July stashbusting!

I started a blanket for the upcoming cooler weather.....at least I hope it is!

I am making it with Aunt Lydia's rug yarn which has been discontinued.  I WISH I could still find it in stores. buying it through ebay and etsy puts a hurt on my budget!
It is not a soft yarn but the blankets always have a nice weight to them and they are SUPER warm.   We love to keep the house cold when going to bed so these are perfect for layering.   I made many of these in the 70's and 80's for friends and family but never made one for myself which I always regretted!  Now I am remedying that!   

Mosaic Monday

A couple of my friends wanted to learn the basics of mosaic...so they came to my house for a couple days a few weeks ago.

 We were lucky that the weather was decent while we were bashing tiles.  Eventually, it became too hot so we went inside to finish working on our projects.

The tiling took two days and then a few days to dry.  They came back over on Friday and we grouted everything!

Both ladies made saucer type bird baths.  Julie made a sunflower...

and Jeanine made a bowl of daises, with a little frog!  The yellow had a glare on it...sorry about that. It was REALLY bright out!

  
I'll be posting what I made for my own yard next Monday.

berroco medley scarf

Remember this scarf?  I made it in 2005 after seeing one like it in The Bourne Supremacy.

The yarn was hard to find because it was discontinued but I eventually found it in one of those yarn warehouses online.

My sister has been wanting one like it for as long as I can remember but as hard as I looked, I could never find the yarn again.

Until now!

Once I joined Ravelry, I began looking for it there.  Five people had it in their stash and one of them was willing to sell it to me!  Total time invested in constant searching looking for the yarn and buying it?  ONE YEAR!

Isn't it lovely!

and now I have this gorgeous scarf....

If you ever need to find discontinued yarn, you really should check out Ravelry first!

FREEDOM!

  Gunter, riding away........trying to get back to Wonderland. 

Basil harvest....and basil cheese bread.

Summer is in full swing here and I've been really busy with the family and yard.  

Last week, I made 4 pounds of my basil butter and 4 trays of my basil/olive oil ice cubes.   The process only takes a few moments, but harvesting the leaves seems to take forever.  I only planted 3 plants this year but 4 had self sown in the garden over the summer so now I have 7 plants to harvest from!  I have a few friends who enjoy this stuff and they were more than pleased to be gifted some of each.

Kaela helped me with the butter and when we got to the end, there was a little bit left.  Not enough to freeze but too much to throw away.  So, what to do?

ummm...slather the butter onto some rolls ...

then top with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese ...

then broil...and enjoy!

Oh my goodness, it is so good.

If you want to make your own, let your basil butter come up to room temp to use.  It only takes a minute since the butter is frozen into sheets.

Look how sweet this wreath is!

I put a simple wreath on the gate a few months back and the Morning Glory has slowly taken it over.  I love how it still maintains a wreath shape all by itself.  Maybe I'll help it along this week by clipping a few leaves here and there......

back into the garden I go.....

Giveaway winner!

We have a winner for the Mad Hatter tea party giveaway!



Shauna Henry, I'll be in touch!  

Mad Tea Party & giveaway

Have you met Gunter? If not, you can read about him here. 
We've had lots of fun over the years.  He tends to be naughty but his heart is in the right place.  (I know because I sewed it into his stumpy little body!)

Lately, Gunter has not been happy with me.  I feel bad because we got busy with things (life..) and forgot him....in a basket....on the floor... in the closet!   Oh my GOSH was he sore about THAT.  He muttered something about knowing how Harry Potter felt, living in a closet!

Anyway, I decided to make amends by letting him join today's tea party!  He ran outside and told Mr. Rabbit to wait for him.

Then he waited patiently while I strapped his camera on and then he dashed out the back door and scurried down the rabbit hole...
and promptly landed on his head in the Queen's rosemary!

(There is something to be said about not having actual arms and legs here....it makes Gunter's life difficult at times.)
I had warned him about the queen so he got directions from a friendly hedgehog on how to get OUT of the garden!

He wound his way back to safety and ran into Benjamin Bunny.  What was HE doing there?  I didn't know he had a JOB!
Anyway, Benjamin was supposed to offer everyone mushrooms but told Gunter to steer clear of them....(thank goodness, we all know what happens if you eat mushrooms!) 

Then he was offered something green to drink by a nice turtle but decided against it.  If that stuff made Mr. Turtle grow things out of his shell, HE sure didn't want any!!!

