Stampin Up for Archives

Been having fun stamping again. Here are my recent favorites for the archives before they get mailed off. I dropped the Melon Mambo card on the Smokey Slate ink pad just as I finished it. That was my favorite of the three in that series, too. My most favorite is the birthday card with the single flower punch, brad and linen thread in Old Olive and Season of Style DSP.

Flowering Flourishes in Smokey Slate, Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo
Simply Sketched sentiments.

Simply Sketched sentiments. Old Olive with Season of Style DSP.

Simply Sketched  in Garden Green with hand-dyed ribbon.

Yarn Shop Stop

Anne wants to crochet a a cowl for me for Christmas, so yesterday I stopped at Bonnie's Spinning Wheel in St. Cloud  to pick out some yarn. What a pick-me-up! I found myself stroking silky skeins something akin to Mr. Whiffle's squeezing Charmin, as Dad put it. That had not been a part of my plans! Nor had I expected to be inspired to pick up my needles again, but that is my response after seeing Bonnie's myriad of perfectly knitted and sewn samples around the store. I simply must get those mittens done, and then hit that children's hat and the socks I have been planning for years. Then I need to go buy some of the warm-hued Baby Crofter yarns in girly colors to go with the Baby Crofter pattern book which I purchased about four years ago. The hats and ponchos will still fit my little granddaughters since the pattern sizes go from ages 0 - 7.

I finally settled on some pink/peach/tan variegated skeins of Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace. It will match my peach turtleneck perfectly. Not sure what else yet, but I had to make a choice among so many options! On the way out I also grabbed a clever pair of knitting needle covers for the double pointed needle set which I purchased for doing my socks. Besides protecting such delicate needles, they will keep my project together while it sits on my end-table.

To hand crafts! Bye bye!

Sourdough Bread

I did it! I made my own yeast-free sourdough starter, and baked my first sourdough recipes, Buttery Sourdough Buns and Rustic Sourdough Bread. Both recipes were from King Arthur Flour. They both had a very fine texture and flavor, and were very moist.  I decided to make four small loaves of bread instead of two larger ones to suit our needs better. My next adventure will be using the unfed starter to make cinnamon rolls.

Buttery Sourdough Buns

Rustic Sourdough Bread

 Here is my annotated version of the King Arthur Flour directions for sourdough. Our house is very cold, so I had to set the starter bowl into another bowl of hot water and then store them both in the microwave - not running, of course.  

Sourdough Starter

Day 1. Combine scant cup of whole wheat or rye flour with ½ cup lukewarm, non-chlorinated water. Cover loosely. Let sit for 24 hours in a warm place (70 degrees).

Day 2. Stir down the starter. Discard half or use for another purpose. To the remaining half add a scant cup of unbleached white flour and ½ cup water.

Days 3, 4 and 5 or until starter is working sufficiently. Twice a day, as close to 12 hours apart as possible, Stir down the starter. Remove a generous ½ cup of starter and discard or use for another purpose. Add a cup of flour and ½ cup of water to the remaining starter and stir well.

Using starter

When starter is doubling every 6-8 hours it is ready to use. Pour off all but ½ cup of starter. Feed the starter 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of water. Let rest for eight hours. Take out what you need for the recipe, no more than a cup, and store the remaining starter in a glass container in the refrigerator until you are ready to start feeding it again. Feed the refrigerated starter once a week with the cup of flour and ½ cup of water, leaving it out of the refrigerator for two hours to warm up and start working, then returning it to the refrigerator.

Using refrigerated starter

Remove from refrigerator. Pour off or stir in any liquid which is on top of the starter. For half a cup of starter, add a scant cup of four and ½ cup of lukewarm water. Mix until smooth. Cover loosely and let rest for 12 hours. Feed again every 12 hours until starter is doubling or tripling in 6-8 hours.

Here are the links to their original directions:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/04/05/creating-your-own-sourdough-starter-the-path-to-great-bread/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/04/08/maintaining-your-sourdough-starter-food-water-and-time/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/buttery-sourdough-buns-recipe

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/rustic-sourdough-bread-recipe

Two Cookbooks

This summer I purchased two new cookbooks.

The first was a garage sale find, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette ( Broadway Books, New York, 1998). I am curious as to whether Brother Victor is a distant relative of St. Teresa of Avila, of course!  I have tried only one recipe from this book so far, Cream of Broccoli Soup. I did not like it. I was really disappointed in both the color and the flavor. The broccoli lost all of its green because it was in the pot for so long. I added a stick of butter to give it a bit more flavor, but I was still disappointed. I should have blended the soup just a tad longer before serving since the broccoli was a bit stringy in spite of peeling and chopping.  I am not a big fan of having to blend before serving, since it gets the blender and another pot dirty, making more clean-up work.

