Awesome Opening Ceremonies! Thank you U.K.!!!!

I hope you got to see the Olympic opening ceremonies as it was fantastic!  I thoroughly enjoyed my evening!

I made myself a little cocktail in honor of the celebration.........cherry limeade with a little rum and some blueberries.  It was sort of red, white and blue for team U.S.A..........Go Team!!!!!!!

My poor basil plant wasn't doing well in all the heat so I potted it up and brought it in the house.  I sure hope it recovers!

I finished reading a book.........

This was a good mystery but so many characters I couldn't keep track of all of them and it got confusing.  My first hint should have been her list of characters at the beginning of the book.  I'm thinking this is a series and you need to start at the beginning of the series in order to keep from getting confused which really distracts from the story.  It had a good plot though.  She writes "cat" mysteries and the animals in it have their own conversations.  Pretty cute!
 I also finished this special publication about the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.........

  It was very interesting with lots of history and accompanying historical photos of the lineage, major events and personal information about the Queen.  I am enamored with the U.K. this year and I think a lot of it has to do with all the blogger friends I've made that are from there.  They are just the sweetest and very talented too!
Tomorrow is the YOP update and I've made some great progress this week and also have an FO (finished object) so please tune in tomorrow!  If you're not too cross-eyed from watching the Olympics like me! LOL!
Have a great Saturday night!

The Olympics start tonight!!!!!! I'm SO excited!!!!!

The beautiful sky after the storm last evening.

In honor of the Olympics starting tonight in London I made an English Lemon Cake...one of my very favorite desserts!

I hope you are planning on watching the Olympics....the one contest that brings together everyone from all different races and cultures in one place in an environment of peace.  If only it would spread everywhere and last forever!  Have a great Friday night!

Severe thunderstorms! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yep..clouds rolling in and warnings and thunder and lightning..........

 

And.............RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I wasn't going to be able to post as the electric went out once already but I'm hurrying up!

I went to iron today and got out my iron and ironing board and my ironing and my Magic Sizing Spray that I use to spray on my ironing.  I have my Mom's old iron and the steam part no longer works so I spray.

Well......the Magic Sizing spray can fell of the board, hit the floor and broke the nozzle clean off!  There was no way to repair it and it was a brand new full can!  I wasn't going to run to the store for 1 thing....remember my rule....there has to be 3 places I need to go before I take the car out of the garage! LOL!  So, I figured I would fill a spray bottle with water and muddle through.....but after I filled it I thought....hmmmm....why not put a little scent in it.  I had some essential oil from Walmart (probably not the real stuff but....it was what I had) and it was in the "linen" scent.  I use it to scent my homemade laundry detergent...how perfect was that?

 It worked great!  Got my ironing done and the car never left the garage and I didn't spend a penny!  And my fresh clean ironed clothes smelled SO good!

Then I went and made another batch of eggplant parmesan.........yum!

Now it's time for jammies, hot tea and some knitting.....it's still raining and thundering...SO COZY!

The Olympics start tomorrow!!!!!!!  Esther, over at Happy in Red is actually going to be at the Olympics!  

I hope you had a great Thursday!

Wonderful Wednesday...................

 

Finished another knitted washcloth!  One more to go and I will have my first FO (finished object).

 I finished reading this book and I loved it!  She's another generation and uses some language and behavior that I'm not comfortable with but then my parents weren't comfortable with the language and behavior of my generation.....It's a fact now...I'm old!   But despite that this gal can write!  It is the true story of her solo journey over the Pacific Crest Trail from California to Oregon.  It's also a personal mental journey and the healing and growth that takes place.  It was one of those books I didn't want to end.  I must admit I am partial to true life adventure/nature stories especially when a woman is the main character! 

 Here's my bounty from the Farmer's Market today and all Amish raised produce!  I wash and scrub all my produce when I bring it home thus the reason it is all sitting in my dish drainer.  Today I bought 2 eggplant, banana peppers, a patty pan squash, some "new" red potatoes and my favorite which I never seem to be able to find fresh....beets!

I'll be eating great this week!  I hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday too!

Renewal...........

