I hadn't planned on taking three days off from blogging but as I have said many times before 'life happens when your making other plans'!  And that's what's happened...I had the three days all planned out but life interrupted and threw out those plans.

On a positive note, thanks to my youngest reminding me, last night I watched football all evening...until after midnight!  There's hope...the football season (including preseason and pre-preseason) has begun!

Have you ever wound up spending time on one thing and it lead to another and another and another.  Well, that's what happened to me.  I decided to straighten up the guest room but that lead to opening up one box to see if I could find something...I didn't...so that lead to another box and another box...well you see.

In the end, I found two of four things I was looking for so today I am going to give it one more try at finding the other two things.  One I know I have seen in the past year...I probably stuck it somewhere when decorating for Christmas but can't remember where.

The other thing I don't remember seeing and am now thinking that perhaps I never really had it after all and that it stayed with someone else in the family.

I am looking forward to a weekend spent with family...both days.  Next week, my plans including blogging every day again with crafts and project ideas, etc.  I hope you will join me and together we can explore some fall ideas...yes, I did say fall!

Have an extraordinary weekend and enjoy time with family, friends or just by yourself.

Talk with you on Monday...

It's cloudy out this morning but fairly bright.  It's already 67 degrees going to a high in the mid 80's which wouldn't be too bad if the humidity wasn't so high...it's 82% now!  Feels like your taking a shower when you go outside even though it's not raining right now...that's in the forecast for later today.

I found a cucumber!!!  Actually it was right in front of my eyes on the grass and I didn't see it!  Hopefully there are more in that mess of cucumber plant leaves.  Also, there are lots more tomatoes, especially on the deck, and squash.

Still no peppers but I have hope.  I have given up on the beans.  To be honest, and I really didn't expect this, but the morning glory vine is overcoming all the climbing beans.  Still, there are flowers on the bean plants and best of all, there are bees!  So hopefully...

So I did spend the weekend on my craft projects.  First of all, I finished the accordion never ending scrap journal.  I will share pages later on but here's the book with the front and back covers attached...

It turned out much better than I thought it would when I began the journal.  And there's lots to do and places to journal inside.  So, one project finished.

Remember these strips of fabric?

The squares of less than great quilt fabric?  Well, I paired the strips with strips of green fabric and the result looks nice...

The top is finished and I have a piece of fabric ready for backing.  All I need is the batting which I will be picking up this week.

I finally found time to arrange my paper pieced project from this...

To this...

Now that I have the hexagons arranged I can begin sewing them together.  And to aid in that I decided to make a couple needle cases so I can keep one with different projects.  

I put four squares of felt together, stitched across one side, then cut in half making two needle cases...

Each case has a page with needles and two needle threaders.  I like the metal threaders rather than the wire loop ones because the wire always detaches when pulling hard.  The second page has pins...

Finally, I finished the August prompt for my Fabric Embroidery Book.  The stitch was the VanDyke Stitch, one I had never heard of nor tried but it's fairly easy...

So, my weekend was successful!  Projects either done or steps finished. The emphasis for this week is to redo the dining area...taking out the large table and chair set which was nice when we moved in (Left by previous owner) but is slowly falling apart and quite frankly, way too large for our needs.  

We are going to use our smaller table from the upstairs room and look for a couple more chairs as well as remake the small leaf that was lost in the move.  We may decide that this table is too small in the end, but at least we will know what fits best.  And, we can always move it back upstairs if we find a better sized used table and chair set.

Do you have any special plans for this week?  If you have school age children, you may have to focus on back to school activities as many schools begin next week!  Hopefully, though, you can squeeze in some fun summer activities along with getting ready for school.

Have a great day and enjoy the weather...even if it's hot and muggy!  Remember the cold days of winter are not that far away (and then we can complain about the snow and cold!!!)

Again, have a great day and stay safe...

Talk with you tomorrow...

Another hot, humid, muggy, hazy day with rain in the forecast...the dog days of summer.  It's so wet outside that the entire area smells like mildew!

I think we may have taken care of the latest wasp issue. However, as an added protection against them I am going to plant peppermint or spearmint plants along the patio and in other areas where they have been trying to build a nest. Wasps apparently are repelled by that smell.  As a matter of fact, we are picking up some peppermint or spearmint spray (I think Tractor Supply has it.) to spray around the area.  It would be nice if that worked and the bees come back.

Actually, while out checking on the garden I saw two bees in the back plot around the summer squash!  As a matter of fact, I have several more squash growing, one even outside the fence.