The second was Gourmet du Village Comfort Food by Linda McKenty, Ashley Tott and Mike Tott, Canada. I picked up this little gem at Crafts Direct for $2. They were selling it alongside several brightly colored single-serving casserole dishes which I was tempted to purchase, but I did not succumb. The recipes are single and double serving portions, perfect for the two of us. I have already made the Shepherd's Pie, the Coq au Vin, and the Chicken, Cheddar and Broccoli Frittata.. The Frittata took a bit of work to put together and required 20 minutes of waiting for breakfast while it baked, but it was good, and gave us a serving of vegetables to check off for the day. I could have drunk the leftover juice from the Coq au Vin. Hated to dump it since it was so good. I am anxious to try the lasagna, which uses a single lasagna noodle folded to make the layers. The recipe book calls for seasoning mixes which Gourmet du Village sells, but also includes instructions for measuring your own individual spices and seasonings. I appreciated that little courtesy. I look forward to making more recipes from this book in the future.

Lost and Found: Book Review

     Last evening I finished the book, Lost and Found by Danelle Helget (North Star Press of St. Cloud, St. Cloud, MN, 2011). I first heard about this book and the author by stopping at her booth at the Benton County Fair two years ago, I think. I like a good mystery. I am curious about local authors. I got the impression that the author was a Christian writer, and so I figured her book would be a safe read, meaning no offensive descriptions of sex. Her business card lay on our computer desk for quite some time before I got around to ordering a copy of the book on-line. Then, the book sat in my stack on the night stand until a couple of weeks ago.

     The first part of the book caught my attention and was a very quick read. By the time I got to the middle it was hard to keep going, since the book was a minute by minute narrative of Sara Martin's life over the period of about three weeks. I had to know how much alcohol she purchased at the liquor store and how much alcohol she and the other characters of the book consumed during their meals, dates and meetings. I had to know how many times she changed into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, or a "cute" sweater or "cute" heels, and how she fixed her hair, and how well she slept, or felt sick to her stomach, or which male was piquing her interest with no apparent relation to the outcome of the  story. Early in the book her exclamations of choice were "F***!" and "S***!". Towards the end of the book it changed to "Ugh!" Add to that a number of misused words such as alter for "altar", use to for "used to" and tell for "til", and I felt like  I was reading the work of a high school student.

     Helget's casual, unrealistic portrayal of Detective Derek Richards' work - traveling with Sara in the car, staying overnight in the cabin, engaging in physical contact with Sara while on the job, relying on Sara's help in the investigation and in bringing news of Lily's demise to her parents, made me think more of the unreality of  a television cop show than of the classic relationship between detective and layman one would find in an Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers novel.

     Was this a Christian story? From the standpoint of her portrayal of sex without the use of explicit detail, I would say yes. The main character also prayed and attended church services, elements of Christianity. Did Sara portray a good, Christian young woman? In my book, no. The characters gave credence to Sara's dreams, smacking more of spiritualism than of Christianity, or even of good detective work. Sara also expressed no repulsion to cohabitation, homosexuality, divorce and remarriage, or drunkenness. She was hailed as a strong character for immediately dumping her husband after learning of his adultery and staying committed to that decision without a thought to the need to forgive or to observe the vow,  "til death do us part".

     Was this a good read? If you are looking for fluff, go for it.

     Will I look for the next two Sarah Martin mysteries? Not sure. Maybe if I find them on the second-hand market at a cheap price, and if I need something mindless to read.

Oat Bran Muffins

Here is one of my latest go-to muffin recipes. It is modified slightly from a recipe by Christina Koopmeiners (Rest in peace.) from the St. Mary Help of Christians Country Kitchens II of St. Augusta. (St. Anne Christian Women of St. Augusta, MN, circa 1991.) My copy of the cookbook has fallen apart after much use. They have either re-printed it or still have old copies, but I have not yet sprung for a new one.  The first time I made Christina's recipe I used Quaker oat bran. I have since found a much cheaper source for oat bran, Swany Mill Flour in Freeport, Minnesota. The Quaker oat bran had a much finer texture, but Swany Mill is a fourth of the price even after shipping, and is local.

Oat Bran Muffins


2-1/4 cups uncooked oat bran
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in moist ingredients all at once. Put in greased or papered muffin tins. Sprinkle with nuts, sugar crystals or brown sugar as desired. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Makes 12-15 muffins.

Variation - add 1/2 to one cup dried cranberries, cherries, nuts or raisins.

