HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY
Surprise! It’s not a pair of socks on the needles this time. It is this cowl simpliworsted chutes and ladders cowl Mine looks a bit different from the pattern and I’m not sure why, but I’m happy with the way it is turning out.
Happy Birthday, son/butterfly garden
Do you recognize this which appeared shortly after I arrived in the sewing studio this morning? I was across the room and it sounded like cracking ice. I looked up to see this large window splinter. It is double paned and only the outer one broke. I will place a call to the insurance company in the morning. I have no idea what it was all about as I wasn’t even near it, now were any of my animals,
I had about enough time to finish the quilt on the machine, but the machine didn’t want to work – which is why I didn’t finish it earlier. So we took the machine to the “hospital” on the way to Seattle to celebrate our son’s birthday.
First stop was Panera’s Bread which we all enjoyed, then off to the Butterfly gardens at the science center.
Before entering the gardens, there is a display of a few insects and these wonderful dioramas of what people might enjoy eating,
And then with proper instructions on how to behave inside the gardens, we were allowed to enter.
The first thing we learned was that if you want to keep track of your group, dress them alike
The Science Center has permits only to import cocoons. So a hatching box is necessary.
This child wanted to have her photo taken when the butterfly landed near her.
The entrance as well as the entire garden is very tropical and beautiful. I should remember to visit in the middle of winter as it would be so cheery.
Signs abounded with information about the butterflies and the plants. Interestingly, we noted that often times the butterflies were attracted to flowers much like them in coloring. I hadn’t thought about that before, but it does make good sense.
This species won first prize in my book. It looks like an eye on the outside, but on the inside – gorgeous blue.
And here are a few of the others unidentified and in no order
And of course one can’t have a birthday without a clown!
These are coffee beans growing here and obviously being admired
Did you know the cocoa tree sprouts flowers from it’s trunk
We were checked for hitch hikers before being allowed out into this room. I can’t wait until August to take the grandsons.
I hope you enjoyed the fun day we had.
Dehydrated veg and first fruits
The vegetables that I put on the dehydrator now look like this and will keep until needed this winter.
Umm good. Raspberries are starting to ripen as well as the tomatoes.
We spent some of today looking for a place to move that will have more of the property in pasture and less that has to be maintained. This place has also become more house than we really need.
I also updated the July project list.
JULY 1 HAPPY CANADA DAY
I’m wishing all of you across our Northern border a very happy celebration day . Not only is it Canada Day, but it is the first day of the second half of the year. Up until now the year has plodded, now it will race toward the end. So now is the time to start thinking about holiday gifts.
Today I will try to make my monthly list, and get it posted tomorrow. Somehow that didn’t happen last month and I did not get as much done as I could have. I think I wasted lots of small time periods. And since we are predicted to get to 90 today, it seems like a great afternoon to go to Costco and get that shopping done. Maybe I can get to Hobby Lobby, a store nearby to which I haven’t yet been. (Can you tell shopping isn’t my thing)
We went to Costco and bought minimally, and nothing at Hobby Lobby.
I started my morning with cleaning the broccoli, and cauliflower that I let get to nearly blooming. They will still be just fine for soups this winter. They are now in the dehydrator.
There was still some cabbage and carrots in the refrigerator drawer, so they were added to the dehydrator. There are more cabbages, both white and red waiting to be picked, so it’s good to have this processed. And it these dehydrated vegetables will taste so good in the winter soups. And while I was preparing these, I made a carrot salad for lunch and put some of the veggies in a separate bowl for stir fry.
Strawberries are finished, but I did pick raspberries yesterday. A friend did us a favor and I gave them to him for his family. So I will post photos from the next picking.
This week also is the time to start planting my winter foods such as root crops and lettuces that will go through the winter. So there is plenty to do.
I Spy flimsy
After 3 intensive cutting and sewing sessions, this “I Spy” quilt top has been finished. I won’t be doing much sewing until mid July. The rest of this week, I’ll spend in the greenhouse, garden and getting ready for a 3 day spinning retreat starting Sunday.