And the tomatoes are finally beginning to produce.  Here's this morning's pickings...

And this doesn't include the tomatoes on the deck that are ready to be picked.

Still no cucumbers nor beans.  I'm not sure if I will get any eggplant or not and although the peppers are growing back after being mostly eaten by the deer, they have not produced any peppers yet.  Herbs are doing fantastic but the lettuce is not growing...I think it's just too wet.  May have to put it in the greenhouse instead of on the deck.  (The lettuce is in containers.)

Well, it took me much longer to clean the utility room than I thought.  I have to be realistic about one thing.  I can't do things as fast as I used to do them twenty, thirty years ago.  In my mind I can but in reality...nope.  The good thing is that although slower, I can still do them!

That's a good word for me...slow...at 80 (81 in a few days) I can still do everything I used to do...just slower.  I was remembering my grandma who had a large (an acre) garden which she took care of all by herself from plowing to planting to weeding to watering (from a rain barrel located a long way from the garden) until in her 80's.  I wish my gardens were as productive as hers but she had a garden every year from early on.  Mine have been sporadic and not in the same place.

So, I haven't really had an opportunity to enjoy any projects in my studio.  That will change this weekend.  I am taking the next couple days off from cleaning and rearranging and spending time in my studio.  I want to finish up the accordion never ending scrap journal, maybe work on the charity quilt and some weaving which I have neglected these past weeks.

I think, though, that I have settled on what I will focus on for the holidays.  Again, it will be inexpensive or downright cheap, but there will be a variety of things for all ages.  I'm going to call it 'Everything Ginger...' and it will include gingerbread men/women, houses, tree ornaments, etc. mostly made out of everyday supplies like cardboard (save those boxes), scrap fabric, a bit of paint and glue, of course.  However, there will be some baked items like the cinnamon/apple sauce decorations (check out those sales and house brands) as well as salt flour dough (again, using the cheapest of each).  I'm already excited about it.  And as there will be some nature items to be collected in the fall, I'll be sure to let you know what to look out for.

Enjoy the weekend...not many left this summer...take it easy, find something fun to do...most important, cherish your time both alone and with loved ones.

Talk with you on Monday...

Rain!  Again!  And high humidity!  Guess that's about right for August...

Sorry about not posting the past two days...but life happens when you have other plans...well at least for one of the days.

On Tuesday we left early...before 7:00am...to enjoy a day visiting several places in the state.  First we drove to Lake Placid about three plus hours drive from home.

There's lot to see including the Olympic Center but after driving through the village and around Mirror Lake, we went to see the falls at High Falls. 

After that we went to Ausable Chasm which is known as 'The Grand Canyon' of the east.  After a hike, you can tube down the river between two very high walls.

No, I didn't do either of these although I think I may have been able to do the high falls.  It was a hot (almost 90 even though the forecast was for the high 70's.), humid and very uncomfortable so I thought it may not be a good time to try a very busy, single file walk.  At 80 (a few more days before I turn 81!) I walk a bit slower as we all do when we age.  With lots of families and young children in attendance, I decided against trying.  Maybe this fall!

We had to get up early on Wednesday to take the truck to the garage, turned out it wasn't the power steering, it was the steering column!  Not too bad.  But after doing their inspection they found only one other item that needed to be replaced which doubled the cost to around $1500.  A lot of money but the truck will be in great shape and since it is twelve years old and has 230,000 miles on it, I'm not complaining.

However, after taking the truck to the garage, I began working in the kitchen...adding spice racks to the cabinet door, changing shelf placement in the cabinets, and generally rearranging things.  By the time I finished it was almost bed time!  But it's done.  Today I will be tackling the utility room which also needs some rearranging.

Thus, I haven't worked in the studio on any projects.  I hope today I will have time to spend time enjoying some crafting.  I've also been exploring what I will be focusing on for the fall holidays.  Yes, I know it's only August but once September roles around, time seems to pick up speed.

Believe it or not, we are also rearranging things in the house.  Getting rid of some things and moving other things from upstairs down.  Going to be interesting...and fun, I hope.

That's all for today...

Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying this last month of summer...

Talk with you tomorrow... 

 

The last month of summer is here.  That means that there are only a few weeks left to enjoy summer activities. And for those of you with school age children, gearing up for the new school year is front and center but be sure to take time for those last summer activities.