Shaklee to the Rescue

My Shaklee did it again! Last week I helped Anne sort through a bunch of baby clothes. I brought home a shirt which I had purchased on clearance at Gymboree for Ariana which she had worn maybe once. It had a set-in stain, but I did not want to part with it because it was so cute. I decided to soak it overnight in a pail of water with my Shaklee Nature Bright, this time actually following the directions on the package. (Normally I just throw the Nature Bright into the washing machine and never bother to pre-soak.) Since I had to soak that shirt I threw a couple of my stained shirts into the pail as well. (I have a thing for splattering grease and sauce as I cook, and do not always use an apron, in case you are wondering! I also spill when I eat.) All came out spankin' clean. Great saves.

Spankin' clean for the next grandchild.

I finished all of my embroidered quilt squares. The fabric for  backing and latticing is washed and ready to press and cut. I will be tight on fabric, so I did not want to cut any before pressing. I am not looking forward to working with an 11 yard piece. I have already started embroidering the squares which Alice brought in for the next quilt. Something about them which makes me want to sit down and get them all done.

Two more quilts to bind for St. Anthony's. This time I am going to sew around the edge of the quilt before attaching the binding, to see if that eliminates stretch. I was very disappointed in the last binding I did, since the top fabric stretched in one direction, and the bottom in another. I am not sure why. Either one of the fabrics was a blend, or it was because the backing piece was cockeyed in the frame, or perhaps I was working in too crowded a space to support the weight of the quilt when I had it on the machine. I hope this one turns out better.

We completed our 33 Days to Morning Glory class at Holy Spirit. I had done my consecration to Mary privately a few years ago using St. Louis de Montfort's Preparation for Total Consecration. When this class came up, however, I decided I would go as a renewal. I am glad that I did. Fr. Gaitley's book combined Louis de Montfort, Maximillian Kolbe, Mother Teresa and John Paul II to give a fresh look at Marian consecration. His answers to practical questions, such as which prayers to use for the consecration, the annual renewal of consecration and attitude after consecration were helpful to me in living the consecration daily. He quoted Maximillian Kolbe as saying that the consecration involves an act of the will, not continuous 'thought, memory or sentiment...' Kolbe says that once we make our consecration we do not have to continually renew it, since once it is done, it is done, and we do not take it back. This was also affirmed in another way through my reading from the Opus Sanctorum Angelorum Formation Letters, which state that it would  be impossible to be always thinking of offering up the activities of the present moment: the morning offering is sufficient to include everything. I found comfort in Kolbe's saying that Mary works behind the scenes, as it were, directing our actions, inspiring us, multiplying our good and cleaning up our mess, even when we are not consiously thinking of her. Our part is to have fervent recourse to her. I know that I did not take in everything the book has to offer. I am sure I will want to re-read it in the future. I highly recommend it both to those who have already made their consecration, and those who wish to make it in the future. I am including a picture of the candle which we received on consecration day, as well as the creative name tag made by our group leader, Sarah Howard. She did a terrific job leading our group.

Cookie Day

We are finally having rain after a month of none. In the past two weeks St. Cloud has had a couple of good rains, while the showers missed us. Our lawn is brown, and many of my flowers have gone dormant. I am grateful for the good downpour. My rain  buckets will be filled again, too.

I spent much of the early afternoon looking up candidate information so that I know whom to vote for in the primary election this Tuesday. Then I decided to make cookies. (See Oatmeal Cinnamon Chips Cookies blog on 9/24/13). For some reason I grabbed the muffin scoop. Once I got to the pan I thought, "Why not?", so we have jumbo cookies instead of regular. They are a  bit faster to scoop out. I'll have to try it again.

I had already planned on making meatballs today since I will have leftovers to take to my mom's house tomorrow. I had stopped at Byerlys for some of their specials yesterday, and found that if I purchased two pounds of hamburger, the price was $2.99 per pound instead of the $5-ish per pound which I would pay at either Byerlys or Coborns. That was a good deal. I am trying a new recipe from The Drummer newspaper out of Wright County, my latest favorite clip and try place. I will substitute oatmeal for the bread crumbs, sage for the poultry seasoning, and milk for the spaghetti sauce. But this recipe has Parmesan cheese in it, so I thought it would be something different to try. It also calls for a whole teaspoon of pepper,  a half cup of dried parsley, and no onions or garlic. Sounds very different. Used my muffin scoop to measure the meatballs, too.

Back to Byerlys. The raspberries which I purchased were huge and delicious. Too bad I did not buy yogurt. I also grabbed two bags of their Lunds & Byerlys Kettle Chips. Again, the price looked comparable to what I would pay at Coborns, and I was after a flavor which would taste like the peppery, cheesy kettle chips which I had with my Liquid Assets sandwich the day  before. We tried the Buffalo Blue Cheese flavor yesterday. Not what I had at Liquid Assests. They were good, with a definite blue cheese taste. Good enough for me to polish off the rest of the bag today. They would not be my first choice, however.

