Garden Bag

This spring I had added potato parts into soil in an empty dog food bag.

It worked!  The so called soil I started out with was really heavy awful stuff, so I added from our own compost heap.  That soil had all sorts of stuff in it...pill bugs, worms, undigested veggies...But it worked. As the potato plant grew, I added more of our own soil. One day I noticed a tomato plant growing in the same bag, so I left it there. It grew. I added even more soil, which was fine for both plants.

The funny ridges in the spuds are from rocks in the original soil in the bottom of the bag.

This is the final harvest.  Not as much as all the websites said I would get, but it did work!  I still have another bag on the deck that I will harvest...whenever.

The tomato from that bag has been re-potted and is doing fine.

I now have 2 plants that started really late in the spring, as you can tell by the flowers still on them, so I am hoping I can bring them inside to continue growing in my sunny bathroom corner where I started all my seedlings last spring.

This is a berry off the dogwood tree between us and the neighbor. It's a native Washington plant. I didn't know they produced berries.  I didn't know they were a treat for Robins and Pileated Woodpeckers! I didn't get a pic of the Robins, but I did get some of the Woodpecker when he came back the second day. [i just stood and watched him the first day, not even thinking of getting the camera]

Pileated Woodpecker in Dogwood, Sept. 2016

Another chore for the Fall.  Dig yet another trench for the rain runoff.  This time he put in pipe, hoping it will last longer. 

The Fifth Critter. These are made by V. in Northern Ireland. I resisted the first few years...but then gave in last Fall and bought Frost...and then...and then...So now I have 5, 1 for each of my grandaughters...for someday.   

Helia is the newest to the family here.

I am keeping them for now...So I can enjoy them too.

With grandbaby #6 on the horizon, I will have to keep my eye out for another one of the beautiful, homemade, creatures.  

I am still working on the Ocean Circle, formally known as Tropical, quilt top, but those pix are still in the camera.

Currently in the Ocean....

After getting this whole thing pinned...I unpinned it.  I didn't like the basic stitching I was doing around the  volcano and waves. 

So now I am doing a running stitch, doubling it up by going back. I am trying to get a feeling of water movement, the ocean current, the invisible jet stream. I also think I will need a batt layer to help with that. For now, the embroidery work, with pearl cottons. I am also trying to use what threads I have, so some will probably have to be done in floss.

Back in 2008-whew-  I was doing a "100 details in 200 days" embroidery thing. 

With a lot of other people too, of course.

Anyway, my theme was the beach, and I came up with quite a few stitch combos that worked for crabs, kelp, beach grasses, etc. 

Little did I know that 8 years later I would be referring to it for another project. 

It has been on my wall all this time. Staring me in the face.

Go figure!

Not So Broken

The break is healing! No more sling for Devyn, amazingly enough. The foggy parts around the break are new bone of course, pulling the 2 parts back together. Our bodies are just wondrous things.  Especially when you are under 6 years old.

I do have another daughter, with her own "baby" to care for.  

My Stephie and her Ozzie.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

On their way to Tacoma, Ashley and her girls got to "drive through the clouds". 

Ashley is at it again...more string art on driftwood.

What you don't see is how small these really are. 

So she is working in a tight space. I will have her measure next time.

There was a day spent on the west coast, at the "real" ocean. 

Devyn still in her sling.

And then a day spent at one top end of the state.  It's the ocean, but as it comes into the Puget Sound. 

Camels. In Washington?

Yup.  Maybe I should have another blog for other family member adventures....

Something I have been working on. I have added the flowers and trees at the corners, pinned on the backing, no batt, and now trying to figure out the quilting...or embroidery...or both??

The center is a volcano...

Different Handwork

These all loaded bassawkards...so be it.

The back of this wonderful work of childhood art. 

1968 kind of art. 

Was I reading too much Babar perhaps? 

Dig that groovy hairstyle and those farout sleeves!!!

I am at a momentary standstill with this landscape. I thought I knew how I wanted to do the ghostly tree trunks...now I am not so sure.

So while I mull that over, I wanted to work on something, anything! 

Opened my footstool and saw this peeking at me.  YES!!

I will stitch this some more. If you enlarge it, you will see the outer safety pinned sections, and the deep creases from hiding away so long.

I have some new ideas for this now, as I stitch those outer areas of 'sand' down.

Edited to add- Started this Tropical quilt top in 2011.

