October is for yellows and oranges

Luckily for me, when I was planning for this trip,  I had a feeling that yellow was going to come into play for October's color of the month.  I grabbed lots of yellows, golds, and oranges when I was packing up fabrics to keep me out of trouble busy while I visited down here.

Leading with a few kaleidoscopes -

in a range of contrast, from low to high.  I've got more fabrics that I want to kaleid before the month is out, because you can never have too much yellow/orange!

And this is Ziggy.

I'm a little concerned about the tire-tread look he's sporting here.  Or is it bacon?

I even found some of the correct colors at the local botanical garden -

and I made some pumpkin muffins, because there's no more glorious orange than a pumpkin!

(If you're interested in the recipe, it's here - Streusel Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins aka Gayle's Totally Decadent Pumpkin Muffins .  You're welcome!)

Linking with So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!  Come see all the rainbow fun!

Finally home again

My visit ended up being a bit longer than originally planned, but finally I'm home and reunited with my stash.  Oh, and with my folks, of course.  And the cat.
Now that I'm back on my own computer, I'm going to try to tie up a few loose ends for June as July bears down upon us.

First, the last of June's piggies, which I would have posted on Saturday for ScrapHappy Saturday...

 And I think these are all the rest of the May 365 Challenge blocks I've made, including some I'd forgotten to show.

I think I'm caught up through the 15th of May, which sounded pretty good to me until I remembered that it's nearly the end of June...
Though it wasn't all sewing while I was in Maryland.  There was another trip to the botanical garden (I could go every week, I think, and enjoy each visit just as much as the last!)  I did a lot of stopping to smell the roses,

while my grandson took a more active approach to the day.

There's a terrific maze next to the Japanese Garden, which most people walk.  Our young Mr C preferred it at high speed.

Back at the ranch, there was an interesting foray into the realm of rhubarb cocktails -

though I stuck with beer.  Pink is real nice and all, but not what I want in a beverage.

There were several monkeys, but this is the only one who stood still long enough to get a picture.

And I completely missed the boat on Log Cabin Loonies.  I did manage to get a few thrown together.  Though you'll notice that one of them is one log short of a cabin.

That may be my new favorite euphemism...

Quick Question!

Does this look like a sunflower to anyone besides me?

Or is it back to the drawing board?

hydrangeas and hydrangeas

A couple of weeks ago, I received a handpainted hydrangea from my friend Lee Anna  because I'd commented on a post of hers a while back about one of her color experiments and we decided to do a collaboration. 

Because I'm a quilter, I want to cut it up and put it back together.  The question is, how?  I've got several ideas that vaguely involve circles and slashing, but I was having a hard time visualizing what I wanted until I saw this quilt at the Syracuse AQS show.

 I'm not planning to put this many segments in each arc (I don't want to lose the painting by cutting it too small) but this is close to what had been camping in my brain.

But then today I saw this quilt that Cathy posted.  And this quilt from QuiltDivaJulie.  And I'm wondering if I can find a way to incorporate that kind of movement and energy.

More thinking required.  Or dithering.  (Call it what you will.)  Until I reach the tipover point and just reach for my rotary cutter and start slashing.

Until then, I can also admire this other hydrangea - one that's currently blooming out by the garage.

That main flower cluster is about the size of my head.  It's easily the biggest one I've ever seen. 
Apparently it's an excellent year for hydrangeas!

Just Dew It

When I went out to feed the animals this morning, I saw little white patches scattered here and there in the grass. A closer look revealed spiderwebs covered in dew.

It was early enough that the sun hadn't reached them yet - later on in the morning they were almost invisible.
I ran inside for the camera, of course.
I think there's a spider lurking in the little funnel-shaped hole. Using a blade of grass, I tickled the edge of the web, trying to draw her out. Either I can't imitate a trapped insect very well, or she's too smart to fall for such a shabby trick. I was disappointed that she didn't appear, since I really wanted to see the spinner.
Here's another web, with the toe of a size 8 Muck boot for scale. (It's actually Madman's boot - I wear them for chores. I walk like Sora of Kingdom Hearts in them, but love them just the same.)

And as long as I had the camera...

This is a Riesentraube tomato plant that I raised from seed and transplanted in a Tootsie bucket.
Check out how many flowers there are on one stem:

(The white is more dew. Maybe I should take a picture during a drier part of the day?)

