06.29.2010

I Am A Scrapaholic!

I think I’ve finally realized that I am addicted to fabric scraps. Some quilters may enjoy buying the most fabulous fabrics, but I really like getting their leftovers! My dear friend, Renee, scored 5 bags of scraps for a whopping $2 at a garage sale last weekend, and she passed them to me.

scraps

My wonderful hubby suggested I sort them into bags of color, therefore, the lovely horseshoe I’ve created while sorting the last couple of evenings.

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Lots and lots of pre-cut 4 and 5 inch squares!!

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And mounds of expensive and great designer fabrics!! 

kacey

You can see how much Kacey helped me with this chore!  But the best part about all of this treasure for me, is that it inspired me to dig out the string quilt I started months ago.  One of only 1,345,789 projects that are left, waiting to be finished in my closets!

string-quilt

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OK, gotta go keep pluggin’ along!  The goal is KING SIZE!!

To all those hard working men out there, especially my dad today!

dad

And my brother and my hubby, who are out there in the heat and wind of Kansas, cutting wheat and…….checking weather on their cell phones!  WAIT!  What’s wrong with this picture?  Maybe I’m just not used to these high tech farmers with their fancy gadgets.  When I was a little girl we had the luxury of two way radios and THAT was cool! 

high-tech-farmers

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KUDOS to all the farmers out there and happy harvesting!

PS!!!!  Here’s how we ended the day.  Couldn’t resist showing you this one…….

storm-and-combine

06.15.2010

Currant Bushes…..

….make for fabulous landscaping!  Last year when I needed some quick and cheap bushes for the front of our house, I chose currant bushes.  Mostly because when I priced the ordinary boxwood, they were $25 each for a 2 gallon, really small plant!  I wanted something fast, don’t we all?!!  Plus, I’d rather grow something that’s edible.

currant-bushes

After just a couple months of planting these last year, they doubled in size.  And this year they came back in full force and loaded with currants, red and black.  Might I add that each bush was a whopping $12 each!  That’s more like my kinda price.

currants-on-the-bush

The currants started to ripen last week and man are they beautiful!

bowl-of-currants

The first batch was small, but I smashed them with my grandma’s old berry masher…..

the-masher

smashed-currants

And then I froze the juice from that batch that I’ll add to this week.  I found a great jelly combination last year…..mulberry and currant berry jelly!  Both ripen at the same time.  They are tedious to pick because of their small size, but so worth it in the end!

I’ll end with what I saw while smashing berries.  The “girls” always give me a smile no matter what they are doing.  I added a new drinking tub to the yard.  Guess it’s a “bath” tub now!

duck-in-a-tub

06.02.2010

Duck Updates…..

Yup, the ducks are still around and kicking.  Most mornings I see a stray cat that likes to cross my yard to get to another yard.  She doesn’t seem to even notice the ducks.  The ducks sure notice her and sit upright and at attention until she passes.

cat-shortcut

They spend most days and nights on the search for bugs.  Easy entertainment!

lookin-for-bugs

And this week I finally pulled up my spring leftover spinach and lettuce.  They come a runnin’ when they see the green stuff hit the ground!

lettuce-night

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Speaking of my garden, I just counted 40 tomato plants today.  THAT, could become insane in just a couple of months.  I’ll let you know soon enough!