My Fitbit is very unhappy about all this sewing because it has had a difficult time getting 5000 steps registered and it knows it is supposed to register 10,000. The garden has been left to go wild – but has had rain and the greenhouse was watered by my husband. So now it is time for a bit of catch up.
Look how pretty her front yard is. We drive by this house each time we go into town. I finally remembered to snap a photo as we were coming home yesterday.
as
as
as
I spy
It has been a gloomy day outside. What better way to cheer up than working with pretty prints.
So, I pulled these off the board in order of sewing, trying to carefully arrange them so that the pieces would all end up right side facing up (that didn’t happen and yes, the seam ripper came in handy). So now I have sets of three. which I sewed together to make 9 patches. 
I carefully cut those in half each way. 
Then turned 3 of the quarters around until this pattern emerged. Now I will sew them into rows to make the quilt that I am aiming for.
A Quiet Day
I have been buying venison scraps and bones for the dogs for the past two years. Yesterday, we picked up the last 400 pounds of bones that we will get and there are no more scraps. The butcher will no longer be processing the deer from the hunters as he has gained bigger contracts. I loved getting the meat from him because it was obviously organic. This freezer – which sits outside the back door under cover, I purchased from Craigslist for $50 makes it possible to store so much meat.
Today was a day for resting and reading, restoring the body and soul We also had a bit of thunder, heavy rain and beautiful sunshine. The sun and rain alternated throughout the day.
When evening comes the outside residents are waiting for us to open the back door. They come running to the place where they can join us on our walk down to the night time quarters – they, on one side of the wire, we on the other side. I feel like part of a parade. They run inside their own pens for a night time treat and to be locked safely away from predators. And we go back into the our house ready to end another day.
June 27 garden update
It’s been awhile since we’ve visited the greenhouse, so come with me and see what all this warm weather has done
I had a few blue potatoes volunteer in the greenhouse so I moved them them to the back of the greenhouse to do their own thing. Today, even though it was really too early, I dug up about half of them and ended up with about 2.5 gallons (I want to put other foods in that place for the winter)
On the right is celery and our new crop of lettuce. On the left the volunteer tomatoes reaching for the roof.
These volunteers are producing an ample supply of small tomatoes. So next year, I will not keep any volunteers from this side of the greenhouse. I promise to be ruthless on this. I put volunteers in the outside garden as well, so I may be picking many cherry size tomatoes.
Here you can see that some are getting color which means it won’t be a lot longer until we can start enjoying them.
The banana plants would also like to go to the roof. And they are getting packed in their planters with lots of new starts all around them. I need to read up on them and see what to do next. I’m hoping to bring at least one in the house this winter and put a light on it. I wonder if I’ll get any bananas. It would be fun!
Here is a shot from the far end facing the bananas. With tomatoes on both sides of this aisle and a few peppers as well.
The plan is Sunday to put some beets and carrots where the potatoes were. Hopefully you enjoyed this wee tour.
aa
Quilting day
First I want to correct an error 2 days ago. Gallo Pinto in Costa Rica is black beans and rice. Pinto beans are used in Mexico
After cleaning a bit outside and contending with Internet Explorer issues, I finished the corners in this little quilt that had been patiently waiting.
Next I finished the baby blanket that I worked on last week. I only put flannel in the middle layer and after finishing, I wished that I had used fleece to make it usable a bit longer as it is quite light . I used some of the sewing machine fancy stitches to quilt it on the diagonals.
I hemmed 2 pair of doll jeans and make the casing for the waist. Now I just need to measure the dolls and put in the elastic. Some of these projects don’t take long, they just take “getting to them”.
Then I couldn’t help it, I just had to start another project Earlier this year, in anticipation of this project, I had ordered a “layer cake” which is several cuts of 10″ square fabric. There were 40 different prints in this package, but I needed nearly 90. So I went through scraps, fat quarters, and my larger pieces, hunting for more pieces. In an “I Spy” quilt, I like every print to be different to make it a bit more challenging. This is what really took most of the afternoon. The quilt is now cut out except for the backing and binding AND the cutting table is cleaned off. There is a lot left to do and I will show you as I put it together.
t