I Like Thursdays: July 30, 2020

Good morning and how are you today!  It's Thursday and that means "I like Thursdays" and time to fill the internet with positive energy.  Visit our hostess LeeAnna for more positive posts!

"Operation Peppermint" appears to be working and my husband is home in time to eat our fresh tomatoes!  I did bolster our 'mater defense as well.   I sacrifice one and put it on the wall near the trees where the squirrels live.  They did eat an entire tomato in two days and now I gave them another fresh one.  As my husband said, "we sacrifice a few for the many."  I'm also picking them before they turn red.

The butterflies have returned!  I also have Luna and Monarch butterflies but for whatever reason, I can't download the photos right now.  

We also have a teeny weeny baby bunny in our garden.  I saw him in the front yard but he has made his way to the backyard now.  He looks bigger on this photo than he is (or maybe this is Mama bunny). I hope the wee thing makes it without the ferrel cats or foxes getting it.  I've been spotting it in the yard for about a week--and Miss Scout only realized yesterday  there was a bunny around.  We won't let her chase it and Scout is being a good girl.

I like this meme:

I hope so.

I like Piecework magazine.  

I subscribed to it when the pandemic broke out and received my first issue this month.  It has lovely stories about all kinds of sewing/hand crafts and I read it from cover to cover!

On TV, I like the new HGTV show, "Build Me Up!"  It's an uplifting show and the designer Orlando Soria is sweet and amusing.  Tomorrow we finally get a gardening show on HGTV!  Yippee!

Well I am going to NOT water the garden today and work in the sewing room.  Have yourself a safe and happy day!

To-Do-Tuesday: July 28, 2020

Good morning!  To-Do-Tuesday is sponsored by Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us and a chance to post weekly goals!  Join our friends and Roseanne here for more inspiration!

I'm still doing a lot of watering and gardening so I've been keeping my goals minimal but achievable.  Last week's goals were:

1-Finish assembling the blocks for a picnic or beach quilt:  Done!

I managed to make all the blocks last week (80 total).  It's now been determined this is a beach quilt, mostly because I was inspired by this block in the charm pack:

2- Finish Block 2 of the embroidered blocks:  Done!  

For next week I have three goals:

1- Finish Block 3 of the embroidered blocks

2-Assemble the Beach Quilt blocks into rows and hopefully into a top.

3-Make sachets:  I harvested lavender from my garden and dried it for sachets.  

Hope you have a safe and productive week too!

Stay well and have a great day!

I Like Thursday: July 23, 2020

Good Morning!  It's "I Like Thursday" and a day to fill the internet with positive energy and thoughts!  Visit our hostess LeeAnna for more positive posts from bloggers!

Scout says hi!  

I love this girl and she is my constant companion!

We are getting rain today!  It was a dry week but still we harvested the first peppers of the season!

And then there are the squirrels...they've been harvesting our tomatoes as soon as they start turning color:

And even when they are green:

"Operation Peppermint" has now commenced.  I read that squirrels don't like the smell of peppermint and to put cottonballs doused with peppermint oil around your tomatoes:

So far so good. We'll see how long this repellant lasts.

At least the squirrels aren't eating my flowers!

Sometimes when I am watering, I just catch a glimpse of something that makes me happy.  It can be sunlight and shadows on the plants or a combination of colors.  It is not sensational or dramatic but for those few moments, I am at peace.  I like that.

One of those things can be visitors to the garden.  On Sunday, we spied the first butterfly of the season!  I was getting anxious that we hadn't seen any yet so far this summer but after we saw the first one, it was like the floodgate opened and more appeared!  No photos of them yet though.

My niece Christina got a sewing machine and has taught herself to sew!  She's been talking to me about her projects and sent me some nice photos.  Isn't she doing a good job?!!!  Pillows, pet beds and toys and masks!  I'm really proud of her!

Of course this means I have to mail her fabric!!!

Hope you are having some moments of peace during this crazy time in our country.

Stay safe and have a good day!

To-Do-Tuesday: July 21, 2020

Well it's To-Do-Tuesday!  Roseanne has a wonderful blog and keeps us motivated by posting our weekly goals.  Check out her blog here for inspiration!

I'm keeping my goals minimal because I'm spending so much time watering the garden these days.  Last week's goal was to assemble the Winter Trees top:  done!

I also started rummaging through the dreaded charm drawer, another goal I wrote about last week.  I found two stacks of charms that I want to use.  

The top that I'm working on right now is a picnic or beach quilt using what appears to be two packs of charms--I think from a long time ago (like years when charms were first marketed).  I think it would be a fun wedding gift or maybe a fun birthday gift for someone.  I have nearly half of the blocks sewn and have another 40 to assemble yet.

