Gardening? Gambling?

 Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?  NOT!

Here is the green bean harvest in it's entirety.  I told David to enjoy them because after going through receipts to pay the credit card, I had totaled up what we spent on seeds and garden plants, and these beans are way more expensive than a really good steak!

It seems for me that buying seeds and plants for my garden is similar to walking into a casino and dropping $200 in a slot machine with nothing to show for it.  And honestly, gardening causes way more aches and pains!  My plan for next year is to save seeds from gourds and pumpkins this year and through them out in the garden to let the vines keep the weeds out and then just take my money I would have spent on seeds and plants and go to the Amish produce and buy what I want in the quantity that I want.  

We were at Sarah's for Father's Day weekend.  She had this beautiful Amaryllis in her kitchen window.  She got it as a bulb 2 Christmases ago. 

And here is the succulent wall hanging I made for her dining room.  They haven't wilted yet!  This is the best type of gardening for me.😆

She treated her dad to a showing of Toy Story 5 Friday night in a theatre with recliners and food!  We ordered our food online before we got there and just picked it up as we walked into the theatre.  It was a really good movie.

We also went to a couple of estate sales (we actually went to this one twice, returning on their half price day!).  This is my only photo, but it was a really nice house in a really nice neighborhood, and we thought the tractor tires for sale in the front were interesting.  But not as interesting as the stuff inside.  

I think the winning item for being the most interesting was a copy of Moby Dick in BRAILLE!  It was several volumes and took a huge cardboard box to hold it.  No, we didn't buy it.

We also went to the little produce market near her house and discovered this amazing salad dressing.  As you can see, our bottle is running low already.  We've asked her to pick up some more when she comes for the 4th.

I think it was a nice break for David to get out of Marshall (for something other than a doctor's visit) and do and see some interesting things.  He still has to be in his sling for a couple more weeks and is doing PT a couple of times a week.  He's not supposed to be driving yet.  You can guess how that's going.  

Christi

Catching Up - Again! Retreat

 Here I am catching up again.  Actually, I tried to post a week or so ago, but do to technical difficulties, I was unable to get my photos to load.  Has anything changed, NO.  It's just a different week, day, whatever.

Our guild had a retreat earlier this month.  It was a Charming Beach theme.  We were supposed to decorate footwear, any type, and of course most did flip flops.  Not me.  I'm not a flip flop girl.

I did patchwork rain/mud boots.  I used the really advanced technique of HOT GLUE APPLIQUE!  And there were cute bows on the back.  And NO, I did not win.  But I did ME.

I worked on one project the whole 2 days.  It was my Catnip quilt.  It was all cut, but none of the sewing was done.

At the end of the first day, I had discovered at least 3 mistakes in the pattern which necessitated re-cutting several pieces.  I had all of the large cat bodies completed and some of the small ones.  I had to dig through my fabrics at home before returning the second day so that I could cut some more background pieces and some new ledge pieces.  Fortunately I had just enough brown fabric to do it.  This quilt was pieced totally from my stash, so there was no running out to buy more.  The tails required several "surgeries" (I should have a DVM degree by now), but when I left the second day, I had the rows of cats together.  I found yet another mistake in the pattern when sewing the rows together at home.  Anyway, it's now pieced and hanging in the TBQ closet with it's backing, batting, and binding ready to go.  

Fortunately the air conditioning for the upstairs and our bedroom has been fixed, so I am able to be upstairs quilting again.  I've done several things in the last few days, most of which were for other people, but I am whittling down the backlog of quilting to be done.

Well, that's it for this post.  I have more to share, so stay tuned.

Christi

So maybe I lied...............

 Can you believe I started my last post with this phrase?

"In an effort to blog more frequently,"

Wow!  Who am I kidding?  That was just setting myself up for failure.  The last of May was busy.  We had 2 funerals and David had rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder, and we took care of the neighbor's cows.............

Yup!  That's my retired hog farmer throwing out corn for COWS!  

