Feeling rebelious...

Today was today.  Not typical, but not non-typical either.
But after school, while walking out to the vehicle, I allowed myself to be irked by the weather.  
It was cold.  Ugh.  Yuck!  
I didn't feel like bundling up for a run tonight.  So, I didn't.
Instead...

I grabbed some starter, a small handful of Amish Paste heirloom tomato seeds...

... and planted 'em in the soil!

In February.
In northwest Wisconsin.

Carry on...

((although I was SUPER thankful that Paul had a warm HOT fire going in the house once I got home)) #ItsTheLittleThings

More slow stitching - on a Tuesday

Sunday's organization of the DMC bins was SO enjoyable!  There's definitely something to be said about having everything one needs in a neat and tidy location, ready for whenever and whatever inspiration may strike.

Snort lol... and after perusing Pinterest and Etsy, inspiration definitely was hitting home, specially after seeing this photo in a FB cross stitching group of mine...

I never had THOUGHT about using cross stitch for a temperature project!  I have a few sites and projects bookmarked for crochet with this concept in mind, but... cross-stitch!?!  Brilliant idea.

Soooooooo.....
Today, I was lazy.  I was productive with cross-stitch, but lazy everywhere else around here (although I DID make a point of emptying the dishwasher while warming up some left over Creamy Penne pasta).

Much of the morning was spent scribbling in a graph notebook, testing out sizing and puzzle piece shapes...

And then the super fun part of sifting through the organized bins for colors, and deciding at the same time what temperature ranges to use...

and then from mid-morning to late afternoon, the 18-count Rustico "natural" aida was prepped along with establishing the color key.  I would describe the color palette I was after as a muted rustic, rich colorway.

And this evening will be much of the same!  I haven't decided on a year, though!  2024?  Or... having recently celebrated our 26th Anniversary (7/11), maybe I'll look back to 1998 as a sentimental project...

Taking a day off from the garden and other harvests is not detrimental at all right now.
Sunday evening was spent pruning and tying up all of the tomato plants (~60)...

And Paul erected a simple make-shift A-frame style support for us to drape our repurposed softball cage netting over in order to protect our blueberry harvest from the birds.  A quick wander around the garden and yard tonight confirms that, although a bird here and there is still smart enough to make its way into (under) the netting, most birds have been deterred.  Berry picking is certainly on the agenda tomorrow morning.

And other than that, the garden is simply doing its thing right now.  No harvests needing my attention yet, so... I guess I'll keep rocking in my glider with my feet up and stitching away, allllmost guilt free.  I just feel like I should be doing something other than simply crafting at my leisure.

Last night marked the end to my coaching career. 
Seventeen years total, nine of which were as head coach.  I love it, and nights like last night really have me jokingly saying that I plan to take back my letter of resignation.  LOL.  I absolutely LOVE competitive ball and athletes who have the ability to overcome.  A double victory last night from this squad has me finishing a winner.  I'll be their biggest fan come fall ball season.

Happy Tuesday!

Dawn's Early Light progress; a perfectly groomed pooch; some gardening and a cherry pie

Lots of little putterings these past few days...

Since much of my time has been dedicated to Dawn's Early Light, it makes sense to post my finished neutral strings first off.  Whoooowieeee, a dent actually WAS made in the bin!

Then, when I peered at the directions for the next part... Oh that Bonnie!

Laughing and shaking my head even now.  

Imma be here for a while with these considering I'm not even halfway done yet...

...so the big guns were pulled for the duration.  

Good ol' classic VHS movies where every line and song could be recited

-- perfect, mindless background noise --

This morning, however --> gardening!  These FREE plants from the local hardware store's clearance rack needed to find their home in the garden.  With yet again some glorious morning weather, all my tomatoes were trimmed, tied and some bare spots were filled with the free goodies.  By quick math calculation, 4 rows of 12, additional bonus row of 5 (or 7???, I can't remember and too tired to head down to verify), plus the tomatillo row that also houses 6 volunteers = 59-61ish.   OH YAH, and the bonus plant that sprouted at the end of the bean trellis, so... 60-62ish, give or take.