Tonight I hope to machine stitch the binding onto a quilt so I can do the hand stitching in front of a good PBS Mystery.

Tumbleweed Tavern Revisited

When I stepped out into the kitchen this morning I remembered that we had been stamping yesterday, and that I still have stamping supplies to pick up. Not my favorite way to face the morning. Still, I liked the congratulatory card that I finished last night, and the card that Anne made for Ian. I think the kids enjoyed their stamping, too.

Our Goddaughter had a birthday to celebrate, so last evening we agreed to meet her mom and dad at the Tumbleweed Tavern in St. Anna. One of their boys frequents the place, so they  were game. When they got out of the van I had to remark that they  were all wearing the same color of blue shirt. We had to get a picture. While my previous post about the Tumbleweed was enthusiastic, this latest visit was not so much to write home about. One of the downsides was that our waitress was overextended. Our food took a long time to come, and we had to ask for more silverware. I was looking forward to some kind of fried chicken, which outside of a chicken basket, was not on the menu. I really debated the Buffalo Chicken Wrap after Maria pointed it out, but decided against it because I thought it would be too hot. I had a Cowboy Burger instead. It was good,  but a little bit awkward to eat. Between the round rye bun and the burger it was more like trying to bite into a ball instead of a patty. I pulled out the knife which had been served thrust into the bun, and the knife handle felt greasy. Eeeew. Not so appetizing. I repressed the squeeming and cut my burger in half  so I would have a point to start eating. That worked much better. I did not dare lift the bun to apply catsup or mustard for fear it would fall apart, so I just dipped it in the side of homemade barbeque sauce which I had ordered. The sauce was sweet and delicious. The Cowboy Burger was supposed to have American cheese on it. I did not look to see if it was there, and cannot particularly remember tasting it. The onions were remarkable, tasting like they had been simmered in beer. Hmmm. The one thing I missed on my plate was a nice slice of salty pickle. Arthur ordered a beer of which the waitress had given him a sample, but she was forced to come back and inform him that then they were out.  For some reason the cook thought that Arthur had requested extra crispy onion rings, so his onion rings came burned, and inedible. They gave him a new order, but I noticed that afterwards he and Randy were remarking on the bottom of the basket. Sounded like it was filled with grease. Maria had a peppercorn burger with mac and cheese bites. She commented that it was too hot. She gave me a slice for tasting. I thought the pepper was quite strong. I did not get a macaroni bite in my portion, Mary had the Southwest Cilantro Chicken Wrap, which was too spicy for her taste as well. I am not sure that she knew that cilantro tastes hot before she ordered, or if the wrap was exceptionally loaded. Randy had barbeque ribs with broccoli. He said the broccoli was very good, soaked in the juice from the ribs. He made it sound good to me, too! He took a portion of his ribs home. On a scale from one to ten, I would have rated this visit about a five. Perhaps if we try it again I will go for the Buffalo Chicken Wraps, or the special, whatever it might be.  Randy took some pictures, so you do get a shot of the bottom of the beautiful mural.

Tumbleweed Tavern

Physonata Unipunctata Continued

I am enjoying an accidental picking of the last of one of my delphiniums. I purchased three 3" pots @.99 cents each last spring. This year's flowers were beautiful. However, the bind weed also thrives in that part of the yard. I pulled this part of the plant off as I was dead-heading and weeding around the delphiniums. Today I found two gallon pots of delphiniums in white and lavender on clearance for $2.97 each, so I sprang for them. The more, the merrier.

I believe I am winning the war against my physonata unipunctata, otherwise known as the one-spotted tortoise beetle, or bergamot beetle. I found only four crawling on the leaves. Below is a picture of a ravaged stalk, showing some of the damage. The damage is less visible in the second photo, but many of the leaves are eaten. There are some blossoms. I am hoping that I have curtailed the reproductive process a bit so that next year's plants will be healthier.

The presence of the larvae on new plantings makes me wonder. Were the eggs always present in the soil, waiting for the right host to come along? What would they have  fed on before the monarda, if they have always been around? How far might they have traveled to get to my plants? Did they come from the nursery in the form of eggs in the soil when I bought my plants? I saw an internet reference to the physonata unipuncta eggs in Minnesota soil in 1917, but not much else.

Good Eats

Yesterday Arthur and I went out to Olive Garden for a date night. We did the Two for $25 meal deal, which included soup or salad, bread sticks, our entrees and a dessert to share. I am not a huge fan of ravioli or tortellini stuffed with cheese, but one of the selections was ravioli di portabello, so I decided to try it for something different. I really enjoyed it, enough to comment on it several times after dinner. It had a smokey cheese and tomato sauce with garlic. I also tried the rosato sparkler, which was a rose wine with cranberry juice and a splash of ginger ale. That had a good, tart flavor. I always wonder if we will get enough to eat when I see the "two-fer" entrees arrive, but we had more than enough to feel full. As usual, I had extra salad to try to balance out the pasta!

