Old Miakka Schoolhouse

This historic schoolhouse has a bell tower like the bell tower on the one room school I attended from 5th-8th grades. I'm happy that people are interested enough in maintaining the building and grounds.

Every year there is an event called a Hootenanny that I've attended for two years now. There is no entrance fee, a really nice meal for about $7. per person, scheduled performances by local musicians and entertainers, and local people displaying things they make to sell or just to display. This year a couple was demonstrating how to make butter. And the silent auction also usually has nice items to sell.

Shubox Scraps Wallhanging Top

When working with fabrics it works quite well to cut up my scraps and place them into designated boxes as I finish with a project. Right now what works is a shubox for two inch pieces, and another shubox for smaller scraps that are ideal for inchies, or making paper pieced Ragged Stars or Hearts, etc. Recently I addressed my two inch strips box, sewed them into long strips, then cut those into 32 inch lengths, cut those into 10.5 inch strips, and now the end result is the enclosed photo.

This top will be a hand quilted wallhanging to donate as a raffle quilt for the local Old Miakka Schoolhouse. The schoolhouse and grounds are being well-maintained through the consistent efforts of a small group of dedicated people. A wheelchair ramp is under construction momentarily. Next will be painting the interior walls and ceiling, as well as the tent termite treatment. I have enough scrap patches to make several more wallhangings of various sizes. And that's after donating about 24 patches to the group at our quilt Guild who makes little quilts for Kidz Quilts. Kidz Quilts are quilts that are donated to terminally ill children in our local hospitals.

Cathedral Windows Wall Art Giveaway

To participate in this giveaway please just leave a comment for this post. Selection of the giveaway recipient will take place on February 21st in the evening, by choosing a name at random from the comments to this post. The name of this pattern is Cathedral Windows. It measures 13.5" wide and 13" high, is signed and dated by me, and has a channel on the back ready for hanging purposes.

The weather is coldish and brisk out this morning, and I am feeling very much like bundling up and getting out for a morning walk. We are seeing so many robins just in the last week! So all you northerners, take heart, because they are most surely heading up your way soon!

Local Flora and Fauna

I'm not even sure exactly about the flora and fauna thing, meaning which is which, but I just like using the words on occasion. Yes of course, we own a dictionary-more than one even! :-) Anyhoo, here are some pix of the area- front yard view with the sun filtering through the Spanish moss laden trees, the pic with the little orange balls is of a Calamondin tree-sometimes our guests are the recipients of a pint of homemade Calamondin Marmalade, and the close-ups of those red thingies is of seeds on a broken down tree limb. I did not know Florida has them. Up north they appear on the maple trees in the springtime. We used to break them off at the stem, pull it apart and stick them on our noses, chins and even ears. Didn't stick for very long, but it was fun at the time. These are a bit too small for that, unless of course it's because I'm no longer that small. Could be!

Fred's old, white and very deaf, cat died. He came with the property, and lived numerous lives in this lifetime. Guess that was to show us it could be done. One of his favorite perches for sunning himself was on the barn roof. The funniest thing I saw him do was one day after I came home from a shopping trip and was making back and forth trips to the house with my loot, he had esconsced himself in the driver's seat of my car. Couldn't peer over the steering wheel and no telling what was going on in his cat brain- I wasn't quite set up then yet for the cat scan ...awww, that was a little lame! Anyway, he is now buried in one of the garden sections beneath a little bush that gets purple berries and grows to 15 ft tall. And I would not be one bit surprised if some of them were to be white.