Embroidery and WIP

When Mila was three, I made this little embroidery for her for Halloween when she was debating on her costume. She wanted to be a bottle of vinegar that year...Now, I'm working on an embroidered linen piece for Bryce Eleanor and have plans for one for Max, whose second birthday is coming up in July.Remember the coasters and cloth napkins I made from scraps back in February? I finally decided to quilt the table runner I started and put aside back then. That WIP should be on the table by this afternoon. So, I'm finally getting back into the sewing/quilting/crafting mode.

Yesterday, we went to the track and met Amelia, Chris, Bryce Eleanor, and Little Chris for lunch and a day at the races. I'm not much of a racing aficianado, but I'm All For appetizers, lunch, and Mimosas.

At Least I Think About Quilting

While visiting Marie at ZQuilts I saw a link to a site called Quilting Gallery with which I was not familiar. Curious, as always, about a new quilting site, I checked it out. The site has over 1,000 members, and I was surprised (and pleased) to see that Bayou Quilts was already listed. I am one of 4 Louisiana blogging quilters listed. Surely, there are more of us out there? You may be listed, too, so check it out:
Time to get up and get back to the garden, then clean up, get some errands done.

Japanese Knot Bags

While I was at the library yesterday, I saw a woman showing her Japanese knot bag to one of the librarians. The fabric was lovely and so was the bag, but it seemed a little different from the pattern I downloaded, and it looked great. She said she got hers online from All People Quilt.

I was unable to find a pattern on APQ and after some research, I kept coming back to the same tutorial & pattern I'd originally downloaded.

It would seem that the bags would serve different purposes. The smaller one would be great for carrying a little cash, I.D., keys, etc. Ideal for a visit to a flea market. :) The larger, wider one the lady made would carry more.

Here is an adorable version of the smaller bag that Junie Moon posted. (Used with her permission.) The bag is reversible, and the other side is just as cute.She has other Japanese knot bags on her blog, too; click here if you want to check them out. I'm going to get around to making one...soon.

While listening to Mike McGrath on NPR this morning, I heard of a new, organic, and evidently, efficient way of controlling fire ants! Nematodes can be used to control or eliminate fire ants, fleas, fly and grub larvae. ANTidote is the product and evidently can take 2 weeks - several months to have complete effect. The caller who suggested it was from Texas and had a large infestation; the product has been effective for her. An article from Gulf Coast Bio Tech that appeared in an Alabama newspaper also discusses this product that could make chemical toxins obsolete.

Some of my favorites garden flowers: Bat Face Cuphea
Society Garlic
Sunflower
So now my pictures are unusually small...what's up with that?

Gardening & Plastic Bags

It seems that my blogging has entered "summer mode" - in other words, infrequent forays to the computer. Sewing is also in hiatus. Things around here have been relatively busy and when I have time, I'm spending it in garden clean-up.
This path below has gotten worse since I took this picture, but I'm getting it cleaned out-- as well as thinning and weeding in the beds.Leave it to me to wait until it is HOT & HUMID to get around to all of the garden chores that should have been done in the fall and spring.

And to find a mess of fire ants into the bargain. On Monday, I accumulated several fire ant bites and an unidentified something stung me on the lip causing it to swell to an enormous size on one side only. The bite didn't hurt or itch, but the swelling went down into my chin, and I was certainly a sight to behold. Each day, I've managed a few more fire ant bites as I discover them under the foliage in various beds. Can you see why I might not know where they are ?
On another topic, sometimes I despair of mankind's shortsightedness and, well, laziness. Including my own inability to use forward vision and my frequent tendencies for talk rather than action...

Yet in many ways, I'm guilty of negative thinking because there are individuals out there who are looking to the future and for ways to solve some of our environmental problems, and those individuals provide hope and inspiration.

How cool is Daniel Burd? Daniel is only sixteen, but he has figured out a solution to an environmental problem that more experienced and better financed scientists have been unable to solve. Priorities? Ingenuity? Curiosity? Whatever the difference, Daniel has figured out a way to break down polyethylene plastic bags in a matter of months, rather than the thousands of years that it would take for them to break down naturally. This article calls Daniel a Green Genius. Sounds appropriate, and I'd invest in his future.