We haven't had a strawberry patch for a good strong handful of years, however, I spied a few isolated plants along the edge of the garden weeds.  Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!  We all know the saying: when there's a will, there will definitely be a way.  The three were dug up and moved to an empty spot.  Gardening patience has certainly struck in recent years, so I'm actually looking forward, excitedly, to see what these three lil' plants may result in a couple of years down the line.

Ugh!  Let them GO already, Amy... 
I reached out one final time to local friends and family to see if anyone is interested in some well-rooted rescue tomatillos.  I'm sure I could rig up some simple trellising for some potted plants if they go unclaimed (??).

Last night, Paul had mentioned that the birds were enjoying the cherries, and sure shootin'!  There were cherry pits strewn all over the garden.  There aren't any plans to complete a full picking, unless Paul says otherwise, but enough were harvested for a pie; this afternoon's project.

By far the FUNNEST project I had planned for the mid-morning was to
meet Peaches and give her a little sprucing up.

Oh.
My.
Preciousness!
Seriously!

Peaches is 10 years old, and lemme say -- she was SO well behaved!!! 

Her grooming lasted roughly an hour and a half; the easiest customer to date!

Saw this the other day and chuckled.  Working on it!  Always a work in progress.

Our quaint little town celebrates with fireworks on the 3rd annually, and with the evening looming, I'm not quite sure where it'll lead us.  We aren't ones to travel the 5 miles into town to catch the fireworks; we enjoy the quiet, people-free tiny little show we can view from our deck.  

Happy Independence Day, one day early.

 

Scrap happy & Slow-stitch; double-duty with Dawn's Early Light

With Independence Day upon us this week, I'm on a personal mission to complete the top for Dawn's Early Light (DEL), Bonnie K. Hunter (published in her String Fling book).

Mindless string-block piecing has been underway for multiple days, and I think I have the correct amount of larger blocks, but maybe only halfway through the smaller ones.  This evening's "slow-stitching" Sunday will be yet another de-papering session as hubby sifts through a collection of YouTube videos.

Taking a break from strings, on this final day of June, blue and neutral strips were pulled from the 2.5" drawer as a RSC task, doubling as a task for DEL!  Win-win.

Surprisingly, there weren't many blues in the bin!  

Therefore, the 3.5" strip bin and 5" square bin entered the scene.  

 

All HSTs for the DEL were completed in a few (short?) hours.

My Bernina 440 QE has been in my life for quite some time;  she's my piecer!  I no longer chuckle when she lets me know its time for an oil change, nor is the reminder needed.  As good practice, the bobbin case and oiling commence after 3-4 bobbin usages.  I know some say to complete these tasks for each bobbin use, but... 'tis a bit extreme, no? 

The garden is in the growing stage right now; not needing my attention for days at a time.  And a little bit of guilt hit me on and off today JUST because it was a BEAUTIFUL day yet again.  To make some peace with just a tiny amount of the guilt, Bailee and I took an early evening stroll.

The tomatoes were started from seed quite a bit later than usual, so they are just now beginning to blossom with the first few fruit appearing.

Years (YEARS!) ago, Paul started some grape plants.  

Then, they were neglected and became overgrown with weeds.

Years (YEARS!) later, one day while mowing, I spied some bright green leaves peeking through the weeds, and when they have the will, this lil' wifey will have a way.  After walking the ridge, four plants were found from the original six (or eight?).  So, long story short, the ridge was cleaned up, a few 'filler' plants were purchased from the local nursery, a legitimate grape trellis system was put in place, and... the growing (with patience!) began anew.

But those blasted deer!  I think this is summer #4 since then, and those darn deer keep nibbling the plants (!!), although they don't mess around with this one that much; your guess is as good as mine as to why not.  This'll be the first summer of a few bunches on the plant.  

This plant caught my eye!  It's growing along the edge of our lawn, about 10 feet south of one of our (young) plum trees...

and here are the suckers growing at the base of one of the trees...