At the St. Joe parade today we got a coupon for half an order of onion rings at the Tumbleweed Tavern in St. Anna. Since it was fish day, I suggested to Arthur that we go there for dinner. Kind of a make-up thing for the Joe burgers we did not have after the parade! I do not remember what the name of the bar was before it became the Tumbleweed Tavern. We used to drive past it on our trips up to Flensburg so we were familiar with where it was, but we never stopped in. We opted for the fish sandwich rather than the fish dinner, since the fish sandwich was deep-fried and the dinner fish was not. Also, the dinner came with vegetables, and we are not big fans of restaurant vegetables; they are usually over-cooked. Suffice it to say that we could have split one meal between us. The sandwiches were huge! The fish alone was probably the equivalent of eating two planks of pollack from the Watkins Legion fish fry. Then there were the buns, lettuce and potatoes. The buns were toasted and  buttered. We also received a slice of lemon and tarter sauce on the side. Arthur had the French fries. I decided to pay to upgrade to the side of garlic taters just to try them. I was expecting pre-seasoned tater tots, and instead I got tater tots loaded with minced, sauteed garlic - tons of it. I took one look at it and thought, there would be gastrointestinal repercussions of the foulest kind after this meal! The flatulence, that is. Garlic is great for the heart, and also good for promoting healthy bacteria in the colon! Fortunately for my husband, I only ate a few, and brought the rest home for another meal some other time. Then there was the half order of onion rings. My first thought was to ask the waitress what they did to make the breading stick to the onions, but I refrained so she would not have to reveal any trade secrets. The onion rings had a good beer flavor. Both the fish and the onion rings were piping hot, so much so that we had to eat slowly in order not to burn our mouths. I like my restaurant food hot, so appreciated it. The dining area had a beautiful mural reminiscent of the lakes, hills and farms of the Avon area. The owner of the restaurant introduced herself to us, and told us she and her husband purchased the bar about a year ago. They are slowly working on improving the decor. When we were there we were almost alone, so it was difficult to judge how the noise would be if it were full, but the drive to St. Anna was an easy one, and the fish was as good or better than other fish fries we go to. The price was very reasonable for fish, $8.99. The drinks were also very reasonably priced, $1.75 for a bottle of MGL, and $1.25 for a can of Ginger Ale. They have a clean, sandy volleyball pit in the back, and an enclosed porch with cushy patio furniture for drinks. It looked inviting.

My humble opinions, as ever! Bon Appetit!

Bee Balm Beetles

Here are some images of my bee balm beetles after a week. I am still picking them off in large quantities. As you can see in the second image, there are a few buds on the monarda, but it is well eaten, and full of bug droppings. Each time I go out I see tops which have turned dry because they have been eaten through. The beetles  continue to drown when I knock them in to my water and Basic H mixture.

On a brighter note, my brother had requested that I save some Bleeding Heart seeds from the plants at my mom's house. I was wondering how I would do that. Last Monday when I was at my mom's, I saw a bunch of seed pods hanging off of the plants. I obviously did not remember that they form pods. At any rate, I picked several which were still green as I was heading for my car. I threw the pods into my plastic car cup and drove home. I left the cup in my car for a few days 'til I was ready to bring it into the house. In the meantime, the pods dried and burst open. Seeds, ready to plant. I will mail them off  when I get a "round tuit".

We went to the parade and festival in St. Joe today. I was surprised at all of the people marching in the parade whom I recognized, from homeschoolers to politicians to businessmen. Ariana was afraid of all of the fire and police sirens and the loud trucks. On the other hand, she liked the horses and wanted to pet them. She also liked the water fountain on the Woods Farmer Seed and Nursery float. I wanted to call out to Woods, "Hey! Remember me? I'm the lady who bought the 16 bags of mulch yesterday!" I was dying for a Joe Burger, but the line was very long, and it started raining. The first time I went to the St. Joe festival was when I was working at St. Ben's the summer between freshman and sophomore years. I thought the Joe cones and Joe Burgers quite the riot. I was single then, so did not mind waiting in the blazing sun for a burger. The parish now has a new parish center which they use for the country store and fancy stands. I did purchase a dolly quilt and pillow for the dollies at Grandma's house. Otherwise there was little to do.

Another link on the  horsemint, or bee balm beetle: http://www.fnanaturesearch.org/index.php?option=com_naturesearch&task=view&id=1622

Garden Pests

With all of the rain we have had this year my flower gardens are the lushest,  most bloom-filled I have ever had. The johnny jumps went crazy and filled in all sorts of holes. The daisies and lamb's ears sent out seeds and shoots to fill in their end of the garden. The lilies have multiplied over the years to create a large drift. Besides the rain, it might also have helped  because I sprinkled the beds with Osmocote and added compost in a few places.

