the coincidental avocado...

Yum!

Fran, a sweet friend of mine was kind enough to share a couple of beautiful home grown avocados with me. They were perfectly ripe, and large, and ready to eat.
Naturally, I decided to make a batch of Guacamole (yum!) and to also make croissant sandwiches with turkey, bacon, tomato and avocado.  (If you add bacon.... the husband will eat avocado)
So, after a long day, we sat down to dinner and popped in a movie. We decided to watch the movie Big Miracle.  Just as we dipped our corn chips into the Guacamole, there, in the opening scene, was a reporter talking all about avocados and Guacamole - we looked at each other and started laughing - guess you had to be there LOL but we found it to be a humorous coincidence.
Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie it's about the 3 whales stranded in the ice up in Barrow Alaska, back in the '80's, and based on a true story.  My review- a thumbs up - we thought it was a nice family movie and I really enjoyed it.
We also have an avocado tree, but apparently our naughty squirrels have eaten all the buds before they can form into fruit. Oh well, lucky for us we have nice friends.

While I was away at quilt retreat (more on that soon) my friend Karen & I stopped at one of our favorite stops. The Earthbox store, to get planting supplies and starts.
I came home with a grape tomato and bell pepper start and a new mini Earthbox to add to my collection. Come October, I'm going to try green onions and radishes in the mini box.  After speaking to the farmer, it turns out I was planting my onion seeds too early.
This morning I finally got my planting started. In one Earthbox I have snowpeas, green beans and beets.  Haven't tried beets before, so I am curious as to how they will do.

 In the other box, I have my grape tomato and bell pepper. I need to go get more soil, so my third box will have to wait a day or two. The third one will have red romaine lettuce and spinach.

Now I can't wait for harvest time, and the cooler weather ahead. Hopefully this will be a green thumb year!

something new - something old

You know the feeling... the feeling you get when you finally put the finishing touches on a quilt you've been making or a room you've been decorating, or even a junk drawer that needed cleaning.
I have just finally finished up an exciting project that I have had in the works since the summer. It is such a nice feeling to have it all come together.
I'm guessing that you have children or grandchildren that you love to make things for. Of course we love to make gifts, that's all part of being a quilter/crafter, isn't it? 
This new pattern is a wholesome toy and quilt all rolled into one.
 Color My Garden.... is a pattern for a playful, interactive quilt that includes a pre-printed fabric panel with 11 fruit and veggies for kids to color with crayons or washable markers, and then "plant" in their quilt garden.
This is easy to make and the instructions are very complete and well illustrated.

I  also added a free download on my site for instructions to make a cute little matching harvest bag for their quilt garden. 

If you want more details you can click on this link or go to my site. I am also going to have a limited quantity of finished quilts available for purchase.


So...what's old you ask.........that would be me!

Actually..... I was going to say the stack of unfinished projects that require my attention. LOL

Of course now I am also working on some Christmas gifts in progress. I have enjoyed seeing that so many people are making gifts again. I know that handmade has always been popular with avid stitcher's and crafter's, but now it seems that even more people are getting into the handmade spirit.
I am happy to see the next generation finding their way to handcrafts and foodcrafts. I believe that taking the time to "craft" something is good for us. 
With today's fast pace, "crafting" makes you take a breath and connect with your creative side,  physical elements, and time.

How many handcrafted gifts are you making this year? More than last year or about the same?
How many did you have the intention of making :) ?
Well, I'm going to go work on my gifts so I don't have to use next day shipping to get them there in time :)

play like you mean it....
Linda

literally.... over the rainbow

Yes we were over a rainbow!

