Gourds Galore!

I planted out our gourd seeds after Father's Day, as per a Pinterest suggestion, and didn't get any bugs on them! That's never happened before. The plants were so healthy and as the summer progressed, they kind of took over the garden. And that didn't include the large pumpkins. We put those back near the compost pile. Sadly we only got two small ones. Not enough time to get large.

It actually took several times to harvest all of the gourds and mini pumpkins. We kept finding more hidden under the strawberries and wound around the perennials. I have been putting them all over the house and porches, and giving them away to anyone who wants them. Maybe we should put up a table and "free" sign in the front yard!

A Simple Quilt

Well, it happened again. Just like last year, I got sick as soon as I got settled into the new school year. Luckily it wasn't mono!  But I've been sick with bronchitis for two weeks and I'm just now getting better. I actually did a little work in the garden this evening! Yeah! This fall weather we're having is perfect and I want to take advantage of it. It's supposed to rain this weekend:(

I was at the quilt shop last week and came upon this beautiful floral print by Holly Holderman for LakeHouse. It's so cheerful and sweet, I just had to make something with it. I didn't have anything in mind, but I bought some yardage along with these coordinating tiny prints. Back at home I went through about every quilt book I have trying to find just the right pattern. I finally decided on a simple churn dash with white in the middle.  Easy to sew up and perfect for some embroidery!

Not too long a go I bought this book by Gail Pan. Lots of cute projects using my favorite techniques. I decided to use some of her little drawings for the centers of my blocks. Some needed a little tweeking to get the size right, but it works!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall so far. I've been enjoying the autumn decorating on blogs and pinterest. I'm going to get out my Halloween stuff this weekend. And maybe do some crafting. I know, it's only Wednesday, but I live for the weekends now!

Meet the Twins

 

These little guys were born last Saturday after only about 4 hours of labor! Klaus is the oldest, but the smallest and he has red hair. Jasper is about one pound bigger and he has brown hair. They are just perfect! Mom and Dad are doing great, though just a little tired:)

 

 

We took care of Tad for the weekend while they were in the hospital. He was such a sweetheart, but he wore us out. We had forgotten just how much energy a three year old has!

Next weekend our oldest son is coming home so he can see the babies. It will be good to have our family all together for a few days, just the way I like it!

Last Day of Freedom

My summer vacation is coming to an end. Tomorrow is a training meeting and school starts on Wednesday.  Summer seemed to go by too quickly, and I'm really not ready to give it up. But since we are expecting highs in the 90's next week, I guess I don't have to:)

 

This little guy is about 3/4 of an inch long.

We have had such a great garden year, with rain when needed and not too hot. The flower beds are overflowing and keep me busy weeding and cutting back. Along with all the butterflies and hummingbirds we keep finding the tiniest toads and frogs amongst the leaves. They are so cute! This is a little tree frog that probably hatched out in our pond. We've had various tadpoles in there all summer. I love it!

I've been trying to get some craft projects finished up before going back to work. The star quilt is finally done! Yeah! It took me 10 months, but I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure where it will go. I'm thinking the upstairs antique bed with the ruffled muslin skirt and shams. For some reason I didn't get a good picture this evening so I'll take one when I have the bed all made up.

Our twin grandchildren are due this weekend!!! We can hardly wait! Of course Andrew and Alison can't wait either. Alison is doing so well and hanging on till the end with no ordered bed rest. I can't imagine carrying twins.

We gave them our baby gifts last week. I knitted two little sweater and hat sets for this fall or winter. They were so quick and fun to make. We also gave them some newborn outfits just because they are so darn cute! With matching booties and mitts. And of course the most important, a check, which always comes in handy for a young family.

I wish I had taken a picture of the baby card I made. It was so cute too! I used a Papertrey Ink stamp of a onsie and cut out two of them. On the inside it said "Good things come in multiples." Aren't baby things so fun?

Well, I had better get to bed. Have to get up at 6:00 and I am not a morning person. (I have been sleeping till 9 all summer.) Have a great week everyone and I'll be back to share the baby pictures!

Fairy Gardens

Look at that cute miniature columbine!

 Technically, this is a gnome garden, only because we had a little gnome that needed a place to live.

 When we were in San Diego a few years ago we went to Summers Past Herb Farm. Oh what a place! I loved it and could have spent a whole day there. (I only got a couple of hours - our teenaged son was with us:) They had done a fairy garden in an old wheelbarrow. Well, we had an antique wheelbarrow and when we got home we went to work making a little garden of our own. Have you noticed how many places sell fairy garden stuff? Everywhere! And it's all so cute. Since then we've gotten more little things and so we made another garden this summer.

Rick made this planter box awhile ago and I wanted to use it again. It just needs a few more things. I think I might go back and buy a little pond I saw when I got the plants. Oh, and I guess it needs a fairy or two! 

This and That

I hope everyone had a great 4th. We had a wonderful time with family and friends. And the weather was perfect this year. Tad was thrilled to hold a sparkler, and watch the "color booms"!

The weather has also been perfect for the garden. We've been getting enough rain so that everything is growing well and we don't have to do any extra watering, which is my least favorite garden chore. I am harvesting green beans, red raspberries, onions, peas, and cucumbers every day. Now I just need some tomatoes for my favorite meal - bagels, cream cheese, and sliced veggies. It's so rewarding to go out to the garden and find what I need to fill out our dinner menu. One thing we don't plant is sweet corn (because of the raccoons) but there is a farm wagon that comes into town every morning with the best corn. Need to get some tomorrow:)

I was at Walmart the other day and found these Adirondack chairs marked down half price. $50.00 each! I had to get them, they were the last ones. They are very comfortable and we already love sitting out under the maple tree and reading, and in my case stitching. I am still working on the star quilt I started last fall. I'm quilting the borders now and that goes pretty fast. As much as I love it, I am ready to move on to something else. So many quilts, so little time!

A New Quilt for the Birthday Boy

I know that a quilt can't compete with a tractor, but it will come in handy at bedtime:)

  I wanted to make something special for our little grandson's 3rd birthday. When I saw this book by the author of the Pretty By Hand blog, I knew exactly what to make.

I  love this quilt! I was able to combine my love of embroidery and quilting.  Kristyne has come up with the cutest designs that can used in quilts and other projects.There is a set for girls and one for boys, but I used some of each to make it work for Tad.

And I remembered to make a label this time! I almost always forget to do this and we all need to put our names and a date on our quilts. Hopefully this quilt will be around for awhile. Or maybe it will get loved to death. That's OK too:)

It's a Jungle Out Here!

 That's what we said when we returned home from our vacation and saw the yard. We couldn't believe how much things had grown in only 8 days. But with all the rain and warm weather, everything (especially the weeds:) had rocketed up. I have spent the last week getting caught up and still haven't finished all the gardens. It has turned very hot and humid and I just can't handle working in it too long at a time.

So this was where we spent our little holiday - Siesta Key, Florida. Really the most beautiful beach we have ever been to. Add to that the perfect weather, condo, and food and we were in heaven!

The water was so clear and warm.

One of our favorite things about Florida (or anywhere, really) is the wildlife. We went to a state park and also to another island to see alligators, birds and sea creatures.

We waded into a tidal mudflat to see horseshoe crabs and other cool things.

I had to bring along a little something to work on while relaxing in the evenings. Can't have idle hands, you know! So I prepared a stitchery project. I'm not sure what I will do with it. Maybe a pillow? We'll see.

Saying goodby to our beach :(

We will add the memories of this trip to the all the others taken over the years. I wonder where we will go next. Mmmm....