Of course the forecast for today is...you guessed it...rain.  It did rain a lot in the night so instead of all day, it looks like the rain will stop this afternoon.  And although it's only in the high 70's, with 90+ humidity, it doesn't feel very comfortable.

There's a new word for the month...GOLDEN.  I was thinking about the environment...I always think of that color for August like golden rod, sunflowers, yellow irises, etc.  But also, golden means good, successful, fulfilled like a successful and enjoyable end to summer.

There's also a new challenge, this time walking.  If you take your basic number or steps or length of walk and add a tiny amount (and I do mean tiny like maybe two steps or a tenth of a block) each day, you will be surprised at how far you can go without really thinking about it.

So, this past weekend outing was slightly dampened...no not by weather but by SnowWhite.  The last two times I drove her, she seemed a bit stiff in making the first two turns but then she was okay.  Well, not so much on our last trip...good thing my son was driving because most times he had to make a turn, she lost power steering.

There is a recall about the steering for SnowWhite so I am making an appointment with Ford to do the recall and make sure that was the problem.

I worked on lots of things this weekend but I will share a few from the accordion never ending scrap journal.  I have finished decorating one complete side and all the features like pockets and belly bands, etc are in place on the second side.  Only need to finish decorating that side.  I even have the covers done, just not attached.  Here they are...

Because there will be so much wear and tear on these covers, I made them strong by using three pieces of cardboard for each cover.  When the second side is finished, I will glue them onto the last page (undecorated) on each side.

Here's a pocket with a tag, probably the simplest page of this journal...

 And here's a page with a belly band...

The bird folder has a small belly band on one side and a covered pocket on the other side...

The covered pocket has a folded card and the belly band has a matchbook type notebook and it is held closed by a craft velcro dot...

Well, that's all for today.  My day is full of things to do around the house, how about your's?  I finished my exercises...have you done yours?  I hope you are doing some sort of 'movement'.  And be sure to plan a few more special summer outings this month.  Most important...enjoy your day...

Talk with you tomorrow...

Bright and sunny out today.  We have a two day reprieve from the rain...today and tomorrow but rain returns on Sunday.

Lots of errands to run today and then an outing somewhere tomorrow!  Gotta take advantage of good weather when it comes, right?  We haven't been to the grocery store is quite a while to stock up so first a big box store and then a regular one.

One part of my summer camp experience is to document the birds in the area.  My youngest son took this picture which is really beautiful and somewhat surprising...

Remember I said I wanted to do a bit of fabric work yesterday?  Well, I worked on two different projects.  I finished up the July prompt in my Fabric Embroidery Book.  I'm not sure which 'pages' I have shown, but here are May, June & July 'pages'...

I also cut the supplies for several more fabric 'bricks' and even sewed four together...

But, I didn't forget my latest journal.  Here's another page.  This page has three pockets with lots of small tags, some with sayings on the back...

Best of all, my new office chair came and it's simply great.  It had to be put together but it's comfortable enough to work on my computer or do some crafting and yet sit back and look through a magazine.

This is the last day of July...those lazy, hazy days of summer (albeit August) will be upon us...the last few weeks of summer to enjoy.  Many public schools begin mid August so if you have children attending be sure to include some fun activities (a picnic outside, playing an outside game or a walk in the park) amidst the activities of getting ready for school.

Have a great weekend...

Talk with you on Monday...

'Rain, rain go away.  Come again another day!'  Remember that little saying from childhood?  Well, I keep saying it to myself.  Another dark, cloudy, wet, raining, cool day...kind of like rinse and repeat...again and again and again.  I hope the ducks are happy!

I saw a current picture of Lake Mead and it was really bad.  Right now it is only 29% full.  The southwestern states really need water.  This is an El Nino year which generally brings more water to the southern states.  Let's hope that holds true because without that water, our produce is going to be severely reduced which will increase prices at the grocery store.  Just what we need, right?

With all the rainy weather we haven't been doing much outdoors.  But being indoors isn't much better...but dryer...kind of dark and depressing.  A good time for reading and crafting.  I've been listening to a new to me series by Tasha Alexander ('Lady Emily Series') which is an historic mystery series.  I downloaded it from the public library.  

By the way, if your library is small and has few books to download, check out if you can join a library in a larger city in your state.  My library is extremely small, but I can join (at no cost) the New York City Public Library and download books to either read or listen to.  

Yesterday I promised a few more pictures from the accordion never ending scrap journal.  Here they are.  The first is a tiny book with short sayings and pictures of flowers.  To keep the book closed I used craft velcro dots...

