Spring is near in Mississippi (continued)

This is a follow up post from my previous one about Spring in Mississippi. I had talked about Magnolias being the state flower. One of the sites I linked states that Mississippians pride their Magnolias. I truly believe that's an understatement!

A while back, I had offered to pick up my friend from her house. She gave me her address and proceeded to give me directions to her house. They were easy directions, turn left and turn right, 5 houses in... "Can't miss it. My house is the one with two big Magnolias out front!" ... *giggle* I haven't bothered counting the Maggies on that street, but hers are exactly as she said and they are magnificant :).

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I know I have at least one follower on my blog, Ms. Jenny. I know this because I learned about putting the "sign up for email" button at her request. And I know it works because she told me when she received her first email when I added a new blog post. And I also know I have "comments" set up right because she has commented on some of my posts. 

Ms. Jenny is my first Mississippi friend. I surprised her when I walked into the Starkville Hoopers Thursday morning meeting unannounced. She was quick to welcome me and explain to me the Hoopers is an informal quilt guild. Informal in the way that there are no officers and the weekly meetings are "sit and sews" rather than formal business meetings. She encouraged me to come back and also sent an introductory e-mail to a member of the Possum Town Quilter's guild which is in my home town, Columbus, MS. Hehe, I received an e-mail from the PTQ member the next day which led me to believe that Ms. Jenny sent the e-mail immediately after meeting me! So sweet and considerate, and I was awe struck by that well known Southern hospitality.

Ms. Jenny has a calm demeanor, talks quietly, listens attentively, and I can feel her joy for life, her delight in small miracles(and big ones too) most of us take for granted. And for me, having just moved here and EVERYthing seemed brand new to me, I instantly felt she was a kindred spirit. 

And so, when Ms. Jenny read my previous blog post, she sent me this picture of the Magnolia next to her mom's house. As you can see it is huge! 

This is what she said about it: "Naomi,,, I wanted to show you this Southern Magnolia in front of my mother's house (now mine and my sister's). It was perfectly shaped until the big storm of 2011(?) took a limb or two."

I asked her, "Do you think it was struck by lightning or broken by winds?"

Ms. Jenny: "the branches were broken by the wind from the big storm that went through in 2011. One tree hit the upstairs corner of the house and 20+ big oak trees were just laid over..."

Me: "It looks much taller than the 25 ft which is suggested growth height in all the info pages I found. Do you know how old it is?"

Ms. Jenny: "Wish it was blooming in this picture. It has to be between 50 and 60 years old.. I remember when there was another tree there when I was little.

They let it grow like you are supposed to - no trimming of lower limbs so you can mow under them!"

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At the mention of being able to mow under the tree. I remembered our last visit to one of my favorite historical sites around here, the Waveryly Mansion. And I got a picture of my MIL with my kids under the possibly oldest Magnolia in Mississippi. The trunk is wider than the three of them standing side by side!! And I'm sure the branch's spread must be at least 30 feet across. I know I couldn't get a good picture of the whole tree with my phone camera :). (Of course, I didn't catch it in bloom either, maybe this year.)

Looking at the trunk here, it's not the same tree my family is standing by. But it is a magnolia tree at the Waverly Mansion, and quite interesting to me :).

According to Town and Gown magazine,  "Waverly is also the site of the state's oldest Magnolia tree, estimated to be 250-300 years old..." It's just amazing! If you're ever visiting Mississippi, I recommend taking the tour of Waverly Mansion and her fantastic Magnolia! 

Spring is near in Mississippi! Birds and Blooms.

(some how the original post got copied over :(. I will try to rewrite as much as I can.)

I love Springtime!

I love the first blooms.

I love the critters that are coming out to enjoy the nice weather. The birds are just as colorful as the new bloom. Some come help me greet the morning at my kitchen window when I'm preparing my cup of coffee. I can easily identify the bright red Cardinals, Bluebirds, and red-breasted Robins. I have tried getting a quick snapshot of my beautiful visitors, but by the time I run for my phone and put it in camera mode, they are long gone. One of these days I will be prepared and wait patiently with my camera and coffee.

I used to try to identify what kind of birds were around by their calls. Soon after moving here, I learned the joke is on me when I learned that the Mississippi state bird is the Mockingbird. According to State Symbols USA "Mockingbirds have extraordinary vocal abilities - they can sing up to 200 songs, including the songs of other birds, insect and amphibian sounds, even an occasional mechanical noise."  To look up any state symbols you might be curious about go to www.statesymbolsusa.org.

The birds are very vocal all day long. As the afternoon fades into the evening, the singsong lyrics fade and soon the owls start their conversations. Actually, if you take a moment to sit and listen, you would find Mississippi is very noisy at night... cicadas, crickets, frogs, owls, and oh so many night time sounds!