On our way back from our Wisconsin visit to see family and friends we flew over a rainbow! Our very nice flight attendant came over and brought it to our attention and it was so beautiful. I have never been right over a rainbow before. Anyway, were' back home and had a fabulous visit.
It was my parents 6oth anniversary - yes 60th! They are an amazing couple and truly an inspiration.
They have known each other since grade school and he teases about how he used to pull her pigtails in class. They had a fantastic celebration party and we were so happy to be there to celebrate with them.
The week went by all to quickly as it always does when we visit but we got a lot accomplished around their house and did a lot of visiting too.
We of course had to go to a Friday night fish fry...it's truly a Wisconsin tradition and when you find a good fish fry- oh my! We went to a family style fish fry with a group friends and family and it was all you can eat. They just keep bringing platters of fish and I confess, I didn't keep count, I just kept eating. It's not a batter fried fish, it's lightly breaded and oh so good.
It was so wonderful to see our families other than on facebook and spend some much needed quality time with them. Now comes the bad part....we forgot our camera! arghhhhh- oh well you'll just have to use your imagination.

Picture this.... family dinners, lots of laughing, cows, cheese, rolling hills, fireflies (there were tons of those) rainbows, bluebirds, chipmunks (so cute), morning coffee on the deck, anniversary celebrations and toasts, blooming flower beds, pulling weeds,  and then of course the tears of departure.
I hope you have the chance to connect with your families and friends this summer....

Transformation.....

A Monarch caterpillar decide that this wall plaque on our patio, was where it wanted to make it's amazing transformation. We came out one morning and this lovely chrysalis was hanging form the edge of the wall plaque. 

several days later it was changing........

then we came home the next afternoon and .....

we had missed it..... but one of the monarch butterflies fluttering about our yard started it's flight right here.

still stitching along .....and a bodacious bloom

Before we get to the next steps in the Stitch-a-long I had to share this awesome blossom that was on our dragon fruit cactus. The bloom at first appeared very similar to the blooms on our night blooming ceresus but on second look we saw this wacky anemone looking part. (lower front) It is actually the pistil of the flower and I think it is just so cool looking. Too bad the blossom only lasts one night.
We're waiting for the fruit to ripen now.

We also came across this striking grasshopper and he nicely posed for the camera, but the poor little guy only has one big back leg. It seemed to be getting around okay despite the missing leg.

So okay, if you are here for the Stitch-a-long with Linda I'm sure you are ready for more stitching directions.  As I told you at the start, it's very simple and stress free stitching so here's the next step for you to work on.

Round up the 1-1/2" strips that you cut earlier, and using one of each color, stitch them into strip sets.
I mixed up the order on my strip sets but you can make yours all the same if you wish to. 

make six strip sets

I mixed up the order of my strips as I made the sets.

 Press all the seams to one side.

After the sets are stiched and pressed, cut the strip sets into segments. You'll cut eighteen  4-1/2" segments and seventeen 8-1/2" segments.

cut strip sets into segments

Using the 8-1/2" segments we are going to make the sashing units.
Stitch one 8-1/2" strip segment to a plain (dark) 4-1/2" square then add another 8-1/2" strip segment.
Add one 4-1/2" 4-patch unit and then one more 8-1/2" strip segment. Make 3 of these sashing units.

make 3 sashing units

Next..... find the 4 shorter border strips ( 30") . Take 1 of the strips and stitch a 4-1/2" strip segment to one end and then add the second border strip to the end of the strip pieced segment ~ see photo.
Repeat to make the second border.

note direction of the strip pieced segment

Okey dokey, that's all for today's stitch-a-long. No one is feeling stressed are they???
Now I need to go and decide on how to paint my pumpkin - it's almost Halloween after all. 
see you soon.......

itching to stitch?

I told you this wasn't going to be a hurry up stitch-a-long project.  Like you, I have a lot of things vying for my attention with many glamorous things..... such as work, laundry, cleaning, gardening, cooking, sleeping, you get the idea. Speaking of gardening I have been planting my earthboxes with the Fall crop  and now have brussel sprouts popping up and my beans are really going to town. Naturally, I took my trusty %@%*# UFO out to make a comfy spot to work. OH-OH I may have spilled some dirt.... no bother, it goes well with the car grease and paint.Yes, the quilt destruction continues.....

