In the garden this morning...

Hiding behind theses flower pots.....no it's not Peter Rabbit!.....

 


It is a smallish (just larger than a grapefruit) tortoise who pulled his head in when I approached with my camera!  I my take him to a local park which has a creek running through it....lots of cool hiding places there. Perhaps he could meet more of his kin...



   
If you would like to make some "friends" or tortoises of your own, look at this PDF from Roman Socks blog!  Granny squares looking very cute! She says that making them remids us of the value of SLOW!

**************

Now I will slowly make my way to bring in the mail ( for Mom, mostly) and then slowly on to where I have the current novel I am enjoying,  The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland. I love this booK!  It is the fictioanlized story of Canadian artist  Emily Carr who defied convention to travel alone and paint among the native tribes of British Columbia.

Tired of cooking on your same old stove?

I found an advert for this company  which will build a retro stove for you...1950's or antique style. Personally, I like the 1950 version.

They will make all the kitchen appliances for you.......you choose the color.  I'm liking the mint green as the turquoise seems a bit dark in some photos.  Now the cost....that is the real issue!

Breakfast for a May morning

While at my daughter Laura's, her family was making these pancakes for us!

 They are from a blog by cookbook author Kelsey Banfield, "The Naptime Chef".  The photo below is hers, (my camera is still on it's way to me!)

Grandmas' Cottage Cheese Pancakes

She has a good story about why they are called "Grandma's"

You can find her blog and the recipe here (where it is easy to print out), and her book (below) looks wonderful, too!

The pancakes are high protein and healthy....Kelsey recommends making blood orange syrup for these (delicious, I'm sure!), we just enjoyed them with blueberry and/or elderberry jam!

Home from a journey...with a new toy

On the way home from a Mother's Day trip to visit my daughter and her family, we found a flea market.  Inside, I found a vintage typewriter.  It is not aqua, and the case is not with it, but it works, and is so cute and petite!

A  Smith Corona Corsair Deluxe, made in England in the 1960's.
While the black in is almost gone, the red part of the ribbon works very well...and I have just ordered a new ribbon!

Rather than typing paper ( copier paper, that is, these days), I
tried using some scrapbook paper.  Fun! Now this page (left) is ready for some photos of the grandbabies.
....which brings us to the sad confession that in the emotional
packing up and leaving my daughter's [after a photo session of 4 generations, Mom was traveling with me] I went off and left my camera on the table of the foyer!  SO no photos of my trip for this blog or for "scrapping" until my camera catches up with me!


Daughter Laura (the blonde) just posted this on Facebook.  Now I have a photo to see my grandbabies, and Mom!


****************************************************************************



Queen of the May

My daughter's birthday is May 1st.  I have always wanted to make this quilt, "Queen of the May" for her!....I saw one very similar in a local flea market for under $30.00 but it was quite ragged and full of holes. Very pink though... and scrappy! So, I am inspired to try the block soon.












While at Laura's I bought her a flat of begoinias which she planted.....then I got out my paints...

Watercolor sketch

Another kind of project!

After paying $80.00 to a call out an appliance repair person and having him give and estimate of $391.00 to repair this 1993 dryer, I checked YOUtube videos on how to repair the problem and install the $15.00 part. ($22.00 with shipping).


The part came qucikly and when I came home from work one evening, Mr. P had watched the video and had the dryer open.  We worked together for a while.......
Then, after Mr. P couldn’t take it anymore, I got down and finished the installation of the part. Now to put the dryer back together, [help Mr. P!]  plug it in and see if it works.....tee-hee!

Mr. P did take these re-posed photos for me this morning as he was rushing off to work....very arty with my face blurred, I think. He says it is an action shot!

One great tool was the “right angle’ screw driver....enabling us to reach the part with screws without taking out the tumbler itself!

Update---we did get the dryer back together and it worked!  Today I celebrate with several loads of laundry while packing for a visit to Georgia!

"Queen of the Ranch" fabric collage project

“Queen of the Ranch” cigarette card, date unknown.

An excerpt from the back:

--Such a girl, as she goes out to the round-up dressed cowboy style, and carrying a smaller edition of his weapons, is the idol of every man on the ranch. The cowboys are a rough lot, but no class in the world has higher regard for good women. Their one dread is if their employer has a daughter who is a local belle, that she will grow up and marry some “dude from the East.”

Courtesy of the NYPL.


At our last Q.U. I. L.T. quild meeting, our vendor was The Bead Ranch from Stillwater, Ok. I found this small cowgirl already printed on fabric and ready for an art quilt experience....she has led me to hours of fun already!

Above you can see the things I have gathered for this collage....including part of a pair of Levi's left over from making denim tote bags.  i think I will add some bandana print and some more lace....

It will be stitched together using acrylic felt for support and stabalizing, the felt is easy to "needle" and fibers don't come through to the top when I stitch.

I'll keep you posted on our progress with this art piece!

Mixed media collage day 2

Starting out this morning a bit out of focus, like the camera!  (Really a good place to begin, things have a way of evolving and finding where they "work"!) My beads and threads and oil pastels are ready!

A couple of hours later, things are almost finished.  This photo in the morning light is more true to the colors than the earlier one with artificial light.

I may need to add some embroidered vines and leaves in the upper right center.....here (below) is a detail of the beaded pomegranate and lace.

It will still need a backing, but no binding, just hand-stitched edges.  I also leave loose ends of threads on the surface....adding texture.

Below is the finished collage (I think).  It has a lot of texture and a border of 2 fabrics...the orange dupioni silk jumps out into the border.  The red backing comes out beyond the raw edges of the top.

Waiting for the paint to dry

Today's project is to focus on my mixed media art work...for which I  have collected ideas and fabrics for some time.  Now to begin!