All this talk about birds and critters and I don't have a single picture. But I do have a picture of my neighbors blooming Magnolia. And I had to find out what variety of Magnolia. 

 I believe this particular variety is the Saucer Magnolia. It blooms in early spring, even before the leaves form. 

 I first started researching Magnolia's three weeks after moving here when the Possum Town Quilters invited me to participate in their Ultimate Guild Challenge 2016. The theme was "Magnolia", which happens to be the Mississippi State flower. Lucky for me they had just started forming buds and I got many snapshots of the different stages. I can't share with you all my pictures though, because they were taken with my previous phone, except for these two that I pulled from my FB account :).

 

There are many facts about Maggies that I found extra interesting.

• There are 200+ varieties
• Fossils were found with identified Magnolia plant dated over 20 million years old
• Magnolia evolved before bees showed up and therefore are pollinated by beetles instead of bees.

And this is the quilt wallhanging that was inspired by my research. I wanted to include every stage of the Magnolia cycle, from bud to flower to seed pod and even the dropping of the seeds are shown in the heart-shaped swirls. My quilt is hand appliqued and hand quilted with only the binding attached by machine. 

"Faith of a Seed....
                   Beauty of the South"
completed Fed 2015

I will leave you with a photo of a beautiful Mississippi sunset. Wishing you many beautiful sunsets too.

I love my power tools :), Getting to know Miss. Belle!

Yesterday was the Possum Town Quilt guild Sit-and-Sew day. We will be hosting the MQA (Mississippi Quilter's Association) gathering in October. Today's Sit-and-Sew was dedicated to making goody bags. 

Sit-and-Sews usually involves gathering up all my sewing supplies... scissors, rulers, mats, rotary cutter, fabric, patterns, books... and any other items needed for the project. It all adds up and pretty soon it sometimes feels like maybe I'm moving out.

I have a wonderful Viking Emerald 116 sewing machine that I have loved from the moment I ran a piece of fabric under the presser foot. I love it so much that I took it with me the last time I visited my mom and dad in Colorado. Packing it up to take with me is very convenient, just cover it with the plastic casing and carry it away with the handle. Easy! .... And how it was left behind when I got into the car and drove home will forever be a mystery to me! 

I was blessed that the PTQ guild lent me a machine until I might get my Viking back. However, things don't work out the way we plan. A trip back to CO for a visit hasn't manifested and I don't dare have my Viking sent thru the mail.... and so I started searching for an inexpensive sewing machine.

Hahaha! I don't know what I was expecting! After looking at several stores, financially it would be cheaper to go pick up my machine in CO and bonus visit with my parents :)! 

And then, I walked into Robins Sewing Shop and mentioned my predicament and that I wanted a cheap used sewing machine. She gave me a doubtful look and sat me at this Sears Kenmore sewing machine someone had just brought in for a trade and quoted $50. (Maybe they just wanted to sell it quick because it wasn't a Bernina.) With the look she had given me, I thought maybe it skipped stitches or had a loud knocking sound when stitching or some questionable performance. I didn't have much hope... 

I took the sample fabric from the clerk, and lowered the presser foot, pressed my foot on the foot pedal.... It stitched much faster then I expected, but the stitching was even... straight... good tension... no bunching on back... no skipping... only straight and zigzag stitching, but that's all I need anyway...

..... best of all, it is much quieter than the one i was borrowing (my daughter had asked me not to sew after she went to bed because the noise from PTQ machine kept her awake).

 

Now the $50 machine sits in my sewing room and I can sew into the wee morning hours whenever I want :)!!

I have completed a few projects on this machine. This is the machine I've been free-motion quilting on.  I think it's fantastic! 

It's a VERY sturdy piece of machinery! (that translates to "It's VERY HEAVY) 

.... not something you would want to be toting in and out of the car, up and down stairs, on and off a table... definitely not for sit and sew days.

And so, my Heartbeat got me a 1950s Featherweight for our anniversary in January. 

I have named her Miss. Belle (short for Mississippi Belle), here's the original post A slight detour...

Miss. Belle is much easier to tote to a Sit and Sew. Yesterday was the first time for us to really sit down and start getting to know each other. Oh what fun! She looks quite dainty but she doesn't act like it! She likes to get the job done and done well :). 

There were 10 of us with our machines, at least two at the ironing boards and another 4 or 5 inserting ribbons... We completed 70+ fat quarter bags in about 90 minutes. We only stopped because we ran out of fabric. Looks like only 80 more to go, then we'll start on the next item to put into our goody bags :).