Enjoying a Long Weekend

Enjoying a long weekend at home. Honey Do took a couple of days off for the holiday and his birthday. Feeling blessed. We spent some time shopping at Sam's Club - I know, but we needed dog food and when you can get twice as much for the same price as other retailers it's worth it.

Honey Do thought this brownie assortment made a pretty good birthday cake :) I'm good with that if it makes him happy and it did.

We enjoyed a relaxing dinner at his favorite Japanese restaurant so that he could have oysters - it's all I can do just to sit at the same table. Not sure how people eat them. Can you tell I'm not much for seafood? :)

We spent some time relaxing in the backyard  while the dogs played. We also shopped the garden. We are being abundantly blessed with this year's harvest.

* * * * *

I managed to carve some me time, too.

 

The second quilt top for VBS is done. Don't you just love seeing linens billowing in the breeze on a clothesline? I do. It's an absolutely gorgeous morning. With the storms that ran through here the other night the temperatures dropped. It was just 50 overnight and this morning is pleasantly cool. Enough to wear denims when we've been wearing shorts and capris. Autumn is most definitely in the air :) I'm excited for the change of seasons. Each season brings it's rewards and things to look forward to.

I've also bee doing some "me" and "gift" sewing.

 

This one is the gift. I'm going to save this one for next year. BFF loves aprons. I thought I would make one per month and give them to her. What do you think? This one is for March.

 

This is a Daisy Kingdom fabric that I've had for more years than I care to admit. I have always loved this line of fabrics. I decided to make an apron for myself.

* * * * * 

This is Nina helping me make dinner. Actually, she's just hoping I drop something. She gets in between the cabinets and me, so it's difficult to work and how she manages to get rewarded. Of course, I really don't mind.

* * * * *

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative weekend.

All kinds of crafty today

Mama

and baby having a morning rest. That's Nina in the foreground. She was all excited by the visitors. So we said good morning, snapped their photos (you can only get so close, especially with babies) and said it was time to leave them alone. They are both regular visitors in our neighborhood and I don't mind as long as they don't visit the vegetable garden.

 

Speaking of which, I managed to salvage two of four green cabbages. This summer has been interesting. We've had plenty of rain or none at all. And we've had just enough that I really haven't had to water, which is always a good thing. And I had enough tomatoes to make more juice. 

Dinner tonight was a vegetable pasta dish that features eggplant. But Honey Do wanted to go one (or two) better and we added fresh broccoli and peas that I picked yesterday and some of the tomatoes. It's always nice when you can just go out and pick dinner from the garden :)

* * * * *

On to the fun crafts:

I'm finally making progress on my Quilt Doodle Doodle mystery quilt. I finished Block 4 today. And cut out the components for Block 5. We'll see if I can get it done before month's end :) 

I love these big candle jars, until you run out of wick and you have all this was left over. So I bought new wicks, melted the was down and poured it back into the jar. I now have a new candle :)

Have you ever made your own fabric softener or dryer sheets? This is my first time. I'll let you know how it works. You can find the recipes on Pinterest.

* * * * *

My happy accomplishment.

I have the first of two quilt tops from Vacation Bible School done. Once I got the layout done, putting it together was easy.

 

The kids did a great job tracing and coloring the designs.

* * * * *

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Good start

I'm having a good start to my week.

BFF and I decided that this was a good day to get together and have a gab-fest. It's a contest to see who has more to say and more to catch up on - we won't even mention that we talk almost daily :)

Weather was perfect for a drive. And a good book to listen to in the car. In fact, I managed to finish the book by Nora Roberts that I was fretting over. See that blue can up against the back of the garage . . .

This is what greeted me :) I have a strange fondness for spiders - more like a healthy respect and fear of them. I find them facinating, but only from a distance. Needless to say, I left him just like that.

I am starting to get over-run with tomatoes. Time to start making more juice.

And it's completely finished and framed.

Felt like I needed some extra detail so I added another border going all the way around. With the wheat colored cloth the white stitching was getting lost so I bordered it. I also added my initials and the year it was completed. On the back I wrote when I started and completed the project. I am extremly happy with the end result.

* * * * *

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Celebration Saturday

I am spending my Saturday celebrating. I have a finish.

I'll continue to work on it over the weekend to get it framed. I'm absolutely in love with it :)

* * * * *

On to the next project :)

Did some work on the quilt top from the blocks the kids made during Vacation Bible School.

Some of the blocks are sewn in pairs. This is just layout. I still have to finish piecing it but wanted to at least get it to this point. Sorry about the poor quality, I was in a darkened room and didn't use the flash.

* * * * *

And finally, I started working on a small wall hanging.

I'm thrilled with the progress I've made on it and all my projects today. It's been a very productive day.

Unfortunately, my machine isn't stitching quite right. I'll have to pull out the owner's manual and see if I can get it figured out.

* * * * * 

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative weekend.

Super Sunrise

My day usually starts pretty early. Honey Do is up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for work. I take care of the dogs, make coffee and pack his lunch. Some mornings I go back to bed. Others I don't.
Autumn is quickly approaching. August is nearly over.... I know there are still ten days but, the children are back in school. You can feel it in the air. The urgency to maintain gardens and yards is dissipating. It all needs to still be done but the urgency and demand for attention is no longer there. A morning of letting the dogs play while I weeded a garden has evolved into letting them play while I sit and ponder or just watch or read.