 This is about 16 X 11 inches and has acrylic felt behind it, for support, instead of batting. The beige background is antique linen toweling and I am stitching down some antique lace for more texture on the background.  The pomegranates I carved and printed with acrylic paint.   There are small scraps of dupioni silk and tortoise shell flower buttons too......once it dries and I return from this morning's errands, I will start working on the foreground pomegranates and add more beading and  embellishments.

 Above, the left side of the piece, below the right side.

Clearing out

We  are busy these days....warm weather is here and before it is too hot, we have things to do!
Mr. P has a new pole saw (chain saw on a pole) and is attacking our overgrown trees.  The pole saw worked easier on the TV ad....so he ended up being on the ladder with a convenational chain saw (not something I like to see!). Once the limb was partially cut, the saw became stuck and I had to swing and pull on the branch (which was now falling down within my reach) in order to free his saw.
He says we will do another limb tonight.  Of course I can hardly wait! (NOT).

*********************************************************************
I am more the indoor creative type and am now packing up these little ruffled bloomers to take to the twins as they begin to "toddle".  I've listed my sewing and knitting projects with the idea that I could focus and finish and perhaps direct my energy to other things???

[For example-- our dryer has quit heating.  so I am researching to see what part is needed....and watching videos of how to install these parts....and using drying racks for the wet laundry in the meantime.]

First bloom this year

Great plans are confirmed by the blooming today of this "SORBET" peony which was a Mother's Day gift from my daughter a few years ago. [It was a brown stick in a bag then! LOL!]

Today's plan is that Mom and I and my daughter and her children will all be together on Mother's Day.
Perfect! And confirmed by the peony blooming early this year to give "thumbs up" to our plan! 

Perfect day

I have the day off today and am not taking on more than I want to!

 This pile of antique lace, recently washed and ironed is ready to embellish a lace scarf.  I may sit and work on it later!

I found a recipe for lemon poppyseed cookies which uses Jiffy cornbread mix....so that was an easy treat to try!

Our springtime lunch today was artichokes with olive and lemon dipping sauce. Wonderful!

Outside it is 72 degrees and sunny.  JUST PERFECT!

I took the camera out for a look at the garden....first the shady sitting area with the newly painted blue chair....

then the newly gravelled area for the container tomatoes and peppers. There is also a dramatic with and purple African daisy....love it!

Finally, this link should take you to the cormmeal cookie recipe!

http://www.recipe.com/lemon-and-poppy-seed-cornmeal-cookies/

Yard work

This is my first post using Bloggers new features.....we'll see.....

Today was perfect for yard work (or anything one wanted to do outside) sunny and high in the 60's!

I started spray painting one of my vintage lawn chairs.  Love these chairs!

We are working on the area where our containers have tomato and marigold plants.  We will add white crushed rock and more, smaller containers of bell peppers.



All of this is about a month earlier than usual! We may have a great growing season this year.
Here is a new variety of petunia!  I love the pink and white together!

It isn't even mid April yet my garden looks like it usually does in early May!

I took these today and it is cool and overcast....in the 50's.

These peonies were open fully in the sunshine yesterday!

Hosta's are looking lush....and a trillium is emerging here too!

Yesterday, beautiful and sunny in the low 70's, I got the gardening urge....(could be those steroids I had to take for my sinus infection...but I had SO much energy!) and worked on my little outside garden bed, sowing seeds for lettuce and planting annuals, salvia, alyssum, zinnias, a dahlia, coleus....so much fun! I know I will love watching these grow! [That is cilantro which survivied our brief winter and is wonderful now!]

Here is some lantana and some small bell flower ((like a mini petunia) nesting in the pot, a bright splash of red, is the latest broken coffee cup!

Finally, two tomatoes in the half whiskey barrel, an heirloom "Mortgage Lifter" and a hybrid "Early Girl". I will add a few marigolds and call it "good"!

Spring is here, the most "intense" we have had for years, everything is blooming and leafing out (and spewing pollen) at once! My peony bushes have overshadowed the tulips, we have more lilacs than we ever had......and they certainly are popular with the swallowtail butterflies!

This is not my photo, I was cutting a bouquet of lilacs for a friend and was delighted to see the butterfly. But I had clippers, not a camera so I "Googled" swallowtail butterfly and found out that yes, that was the one I had seen ( by looking at "images"). I'm sorry, it has been a few days and I can no longer find the link to the photographer to give credit.

I'd been sewing and working at the store and hadn't spent much time out in the spring air until last weekend. Finally, I cleaned leaves and debris out of a flower bed. It didn't take long to clean....but that exposure to mold, dust and pollen sent me over the edge with my sinus and allergy problems. I became very tired and lost my voice the next day...now, after medicine and a few days rest, I am better!

Ah, SPRING!

*************************************************************************

Remember the little Christening gowns? For a special day in Jamaica?

Yesterday, I received this iPhone photo (below) from my daughter. They are still down in the Caribbean so I was happy to have this quick peak at their celebration. The babies are not too delighted and the parents look tired, but that is to be expected! I love the little bare feet!

Wanting an almond tea cake recipe, I read several online.....






which led to reading several posts about Dorie Greenspan's Swedish Visiting Cake recipe.
I modified her recipe because I like cherries and almond together!

Here is my recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt one stick unsalted butter. Cool slightly and add 1 scant c. sugar. Beat in 2 eggs.
Add 1 tsp. each vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix in 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt.
Spread in a greased 9 " spring form pan. Top with cherry preserves and sliced almonds.
Bake about 35-40 minutes or until cake tests done.
[There is no leavening agent other than the eggs in this, but it makes a nice tea cake!]