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“I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you. “ Exodus 31:6


“O Thou who art the all pervading glory of the world, we bless Thee for the power of beauty to gladden our hearts.
We praise Thee that even the least of us may feel a thrill of the creative joy when we give form and substance to our thoughts and, beholding our handiwork, find it good and fair. “.
Walter Rauschenbusch


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"Come, and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD woud not have listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!" Psalm 66:16-20
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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Gardening news

My Silver Fox !
The squash plants just exploded with growth after a week of flooding rains.

They put out TONS of baby squash, and then about 3/4th of the babies rotted !  But we have picked 7 or 8 or so beautiful big squash and shared them already with family and neighbors.

I'm having trouble getting my fried squash to stay crisp this year, though.  By the time I get them onto my dinner plate, they're soft and floppy and I have trouble swallowing them.  If they were crisp, they would break up better with my teeth, and swallowing would be easier, I think.

The cucumbers don't look great AT ALL, but they're covered in blooms, and I did pick one that was about 6 inches long today.   I couldn't chew it, so I hope to pickle some and give some away.  I also picked one of the MANY bell peppers that are covering those plants.   The tomato plants are loaded, and have yielded one red small one and one nearly red medium-sized one thus far.  The okra plants are slow but steady.

I tried to use the alphabet characters on the new sewing machine to write something on a t-shirt, but I guess that solvy stabilizer was not the right choice for backing it, because the machine's throat plate ATE the t-shirt.   Very disappointing, but difficult to get much information on procedure online.

Otherwise, the only sewing I have done is to make a strip and flip style toilet rug for my little bathroom.

 I used a towel as a backing, and started with a half-block (these were all from my scrap basket).

Then I just started adding a strip at a time to the two sides of the half block, working my way up the drawn outline of the shape that I wanted to finish with.  After all of the piecing, I cut out my final shape and then bound the edges with bias binding.  I used my old dependable Singer machine as this became quite thick in places.

I hope to be able to make a matching rug to go in front of the tub.


4 comments:

  1. Dolly, your toilet mat is beautiful! If you ever start a little business let me know =) Your garden looks like something out of a magazine.....good for you friend! I know everything is a lot of work. It seems I am target practice for mosquitoes this year. They know how to make me suffer. I've been reading up a storm, so the muggy weather has some benefits! And I love the scenery....it is a gorgeous summer.

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  2. Hiya! I like the big vine and garden background for your blog! Your real garden is looking lovely too! Glad to see you getting creative with quilting!

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  3. Hi Dolly, just coming by to say hello. This is a busy time of year and this heat and humidity makes me barely able to function. Seriously. I hope you and your hubby are staying cool and I'll see you next time!

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Thanks for stopping by !