Garden Update 5-19

Here is a view of the right side of the back yard. Mom and I are sharing the garden spot this year. She has three rows on the left of the picture; I have four rows to the right of the picture, next to the fence.  We are not in competition…although she does say every few days “you got the good dirt, and your plants are getting bigger because of that”. I have absolutely no doubt that THAT is completely true…cause I do not profess to have any SKILL at gardening at all! I’m hoping for plain ole dumb luck!

The corn is closest to the fence. And, it TOO CLOSE to the fence…so I’ll be picking ears of corn only from the inside of the row…as I will not be able to get my self squeezed between mature corn and the fence when it’s time to pick!

Here are the remainder of my rows…and I’ve tried to label them as much for my memory as for your information! Next to the corn is a row of Lima beans and some Jalapeno pepper plants. Next to that is a half row of green beans…and the remainder was not planted for a while. Then, I put in some Crowder peas for my brother…as I don’t eat them. My last row has tomatoes and okra will finish out the row. It takes okra a while to come up because it needs really warm ground. At the very end of the rows…across the back side is some yellow crooked neck squash.

In total, I’ll have six summer squash plants…so should have plenty! I love fresh squash…and so does Aidan. But, there will be extra…so if you want some come on over this summer!

Lastly are my little cucumber plants. I sure hope these really take hold soon and start to look better. There are five plants, and these two are the best of them. This area gets a lot of water it seems…so I’m not so sure these will be hardy enough to last! Keeping my fingers crossed…cause Aidan and I LOVE cucumbers!!
I’ll keep ya’ll posted as the garden progresses!

Wednesday Wine Country Monograms -- B

Today, this post is brought to you by the letter "B". 

A Great Technique-Tip!

Susan Elliot of Plays with Needles had the greatest tip today on transferring "type" to your crazy quilt patch! It is so handy, I'll be using it for sure in the future! Hop on over there and check this out...and let her know I sent you! Follow her blog while you're at it...she has some great posts!

Sweeter Than Cotton Candy

Look at this little darling sleeping.

There just isn’t anything better than a good baby! Chevy, my nieces’ little bundle of joy spend the morning yesterday at Mom’s. I held her and she giggled and jumped up and down looking at my loud colored blouse. We had such fun. Then as I held her in my arms, she fell asleep. I had a hard time giving her up to her carrier!
Later on, I realized that I was a GREAT AUNT! Wow, that’s a rude awakening! I feel like I should start shopping for my walker and cane soon!
Reminds me of Aidan’s little enlightenment when she was two years old…”Nana, you have no memory…cause your hair is white.”. Yeah, she was right about that!!

Speaking of Aidan…here are some photos of her “garden”. She has a playhouse in the back yard. The front section has a little garden spot…mostly daffodils and her rose bush.

But, we also added two cherry tomato vines…one in each front corner. Hopefully, they will both do well. One is already having “baby tomatoes”.

We also planted a regular bush tomato on the front steps in a pot…and Aidan waters it almost every day. We’ll have to stake it and tie up the limbs before long so they don’t break off under the weight of the fruit. If you don’t have a garden…consider a couple of “pots”. They are great as distractions for little ones too! “Wink!”

Marvelous Monday Motifs - 5/16/11

You can read all about my idea for Marvelous Monday Motifs here. Today we have pages 7-8 of the J. F. Ingalls Company, 1886 Catalog of Perforated Parchment Stamping Patterns. 

Please NOTE: This catalog is not under copyright any longer; but the scanned version released to the public domain on 17 July 2007 (the source of my information) does come with restrictions. None of these designs can be sold. They are for your individual use.

Winners Have Been Notified!

 Winners of the Mother's Day Drawing have been selected via Random Number Generator, and have been notified. We had 91 entries in total! (Less comments, but some comments counted for multiple entries according to the rules posted).

 First Prize goes to "Connie". Go check out her blog and congratulate her!

The next prize "French Pages" goes to "Sara Beth". She also blogs!...go check it out here!

 And, the last prize "Love" goes to "Joyce Clark Frank". You can check her blog out here!

Congratulations to all the winners!

 We'll do another contest soon! I think it's about time to give some more jewelry away!...so stay tuned!

StitchMAP Moderator Challenge Swap

A few days ago, I shared a sneak peak photo of the challenge item I created for Amy. Well, I mailed it and she has received it…so I can blog the entire photo! Yea!

 The challenge was to take a beautiful peacock applique motif that Shari sent to all the Moderators at Christmas time…and create a special object for our swap partner. I started a crazy quilt project…hated it! Discarded it. I started a needle case…hated it! Discarded it. Then I was thinking that I really needed a creative muse to help me develop a real plan for this swap. Bingo! The light went on! And, I created my first “muse”. After creating her for Amy..I had to create one of my own…which ya’ll got to see right away! Here is Amy’s muse…with her peacock necklace…and hair clip!

 I did not think to take a photo of the peacock motif before I cut it into 3 pieces! The necklace only needed a short piece...and the remainder I put into the hair clip.