Could that be a 'bonus' plum tree growing????!!?  Does anyone have a genuinely good plant-ID app?  The plant-identifier feature on my phone isn't alway reliable.  And I'm SO tempted to dig it up and plant it in line with the rest of our trees.  If it IS a plum, YAY!  If it isn't... psssht, it'll be easy enough to deal with. 
Yup, yup... that's the ticket.  Stay tuned!

The Minny Ginny is pictured here, just because!  I was gifted a cutting last fall and the propagation journey has been pretty seamless.  Rooted in water, and moved to soil... and now, new growth.  
Plants, ah yes... the newest obsessive passion that really took off last summer. 
More on that, eventually.

To close - my nails have been naked for months!  My sister is/was a Color Street rep, so I have quite the stash built up that simply needs to be used.  These were applied last night and tidied up a bit this morning.  Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, but I DO enjoy having them back on my nails!

Happy Sunday 💙

Linking up with:
Soscrappy - Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Kathy's Quilts - Slow Sunday Stitching

Rain, rain, go away... my tomato garden & clean carpets

Every day this past week has given us rain.  I'm not really complaining; I'm confident the weather will shift into warm/hot/dry soon enough, but lately--- it's been wet and cold.  Last Saturday, however, was nice and HOT.  I'm glad I used that day to get the straw around the tomato plants, because now... I just sit back and watch the garden grow!

In NW Wisconsin, we follow a rule -- "wait until Memorial weekend to plant."  Some cold tolerant plants can see the ground a week or so prior (ie: beans, peas, corn...), but tomatoes & peppers -- you wait!  

The tomatoes had adjusted nicely due to decently moderate temperatures, but we really have not had many warm days lately.  We have other crops in the garden, but I'm known for my tomatoes.  I love growing them!  I dare say I've pretty much mastered growing them too, without sounding too ego-ridden.   So last Saturday, they were weeded and the soil was built up to bury the stems before laying straw along the cattle panel trellis.

We rotate the patch around every year, so before tilling the rest of the garden, the previous patch location was strolled, all the while looking down for one reason -- VOLUNTEERS!

I think we have some cutworms in the garden, because I had lost half a dozen transplants.  Enter our volunteer rescues to help fill in the empty spots.  I also only plant heirloom varieties now.

And speaking of volunteers -- ha!  Next to our driveway, I spied this garlic chive plant!  I remember planting them in the old upper garden years ago, so... shrug... I don't know when or where this baby actually came from, but she's on my list to transplant into the lower garden.

With another rainy, gloomy day in today's forecast, quilting endeavors are certainly planned.  A design wall will be set in place in the guest bedroom (formerly known as Caitlyn's room) now that it's been cleaned.  ........ and OH!  Clean, it is.  The borrowed carpet cleaner got a workout in yesterday.  

Can you see the difference?  This is the center of the loft;  left side having been completed.  The loft area isn't excessively large, but three full 'loads' were used to clean up the carpet.

I didn't need to show this, but... ugh!  ick!  It's been TWENTY years that we've been here, with girls (and dogs for the past six) that have walked that carpet.  Annnnd, since we had the cleaner, I figured cleaning Caitlyn's carpet right next door to the loft would be smart.  I'd attempt Candace's, but she's still home (our recent graduate), and her room is occupied and fully lived in.  Caitlyn, however, has shifted into young-adult mode and is doing 'adult thiings' in her college-town.  

Off to putz to see where the days leads my quilting tasks...

Winter tomatoes & herbs

No judgement needed -- it's really never a bad time to start plants if one has an indoor mini-greenhouse and grow lights!

A couple of Polish Linguisa and Power Pops (cherry) seeds were planted today in hopes we'll have some fresh tomatoes come spring time.

A few planters of herbs were also started;  thyme and basil.  The basil seeds were harvested from our plants in the fall;  it'll be the first time I've preserved basil seeds from the flowers.

Replacement lights for my grow-station: https://amzn.to/3YmMUAQ

Beginnings: school, running, tomatoes, and some crochet

Rather than thinking that the summer has come to an end, I've accepted this time change as "School begins!"

