On our way to Texas we decided to drive through the Smoky Mountains but the road was closed for awhile so we stopped and hiked along with everyone else trying to drive through.  There was a gift shop so we thought we would browse through it.  Mr bought me a book he thought I'd like and boy did I ever.  It's A People and Their Quilts, and as we drove along I would read the stories to him.

I absolutely fell in love with this book and the women who were interviewed.

Watching Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting one Saturday, I liked a couple of the patterns that were being shown, so I just had to get the book.

Rose over at Pics & Pieces had a book she was reading, Nothing To Tell.  I couldn't pass it up at $.99 and I'm not disappointed.

We have been getting the catalogs in the mail.  

It's that time of year for sure, sugaring, gardening and the raising of chickens.  Oh and reading a couple of good books.

I'm trying to catch up on blog reading and I'm trying to get back into posting more on a regular basis.  Life is just so busy and I'm trying to slow down some, tho that is not always working for me :) 

I was reading a blog a while back and spied the title of a book in one of the photos that really caught my eye, Through the Kitchen Window by:Susan Hill.  I just had to get it and I was not disappointed when I received it in the mail.  It is just such a cute book with a few recipes in it.  Here is an excerpt from the book that I just loved.

Spring Cleaning

"On The first day of spring, whenever that may be, any day of March, April or May, the sky is swept clear of cloud and rain and winter murk, the morning sun shines in through the kitchen window, and there is a little warmth in it."

~ Susan Hill, Through the Kitchen Window

Is a cold and a freezing rainy kind of day.

Today I am sitting here enjoying the late morning having a cup of coffee, planning to open up this cool book/pamphlet I found at the quilt shop where I'm taking some classes.  I love to take classes as it gets me out meeting and talking to people.  This was hidden behind some other pattern books, lucky for me I was browsing and looking behind things, because if I was just looking and not digging, I would have missed this.

What really caught my eye as I flipped through this book/pamphlet, was the maple leaf block that I spied and I plan to make when we build a barn.  I plan to make a Barn Quilt to hang on the barn, and since we make maple syrup, I knew a maple leaf was the kind of quilt block I wanted to make.

Today we are really jumping into high gear to get ready for my parents arrival.

Today I am counting my blessings for all the wonderful things in my life.

Today {and everyday} I wish you a very blessed day.

The book I read and couldn't put down was by Karen Kingsbury, Even Now and now I'm reading the sequel to it Ever After.

Oh and I have to tell you grand-baby #17 arrived late last night.  I couldn't post about it until all were called.  It's a girl Zoe Pauline 8 lbs 1 oz.  20 inches long.  No picture yet as they live down in North Carolina.  I'll post one as soon as I get one.

For my sons wedding rehearsal dinner the girls made bars and cookies.  I was trying to find a recipe that I have never made before.  I reach for The Farm Chicks..."Country Living The Farm Chicks In The Kitchen" cookbook and found a quick recipe to make...nancy's nutmeg coffee cake...and it was out of this world.  I did have to substitute pecans for the walnuts because I did not have any on hand.

Mine of course did not look like the cake in the book...But, it was still wonderful.

As I posted before this is a wonderful book not only for the recipes, and the first one I made turned out to be a yummy one.  One that I will definitely make again, but it's also a wonderful read as well.

Life on the homestead is still busy...We bought some blueberry bushes last night and I can't wait until they start producing fruit.  We also planted a couple of grape vines last week.  Jim will be making a fence of some sort for them to climb on.  The asparagus is doing great despite the flooding, and all 50 plants have sprouted.  I think we might have gotten a few more because last count there were 51 or 52 plants.  Each plant has 2 or more shoots coming out of them.  Yippee!!!!!

Today I'm heading out to the raspberry bushes, as I want to get to the ripe ones before the birds do.  This year I'm hoping to get enough for a pie.  I planted 2 black berry bushes and they are going to produce some berries this year.  Another Yippee!!!!!.  I hope to get a few more this weekend as I'm sure they will be just about giving them away.  My favorite store had some still the other day.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today.  I have lots to do on my to do list.

Vicki over at turkey feathers wrote a book called Blanket Statement.  When I opened it up I was amazed at what she put together.  This book has put the spark back in me to sew, tho alot is hand work.

This has got to be the cutest book I have ever bought.  I am making some hats for the grandkids and I had a hard time deciding which ones to make.  Just click on the picture it will take you to Amazon to check the book out. 

The knitting bug that is, as if you haven't noticed.  I've been really working the needles lately.  I have this book, Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch.  Only I couldn't find it.

So I looked on Amazon for it.  I did find it there only the cheapest one I could find was $63.06.  Yikes!  I was not going to pay that price for a book I already have, and I bought mine years ago for only around $12.00.  I can't even remember where either. 

I love this book and I did start to make a pair of mittens. Jim got me some yarn for Christmas one year.  I guess I was too timid to keep going.  But, not any more.  Aside from socks this is next on my list of things to make.

Okay, back to my book.  So yesterday I looked high and low for my book.  I knew I had put it somewhere.  When I had decided to move my sewing room upstairs, I packed a lot of my books and magazines away.

But, I found it after searching for a bit.  This is the coolest book and like cookbooks I love looking at it.  You can tell by the tape on the left side of the book that it's been read.  It wasn't like that when I got it.  I couldn't believe the price for this book now.  I think I'll hang on to this one.  I think it's a keeper.

I found this book over at Borders today while I was looking through the Knitting section.  I thought it looked kind of interesting.  Jim and I are off to Grandparents day up in Minnesota.  So I thought that this would be good reading material.

Another book that looked pretty neat to me was this one and

this one caught my eye too.

I'll be gone for a few days, but I'll be back to post about Grandparents day.