And, honestly, he wasn't very good at it.  He didn't call them or honk the horn when he arrived at the different fields to let them know he was there, and he didn't count them.  I explained that if the neighbor wrote down how many cows and calves were in each field, he was probably supposed to count them.  Well, none of them died and all were accounted for when the neighbor returned.  The dog, however, had gotten shut in their garage as they were leaving on vacation.  My farmer wondered why he never ate or drank anything.  Never fear, the dog survived.  But the neighbor did have some cleanup to do in the garage.  And my farmer didn't bother to water the flowers until the last day.  I think they survived too.

Immediately after that, we traveled to Iowa with Sarah to stay with my sister.  Sarah got to see Jackson and Carmyn's house.  Then we traveled on to Omaha for my uncle's funeral.  It was a very nice funeral and it was the first time all five cousins had been together since Jeff and Brenda's wedding (their daughters are in college now).  My uncle had restored my grandpa's old Ford pickup and it was parked outside the church at the funeral.  We decided it was the best place for our group photo.

And then we added our kiddos (those who were there) into the mix............

And then then whole Barber clan in attendance............

This was followed by David's cousin's funeral and then David's surgery.  We go for a follow up appointment this week, and then he will probably be starting the long road of physical therapy.  

He's not allowed to drive for some time (although he has driven himself across the road a couple of times).  I did drive him over to the farm a couple of days after surgery so that he could pet a tractor.

Ok, actually he was downloading some data he needed to do the paperwork to take to the farm office to report acres.  He's also been doing a lot of sleeping, so he fits right in with the rest of the household.

\

Honestly, there's not a whole lot he can do.  He can pick black and red raspberries though.  We have had a bumper crop of raspberries.

And some cherries.  After last year's crop of 7 gallons of cherries, I was thankful for the 3 quarts we got this year.  I made some cherry syrup and a couple of jars of raspberry syrup and put the rest of the juice in the freezer for jelly later.

I have been in the sewing room a little.  I don't have much to show for it though.  I have been quilting a lot for others and have been doing some deconstructing of things to make them "new" again.  

I did spend a morning at a you pick flower patch.  This was a gift certificate from one of my piano students.  It was so much more fun that the yard work I have been doing here.  I have been running the yard rake, weed eating, tilling and planting more garden and I have the sore muscles to show for it.  (And new dog food dishes since I had a little trouble parking the zero turn mower.............however, the next evening, I was totally wishing for a zero turn garden tiller!)

Here is my bouquet..............from 3 different angles so that you can enjoy all the pretty flowers.  I wish you could smell them too!

Well, I don't know when I'll get back here again.  It's my bookwork week at the community center, doctor's appointment in Columbia, and yardwork (there are 6 bags of mulch in my future), and our quilt retreat is at the end of the week.  I really need to get my projects ready for that.  Oh, and my farmer would really like to attend a land auction on the courthouse steps on Tuesday.............and I'm the chauffer.

Christi

Short Post

 In an effort to blog more frequently, this will be a short post.  Not too much going on here.........

I did get a quilt done for my mom and a neighbor brought me three small things to quilt.  I got the rest of the cozy picnic put together and even used my extra blocks to create another row.  Now I'm in the process of adding borders.  I have a very large quilt to quilt for someone from church, so need to get that loaded on the longarm today.

While watching the Survivor finale last night, I finished all the hand stitching on the new window seat cushion.  I was washing the cat bed that usually sits there, but someone just couldn't wait to try it out.

And isn't she posing nicely for this photo?  She totally refused to look at me.  

So, that's the third home improvement sewing project this month.  I also made a new ironing board cover for my little portable ironing board stand.  I even added a layer of wool batting to it, and can I say that it's doing a nice job of pressing things very flat and can sometimes be very hot to the touch!

And I patched Harry Potter's house, and now the new window seat cushion cover.  I need to recover the cushion on the piano bench, but I figure I have all summer for that, as long as I get it done before lessons start back up in September.  

Well, that's all I have to share from the last couple of days.  

Christi

Catching up.......AGAIN!

 Where, oh where, did the first half of the month go?  I hope you have time to sit awhile cuz this could get to be a long one!

First, let's just say that THE CROPS ARE IN!  And now it's raining!

We had some storms last night, which meant Willow had to come inside and for some reason my DH let Harry Potter inside too.

Now, would you think that this cute kitty would be a problem?

Don't let the photos deceive you!  He was leaping over us on the bed in the middle of the night.  So, there is a new rule at our house, NO BOYS in the house overnight. 