The next page had two small pockets, each with two tags and a tiny notebook. The first picture of tags has the notebook closed and the second picture has the notebook open...

I think I will work on a couple things today.  The journal, of course, but something with fabric.  But the best thing I will be working on is my new office chair which is due to be delivered today.  And I do have a zoom meeting later on today.  

What do you do on rainy days like these?  Read?  Watch tv?  (Oh, the third movie about Enola Holmes is out.  I watched it the yesterday and it was great.  Did you know that there is an 'Enola Holmes Historical Mystery Series'?) Craft? or, Cook?  I do a little of each except cooking unless making coffee and toasting a bagel counts!

Have a wonderful day...

Talk with you tomorrow... 

 

The rain began yesterday afternoon, went through the night and continues today with loud, heavy downpours and then misty type rain.  It's only 68 out but the humidity is 90%.   It may be cool but it feels like a cold sauna outside!  And it's dark out...the sun is there somewhere but not where I can see it.

And I just got a notice that the air quality is not good and we need to watch for flooding!  One of those days that you just don't feel like doing anything!

My vegetable garden is just not producing much but we have noticed a lack of bees...actually I haven't seen any in weeks.  We did have another smaller wasp problem but that is being taken care of.  If planting lots of flowers that attract bees next year doesn't work, then I think it may be time to consider getting some bees.

I have identified all the several more birds including a bald eagle, several more trees and more weeds and flowers for my summer camp experience.  I have to say that it's nice to know what's in the yard how to take care of them either to encourage growth or eliminate.

The accordion never ending scrap journal is still in the works.  I've finished a few more pages but only have photos for one page...

This again is an interactive page.  To see what's inside you have to untie the string...

And when you take it out you will find a matchbook style notebook...

Several of the pages in this journal are interactive more than just removing a tag.  I'll share more tomorrow.

So what have you been up to?  Is the latest economic situation getting to you?  It is me so I decided to get back to meditation using an app BUT I didn't want to pay anything for it.  I am trying Medito which is a 100% free non-profit meditation app.  I like the way it is set up and so far it seems to work for me.

There are a lot of great meditation apps available but many cost money.  Google free meditation apps and try a few out to see if they work for you.

That's all for today...have a great one!

Talk with you tomorrow...
 

Well, the deer had dinner in our yard again. This time they ate the hosta plants on one side of the sidewalk.  Last night we sprayed something that repels deer on all our flowers and shrubs...but none on the vegetables.  However, all of the veggies are protected except one box that the deer are not interested in.

We decided that playing outdoors is something we want to do.  So to date we have the equipment for cornhole.  And coming tomorrow is a professional horseshoe set and a croquet game for eight including two sizes of mallets.  We can have fun with both family and friends...thinking about a neighborhood get together as well as a family get together!

So the guild work is coming together...we needed to line up program leaders for the upcoming year.  After a couple of hiccups, I think we have things worked out through March of next year.

I did work on the Accordion Neverending Scrap Journal pages this past weekend which I will share.  Remember, this is one long strip of scrap paper folded into an accordion shape so the pages may seem out of shape.  They aren't...just look that way in the pictures...

One thing I am doing is really decorating these pages a lot.  The pictures make it seem very cluttered but in person they look great.  The above page has a pocket with a tag which has a place to write on the back...

On this next page I have an interactive activity which needs to be opened.  I used a craft velcro dot to keep it closed...

  

This next page has a bottom tuck with a notebook held closed with craft velcro dots.  There is also a place to journal in it...

And finally, here another page with a pocket which holds another pocket which holds a folded paper for journal writing...

That's just the beginning of this journal.  Remember there are actually 22 pages in this journal.  I have most of them finished with basics like pockets and belly bands, etc. but am only now beginning to decorate them.

The lawn got mowed and trimmed and the extra tunnels put together and lined with artificial grass for the cats this morning.  Instead of using the two tunnels to connect to the window (which is being down with chicken wire at this point) they were placed on the other side of the cat patio to extend their space.  Oh well, maybe next year!!!

I am staying with the summer camp experience.  It's nice to really see and understand our yard with all the trees and birds and flowers along with weeds and other not so desirable things...like the skunk who lives in the woods behind the house.  Or the deer family that munches on our yard who also live in the woods behind our house.

Rain begins this evening and is forecast for the next seven days.  I know there are parts of the country who are experiencing a drought but we seem to be floating away here...hope things are okay where you are living.

That's all for now.  Have a great day...

Talk with you tomorrow...