Fireworks

Our little town postponed the Fourth of July fireworks to tonight. Below is the view I had walking down our hill to where Jim parked his truck, where we sit and watch them. Beautiful.

 

The show begins....

 

 

Productive day

Have had a very productive day. Ran four miles, then we changed and picked wild blackberries for an hour and a half. Three ticks later, I have enough for three cobblers. Then picked beans. I'm thinking I've got enough for about 16 quarts.

Ahhh.....summertime.

 

Canning

I am so blessed. I have a friend who has a marvelous garden. She called today and told me they still have plenty of white half runner green beans in their garden and they have canned and frozen all they want. So....they are mine for the pickin! Getting all my canning stuff together this evening......

I also hope to have a wild blackberry cobbler tomorrow. After a morning run, my young friend and I are going to go to a U-pick-it place for blackberries. He has both the wild and the tame. I've still got blackberry jam from 2011 so I don't plan to make any more but the wild berries are so sweet and good for cobblers and smoothies. Maybe I can get some for the freezer.

I absolutely LOVE canning. Makes me feel like a pioneer.

 

Sweet pickles

Yay! My friend delivered 18 pounds of cucumbers to me today. Now I can make my sweet pickles. Jim was getting a little worried. We opened the last jar several weeks ago.

I love that my recipe calls for "enough salt to make an egg float." I never could get the egg to float, even after putting four cups of salt in, but I also had at least four gallons of water in the crock. I think the egg wasn't fresh.

And necessity is the mother of invention.

That is a big rock, in a ziplock bag, on top of a bowl to keep them submerged. Fourteen days of soaking them in salt water then I'll spend a few days with alum, vinegar, and finally sugar.....THE BEST EVER SWEET PICKLE RECIPE.

Round and round wall hanging

Finished this beauty this afternoon. I used 8 charm squares from Nancy's Holiday Favorites by Nancy Halvorsen. And white. That's it. Well, except the red ticking I used for the binding. Single ply. Not fun, but it worked and it was the only red stripe I had. The pattern is by Camille Roskelley, Round and Round.

 

 

 

Love this. I may have to make the big quilt using this pattern. It uses seven of these big blocks.

 

Easy, quick project

One of the patterns I ordered this weekend is called Round and Round by Camille Roskelley. It is pretty neat being able to download a pattern and have it in your hand to work with. I found a Christmas charm pack and made this little beauty in only about two hours. It measures 25" x 25".

I think I need some red stripe for the binding. Now, to figure out how to quilt it.....

 

Hydrangea

I so enjoy our hydrangea bush.  I've filled three vases with the beautiful blooms for several weeks now.

Next project

Ordered these two patterns tonight.

Loved this pattern by Camille Roskelly (below), but couldn't find it as a single....this is for sale through Quackadoodlequilt on Etsy, or you can see it on the blog at Quackadoodlequilt.blogspot.com. Beautiful.

My plan is to make a new quilt for our living room with this layer cake.....

And some "greige" neutral for the background color, rather than white.

 

Barter Remembrance Quilt Complete

This is the quilt I made for a guy from his grandfather's shirts. He wanted it as a gift for his mom. In return he put in a new tile backsplash in my kitchen.

Quilted with Halcyon pantograph.

Made from Bonnie Hunter's free pattern (website quiltville.com) bricks and stepping stones.

This is what I got from the deal.....

Love my new subway tile backsplash.

 

Organization tips

Most of my week off has been spent in organizing and cleaning. Two things I enjoy doing. I must not be that great at organizing because I find I have to take a day here and there to get myself organized. It is worth it to me. There is something about a clean organized home. It is peaceful and stress free.

There is a ton of info out there in blog land about organizing closets. I choose to keep my shoe boxes and mark them with a sharpie, stack them on the top shelf of my closet. The discipline is putting them back in their boxes after wearing. Simple, but it works and looks very organized.

