Peacock Progress

It's time, finally, for an update picture.  I've continued to work on Ewe & Eye & Friend's "Peacock Sampler".  I've finished stitching all the birds, except, ironically, the peacock - just have his head done and his tail started...

On the gardening front, I usually have the two large planters on the front stepped themed out for the 4th of July - red, white, and blue.  I often have "timing" problems in that things aren't yet in bloom when the holiday rolls around.  So really, they are more 4th of August plantings.

This year I used Salvia "Black and Blue", white lobelia which contained alot of blue in the mix.  And for red, I began with nasturtiums.  The deer annihilated the nasturtiums, so I replanted with red calibrachoa....they got a late start and are kind of battling for space.

Chickens and Serendipity

Chickens and roosters continue to flock to my house. 

Recently the mail brought me two older charts, "Cluck and Doodle" by 4 My Boys, and "Folk Art Rooster" my Mosey 'n Me.

On the gardening front, in June as I finished up my plantings, I had three or four "extra" perennials, so I just plopped them all together in a wooden bucket.

Verbena bonariensis

Delphinium elatum "New Heights"

Penstemon "Blue Spring"

Ta-Da - it looks like something I planned!

The colors, the different heights and textures - all work great together.

Sometimes...serendipity wins out!

At least until the deep red lobelia "Compliment" in the bucket begins to bloom...

This morning a brush bunny and a deer met up...the photo is blurry,

but if you look closely you can see the bunny at the edge of the gravel just to the left of the deer. 

A Bee and Market Produce

Design - "Little Gold Bumblebee"

Designer - Knotted Tree

Fabric - 32 count raw linen

Started -  7 September 2005

Completed - 10 September 2005

I am forced once again to return to my cross stitch archives due to lack of progress with my current stitching.  I love this bee, and have stitched a couple of other bugs in this series...two butterflies, a ladybug, and a beetle.

 

Raw food - in its -just-harvested state.  I'm not sure that there is anything that is more beautiful and true to its essence.  These are pictures from last Saturday's Farmers' Market.   

My deep dark secret is that while I admire most of these foods, I don't eat many of them...just tomatoes...as I am truly a finicky eater. 

Believe it or not I tried corn-on-the-cob for the first time last week.  That I do really like!  So what should I try next..maybe beets?  Any suggestions?

Multi-colored mini cauliflowers

Luscious tomatoes

Small heads of cabbage

Peppers

Romanesco Broccoli

Beets

...and Melons.

Rosie Life and Market Food

Design - "Rosie Life" (kit)

Designer - Bent Creek

Fabric - 25 count Dublin Flax linen

Started - 3 September 2005

Completed - 5 September 2005

As I'm stitching away on three different items, with no discernible progress to show, I thought I'd dip into my stitching archives.  This Bent Creek polka-dotted chicken was a fun stitch - seems that five years ago I liked chickens and now in 2010 I've "rediscovered" the hen motif!

I know, in post after post, I write obsessively rave about the Farmers' Market Food.

Well, one of my favorites is Hideaway Bakery.  I adore their pain au chocolate, their brownies, and their breakfast burritos.

  

Last Saturday with some careful shopping my sister and I can up with a great local meal.

It began with fresh albacore from Ocean Harvest - I marinated in in Trader Joe's Soyaki sauce and baked it for 20 minutes at 375F.

For sides we had...

fresh corn-on-the-job (boiled) with butter and pepper...

 

and steamed new potatoes with lots of butter.

We decided to visit the Tuesday market for lunch.  Again - all about food!  I ate at Field to Table - had a sterling steak sandwich with roasted tomato, caramelized onions, and mozzarella cheese - OMG!

The Tuesday Report

To celebrate three +90F in a row, here's my progress on "Corn" by Ewe & Eye & Friends.  Today is supposed to be a bit cooler - mid-80sF which is fine by me.  Though I expect the corn crops would all be fine with a bit more heat.

The sunny weather has brought out wonderful flowers for amateur gardeners and professionals too. 

Lily

There were so many lovely flowers at the Farmers' Market...I don't know where to begin!

Sunflowers

Mixed Bouquet

Asiatic Lilies

Mixed bouquet with dahlias and lilies

More Sunflowers

I bought two hostas at the Market. 

Both are smaller varieties - perfect for pots!

Alphabet Sampler Progress and a Nature Report

Back on June 10th, I said I was going to start "Alphabet Sampler" by Birds of a Feather.  Well that did not happen.  I just picked this up and began stitching on Friday.  The linen, "Sparrow" by BOAF did not photograph well - it is quite a lush chocolate brown.  I like the quiet tones - only three colors of WDW used - Caper, Onyx, and Putty.

We have had two days of +90F temperatures and today is supposed to reached 90F.  The mornings have been cool and glorious.  Lots of critters taking advantage of the cooler temperatures to drink and eat before laying low during the heat of the day.

 

One of our California Quail families out and about.

Three Barn Swallow babies remain in the nest.  The 4th started flying a couple of days ago, he does return to the nest in the gloaming to spend the night with his siblings and parents.

 

The birdfeeders are awash in finches.

And a couple of deer strolled by too!

I espied some other critters too...

This glass Dragonfly pendant ...

...and this Ladybug sun-catcher -both Etsy purchases!

Lydia Sill aka Jerushia Grimm

Design - "Lydia Sill"

Designer - Bent Creek

Fabric - 36 count Flax Edinborough linen

Floss - DMC - 1 strand over two threads

Started - 22 July 2010

Completed - 23 July 2010

I decided that "Lydia Sill - 1903 - Indian Territory" would personalize really nicely.  I decided to make a few changes and use the sampler to commemorate my Great-Greatgrandmother, Jerushia Grimm Greenwell.  When she was six years old, she came with her parents and siblings to the Oregon Territory. Family legend has it that she walked from Iowa to Oregon.  They settled in Damascus in Clackamas County.  She married Benjamin Franklin Greenwell, and had twelve children - ten who survived to adulthood.     

Jerushia Grimm Greenwell (1846-1912)

The Saturday Farmers' Market was bustling yesterday!  Lots of food, flowers, and entertainment too.

Fiddler

Cellist

  Another Fiddler

Bare-foot Banjo-Player

Corn

Is there a better way to celebrate the end of July / beginning of August?

I thought this ear of corn says everything about this time of year without saying a word - truly sometimes a pictures is worth...

A truly lovely morning.  I bought a Thunbergia a couple of days ago, and just got around to getting it planted.  It has awesome large blue blossoms - when it blooms it will be photo-worthy!

On a more mundane note, this time of year also means...thistles! 

We are Goldfinch Central at the moment.  They are working our feeders like crazy - they enjoy black oil sunflower seeds while waiting for the thistle seeds to ripen.  Goldfinches are some of the last birds to nest.  They line their nests with thistle seeds, and feed their babies the seeds...no insects for Goldfinch babies!