Breaking a Commandment

Coveting. That's the one.

I want my neighbor's dirt.





Sunday afternoon, my neighbor Christy asked permission to park her dad's truck in my driveway to work on a vegetable bed for her to grow her tomatoes and okra.

Yes, it is beautiful and yes, I want one - or two. Mike gave me 2 raised beds for my birthday a few years ago, but they had to stay in Columbus. I loved working in the soft black dirt and being able to sit on the side and plant and weed. Here the soil is just hard clay, and it's no fun to dig in.

I had to laugh at Gaby's comment from yesterday. I wondered about the "old tires" around the trees and figured she had me mixed up with someone else, but then I remembered what is around the trees on my side yard.




I guess it is to conserve water. Keep down weeds? My father-in-law says it might be to protect small trees from the mower. I don't know, but I think they've outlived their usefulness and need to come up. Those trees are not the healthiest in the world, so I might try to perk them up soon - somehow. I'm not sure what they need.

I got a picture of that wonderful wisteria up the street when Darby and I walked early this morning. It's breathtaking even from my kitchen window a block away.
A couple of other pretty things. The weeping willow is huge, just beautiful. There's not much blooming on our streets right now.




Darby ready for her outing.
I've worked some more on the quilt and now have about 60 blocks out of around 100. I'm still enjoying it but running out of different fabric.




I tried to ignore the mistake on this pair and probably could have gotten away with it, but I knew.
Mama has to go to the doctor in Prattville tomorrow, so I think we'll come home the back way and visit this fabric place that she used to go to 50 years ago. It's mostly upholstery and home decorating fabric, but there are a good many cottons there too. If it's still open.

I took my embroidery machine to Opelika yesterday, and they agreed to look at it but that it could be 2 weeks before they got around to it. According to how much cat hair they find, Gaby!

I did do my first investigating of a possible new sewing machine. I've been saving my money, and now it's time to narrow it down a little. We have Bernina at the quilt shop here and Viking at the JoAnn Fabric store and then Janome and Brother in Opelika. I was pretty excited about 2 they showed me yesterday, the Janome Horizon and Brother Laura Ashley. Not too different in price but still pretty expensive.

I know I would get good service and support here at the quilt shop but not quite sure I want to pay the extra money for a Bernina. I know they're probably the best, but I'm weighing my pro's and con's and might be just as happy with a cheaper one. I'm not sure how good the service and support is with the JoAnn shop. The salesperson has not been overly helpful when I've bought a couple of attachments there. She would probably get more interested if I were looking at a sewing machine though! That seems to perk those salespeople right up.



I'll have to test drive a few. Some of them cost nearly as much as a car.

Quilting machines are competing to see who can give you the most space for fitting a quilt under the arm. This is pretty descriptive.

I'm reading what I can and hope to make a good decision.