Thursday, June 30, 2011

Catching up

Our garden is doing really well this year!  I took a ton of pics but I’ll just share a few…

 

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This is the largest one on my 3 Amish Paste tomatoes (J already picked 3 or 4 from his Early Girl).

 

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These are some very late heirloom Cherokee Purples.  I wasn’t sure if my seed was still any good…well, most were but I was late to start them, playing catch up with buckets.  I have 3 different varieties in buckets & some others still in peat pots I’ll put somewhere.

 

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Itty bitty cucumber!  I can’t wait to make more pickles.

 

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“Mom, mom, mom! What’s that?!” (He goes nuts when someone walks/rides by, I was testing the camera settings, I was WAY across the yard, it came out pretty good.)

 

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“OK, I’m bored…come play with me.”

 

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First daylily bloomed

 

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J’s cucumbers are spreading all over the place, not just up their fence.  Like my bird-scaring solution?

 

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We had our first stuffed peppers of the season on Sunday, yum!  The plants are still fairly small but they’re loaded.

 

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The hydrangea is such a vibrant blue.

 

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And I’ve been quiet (and not sewing) because I’m doing a ton of this:

 

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It’s nothing fancy (and totally filthy, got pic before I washed it) but it gets me around for now.  It’s not a true mtn bike but a hybrid/crossover, I could use some knobby tires and a softer seat but I’m holding out for Black Friday sales to upgrade.  I rode 18 miles Tues & 39 on Wed on the local bike trails.  Hoping for another 20 today, we’ll see, I’m actually going into the sewing room right now to make a custom frame bag to carry my tools & gear.  Will share a pic if it works out.  Hope you’re all having a nice last day of June!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

WIP Wednesday

It’s been ages since I did any quilting, figured I’d better get past my funk this morning & just do it.  I’ve seen some cute charm quilts lately in blogland and wanted to try one myself.  Found the template for this “spool” quilt in an old thrift store pattern book full of traditional blocks & thought it might make a cute kids i-spy.  After 2 hrs of back pain at the machine here’s what I’ve got so far (and lookie, all that work shampooing carpets & I can finally snap a pic on my “design floor” again).  If you’ve been around my blog before you’ll recognize the fabrics, I’m still going through my scrap basket.

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These are 4 1/4” spools so it’s going to take lots of scraps even for a baby quilt.  I forgot how tedious sewing curves can be…but I only had to rip & resew the first pair.  Broke 2 pins though, lol.  Thanks for stopping by!

Summer!

Trying again…this wouldn’t upload yesterday…

Officially Summer in a couple hours!  I’ve been busy as hell cleaning, shampooing carpets, trying to make my studio look less like chaos and hide away half my stuff without actually losing it.  I did take a break to snap some pics of the lilies though.

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We finally got the gutter done, brought in a ton of mulch and planted some flowers so it looks like someone actually gives a damn.  Of course my favs are the lilies.

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I didn’t know what color this one (above) was until it bloomed a couple days ago since I sorta dug it up at an abandoned house last year (snicker).

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I did legally purchase 2 of these red ones, LOL.

 

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This was another surprise one (in top pic it’s not blooming yet).  It opened yesterday morning and I had to capture it at its best as they don’t stay pretty for long. 

I would sooo love to crawl back in bed this morning, it’s rainy & dreary out and I have nothing but a list of torture, err, housework that has a today deadline.  I’d much rather hit the gym or get my bike out and ride the trails (after that nap) but I guess I better get my tail in gear and we’ll see if I have any energy left later if/when the sun finally shines.  Have a happy Summer Solstice!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Finally some sewing

 

After a month-long boycott of the sewing room (except for some long procrastinated curtain altering for a friend) I finally knocked something out this morning.  This pencil/marker roll was a request from my girls stepmom.  It was a real pain in the tush!  Only an hour but I did quite a bit of seam ripping & cursing.  Hopefully the next one goes better.

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I’ve had a fat quarter of this Laurel Burch print for many years, glad to finally find a use for it.  To keep the pocket dividers (reasonably) straight I used masking tape & my walking foot.

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I skipped the ribbon, I think a hair elastic makes more sense to keep it rolled up.

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I had grand plans to do lots of sewing & quilting today but I’m still not feeling the love in that room…maybe tomorrow.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Friday, June 10, 2011

Another Garden Walk

 

Zip on the sewing front, I can’t get motivated.  The garden is coming along great this week with the heat though!

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This is the bucket tomato, an Early Girl, above & below.

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Some tiny cherry bomb peppers (these are SO good stuffed & broiled).

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Some (kinda blurry) super chilis.  See how pale the leaves are?  We have a lot of shade, these’ll come along soon but for now they’re really tiny & pale.

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Broccoli & cabbage.

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Hard to see but there’s a row of okra seedlings on the left & corn on the right.

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Cucumbers grew a lot this week.

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Center, lettuce.  Right, onions.  Left, asparagus is finally done & ferning.

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First itty bitty Amish Paste tomato in “my” side of the garden.

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“My” pickling cucumbers (with a couple volunteer tomatoes I’m letting stay there for now).

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The first zucchini, about 2” long.  We’ll probably be eating it next week they grow so fast.

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After a hasty re-plant, here come the green beans around the teepee, finally!

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The 4 remaining lilies in the front bed (umm, while putting up a new gutter & mulching we lost a couple, I’m nursing that tiny one too).  Should be opening in a few days!

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This is my birthday lily from last year.

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Happy Friday!  Have a great weekend!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Garden & Hay Creek

 

I spent the last morning in May enjoying the outdoors.  First up, quick garden stroll to see what’s new.  This squash is entirely too tiny to be flowering already…but there ya go!

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Yum, first tomatoes growing nicely (this is the bucket one).

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This is where last falls “pumpkin guts” landed, right along the edge of the garden where nothing grows, lol…

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Next door neighbor built this pretty patio last fall & they just filled it with flowers.  Pretty view for us as we garden.

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Then I hopped in the car for a hike through Hay Creek before the temps hit 90.

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One of my favorite smells of summer!

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Not sure what these are besides “pickers” but aren’t they pretty right now?  The park is loaded with them.

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Wild blackberries are coming along, I can’t wait to go snack on these.

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This is how you cross the creek, there are 2 cable bridges to navigate.  I love to find a rookie stumbling their way across, it takes some practice.  I can cross now with my tackle bag, a fishing rod, camera, etc in hand in about 2.3 seconds.

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Hay Creek follows old Rt 82 which flooded out about 10 yrs ago.  Mother nature is quick to take over.

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This bridge is where my morning turned to hell…bugs started attacking & didn’t let up until I got back to the bridge a mile later.

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I think this is the old mill house.

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Rounding the first corner on the climb to the reservoir you immediately hear this little waterfall.

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Nice & shady, I love the ferns everywhere.

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First view of the lake…

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The bugs really got to me by here so I turned back, I couldn’t outrun the things.  I don’t like wearing it but I won’t go back again without a can of Off, lol.  Hope you enjoyed my stroll.

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