Thursday 'good things'

Today I needed to grocery shop and stop at the library. I like to head out early and was at the store by 8 AM and at the library as they were opening. It was a good day for the sale cart ~ brand new copies of Hobby Farm Home, do it yourself, and Martha's Everyday Food for just 25 cents a piece...

My 'poolside' embroidery is coming along. The last two evenings have also been spent on the glider, so one tea towel is finished and this one I hope to have done by the weekend...

The new kitten has a name, finally...Pia. Stephanie looked it up after I named her and found it means pious and reverent, which I guess is fitting since she was born on Good Friday. Not that her behavior is such; it was all I could do to get this picture of her today...
If you haven't tried the Lorna Doone Spoon Pudding yet, you must! It's delicious. I found this out from Tina, who has posted the recipe ~ thanks so much, Tina, my family and I had this for dessert tonight and it was a huge hit. I only made two changes, because I love homemade pudding and whipped cream I did make them from scratch. Although my kids can't imagine why anyone would want to stand for 20 minutes stirring pudding when you could make instant ~ 'thats just crazy!' :)
Hope you had a good day as well. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

beating the heat

It's 93 degrees F in the shade today, so other than the most basic chores and some laundry this is where I will be ~ on the glider with some stitching & reading material, enjoying the shade, the pool, and some classical music in the background.
I'm embroidering these two tea towels, found at the flea market with the red perle cotton, for a special kitchen project. I found the cute teapot transfer patterns free online, and the lace that I have had for years has finally found a purpose.
And I'll be working on my summer reading list, which so far includes ~

Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson

The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill

What is a Family by Edith Schaeffer

Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis deSales

The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp

The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge

Hope you are having a great day!

my new/old laundry cart

My old laundry cart had seen better days. It was one of those 3-bag laundry sorters made from plastic tubing, and it had been cracked and repaired numerous times. The last few weeks, I've been using it broken, not really wanting to spend money on a new one...until I found this at the thrift store...

...an old laundromat cart! It glides in and out of the closet like a charm, and I don't have to reach waaaay down for the laundry as I did with my old one.
Thank you, everyone, for all the nice comments!! I'm about 2 weeks behind on e-mails, but am hoping to catch up soon.

a laundry bag

My newly re-done laundry room really needed a laundry bag I could hang up just for delicates. Inspired by this one, I set out to make one for myself using a floral stripe (that matches my ironing table), an old wooden hanger, and some bias tape...

It's made very similar to the clothespin bags I made, only easier as I didn't bother with a lining.

Now I can do away with the small overflowing basket that can just be seen there on the floor...And that was my fun project for the day!

today's visitor

"A turtle is at heart a misanthrope; its shell is in itself proof of its owner's distrust of this world. But we need not wonder at this misanthropy, if we think for moment of the creatures that lived on this earth at the time when turtles first appeared. Almost any of us would have been glad of a shell in which to retire if we had been contemporaries of the smilodon and other monsters of earlier geologic times." from Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock

After my morning routine of hanging clothes, picking strawberries, and watering chickens & plants, I found this little guy sitting on the sidewalk near the house...

When the kids were little, they treasured these tiny painted turtles as pets, keeping them in an aquarium and feeding them insects in addition to their turtle food. Today I just snapped some pictures and set him on a rock at the edge of my garden pond. He quickly slid into the water and disappeared.

I did get some more sewing in last week ~ some pincushions for the shop...
~some Denyse Schmidt retro prints
~a vintage 'thatched cottage' toile
~and some more of that barkcloth.

~squeezing in some sewing~

A polka dot tote bag with one of the vintage buttons for a closure and a matching zippered pouch for recent graduate; and

another barkcloth messenger bag for the shop...
Next up, some pear pincushions!

~container gardening~

Manuela of The Feathered Nest had a great post recently about repurposing containers for plants. Well, one of the ideas was perfect for this old rusty bread tin that's been kicking around for a few years in my basement. I filled it with some lobelia, dianthus, and impatiens...
I also dug out an old aluminum pot...
A watering can, behind which is the kitten's new napping spot. (Still trying to come up with a name for her.)
And an old wicker plant stand...

~the tin (for Joanne) and today's treasures~

Joanne recently asked about the tin containing all those wonderful buttons I found at the flea market. The tin was actually found a couple months ago at the thrift store for a dollar and has been sitting empty waiting to be put to use. After coming home with the buttons, which were in a couple jars, I knew the tin would be the perfect container.
On the bottom of the tin is printed Made in England Container. You can see it is well worn around the knob. Joanne, I hope you read this and let me know if yours is the same...
While Mike and I were on our way home from the feed store, we stopped off at a couple of yard sales. I found this little doll quilt for $2. I've washed it and hung it to dry...not a great picture, so I'll try for a better one later...
And guess what, I mean 'who', came home with me as well, free to a good home...

Have a good weekend friends.

~planting time~

Summer is here and my computer/posting/commenting time has dwindled to almost nothing. We have been having beautiful weather, and after our too long winters we try to take advantage of each day, often not coming inside til dusk, and even then I like to sit on the porch glider til the mosquitos force me inside.

Memorial Day weekend is the big planting weekend around here. We planted our vegetable garden with peas, beans, radishes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins and gourds...

...with some sunflowers along the back. Not much to see yet, but some recent rain should get it all off to a good start... Some of the strawberries are beginning to turn red. This spring, in front of the raised strawberry bed, I planted a new patch. I found the idea in Mary Jane's Ideabook~Cookbook~Lifebook. I laid out black landscaping fabric and covered it with straw...twice actually since a strong wind blew the first batch away...then I cut little X's in the fabric and planted 'volunteers' that were growing outside of the raised bed. So far they are doing great, and if it works it will save me hours of weeding! In the very front are some sunflowers that came up from last year's seed and I transplanted...
The rose bushes in front of the hens' yard are in bloom and the smell is heavenly...
Hope you're having a great June so far!

~flea market treasures~

Monday we went to one of my favorite semi-annual flea markets. I'm always looking for fabric and sewing 'stuff', so I was very happy to come home with these treasures ~ a whole baggy full of vintage bias trim in great colors that I don't always find at the stores ~ an old needle packet ~ some old embroidery transfer designs ~ red DMC coton perle (I forsee some embroidery in the near future)...
...and tons of old buttons, even some Victorian ones said the lady who sold them all to me for a $1...
It was a busy, busy holiday weekend here, hope yours was a good one.