Summer is an Oil Painting

"Gladly accept the gifts of the present hour."

                                                                  Horace

I feel like I want to grab onto these days somehow to make them last longer and especially for them to stay here.  Summer, you can't leave, no you can't.

I'm so happy with the flowers I am showing you today.  All were begun from seeds in the greenhouse.  The above two pots with Marigolds and Geraniums are at the entrance to the house.
The Geranium is a soft orange shade and I'm amazed by all the bloom it has put out in short order.

A form of Cosmos and the bottom is Butterfly plant otherwise known as Swamp Milkweed.  I deliberately grew this to help out the butterflies and am pleasantly surprised by what a pretty, elegant plant it is.  Albeit, tall and spindly so suited for the back of a flower bed if you want to try this perennial.

Here are my scarlet Impatiens or Busy Lizzies as we call them at home. I am having great success with them this year as I did two summers ago.  I have them throughout two long flower beds and also poked into a few pots.  But I honestly didn't think they would all be the same colour.  I'm sure I bought packets showing different colours.  Like the lupins, a little surprise. What a gardener! :)

And in keeping with the flower theme today, here is this week's bouquet picked from around the property ( with Orchid lurking in the background).

 I am going to be away from my blog for a week visiting my parents and family in Newfoundland.  My parents are in their 80's now and daughter and I are bringing 20 month old grandson, their great-grandson, home for a visit with them.  I just spoke with Mom and her kitchen is already getting a work-out. Much excitement for all.

Hope you have a great last week of July, whether it is winter or summer where you are!

Stitching Updates

I have finally finished Block One of Hazels' Summer Wildflowers Quilt.  Bad hand has definitely slowed me down.  BTW, for those asking, I do have an appointment with my doctor for mid-August and this hand will be discussed.  My carpel tunnel feelings have evaporated thanks to much pampering but the knuckle protests when I try to lift anything heavy.  So a little something there.
Meanwhile...Here are a few close-ups of the flowers in that block. 

                                     
                                      Errant threads have been removed...

I am trying hard not to feel "behind" about this project.  This was my work for the summer and here it is already three quarters through July and only a start made on Block 2.   For some reason the cross stitching does not affect the hand like embroidering does so my Strawberry Thief has not suffered. Again I am struck by how right the red chosen for the strawberries is and how it shows up in the photos. 

Meanwhile Hubby is bravely making his way through his birthday cake.  That is a very large cake! I used the leftover birthday beef to make a small beef pot pie.  Hubby doesn't really care as long as there is pastry involved.

Time Sink Today

I have read just how frugal the Queen is.  She has a cup of tea with one bikkie bedside at night; only flat sheets are on her bed and the top one gets moved to the bottom once a week so  she has just half of her sheets clean each week.  The kitchen has never had to fill a night time request from her.  All her clothes get modified and recycled, a practice that gives her much satisfaction. And talk about recycling, I had to read the above story about how the same powder blue romper was used by Charles, then William and recently by George, a real genuine hand-me-down.  But what a sweet one and just look at his blue shoes.





A Note In The Toe of a Sock is the story of how women during the First World War knitted thousands of socks to send to the soldiers in battle.  It became a practice to include a little note tucked into the toes.  Often the notes read simple rhymes such as
 "Into this sock I weave a prayer, That God keep you in His Love and Care." 
This story includes a letter of thanks written by a soldier to the woman who sent him a pair of her hand knitted socks.  Nostalgic me finds such stories very touching.



Twenty Animals You Never See as Babies is a slide show of animal babies that remain well hidden till mostly grown.  Nothing cuter than babies, no matter what; just like this little guy




 or this one



I want one of each!

 

Here are the headlines I didn't fall for:-

Twelve  Foods You Eat Every Day That Cause Cancer

Thirty Awkward Child Stars Turned Insanely Hot

Firefighters Rescue Man Stuck in Chimney

Woman Arrested After Calling 911 With Chinese Food Complaint


And I just had to share this with you.  It is 21 Craft Ideas From Pinterest We Never Want To See Again. I remember seeing the cheese grater idea, but not the others.  Funny and odd but imaginative too.


Hope this is the way your summer is going...

A Trio of Great Sites

There is so much inspiration around the web; I am constantly amazed by the beautiful work I see and read about. Here are a few sites for you to check out some time.