This morning...it's about 7:45 and we enjoy the sun's gradual assent into day. Birds chirping. The berries from an unidentified tree rocketing to the ground. A blue jay chasing a squirrel. Enjoying the peacefulness of a mostly quiet part of my day before it gets too hectic and demanding and away from me. I hope your morning started gradually, peacefully and without too much demand. I'm going to make a conscientious effort to start every day this way.

* * * * *

I am making some really good progress on my Little Stitches.

The stitching on this project will be complete this week !!!

* * * * * 

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Productivity

I love productivity.

I've become addicted to my to-do and measure my accomplishments by it. Not necessarily a good thing, but there you have it.

I've been working on the guest room the last couple of days. It's far from perfect, afterall, it needs painted - again !!! But it is, at least, clean. I washed the windows, swept that carpet really good, washed and rehung curtains, stripped and remade the bed. I even rearranged furniture and bought a new lamp shade. Very happy with the end results. I'm as ready for my father-in-law's visit as I can be.

So that has allowed me some time to do some stitching.

this is now this . . . 

I'm so excited to have made this much project. This block was not nearly as challenging as the previous one that had only two colors. I was worried about this one, too. I am now in the home stretch on this project with only two more blocks to complete. Block 15 has been started and hopefully will be finished tomorrow.

This . . .

My sweet little miniature rose.

Is now this :)

Isn't she gorgeous. She sits on the fence going into the back yard, so everytime the dogs and I go out, I get to enjoy her beauty. Makes me very happy.

Today was a gorgeous day all around. We went out and I actually sat down and read a couple of chapters in my book while the dogs played. 

My afternoon respite turned around 5 this afternnon and it looked like we were going to get a severe storm, but it very sweetly passed us by. There is more forecast, but I'm not overly concerned. I enjoy rainy days. Afterall, they just afford more stitching time because the yard and gardens will have to wait until it's dry again :)

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

I'm baaack :)

I've been AWOL again that last couple of days. I've managed to get some kind of bug. Not completely over it and still feeling like a limp noodle when I do too much, but I'm managing to at least work on something.

I feel like I'm making very quick work of this one. We'll see :)

Spring and summer have been VERY hard on my roses this year. Not because of the weather, but the deer. They are eating all the buds. So I've had very few to enjoy. I was thrilled that they had survived our winter, but now I'm concerned whether or not they'll survive the deer. 

So I found this beauty yesterday morning on our run in the back yard and had to snap it before it vanished.

* * * * *

Father-in-law is planning a visit in the very near future - before the end of the month, although he won't give me a specific date. So I'm off to prepare his room. Not feeling 100%, I'm taking things slow, but they are steadily getting done. I hope I'm over this soon - because honestly, I'm over it !!

My beautiful girl :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Muggy . . . buggy . . .

rainy . . . humid Sunday.

We got rain over night. That's a good thing - cuts down on watering. And we were expecting it. The humidity, however, is never a good thing. I woke up this morning tired, hot, sore and with a headache. I think it will be a good day to just sit and stitch :)

My goal in life is to stay home as much as possible. However, dinner plans for Saturday evening got changed and since everything is frozen, I had to run out for a quick replacement. This was snapped on my way home, about 6:30 p.m. Gorgeous !!! Autumn sky !!! Rain was definitely coming. There had been a gorgeous breeze all day and comfortable temperatures. Apparently, we have rain forecast all week - should be a very productive week :)

* * * * *

Speaking of productivity . . . 

Block 13 is finally finished. I love this block, but I spent a fair amount of time unstitching mistakes. I have to say the extra time and effort were definitely worth it.

* * * * *

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

FNSI - Weekend progress

My Friday began in the garden after Honey Do left for work. 

I'm really hoping these green Romas will ripen and go into the sauce I'm planning.

 

My Rosemary really needs planted, but it's so pretty on the window sill.

The zucchini is finally in bloom. 

There are weather reports already warning us about another very hard winter. BFF told me yesterday that her eldest has read articles that are predicting snow as early as the end of September. I know these are cold hardy plants, but I would really love to see them produce before we have to worry about freezes. They were very late in going in the ground because of the deer.

I found these beaties hiding in the bushes. Gorgeous :)

Speaking of deer - they are still visiting my garden. Not sure what they are finding but they keep coming back. They are so beautiful, but I really hadn't planned on sharing this much of my garden with them.

Broccoli is producing beautifully again this year. I think I finally have the knack for it.

* * * * *

 

We spent most of the afternoon in the backyard. They played and I mowed. It's probably been a month since we mowed the back yard. I just had to share because I thought it looked so nice.

We took a rest for a few minutes before going in the house to start dinner. My Nina has gotten really big, but she has the sweetest disposition. She's good company and loves to run and play in the yard.

* * * * *

Bethlehem - Block 8

Finished !!!! :)

* * * * * 

Saturday started out yummy :)

Fresh (not frozen) blueberry pancakes - Yum :)

Progress was made on the doll cradle. I gave it the second scrubbing using soap this time.

Look what I found in the process . . . 

As best as I can make out, it says:

Andy

Dec. 25, 1992

So going with my assumptions, it was a Christmas gift and made by "Andy". Now I really don't want to paint it. Maybe I'll just put a seal on it and leave it alone. I know I'm being sentimental, but these things are important to me. Things to ponder. I was going to paint it white and do some kind of decorating on it, now I don't know.

* * * * *

Hope you had a productive Friday Night.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.