Me and My Gulls

my girls and me

 We have a sloped ceiling which complicates the hanging of quilts. Probably because none of my quilts are straight either. A crooked stick is not easy to work with either.

We also had to hang this one sideways to fit the space. 

tropical quilt with sea creatures round, dolphins, turtles, seahorses and starfish

The creature round went really fast! Probably because I raw edged the seahorses. So the next round is sand and palms and flowers....If I go any bigger, it won't fit my walls. So this is about as big as the dog...er...quilt gets.  [the dog is a jack russell, for size ref]

Rhiley didn't slow down for a nano second...the middle picture shows how we hope she will be with her sister, caring and loving. I generally have R. once a week and the other 2 every weekend.  Well....Ben has his girls every wkend, but since he lives here....

the house is painted!

Ashley and Danny's house has paint! They are hoping to move in in late May....when the baby is due, of course. I am so proud of those 2, building their own home! [and the others on this side of the street]
They are Rhiley's mom and dad.

Tropical Quilt Back in the Works

Since the coral round was done, I hadn't gotten back to this project. I needed to add fabric to 2 sides....so after finally getting that done, I started adding the next round.  This is the turtle, dolphin, and seahorse round. After pinning on a few of each, I decided to take a full look at this.  Page happily stayed where she was so you can see the size of this quilt top.

 Wow.  Bigger than I thought.  So I went in search of another tropical type creature I would love to see.  I picked starfishes over many [millions] others because of their color range, though I have seen Discovery channel shows that say the starfish are harming coral in some areas.

 *who stuck that leg in middle of things here?

So here it is with the stars added, though you can't tell squat because they are just basted blobs of fabric. Oh, and the cat stopped long enough for me to use her for sizing. I am going to add ribbons and such for seaweed, winding through things,  instead of adding it as a round.  So the next row/round after this is the flowers/trees/seashells/?. !! Remember the goofy map I made for this in the beginning? I am doing pretty good about sticking to this 'plan'.

*The leg.  That's Ben's. With another tattoo idea taped on. 

College Girl Stephanie is home on spring break. She got in on a trip to Italy in August! I think it's for 5 weeks. Go Steph.  And she is planning on doing an off campus apt. with a friend next year. 

Middle Child, Ashley, is hoping to move into her house in early May. Just before baby Avery is due.  I have pictures of her kitchen counter tops, but from a cell phone, so they don't show up well here. I want to go take pictures myself one of these days.

My mom is staying in the nursing home.  Her care is now beyond me. She fell there too.  

I love you mom.

Tropical...Snow???

Page making sure the Tropical top is held down.

after it hailed one day, and froze to the deck, i sent the kiddies out to make an iceman...they tried for about 5 seconds, then goofed off.

dry snow. we don't usually get this kind.

not exactly a snowflake to remember....

different storm, different day, steph asked me to take pix....

left my harley outside

i moved the christmas tree outside, lights included.  easy tidy up!

Tropical stuff

 These are pix of the 'coral' sections I am working on.  I had more than 3 pieces of 'coral' in each grouping, but it made the whole thing way to busy, so I left it at 3 per.

 I am turning under the seams on 2 of the parts, but leaving the edge raw on the batiked part of each group, like I did on the reds in the volcano.

I am using the King Tut Quilting Thread that I got from Superior Threads in their 'try me' section, for the turn-under stitching.  I really like the thread, but have found that using Thread Heaven [or any other thread 'conditioner'] makes the thread behave much better, less knotage.  For the raw edge parts I am using the Cosmo Multi-work thread, which I love love love!!!!!!

Advent Day Seventeen and Other Adventures

find here
How about a village?

So Dan decided it was time to move Big Bertha out. She is the *giant 50 buck craigslist TV that son bought*.  And moved here.

Good-bye *easy to read the Jeopardy questions* TV.

So, my brother sent gifts. A chocolate moose that is now all gone, and a book that I have seen on many many quilty blogs...a Kaffe Fassett!

College Girl is home!! Yipee, Skippy, play with me 'Teff...Rhiley {GC 3} was here too, just not in this shot.

So I laid this out to get a shot of the fish, at least half of them that is, so  Precious just HAD to add herself to the picture, but not her face. No sir, not this cat.  Anyway, I am now ready to add the coral..if that's what goes next, hafta go check my goofy 'map'.