I'm happy to share this blogger with you.  It is Floresita at Things I Make and I really like how she writes about and shares all the projects she is tackling. In particular, I really like a regular feature on her blog and that is she shows one new knit stitch each week.  For instance this week it was the Diamond Honeycomb stitch.




Floresita always knits two samples each with different sized needles. This is so helpful.  She favours textured stitches and always provides a link to the pattern. Many of the stitches are chosen with an eye to even novice knitters being able to knit them. You must read her blog to keep abreast of the stitches, there are so many, and also to enjoy all the other things she accomplishes as well.  

And beauty is this...needle painting



From the extraordinarily talented "needle artist", Trish Burr.  Artist, indeed!  I've loved her work for many years and keep meaning to order one of her kits.  I'm thinking I'd better get on that before my eyes and fingers fail me (more).





I just love this image and the colours used.




Trish also offers a number of free patterns and this is one of them...Blue Tit With Pansies.  

Check out Trish Burr's web site to view other free designs, samples of all her immaculate work and the sweet designs in kit form she offers for sale.

And lastly, I wanted to show you Frances' work at Fabadashery on an epic quilt making venture that she has dubbed the Nearly Insane Quilt.  Why that name?  Well, many, many blocks with many, many small pieces.  How small?  How about a little bigger than a grain of rice!!
The guide for this project is a book by  Liz Lois called Nearly Insane which has the templates for the 6 inch blocks making up this unique quilt.




Here is a close up of some of the blocks.  This photo really doesn't show the beauty of it.



I've read all Frances' posts regarding this adventure and found it very interesting to follow her ups and downs and progress.  It is finished now, all 422 blocks with over 6000 pieces of fabric of it, and what a work of art.
 Frances decided on a red, cream, pink and white theme which is fetching and here's the most amazing fact- it is 100% hand sewn.  She very generously shared her method for English paper piecing each block and often sewed through t.v. viewing, and during work lunch breaks.  Several years later she quite simply has created a masterpiece.  You really must take a look at her blog to fully appreciate what work has gone into this quilt.  Amazing.  And her other quilts are also very accomplished. 

I just love to be living in a time with the wonder that is the internet.  So many things to dream about and more beauty than we know what to do with...all at our fingertips.

Chocolate Cake with Bavarian Cream Filling

Hubby's birthday meant the ban on desserts was lifted.  I had fun searching about and landed on a great cake for him but of course, it had one requirement all the while - it had to be chocolate.
Just to make it a little more special I made it with a Bavarian Cream Filling.  I've made various flavoured Bavarian creams over the years, usually served with fresh fruit. It was always one of my mother's favourites to make for company instead of just plain custard; she always loved an excuse to buy strawberries in winter. 
But here is the photo of the finished cake and two healthy portions served up.

The filling worked out well but the choice for the icing was not so great.  I decided to make Seven Minute Frosting which makes a marshmallow/meringue like icing.  What I didn't consider was the humidity on Sunday.  Through the roof.  While this beat up into a nice fluffy mixture in the double boiler, it never did achieve the firm glossy texture I love in a Seven Minute Frosting. You can see in the photo that the sides sagged just a tad but it tasted exactly as it should. So a little lesson learned there; humidity does affect egg whites. I must have missed the part where it said "For best meringue results, beat egg whites on a dry, sunny day."

The cake was a recipe I'd never used before but it got a 4.9 rating on over 100 reviews so I figured it must be pretty good. It is a basic cake; the only thing distinctive about this one is it uses buttermilk which deepens the flavour and aids the moistness. It is called The Best Moist Buttermilk Chocolate Cake .
At that web site, besides clearly written instructions with substitution suggestions, you will see a video taking you through the step by step directions for making the cake which is also very helpful. I used dark baking cocoa from Costco and chocolate bits from the  Newfoundland Chocolate Company.
 

The Bavarian Cream Filling recipe was from The Two Chums Blog . They use it in a white layer cake which they ice with buttercream frosting in large rosettes...very impressive. They set theirs in springform pans to have perfect looking layers of cream, a step I obviously skipped. LOL
 In hindsight, I should have stuck with their buttercream frosting too.

I must admit the cream filling was very tasty.  I think I got a bit of a sugar rush from all the tasting.
 Seven Minute Frosting is also a recipe from my mother's day.  She would make this and never complain about the long time spent beating it before electric beaters were around.  And she also seemed to make much more of it than I've ever been able to produce. I think that frosting was what started my love of all things marshmallow.
This Seven Minute Frosting recipe is the one I used this time.