This year we have a Freshman, 6th and 4th graders.  A friend asked what grade I was in, so... after 12HS + 5BS + 5MS + 18 years teaching... I am in 40th grade. ;)

The morale around the 7-12 wing is on the up-n-up; we have new administration, and so far, the change has been for the better!  We are so hopeful and optimistic!!!!  It feels good to be hopeful again!

I've even started running again!!!!

Mind you, PART of that decision came when I organized my closet two weeks ago, trying EVERY item on.  I parted with quite a bit, but also added a lil' bit due to a Goodwill shopping spree.  SOME of my pants are a bit too snuggy-snug right now, so...... back to running to burn that lil' layer of pudgy-pudge!

 

The face on the picture really says most of it so far;  :\.  I really haven't run a training program for the past two years, so I'm 100% back to square-1.  Many walks, and slow pace... perhaps I'll get back down to my 9:30/mile average that I ran in 2013 for one of my half-marathons.
Baby steps for now...

 Last weekend a small collection of tomatoes were ripe for the picking, and I made up a batch of salsa.  After a week of HEAT and HEAT and more HEAT, mixed with loads of HUMIDITY, our tomatoes started taking off.  (um yah, that heat in a classroom with zero AC this past week ---- UGGGERS!)

Caitlyn and I gathered up what was ripe;  it ended up being a decent ~70 pounds, with lots more out on the plants yet!     Since the heat is still barring down on us, I was NOT interested in having the stove/oven on for much of the weekend in order to reduce these babies down to a sauce, so instead... Vegetable juice was the plan!  We'll save the sauce-making for next weekend with our next ripe pickings; it looks like this heat is finally breaking this week.  Whew!

 
I have a few different varieties out there:  Abe Lincoln, Polish Linguisa, Red Oxheart, Viva Italia (my FAVORITE for sauce), and a few IDK heirlooms that we received as seed from our neighbor two years ago.  We've planted a few of the 'mystery seeds' each year since we've had them;  they make LARGE tomatoes.  I didn't weigh any last year, but I want to believe that this is close to the largest we've had.  There have been two others I've weighed as well:  one was 1 lb 10oz, the other was 1 lb 12 oz.    It doesn't take many of those tomatoes to add up to a lot of juice in a little time.  ;)

 
After the morning of processing, we filled two full cases of quarts of Vegetable juice (tomatoes, carrots, onions, celery, parsley, peppers).  We no longer preserve straight tomato juice; we prefer the flavor of the veggie juice.  My in-laws like using the juice in Bloody Marys; I'm not much of a fan, but I LOVE using this juice throughout the year for Chili!

I'm SO thankful for the long holiday weekend;  it's always nice having a slow 4-day week start to the school year;  this year we have TWO 4-day weeks to start since we didn't start until this past Tuesday, Sept. 1.
I've used a bit of the available time to organize a bunch of my recent crochet finishes in order to have them ready for my MIL and some craft fairs she'll be participating in.

 

Lots of 100% USA-grown cotton washcloths;  8" and 10" with a couple 7"x9".

Bath Poufs have been a new addition to my collection: small and large sizes

Hats have also been a new addition this year, in a variety of sizes ranging from youth M to adult S.

A bunch of the frilly yarn was still sitting on my shelves, so I found time to get those made into the frilly scarves, plus I still have some left;  I may just bite the bullet to buckle down and clear this yarn out completely.

However, I really really really am thinking of getting downstairs into the sewing room later today.  It's been a month since I've quilted!  If not even longer!  I've fallen behind in the RSC'15, and I can't let Andee down seeing that we decided to team up in a project together :D  And my Smith Mountain Morning in greens is still sitting, waiting for its 14th hour of progress.

For those in the USA, I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend!!!  For everyone else, I hope you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon before heading back to the workweek tomorrow.

Happy Sunday!

Summer winding down; chicks, harvest, soaping, and a smidgen of quilting

The newest, and FINAL, chicks of the season joined us this past week.  

I had been peeking in on Mama daily seeing we didn't really know when she started sitting on her clutch of eggs.  Do you see the little guy tucked in right by her breast?  

Since the hatch, we've been trying to get an accurate count, but have simply decided to shrug and wait until we graduate Mama and chicks to a ground brooder, that way we'll count as we remove them from the brooder house. We THINK there are 12-14 in there, which brings our total number of chickens on the property to..........