My only disappointment has been with the bee balm, which for the second year has been severely damaged before bloom time. Last year I attributed its poor performance to drought. This year I decided to investigate. I found my plants loaded with these bugs, which are probably the bee balm beetle, or one-spotted tortoise beetle. Their excrement makes them appear as if they have fish tails.  I could not find any method of pest control for them, so I resorted to washing my plants down with Shaklee Basic H, and then hand-picking. My first picking was around June 20th. A week later the bugs were turned mostly to yellow beetles with one small black spot on each side of their shell. Yesterday I went out for my third picking, and found only four or five beetles on the undersides of the leaves. Four or five of the stalks have been  completely eaten, and others are half eaten, but the rest look very healthy. Several stalks have buds on them. I am sure now that they will thrive.

The rains brought the return of a second pest, the Japanese beetle, which occupies my rose bushes almost every year. Last year I did not have them. I decided to try hand picking those as well to see if I can keep them under control. They seem to congregate several on a bud, so yesterday I was able to shake a few buds to get most of them off. (Heaven forbid that I would actually touch one of them with my  bare hands! Eeew!) As with the tortoise beetle, I dumped them into a solution of water with a squirt of Basic H. They drowned in a matter of seconds. (The tortoise beetles died instantly.)

I ripped out the last of the landscape fabric which I had in the yard around my climbing rose and cranberry bushes. I hate that stuff. There were no weeds growing through it, but many weeds growing on top of it. The weed roots seem to cling to the landscape fabric, making them harder to pull out than if I were just pulling them out of the ground. Besides that the stuff never seems to stay covered. The mulch which I had put on top of the fabric had disintegrated and turned into a reddish  soil. The lilies which I planted in that section  just this spring are ready to bloom. Some of them look as though the rabbits have gotten them, though. All the more reason to trim back the forsythia bush, so that the cat can have easy access to the little buggers. I have seen cottontails in the neighborhood a couple of times, and I have also seen cottontail fuzz in the yard, so I believe one of them and Gracie have had at least one close encounter.

I had a woodpecker at my mesh finch feeder this morning. I was a bit surprised,  given that I had peanuts on the table feeder on one side of it, and whole sunflower seeds in the feeder on the other side. The birds have not touched Ariana's leftover graham crackers, which I put on the table feeder.

June First

I was digging through the trash to find a plant tag from the church flowers, and found the ornamental grass tag for my pot at home. It is Blue Mohawk, juncus inflexus. The name does do justice, since the spikes stick straight up.

I went nursery-hopping the other day looking for replacement plants for the Mary Garden at St. John Cantius. The original plan  was to find some poppies to go with the two small plants which are already there. I was not successful in finding reds, so I decided to go with the pink Veronica which I found in sufficient quantity at Woods Farmer Seed and Nursery.  I went to plant them and noticed that Benjamin bunny had topped off one of my new oriental lilies. Time to add some used cat litter to the beds to see if it will be an effective deterrent.  

In the process of looking for the poppies I found toadflax, linaria purpurea. Toadflax has a history for me. I originally saw this plant at the botanical garden in St. Louis, Missouri while we were visiting Fr. Scott Daniels at St. Louis University several years ago. I thought it interesting and pretty, so wrote the plant name in my book. I could not find any information when I looked it up later, and have never seen it in a nursery. ( I bet I had typed it into the computer as two separate words.)  I was pleasantly surprised, then, to see it at the Plant Place at Cash-Wise East.. I purchased a pot to bring home. It appeared again the next day when we toured the Como Park Conservatory, much to my delight. The conservatory plants were huge in their warm habitat compared to mine, but I am still excited to be able to watch it grow.The tag does say it is zone 3 hardy.

A bit more grass sprouting around the yard. It is about the time for the seed which I purchased from Woods to make its appearance. Next year I will skip the Scott's and purchase all of my lawn seed at Woods, since their seed is not supposed to have all of the annual grass seed in the mix.

More gardening

Arthur has the week off, so I am on vacation as well. I was feeling very overwhelmed with two quilts to bind, the Mary Garden to plant, and my own garden needing weeding badly, so yesterday I spent the day outdoors. After morning mass, grocery shopping and breakfast I headed to Scenic Specialties in St. Joe to purchase flowers for myself, the Mary Garden, and my mom.