I am trying to break my dependence on plastic bags for groceries, but frequently forget to take them in with me, especially when just stopping to pick up one or two items quickly. I did take them to the Farmer's Market last week when Robin and I went for fresh, local tomatoes. Getting away from the plastic bag habit is a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm certainly working on it.

Cooling Down

I took these early in the morning and the flash created an interesting look to the gladiolas. I was surprised that it flashed, but like the effect.

I ended up spending most of yesterday outside, in the shade, in front of the fan. When Fee called to say he was back in town, I told him about the AC. He called another company, and someone came around 4:30 and found that the coil was clogged, causing the unit to freeze. This resulted in a blown & fused switch box. He fixed it and was gone by a little after 5:30, leaving me considerably poorer, but happily-- cooler. The other guy didn't even check those things.

Other than sweating, the only thing I did yesterday was go check on Laddie. He has had pneumonia, but his temperature was back to normal yesterday and is again today.

I bought a package of tee shirts for him last week and cut them down the back, sewed the seams, and added velcro on some, snaps on others. That way it is easier and less stressful to dress him. After I'd done several of these, I went on line and found some sites with clothing for the disabled and ordered several items. Every day now, I wait for the mail hoping for a package.

Congratulations are in order for Marie at ZQuilts, who has an article in the Bernina magazine Through the Needle! I hope to pick up a copy at my local quilt shop soon. :) I may be on my way shortly since I have no air conditioning and must seek cooler climes for the rest of the day!

While visiting Pink Chalk Studio, I discovered that Timtex is out of production. I didn't use it frequently, but there were certain projects (most recently the bottom of a tote bag) that called for this useful product. Evidently Craft Apple was the first to post about it, and she has a list of substitutes. Her top choice: Flexi Firm.

Cross-post from my book blog:

Listening to NPR , I heard a new term hyper-miling and since gas prices are so high (and with little chance of them going down to last year's prices), I found the idea interesting and did a little further research online. You can google the term and find out more, but here are two interesting articles concerning gas milage benefits and traffic jams & waves.

Now, some of the hyper-milers are extreme; they are actually in competition with other hyper-milers in trying to get more miles per gallon. Not necessarily a bad thing, but certainly not up everyone's alley and some practices might be dangerous.

Some of the tips offered are worthwhile, however, even though I'm driving much less this year. The article on traffic jams and waves is especially interesting to me as with constant repair work on our local roads and limited routes on our side of the river, traffic jams are frequent and merging often difficult.

Some Like It Hot....

Summer used to be a slow and relaxed time (faulty memory, no doubt), but this summer is starting at a hectic pace. On the downside of hectic, my AC unit isn't working; with temperatures in the mid-90's and high humidity, this can be quite uncomfortable. Note the well-modulated understatement in the word uncomfortable.

When I got home yesterday after a meeting and lunch with my brothers, the house was distressingly warm - 80 degrees inside & stuffy. A young man came out a little after 5:00 and managed to get the unit cooling again; it worked for several hours, then went out again last night. Called them before 8:00 AM, and was pleasantly surprised to have someone answer. Now, I'm waiting for a call from the repair man...and that could take quite a while.

As I was typing, they called back and won't be able to get to me until tomorrow morning. I'm wilting now. Will be melting soon.


Details of some of the new cuffs I've been working on.

Sun, Sand, Birthdays

Some of the Florida pictures. Maggie turned 11 on May 27 and Mila turned 5 on the 29th. Two different parties with cakes made by Katie & Robin. Many helped with the fondant palm leaves, flip-flops, beach ball & blanket on Maggie's cake--under Katie's supervision, of course.
































Mila's Barbie cake was entirely decorated by Katie; it was really beautiful.

Back to the Real World

We had a wonderful vacation, and things have been busy since we returned, but I've spent hours trying to figure out things on my new lap top. Getting my pictures to Photoshop, editing, then trying to find them again in order to load them to the blog -- has been an ordeal. I'm still not sure what I've done to be able to load these pictures!

Mila's recital: What an affair that was! Adorable kids in adorable costumes -- all over the place.

Mila kept pulling out her feathers...
Della gets a hug while Eric looks on.The compliments afterwards.
Max had a great time with just about anything.
Now that I've managed to get these up, I guess I'll try to work on some of the Florida pictures. Before I ... uh, forget what I've done.