Pieous and Argus Cidery in Dripping Springs

Today was a new adventure for us and Miss Ella. We love discovering new places especially if they're in our neighborhood! So, off we went to the one of the new pizza places, Pieous, which has been open for about a month and is a stone's throw from our home. My husband ordered the Pastrami plate and order the Rocket pizza which had prosciutto, arugula and fresh mozzarella. Both were amazing! I also loved the vibe. Chalkboard walls with cool art drawings. A wraparound bar around the pizza oven so you can watch the action. And it's family friendly. We'll be back for sure. After lunch, we headed down Fitzhugh dropped off some groceries and back out again. On our way to RR12 and downtown Dripping, we passed a sign that read "ARGUS CIDERY". We turned in of course and was excited to discover this sweet gem of a cidery that makes 'hard cider'. The owner gave us a tour and we tasted two of the featured ciders which were actually really good. I loved the decor - vintage sofa, farmhouse tables, big sliding doors, and a custom light fixture. The owners were there and behind the bar. It was great chatting about the experiences they had developing the ciders and opening the cider in Dripping. We're anxious to see more from them.

Going to Luckenbach, Texas

Last Sunday, I celebrated my birthday in Luckenbach, Texas with my husband and sweet baby girl. We enjoyed good ole pork bbq sandwiches, pickles on a stick, fried potatoes (thin crispy potato chip style) and of course a shiner. We lunched at the picnic tables under the big oak trees just off center stage where the picker circle was going on -- three singer songwriters taking turns singing and playing. They were really good. It was such a relaxing day and perfect with all the things I love about Texas, including sunshine in February. One of the funny things about the day was listening to the roosters that were perched on the roof of the bar and were clucking and crowing away.

Let's Play

I finally finished it! I started this gift project several months ago for a dear friend's little toddler boy but parenthood took over and I had to put it down for the last few months. It felt great to be sewing again and I finished it in record time with Miss Ella watching from her bouncer. She was such a sweetheart letting mommy work in 30 minute increments! I call this quilt "Let's Play" because it features all the things that little boys love to play with - helicopters, cars, robots. It will also be fun to play I SPY with this one at bedtime. I didn't use a pattern. Instead, I just let it organically come together with rows of 5inch squares and 2inch white sashing. I used the big red dots as outside "Side" borders and the binding is green fabric with red dots. The back is primary color dots on a background and I quilted it with horizontal and vertical "in the ditch" lines using red, green and blue thread on the back and white on the front. I loved how it turned out and especially enjoyed the bear hug and thanks I received from my sweet and gracious friend!

New Year's Resolution - A Garden

Now that the hubby and I have completed the bigger house projects, we have set our sights on finally paying some attention to the landscape. At the moment, we have, shall we say, a native landscape of dead grass, live oaks, cedar, cactus and grasses. We have lived here for almost three years and have mowed our yard exactly one time and weed eat as needed. We have some challenges in that the Hill Country and Austin area has been experiencing a sustained drought for the last few years and we have a well. One of our long term goals is to set up a rainwater collection system, composting, and a large garden. However, we are novice gardeners so we must start small and this is the year that we have decided to start with a small "salad" garden. We eat a lot of salad - at least once a day - so it makes sense to start with veggies that we eat a lot of. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, herbs. Check back for our progress. Hopefully there will be some!

Sweet Baby Girl Quilt

We're in the process of decorating our nursery and have been struggling on colors, a theme, etc. I'm really not into matchy matchy themes so the nursery is coming together in an eclectic mix of new and old. I instantly fell in love with Aneela Hoey's Little Apples collection and I had to make something for Sweet Baby Girl so I designed this little baby quilt that include a couple of fabrics from the Little Apples collection (center panel, binding). Size: 32 x 34 1/2 Fabric: Little Apples, Polka Dot, Grey Leaves Binding: Little Apples Blue with red apples Pattern: Center panel, two borders Quilting: Machine Quilting - Diagonal