 

I've watered and watered but there is nothing like a little rain to make plants happy!  We got a good "frog strangler" about 4 days ago and it sure brightened things up around here.

 

My radishes are doing well....................

 

and it's about time to harvest some lettuce.............

The mandevilla is THE plant for a hot environment but I think the bigger pots help too....they hold more water to keep the roots cool.

 

 

 

I hope you had a great day and only 2 more days until the Olympics start!!!!!!  I'm SO excited you'd think I was in them! LOL! 

 

 

Miscellaneous Monday!

 

Look what I got at our local grocery store!  No eggplant that I was looking for but they had a Venus Fly Trap....go figure.   I've always wanted one so I brought him/her home with me.  I hope they don't have to have bugs to eat as I don't have many in my house.   I have Terminex so I shouldn't have bugs, right?

Can This Antique Be Saved?

I'm hoping Carlene over at Organized Clutter takes a look at this and tells me what to do with it.  She always has such great ideas.  I tried putting it back together but there's a pin or bolt missing.   Plus, if you look closely the grinding gear has broken off.  Maybe terrarium embellishments for the metal pieces?   Paint the box part and use it for outgoing mail?

Started washcloth/towel #2 of the set of 3 that's on my list of YOPs......I think I'm getting better AND picking up speed!

I also got this magazine in the mail.  It's a back issue I ordered for a pattern for one of my YOP projects.  I can't even remember which one it was for but I'll curl up with it tonight and rediscover what it was...I LOVE surprises!

I wish you a great week and thanks to all of you who take the time to leave a comment.  I really appreciate it!  Happy Monday!

   

Sunday YOP update time!

It's that time again..............
     I have 3 to 4 projects going at any one time and probably more if you count the ones I've put aside and haven't worked on, but those days are over!  I have accountability now since I am participating in the YOP!
I do not have a finished project but I do have a finished wash cloth/towel in a set of 3 project........
This was my third try at this cloth.  I started out great,  thinking I knew what I was doing and was almost done when I realized I had done stockinette stitch instead of garter.  Why do I ALWAYS make things harder than they have to be?  So..I finally got my act together and "got her done" but I am not pleased with my results.  The yarn was wonderful, it was all my faulty knitting.  There were several areas....1) I had cast on "several" times before I got the right count on my first knitted row...don't ask me why.  Anyway, my cast on edge is bumpy and uneven so maybe the yarn was just "tired" by that time.  The other problem was it looked nice and I even had good luck with binding off but when I went to weave in the red yarns there wasn't many places to weave in without it being really noticeable.  Plus, this project said dish towels but I would call them wash cloths.  They are a  rectangle not a square but I wouldn't call them a dish towel size yet they're a might big for a dish cloth. It said I need to block them....really?  I don't understand as wouldn't it destroy the blocking the minute you get them wet or dry your hands on them?  When do you block and when don't you and how?  I think I understand the concept, pins, dampen project,  shape and pin so it dries the shape you want but when it gets wet again doesn't that destroy the blocking effort?  Where do you block your things?  On a floor, a board,  a special blocking tool?  I need a book on finishing I think.  I do well weaving in the ends on the same colored background but with skinny stripes of color is there a trick to it or technique?  I can see I have much to learn yet! 

 one side...............

 and the other side...........

I'm about 50% done with my granny stripe table runner...........

 

And although this is neither knitting or crochet it is one of my WIP's listed on my YOP! LOL!

I'm almost done with this wool applique block which will be #10 of 12 with the big center block being done already along with 9 others finished but then after the 12 surrounding blocks there is an appliqued border on all 4 sides.  I use wool from old clothing mostly for the applique and I wash it and felt it and dye most of my own colors too.  The black background is purchased wool felt.  Once I have all the wool pieces blanket stitched in place (by hand) then there is additional embroidery stitches that are done. You can tell what I still need to stitch where you see the little white headed applique pins.

Those are the things that I actually worked on this week but there's plenty more where they came from! LOL!  I couldn't get in to Ravelry.  That has happened several times.  I think it's a popular place!  I'll post this whenever I finally get in.