Rain !

 Oh, heavenly Father, we celebrate you today as you bring rain to our parched land !  

 

Thank you

 for the blessings of this week,

 for hearing and answering our prayers, 

for your mercy that you extend to us, 

and for the forgiveness that you give to us at the cost of your son's precious blood !

And I personally thank you, dear LORD, for these 3 precious grandchildren who are quickly growing OUT OF childhood. Please protect them and guide them on their new adventures, and may they put you first in every decision.

The Hibiscus are blooming!

And they are quite beautiful, glory to God our maker !

This medium pink Hibiscus is growing out near the edge of my woods.

This one is my favorite, the only dark pink one that I have.

This one is my most prolific bloomer

This one is underneath and behind the mailbox, and I continually have to tie it back out of the way of our mail deliverer.  It will have to be moved this Fall.  Last year, it had a bit more pink to it than this year.

Rain, rain, glorious rain.......we've had lots of it !  The squash fell apart and curled up, but the cucumbers are producing fairly well.

Look at all that grass in there !   I told Hubby that I wasn't fooling with the vegetable garden, it was HIS responsibility, so.....Oh, well, he's enjoys it as is, so that's fine with me.

 I've made approximately 7 pints of sweet pickle slices, and we enjoy them with our supper.
The okra started really taking off, and now if we receive some dry heat, I'll be able to cook up a little mess for the hubby. (EDIT:  I actually was able to gather a little 'mess' just now !)

Sadly, the tomatoes are knobby little things, and some of the plants were ravaged by the biggest ol' tomato worms I've ever seen !   GROSS !

Peony.....I don't know what color !

And this is a Peony that Rose shared with me last month.  It looks like it is making itself at home, and I look forward to having my first blooming Peony next Spring !

Well, on the sewing front, I'm back to work on Jennifer's Contrary Wife top........after a short detour on another project !  I hope to be able to share pictures of that one as soon as I get word that it was received in the mail.

It's raining ! Praise the LORD !

And it is supposed to continue throughout the week, which is good timing because I have another commission to work on for Jodie Ann.  It will be a quilt top using the pattern, "Contrary Wife/Ornery Husband.

 It takes rain to keep me from doodling around in the flower gardens all day !

A quick tour this morning produced a few pictures.

This Lily is one that was here when I bought the place, but I think that this is only the second year that it has bloomed although this is my fifth summer here.

 The color of the orange is SO GORGEOUS, just a bit different from Tiger Lillies.

Hubby's garden plants are growing well with the exception of the little okra seedlings which don't seem to have changed much this week.

The tomatoes have bloom on most of the plants.

 The squash is blooming this morning, and has little baby squash all over the place....of course, we usually lose the first few to rot, and then they start to produce good, big specimens.

The cucumbers put out little 3/4 inch baby cukes, and then began to bloom.  He has put out SO MANY that I hope I'm able to can a few jars of the sweet pickles using the recipe that I tried two years ago.  They were a refrigerator pickle recipe that didn't have to be pressurized.

More rain......

....blessedly, we received a little bit more rain and some cooler temperatures over the last couple of days.

And it seems like since I decided I need a new quilt, the options just won't quit flitting through my senses !

I don't know WHAT design I'm going to do, but I've taken another step atleast.    I set up my cutting table at the end of my kitchen, so that I can keep the 'guest room' bed set up still.

I'll probably play around with a few ideas before starting in earnest.

I DID get a template made for this orange peel design that I'd like to start for carry-around work.

I have the photo labeled with the name KTQuilts.....credit to her, whoever that is (I find so much inspiration while I'm surfing quilty blogs !)

I go to a fun little auction on Tuesday and Saturday nights quite often, and I'm always lamenting the fact that I don't have any hand-work to do while I listen to the auctions that I DON'T want, waiting for that super bargain deal !  Appliqueing these peels onto 5 inch squares could be just the ticket, and the only way that I would ever get this type of quilt made.