Coming soon to a garden near you + Lorelei

I was out in the garden the other day, and happened to notice we have little green tomatoes! I cannot wait to have fresh tomatoes. My mouth waters just thinking about picking one and sitting outside with a salt shaker to eat it. I am wondering what Lorelei will think of them...her mom eats catchup but doesn't like tomatoes. And I don't think her dad likes them either, though he loves catchup.

My husband loves catchup, loves tomatoes, likes things cooked with tomatoes such as spaghetti, or anything generally that requires tomato sauce or juice. But he will not drink tomato juice. I will actually buy the small pop can sizes of tomato juice to have one when I am desperate...but they don't hold a candle to home canned tomato juice. If I had it here right now, I could easily drink a quart of it.

Okay, here is Lorelei and her dancing feet again...not sure if you can see it or not. It is a bit dark on my computer, but it was taken late this afternoon with her mom's cell phone and there is not much I can do about that.

What I should be working on....

These are a couple small pieces that I am working on...part of the time. It is a process that was shown on Simply Quilts--a show about quilting that used to be on HGTV. It was hosted by Alex Anderson, and she had various guests on...showing all kinds of projects. This particular episode had Ricky Tims, teaching how to make this Chantelle Tulip in his caveman style of quilting.
I have never really made an art quilt, and Mary and I got to talking via email and both decided to do something different compared to what we normally do. This is what I decided for my project. It is a two for one deal. Two pieces of contrasting fabric are layered together--one set for the top part with the flower and two more pieces for the leaves and the background. Then the flowers and leaves are cut free-hand with the rotary cutter. Notice that the colors are switched opposite on the two above....when you cut one you automatically cut the second one.

These are just small, and will be smaller still when I trim the sides and ends. Just a bit over two feet 'tall' and maybe 15 inches wide. I will probably make little wall hangings from them, though Roger would like for me to make a whole quilt. If it weren't that the seams are so scant I would think serious about it. But with this caveman quilting, the 1/4 inch seam allowance is not figured in. When sewing, one only takes just enough to hold the two pieces together....in my case I probably have a 1/8 inch or less seam allowance.

I would not want to make a quilt with that allowance because I don't think it would hold up to wear. So this is all I am going to make with this method.

In doing it, I think I have come to the conclusion that I like to make quilts that are to be used. I was not happy with these at all at first...but I have come to the conclusion that I can live with them. But I have to force myself to work on them.
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I have spent the entire evening playing music at My Playlist...I have not done that in soooo long. Almost all music was from the pop/rock category with about half a dozen country and a couple bluegrass thrown in. I would have listened to more bluegrass, but the music is not divided into categories....and when I say bluegrass, I generally mean newer songs done with bluegrass instruments. I always just browse the category to find music I like...

I often wonder what makes us like the music we like...I almost always like some of all types, though to be honest I cannot listen to rap long enough to discover anything. Although I think I heard one or two that included bits of 'real' songs that made them bearable, I guess I am showing my age here...

Music is another of those things that really bring back images, feelings, and dreams. There is a big, big playlist that will forever be associated with the orchard. Sometime I need to sit and make a playlist of my favorites that I listened to over and over there....it would be a long, long one and some I could never find anywhere on the web. They were songs I taped from the college radio station.

Well, I here a storm rolling in...I should just post this and head to bed. I always sleep so much better when it is raining or storming.

At last, at last

If Blogger ever becomes available I will do this post...it is not really important in the overall scheme of things. It is frustrating nevertheless. I have been getting the Blogger Unavailable message since last night. I didn't think I could even post comments but they will go through so I might get some visiting done today.

The photo that will be included with this was taken while coming home from a little fishing expedition. We decided to check out creeks...I was thinking with all the rain that they would all be to high to wade and fish, and in thinking that I wore one of my better pair of jeans. Anyway, yesterday, the photo above shows the kind of sky we had..which is the kind that makes my heart sing out with joy. But on with the rest of the day.

We went by Mansfield where Big Raccoon Creek is...it was up a tiny bit, but still plenty fishable. But there were a couple guys already there. So we headed on to the Big Walnut Creek. It was just right for fishing...I was so aggravated at myself for not being prepared to wade. I fished from the bank, and caught a couple...Roger caught 3 or 4. One of his small-mouthed bass was keeper size. Small-mouthed bass are so much fun to catch because they sometimes jump out of the water when fighting to get free. It is so much fun...kind of makes your heart pump a little faster...and hope that someone else is watching.

Right now I have a couple loads of clothes on the line, and thinking I should do at least one more and have it ready to go when some of these get dry enough. The humidity is down this morn, and there is a gentle breeze so it shouldn't take long for some to dry. I have to take advantage of today because rain is in our forecast for the rest of the week. And I have become addicted to hanging my clothes out--laundry is one chore I have always enjoyed. Even when I was still a teen I enjoyed hanging laundry on the line.
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I wrote the above this morn about 9:45 and have tried off and on all day long to post with no luck till now. I have my clothes in off the lines and almost all put away. I always remember Grammy telling about when she was young...Grammy being my husband's grandmother...anyway, she left home while still a teen. She had an apartment in the city, not sure what job she had. But from what she said, it was a busy, bustling place. She would hand wash some of her clothes and hang them on the line before she left for work. One time she came home from work, and they had been stolen.

Ever since she told me that story, any time I leave clothes hanging on the line and actually go shopping or something....when I come home I look to see if my clothes are still there. One time, when my oldest was just a toddler, I had hung towels on the line, put her in the stroller and we walked downtown.

When we returned home, I glanced up to see if my towels were still, there and glanced back down at my daughter...she had stood up and it startled me so that I stopped. The sudden stop caused her to fall our of the stroller, but she only received a bump.