Now back to our Stitch-a-long project.......
I hope by now you've had time to choose your fabrics and cut it out following the directions in the last blog post.

We are going to make 2 very simple blocks. All seams are a scant 1/4".
Block 1
use 12 of the dark 4-1/2" squares and 12 of the print 4-1/2" squares to make six 4-patch blocks.
When matching up the 2 units press seams to the darker fabric. This also allows the seam allowances to "nest" together for an accurate match.

That was too easy wasn't it? I told you it was going to be stress free.

Okay let's get on with the next block....
Block 2
This is another easy one. This is a double 4-patch.
use the 2 light and 2 dark 2-1/2" strips.
Stitch a light and dark strip together lengthwise.
Repeat.  You now have 2 strip pieced units. Press the seam allowance to the darker fabric.
Cut the strip units into 24  2-1/2" segments.....

Arrange the segments into 4-patch sets and stitch. Make twelve 4-patch units

I like to chain piece when making multiple 4-patches......

Combine these small 4-patch units with 12 of the print 4-1/2" squares to make 6 large 4-patch blocks.
Note the correct placement of the darker squares.......the block on the left is the correct setting.

Okay, that's it for now. I don't want to stress anyone out LOL
I'll post more stitching in a day or so.

In the meantime, if you have the time check out these fun links....
The 2010 contest winners for extreme pumpkin carving
My friend Sue's Zentangle creations
Fun, inspiring, and fresh quilting by Laura Wasilowski love her stuff!
Very cool Halloween decor at Poppytalk
and last but not least, my friend Kathleen's blog.

Keep smiling, it keeps everyone guessing........
 

Now that's a root ball.....

September in Florida means it's time to plant the veggies again. That's because it's too blasted hot to grow them in the summer! DH helped me dump the soil out of my Earthboxes from last season so we could spread it all out on some black plastic, cover it, and bake it in the sun to sterilize it. One of my Earthboxes had a bell pepper plant that was planted from seed 2 (maybe 3) years ago. I was told I should start over and so we took it out and WOW what a root ball!

OMG -the entire load of soil lifted out in one piece. Needless to say we had to break it up and pick all the roots out. 
This year I am going to add Brussell sprouts to the garden. We both really like them so hopefully they will do well.

I am also looking forward to the garden fresh spinach again - yummo!

Fruit of the dragon?????

We have a cactus that has been growing on one of our trees for sometime now and just this summer it has bloomed. Turns out it is a night bloomer like our other cactus in the yard (night blooming cereus). This vine growing cactus is the Pitaya cactus and about a week after the bloom dropped there was this awesome looking large fruit!
According to legend and lore during a battle the dragon fruit was the last thing that came out of the mouth of the fire breathing dragon. The fruit was then presented to the emperor as a coveted treasure.

I had heard dragon fruit before but never saw one. We harvested it and then I looked it up online to make sure it was edible - always a good idea don't you think?
We put in in the fridge to chill because I read it was better cold. Then one evening when friends were over we cut into it and gave it a try. It was actually very much like kiwi but more mild in flavor. The numerous black seeds are crunchy and easy to chew. Apparently they are quite expensive if you buy them in a store. They are also supposed to be very nutritious.
So far we have only had one fruit this summer. Hopefully next season will bring more blooms and hence more fruit of the dragon.

Now I have to go get busy packing for QUILT RETREAT!!!!!!!

No I'm not at all excited - HA
As always I will take too many projects, but you surely don't want to run out of things to do!
I will take pics and share when I get back.....

Play like you mean it.....
Linda

Glamor shot

Even though it has been steamy hot outside, hubby and I always try to make some time in the relative cool of the evening hours to go outside and see who may be out and about. One of our favorite visitors has been making frequent visits lately and it may have something to do with the fact that we just brought home a fresh bag of tasty peanuts!!! This is "baby" the fox squirrel that first appeared as a baby - hence the really original name -LOL 
She is a real hoot and very fast so good pic's are a challenge but I did finally manage to get this glamor shot.

