Scappy Nine Patch

I have been trying to use up all the scraps that I had cut into 2 1/2 inch squares. I had so many of them, so I decided to make this scrappy nine patch to use up as many as possible. And I did it! I used them all. It is about a twin sized quilt, great for snuggling under on the sofa during the winter. I really enjoy the hand quilting part of the process, and that is what I have been doing for the last couple of weeks. (I do have other projects to work on for a change of pace.)  When this is done I'm thinking of a big log cabin quilt to be my winter project. Can't wait to shop for the fabrics:)

 

A couple of weeks ago we watched Tad for the day and he helped me make a chocolate cake. We had so much fun and of course he liked licking the spatula. I have pictures of my own boys doing this same thing. Wouldn't it make a great scrapbook page to show Tad and his daddy at the same age with their faces all messy?

Meet "Pat"

 Do you remember Pat from Saturday Night Live? Well, that's what we had been calling this chicken until a few weeks ago, when he/she became a definite Patrick. We haven't had a rooster in our orders of chicks for many years, so we were actually surprised to get one this time. Not that we will keep him. He's too loud and upsets the hens. But I kind of get a kick out of his crowing - at least for a little while:)

Here are the hens in their enclosed yard. We have some things for them to climb on and my husband digs up the yard occasionally so they can pick at the worms, etc. We let them free-range during the day most of the year. But we can't let them right now; they'd eat all the produce! We give them the peelings, rinds and leaves from the garden and they are very happy chickens. Today, we got the first egg from this year's pullets. Tiny little brown eggs. So now we have white, blue, and brown ones. Love our home grown eggs!

Pickled Peppers

To my husband surprise and happiness I made him some pickled pepperoncini peppers. We love to make Italian beef sandwiches and you need these to make them. Sometimes they are hard to find in the stores (or I forget to buy them.) And they are not so hot that you have to dress in a hazmet suit to work with them!

We have about five butterfly bushes around our little pond besides several others around the yard. Lately, at any give time, there are 5 or 6 swallowtail butterflies on them. And they are huge this year! They are also hard to photograph. They flap their wings like they are frantic to get all that nectar. There are others that I don't know the names of, like that blue one above. So pretty!

This has been the most perfect garden year here in Indiana. The weather has been mild, with rain right when we need it. I heard on the news that crop production will be the best in 25 years. This is a view of our veggie garden border. It is lush and full of flowers, insects and hummingbirds. What a beautiful time of year!

Pretty Little Hexagons

 I just finished this little quilt made with 3/4 inch hexagons. It made the perfect summer stitching. I packed up a little box with paper hexagons, fabric, and thread so I could just pick it up and go. I love to do English Paper Piecing!

We just got back from wonderful day of canoeing on the Wildcat Creek. It was grandson Tad's first time and he had so much fun. It reminded me of all the times we took our little guys out on the creek. I will post some pictures if I can ever find the cord for my little camera:)

My Herb Garden

With all of the rain we are getting the gardens are growing like crazy. I thought I would give a little tour of our herb garden as it is at it's peak right now.

 I have the garden (sort of) sectioned off into different categories as to use. In the medicinal section are echinecea, monarda, comphey, feverfew, lamb's ear, evening primrose, and valerian. I don't use herbs for healing, but I enjoy reading about how they have been used in the past and current trends.

In the Tea Garden, I have lemon balm, chamomile, anise hyssop, more monarda, catmint, and pineapple sage. I don't even like herb tea (I only drink Constant Comment Green), but I love the look and scents of these traditional tea herbs.

The household garden has herbs used for pests control, such as penneyroyal, rue, and artemesia. I also have some flowers used for drying like statice and rose. Every few years I make several varieties of potpourri.

 

The largest section is the cooking herbs. And I actually use these! I just love the smell and taste of dill, sage, basil, and all the others that we use every day. I have the perennial herbs on one side and the annual cooking herbs in one of the center beds. This bed above also has some cosmos, nasturtiums, and borage for color.
I just love the look of all of these plants together.

This last bed is full of lavender. Heavenly! Around the outside of the herb garden I have planted several butterfly bushes, roses, chives, and larkspur and bachelor buttons for drying.

As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time here. It is an easy garden to keep weeded, and is a job I enjoy.

"Who bends a knee where violets grow, I hundred secret things shall know" - Rachel Field.

Our Happy 4th

We had friends and family over for a cookout yesterday afternoon. It was too chilly to get in the pool, but we had a great time eating, talking, wandering the yard, playing with Tad, and setting off a few fireworks.  (Eric and his dad really like those bottle rockets!) Afterwards, we went down the road to watch the big fireworks.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend. We're hoping to go canoeing on Sunday if the weather cooperates. (I'm crossing my fingers:)

Vegetable Garden

Oh how I love summer!  Everything about it. And right now I'm enjoying the vegetable garden. Even though we have only harvested salad things so far, tomatoes, cukes, squash and beans will be ready any day now.

I weeded and cleaned up the tomato plants yesterday. We have so many little tomatoes coming on and one big one almost ready to pick.

Rick has been dosing them with manure tea and they are growing like crazy. I trim up the plants to about 12 inches from the ground. This keeps the leaves off the ground and away from pesky viruses and fungus. I also trim off water shoots. This keeps the plants in check and lets the sun in to ripen up the fruit.

For many years we used cages around the tomatoes, but I switched to stakes about 15 years ago after seeing it in a magazine. The plants are much more manageable and easier to pick. We use old t-shirts for the ties. They are soft and stretchy and expand as the stems grow.

I should be able to harvest some baby squash today. And also some peppers:

The small pepper plants were started late in the greenhouse, but the larger ones are already producing sweet bell, jalapeno, and chilies.

These plants have tiny cukes in with all the yellow flowers. I love cucumbers in salads and chopped on bagels. I can't wait!

Now this pile of bean plants were supposed to be neat rows of bush beans. I buy my seeds at a garden center that packages it's own seeds and I think they made a little mistake! I have since reseeded, but I left these and hope I can get in there and harvest some beans soon.

This is the salad bed. I just pulled up the spinach plants that had gone to seed and will plant more onions in their place. I'm still harvesting the mixed lettuces and will probably save the carrots for later and freeze them for soups and pot roasts.

Years ago we had a much bigger garden and it has slowly gotten smaller as we've added more perennial fruit plants and trees. Now we just have these 9 raised beds. The center bed is filled with annual flowers and a rusty windmill.

I love working in this vegetable garden. It is small enough to clean up quickly and large enough to provide us with the vegetables we can really use. So what are you growing in your gardens? I'd love to see!