And for the flower lovers, here are some of the false sunflowers that are spreading all over my flowerbed.

I really need to go out and clear some of them out, since they're too tall for the front of the bed and are masking and shading out some of the shorter plantings. But it just goes against the grain to murder flowers...

Four, Five, Six... What's up with this?

This is my clematis.

It's been growing happily at the corner of our deck for a number of years, its beautiful 4-petaled flowers brightening my day whenever I look at it.

But.

This year is different.

Four petals:


And five petals:


And six petals:


Wait, what?
How can the same clematis vine have totally different flowers on it?
Any botanists out there?

Travel-Addled or Work-Addled... Addled is Addled

And it's kind of fun to say. Addled addled addled...

But, in a effort to get my brain settled and back on track, here's a few highlights from my sorely-needed mini-vacation:

First, after waaaaaay too much of this crap:

my color-and-flower-starved soul got to feast on this:

Azaleas were in bloom. Everywhere. Glorious mounds of honest-to-goodness flowers waving in the sunshine. I gaped, slack-jawed, in every direction. Of course, there were dogwoods and other things blooming, too, but azaleas... Bliss.

One of the things to love about Florida is a general quirkiness that pops up in businesses. (I guess when you're not wasting a huge portion of your life shoveling snow and battling ice, you have time to put a little whimsy into practice.)
There was the little eatery with a handpainted sign defining the levels of spiciness you could order - starting with 0 for no spice, 1- A little, 2 - A little more, and ranging up to 9 - Don't order this, and 10 - No refunds.
There was the pizza place with a funky art gallery on the walls, all manner of crazy stuff suspended from the ceiling, and an outdoor seating area that was a recycled VW microbus with a picnic table in the open rear cargo area. (The pizza was very good, btw.)
And there was the salvage store with tons of vintage toys and oddities for sale, that was decorated all over with everything imaginable glued or cemented to every available flat surface. The really fun parts were out in the parking lot, however. Like this fountain:

Trickling water spins the bicycle wheels with plastic cups and tin cans fastened to them, while the base is covered with every plastic/wood/metal object you can imagine.

We had a grand time playing a game with the kids that was a combination of Where's Waldo and I Spy. "Okay, I see a toaster. Who can find it?" and "Does anyone else see the blue squirrel?"

And this charmer of a windchime. Yes, those are hubcaps. Yes, it's honkin' huge...



We spent a wonderful day at Universal visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, wandering around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.

(The fake snow on the roofs gave me pause, but I tried not to look at it.)
Lunch was wonderful at the Three Broomsticks - real food cooked in real ways! (Not the typical boiled hamburger we've grown to expect at theme parks. Hopefully it's an idea that will catch on...)

We wandered briefly through other parts of the park (Dr Suess!!) and I snapped this picture for Madman.

(He's a big Wolverine fan.) (And that's a total stranger in the lower right corner. He wandered in just as I hit the button.)

Here's just a small piece of a roller coaster we passed by. We were on a bridge over a stretch of water - the ride went under the bridge, around in whacky loops, and then back over the bridge and disappeared off in the other direction. I tried to get a picture of the cars as they went by, but they were going really fast. And there was a lot of screaming.


And there was yarn. My daughter and I went to her LYS and I oohed and aahed over lots of pretty stuff, and tried to remain firm in my resolve not to buy yarn. (I have yarn. I also have fiber that will be yarn. I don't need yarn.)
But the 4th time I picked this stuff up to look at it, I knew I was a goner. It's Marks and Katten Fame Trend - something I've never seen before. It's a single, and the colors are gorgeous, though this picture doesn't do them justice. (IRL, the colors are much deeper and richer. And apparently impossible to photograph...)


So I bought it. It's souvenir yarn. And it's sock yarn. Totally doesn't count as yarn.

Excuse me? This rain is defective. I'd like to return it.

I knew this was going to happen. It's why I've tried so hard not to get excited about Spring, despite the lovely warm weather we've been having lately. (It's only March...)

Friday was gorgeous. Saturday was warm, though cloudy. I even went out and worked in my flower and herb beds, pulling grass, clearing debris.
I was elated to see tulips coming up! Here's what they looked like Saturday:
and here they are today:

*sigh*

In chicken news, Number 6 deshelled herself late last night.

She's not dead; she's merely resting after a long hard day.