I like Thursdays, July 19. 2017

I like my son :)  and he came to visit last weekend.  Here he is cuddling Scout and they are both hamming it up for the camera.  Peter is an artist and a creative force of nature.  I asked him, "what is with the Martin Van Buren sideburns?" and he laughed and said it was a chubby wolverine look he was sporting.  Okay then....

I love these flowers.  My neighbor's son got married last weekend and I volunteered to keep an eye on their cat, George.  They brought me one of the centerpieces as a thank you--isn't it scrumptious?  Best wishes to the Bride and Groom!

Scout is in another devil dog phase.  But otherwise she is fine and dandy although none of us are doing too well during the current heat wave.  We don't know what is with her ear, but it is frequently turned inside out, I think it is cute.

Before the heat wave hit, I worked out front in the garden and put Scout in her playpen there.  she seemed to enjoy watching the birds and squirrels.  She was a good girl.

Favorite things I like in the garden this week:

this little blue flower is called "Blue my Mind" and is an Evolvus hybrid.

The Swan is finally blooming:

 It's a hydrangea with HUGE blossoms.  I adore it.

It's too hot to sew in the attic so I am embroidering on the first floor.  I found this website recently and love it, hope you like it too:

https://rhondadort.com 

Her work is very inspiring! 

 I found this photo on facebook and it just spoke to me.

I hope you have a wonderful week and stay cool and comfortable!

Now head over to LeeAnna's for more wonderful posts about the many things to like in our world!!!

Better Late Than Never.

I finished another quilt this week.  This one is for my cousin's son and his new wife.  They were just married in December.  As usual, it won't be a prompt present but my shoulder is now healed enough that I can do handwork.  I hope they like the quilt.  My cousin said they have neutrals in their apartment and I hope this works for them.  The pattern was called "ebb and flow" and was free for a while at Red Rooster fabrics (it's not on the website anymore).  I just loved the look of it and that it really features the batik prints.

Thursday, a day of gratitude...

Good morning, a good day is Thursday.  It's the day we go to the farmer's market, it's almost Friday, and best of all, it's time for "I like Thursdays" sponsored by LeeAnna.

I like mornings.  What is your favorite part of the day?  We are now in a heatwave so we get up early.

 We go for an early morning walk before it gets too hot:

The world is like the song, "crazy hazy days of summer":

We see interesting creatures (well interesting to Scout who is still learning).

and dog friends:

at the end of the walk we stop at a neighbors house for

'Coffee with Kathy'

The heat has driven me out of the garden although we have a few seas of coneflowers that I like:

I like that my desk chair is finished.  You might remember we received a set of four chairs from a neighbor.  Three we turned into a planter (two white and one black for the front step):

the last one I am using upstairs in the wreck of the sewing rooms as a desk chair:

It was time to go to the sewing room and my four month old puppy is finally settled enough to accompany me.  I know her schedule and she takes her morning nap with me as I sew.  Sorry for the blurry photo I was trying to keep her calm so she would go back to sleep.

It feels wonderful to sew again.  I'm working a variety of projects.  This week I am piecing blocks for my goddaughter Jana's quilt.  Since I am best in the morning, Scout's schedule works best for me.  Also, despite having central a/c, the attic is far too hot to work in by 2 p.m. because of the direct sunshine.  

Are you sewing?  What are you working on?  I hope you are staying cool this summer!  Hugs and have a great day!

Friday bake day

Today is baking day here!  We had a good steady rain this morning and it seemed like the thing to do.  Only two days ago a neighbor gave me a zucchini the size of a baby.  I've gotten six loaves of chocolate zucchnini bread out of it!  Two are still in the oven.

I love the recipe at allrecipes.com for this bread.  You can find it here .  What I really like is the cinnamon in the recipe, it gives the bread some zing.  People go crazy for this bread (cake) so I'm happy to have so many loaves to give away.

My poor husband used to love this bread but then he was diagnosed as gluten-intolerant.  When the last loaves are done, I'll make him gluten free brownies (his favorite).

The house is hot anyway so I'll bake away and get it all done at once.  I hope you are having a wonderful day!

I like Thursday: July 6, 2017

Greetings everyone!  It's Thursday and I try to remember to post on Thursdays for LeeAnna's "I like Thursdays".  You can find her and a list of other participating bloggers here.

I like silence.  I like thinking in quiet and after the morning news shows, I tend to keep the television off until after dinner.  It's challenging when my husband is home because he likes to talk and he always has the tv on.  I have friends that like "background noise" with tv while they are working; I've always preferred quiet.  What do you like?

I found a new hydrangea on sale at the local market.  Yes it is pink but doesn't have the red that the one my husband purchased.  I had to get this one---

 It had my name on it (and it was even spelled properly):

I'll put it out front of my dining room window in the fall when I plant all the bushes.  There is a method to my madness.  I'm trying to incorporate more flowering bushes into the garden as I get older.  It's just easier to maintain.

 I like my new seating area which is finally done and planted:

I like rain and today there is a sweet gentle rain coming down on the garden.  It could rain like this all day and I would be happy.

We continue to enjoy Scout and my husband has taken to spoiling her in a way that he hasn't with our other dogs.  He rocks her to sleep on his lap and let's her get into bed with him sometimes in the morning.  We've been socially her more and more and last week she visited Brad's elderly cousins and did remarkably well.  Yesterday we visited Beth and Bob and their dog Pepper.  I was very proud of how well she did.  EVERYONE is commenting on how calm she has become.