If you have not sewn a doll in a while...it is very enjoyable! I highly recommend it!

If you need a pattern, remember that there is a free one in the Yahoo Files...check that out on the Creative Muse post I did earlier. Here are some more photos!

Editorial Comment

Be advised that Blogger has had some issues of late. Some of my posts had to be re-posted after the system corrections were made.So, you might need to scroll over a couple of the "New" Old posts...to see the really new ones! Ha!Hugs!

Candji's UTS Block

Candji's Under the Sea crazy quilt block is the last of our round robin blocks for me to work on. I'm running a little late due to several days with sinus crud this past month, and the loss of electricity for a couple of days due to the tornado. Candji graciously let me take a couple of extra weeks to complete my work! The block was fun to stitch on and here are some photos!

The block was worked on by Darlene D. of Owosso, MI; Deloris D. of Columbia City, IN; and Jacque S. of Gordon, NE; before I received it. And these ladies did such a wonderful job that it was a joy to follow them! Candji also added a lot of interest to her basic block by using fabrics with textures in them. I stitched the bottom middle section mostly..and added some bibs and pieces elsewhere to balance the entire project. One easy step was to include some applique "critters". I had a bit of cotton fabric with a dolphin, octopus, and sea turtle...so these were cut out and fused/sewn in place.

After stitching some lace, partial lace, and fibers into place...I added beaded plants. These were created by loading seed bead onto wire...twisting the ends to keep the beads from falling off...and bending the wire around a pencil to help it curl in a spiral. If you do this, leave about a quarter of an inch on the wire without any beads...so it will bend and not bread the beads. Can you see the spirals?

There are several painted or inked charms on the block. Here are some of the inked fish...the bottom left and right are those I added in this space. Brass charms that have been inked are gorgeous!

I also added some plant life by the sea turtle appliqued down. The plant was created with pink/purple varigated EdMar threads in super long cast-on stitch...that twisted nicely. On either side is a piece of DMC Color Infusions Memory Thread in dark olive green. This is actually not thread...but super thin wire, coated and wrapped in thread. I wrapped a piece about two foot long around a large doll needle to get the coils...and then couched it down. The base of the plant was covered with a snippet of lace for another plant illusion.

Lastly, here is a wire and seed bead fish. It was created and then couched into place. The body is thin and flexible beading wire. The fins were created with a little thicker wire, bend into shape, and then all was wired together. 

Hope these photos give you lot's of stitching and embellishing ideas for your own Under the Sea kind of block!

French Script Saturday -- B

Here's another embroidery monogram motif for you!

Margaret and Jenny

This is my grandmother Margaret Farmer (right) and my great-aunt Jenny Champion (left). They are sisters.

One of my fondness memories of the two of them together is the summer I was in the 11th grade. My girlfriend, Brenda Barnes, and I were working at the high school painting the halls and getting things ready for school to open back up in the spring. We were part of a student work program that went all year. During the school year, we worked in the assistant principal's office or the library...but during the summer, they found any odd job that could be done by us kids...and put us to work. It was a great way to spend the summer...earning some money! We were required to bring our lunch, or we could walk up town to the square and get a hamburger. Neither of us could afford that each day...so I asked my Aunt Jenny if she would fix us a sandwich each day...and we would pay her (seems to me, we each gave her around $10 every 2-weeks when we got paid).  We thought we'd get a bologna or peanut butter/jelly sandwich. But, the first day we went to her house (which was just a few hundred yards from the high-school) we had a full meal on the table. Boy, my Aunt Jenny would cook! I don't believe I have ever eaten better my entire life; as I did that summer! Every day we had cornbread or biscuits (the best I've every had!); fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumbers; and some kind of vegetables and meat...or a big pot of stew or soup...or beans and cornbread! Yum! I'm hungry just remembering. My grandma was an okay cook...but not as good as my Aunt Jenny. She tried...and I think the two of them had a little competition going at times. One would cook one day...and another the next sometimes. Other times, they just did it together.Oh how I wish I could turn back the clock...just to have another few minutes with both of these women!

Oh look what I just received!

The CQI round robin swap...Under The Sea is coming to an end...and the blocks are finding their way home.Look at how gorgeous my block is; the ladies did a wonderful job on it! (I did not stitch any of this...but I'm lucky enough to now own it! LOL!)

Here are some closeups so you can see the detail. Isn't the mermaid so neat, she reminds me of a sea urchin....

The little lace fish are actually lace petals from a sun-flower...how creative!

The wide ribbon is not something that I would have considered...but I'm so loving it with the seaweed and beads...and I'll be using the idea in future seascape blocks!

And check out this little scene! I love the ribbon work...and will be "borrowing" this little stitching idea too!

The stitching is by Candj B. of Kent, Ohio; Darlene D. of Owosso, Michigan; Deloris D. of Columbia City, Indiana; and Jacque S. of Gordon, Nebraska. Thanks ladies, the block is gorgeous!