The grapes of my wrath

Hello folks.  How's your weekend going?  Are you stitching, cooking, relaxing, gardening, or all of them?  I made spinach garlic soup.  Lower calories than a green smoothie (which I hate), good for you, and mighty tasty.  Caught a glimpse of myself from the side in a store window reflection and just about tripped over my Crocs.  Do you make a commitment to lose weight and procrastinate the start date?  For months?  I have to do something, nothing fits, and I carry my weight in one area, not evenly distributed.  Hence the soup.  I modified and simplified the one on my recipe page. 

 

After many MANY purples, magentas, violets, reds, and mauves stitched and removed for the grapes, I gave it one more try.  Sometimes when I'm frustrated things fall into place.  It did.  I love these two shades together, 3802 and 3726.  Quite dark for this fabric but still very visible. 

 I've been asked about the leaf colors and can't answer most because of the no-reply, the darker shade is 3012 and the brighter is 734.  But.  I am going to stitch the next few with 733 instead, very similar but a little more toned down, just to see if it's better.  The more leaves I stitch, the more I question that color because I think the pop may be too poppy.  It's perfect under my lamp lighting but quite striking in natural light.  Once the dark roof is on, I think it will be fine.

 

Have a safe holiday.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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The flower finish

I was a good girl and only bought one vine and one hanging basket the other day.  But I was a bad girl when I changed everything.  I decided on just the pink and yellow supertunias in the barrels which is what was planted several days ago.  But the Royal Velvet purples looked so sad by themselves.  Besides, the four barrel plants had already spread to cover the top which tells me that three would give them more room.  The second (new to me) stop was a shop that had tons of orange petunias and unique combo baskets.  ORANGE!  Fabulous soft and glowing orange.  Hadn't seen offers elsewhere that were so unique.  Too late.  Now my pink looks so ordinary!

So I removed one yellow and one pink, added the Velvet.  Hanging baskets are Vista Bubble Gum, barrels and tubs are Bubble Gum, Limoncello, and Royal Velvet.   If they grow as crazy as they did last year, the pots will be covered in no time.  I will use my weak fertilizer with each watering as I always do.  The yellow Wave petunias are just in small tubs here and there.  Even though the soft orange made me whimper a little, I am happy with this combination.  And since all the large displays are the same, it doesn't look as distracting as last year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I played around more with the sacks, mainly because I am such a nerd.  This one even though aged, stood out way too much on the dark house and door.  If I had a red door ..... fabulous.  But I don't.

 

 

 

 

 

This flag is nylon, perfect for outdoors, dark colors and aging, 8" x 11" on a dowel for only $1 at Pat Catan's.  Wouldn't this look nice with green vines and twigs?  I used hot glue to hold the edges and it may end up on the inside of the door.  Good place for gloves in the winter.  Winter.  Why the hell would I even mention it?

 

Enjoy the holiday weekend.  It's a sad holiday for me, not a good time picnic.  I can't help picturing the gravestones of so many laid to rest here and abroad. Any death and injury from war is heart breaking, but my sadness is more so for WWII victims.  Can't explain it, maybe because of the men I have known from that generation.  I read about the horrific video of Marines beating a sheep to death with a baseball bat a few years ago and the prior video of throwing a puppy off a cliff.  It doesn't matter the circumstances, there is no excuse for the compassionless cruelty and laughter.  Our military should NOT be based on these viral videos because they are not a representation of our dedicated guardians.  The comments left are so full of vile hatred yet they point their fingers and attack anyone who disagrees with them.  They don't see the hate in themselves.  I'm beginning to hate Facebook because of this.

This is what my local paper does every year;  lists the names of the veterans who passed away in the last 12 months from my county alone.  So sad to see that group of veterans dwindling to only a few.  The first three columns are WWII, the last two are Korea.

 

Remember them along with all who served and sacrificed this Memorial Day.

 

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One way or another

I'm having a sack on my door.

 

I'm hooked.  All I did was cut cheap mounting board to fit the inside so it holds its shape, pinned the front to the back to keep it closed.  I could attach the flag to the front as I did the other.  Now I will get another natural canvas bag and stamp or stencil with aging.  The light canvas needs something on it, the denim looks fine plain.  No weight or bulk from the plants, and I can stick a few twigs or silk vines inside.  If I want it puffed a little, plastic grocery bags will do the trick. I have yards of really heavy canvas from JoAnn's that I was planning to sew into sacks and Patti was going to stamp and age.  She's been gone a year already.

 

Here's progress on the PS.  Loving the colors.  The roof will probably be one strand of 310 with 844.  Haven't decided if I will follow the chart on the windows but if I do, they will be a pale yellow as if the lights were on.  If I don't, I will chose a color to outline the panes instead.  That will be last.  Right now I need to choose the grape colors and don't want too bright, too dark, too strong. 

 

It's hot.  Finally!  But with each passing year, I seem to have an internal gauge that gets higher.  Never bothered me before and I enjoyed the heat.  It is only mid 80's and my body is Velcro.  Sticky enough that the bathroom coffee dash needs to be anticipated to give me an extra minute to peel off these pants.  It's not sweat, it's glue.  I have Elmer's seeping from my pores.  I need to start using a body powder again.  But when Elmer's hits it, I may turn a milky shade of Modge Podge.  Very loose men's cotton t's are all I am comfortable in (they hide a lot too), otherwise, the blouses/tops stick to me.  But it's summer and I will put up with it. 

