and I quote ...

" ... Plants will succeed even if they are yellow, slimey and have an odor that is almost unbearable. (Sweet) Potato Plants are tough and strong and most of them will survive if they are 'set' properly and have good growing climate."

In other words, no matter what condition they arrive in, the sender will claim no responsibility of they do NOT grow.

So here's a sampling of what they sent:

... and that's one of the better ones. To be fair, a couple of them actually had a leaf or two. I set them out and then covered them by making a paper tent to shade them. With that disclaimer, I guess I am supposed to be thankful they don't stink to high heaven! They smelled fine, but the count was short. Am I the only crackpot who counts potato slips? It doesn't really matter, so I'm not complaining. I would have been happy with only a dozen. Just sayin' ...


So here's Tina C's small quilt just before she came to pick it up.

She'll having it hanging in the Wyalusing Chamber of Commerce building, along with some others of hers starting June 1. If you're a fan of miniatures, it might be worth a drive over to check them out.

Working in the hot sun does this to me ...

It is absolutely broiling hot here today. (To me, anything over 70 degrees is too warm, and once it surpases 80, we're entering the gates of Hell as far as I'm concerned.) Gardener Me was determined to get an early start this morning and may have told DH that last night or something. It should never have been spoken aloud! Seems That Force that works to defeat me discoverd my plan and turned the heat up way early this morning. By ten a.m., the thermometer was rapidly rising above the 70-degree mark. Gardener Me planted, hoed, mulched and weeded. And I nearly had a heat stroke.

(columbine are starting to fail; peonies just starting to bloom here)

New plan for the day: work about forty minutes, come in and soak my head lest someone try to fry an egg on it, rest for a bit before returning to the tasks at hand. While taking my little breaks, waiting for my purple-red face to return somewhat to normal, my over-heated brain goes wandering without me. At one point, it started conjuring up knitting projects to do. Knitting? Wool? In THIS heat? Ugh! But yes ... that Fool who's running the brainshow today started flipping through magazines, searching for a knitting project.

Which made Sensible Me wonder (maybe even aloud, I don't know ... with all the Me's arguing about what we're going to do later today, it's hard to hear Myself think) -- whatever happened to that entrelac scarf Knitter Me made several years ago? It was quite a challenge, but I distinctly remember struggling through it, tearing out hours and hours' worth of knitting to get it right. And now there is not a sign of that scarf anywhere. I shouldn't have mentioned it, because now the Knitter-Me wants to go tear the closet apart and find that thing. As if there's nothing more important to do today. Sigh.

(clematis has lots of blossoms this year; was supposed to be jackmanii but I'm guessing it was mis-marked)


Gardener Me prevailed, and another row of tomatoes got mulched and the cantaloupe seedlings were set into their plot (but didn't get mulched before the sun ended another "go" in the garden. While Hungry Me is trying to decide what to have for lunch, Knitter- and Quilter-Me are arguing over what will be done after lunch. Housekeeper-Me is taking the holiday off. (She's actually very lazy and takes several holidays a week, truth be told!)

I think I'll pacify Gardener-Me with a promise to return to the garden later this afternoon when the sun heads West for the evening, and take Quilter-Me up on the offer to finish up a project that's been haunting me for a couple of days. Maybe I'll even have a picture of whatever gets accomplished later on ... stay tuned!

But right now, Hungry-Me is having a fit ... screeching something about a sandwich calling from the kitchen. Better go investigate ...

Rabbitches ...

I've been crabbing to anybody within earshot about the rabbits eating the cauliflower I put out in the garden a week ago.

So, considering the pure disgust I feel about them, how is it I find this quilting pattern so adorable?

Look really closely, and you'll see the bunnies flopping this way and that. (Or double-click the picture to embiggen.)

I guess I should show you the front side of this cuddly little quilt, seeing as how that IS the more important view!

It's Nancy H's -- she's gifting it tomorrow. (Good thing I got it finished, eh?)

And here's Holly with the gift quilt that was many years in the making for her niece. I think she called it a Crazy Eights, or something like that.

 I'm not sure. Anyway, she came to learn how to use the longarm machine, and is on a roll. She has multiple dates booked on my calendar to come back for more. Heh-heh ... guess nobody told her how addicting quilting is!