We'll still let Willow in as long as she doesn't look like she does this morning.  She and Friday went on an "explore" this morning.  

I spent Mother's Day weekend at Sarah's in St. Peters.  We had brunch at Kingside Diner after church on Sunday.  YUM!

She took me to a chic flick Friday night.  On Saturday she took me to a big flea market/antique mall, then to the City Sewing Room where people donate old fabric and craft supplies and they resell them at low prices.  Here is what I got.............

We also had the last bell choir event.............bell polishing and a meal out.  The ringers presented me with this beautiful planter.

I made it to a few more soccer games including Senior Night!  They are playing the district tournament now.  They have a tough opponent tonight, so we're hoping for a win.

After Mother's Day, I went to Bethany for a couple of days to help my mom in her sewing room.  We cut out stuff for 8 projects!  We went to eat at the Pizza Shack in the evening and I took pics of the "interesting" decor..........

And outside was interesting as well........

On the way home, I detoured a bit to stop by a "you pick" strawberry farm in Lexington.  

I managed to pick a WHOLE LONG ROW!  Cousin Susie bought most of them from me to stock her freezer.  It was a fun experience.

In the sewing room, I got the Snailin' Around Town quilt totally finished.  I was able to show it at our guild meeting.

Our new opportunity quilt was shown at the meeting.  

And the back really shows off the quilting.

I made 2 of the block lotto blocks.  These aren't due until the July meeting.

And I did some patching on Harry Potter's house.  

I started a sew along on May 1st.  This was the scene at my sewing machine for about 10 days.  I was working on it, and got interrupted and never got back to it until last Thursday evening.  

Now it looks like this............3 rows are completely sewn together!  This is the Cozy Picnic pattern from Miriam at Stitch Obsessed.  I bought her Earthy kit of fabric to make it.

Well, are you exhausted?  I'm going to try to do a better job of blogging at regular intervals.  Hopefully!

Christi

May Flowers!

 What do April Showers bring?...............May Flowers!

Ok, so I'm a little embarrassed by this picture.  We took this at an Amish greenhouse we stopped at one day.  I guess this would be an "upcycle"?  Well-fertilized???  No, we didn't bring any home.  We did get 4 tomato plants and flowers for 3 pots.  I'm hoping to stop at another greenhouse later this week.

And speaking of flowers.........

Here is the wonderful young lady I have been mentoring at church for the last four years.  David built her this wall of old barn boards to use as a photo backdrop for her graduation party on Saturday.  She loves flowers so decorated it with flowers.  The wall was a big hit and we were asked by her friend's parents to borrow if for their party.

Sunday I attended a vocal recital and then had my piano recital.  They all did very well.  

Speaking of piano students, my student who took 2 of Mabel's kittens sent me this photo.  Doesn't she look just like Mabel?

I am glad piano is finished for the summer.  I will miss the students, but their schedules were becoming so chaotic that it was difficult to squeeze in lessons.  

On Monday, I looked at my calendar to find a completely blank square of white!  Whatever should I do?

Well, here is the list.............

I did a load of laundry, moved the piano to a new location and rearranged some other furniture, hung up new quilted all hangings, I quilted the Snailin' Around Town Quilt,

While it was quilting out, I pieced these drunkards path blocks just to try out a template I hadn't used before.  Not sure I like them, but I do like the template.  This might become a quilt, or not.

And I quilted and bound this wall hanging for my hubby to give to his mother for Mother's Day.

And I baked cookies.........

And I gave Esme a bath (she's not too sure about this new-found freedom in my calendar)

I also took the cushion off the piano bench so that I could recover it.  I might have worked on that, but the cushion was in use.

As was the cushion from the window seat which I also want to recover.  I have never seen Esme and Mabel spend this much time this close together.

And earlier in the week, I did the cutting for the Cozy Picnic sew-along that starts in May.  I'm trying to hold off sewing ahead and am making myself stay with the weekly assignment.  We'll see how long I can make it.  I love this Art Gallery fabric.  I am doing the Earthy fabric kit.

Well, that's about it for the start of May.  I'm hoping to get a lot more quilting done this month since the TBQ closet is really full.  

Christi