It Seems So Obvious..... Now.....

First of all, thank you Pam for hosting Garden Tuesdays. It is such fun to see what other people are doing and sometimes the information can save your garden!

Secondly, thank you Schneider Peeps for posting about the vine borer. Nasty things had gotten into half of my vine plants and I wouldn't have known what was happening if not for you.

Thirdly, pollination is interesting. I know bees are involved..... I know there are some plants that need both male and female for pollination to happen..... that's about it.

My zucchini flowers have not been producing any fruit.

Apparently they are all boys.

What?

How can you tell?

I don't know.

I need to re-sow some that I lost to the wicked vine borers. Maybe I'll get some girls this time.

I thought I was suffering the same fate with my pumpkins.

Then I saw this and it seemed so obvious.

This is a girl.

This is a boy.

Boy.

Girl.

Any questions?

Almost Missed It, Garden Tuesday.....

This will be a pumpkin.

This will be a zucchini. If something stops nipping the blossoms off.

This will be a lovely fragrant rose, if the deer stop stripping it.

This turns into,

this and apparently the deer don't like it.

This bad blurry picture is a cucumber. I should have put a ruler next to it, it's only a half inch long.

How does your garden grow?

Morning In the Garden

One of my favorite times of the day.

Good Food, A Baby and A Gift

We had a yummy lunch today! Jessica and Uber made Cornish Hens and grapes. It was gorgeous before, 

and after. Uber's parents were here too and between all of us cooking we had WAY too much just the right amount of food. There are even leftovers for tomorrow. 

I bought myself some lovely fall flowers.

I kissed this baby's face. Lots. 

I looked at this beautiful quilt as often as possible.  

This is my as yet undecided what to call it room. I'm not done in here yet, but it's coming along. I want the area above the fireplace to be a rotating art display. First up is this quilt, a gift from Kelly. I love it. LOVE. 

See the light fixture that features it so well? I'd been looking at something similar on Pottery Barn. During one of my many, many trips to Lowe's, Jess spotted this on the clearance shelf, $15.23. That find saved me $143.77. Maybe I should put that toward a fireplace makeover. A serious fireplace makeover. 

I love how the light makes this quilt glow!

Thanks Kelly, I may have said this already but I love it.

The Blue Door

 I love color. Who knew? When we moved to this house I knew I wanted the door to be blue. I just found out my sister is painting hers red. I may want a red door soon but for now, it's blue and I love it. I didn't realize until I started painting it that the tiles we hung in the entry are trimmed with almost the same blue. They were a gift from my parents in law heart, who carted them all the way from Spain to Germany. This might not seem like such a big deal but this is not a light weight peice! 

It's one of my favorite things. The door looks so much better than it did before. 

 Someone is smiling a lot and trying to tell me things.

Quilt Display

 Some of my beloved friends from Germany may recognize this display. Yes, it's part of the baby crib I bought at the second hand store and took apart for display at our shop. 

I was going to hang them in "my room" but You Know Who didn't think there was enough wall space. He decided they would look better in the hall. He was right. Don't tell him though. This wall and most of the hallway was thoughtfully painted by my sister. Seriously, without her and Jessica I still wouldn't be sewing. 

I was in my family room (the room that has no purpose and no real furniture yet) the other evening and turned to see this on my hallway wall. Have I told you all that I love my home? It is a home. I cannot remember having a place that feels like it belongs to me and my family as much as this place. It's kind of weird. I loved this and wanted to share it with you.

Slowly But Surely, Or Just Slowly.....

It's taken me just a bit longer to get settled than I was hoping. I keep forgetting that this blog is about my progress and not just the finished product. "Finished" will take me years. I love this house. It's completely comfortable and livable as it is. There are changes that would make it really awesome but those are going to take time. So, for now, it is just about the process. You might have to remind me of that sometimes.

First up is a simple project to help the guest bathroom. I still need to paint and get a new vanity, oh and a new floor.... See told you it is going to take years. It is interesting to see what a bit of fabric can do.

Go to this link to see the Before. I am loving the after. I wanted something fun. Does it work??

I got this rather bold fabric from Ikea before I left Germany. I added Kona cotton in espresso for the header and hem on the curtain. I used an eyelet stitch on my machine to make the holes for the hooks.  I was trying out carpets for the floor and couldn't find what I wanted. Per Jessica's suggestion I bought a towel (3.50 on clearance from Target) to use as a "carpet". After making the curtain I had just enough fabric left to put the trim onto the towel. A floor covering that can easily be thrown into the wash! Woot!