May Nearly Half Gone...

The first couple weeks of May have been busy and the weather just perfect for Springtime activities and evening walks under the meteor showers.

I have completed a few projects I'd like to share with you...

A Field Bag of gray linen, lined with same, decorated with strips of "coins" that I use for Leader-Ender projects every time I sew.

Measuring 12.5 by 7.5 by 2.5 inches it will carry everything needed for a day.
The shoulder strap is braided bias tape.

Branching out the other night, I put together a fabric mosaic. Something totally different from my regular work. Ormond named it Golden Ladies.

Fabric mosaic--cotton fabrics glued to heavy linen.

Littles Come to Visit Regularly

Wyatt is here most days; Ginger has stopped by a couple times and Scout spent five hours with us today. She told her mom on the way here that "Lynda and Ormond keep the toys in drawers." She's right, we do and they all know where to find their stuff and what to leave alone. They are so good - all of them.

Wyatt's expression just thrills me every time
I see this picture of my two favorite guys.

Big-eyed boy looking to get off the couch and into the game !~!

They Don't Make 'Em Like this Woman Anymore

One of my sisters-of -another-mother has a blog of her own: 'Merican Yankee freezing off my Key West tan  Somewhere I cannot find on that Googles!~! and shares the Best Info. Today I had to bring it to all four of my readers--I appreciate each of you and thank you for choosing to fly Qantas!~! Our newborn koalas poop the yummiest hors deovres. Let's try to keep that just amongst ourselves tho, kay ?~!

Here's Phyllis in a few of my favorite pics of her and then her blog post from this week with great info about bugs and how to convince them to go elsewhere to  live, breed, feed and die: (confession, I edited a few minor jokes and none of the important stuff.)

My first memories of Phyllis are these.
We each had our own dinghy; it was a source of pride
to have a nice, clean, fast, pretty boat for that commute
between the back deck and the dock.

American Yankee above the ice shelf and the tree line !~!
Her rescued girl, Gracie Goo, provides love, affection
and an excuse to get outta the chair once or twice an hour.

Tractor pulls have been child's play for this woman
who cans like there's no tomorrow.
And it is ALL delectable and frequently beyond description.
Accept invites that include home cooking
or any opportunity to enjoy her baked goods.

It's that time of year again !~! Share this fascinating information with your family and friends!

10 Ways To "Put Them to Sleep, Sweetie"(Kill) Ants… Organically

1. Baking soda is poisonous to ants, spinkle it around your plants to encourage the ant scouting team to seek out less hostile pastures.

2. Flour & Baby Powder will keep ants from reaching your plants; ants will not cross the powder – encircle your plants with it.

3. Also useful are coffee grounds, chili powder, cinnamon, peppermint and/or black pepper. All deter ants and if you pour coffee grounds directly on an anthill, they will eat the coffee grounds and explode.

4. Grits, instant rice & cream of wheat can be sprinkled around plants. Ants will eat whatever you sprinkle. They they drink water and the grain expands and kills the ant. Win all around, esp for ant morticians...

5. Fill a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar and an equal amount of water and spray the mix on plants. The acid in vinegar will kill ants.

6. Mix one-third cup of molasses, six tablespoons of sugar, and six tablespoons of active dry yeast into a smooth paste. Coat strips of cardboard. Keep out of reach of pets and small children. You can leave mixture on a saucer outside anthill and they’ll eat it and die. Dumber than the dirt they crawl thru about some things, no ?~!

7. Fold contact paper into donut, sticky side out. Make a circle around base of plant. The ants get stuck to the paper – problem solved; complete with viewings, haha !~!

8. Cut off the bottom of a paper cup, cut a slit up the side of the cup and coat outside with vaseline and place around base of plant. You can also use packing tape.

9. Mix one cup of borax, two-thirds a cup sugar and one cup water. Dip cotton balls in the solution and place in areas near your anthill. Ants will leave the plants alone and ingest the sweet mixture. The borax kills the ants.

10. Diatomaceous Earth is a commonly sold organic pesticide that will destroy the insects outer skeletons, causing the pests to die from dehydration.

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So my friends and readers, in case you don't overlap, I hope you can get some use from this reprint with my jokes flung like monkey rejected food into the wheels and gears.

This last picture shows my beloved Phyllis a month or two ago. Chemo and radiation done. She's returned to work and taking good care of her co-workers makes her feel as much a part of the team as she always was.

April Wrap up

Projects Completed

A number of sewing projects have been hanging fire-this month was finish some of them off without starting new ones. How'd that go?

Well, let's start with two wide lengths of a soft, pastel, spring bedding for me now that Diamonds is too warm.

Both needed hemming on the two non-selvage ends.

So that went well and wasn't nearly as complex as I anticipated. I didn't try the iron, being unsure exactly what the fabric is, so I turned it under twice, pinned and went for broke on the machine. It worked out fine.

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Then there were a couple pieces that I had "finished" and yet had never tied. So I dug those out from under the Baby and did just that. Tied and finished two more of my favorites. No, three... 

Hello memory, come home for lunch sometime ok !~!

So it was Denim & Batik, Holland/Myra, and Components that got their final touches in the last week. All tied with purple cotton I have used for all tying projects so far. What will I do when my only spool runs dry ?~!

Denim & Batik

 Holland/Myra

Components Throw

All three tied and knotted with my ubiquitous purple cotton thread.

