We've had some lovely days lately, although a little cooler than usual.  My flowers are especially pretty this year, in fact my irises are so big they've become top heavy and fall over

The chickens are really looking like full grown chickens now.  They've become bold and now run to the side of the brooder whenever we step outside.  They used to run from us and hunker down and hide.  They love being hand fed.
They will be moving outside, into their new home as soon as we finish the fence.  This is a fence in a fence as we keep catching glimpses of a fox.  I'm trying not to get too attached, between the fox, the hawks and the neighbor's killer cat I am worried.

I must have had some great karma this week, because I received two packages from some wonderful bloggers
I love these nifty gloves, and am looking forward to trying them out when machine quilting. They are from Em over at Em's Scrapbag http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com/

I won the giveaway that Dolores was having, her blog is Deeroo Designs.  I've enjoyed her fun, happy blog for some time now.  I'll just show the top layer for now, this was a very generous package and I'm having fun sorting through it.

 Lastly, I've been excited about a new dresden plate I've started, well until I sewed the first one together.  I need to repeat some of the fabrics in the plate as the layer cake I bought (Connecting Threads Soaked Collection ) has 17 pieces and I need 20.  But I'm not too pleased at this point, I'll play around with it some more.  Any suggestions?

Uh-oh, I think it's catching

Help, I think there's something going around. I may have caught it from another blogger http://www.designsbyloftcreations.com/2013/04/spotted-fever.html I was perfectly fine and then I did a little shopping this weekend and saw this sitting on the shelf all by it's lonesome, I was overcome with a feverish need to buy it. Then on a quick trip to the office supply store I saw a dotty clipboard and knew if it didn't come home with me I would not be able to rest. It's all good now, hopefully I'm on the mend and it has passed.

A springtime finish!!

I'm so happy to share this finish. Everything about this project made me happy. I've made it before and it's so chock full of cuteness and springtime I don't get tired of repeating it. Speaking of chicks, here's an update. As a first time chicken keeper we've learned a few things: they outgrew their first two brooders quickly. I love pintrest, it gave me the idea to use a kiddie pool. They have grown quickly and resemble chickens rather than those cute chicks in the picture above. They make lots of dust, I'm looking forward to cleaning the garage when they move to their coop. One of the chicks is the most courageous and does everything first, then the others follow along. They should be able to live outside in a couple of weeks, especially if this warm weather holds out. My husband has to finish their fence first. Hopefully it will be fox/opossum/raccoon proof. The will be living in a wooded section of our yard, that my neighbor's bamboo has grown into. We're hoping it will be some protection against the hawks. I'm beginning to think that being a chicken is rather dangerous. The jury is still out on what Molly will do, right now she is very interested in them (excuse the mess and the dust it's pollen time here). When we feed the chickens she barks at us and runs to her food dish, she is a jealous doggie.

You can't tell too well from these blurry pictures but I finished 2 quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest. It's so exciting to me that they will be traveling all the way to Guatemala http://margaretshopechest.blogspot.com/2013/03/fun-in-middle-quilts-for-orphans-in.html. Now back to my regularly scheduled sewing (ufos).