Anyway Hubby enjoyed his roast beef dinner, a glass of Merlot and his cake which he said was "very good".

It's True What They Say

It's true what they say-

Practice makes perfect.

Though older, I am proving this one with my learning to free motion quilt.  The practice is  paying off.  I've read there is a magic number to this...10 as in 10 hours of practice to get good at something.  To become an Olympian it's 10 hours a day for 10 years.  I guess that's why there are so few of them and so many of the rest of us. 

Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.

This is an interesting one.  I believe it is enjoyment of small things that enables the big thought thinking. Recognizing the small things that are enjoyable whether it's sunshine, clean sheets, a cup of good coffee, Friday afternoons, etc. boosts our overall satisfaction with our lives. That in turn helps us tackle the big things that need doing or resolving or thinking about.

A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.

My ability to worry set in early in life.  Always a serious looking child, my behaviour was also cautious and I feel like I was ever mindful of dangers. With grown-up experiences, I've learned firsthand that worry has a weight to it.  It is true that it really can weigh you down...literally, besides wearing you out.  The saying "weight lifted off your shoulders" is also true just as they say.    

Common sense is not so common.

People are getting crazier.  Perhaps I shouldn't say that out loud and maybe that thought is a function of my age and background.  My references for when common sense seemed to be more common is outport Newfoundland...small villages made up of homogenous people who as a group were God fearing, hard-working and would give the shirt off their back to help others.  Grounded, salt of the earth types and not much variation to be found. It seems like the world has moved very, very far beyond those simpler times.
But it is not just me who believes common sense is getting rarer.  Hubby is right there with me in this belief.  Just about every day he reads me something from the papers that confirms our belief.  Wish it wasn't so.  Yes I do.
But really people have been thinking this thought for a very long time. Voltaire, sizing up the people around him in 1764, is credited with being the first to voice this sentiment out loud.  So there.

Health is better than wealth.

 I grew up with two sayings about this.

One:
I was feeling blue cause I had no shoes
Till, upon the street,
I met a man who had no feet.
Two:
It's bad to be poor but it's worse to be sore.

Wealth can't protect you from illness or certain diseases.  It can't save you when you do get one of the life threatening ones.  Money does not provide any guarantee that you will be saved from any of the ills that can afflict us all, mental or physical.

So cling to, value and cherish good health. 

Yes it's true what they say.

 

A Little Poetry

One of my favourites; humour me this pretty Thursday morning in July.

                   Thursday

            I have had my dream- like others
            and it has come to nothing, so that
            I remain now carelessly                                                                                                     with feet planted on the ground 

            and look up at the sky-

            feeling my clothes about me,
            the weight of my body in my shoes,
            the rim of my hat, air passing in and out
            at my nose- and decide to
            dream no more.

                        William Carlos Williams

Keepsake Needlearts: More to Love

I'd been reading several blogs I follow and one of Janet Grainger's "carry with her" pieces caught my eye.  When I checked my latest Keepsake Needlearts catalogue I realized why.  I had circled the same project in the catalogue.  It is the Autumn Quakers cross stitch design from Rosewood Manor featuring Karen Kluba's chart and instructions.




I just love the colours used in this; the floss is Valdani hand- overdyed 3-ply and this photo is really not doing their vibrancy justice. There is something about autumn, its' colours and sentiment that always appeal to me.

   Keepsake Needlearts also provide the accompanying Winter, Spring and Summer Quaker kits  by the same designer.  Their website is HERE  if you wish to check out these beautiful samplers to cross stitch as well as look at all the other lovely needle work items they offer.





I want to show you something else before I forget that I viewed online in their Spring catalogue.  I've talked about this set of books before in this blog.  It is the 1915 publication of a series of books called Weldon's Practical Needlework on all the needle crafts. Each volume includes a history of each art, clear illustrations and patterns for projects to complete.  The reviews are glowing and it does seem like a wonderful addition to any needleworker's library. I've not seen them altogether as a boxed set before. You would maybe think the designs would be hopelessly outdated, but there is something timeless about these.  And I guess the vintage look is always popular and has its place in the needle arts world.
  The price is a bit daunting but maybe as my 'birthday and Christmas together' gift.

