Posts

Yellow Coreopsis

I came down to the city yesterday because my city baby is sick again.  He doesn't even want his grammy this time.  I haven't taken any pictures so this one is from last month.  I have tried growing these in the country, but haven't had much success.  May have to try again.

My interview at the hospital is this afternoon.  Then I will probably go home.  Have to stop somewhere and look for some shutters.  And pick up a few groceries. 

Talked to hubby this morning.  He said it is raining again.  That is very unusual for us in July.   As a general rule, we get very little rain in July.   Bet I will have to pick beans and zucchini when I get home.  Can't wait to work on the homespun quilt! 

Small homespun quilt

Here's the picture that was supposed to be in last night's post.  Right before I went to bed last night, I took out some of the dark colors and added more red and blue. 

I was banned from the computer today because my hubby was waiting for a phone call!  So I made two table runners with the squares I took out of this quilt last night.  I wanted to try a couple of different ideas to see which I liked best. 

We did get an inch of much needed rain last night.  Yeah!  I won't have to water anything tonight.  And it has been much cooler.  I do need to refill my hummingbird feeders.  I bought another one the last time I went shopping because I couldn't keep the other two full.  It looks like a busy airport out there!

Navy blue and off-white table runner

Here's my first sample of one of my ideas.  This one is made with a navy blue and tan check homespun and an off-white solid on top, off-white flannel on the back, and batting in the middle.  The border is off-white flannel.  This is the way I usually make my runners, except I use muslin for the backing and border. 

Dark olive green and off-white table runner

And here is my experiment.  This one has a dark olive green homespun check and off-white top, an off-white flannel back, and an off-white muslin piece of the same size in the middle, with a muslin border. 

What do you think?  It is for the small homespun quilt that will be about 40 inches square when it is finished. 

I will list both of the table runners on Etsy, so you can go there if you want to see more pictures. 

Green worm on plant

I encountered this handsome fellow while I was out working in the flower bed this evening.  I had to wait until almost dark to go out.  It was too hot for me this afternoon.  I got up early and went out this morning to pick the beans, tie up the tomatoes, do a bit of hoeing, pick the zucchini, and pull a few beets. 

I was able to upload a bunch of pictures to iStockphoto today, so I have that done for a few days.  Some days it just doesn't work and I don't know why. 

I got a call from the hospital in the city where my daughter works.  I have applied for a position as admitting clerk in ER.  Now I have an interview on Thursday.  Guess that means my vacation is just about over!

If you can blow this guy up, or zoom in on him, the detail is amazing. 

Green worm

4 comments

You can't see all the detail unless you can zoom in or blow him up, but you get the idea.  There is also three other insects at the very top of the plant that I didn't even see when I snapped it. 

Where is all that rain that we got this spring?  We have gone from too wet to too dry.  We have started watering the garden and if I could have from a hose that was long enough, I would have watered my flower bed tonight, too.  The only hose I could find was missing the fittings. 

I tried making a casserole dish with zucchini tonight.  It was okay, but I doubt if I try it again.  It wasn't anything to brag about.  I did barbecue a beef brisket in the crock pot today, and that turned out very good.  Very tender and juicy. 

Small homespun quilt

Here is the way I laid out the lap quilt today.  I think I am going to replace some of the dark square with red ones.  I'm going to use off-white flannel for the backing.  I can't decide if I want to put a layer of muslin in the middle to add a little weight and make more fluff, or not.  May have to try a couple to samples to see which I like best. 

Country Sunset

Here is one of the pictures that I took last night of our sunset.  There were only a few clouds, so it wasn't too impressive. 

Sepia tone country sunset

I used my photo editing program to change this sunset picture to sepia.  I like the color it makes the sky. 

Black-eyed Susans

These black-eyed Susans came up in the bucket that my hubby had planted a tree in, so he has been watering them.

Flower bed

My flower bed is not formal by any stretch of the imagination.  English country is probably a better description.  If it comes up, and its a flower, I usually just leave it alone! 

