Wishing for Spring

Well it's about 20 degrees outside and the only thing I can think of lately, besides the baby, is getting the garden going and canning. Crazy, I know. I blame it on the fact that I was in my first trimester while the garden was in full bloom and wasn't able to really rid myself of the canning bug I get every year. So here I am, several months away from planting, going through catalogs and websites seeing what we can plant and I can put up. It's a good distraction from the up coming events that are sure to turn my life upside down. The Man and I are wanting to plant nothing but things that I can can or freeze and we also want to plant early and late so that we get as much yield as possible. After a couple of years we've got it narrowed down to what works and what doesn't; what we eat and what we don't. This year should prove productive and I'll be giving Miss Gabbie her first lessons in canning.

Speaking of Gabbie, the family is on red alert. Only 4 more weeks til my due date but the reality is she could come at any time. Everyone is making plans and getting things together for the big day. Mabel has a bag packed so she can leave as soon as she gets the call. Mother has the list of people she needs to contact as soon as The Man and I call her. Its like a secret opt mission. I'm getting my bag together this weekend along with some things that the baby needs and the car seat. Its so weird, so surreal. After thinking, "Oh we've got 9 months", we don't have any time left.

I'm still working on the nursery, its not going as planned. Honestly, I think there is too much furniture in there..but I don't know what to get rid of. The crib turned out to be twice the size I anticipated, which put a dent in the whole thing. Then we got Gabbie's toy chest, which has to be in there. So I'm at a stand still with that. Hopefully I'll get in there today and move things around a bit.

On a happier note, her quilt is moving right along. I've finished appliqueing on the Dresden plates and decided to hand quilt it, at least a bit. Since its not a block quilt it would be difficult to quilt without just free motioning it. I don't think free motion would give the look that I want so I decided to take some advice from Anna Maria Horner and hand quilt it in chunky stitches. I'm using different colors of cotton so it will add more than texture. I just started on it last night, once there are more stitches for you to see I'll post a pic. Here is one of the Dresden plates...my very first. It turned out pretty darn good!!




I think I'll stop rambling now. I'm going to have another cup of coffee and try to get something done today. Hope ya'll have a good up coming week!!