Scenic Specialties had not received any zinnias or snap dragons (although I found a tray of snap dragons hidden under a rack latter), two essentials for the Mary Garden, so I had to re-think my flowers. I went with colors that jumped out at me, orange and pink dahlias, orange-yellow marigolds, pink petunias, and a white vinca with a pink eye. I was not sure  that vincas had a Marian name, but I thought I would go with them anyway. The colors are very tropical, and beautiful. Turns out that vinca is the same as a periwinkle, which is Marian. The snapdragon colors which I saw later did not appeal to me, so I am much happier that I went with the periwinkles.

For my own pots I went with purples once again. Some of my blue petunias came up from seed in the pot, so I wanted something that would coordinate reasonably with them. I purchased three pots of African daisies for the first time. I also passed on the obligatory spike and chose an ornamental grass which the S.S. employee pointed out to me. Much more texture. I threw out the tag, so can't give the name, but the stems look like chives, and feel like the chive stems after they have flowered and become woody. They had a beautiful orange coleus which I would have loved for my shade bed, but they came only in single pots, and the price was quite prohibitive. Instead I settled for green and white coleus and red-violet impatiens.

For my mom's front yard I got the usual mix of impatiens.

All plants planted. At church I had to make several trips to the rectory to fill up my watering can, since the hose is not in place yet. I chalked it up to exercise. I should have had my pedometer on to track the steps. Of course, I forgot to bring my fertilizer in the car, so the bed at church which I so wanted to fertilize when I planted did not get done. After planting my pots at home, I dumped the rest of my potting soil in the tire and
put the coleus and impatiens in. It looks very good. I fertilized and weeded around my Endless Summer hydrangea, threw fertilizer around the rest of my perennials, and did a  bunch of weeding while digging out valerian, cat mint and daisies for my sister Janice. It was about 8:00 P.M. by the time I came in for my shower. Good timing, since my neighbor had started spraying his lawn, and the herbicide was more than I cared to breathe in. I abandoned all hanging pots this year.  I feel better for all of the work which I got done. The seedlings in the beds at church will just have to wait.

Oh, and some of my new grass seed has sprouted. Good deal. Now, to finish raking up acorns and dig up some dandelions!

After my shower I went downstairs to iron some clothes for the week. After three shirts my iron started spewing rust water. Two shirts are now  back in the laundry pile. The rust was leaking out of the  bottom of the sole plate, which means it must have rusted out somewhere on the bottom. The iron also stopped heating, just like that. The cats have not even knocked it over recently. Monday morning that means we have to go shopping for a new iron, and an alarm clock. I cannot even sew or stamp and embroidery pattern, which I had set out to do yesterday, without an iron. Of course, I do have that old cast-iron iron of Grandma's which I could use in an emergency, but not the wood stove top to heat it up with! The alarm clock will be for the spare bedroom so that if my snoring gets too loud, Husband can go sleep in there. Of course, it will also be handy for the times I have to sleep in there with Ariana.

Enough for now. Time to do my garden report for church. I have to do last year's report before I can start this year's.

How does your garden grow?

I had to do a yard walk again this evening. Status Report.

September Charm Anemonies up.
Lady's Mantle up. That is a first for me! I have tried Lady's Mantle in my garden a few times before, but have not been able to keep them alive. That this one survived the hot summer and very cold (normal) Minnesota winter is a great sign.
Patricia Geranium up. Other new geranium up.
Jacob's Ladder up.
Johnny Jump-Ups up and spreading like crazy, at last! I have been trying to get them established in my flower beds for years.
Daisy transplants from the St. Marcellus Mission Group garage sale also multiplying like crazy, just as I wanted.
Columbines thriving. The more, the merrier! I saw three or four in the back shade bed. Yippee! I'll find out soon enough if one of my McKana Giants survived.
Honey Suckle bush gone. Ripped the rest of it out a few days ago. I am sure I will be pulling up suckers for several years to come, but pulling out that mildew-infested shrub opened up my garden nicely.
Husband reports that the aparagus is also up. I told him the rhubarb was doing well, too, to which he responded that one of those two plants is edible. The rhu-barbs will continue for the rest of our lives, I am sure.

Tomorow I hope to do some raking and put down some grass seed. Then the weeding needs to begin again.

More Stampin Up



Designed and made by Mary Lehn

I had to share this fun  card designed and made by my friend and Stampin Up demonstrator, Mary Lehn. I saved it to remember her use of two colors for the background. I want to copy her technique. The stamp set is fun. I like Stampin Up's use of the patterns on the balloon and gift stamps, and on the owl's breast. The colors Mary chose are both cheerful and restful. The party banner balances the picture well. The leaves on the tree branch are so cool.