Another goal for this week is to finish block two of embroidered quilt blocks I started years ago.  I've just been dilly dallying on this one.  It's my own pattern and I won't show it until it's finished but I need to get moving on this.  

So  those are my two goals for the week.  What are you going to be working on?

I Like Thursdays: July 16, 2020

Good Morning!  It's "I Like Thursday" and time to post positive energy into the internet!  For more positive posts, check out our hostess, LeeAnna's blog for uplifting and inspiring news and notes!

First let's start with visitors in the garden!  I still haven't seen any butterflies this year which is very strange considering the amount of flowers we have blooming.  But we have had other visitors to the garden:

This fellow appears to be coming on a regular basis.  I know this because he has done considerable damage to my garden this year.  😒  That water bowl is actually there for the squirrels.  Around here, when it is hot and dry, the squirrels enjoy picking our tomatoes and taking a bite (for the fluid, I'm told) and then discard the fruit.  Squirrels have decimated whole crops of my maters and then a friend suggested leaving water out for them to drink.  The last year we did that, it seemed to work.

My brother and husband have now named it "Foxy Lady" and it appears to be coming into our garden on a regular basis and at all different times--10 p.m., 2 a.m. and  early Wednesday morning at 6 a.m.  I now check the garden before I let Scout out.  Our backyard has a six foot fence on three sides and we don't want Foxy and Scout to get into it if Foxy gets cornered.

In other uplifting news, let me tell you the story of SloMo.  My best friend Linda is a horse woman and boards her horses at another one of our friends.  A pregant mare was brought to the farm because the owner herself was also about to give birth.  The mare gave birth and "SloMo" --the nickname the horse folk gave him--was born.  But SloMo had a problem.  He had contracted tendons and couldn't stand up.

Sounds like a sad story doesn't it?  Except it isn't.  

The women came together and took shifts.  Every hour on the hour, they massaged his legs.  They milked the mare and fed him (not sure how you milk a mare but they did it!).  Then Linda told me they were massaging his legs every two hours but still milking the mare.  Then Linda sent me this photo.  SloMo had stood up for a whole 5 minutes!

Last night, Linda sent me this video:

My husband and I have taken to call the women "the horse rescuers".  Imagine what else could be accomplished if people made some sacrifices and put their mind to making the world a better place!

I'll post again about sewing and such but today is for God's creatures great and small.  Have a wonderful day!

To-Do-Tuesday: July 14, 2020

 Good morning!  How are you doing?  Today's post is "To-Do-Tuesday" sponsored by our friend Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us.  It's fun to see other quilters projects--and so inspiring--so check out more links here!

Last week's goals included finishing Nora's and Ariana's quilt tops!  Done!

Another goal was to work on binding the plus quilt:  Nope, too hot to bind until later.

The final goal was to cut the fabric for the black and white tree quilt.  Done!  I've decided to call it "Winter Trees" and not only did I get the fabric cut, I'm almost finished with assembling the rows!  

Goals for next week:  

1-Finish the Winter Trees quilt top!

2-Figure out what to do with the drawer of charms.  I actually had forgotten about this drawer and was shocked when I found it was full!  I think a donation quilt of some sort is in order and will figure that out this week.

I've also lots of work to do in the garden and worked outside for a good 4 hours on Sunday morning.  It's going to be really hot later in the week so I want to get so more weeding done before the heat returns!

Have a wonderful week!

I Like Thursdays: July 9, 2020

Good morning!  How are you today?

It's "I like Thursday" and time to fill the internet with positive energy and thoughts!  What are you grateful for today?  Join LeeAnna for more positive posts!  I know everyone needs a pick-me-up these days!

Today I am grateful for RAIN!!!!!  In the last four weeks we've only had three brief storms which dropped a total of 1/2 inch (or less) rain.  Despite watering, I've lost 4 plants already and put some in pots just to keep them going.  But yesterday we got rain and life is good again!!!

The mystery hydrangea continues to fascinate me.  This week the oldest pink bloom turned a deep rose!  Isn't it pretty?

My mom has a small pond in her backyard and my brother picked up some water hyacinth for her and some fish.   My husband and I had a pond in our garden for years and always had water hyacinth but it never bloomed!  It was so neat to see the actual flowers!

We are trying to keep Mom occupied.  My brother arranged to have the three neighbor children come over to release the fish in the pond (at a social distance).  They are all under school age and already know to wear masks! 

I love how books become a part of us, especially during out childhood.  My mother and brother said after the fish release, do you remember this book about the fish who grew?  I did indeed.  It was called A Fish Out of Water and delighted me as a child.  