Meanwhile the garden is benefiting from the heat and welcome downpours in late evening.  I think these hostas are in the best condition I've seen since I planted them around the front birch tree several years back.  They are all taken from Daughter's garden where the hostas have flourished and multiplied.  Love it when plants do that!

And here below is my lonely lupin; I call it lonely because it would be so unusual to see a single plant like this in the wild.  I am happy I captured it at this stage because all that budding bloom shriveled up and never did burst into flower.  Don't know why. Also a little odd, the colour on the packet was purple and these appear to be pale yellow or white.  We did have a few days of extreme heat and humidity but I've read lupins like sun and the plant was very healthy as you can see.  Anyway, I have left them to droop and hopefully drop seed for future plants.  Gardeners even amateur ones have to practice patience, I'm learning.

You can see the strata of rock in this photo that runs here and there through the portion of land the house is on.  Pure Canadian Shield is what you are looking at.

It's About the Bass

This is what I feel like more and more...

It's not so much that I have gained weight or sizes, but that the weight has somehow shifted. It used to linger around my hips and thighs but now it is more like 'pooling' there.  I don't like it.  Like poor duckie, I am feeling bottom heavy. If I were a fruit, I'd be a pear.
 I have filed a number of links to exercises to help with the problem but I haven't gotten round to opening them, much less starting them.  I have bought a yoga mat though and  have been doing a few sit ups...intermittently.  It makes me feel really good to do them and even a little self-righteous...as in I deserve this extra cracker and humus or cup of kettle corn. Okay, I admit it, that should read cups of kettle corn.  (One cup of popcorn isn't really very much.)
 I debate with myself about this... But I guess it's good I am trying and I know I must keep it up.  Daughters tell me I shouldn't fret it and just be happy I'm maintaining where I am but I seem to hold onto an image of myself all toned and fit with nary a bulge or pooky place.

And Murphy is here giving me her best begging face....please, please can we go for our walk now? 

So how can you turn down a face like this?
But it's really too hot outside for her.
The Dog Days of summer have officially begun as they should in July with recent temperatures reaching into the 30's C.  That's pretty warm and tough on the family members who sport permanent fur coats.  Lately the heat has felt positively stifling.  I had to do some weeding in the garden and really suffered to get it done.
  Not complaining though; I remember well not so long ago I was bending your ear about our frosty temperatures.

Bad Hand Update

I am using a hand splint for night time and very pleased with how my hand is doing.  I have also been careful to take it easy with that hand and also practice the exercises in that Youtube video.  Fingers of good hand crossed!

A Laugh Like A Seal's Bark

Can I just use L instead of LOL?  I mean I may want to laugh but not out loud.  Really I don't laugh out loud all that often.
 I know someone who claims she can't laugh out loud and has had a lifetime of having to smile extra broadly when she wants to show she's finding something really funny. I guess you could say she smiles out loud. LOL  Hubby has a sort of goosy sound when he laughs out loud, something between a snort and a honk I guess you could call it.  When I first met him I would check him because I thought he was choking or something.




 Maybe my not laughing out loud has something to do with the fact that once in high school a boy told me I sounded like a seal when I laughed out loud.  Don't be sorry for me, that's about the meanest thing that was said to me in high school.
 Or maybe like the Queen, I am just not that amused.
Remember Daisy in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; her laugh was like the sound of money. Now
that's the laugh I would like to have rather than being saddled with this supposedly sealish bark.

But all that being said there are a couple of shows on t.v. where I find myself laughing out loud.  We are watching 8 out of 10 Cats, a British panel show with comedians discussing topics of the day.  Funny.  I laugh out loud at John Oliver sometimes.  Outnumbered made me laugh out loud too. We are watching reruns of 3rd Rock From the Sun and I'm finding it funnier than first time round and their crazy antics are definitely LOL-worthy.

Laughter is good.  How good?  All the way back, the Bible recorded in Proverbs  A joyful heart is good medicine. And Readers Digest said it for years "Laughter is the best medicine."  If you can muster up amusement in tough times, kudos to you; I'm sure you are better off for it.


And the earth laughs in flowers as Ralph Waldo Emerson said.

 And if you'd seen this beautiful field last summer, you would know the earth was definitely LOL.

