Monday, July 30, 2012

This and That

My house block quilt is all hand quilted with clear quilting thread and long stitches.  Now it is ready to be trimmed and I can bind it.  This is from Terry's BOM.


My son has a reef tank, salt water and all things in it are alive.  Here are some pictures I took Sat.  This one is a Clam on the right and a star fish on the left.  It looks like a big spider to me. Click the picture to see the Star fish.  The clam is open right now but closed after it got fed.


This is Coral.  And it moves with the water current.


Coral on the left and Nemo on the right coming right at me.
 

He has a lot more than this in it but I will not add more pictures right now.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

This and That

They are going to replace some electric poles on our street because they are getting bad.  The 2 boom trucks were out front the other day.  I took this picture from inside.


My House block quilt is layered and pinned.  Now to figure out how I want to finish it.


I tried several way to finish this but did not like the way any of them was working.  So I got out the hoop and my invisible quilting thread and started hand quilting it with the long stitch.  My long stitches are not very good so I did not really want them seen.  This will take longer but I think it will be okay.  I have 1 block finished.


Pretty yellow and black butterfly on the Butterfly bush in the center of the picture.  Click on it for a better view.


Monday, July 23, 2012

House BOM

I finally got my house blocks put together into a quilt top.  These are from the BOM Terry had going earlier this year.  Now I just have to figure out how I want to put it together into a quilt.



Sunday, July 22, 2012

Butterflies

The bloom on my Butterfly Bush is open and has been visited by Humming birds and 2 butterflies.  You may have to click on the picture to see them better.  This one is black with some yellow on it.  It is on the other side of the bloom.


This is the same butterfly hanging under the bloom.


This one is black and orange.  It is a little blurry but they do not sit still very long and are hard to take pictures of.  It is to the right of the bloom.


Saturday, July 21, 2012

Great Book

Thank you Terry for suggesting that this was a good book.  Well I could not put it down except last night to sleep.  Got it from the library on Friday after lunch and started it.  Just finished it tonight.  It was SO good.  I recommend it to everyone.


Friday, July 20, 2012

Flowers and Tomatoes

This is my first Hibiscus to bloom.  The dry weather and bugs have done a number on my flower this summer.


This is the first blooms of my Rose of Sharon.  They get a lot of shade so they do not bloom well but I love them anyway.   They look a lot like my Hibiscus but are a tall bush with smaller blooms.


Close up of the Rose of Sharon.


 We have been picking a lot of these cherry tomatoes.  They are planted in a big pot.


Monday, July 16, 2012

Good Non-Dairy Dish

I am lactose intolerant so making a baked casserole is hard for me.  This recipe is a very good one. Most of them have cheese or cream in them. This is what is left in the dish after we had supper.


Chicken with Rice and Vegetables

5 boneless chicken breasts or boneless dark meat
1 cup long grain rice
2 1/4 C. water with 3 regular size chicken bullion cubes dissolved in it
12 oz. package of mixed vegetables
salt, pepper, 2 T. butter

Season chicken
in a 4 quart baking dish put dry rice, vegetables, water with bullion dissolved in it.   Salt, pepper and sliced butter on top.  Place chicken on top of rice.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hour. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes to lightly brown the chicken.  This time makes for a very soft rice.  If you like your rice firmer cook for less time.

Today I used canned vegetables but put them in 30 minutes after rice was started and I had chicken strips which I added then.  I only uncovered for about 10 minutes.

This is a good way to eat rice with no cheese added.  But you could probably add cheese at the end if you wanted too.


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Tape Measures

I just finished 4 more tape measures.  I now have 11 on hand.  If anyone is interested in buying any they are $7.50 plus shipping.  I will use some of them as gifts but I am sure I will have a few extra. Sorry for the blurry picture.





Friday, July 13, 2012

Christmas Ornaments

I just finished making 25 Christmas ornaments for family and friends.  Glad that job is done for this year. All I have to do yet for Christmas is make my Amish Friendship breads starting in Sept.  A couple of eatable gifts have to wait till the last minute.  Sorry no pictures at this time.

Tape Measures and Birds

I just finished 3 of my tape measures because I sold a few and needed to keep my supply up.  I love these tape measures.


I have been taking some pictures of my birdbath and these are a few I took. I love to watch the Cardinals take a bath.


This is the Catbird I wrote about earlier this summer.  I love watching birds take baths, even if they do empty the birdbath with their splashing.




 This is a Humming bird near the feeder.  You can see his shadow in the water of the birdbath if you look close.  Click on picture to see better.


P.S. Hubby is doing great and has mowed the lawn and driven his stick shift truck..  It has surprised us all at how quickly he came back to using his leg after surgery just last Friday.  It has a couple of tender spots but nothing that would stop him doing what he wants to do.  Thanks for all the prayers for him.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Flowers and Hubby Update

Here is what is in bloom today.







This is not my bush but the neighbors and it is so beautiful this year I had to take a picture.


Hubby is doing good.  He was just outside for a short walk.  It is cooler and a little less humid so it was the time for a walk.  He is using crutches but is putting weight on his foot.  The crutches are for security right now.  He did walk some in the house this morning without them.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Surgery and Flowers

Yesterday hubby had arthroscopic knee surgery for a torn and twisted meniscus.  He is doing okay and should be back to his normal self soon.  No therapy just normal use.


 This is the lake behind the Crystal Clinic where he had the surgery.


These are blooming in my yard today.  A friend gave me a hand full of bulbs last fall and said she thought they were purple flowers.  She had gotten them from a friend too.  No other information.  Well we planted them in a pot because we had no idea how tall they would get.  What a wonderful surprise when they were not dug out by the squirrels and showed buds.  This is the result and they are beautiful.


 Our Trumpet vine is just starting to bloom.


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

4th of July and Hubby

I want to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July.



Now about Hubby.  He blew out his Meniscus in his left knee on Sunday.  He is having Arthroscopic surgery on Fri.  Home the same day.  Hopefully he will re-coop quickly.  They say he will.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Storm and 2 Finishes

We had a bad storm last evening.  We got a much needed rain, about 1 1/2 inches but it was the wind that was really bad.  No large limbs down here, just small limbs and lots of leaves to clean up.  But we did lose power for about 2 hours.  Part of our small town had lots of tree damage and power lines torn down. The last picture was taken from my kitchen window.  These were taken this morning.  It was too dark to take pictures last night.




Two finishes yesterday are a pair of earrings and a 5 inch peach doily.  I just have to keep my hands busy. Sorry for the blurry earring picture.



Sunday, July 1, 2012

Doilies and Christmas Cards

Here are 2 six inch doilies I finished today.  One was almost finished so I finished it and did the other one.


I have also been working on my Christmas cards for this year.  I printed them in Jan. when I got the idea of what to add on to them.  I always add something to the front of my printed cards to make them special.  I print them from my computer which really saves me time and money.  Everyone love getting them.  Here is a sneak peak.


I know it is not much help to see what they will look like but you will just have to wait and see.

I am still having some bad days with the asthma but also have some good days.  I just keep plugging along.

Have a good July everyone.