Do you remember this book?

The book is still in print so I arranged to buy it and have it shipped to the little girls as a thank you for the joy they brought my Mom last week.

I'm grateful for some tv shows these days.  PBS is now airing "Grantchester" and I like the new HGTV show, "Hot Mess House" because the host, Cass Aarssen, is so uplifting.

I'm also grateful for all the blogging friends who visit this blog and my Pennsylvania Piecemaker blog.  Keeping connected is so important and I'm grateful that LeeAnna started "I Like Thursdays"; I've gotten to know some wonderful people! Thank you friends!

Have a safe and happy week!

To-Do-Tuesdays: July 7, 2020

Well it's To-Do-Tuesday and that means a bunch of us post our sewing goals for the coming week.  It's hosted by dear Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us!  Check out what others are hoping to do as well!

I didn't accomplish as much as I hoped this past week.  I spent a lot of time watering our extensive garden (only three brief rains in the last four weeks).  Plus my husband has returned to work and I spent a lot of time helping him getting ready and making sure he has all the PPE he will need.

Although I pieced Nora's and Ariana's top, I'm still debating on whether or not to border it in pink.  Mom suggested just using the pink for the binding.  I'm inclined to keep the pink border like on Ariana's quilt.  What do you think?

Binding my plus quilt is going slowly mostly because I've been busy and it has been HOT!  I did get one length of it bound but have a ways to go yet...

Next week's goals:

Finish Nora's and Ariana's quilts!

Continue binding Plus quilt (if it's cool enough)

Cut fabric for the tree quilt (a new old project).

The tree quilt:  I think because of the pandemic, I'm really changing how I want my quilts to look.  It also could be because I'm really tired of the busyness of novelty quilts.  

Anyway the tree quilt fabric I bought for a specific pattern called "Pane by Pane" which was published in Fons and Porter's magazine in 2014 (geez, I didn't realize I had this fabric this long).  

Now I just want to make the quilt more visually simpler.  I don't want the half blocks or the blue or too many colors.  I think this is a phase and like I said, it is most likely because we are so overwhelmed by the pandemic that I just want to keep things visually simple.

Well I hope you have a wonderful day!  Stay safe!

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

I Like Thursday: July 2, 2020

Good Morning!  It's "I Like Thursday" and time to plant positive likes on the internet!  Be sure to visit our hostess, LeeAnna to read more positive blogs!!!

First off, Happy Canada Day!  I know I'm a day late but I have to send out well wishes to our Canadian friends.  I used to go to Canada every summer when the kids were young to a family cabin my friends owned.  Canadians are the nicest people and we loved all the time we spent there.  Now I have Canadian quilter friends and they are a delight.  So Happy Canada Day my friends!

I'm grateful to have the garden and something to keep myself busy during these anxious times.  

Our first pepper!!  This is the smallest pepper plant we have and not very bushy at all but it has fruit!!

I like this butterfly bush.  I have the traditional purple butterfly bushes throughout my garden but just loved the magenta color of the flowers!

The purple butterfly bushes self-sow everywhere in the garden and usually I weed them out.  But last year we removed our willow tree from the garden and our shade garden was quite stressed with all the full sunshine.  I transplanted two butterfly seedlings in an attempt to create a shade screen for the plants and it seems to be working...as long as we get some rain...which we did this past week.  Two storms brief but heavy gave our garden a good soak!

Last year was also the year we didn't have many of our hydrangeas bloom--but this year--Yowsa!

Even the mystery hydrangea is blooming.  My husband bought this on a whim a few years ago at the grocery store and it hasn't bloomed.  But this year it may be small, but it is getting colored blooms and they are so pretty!

I know I am going on and on about the garden but if you are lucky and persist, there are a few times when things come together and you are grateful for all the hard work you've put in.  There will always be weeds and challenges but there is enough beauty to sustain you.  That is what I feel about the garden this week.  And maybe that is just another way to look at life.

Scout has been upset in the garden lately and mostly at night.  We knew something was visiting our garden, we suspected skunks.  And whatever it was I thought was encroaching too close to our peppers so I fenced it off and put a potted geranium near it.  But one night Scout was absolutely on guard outside.  

My husband had an ingenious solution.  He has a hunting camera that takes photographs when it detects movement.  So umm...here is what he got Tuesday night...

Nothing last night but that have been because of where he had the camera set up.  Stay tuned... 😁

I haven't done much sewing since Tuesday but I wanted to share an interesting link published by the Craft Alliance.  It's a survey about quilting and you might find it enjoyable.  It is here!

Have a safe and happy day!