm so glad to see you didn't have to skip dessert. I'm sure the lily flowers made a very nice addition to your meal of tender morning glory leaves.
And Mrs. Beetle, it was so kind of you to hold your banquet here in our garden. What lovely lace you have created from the morning glory leaves.

I caved

The Cleveland Plain Dealer had an article in the business section yesterday on the importance of shopping at independently owned local shops. The writer suggested that we select the three stores we would miss the most if they had to close, and go spend some money there. I certainly wouldn't want to be held responsible for the button shop closing! I found a snail, a beach ball, a turtle, and a seashell. Ahem. I found some other things for future projects. You know. Just to keep them in business.

Hallie cat loves the beach ball!
Another interpretation of a sunrise. This one is a bookmark.
My first sock is being blocked in my homemade sock blocker. I saw some in the store for over $20. Whoa! In the first place I don't need two. This first sock has lots of time to block while I knit the second one. I just used a sheet of inexpensive craft foam and cut it out the shape of the sock. Or at least it would have been inexpensive if I hadn't seen the sign next to it that all the remaining fabric in Wal-Mart's diminishing supply was 75% off. (And Wal-Mart was clearly not what they meant by independently owned local shop.) But really - I was there to do a good deed. David had had his car's oil changed and needed a ride to pick it up. So I just scooted in to get my craft foam. And scooted out TWO HOURS later, with a large sack of future projects. The long line at the cutting table was loaded with cheerful quilters and stitchers, all delighted to be getting a bargain. It was like a party!
I wish the place where I went from one needle to the other didn't show so much on the foot. Larry put it well. He said, "Will your foot care?" No, as a matter of fact, my foot won't mind a bit. :>}

What do you think?

Last week's activities prompted me to make this wall hanging. When I was sewing on the lighthouse button I accidentally pricked myself and got a drop of blood on it. Oops. Of course I could wash it out.
Or I could cover it up. Do you like the foot buttons?
Or the lion?
How about a monkey?
Perhaps a snowman in the sand?
A zebra always lends a nice touch. Maybe I should go to the party store and get a little paper umbrella to stitch on. I can't go to the button store to look for a toy boat. The last time I went there I spent way too much money. :>}

What do you think?

Gracious Gifts

Larry's mother, Betty, bought several raffle tickets for a chance to win this lovely quilt. She's been supporting the organization for over two decades, and this year she was the lucky winner. More precisely, we are the lucky winners, because she gave it to us! The colors are exquisite, for some reason blogger doesn't do them justice here. It is hand quilted with beautiful stitching, and fits our bed perfectly. Thank you, Betty, for this gracious gift.


Among God's many gracious gifts are the spectacular sunrises and sunsets He shares every single day to anyone watching. Larry and I view the sunset over our garage most evenings, and often wish we could see it without trees or buildings in the way.
Our favorite part of our trip was getting to see these magnificent sunsets.
Each day was different, all stunning.

Summer Vacation!

We took our first vacation in 11 years this week, and what fun we had! It got off to a wonderful start when Daisy agreed to meet us for lunch in the park near her home. Wasn't she brave to meet us? You know what they say about people you meet on the internet - they could be scam artists or ax murderers. I was so excited when I saw her drive up in her darling little red car. She arrived bearing gifts! Let me tell you, after a day of hiking and swimming, coming back to relax with a good magazine and caramel filled chocolates was a treat indeed.
Daisy often shows pictures from the park where she walks most every day. I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to see it in real life. Their community provides the perfect place for the whole family. Two playgrounds, a pool, ball fields, and lots of walking paths. We ate lunch in the park.
Don't we look like sisters?

After lunch Daisy had to go back to work, so we continued on our way. Our final destination was the Lake Shore Resort in Saugituck, Michigan. It was a pleasant ride through a lot of corn country. Now I love trees as much as anyone, but seeing the big big sky surrounded by corn was a real treat, without the usual trees to block the sky.
The resort has a heated pool which we used all three days we were there.
Just across the street and down 83 stairs (!!) was a lovely beach on Lake Michigan. We spent a lot of time there, and even tried kayaking for the first time. We could see the lake from our room.
The sunset over the lake each evening was stunning. This photo doesn't come near to doing it justice. I took dozens of photos to give me models for future quilt projects.
Buzzards are my favorite birds - angels in the sky. I was pleased to see that they came on vacation, too! Now that our trip is over and the washing machine is getting the sand out of our clothes, we have some wonderful memories to go with all the pictures we took.