The Hazy, Lazy Days of Summer?

I can understand the hazy part of summer (fires in Canada and heat) but not the lazy part of summer.  Seems like there is more than enough to do what with gardening - weeding  especially! 

My little potting table with a long metal box on the back where I've planted begonias.  The white ones are looking good but the dark leaf ones haven't established themselves yet.  Oh well - the green leaf ones will be taking over as the summer goes on!  They do love the heat.

After our week at the lake, we came home to tomatoes that had grown at least 8 inches and filled out with blossoms  all over!  Just got the cages on so the branches won't break off.  Last year we waited too long and we went cage-less because to cage them would have broken their branches.

My peppers in the wheelbarrow are doing great but the ones in the ground - not so much!  Something is eating the whole lower leaves off right to the main stalk.  So in another wheelbarrow they go!

The mesclun is growing and so are the onions so I think by next week we will be able to make a salad of sorts.

  

In May I took this picture of the resort from the water...not the best shot but when we go back in August I will take a couple to show some of the rest of the area including our cabin.  A very neat place with great owners!

Doesn't that water look inviting???  I planted some perennials along our cabin last fall and almost everything is up.  I noticed a weed whip or something wild was eating at the Stella's but they are filling out again.  It will be fun to see how good they look in August.  The tiny peony I planted looks healthy also...maybe next year or the year after it might bloom.  I'll have to bring some fertilizer and give it a shot when we return.

These are a couple of my souvenirs from this trip...absent is the fabric and patterns I bought.  The purse is almost done and I'll post when I get the flower pin completed.  The silhouette plate is unique in my collection and will hang with my red transferware somewhere in my kitchen.  The little doggie planter is pretty rare where I shop so I feel I really got a find!!!

Here is my corner cupboard - my cupboard is hardly bare...needs some weedin' I think but the planter brings a little red to another shelf.  I love art pottery and collect a little Red Wing and McCoy along with no-name stuff.

Tomorrow is a day in St. Paul with my Hubby and Dad visiting my Aunt Millie.  It's been too long between visits - it will be fun!

Take care - talk soon!

Farmgirl Bonnie

No matter where you go, there you are! - ME

Well - that's enough rain for quite some time.  Puddles everywhere and so are the mosquitoes!  I have weeding to do but will have to put on a Hazmat suit for protection.  We've had so much rain that I'm turning green along with the foliage!

I love calla lilies, pansies, zinnias, irises and pinks!  I have wild roses that have been open for a week but this is one of my "John" roses that my son in law gave me.

I love going out in the morning to check on my gardens to find all the new changes.  I found my beans are up, the onions are doing great and the mesclun (various lettuce) is 2" or more high.  The tomatoes are filling out and growing up.  The peppers are maturing and setting blossoms.  I'm still waiting for the peas to peek through the black dirt...I soaked them a little long so they had really sprouted - I hope they didn't swim too long.  The rhubarb continues to grow wide and tall.

I have enough to supply the country if they would only ask.  We will bring at least a rhubarb cake to the lake next week.  I better start freezing some too.  I like rhubarb sauce but Hubby doesn't so much...well, if there is an overabundance of sugar in it he does.

Hubby's Mom, Evelyn, died last February a month before she turned 90.  I have been working on a memory piece for Hubby's sis.  I took three pictures that she sent me and copied them onto photo fabric (usually I use muslin ironed on freezer paper) but I was working under some pressure to finish it before our nephew's graduation open house so I took the easy way out.  Then I sealed the photos with Mod Podge.  I made a small quilt and embellished it with Mom's buttons and other things.  At the lake I will make a Memory Purse using an early picture of Mom and three pieces of her jewelry.  The purse can be set on a shelf, hung on a door knob or used as a purse. 

I have to finish reading James Patterson & Richard Dilallo's book, Alex Cross's Trial, before Friday so I best get to the sofa and READ!  Oh darn!  Janet Evanovich's new book, Sizzlin' Sixteen, comes out on June 22.  Her books are such a hoot!

Give yourself permission to read and craft and enjoy!

Farmgirl Bonnie

I love chairs!

Another Farmgirls Sale is over.  It was a huge success - the rain held off for most of both days!  Whew!  I love chairs and everyone said I had enough chairs.  Every time I think I have seen every chair ever made - I find another unique chair.  So we sold chairs - rockers, side chairs, Firehouse chairs, Bentwood chairs, Jenny Lind bench, vanity benches, kids chairs, garden chairs and more chairs!

"I love it.  I love it!  And who shall dare, to chide me for loving that old arm chair!"  - Eliza Cook

We'll be scheduling another sale the first part of August because we have so many more ideas!  I hardly believe it but its Tuesday after the sale and I've already finished a few things for the next sale!  Woo hoo!  It's been pouring most of the day so it was perfect for crafting.

Once again, I didn't take many pictures and it did look so grand.  I need help in that area...my own personal photographer...any volunteers???

So you can see a little of our wares.  I always say - "Paint it red and it will sell!"  Red is such a happy color.  I have something red in every room in my house I think.  Do you?  I also love aqua and pair those two colors up quite often.  My Mom's kitchen was often painted aqua...maybe that's why I like it.  I have a picture by my computer of my Mom in my Grandma's kitchen.  I just noticed that Gram's kitchen is painted aqua and the walls are decorated with travel plates.  I have a collection of transferware plates hanging in my kitchen.  I guess the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" holds pretty true on the female side of my family!

I have very creative Farmgirl friends who help set up our sale.  Each sale we glean ideas from each other.  This sale the yo yo flowers on old plastic knitting needles were a huge hit.  So here is one of my message pillows with my version of the yo yo flower.  I made mine double using two different sizes of yo yo's.  So simple but so cute!

 

I make yo yo's while I watch TV so I have quite a few made but when I went to the thrift store on Monday, I found a shiny navy blue tote bag that begged to be decorated with something.  I immediately thought of my blue batik fabric so I made a few more yo yo's and the following two pictures show the transformation of a nice plain bag into a tote with yo yo personality!

Mostly I make yo yo's out of 30's fabric so before our quilt show a few weeks ago I decided to embellish my quilting shirt.  The collar is beginning to wear so I sewed yo yo's on the collar securing them with a button.  I planned to put them down the front but envisioned that I would look clownish so I just added one to the pocket.

This is a little bag from The Gap that needed to be perked up.  So I added a polka dot - yep - yo yo and another couple of embellishments and a few beads. 

Fabric bags just scream out for embellishing so the next one I do will be covered all over with 30's fabric yo yo's.  I love 30's fabric!  That one probably won't be for sale - it will be for me!

Tomorrow is our Farmgirls meeting.  We will have show and tell - just like in school.  It is fun to share ideas and I know I will come home with more ways to spend my waking moments!

"The purpose of life is not to be happy but to matter; to be productive, to be useful, to have it make a difference that you lived at all."

Take care!

Farmgirl Bonnie