Decorating Inspiration for Small Spaces

Thanks so much to Aly for dropping by and sharing a favorite blogger. Here are pictures of Delight's little house. Very inspirational!

Today's Walk

We walked out in the marshes again today. Here is a picture of the largest marsh. Just makes you think mosquitoes, doesn't it? FarmBoy got bitten, despite wearing the Buzz Off insect-repellent shirt I bought him for his birthday.

He is just an attractive, lovable guy.

More Tiny Houses

I don't know why I love these little houses so much, but I do. Here are some more.

Birthday Girl

Somebody has a 75th birthday tomorrow. We all had fun having dinner together tonight. Lots of reminiscing. Lots of laughs.
Doesn't she look pretty and shimmery and golden?

Katrina Cottages

Does anyone else think that this is pretty intriguing? Katrina Cottages at Lowe's.
There are some more photos here on Flickr, too. These little houses can be really quite beautiful.

Kitchen Window Still Life

Better Pictures of the Blue Quilt

Here are better shots of the whole blue quilt. This one is my favorite so far because of the hand-quilting. I discovered that I enjoy that part of quilting very much, even though it takes a lot of hours to do. As you can see, the quilt is made up of fifteen squares, and each took just over and hour to quilt.

The top went quickly, though. I used the random piecing method again, which goes very fast. I just ripped fabrics into three-inch wide strips of various lengths, then sewed them together end to end. I then cut that one long strip into fifteen strips of about 70 inches in length each. These I sewed into three lengths, each five strip wide. These then were cut to make the squares.

This is another small quilt, just 45 by 70 inches. Just right for a child to snuggle up in.

A Kindred Spirit

Amy's post at Happy Things so spoke to my heart today. Here is the link. Do you feel the way Amy and I do about such things?

Colonel Puckering Quilt

I finished another quilt today, this one a collaborative effort. Kate wanted a quilt for her bedroom, and picked delicious and daring fabrics which I never would have thought to put together. Today we found a teddy-bear soft throw to use for the back, and I finished it up. What a gorgeous result!
(Thanks to Kate for the photo, too, and for the wonderful name.)

Blue Quilt, Put Right to Use

It was gratifying to go downstairs this morning, and see the new blue quilt crumpled in a chair. Someone put it right to use. That's what it was made for.

Golf Course Walk

Kate and I walked around the Chamber's Creek golf course today. It was five miles of trees, sand, water, sky, and huge hills.

We loved every minute of it.

So Many Stitches

No complete picture yet, because it's 11:47 p.m., quite dark, and the photo taken with a flash turned out bad. So this is just an announcement that I just now finished the blue quilt. This one took a little longer, because I hand quilted it. (Some of the many stitches are pictured here on the right.)

I really did it!

Berry Time

I ran out of berries for my breakfasts, so FarmBoy agreed to pick some with me on our walk this afternoon. I picked enough blackberries, the first of the summer, for my yogurt in the morning. We also found some black raspberries, which he called Black Caps, the first I had ever encountered. They looked just like raspberries on a raspberry bush, but the red ones are still "green" and the ripe ones are just the color of ripe blackberries. They were too tart to be good off the bush, but I added sugar to them at home, and made them into syrup for our dinner of whole wheat pancakes. Yum!

Best of all, though, on our walk today, were the thimble berries, which we ate right off the bush. They produce lots and lots of foliage, with few berries, as seen above. But they are worth scrounging around for. They are very sweet and have a nice texture, like fresh strawberry jam right off of a bush. Highly recommended!

Humanitarian Reminder

My husband and I helped out with packaging food orders for the needy on Wednesday, and I was able to purchase and bring home this bag of nonfat dry milk from the storehouse. As I cut it open today to begin a batch of yogurt, I was touched by the many languages on the bag. I was reminded of all of the good-hearted people who labor regularly to be sure that the hungry are fed throughout the world.

Can you identify the five different languages on this bag?

Sunday Shots of Green

Thanks to Kate for these beautiful pictures from over by the water. Didn't get out today myself. I'm glad she was able to, and that she brought back and shared these healing views.

Neighborhood Walk

Met a New Friend on Our Walk Today

Homemade Yogurt Revisited

I keep tweaking my yogurt recipe, and the results get better and better. Here are the supplies for my latest version. My new discovery is that I can use the whey I drain off of one batch as the liquid in another. Here's how it's done.

At about 9 a.m., I begin the first batch by mixing two cups of dry milk powder into two cups of warm water in a clean quart jar. I stir about a quarter cup of good plain yogurt into this as a starter, fill the jar to the brim with water, and place the lidded jar into the yogurt maker, and plug it in.

About twelve hours later, 9 p.m., the quart jar is now filled with warm yogurt, which I pour gently into a strainer lined with a coffee filter. The strainer sits inside a larger bowl to catch the whey. This all goes into the refrigerator.

About twelve hours after that, 9 a.m., I have delicious, thick, creamy yogurt in the strainer, and whey in the bowl underneath. I use that whey in place of some of the water in a new quart jar, as I begin another batch of yogurt, and I eat the freshly drained yogurt with berries and homemade crunchy wheat cereal. This breakfast is delicious and very nutritious, and inexpensive as well.

The Morning After

It is always good to count fingers and toes on the fifth of July, and find that everyone still has ten of each. The barbecue was great, and the show was fun, and today is blessedly quiet.

Visiting Dad at the National Cemetery

Today we visited my dad's grave site, as we do every fourth of July, at the National Cemetery in Covington. He passed away on July 4, 2000. Our visits are the best part of Independence Day for me. I am so glad my dad is where he is now, though I still miss him a lot. It's beautiful, isn't it?