An evening picnic in the garden

This summer has been so hectic. Evening classes and different schedules have made it hard to sit down to dinner together most nights. Tonight Earl and I pulled the table over by the garden. He grilled sliced pork tenderloin and eggplant brushed with garlic, rosemary olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper, while I sliced some bread and made fresh green beans. A big pitcher of iced tea and some candle light and we were set.  What a pleasure to relax in the cool of the garden among the flowers and vegetables and have time for quiet converstion and a good meal!

My zinnias have been particularly spectacular this year and the phlox perfume the entire yard.  We were serenaded by a little chickadee as we ate.  Late evening picnics in the garden, I highly recommend them:>)

In my garden

Just a few of the beauties blooming right now. The rain has made everything lush as early spring. My favorite is the red and white peppermint striped zinnia:>) Now I have some HTML homework to finish before I head for an appointment with my tutor.  Lets just say my summer classes are less than wonderful :>{  I am thankful that the school provides free tutoring for those of us who are completely dazed and confused.
Good news though, I am working on some fun things for the shop. Slowly, but I am working on them:>) Oh I would so much rather be sewing than doing homework! How about you? What would you like to be doing right now? Linking with Marys Mosaic Monday.

Red sky at Night

We had some stormy weather last night. A quick, heavy shower just before sunset and then this. This amazing sky filled the air with golden light.  I ran outside with the camera and captured this just before it faded to dark. I don't know that I have ever seen light like that in my life.

This morning, coffee and a bagel with my sweetheart at Panera and a rainy trip to the farmers market for a $5 flat of bright pink impatiens to mix in among the basil in my garden, and a big bouquet of farmers market flowers. Thank you darling:>) It gets the weekend off to a great start!  Now I am going to attempt to whip up a quick summer dress from some freebie fabric my sweet mom gave me, and then whipping up some invitations for a summer party.

I hope your weekends are off to a great start too!

The One Book

Yup, still here. It's been a pretty uneventful summer so far and I am feeling particularly uninspired to write, photograph, or do anything creative. School takes it out of me and I have had more than one moment of wondering what on earth I was thinking going back. Heat and rain have kept me inside. Lack of funds have kept me from vacationing anywhere fun and I am, at the moment, wallowing in my self pity, watching the dog days of summer trickle away and my school job loom ever closer. Glad you stopped by yet? Mmmmhmmm.
I guess we all have times like that.  So I'm pulling myself up with my bootstraps and gettin on with it. Today I'm getting out of the house. I may hit a garage sale or two. Yes, I'll have to spend some time on homework but today it doesn't get first dibs on my time. Oh and while I was visiting some of my favorite bloggers this morning, I found this video. Just the kick in the pants I needed. Keep on keepin on.

At the Beach

Well, That is where I would like to be! The truth is I am enjoying a summer at home and dreaming of finding a little cottage by the Great Lakes, or better yet, the ocean to do nothing but sit. Forced relaxation. SPF 50 sunscreen (come on, I'm a redhead, I learned long ago that I don't have a drop of melanin in my skin!) Listening to the surf, finding shells and beach glass, long walks along the beach with Earl and my morning coffee.  *Sigh*  Not happening any time soon. Our school schedules overlap and run at different times so we aren't both off at the same time. Not until the end of August just before Labor Day. It will be our 30th anniversary then and I hope we can get away. So I went to Flickr and collected some gorgeous photos to dream over.  Sun and sand and waves sound sooo good right now....

I am actually posting this on Earl's laptop, our PC did a crash dump this week (that's what the blue screen said!) and our dear brother in law is looking at and trying to save it. Of course it has all my photos, files and programs on it, and E doesn't want me junking up his laptop with all those things so I'll just have to wing it until I get it back. The lazy days have me firmly in their grip but I am planning some sewing projects and still need to paint some of the trim in the kitchen, all in between classes of course. I hope everyone is having a great summer, I'm linking with Mary's Mosaic Monday:>)

Wishing you all a Happy 4th of July weekend!

Things you can do with a sheet...

Well I have my internet back and, even though I started my second semester in college this week, I am enjoying my summer so much! Just not having to work makes all the difference in time I have to do other things. That may be the understatement of the year, not working gives you more time, go figure.

Anywho, I needed a new nightgown and I couldn't think of anything more comfy for the sweltery nights of summer than cotton sheeting.  So I took a little trip to Salvation army and found a beautiful old sheet for $6. It was all cotton and as luck would have it, it was trimmed along the top with beautiful crochet lace.  I decided I would use this edge as the bottom of the skirt.   I also had a vintage pillwcase trimmed in the most delicate white tatting, and it had begun to come off.

I removed it from the pillowcase the rest of the way and amazingly enough it was the exact size I needed to go around the neckline of my gown. I say amazing because I just willy nilly cut the neckline freehand with no thought of the trim. I love it when things work out like that!  So there you have it, a new nightgown from a $6 sheet.  Easy as could be, crisp, cool, and cheap! If you do this make sure you look for all cotton. I am not a poly lovin girl, I think it's hot and it pills and it doesn't get all crisp and filled with fresh air and sunshine on the line like cotton does. I'm going to be in the lookout for vintage sheets in soft pastel prints to make some more cute nighties.  It feels so good to be back at the sewing machine after so long away:>) 

What projects are you working on for the summer?

P.S. For those who wanted to see the whole nightgown, wow, it's really hard to get a picture of  an ankle length nightgown!  I ended us scrunching it up on the chair so all the lace showed. Not the greatest photo but I can tell you, it was so comfy last night!