Of course bunnies are always hopping about too.  Actually there were 3 outside my office window the other night but dinner was cooking so I didn't take the time to snap their group photo. This one looks like he's out of a scary movie - ever see "Night of the Lepus"? Google "night of the lepus movie if you're curious.

Living in SW Florida we have our share of interesting bugs too - this critter was making his way across the driveway I thought it was very interesting. It's a Giant Palm Weavil and he must be happy here because we have a lot of palm trees.

Those are this weeks visitors although on rare occasion we have had brief visits by bears, bobcats and even and Emu that came strolling through one day!

Well now I am off to tackling today's to-do list which includes glamorous things like laundry, grocery shopping, packing orders and I believe I have a nap scheduled also. I am also very close to finishing the quilting on one of my small quilts and I want to finish that and get the binding on. I'll post a pic when it's done.

Don't forget you have until noon tomorrow to enter my giveaway for a $60.00 shopping spree at any of the many CSN online stores. All you have to do is post a comment on my July 14th posting to be entered. The winner will be picked tomorrow around mid day by random number generator and you have very good odds of winning! Good luck!

Today's the day....

Sorry I have made you wait, but I was out in the lawn pulling weeds this morning. Doesn't that sound exciting and glamorous????
Actually, it can be very meditative - in small doses!
So anyway, thanks so much to all of you for your sweet comments, your  mentions and links and I am sorry I can only choose one winner.

The winner of the Sweet Vintage giveaway, by random pick, is Miniature Quilter. Congratulations!

I hope you will find good use for your vintage fabrics, trims and what-nots.
This is a mini four patch I made with some feedsack scraps....

Watch your e-mail from me so I can get your shipping address to send your prize out to you.
I enjoyed discovering  great new blogs from some of my new visitors and I hope you will stop by again to see what I have to share with you.
I do have a really fun new product to share with you later but I didn't want to delay this post any longer.
I also tried to get a picture of a really cool dragonfly that settled on the deck earlier but when I came back out with the camera he had taken off already. I think it was a Florida green pondhawk - very striking and quite large - it looked a lot like this one...

 

I'll keep my eyes open for it again. This is a little quilt I made of a dragonfly using angleina fibers on the wings.
Hope your day is filled with a bit of wonder.......

you say tomato....

I say - wow do I have tomatoes!
My Roma tomatoes have really taken off since the weather warmed up. Fortunately, my mom shared this yummy recipe with me and so I will share it with you. My DH really liked it too.

Skillet tomato/zucchini melt

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 T olive oil

2 zucchini  - peeled

2 tomatoes  - sliced

1-1/2 tsp. basil

salt and pepper

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

approx. 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a 9" skillet saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly opaque, don't burn the garlic!

With slotted spoon remove the mixture from skillet and set aside.

Slice the zucchini and arrange in bottom of skillet. Add the onion/garlic mixture on top of the zucchini.

Sprinkle with the basil, red pepper, dash of salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat until zucchini is just tender (not mushy).

Place sliced tomatoes over the cooked zucchini and cover the skillet again. Cook about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the shredded cheese and cover again until cheese is melted. 

mmmmmm, good!

I'm going to make this again tonight along with BBQ chicken.

I have another great tomato recipe I'll share soon. Now I have to go get some work done.

I will be posting the winner of the Sweet Vintage giveaway this Sunday, you have until midnight on Saturday to leave your comment on my April 9th  blog post to be entered.

plum crazy!

Those crazy squirrels are at it again! Well, okay we may encourage them a bit.
We finished off a jar of peanut butter (yes, making cookies again) and we thought the squirrels might enjoy cleaning out the jar.....we were right.

I missed getting our buddy "Spot" while she was enjoying the jar, but I was laughing too hard to think about the camera. This other little fella came along and was more than happy indulge while being photographed. Needless to say there were some skirmishes going on over the jar. They are just plum crazy. Speaking of plum crazy...

