Sometimes you just find happiness

There are such fun blogs out there - and I always love to read ones that are local. I've read Pretty in Paisley for a little while now - but missed this latest post, until our SIL showed it to me last night.

Ben had told us about going to the play - and getting his face painted - but he didn't tell us he had his picture taken. He is Suuuuuuuper Cat! (You are required to say it that way too) It was the first time he had gotten his face painted - even when Jahn gets face paint, Ben has always declined - so this was a big event.

Thank you Jennifer for the great photo - and for letting us share it.

He's a very cute Suuuuuuuuuper Cat - don't you think?

My First Hollyhock

Oh the glories of summer - one of them is hollyhocks. I had a few plants last year and the deer thought they tasted so good. This year my friend Linda gave me a plant - a big plant - it already had buds on it - and I planted it close to the porch and used Liquid Fence (organic, non-toxic) spray for deer, or rather, anti-deer. It worked - the hollyhock grew and grew and grew - and last night it bloomed. We didn't have any idea of the color so it was a wonderful surprise.

The first picture was last night - the other two this morning . . .

The prettiest thing . . .


Hollyhocks used to be very utilitarian - in the days before indoor plumbing, hollyhocks were always planted by the outdoor facilities so that ladies wouldn't have to embarrass themselves by asking where to go. They would simply look for the tall spires of hollyhocks in the back yard. I'm not sure what they did in the winter.
Next door to the hollyhock is a big patch of Shasta Daisies - just ready to bloom . . .
Soon there will be big white daisies everywhere . I am going to show Jahn and Ben how to make them turn colors using food coloring.

Speaking of things from long ago (in first grade I learned to do the food coloring/daisy thing) Last night we saw a VW Bug and I tapped Ben and said "slug bug". He and Jahn have been playing it for some time now, but he looked up and me and said, "How did you know about that game?"

I told him that his mommy and auntie and uncle had played Slug Bug when they were little kids. He was shocked and said "huh, I had no idea it was around that long". What a boy!!!

And now back to flowers . . .

Didn't want the pansies on the porch, near the hollyhock and daisies, to feel left out so took their pretty little picture while I was out there. The plants have suffered some from the heat - but hopefully they will make it through with the cooler temps today.

Be sure to stop over and see Mary at Little Red House for more Mosaic Mondays - she has a wonderful list to view.

And another quilt

A while back I went to to a new-to-me thrift store in a town north of here, with a new friend. We had lunch together and then headed to the thrift store, I'd never even heard of it before. Lots of pretty things - nice dishes - some clothes - some furniture - some books - and around a corner in a dark little spot I spied a bag of what looked like quilt blocks.

Stuffed into a plastic bag were all these Dresden Plate blocks - in Laura Ingalls Wilder 70s calicos - appliqued and very good work - a few extra "plates" and even some extra backing to applique them to. This is what they looked like when I got them - just squares. I asked my new friend if she wanted them - she's a quilter too - but she said no, she had plenty to do. Well, not one to leave quilt blocks in a thrift store - and not one to pass up a bargain - I grabbed them. And the price was 2.95 - for ALL of them. I was delirious with happiness - and giddy with quilt blocks.

I tried several settings - searched high and low for that 70s calico look - and came up with nothing. I had some leftover kelly green solid from another project and thought it would look great as sashing - so off I went to the sewing machine - and stitched this top up in a day - and I had to applique two of the plates to the extra background.


I love how it turned out - though I still have to applique the round centers in the plates. I am thinking a dark green calico tone-on-tone that I have - won't take long to get those centers done. I was thinking I'd put another border on - but might just stop where I am - more thinking - but I think I will do the centers and call it done. I love the scrappy look of it - and I found several fabrics that I've used in some of my older quilts in the spokes of the plates. It is fun to have someone else's work with the same farics I used in quilts in the 70s.

I think this is my biggest quilt bargain - well, maybe the 25 cent quilt was the best - but it is old and needs repair - these are in like-new condition and fresh and pretty. What is your best quilt bargain?

Ahhh - watermelon in the summer

Our weather has turned from rain and drizzle and 62 degrees to HOT sunny and 88 - in just two days - wow - that was quick. I am happy for the heat - happy for the sunshine - but would have done better had we eased into it. But after this spring of cold, rain, cold, rain, cold, rain and cold and rain - I'm happy for the warmer weather. I don't have anything that I must do for the next couple days until it cools a little bit - so I'll make iced tea and you may all come over and sit under my trees and enjoy the weather. So - let's have some watermelon.

It started at the quilt show in Sedro Wolley - I just got a craving for watermelon.

It started with this . . . cool colors . . .

Then there was this - ahh watermelon . . .

A corner of watermelon . . .

And a whole lot of watermelon !!

The most refreshing watermelon of the whole summer.

A delightful painting - I won it!

Sunny had a give-away in June - and I won!!!!! She is the most amazing painter - be sure and check out all her posts.

The painting that I won is from one of my posts - about sailing ships in the bay. The likeness to my photo is amazing - you can even see the people in the boat (click the painting to enlarge the picture). This painting is 6x6" and so detailed. I am just stunned by Sunny's talent - and I adore my painting. It is sitting on the sideboard in the dining room where everyone can see it.


I didn't tell Don I was getting it and when it came in the mail I showed him and he knew instantly that it was painted from my photo. Thank you Sunny - we love our painting. And we love the fairies dancing on the water!!!!

A new quilt

I love making quilts for the boys. You saw Jahn's planet log cabin quilt.

Well Ben liked it so much that I made him one also. I had made too many of the blocks when I made Jahn's quilt, so I had a head start of 14 blocks. I had to buy a little more of the planet fabric and Don stopped by the LQS one day for me - he works about 2 blocks from the quilt shop (and yet he never spends his lunch hour browsing fabrics - go figure).



Now I think I'm done making quilts for the boys for a while - unless something else clever catches my eye.

I asked Ben if I could borrow his quilts to take to the monthly sew-in at Anacortes and he told me that I could, but that he needed them back by next Wednesday, when he is having a quilt marathon. When I asked him what that was exactly, he said it was when he put all the quilts in his house on the floor and made a display of quilts and pillows. I hope we are invited.

Yard Sales

We went searching for farm stands selling rapsberries and Ranier cherries - and found some great yard sales. Found Raniers too and bought a big bag full.

And then we found the yard sale to end all yard sales - it covered two yards and was splendid - and we did some major damage there . . .

A Thomas book for Ben - when you read the story it gives little pictures that match those on the right side and you push them and it makes a sound . . . very cute . . .

More books . . .

A really cute star shaped Santa for my collection . . .

A Sunbeam iron that actually gets hot, instead of tepid like the one I have . . .

A hand drill for Don . . .

Size 8 DMC - lovely beige color . . .

New - still wrapped in plastic in its box - dip set . . .

Some cute bears for the quilt shelf in the bedroom . . .

Another of these sets of toy bins for the toyroom - the other one is overflowing and it is hard to keep things sorted neatly. . . .

And a BeDazzler - cuz you know I likes me some dazzle!!!