 

I'm not the only one that has gained weight.  Right Budman? And just like me, he hates exercise.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Flower power

Simple simple.  Didn't I say that? No more hanging baskets or flowers.  ......  Going back to the Amish tomorrow for just a few little items but why make that trip?  To save a few dollars?  Or am I a compulsive flower buyer and secretly plan on more?  While getting a few more tomato plants today, I was behind a woman that had three huge hanging baskets of minitunias, one hot pink one yellow one purple.  That did it.  I so hope I calm down and don't buy any more but I think flowers have the power over me.

 

I added a flag to the sack and like it.  I think it will sit on a little table by the swing since it won't take up much room.  Love the Creeping Jenny color.

 

I've had this wicker fern stand for 40 years and it's very sturdy.  I am sorry that I sprayed it cream and didn't leave it natural.  Way too much work to remove it.  It's been in the attic for 30 years and thought it might work well for one of the ferns.

 

For some reason, it looks very odd to me.  The fern is too large?  Too tall?  When the fronds grow out they will cover the pot area and look better?   It reminds me of myself 40 years ago, when I was a skinny 125# at 5'10" with long wild hair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stand is over three foot tall and perfect in that shady spot but .... this just looks wrong!  My first year with ferns and maybe it looks as it should, just quite different from my usual.  Is it just me?

 

I've removed those freaking leaves on the PS several times because of being off a stitch.  Not a big deal on a sampler but you can tell if the edge of the design isn't straight on this piece.  What began as 32 count is now 35 after all the dyeing.  Whether you call it shrinkage or the linen just contracts and can be stretched out with an iron, I don't know.  Too late to press and stretch but I am getting 17/18 stitches to an inch and having a difficult time on this darkness.  But I think it's going to be great.

 

Have a great hump day. 

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Sad sack

Hiya.  My sack idea worked, but I didn't like it on the door. 

 

Too bulky looking or something.  And the container needs to be right up to the top edge of the sack for it to hang right.  If it's on a porch door it would probably be much better, but after I soaked mine to test it, it hung like a wet diaper.  The inside liner needs to fit very well and I'm sure I could sew this sack to achieve that, but it didn't snap my socks so I'm done with it.  It will just sit on a table or something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the PS design, I had a little trouble with the greens. Do you think I made the right color choice shown in the stitched leaf, or do you think the 3052/3 would be better?  I chose the others because I am thinking there will be too much "soft".  With the vines encircling the pale house, I thought the sharpness of 734 pulls it together instead of washing it out and nicely contrasts the linen. I wanted  3011/12 but you can see where I tested 3011 beneath the house and it's too dark.  When I cover half of this photo and see only one option, the left side seems better.  'Ya think?

 

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Canvas flower sack

Hey hey!  How was the weekend?  With the cold and wet weather, the cats came in.  The flea stuff is half applied to skin, and half applied to their hair.   The directions are to apply between the shoulder blades but I found a vet's video and they recommend the top center back of their head.  Totally agree!  I can grab the scruff and still get the head, plus I know where I'm putting it.  With all that loose skin around the shoulders and them usually lying on their side trying to avoid me, I never get the right spot.  Next month, head shots.  Bud is on high alert because another male must have been out here last night when they were safe in the garage.  He sprayed my grill, the tables, the door, and they all know it.  His head is constantly rotating and searching for him.  I hate this.

 

So here's what my scatter brain is thinking about for the front plank door.  I try to do something different because my neighbor at the beginning of our road copies everything I do, including the flags.  I'm at the end of the road so everyone sees hers first and thinks I'm the copycat!  I don't really care, but I like to mess with her head by sending her searching to find the same things.  She won't find this! 

 

I have several of these large size canvas (cheap!) bags from Pat Catan's or any craft store.  They come in denim too.  This size looks good and has sides, not sure if they are necessary.  I am going to age it a bit .....

and insert a plastic storage container for cereal or pasta, and drill two holes in the side bottoms.  I'll put some Styrofoam pellets on the bottom for drainage and then lay landscape fabric or newspaper over to keep the dirt in place. Fill with ProMix and add my green vines.  Insert into sack! 

 

 

 

 

 I think once stained and dyed, it will look great on the door and the canvas is heavy enough to survive outside.  I know she will search for a long time trying to find this in a shop. The denim on the cedar door with bright greens might look nice too.  The front deck has red geraniums in a tool box, shown in the header photo.  I bought the cheap plastic food storage containers at KMart for that. The tall rectangles fit inside perfectly.  I always look to those items first when wanting to have a display where a standard pot doesn't work.  All I need is to poke drainage holes. There are many brands of dry cereal containers in various sizes so I'll take the sacks with me to see what fits best.  I don't want to use this one (1.3 gallon Rubbermaid) unless I find another just as nice for food storage.  Then again, these older ones are probably not BPA free like the new ones so maybe I should retire it to dirt duty. 

 

Well, I couldn't wait so I grabbed my Tan Rit and sprayed away. More random, less work than dipping, this will make a nice primitive display for summer. How about a USA stencil on it and add two small flags inside?  A small flag stitched to the bag's front?  A metal star.  Merry Christmas with greenery in six months!  I'm using Creeping Jenny which should trail over the front so best to keep it plain. May have to shorten the back strap to compensate for the bulk so it lays flat against the door.

 

 I think it's a good idea but...any bets on whether I change my mind?
 

 

Have a good one!!

 

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