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~ Not Finished Yet ~

Mountain Steps hung in my living room window for some months until I got it batted and backed. Now it's binding time. My girlfriend, PLM, found a treasure of old bindings in a thrift store and gifted me a fistful of packages. 

Among them is the Navy I use here.

Not a perfect match for the border fabric but hey,

 I'm all about mismatched and making do with what's available.

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Linking up to Barbara at Cat Patches FO party for April is this little gem I whipped together for Ginger.

Readers of my blog have met her-she'll be four in August and this is a gift for her for her doll blanket collection. She is one of the most together three-year-olds I have ever met. She asks me for some of my work each time she comes over to be babysat-never too shy to ask for a piece she sees that appeals. I have so much respect for her ability to ask for what she wants.

Doll Quilt for her birthday coming up Aug 26th.

And the gratuitous Burp shot. He's telling a mighty story here.

Wordless Wednesday

Pillow Love Needs No Words

A Moment for Boston

Thank you to the many who served and continue to serve.

Condolences to the bereaved.

Have we, as a nation, learned yet that we must share ?~!

March's FO Report

Finishes for the Month

I am participating in Barbara's FO Linky Party (button on my sidebar).

It can be found here at Cat Patches. Smitty wrote the post today for Barbara and I must say he is a Whiz at the keys. Barb's work amazes me every time. Be sure and see the guitar quilt she made for her son--incredible !~!

During the month of March, I have had two successful finishes:

Diamonds in the Corners:

One of the four Diamonds for which she is named.

Completed Diamonds in the Corners, on my bed every night with me !~!

I also finished another throw for which I am still seeking a name:

Sixty inches by forty-eight and backed/batted with
dark green fleece I thrifted a month ago
without knowing where it would be needed.

Puppy Play

Our neighbor asked us to walk her little dog every day while she works so we get a little "blond fudge" (as her mama calls her) every day to pet and play with:

Zinn looking for her breakfast.

I am really enjoying taking care of the baby five days a week. 

Altho he does cut into my sewing time...

 

Happy Holidays to all my readers.

Surrounded by homemade love. Both double-sided-design pillows, the blanket above his head and the little ball he's holding.

 
I made them all and am ridiculously proud of them.

Spring Comes to NorCal

Blooming Trees & Growing Baby

Flowers pop all over the neighborhood this time of year: 

roses, apples, decorative pears, blueberries, rain lilies, plums...

The white flowers are cherry blossoms;
growing strawberries in the box nearest Baby and me,
lettuce in the far one.

Where's the baby ?~!

Outgrowing his clothes-the first of many periods in his life
when his pants are too short and his wrists stick out !~!

Finishing a bottle of nature's elixir
while chatting with the Monkey in the baseball cap.

Sleeping Under Diamonds Tonight !~!

The Finish

     Diamonds in the Corners awaits my going to bed; she is completed and I am so excited !~!
     I finished tying this afternoon and by the evening's colorful sunset I had begun the process of "binding" those edges. The batting, two fleece blankets sewn together, barely reached the edges of the flimsy and the flannel sheet that I backed it with had lots of extra. So I turned under both the flimsy and the backing and whipstitched them together completely around the edges. I love it.

The whip-stitching edging.
Quickly efficiently binding the raw edges.

I tried it out for size on the bed and it's perfect. It measures 65 inches square and I sleep curled into a ball so it's just the right size for me at night and small enough to bring into the living room when I want it out here.

Sewing the last several inches of the edging.
Pillows peeking from behind me.

My goal for Feb was to complete it by month's end. Well, it's Pi day and that's as good a day as any to finish this quilt for which I have yearned since I started it. My first design all by myself and totally sewing it all here at home.

A Diamond

I'm enthralled with the scrappy look.

Perfect fit.

Orange-most block.

Can I go to bed yet ?~!
The white at the edges will work its way toward the back as I play with it.
What do you think ?

A Diamond for which she is named.

Edging-all the way around by hand.
Took less than two hours this evening.
I'm very pleased with it.

Tying close-up.

One of my favorite blocks in this piece.

A Diamond in the Corner !~!

I'm ready to call it a night. I've tossed her into the dryer to pull off the loose threads and fuzzy bits. Stretched her out across the beds and taken three many pictures of her. Now it is time to crawl 'neath her flannel side and smile until the sandman overtakes me.

Good night.

Garden Going In the Ground

We've begun planting for the summer season.

Six baby maties
Two lemon Cukes-my personal favorite and buddy can I eat the little yummies right off the vine. Scrape the black pokey bits off and rub it on my  jeans a bit to brush off the dirt and that baby is gone in sixty seconds-skin and all. Delectable. My favorite vegetable of the season.
Yellow Bell Peppers
Zookini
Squash
Kale
Grape Vine

There are two places still left in the plot-what shall we put in -I say more Lemon cukes but that'd be overkill !~!

The flagstones keep the hose from dragging over the babies
 and protect a bit from the wind.

Baby matie-six varieties this year-mmmmm.

Ormond worked all winter to make this 20 by 20 foot plot ready for this planting. Lots of digging and spreading and buying big bags of who-knows-what and filling in the low places and mulching and dragging and planting and soon eating the fruits.

Cute little babies will soon be big edible yumminess.

Mulching helps keep moisture in 
and birdies out.

 Last year's plot was not nearly this big and still we had produce to share.

I look forward to the same this year with even more to give to the neighbors.

We're going to try to  make Kale Chips. Olive oil and kosher salt and an oven, right ?~! Any tips from anyone who has made them at home ?

My Lemon Cuke baby-one of two.