I started attending another monthly stamp camp series with Betty Weisbrich. Participants have to attend for four months, and are required to spend a minimum of $20 on products each month. During one of those months I receive the hostess benefits. I have so many SU products that I want that spending that amount each month will be no problem! Quite a change from years ago when the only thing I ordered was paper. (I am still using my stash.) I am hopefully shopping wiser now. For each stamp pad I order I am purchasing the ink refill. I did not do that previously, and my inks are drying out before my paper is used up. Most of the old colors have been discontinued, and now it is too late. I have also decided that if I buy a particular set for which there are matching pieces like designer series papers, roller stamps or punches, I may as well get the accessories to maximize the use of the stamp set. I had decided at my last party to forgo the purchase of the Big Shot and instead concentrate on punches. I might change my mind on that later! I might swing the scoring pad during my hostess month. A few more weeks and I will be able to tell.

I am making headway on my quilting. Maria's quilt, so called because I had her start it when she was at my house for a sewing day, is nearing completion. We had intended it for Catholic Charities, but it may be nice enough when finished to give to Quilt Bingo. The colors were mostly from my boxes of five inch squares, but they coordinate well, and with a border added, it will  be big enough for St. Anthony's. The decider will be some pieces which were printed off-grain, and some pieces which we could not tell which side was the right or wrong side while we were sewing, and so the colors look slightly different. I am really happy about how well the colors work together, though. It is a mixture of aqua blues and peaches.

Quilting

I finished my second UFO quilt this past week. I did a Disappearing Nine Patch out of my stash of five inch squares. I goofed in cutting a few spots, and sewed some of the patches in different orders so that the finished quilt had some seams which were flipped the wrong way. Nex time I will know what to watch for.  The colors were dull on this one. Next time I will choose  brighter, more coordinated pieces and sew them in random order,  or go totally scrappy. (I saw a scrappy done with red as the center piece instead of  black, and I liked it very much.) I ran out of fabric cutting borders because I did not pre-measure, so I did mix and match. I did not like that. I called it a practice quilt and donated it to Catholic Charities. I can come up with something nicer for St. Anthony's. After all, it is not as if I am out of fabric! 

One more top to complete, but I have been sort of cheating by pressing and cutting the laundry basket of scraps (old clothes) which Mary gave me. Those  fabrics are vintage, but because they are used, will go into something for Cathoic Charities, or for dolly blankets.

I purchased backs for some St. Anthony's quilts, so pieced those and cut and sewed binding. I was thinking that quilting is an awful lot of work by the time all of the piecing, quilting, and binding is finished. I cannot imagine the time it would take to do an entire quilt by hand, and with templates drawn on scraps instead of fabric cut with a rotary cutter. We are very spoiled today as compared to what our grandmothers had to do. The quilting ladies comment about how they used to have to quilt on both sides of a seam when they used wool batting, and how they had to periodically take the quilts apart,  re-card the wool and then re-quilt them.

My mom said that at home they sewed a muslin strip along the top of the quilts to keep them clean. My aunt said that other than hanging the quilts outside and letting the rain run through them, they did not wash their quilts. Given the delicacy of used fabric, possibly hand-sewn, I can sure understand why. I would not relish the thought of having to hand wash and rinse a quilt in a bathtub, and then having to haul the wet thing somewhere to lay it out until it was dry. As Anne would say, "Wheeeew!".

Mom's Quilt

Mom's quilt is finally finished. Now I can move on to other projects waiting for completion.

Mom started this quilt  before she got married, so that puts it before 1942. She was never able to finish it. It sat in her bedroom closet for many years. our cat, Midnight, had kittens in the box of all of the pieces one year. My sister Diane took it out to finish it after she had done some of her own quilting. She and Janice sorted through the pieces. They had to toss a few. One of them finished the applique on a few pieces, and I finished some of the embroidery. Then they purchased material for sashing and borders. I started the hand quilting several years ago, but was unsure of how to procede after doing the sashing, so I set it aside. A couple of years ago one of my quilting friends gave me some hints as to how to complete it. We were able to present it to my mom this month on her 93rd birthday.

I have to say that when I did the embroidery, I was just learning how, and it looks awful. Same with the first quilting that I did. My stitches were toe catchers! If I had known then what I know now....My sister Janice, who has since had much more quilting experience, also says she would have chosen different batting. And of course, reproduction fabrics came out after Diane picked out fabric for sashing. It is difficult to match fabrics from one manufacturer to another, let alone to try to match colors from a different year, or colors on fabric which has aged, so it was a challenging project.

Mom's original work was very meticulous. The fabric pieces used for the applique have their own charm, as do the embroidery accents around the appliqued figures. I feel bad that we did not get a history of any of the fabrics while Mom was still able to remember. I am very glad that it is finished.

Stamping

I have been trying to use up all of my old paper from Stampin' Up so I can buy some of the new colors. I am finding that I like the simplicity of some of the newest stamps. Here are some of my creations.