In the Garden and Santa Time !

 

Good Morning ! I thought I would show you how my garden is growing for the middle of July . Since we live on a corner this is our back yard ! Not too much of it ! We do have big side yards and a big front yard. We previously had shrubs lining the sidewalk , but about 3 years ago I ripped them all out and planted perennials. There is always something blooming and it looks so pretty !

 

 

 This is on my hydrangea in the sidewalk garden , theres only one flower but it is so pretty !

 The potatoes after about 10 days are growing pretty good ! I took the other potatoes out of the bigger pot and it was 4 pounds of potatoes.. So the smaller pot gave us more !

 These mallow plants grow back on their own, Last year when I ripped them all out at the end of the season I left them all in a pile here to get picked up so there are so many of them growing in this little area . They look like mini hollyhocks !

 The blackberries are starting to turn , we are going to have a ton ! I might have to open a farmstand to get rid of them all :)

 These are the garden potatoes, with a row of zinnias behind them. They look like they are doing well.. hope there's a lot of wonderful red potatoes under ground waiting for us !

 I also planted a row of zinnia seeds along the fence of the garden My zucchini are actually growing this year and we will be eating a couple today ! Not so sure if the green beans are going to make it , we had a lot of rain a few weeks ago and they got a greenish yellow color .. still have not turned bright green.

 This photo is from the end of the sidewalk to the end of our yard. Those are all the raspberry and blackberry bushes back there.

 We have been picking a few handfuls of these a day , they are so good.. I just need more plants ! They keep multiplying .. just not fast enough :)

 The blackberry plants are HUGE this year !

 I love our little patio area ...too bad the mosquitos are out in force !

 I have two little pots of the mini petunias in a vintage tool box on the patio table. they are getting so big.

July by the Prairie Schooler... I finished it last night ! Love it ! My first cross stitch not on Aida cloth !

 My daughter and I went  to an Estate sale last week. I got the big Santa for $8.00 , he has a price tag of $225.00 ..he is made from a vintage quilt .. He will fit right in at Christmas time around here ! I also got the 3 Possible Dreams Santas for 5- 7 dollars each. They will be perfect to add to my collection. I got those huge ornaments for $4.00 for the box of 4 .. I thought I got some really good deals !

Isn't he just fabulous !

My neighbor brought me over these fabulous hydrangeas ! They are humungous ! One of them is as big as a dinner plate !

 

 

 

I love this photo of the youngest grandson ! He loves playing with the hose so much !

Hope you are having a great week !
Thanks so much for your visits and nice comments !
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Grey and Yellow Ripple

 The grey and white ripple is growing !  I think I have about 5 more color changes and it will be finished. I am going to make 2 more of the big roses for the other end and maybe some smaller ones in a lighter or darker yellow. This is the pattern I am using for the ripple , I did make it larger than the pattern calls for. ( wider) and here is the rose pattern  ..

 I am making this for my daughter who is buying her first house , she is going with a grey and yellow color scheme for her extra bedroom. Things seem to be moving along and she should be able to close on the house the end of the month . Won't this look pretty draped on the end of the bed ?

 Here is my progress on the Prairie Schooler July sampler.. Still hoping to finish by the end of July :)

My back sidewalk is finally starting to bloom... Lots of coneflowers and other perennials ...I scattered zinnia seeds on  both sides and they are starting to bloom also . We actually got our first cucumber and tomato yesterday !

I have a new helper in the watering .. he just loved playing with the hose.  Won't go near the sprinkler but laughed like crazy as he watered himself.

Hope you have a great week !

Thanks as always for your visits and comments !

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Potatoes in a Pot

 Good morning ! Hope you had an enjoyable 4th of July and a great weekend ! I decided on Saturday it was time to see what was growing in one of the pots of potatoes. We planted these in May with 4-5 pieces of seed potatoes.

 My husband tried to dump the pot into that big metal tub , but they wouldn't budge. He ended up having to pull them out ..

 We ended up getting 5 pounds of potatoes from that pot ! Five pounds of the best little red new potatoes ! I boiled them and then added butter and parsley .. They were amazing !

 Don't know how we got that one huge potato! We planted more potatoes in the empty pot. Hope we get more !

 We went to the zoo, its right on Lake Michigan so then we went down to the lakeshore. The U.K. college boy came home last Tuesday and left again yesterday. It was nice to have him home.

 For the 4th of July I made my annual flag cake. White cake ( made from a mix) topped with strawberries and blueberries with a little sugar .. Then cool whip and more berries to make a flag.

I am still working on this patriotic piece.. July from Prairie Schooler.

 

Hope you have a great week !

Thanks as always for your visits and comments !

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Patriotic 4th of July Cookies.... 2013

 Yesterday I baked my annual patriotic flag cookies . Can't let a holiday go by without some sugar cookies !

I use my recipe from the Mrs. Fields cookbook for the cookies. For these cookies I made 2 double batches. I did a lot of double decker cookies this year , using the small star and heart cutter ..and even some small round cookies.

 The bigger hearts and stars I do all white royal icing , then add the blue in the left corner .. then the red stripes.

 I love the flowers and the little houses .

Thanks so much for stopping by .. Hope you all have wonderful celebrations with your family and friends !

 

 

 

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I Love Cilantro !

Good morning !
This is my first year growing cilantro .. all of a sudden we are addicted to anything with cilantro in  it !
I have 3 pots of it growing ,so my daughter and I found some wonderful recipes to use it.
First , is a salad dressing we found on pinterest ..here.

For the Cilantro Lime  dressing , I add all the ingredients to my little food processor

you need :
 the juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3 TBSP honey
at least a cup of cilantro leaves and small stems are ok. ( I fill the bowl of my small processor.)
3/4 cup of canola oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Just process all the ingredients except the oil until finely chopped then add the oil. I keep mine in a mason jar in the refrigerator

 Then you need to make this chicken from Mel's Kitchen café ... I love this chicken on top of romaine leaves with the cilantro lime dressing . So good

 For the chicken.. I use boneless skinless breasts, sliced in thin pieces so they grill fast and you get a lot of the marinade on each piece.

The Spicy chipotle marinade

1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP minced fresh cilantro
1 chipolte chili
2tsp adobo sauce ( I buy the chipoltes in adobo sauce so I don't have to buy 2 separate things)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper

I just put this and the pieces of chicken breast in a big Ziploc in the refrigerator  for about an hour. Then grill them . I like to snip a little fresh cilantro on them after grilling too.
 I have made the dipping sauce recipe that accompanies this and its very good also .

I have done some more patriotic stitching.. I love the word plays from With Thy Needle and Thread. I want to find a really different way to frame these so I can do them for each month and just change out the stitching.

Finally I entered the world of the big stitchers by not using Aida cloth ! ( and its hard to stitch on the 28 count fabric) but not as hard as I thought ! Every once in a while I need to shake my head to make my eyes focus ..Just kidding ! I love this Prairie Schooler July design. Hope I can finish it before July is over :)

 I don't know why I didn't try using the higher count fabrics sooner . The stitching looks so much better on it !

In my garden my zucchini plants are actually blooming ! I hope the bees in our neighborhood are ready to pollinate like crazy !

This little guy is 15 months old now .. Could he be any cuter ? Love his Osh Kosh overalls !

 

I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July !

Thanks as always for your visits and comments !

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