Too Much Humidity

The weather has been humid and rainy for the past two weeks. Yesterday morning half of my vegetable garden was under water and I told a friend I was considering launching a canoe to get to the squash. It wasn't quite that bad but it's hard to weed the garden in the mud.

However I was able to get near the perennials and here are some daylilies blooming in my garden today. (Please excuse the weeds.)

This is my all time favorite, a double lily.  A plant gift from my artist friend Eileen.

I've Been Treated!

I just had to share this with you. Last week at the Twilight Stitchers Quilt Guild, of which I'm a member, the outgoing president presented lovely purses she had made to her officers. For the other members of the guild she made little shoulder totes. We each got to pick which one we wanted out of the pile. This was the one I picked. It has a long strap to sling over your shoulder. Whooohooo! Love it!

This is the front that had a zippered pocket

This is the back that has an open pocket.

A Bit Of Wildlife

I just had to show you this. We live on 5+ acres in the country and quite often have visitors from the wild. I happened to look out the back window at the right time and saw this. Mom and her new baby!

 Such a little one. And full of energy!

Psuedo Stained Glass

I'm re-posting this from my other blog. Enjoy!

This week's project came about because I was pawing through my art supplies and came across a watercolor sampler set that I had been given many years ago and never used. The brand of the paint is Rotring. As I was reading the printed material that came with the set I discovered that they could be used on glass, ceramic, plastic or what-have-you.  Hmmm....the mind started up and began to whirl. I was thinking that I could purchase a piece of plexiglass...the kind that is already cut to size for a picture frame. However, since I'd rather use what I have since I'm on a kick to deplete my supplies, I found a small frame with glass in it to use. I removed the backing, broke the holding tabs off of the frame and cleaned the glass. I also attached screw eyes at the top and bottom of the frame.

 I then decided on a design to use as a template and drew it up on scrap paper. I placed the glass over the design and proceeded to paint the glass.

While the paint dried I strung up some glass beads and pearls to hang from the frame. Next I glued the glass into the frame and hung it in the window (using an old chain necklace to hang it with).

...Elohim will provide Himself a lamb... Genesis 22:8

Because the watercolor paint in this set is transparent it makes it perfect for the stained glass effect. There are other paints in the craft stores that would give the same effect. Check out alcohol inks. These work nicely on glass too.

A Change Of Pace

Sometimes you have to change what is emphasized in your creative endeavors and that is what I have been doing recently. Mind you, I still love quilting along with other crafts but it was time to re-prioritize what I put my creative efforts into...at least for the summer. And so I decided to take an online art journal workshop with Roxanne Evans Stout at http://rivergardenstudio.typepad.com/

This is the first page I completed from the workshop. Our teacher Roxanne suggested we work on our journals outside. That was precisely the nudge I needed to be motivated to act instead of just think about it. It feels so good to stretch my arty wings again.

And here is the inside of the back cover of my journal. All decorated with a rejected watercolor painting for the back ground and a decorated envelope to keep treasures in.

And lastly, here are a couple of pictures of the garden where I worked on my journal.

Red and white columbine portrayed on the first page of my nature journal.

Wild columbine

Whew! The Veggie Seeds Are In The Ground!

After dodging rain off and on for the last two weeks, I've finally finished the planting the veggie garden. Two varieties of peas, green, yellow was and kidney beans are in along with zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, carrots (2 varieties) and beets. Also bell peppers, Amish paste tomatoes and Brandywine tomatoes.

You can see the garlic that was planted last Fall in the back row. The tomatoes are up front. I grew these tomatoes from seed and they sulked when I put them out every day to harden off. I bet you didn't know that tomatoes sulked. Well, these were like little children. No matter what the weather was like, warm, cold or rainy, these plants kept bending over pouting. But persistence is the key. The day after I planted them, it rained heavily and I thought 'Oh no, not good'. However, they took to the abuse and are looking better now. Perhaps I will even get some tomatoes this year.

The garlic is going to be awesome this year. Look how big and lush it is.

Next I turn to my 'fruit and herb' garden. I have strawberry plants, a raspberry bush, a gooseberry bush and two varieties of rhubarb. In the raised bed I have chives, oregano, sage, tarragon, silver thyme and lavender.

In the right bottom corner barely shows where the asparagus will be planted. You can tell how much rain we've had in the last 2 days because of the puddle in the corner.

This raised bed is 4 by 4 feet. Can you believe how big my chive plant with the purple blossoms is this year. Hope this means a bumper crop for my garden this summer.

What you don't see is most of the corner of this little garden that is yet unprepared for a raised bed of asparagus. That will go in next week if the rain stops long enough.

Sage ready to be hung and dried.

Too Nice Not To Share

My oldest daughter brought me a flower arraignment she made on Mother's Day. Isn't she a dear? I just have to share it with you.