Ummmmm.........

....

somewhere around 85-90.  LOL.  However, not all of them will spend the winter with us.  Many of the hatched chicks this year are roosters, and we simply don't need a whole lotta roosters around the property.  Two have already been claimed by a neighbor; we're hoping to find houses for others just as easily!

Goodness, WHERE to even start with this catchup...

Well, it IS breakfast time around here.  Hungry?  Paul shared an Apple Fritter recipe to my FB page a few weeks ago, so last weekend, I gave it a try.  Soooo yummy!  See the icing drip onto my thumb?  Yuppers, folks!  Finger-lickin' good! Recipe here.

And yes!  It is that time of year again;  the annual pollinating of Ragweed!

*whispering*  But crazy enough, I have not been overwhelmed with itchy eyes or runny nose this year.  Could it be that I'm finally growing out of this allergy????  Candace, on the other hand, continues to be miserable;  allergy medicines we've tried barely take the edge off.  

So that means I've been able to be in the garden without too much discomfort.  Yay!

The tomatoes are slowly starting to ripen; about 20 pounds harvested so far, with HUNDREDS of pounds yet to come.  No lie!  HUNDREDS!!!!!!  Holy tomatoes, batman!  I guess 78 plants will do that, huh?  LOL.....

One monster so far....

The excess basil from the Pesto making a few weeks ago has been drying and waiting for processing. 

It doesn't take much basil to fill a spice container, so we're reserving the rest to make some tomato-basil seasoning once we've dried some tomatoes.

A coffee filter worked great as a collection device and then again as a pour-spout, only after sifting out some larger stems by hand.

Coffee filters were also used to keep dirt from falling out of some pots that were used for my plant clippings.  

I find it quite cool watching the root systems grow!  I don't know what kind of houseplant this is, but it is SO easy to care for AND propagate!

Much of our living room has been taken over by plants, which doesn't bother me at all... sorta!  

An opportunity was given to me to add two more mini-greenhouses to my lot (thanks Karen!!!!), all in exchange for some homemade lotions and soaps.  

For now, the greenhouse plastic was set aside, and they are being used as organizational shelving for our (ever-growing) collection of plants.  Weird, maybe, but I can't help but smile when I look at the showcase of plants and photos!

Some more soaps have been added to the curing shelves:  Oatmeal, Milk and Honey, and Hazelnut coffee (my NEW favorite!!!!!)  I love walking through my curing room (which also happens to by my quilting room).  The smells are yummy, yummy, yummy!  What a fun adventure this has been this summer!

Caitlyn's Lemon yogurt "Energy" soap has been in the bathroom for the past couple of weeks.  After trying it out, I accepted that a simple recipe is truly sufficient to make a great bar of soap!  This was one of the first batches we made this summer:  70% olive oil and 30% coconut oil, and then some fragrance.  Quick and easy to mix up; lathers and bubbles wonderfully, and does its job!

The corn harvest has been underway for us for the past week, and two weeks ago, when visiting my parents, I allowed myself to kick back while waiting for the grilled corn.  (Hmmm... another picture with a glass of wine.... )

Have I mentioned how thankful I am for the help I get with the Fall harvests????

Amidst a harvest, when time doesn't allow for large time-consuming meals, it IS okay to simply place a jar of fresh salsa and a plate of fresh corn-on-the-cob on the table.  

We ARE finding time for fun and relaxing, too!
Last week, Paul and I finally buckled down and hired a crew to pour a 30x30 concrete slab, with intentions of using it as an "activity" area for the girls.  Basketball, volleyball, skating...

And....

....wait for it.....

I found a couple hours of time to work a little more on the Smith Mountain Morning quilt!  Hours 13 and 14 (no pic) were completed.

School schedules are almost back in full swing.  Cassie has made the starting lineup on the JV volleyball squad; I'm not sure who loves the sport more, her or me!  We're off to watch the Varsity play in their first tournament of the season in a little bit.  

The first day of school is Tuesday (9/1).  I think we're ready. ;)

Happy Saturday!