Gotta go get a few more plants set into the garden before the rain starts up again. I got drenched planting beans the other day. I was determined to put them in before that day was over, come hell or high water. I wasn't counting on a cloudburst to fulfill that prophecy. (Ummm ... does anybody besides me see a pattern here, regarding me and the weather?)

time to catch up ...

I've been holding off on posting, hoping to find my battery charger for my camera so I could get some photos. I didn't find the charger, but I found the spare battery, so I can show you a couple of pics from last week.

Here's Sherry P and one of the two quilts she did:

Here's a close-up of what she did as far as a quilting pattern goes:

... and HERE's what she left ME for a "tip":

Woo-hoo! I have the BEST friends and customers!

Hanging Wi' My Peeps ...

My new chickie-doos arrived early last week. There were 31 Buff Orpingtons and The Odd Man Out in the box upon arrival. The BOs all huddled on one side of the cage I put them in for their first night under the lamp because it was supposed to get really, really cold out. They were so funny to watch! They'd all crowd together, then one or two would come from the outside of the bunch, step back a bit and then jump on top of the others. Like a chickie mosh pit! They did it over and over, totally amusing me and DH to no end.

And look at Odd Man Out: what's up with that 'do?!?

 Her/His head looks like a little pom-pom glued on top. I can't wait to see what sort of oddball it grows up to be. We once took in chickens from a teenager we knew whose Mom told him to get rid of all his chickens. One had perfectly round black spots; hence, she bacame known as Spot here. Another was the tiniest of banty hens, sweet as could be. We called her Goldie. She would hatch piles of eggs every year -- some that didn't even belong to her, but she never lost one single chick. She looked like a cartoon chicken -- sitting high atop a heap of eggs until they hatched. Fiercely protective, she would fly in the face of any cat or human who dared approach her brood until they were self-sufficient. Ever since she died of old age, I've been on the look-out for another just like her; but I'm thinking she was one of a kind.

Here's Julie S's quilt. Identical to Sue P's from a while back, except made with different fabrics. My DH would like to have cabbaged it for his own.

And can you believe this one is also Julie's? Nobody can accuse her of being in a style rut, that's for sure!

I have no idea how this post will turn out -- the photos keep jumping all over the place when I try to insert them in the appropriate places in the text. Oh well ... you'll figure it out.

These guys believe in fairies ...

Apparently, I have the appearance of one who couldn't do physical labor if my life depended on it.

I just returned from a stay with my Grands while the parents were away for [quite] a few days. I had taken several quilting UFOs to work on, but pretty much blew through them on the first two days of school for the kids. So ... what to do? What to do? I walked. Walking in "town" is just not very appealing to me. Once you've gawked at one street's worth of a housing development, you've pretty much seen all you're going to see, no matter how far you keep walking. Next afternoon, I walked out to the highway where I knew there is a quilt shop. I ran into someone I knew and chatted a few minutes, but didn't really find anything I wanted to carry back to the house with me. (Yes, I am feeling okay; thank you very much.) On the weekend, we walked a trail at a national park nearby. We were gone a looo-ooo-oo-ong time, my knees were starting to get wobbly, and there was still no end of the trail in sight.  I was beginning to wonder if I'd end up crawling the last mile. The next day I decided I stay closer to home base.

I'd mow the lawn! The kids left for school, and I headed out to the shed to get the mower. That stupid thing would mow two feet and stall out. Then I'd nearly jerk my arm out of its socket trying to start it again with the pull string. After some very unladylike spewing (with neighbors' back doors only a few yards away), I decided I would just go get a different mower. I did. I assembled the mower, then I mowed. When DS returned from his trip, his wife said the Lawn Fairy had paid a visit. DS asked, "Who mowed the lawn? You? (to my grandson, who replied that he had not done it). "Marie?" (a friend across town). That I might have done it never crossed his mind. Yep ... must've been the Fairies!

Here are a couple of shots of the quilt that will be raffled this Fall by our guild:
It's big. They'll have the quilt at the ArtsFest in Athens, PA this weekend. You can get tickets there, or from any Endless Mountains Quilt Guild member until the drawing in October.