Arbor Day the Last Friday in April

 

April 28, 2017 is National Arbor Day.  Do you remember when you were in grade school, maybe someone took you out to the schoolyard to plant a tree?  It always seemed like an exercise in futility to me, I mean from year to year I went to different schools, never staying in one spot more than a couple of years.  I never did get to see any of those trees I tossed a spoon of dirt on, so how did I know it was even helping?

 

Trees take a very long time to grow.  Well, except for bamboo, which I understand grows almost visibly every day!

 

I do remember a very large tree outside my grandma & grandpa's back door that three of us smaller children could hide behind without even trying.  We loved climbing up in the crook of the apple trees in their side yard and picking the apples right off the branches.

 

I am an admirer of trees now in my adult life.  I prefer shade over sun, and the bigger the tree the better I like it!

 

 

 

This week when a tree in our yard needed cutting, I was very sad.  That half of the yard will be very sunny this summer, and my tenants will have to get a big umbrella for their picnic table if they want to use the patio when it's hot!

 

 I feel like the Ents (Lord of the Rings), mourning for my lost friends...

Ent, looking sad.

I'll get over it!

Seriously, working for water engineers has made me realize just how much trees mean to life.  Trees provide shade and homes for birds and squirrels and all that.  But they also help manage stormwater runoff and absorb unwanted nutrients from groundwater.  They help with water retention and hold the soil together to defeat erosion.

Trees have marvelous resiliency, coming back after forest fires.  Their seeds spread out and sprout and pretty soon the cycle starts over.

I think I like trees so much because most of them are green, and green is my favorite color.  But then I love them in the fall when they turn all of those gorgeous colors too.

Happy Arbor Day!  Go hug a tree...

Busy, Busy, Busy!

When it rains, it pours, right?

Just about the time I figured I could start working on something besides the quilt for our re-retiring Pastor, a whole bunch of additional projects made their way into my queue.

<sigh>

I guess it's good to be busy!

Our church guild had its annual full work day last weekend.  I'm happy to report that a good time was had by all, including Miss A, who accompanied me again this year.  She spent a lot of time helping me organize the day and setting up.  She managed the quilt bingo process and handed out prizes.  She's a good worker when she wants to be!

I managed to sew one block that day.  Oh, and it was started last year, I just finished it up!

However, I did help pin baste the Pastor Mike car quilt so we could send it home with Suzi the quilt expert.  I'm happy to say that we have had our call answered, and our new pastor starts on June 1.  Thank God for blessing received!

Front... the bottom panel is repeated across
the top and a small black border finished it up.

The back side panel consist of this between two panels
of a print with small green, red and blue sports cars.

A couple of the ladies worked on the latest class of hand print quilt blocks from our preschool.  And a few others sewed up some string blocks and some other things for our parts department.  Miss Suzi quilted up one of the things we pinned, so plenty of work was done that day.

Thanks, ladies!

The following day was the Mukwonago quilt show, day two.  That was a lovely show, fine things were to be seen there.  The theme was 1930s for their 30th year.  I like 30s fabric but I'm not in love with it, so it seemed that many of the quilts were so similar that they kind of mushed together.

Thirties prints... we all have them.

Not that they aren't lovely, but after a while they all seemed to look the same.

This week has been a rush to get my sewing room put back together because I went to buy thread at a local sewing store and came home with a floor model Koala cabinet!  Yes, DH said "expensive thread"... 

 

The base of the cabinet, without the doors.

 

He complained a lot, mostly because he had to put it together after he took it apart to put it in the basement.

 

It's now installed, and while one half of the room is neat and tidy with a new cabinet in it, the other half looks like a hand grenade went off in it!

 

Bombed area...

So much for making a few new tops to wear to Sewing Weekend in Beaver Dam...

 

Maybe next year.

 

Sew on...