OKAY...WHERE DID IT GO??????

Time.  I cannot BELIEVE it is going to be July 1st tomorrow!  This year was going to be MY year...plenty of time spent "in the moment", reflecting on the wonderful life I have been given and the incredible people who are part of it. 

In. The. Moment. 

Time spent designing and making quilts.  Time spent blogging.  Time spent BEING. 

Well, it appears that I have spent all of my time and have absolutely NO idea where I spent it...so I definitely was NOT...IN. THE. MOMENT!  Kinda like money that disappears well before the next paycheck, you know?!?

But tomorrow is a new month, a new day and a new leaf to turn over.  Of course, at the rate I have been turning over new leaves I'm definitely going to be rolling my way over the hill!  Maybe I will feel more like I am accomplishing something, ANYTHING, if I make a list of the things I want to do during the next six months of this year, checking them off as they are accomplished?  Writing down every penny you spend helps reign in the financial budget, maybe it can do the same for time.  It's worth a shot...

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with my list...

Toodles...

MY "SCRAP HAPPY" CHARITY QUILT IS A FLIMSY!...

Please excuse the wrinkles in the bottom third of this flimsy.  I am not feeling too great today and I just couldn't finish the ironing.

I am absolutely, positively IN LOVE with this quilt.  It is my first charity quilt and I have to say...I'm going to have a hard time letting go!  But, charity quilts should be as high a quality of work as our other quilts, and we should love them just as much...if not more!  Someone in need has to feel that we have made this quilt with all of the love in our hearts because THEY ARE DESERVING OF OUR LOVE AND EFFORT! 

So in a day or so when I am feeling up to it I will give the flimsy a good ironing with Best Press (forgot to use it on the first 2/3s) and will begin the sandwiching and quilting...starting with ESS (Every Stinkin' Seam) as Cindy Needham would say.  I have purchased my first ever spool of variegated thread for quilting, though I don't think ALL of the FMQ will be with this thread.  Time will tell...

Toodles...

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE...

Iced tea with a sprig of home grown peppermint means summer to me!  For many, MANY years I have not grown anything at all, no veggies, no annuals, no roses...not even peppermint!  But this year I started small...one peppermint plant, two grape tomato plants and two heirloom big tomato plants.  The first thing I was able to harvest was my peppermint...and I am SO happy to see refrigerator tea brewing and a sprig of peppermint in every glass!

MY GOAL OF NATURAL LIVING...

After years of embracing the world of plastic, chemicals and GMO foods that surrounds us, I am on a quest for a simpler, more natural way of living.  This weekend I stopped at an Amish roadside market and bought these beautiful strawberries.  All of these cost a mere $6 and the taste is SCRUMPTIOUS!

Strawberry laden cereal is my favorite summertime breakfast!   I will make sure to freeze some of strawberries before they have a chance to become overripe. 

This is also the year I have decided to begin growing a bit of my own food.  Just a few containers for now, but hopefully that will increase year by year.  The pretty blue pot on the left is filled with peppermint.  Mmmmm....soon I will be able to plop a few sprigs into my iced tea for the true taste of summer!

In this pot I have planted two varieties of heirloom tomatoes, Brandywine and Gold Medal.  I intend to save the seeds to begin plants on my own next year. 

These two plants are Grape tomatoes to use in salads and for eating plain. 

I stil have two more self watering pots so I may plant some zucchini and peppers this weekend.  Hopefully I haven't waited to long to start. 

I am seriously considering planting two blueberry bushes in my back yard.  Maybe....

From the time I was very little I have always wanted a huge garden.  Every summer we spent two weeks "down the shore" at my great-aunt and great-uncle's house.  My great-uncle was VERY big into gardening and I can remember spending hours on end rocking in his chair and browsing through the seed books in the magazine rack at my elbow.  Oh how I dreamed of a big garden!

Marrying a man who does not like vegetables and then giving birth to a son who also turns his nose up at veggies has made my dream out of the question.  But the little guy LOVES veggies and this grandma will happily plant some of his favorites! 

Wish me luck!

Toodles...