Then he wandered around trying to find the white rabbit to ask for directions.  He thought he found the tea party but instead found Mrs. Conch and Little Miss Teapot.  Yep, they drank the green stuff and look what happened to them!

Poor Gunter got lost and came across King Toad who offered him that dreaded green stuff again. He politely declined and asked for directions instead.  King Toad said he had been out courting Thumbelina and didn't know where this year's party was so Gunter continued on his way....

As luck would have it, he came across a very pretty neighbor of the Cheshire Cat.  She knew where the party was and offered to help lead the way.
"First you go around Shamrock Station, then through the Gardenia Forest..."

from that point he just followed the mushroom path!

When he arrived, the party was under way!  The table was set with an assortment of goodies and tea.  

 Gunter visited and snacked away....happy to be at the party.  He even tasted one of those polka dotted mushrooms!

Things started getting fuzzy.......and he thought he was going MAD!  

But then he realized, he wasn't going MAD, he just needed something he was more accustomed too.  After all, he IS a GNOME....

So, what does a gnome like to drink, you ask?   BEER!   

Yep....just like a man to go to a tea party and ask for beer and pretzels!  At least he is happy...
             

Everyone who visits has a chance for a giveaway. Just include your email or blog link so I can reach you.  I will announce the winner on July 20th.   
The winner will receive a set of goblet charms (hard to see in the photo) that are perfect for wine stems or tea cup handles.   I've also included a few other things.. 

Thank you for popping by and thank you to Vanessa at "A Fanciful Twist" for hosting!  Please click on her link to visit other parties!

Toy Society catch up....

The last several years, I've made toys and dropped at least one per month around town, out of town....wherever!  This year, time seemed to fly by and even though I planned on dropping some, I just didn't do it.     I decided to remedy that all in one day. 

Here is a "group" photo....

I planned on dropping them around town while running errands but the sky opened up and it POURED for what seemed like hours.   I hadn't planned for the rain and didn't have plastic bags for the toys.  
Undeterred, I dropped them all in the same medical building where I had an appointment.  (I love dropping toys at the hospital because, let's face it,  people aren't usually thrilled to be there.)

I dropped Mr. Turtle in my examination room, the owls in X-Ray, the 3 toadstools down the hallway on different chairs and Sleepy Kitty in one of the reception areas.   The place was packed with people, young, old and in between so I hope they found good homes!

Good Morning, Glory!

Our wild morning glory bloomed for the first time this week!  Waiting for the blooms to arrive is like waiting for an old friend......I just love them.  There is more vine than bloom but the blooms are spectacular!  

The next morning, more had opened....

Then much to my surprise, we had a volunteer!   I planted these from seed the first year we lived here but they didn't come back.  Since I had the wild one, I didn't feel the need to buy more seeds.  

Imagine my surprise when 5 years later, they poked their pretty little heads up again...across the yard from where I had planted them so long ago!  The blooms are much smaller than the wild one, but very prolific and just as lovely.

I love surprises and this little morning glory certainly provided me with one!

sketching........

Here are some pictures Kaela did for her art class at school.  It was for some technique that is beyond me!
I had seen them sketched out and thought that was all she had to do.

I didn't realize they were going to have color because she finished them in class.  They were kept at school in her portfolio until the end of the year so I had never seen the finished project.  

Although the kitty is pretty, the Basset Hound is my favorite. I just love his expressive face....

a little insight...

I finished my last 2 scarves for The Pink Project!  I made a grand total of 12 scarves.  For these last 2, I choose a soft fuzzy yarn by Yarn Bee....(oh man I love this stuff)...and used a simple lattice pattern.  
These scarves are so soft and warm, I think they will make someone happy.

I haven't been reading as much as usual this year so remedied that by reading a couple back to back.  

I just finished The Shack.  I read it without checking out the reviews, and am so glad I did because people tend to be black or white with it.   It is intended to be a novel and that is how I read it. 

After losing daddy, this was a good book for me.  I know he was elderly (as he would say "No Spring Chicken.") but it still wasn't easy.  But daddy had loads of common sense and some of the conversations in this book reminded me of some of the things he used to say...and that made me smile. 

Hanging herbs

My tub herb garden literally exploded this summer.

I couldn't cut it back and use it fast enough so I decided to dry some of the oregano. Here it is freshly hung and ready to dry.

Just a week or so later and I'm ready to strip it...

and now we have 2 jars of  freshly dried Oregano.

Much better than the brownish dust you buy in the store!