Easy and inexpensive belt tutorial

I needed some summer belts. All my new Goodwill pants have belt loops. 39 cents for ribbon, another 39 cents for two D rings, and less than five minutes of time.

Just slide the ribbon through the D rings, fold the end, and stitch in place.

Hem the other end.

Presto! you have a belt. I saw one like it in a catalogue for $27. Who-hooo, I just saved over $26.

This is my lovely sister, Sara, who came to visit, and also needed a belt.

It was so easy I made two!

The Martin Family Farm

The Martin family farm consists of one tomato plant, which has THREE tomatoes on it so far. . .

AND a pumpkin plant boasting several blossoms. We're hoping to get some actual pumpkins this year, but even if we don't, the flowers are pretty.

We farm on a small scale. :>}

A day off and a to do list.

I had a day off and a to do list. The beach sounded like more fun, so off we went.

It was heavenly! (If you'd like to see more photos just scroll down to a year ago. We pretty much duplicated the day. :>}

Old books and old music

This book was first published in England in 1946. Elizabeth Cadell has been one of my favorite authors for forty years, and this book is my very favorite of the thirty-some she has written. I am rereading it this week and my family can hear laughter coming from wherever I have perched myself to read. I have a nice collection of her books, thanks to ebay.

I must admit feeling a bit of distress when hearing my favorite music referred to as "Oldies". For pity's sake, this music isn't OLD. Yes, I came to love it in the 60's, but that doesn't make it old. Don't you love Simon and Garfunkle? My favorite song on this album is "The Sound of Silence"

We had to look underneath some leaves to see that the morning glory is indeed glorious.

S is for summer, sewing, swimming, and secrets. . .

It's been a bit cool for swimming, which is okay, because it gives me more time to sew. I am making slow progress on the I Spy quilt. If you have a 65th anniversary coming up, don't look any further! Secrets are about to be revealed. Perhaps you'd like to go check your email. :>}

If it weren't for my very talented blog friends, I would never have tried making this card . Thanks, friends, for the inspiration to try something new. Larry's parents are celebrating their 65th anniversary this week! This card is for them. They do read my blog, but I'm hoping they observed the above warning and are off reading their email. :>}

These coasters were so much fun! Each one is about 4 inches across - just little bitty quilts.

I've never made a table runner before, but my mother-in-law uses them all the time, so it seemed like a good project.
I hope she likes them!

Cleveland Botanical Garden

Larry and I had a most delightful outing to the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

The flowers were lovely, of course, but the best part was the glass house full of plants and butterflies.

As you can imagine, it was difficult to photograph an enormous greenhouse full of moving butterflies. They are unusual varieties from Costa Rica, hatched here at the botanical garden.


These birds were about as big as my thumb. We also saw a red one about the same size - I was enchanted.

Paradise for someone who loves green.

A butterfly landed on Larry's shoulder! He had the camera strap around his neck, so we just turned it up and shot the picture. This variety is bright blue from the top, but when you see it folded it is mottled brown. I'm sure it makes great camoflage, but a disappointing photo!

It was a beautiful day for an outing.

The parking meters took us by surprise. Remember the ones that used to take a penny, and it gave a little zzzzip noise and you got to watch the arrow move to the amount of time your penny gave you? These are far less entertaining. You put in your quarter for half an hour, then another quarter, and so on, and it is just boring electronic numbers. Some advances in technology are not improvements!

I remember years ago when Daniel was very young he was transfixed with cause and effect. He liked to play with the digital clock to watch the numbers move, liked to watch the timer on the dryer, and he LOVED to feed parking meters. Sometimes we would walk down a street that had meters and pop nickels (pennies were from my childhood, by then we were up to nickels) in them all so he could watch the cause and effect.

The suburb we live in is just halfway between Cleveland and Akron here in Northeast Ohio. We rarely visit either city as we prefer to stay away from heavy traffic and difficult driving situations. Every once in a while we brave the roads and take advantage of some of the delightful offerings these cities have to share.

A doll is born.

Hello! My name is Molly (for now). I am going to visit a lady who is a little bit old, and she likes fancy names like Arabella, so I may get a new name, which will be fun. :>}. She is lonely because her husband is resting in Heaven and can't live with her anymore. Her children visit often, but she's still lonely when she's by herself. Having a cheerful person like me around is just what she needs!
My dress has two sides, and they both have ric-rac on them. We dollies like ric-rac on our dresses.
http://www.vintagericrac.blogspot.com/)
Jodie made the pattern, and her blog name is Ric-Rac, so she must like ric-rac a lot, too! I haven't got my cardigan yet, but it's summer so I won't be needing it for a while. Do you think my arms stick out too much? They are supposed to look like a big hug for the lady who is a little bit old.

This year the hydrangeas are low on foliage and high on flowers. Nice!