Happy Easter!

Ok ok, I'm a week late with that post title. Been busy (yeah!) As you can see I made a cake for Easter, and once again it was a big hit! Luckily my B-I-L saved the "eggs" from last year to decorate the cake.

 

My sister had her friend and her daughter's M-I-L over for our Easter dinner so it wasn't too weird missing both Mom and Dad - our first Easter without either of them! It was a lovely day and I managed to snap this great pic of Greg and baby William - in matching shirts!

 

I am well into recovery and made my way to my sister's without the walker! That's a big step for me. It was a lovely day and kept my mind off the week to come. Wednesday was the memorial service for the Pater. I took my walker to that as there was a lot of standing during the visitation. All the Smith cousins (ok, all the local cousins which equals most of them), the Boyters, many of my quilting friends, the step family and lots of Dad's friends and neighbours were there to pay their respects, so it was a good showing. Afterwards there were several comments on how nice the service was, so I guess we set the right tone. So now it's just the internment to get through and that's out of town and can wait a bit.

Got these lovely 2 dozen white roses from a good friend of Dad's. Luckily they are unscented. Have really enjoyed all the flowers :).
Have decided to splurge and splash out on a redo of my patio. Here's a before pic

I'm going to have all the stones lifted up and the under layer levelled out. Then the stones relaid, in a mixed pattern (small and large mixed). I'm also hoping to get rid of the big table (under the tarp) and purchase a chaise lounge, a couple of chairs and a small coffee table. More suitable for this size of patio and for my needs. Here's hoping it all comes together as I'm hoping to spend lots of my first retired summer out there!
TTFN

Spring has Sprung !

Yahooo! Spring has sprung and my Forsythias are in bloom. I've had a lot of flowers lately which is a real nice change of pace. Being single and a bit frugal I never get flowers and never buy them for myself, but when I got sick this winter first Dad gave me a lovely planter with Daffodils, Paper Whites and Gloxinias, then my step sister sent this floral arrangement, then a friend from out west sent this bouquet both of which lasted several weeks. And finally, my step brother out west sent along a lovely single rose. I've been spoiled! Soon my garden will start to bloom outside and I hope to be outside and enjoy it!  I am so looking forward to my first "retired" spring!
Recovery from this winter's Influenza is reallllll slow :( I have been outside 3 times now, with assistance, and even did a wee bit of shopping at the pharmacy!! On the real nice days like today I am taking a short walk, but still tire way to quickly. Having lost way too much weight while ill I'm working hard to gain some back - not as easy as you might think. I know most of you have the opposite problem ;)
My sewing mojo has recovered and I have been busy adding the joiner "bits" to row one and row two of my Lucy Boston quilt! It's a great project for me right now as I can sit and hand sew and sew and sew while watching the Boob Tube.

Once these were done it was time to go up into the sewing room, still a major task for me,  and determine what to do for the in-between (joiner) blocks. I'm going to keep you guessing for a bit as I have a couple of ideas I need to test out. And of course I ran out of prepped hexies, so spent the last two days cutting and basting more. Still have more to do, not a lot of fun but it passes the time for this house bound quilter. Lets hope for a not too rainy April.
TTFN