Noisy Night, Sewing Circles and Flowers

We all suffered through a summer night last night I can tell you.
Some creature was crying a plaintive sound that carried on the night air.  I listened and listened but couldn't figure out what it was.  It sounded like a large bird or a small cat which is odd because you'd think the two sounds would be very different.  I can only say it was a sort of squawky yowl sound.  That in itself was unnerving but not entirely the problem.  Of course it drove Rex and Murphy crazy and they went from window to window crying and barking, adding their sounds to the night. This went on for perhaps a half an hour till thankfully all went quiet.  Hubby figures it was a cat; probably true because wild creatures tend to keep silent and not attract attention.
 Who knew night time in the country could be so noisy!  Just hoping there won't be a repeat performance tonight.

Before getting sidelined by bad hand I was making steady progress on my Strawberry Thief cross stitched picture.  Sort of.

I got this far and realized that the blue in the wing and the blue of the star and strawberries was not supposed to be one and the same.  I had to spend a painful hour unsewing...plucking out each little cross stitch trying to be extra careful not to damage the fiber of the fabric itself.  I really don't know how I made that mistake.  But there you have it...I did! Meanwhile I am pleased with the red for the strawberries.

I have been also spending time at the sewing machine and I must say practice does help.  I am almost liking most of what I sew now.

I am enjoying making these free motion loops and curliques.  I still have wonky bits that I have to unsew sometimes but overall it is improving. I would like to get good enough to not have to mark lines to follow a simple pattern on the fabric.

Lots of lovely bloom all over the property; absolutely no problem to get a pretty bouquet together now in July.  Hundreds of the orange tiger lilies dot this land and are a very popular farm flower. You see them along the sides of the road and as welcoming clumps at driveway entrances.  Wonderful how they grow back each year.

This is Daughter's hanging basket full of  Portulaca, Moss Rose, one of the many flowers referred to as Ten O'clock plants because they fully open by 10 am and close up or fold in for overnight.

                   


                                   Lots of sun, water and dead-heading to keep it looking lively.

Here is my chipmunk; I say he is mine because I recognize a slight wave in one of his stripes that distinguishes him.  He stands like this looking at the front door, signalling time to refill the bird feeder.  He is comfortable enough with me that he just waits by the house as I fill it.  Hubby doesn't believe me that he is signalling, though he watched him doing this one day and had to admit that while maybe not exactly signalling, Mr. Chipmunk definitely knows which way the food is coming from.
But I know animals can become quite clever when it comes to food sources.  My aunt had a squirrel that would come and knock on her patio door when the feeder was empty.  Now that seems a little too close to nature.  Too bad it was before the days of Youtube; the world would have enjoyed seeing that. 

In Good Crochet Company

I am beguiled by the lovely colours used by the talented ladies, Sam at Betsy Makes and  Lucy at Attic 24 in their crocheted work.  I guess you could label them bright and modern. I've noticed that they have inspired many others to use similar colours if not the exact ones in their projects.  In fact, Lucy offers kits for many of the projects she creates and talks about on her blog.  Here's where you can check out all the lovely wool and patterns  that Attic 24 has to offer.  And you can also check out   Betsys' Sweet Crochet Patterns Here.

I too succumbed and ordered a batch of their favourite yarn, Stylecraft Special DK, with the thought in mind that when I have the urge to crochet again, I would have wool at hand.  In particular, I love Lucy's Granny Stripe Blanket.  Since I can only seem to crochet in squares or straight lines this particular pattern has my name on it...remember what a big deal it was for me to figure out that circle in a square pattern. I wouldn't tell anyone how many times I had to rewind the video of Mikey showing how it's done.  You can read my post about that crochet adventure here.

Isn't The Granny Stripe Blanket  pretty? This was made by Lucy and I especially love the two blues in the edging.



And equally important for me...doable! I think.  Yes, I'm pretty sure I can do it.
Now setting it up will be a bit of challenge.  I've read a number of blog posts telling about the first few rows being tricky.  You start by having to count almost 200 stitches so keeping track of that right off the bat is hard.



 Here is Lucy's beginning  row.

Other colours are pretty too... crocheters around the web have made this blanket in an array of wonderful colour choices.








                All fetching.




And the wool I ordered arrived in pretty little organza bags tied with ribbon.

And here is a sampling of the colours in my basket.  Though very tempting to dive in,  I'm waiting before starting this project till my hand is better than what it is right now. Lots of incentive to get better.