Our neighbor called ( no - she's not crazy) with some water heater problems and so my dh and I  headed over to check it out. While we were there I noticed some fruit of some sort on one her large trees that I hadn't seen before. Turns out they are Japanese plum trees. I've never had Japanese plum...are they tasty!!! I am now plum crazy! (not exactly a state secret)

She sent me home with the ripe ones we could reach and told me to come back for all I want as they ripen. I will surely take her up on that.
It also seems my dh got her water heater working again. Yay!
It's been a rainy day so far and so no sun printing for me today.....I did put some printed squares and kits up for sale in my etsy store.
I guess I will do some dusting - oh fun - and some laundry - more fun - and then hopefully get into the studio for some stitching time. Oh - here's some more craziness....
Look what my hubby found out in the garage while he was cleaning up out there.
Yikes -  it's a black widow spider, now deceased.

Thankfully our garage is away from the house and I have never seen one in the house - you would have heard the scream. Well, enough craziness for now, I need another yum yum plum.

In case you missed it...there is still time to enter my Sweet Vintage Giveaway. You have until April 24th to post a comment to my April 9th blog post to be entered. If you blog about it or facebook about it, leave a separate comment for each and get more chances to win. 

One of my FB friends (Robin) is having a fun giveaway at her blog  - check it out !

Easter Eye candy

Happy Easter everyone! I figured we're all getting enough sugary sweets today..... so I decided to share some eye candy with you. These were taken at the Naples Botanical Gardens. We went there recently while my parents were visiting. This first pic is of the wall you see from the parking lot to the entrance and the blooming bougainvillea were just incredible. I just love the colors against the bright green wall.



These arrangements were hanging in the children's garden, depicting how one can recycle cast offs into planters - like these cute planted totes.

This large mosaic was a new addition to the garden and is just so striking and so quilty! Don't you think?
I wonder if the artist could have been inspired by a quilt?

I just loved the happy little group of flowers. I tried getting some butterfly pictures in the butterfly house but they were NOT cooperating.
But they were beautiful.

Oh-oh!  I snuck some sweets in here after all....
My dh commented at Christmas that I needed to make sugar cookies more often and so for Easter I made him some....of course he's nice and sharing them with me :)









This was a stone pillar of an arbor in the Carribean section of the gardens, I'm not sure what the vine is ... but it is such a beautiful shade of lavender.

I hope you all have an egg-stra special Easter, whether it's with a crowd or by yourself - Rejoice!

 John 11:25-26   Happy Easter!

Veggie town

Yep, I still have my earthbox gardens going and so far so good once I got rid of some critters (caterpillars) on my tomato plant. I am now having a bumper crop of Roma tomatoes and one of my broccoli has finally sprouted a head. I can't wait. See it in the center? It's small but it's there.
I hope the weather stays cool. (it doesn't care for the heat) My friend Karen has already harvested some broccoli from her earthbox garden. I am so jealous.



Last night Jeff & I had a nice fresh, tasty salad with Romaine and spinach from the garden....ohhhh it was yumlicious. I had to plant some more pole bean seeds as we have gobbled up all of the beans, but my bell peppers are still growing like crazy.
We put the caging around the lettuce and spinach to keep the bunnies out. Not that I have anything against bunnies but I think they would make short work of my garden given the chance.



All too soon the hot weather will be here so I need to think ahead to hot weather crops. hmmmm......

Sad day in Squirrel Town

About 4:00 yesterday I heard a loud bang followed by the power going out.
Well, now we know why the power went out. One of the furry little fox squirrels that frequents our property met his (or her) demise via a whole bunch of electricity. Hubby said it looked like one of the new fox squirrel babies, but not the one in the picture. Needless to say I didn't take any pics of the tragic end. Poor little thing.
On a happier note....this little guy is fine, but it was surely a sad day in Squirrel Town.
I almost threaded up my treadle machine but the power came back on around 8:00ish.