I even have a box for running stuff. It holds my runners watch, foot powder, sport bag for carrying my clothes to the workout center, my running belt, race numbers and medals, and stretch bands. I don't put my running shoes in their box. I let them air out on the shelf.

When we built the house we had enough foresight to build in a spice rack. But I cook a lot. A lot. So I added a middle shelf and connected it to the existing rack with wire. The hubby had the bright idea of marking what each bottle was with a sharpie on the top.

One cleaning tip you've probably heard is to put your shower head in vinegar to dissolve the hard water deposits. Mine is dissolving as I type.

The hubby is traveling homeward from his big northern fishing trip. He has had a great time, and I have as well, cleaning, organizing, and NOT cooking. However, tonight I am cooking in preparation for his arrival tomorrow. I am making a favorite chocolate cake, to go with his welcome home meal of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and slaw. I cooked my favorite creamed spinach and roasted veggies tonight for myself. I plan to make the homemade granola cereal he likes and I've even got him some Moose Tracks ice cream, another of his favorites. I've made sweet tea and the fridge is full. Think I've missed him? Just a bit! You know what they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!

 

Another shirt quilt

I've got all the blocks made for the "barter" remembrance shirt quilt. Used Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern. They are just laid out on the floor. Still have to sew them together.

I used 136 of the four patch units and the same number of the bricks (3.5x6" pieces). The finished quilt without a border should be 68x72. Thinking of using the darker grey for the backing and binding.

 

Another day in paradise

Laughingly, I told a friend today was another day in paradise. I am the biggest homebody. There is nothing I love more than staying home and doing projects. I removed the old screened porch door and put up a new one. I thought of a clever way to measure the holes for the hinges....

Freezer paper folded on the corners and marked with a pencil for the screw holes. Worked great.

Does anybody do this anymore? I love the smell of laundry dried by the sunshine. I think using the vinegar fabric softener must help the towels not to be 'crunchy', they were pleasant and so fresh.

Spent almost two hours cleaning only two windows. I am amazed how nasty garage windows get.

And now, just enjoying my plants and the pleasant evening. Put in a mandevilla and a dipladenia today. Very similar plants. Love the heat. They are the only thing that thrives on our back deck throughout the summer. The mandevilla is in the background of the photo above. I love the red!

 

Rearranging Furniture

I know there must be many, many of you who like me, move things around every so often.  My good friend, who has an eye for simple, uncluttered design is helping me to make my living room look better. Here is a before picture...

And now, after....

The red chair has been replaced by my grandmother's trunk and stacked quilts.  The recliner is moved and the rug has been turned.  I also scored a great frame at the Goodwill store for $6.99 and JoAnns cut  and mounted the wedding print on a mat for only $3.00. Think it needs to be hung a little higher.  I removed the sconces and lowered the mirror a bit.  The room seems much more cozy now.  I still think I'll replace the rug with something more neutral and make some new pillows and quilt in some teal/greens/blues. The antique print in the first picture is my inspiration for colors, even though I've now moved it to our bedroom.  I hung my new Smokey Mountain print in its place

Not big differences, but to me, it seems better.

My favorite change is the addition of the trunk and quilts.

Grey Baby Quilt

I think this turned out really cute. And after I washed it, it was so very soft. I was surprised for all the quilting.

I did some freehand quilting. Of course the picture would show the worse place in all my border ferns....oops.

I did a machine binding. I thought using a grey thread on the solid color would blend right in. Not exactly. I think I've learned that for a machine binding to disappear you need a thread that matches and a busy print.

I pieced the backing with a little strip of green.

Anyhoo......I like it!

 

Charging Station

I saw this idea on one of my favorite blogs, Organizing Made Fun. I thought it was a great way to hide the cords while charging electronics.  So, this idea, got on my list of projects to do this week.

I bought a circular bit to fit the hub's drill and drilled this hole in the bottom of the back of my night stand.  Then the cord is fed through it up to the top drawer.

Then you just have to corral the cords to keep them orderly. Connect to the power cord, close the drawer and your electronics are charging but kept out of view.  A great idea!