All three of these photos were taken just before dark last night using flash.  I usually turn the flash off, but in this case, it lights up the flowers and makes the background dark. 

Tiger Lillies

Jean requested the recipe for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, so here goes.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE PIE

Ingredients:

  2 eggs

  1/2 cup flour

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/2 cup brown sugar

  1 cup butter, melted and cooled

  1 cup chocolate chips

  1 cup chopped walnuts

  1 9-inch deep dish pie shell

Directions:

     Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy.  Add flour, sugar, and brown sugar; beat until will blended.  Blend in melted butter.  Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.  Pour into unbaked pie shell.

     Bake at 325 degrees of 1 hour.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream. 

Enjoy! 

Tiger Lilly

Another tiger lilly.  That seems to be the only thing interesting that I can take pictures of these days.  And somehow, I'm not sure they are as good as they could be.  Anyone have any ideas on how to take better pictures of tiger lillies?

Our parish picnic was today.  I made a couple of chocolate chip cookie pies (new recipe!) this morning, then worked from noon til 3:00.  It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be.  I'm not used to being outside in the heat anymore.  It was nice to get together with people that I don't get to see that often. 

I've been trying for three days to get some more photographs uploaded to iStockphoto, but nothing happens.  Don't know if it is my computer, or something else.  My slow connection doesn't help matters.  I was able to upload over 100 pictures to Snapfish last night. 

I've started working on a lap quilt made from homespun fabrics.  I was able to buy several new pieces on Friday at Wal-Mart.  Hope our local store doesn't close their fabric department! 

Tiger Lilly

My tiger lillies started blooming today and I thought it would be easy to get a great photograph.  Wrong!  I took several this morning, and none of them turned out very good.  I took a dozen or so tonight and got a couple to pretty good ones.  It is going to take some more trial and error to figure out the best angle and time of day. 

Tiger Lilly

I thought the petals on the tiger lillies just had dark colored spots, but when you look close, you can see that the spots in close to the center are actually small projections.  I'll have to try to get a better picture tomorrow.  It was still a little bit early when I went out tonight.  I walked down to the lake to get another water picture, but the lake was still choppy.  Sometimes it looks like glass, but not tonight. 

Homespun Country Angel

Here's my latest quilted project - a little homespun handquilted angel.  Her wings, face,  and feet are handquilted.  Her body and arms are machine quilted.  She has French knot eyes and blushy cheeks and a perky homespun bow in her curly hair.  I found this pattern while I was looking for a crochet hook this week, so I decided to make one.  I may try to make some more, but I need more fusible interfacing. She is available on Etsy.

I need to go cook some fresh green beans and zucchini for lunch.  Later!

Snake for Vox

7 comments

Just had to share one more picture.  My daughter took this one of me on Sunday modeling my new scarf!  In case you are wondering, it is a real, live green anaconda.  It is amazing how warm and soft they are. 

We had a big party in the city on Sunday to celebrate two birthdays, a baptism, and a first communion.  The highlight of the day was a visit by Safari Steve and several of his close "friends".  Much to my surprise, almost all of the kids, including the girls, wanted to hold and touch the alligator and the snakes.  I'll try to post a few more pictures tomorrow.  It was really an amazing, unforgettable day. 

Img_7076 - sunset

6 comments

Hello, Everyone!  I picked up my computer today.  They really couldn't find anything wrong with it, but I had them back up all my pictures, so now if it does crash, at least I won't lose those.  I had 215 shots to transfer from my camera.  Don't worry, I won't try to post all of them!  This one is from last Friday.  I usually don't have very good luck with sunsets, but I thought this one was pretty good.  Wish I had walked under the power lines so they would show in the picture. 

It will take me awhile to catch up with everyone.  Congratulations to all the winners of Photo Quest #20.  Fantastic!  One of my daylilly shots was accepted by iStock.  Yeah!  One of the butterfly shots was, too.