Scout likes to cuddle and here she is cuddling her pillow and who could not love this?

Have a peaceful and gentle day today!  

Fourth of July 2017

Fourth of July 2017

or "Fireworks Shmireworks"

Happy Fourth of July!

All dog owners worry about their pups during this holiday.  Of course we were unsure of how Scout would react to the fireworks--especially because we live on the hill above the stadium where the pyrotechnics are done.  For whatever reason, our mayor decided to do them on Sunday night and Scout was very good.  She was apprehensive at first but eventually settled in her bed and watched them going off out the window.  She seems more curious than anything about them and made me go out late last night so she could investigate.  I know I am lucky this year but that doesn't mean she won't react differently the next holiday.  But so far so good.

Today we are just going to hang out, visit Mom early (because of folks doing fireworks, Greta IS afraid and I don't want Scout to learn by association), and chill out with neighbors.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!

O Canada: Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

Warm wishes to our wonderful neighbor Canada! This year the Canadians are celebrating 150 years since the Canadian Confederation.  Wishing my friends up north a wonderful weekend and a happy holiday!  
Shout out to dear Sandra and Dennis!

I like Thursdays, June 29, 2017!

I like to listen to the news in the morning and read blogs.  I thought this week I would do a different kind of like post and cite the blogs I enjoy reading.  For more like posts, join LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.

I like meeting new friends via the internet.  Here are few of my longtime favorites:

Q is for Quilter
Martha's blog is one of my longtime favorites.  She may be too busy to post often these days but there is a plethora of inspiration and patterns on her website.  I love that she has so many vintage embroidery patterns and her sources of inspiration for her work often makes me view my world in a different way.

Allie-Oops Sweet Happy Life
I love Allie and she is always working on a fun project.  She sells some of her designs but many she posts for free!  I'm also inspired by the colors she chooses for her pieces.  She also posted how she hangs her small quilts on the wall and it was wonderful and simple (see here).

Sandra Sews :)
Sandra has become a good friend and even visited a few times.  I am always excited to see her and her husband Dennis.  I love donation projects and Sandra does a ton of them as well as make lots of gifts.    It always makes me happy to see what she is up to!!!

I also like all the blogs that participate in the I Like Thursdays editions.  Visit LeeAnna to discover the wealth of inspiration you can find there!

Other news:  Scout was to the vet last week and is 20.8 lbs.  I can't believe her brother is already 30 lbs!  She's had a tough week recovering from her vaccines and also has a rash on her belly that is being treated by the vet.  She'll be fine but she sleeps a lot right now.  

On Sunday she was allowed to take her first walk at a public park and she greatly enjoyed it as did we.  Here she is admiring the lovely waterfall at Monocacy Park.

I really love this park.  It is the park my family frequented the most during my childhood.  It just appeared magical to me because of the WPA structures.  The park was completed in 1937.  It's just a lovely place for a walk.

We had unusually fantastic weather this week.  It wasn't too hot and there was no humidity.  Yesterday I actually just spent most of the day reading in the garden.  I even did a little sewing out there and worked on a binding for a short time (still babying the shoulder).  It's rare I have a day that I just take off.  I liked it 😊

We had moved this bird bath to the back yard last week because the birds just weren't using it out front.  Some cheeky little poodle girl gets up on her hind legs to drink from it.  So what are the chances of birds coming to it now with her using it?

I hope you are having a wonderful summer and for my American buddies, have a wonderful Fourth of July!

I like Thursdays; June 22, 2017

Another fun day of things we like!  Be sure to visit LeeAnna for more fun posts!

IT'S SUMMER!

I like Summer solstice.  What's not to like about lots of sunshine, warmth and flowers?

I like the act of gardening.  The hard physical labor of it.  I find it as calming--as soothing as sewing (except my muscles might ache a bit more afterwards).  It finally cooled off on Tuesday after a nice rain Monday night.  I spent 6 + hours working in the garden: weeding, pruning and moving plants.

I still have so much to do but I gravitate between a stuffed cottage garden and then a more minimal look.  I knew that once we got a good rain the tall plants would need to be pruned.  So far I have 8 garbage cans and bags full of cuttings and weeds and am going to continue on.  The weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be low humidity.  Perfect working weather!

I love my baby garden girl.  Here she is pre-haircut:

She loves rock lobster.  It's one of her favorite outdoor toys.

Silly goil.  She likes to look at the world upside down sometimes:

I like--no love--our groomer Jessa.  

I like--no love--that Scout was a perfect angel for her yesterday.

Here is our garden girl now:

THAT FACE!!!

Speaking of gardens, I love hydrangeas. They are my favorite for many reasons, mostly sentimental.  This year all the hydrangeas were blooming white until we got a really good storm on Monday.  Now everything is turning the proper color (except the white hydrangeas and the oak leaf which are supposed to have white flowers. 

At one point, my husband said "don't buy anymore hydrangeas, we have enough."  So imagine my surprise when he brought home this beauty:

I don't often use patterns but I have to say, I've actually bought a few lately from Blue Underground Studios.  Their website is here.  I just like the modern look of some of the patterns.  I'm on this mission to make a lap quilt for everyone I love but I don't want to do anything too complicated (I reserve that for quilts I have to make for programs I give).  I love the conundrum quilt!

Anyway, I have to go run errands and do other things in the garden.  Have a wonderful day!