Tomato Plants

I've been keeping a close eye on my tomato plants and eagerly waiting for the first tomatoes to show up.  Unfortunately, I haven't had a great deal of luck with them this year.

I only planted three plants and it was late in the season when I did finally get them planted. After planting them they did begin to grow quite fast, however, they were very slow in developing blossoms.   When the blossoms did show up they just didn't go anywhere, or else they just fell off!

They look like healthy tomato plants, don't they?

Finally a few tomatoes began to show up, though only on two of the plants. The third plant has not had any tomatoes yet!  Yesterday when I went out to water I finally got to pick some tomatoes!

Yes they are very small and there are only four, probably not enough for salsa!  But I'll enjoy them anyway!  I did spot this one about ready to be picked as you can see in the picture below.  I'll give it another day or two.

And there are a few more green, and still growing, tomatoes, but that's about it.  I don't think I'm going to have very many fresh homegrown tomatoes this year!

I did go on the internet and researched my sluggish crop problem.  According to what I could find out, hot, humid weather tends to cause the tomato blossoms to turn yellow and fall off.  Guess that explains it because we have certainly had plenty of hot, humid weather!

Hot Weather, Hot Soup

Even though it's summer weather, a few nights ago I decided to make some soup for dinner. I usually like a hot bowl of soup in cold, rainy, winter weather so I don't know why it appealed to me now, but it just did.  So I decided to make some minestrone soup.  I also decided to make some homemade rolls to go with it.

I knew it would be a large pot of soup because, for some reason, I don't know how to make a little pot of soup!  So I decided to share, and invited Marion & family over for dinner.

I have to confess that I have only made minestrone soup one other time and I don't even remember how that went.  This time I really didn't follow any particular recipe for the soup either, but just went online and looked up the general idea of what goes into it.  By the time it was finished cooking it looked pretty good!  Full of carrots, celery, onion, green beans, squash and tomatoes.

The rolls looked pretty tasty also, and I did follow a recipe for them!  Here they are all ready to go into the oven.

And ready to eat.  Just pull off a roll and add butter!

The whole meal, ready to go.  It looks good doesn't it?

Everything turned out very tasty and we all enjoyed dinner.  As an added bonus, There were plenty of leftovers for everyone to have lunch the next day.

A nice meal and a nice time!

Moving On

I did some investigating and it looks like my "porch decoration" is a katydid.  I discovered that they are somewhat like a grasshopper and they make noise by rubbing their legs together, like crickets.  The noise is supposed to sound like they are saying "katydid."  So that's how they got their name.  I didn't hear the one on my front porch making any noise so I can't vouch for that!  They eat other little bugs, so I suppose that makes them helpful in the garden.  That's about all the information I found on them.  I do like their bright green color, though.

Meantime I have been finishing up my latest quilt.  I finally have it ready to go.  I really like the bright colors that it displays.  I enjoy just pulling out random material from my "scraps" bag and waiting to see how it turns out once the quilt is done.

Here is the finished product.

I decided to piece the back of this quilt because I didn't have enough material for a solid back.  Besides, I am enjoying putting some design into the back also!

This was just a random piecing with leftover material.  I wish I would have cut the black pieces a little more random, but they were already cut strips, all of the same size, so I used them.  Next time I won't use all the same size, but I don't think it looks too bad.

So now that I have this project finished it's time to start working on some Christmas projects.  Yes, Christmas is coming up already!  I have several ideas that I'm going to work on for the grandkids, and also some things in mind for the "adult kids."

I also have an embroidery machine just sitting and waiting for me to start using.  I have never used it and I want to start learning how it works!  I have a couple of Christmas projects in mind for it...if I can get it figured out!

So I probably won't be making any more "wonky" quilts for awhile...though they have been a favorite.   Time to move on to something new!

Porch Decoration

Well we've had no more of the promised rains, but we still have the hot, humid weather hanging around.  I guess we'll just have to be satisfied that we at least had one day of rain.

Tonight when I walked out on my porch I found this little guy sitting on the wall.

He kinda worried me for a minute because he took off and headed straight for me!  I thought he was going to land right on my arm.  I think he's pretty, and interesting to look at, but I really wouldn't like him crawling on me!  Luckily he changed direction and landed on the other side of the porch, where I captured this picture.

Interesting, isn't he?  Is he a preying mantis, or is it praying mantis?  Or?  Guess I don't know much about bugs, or is it insects?

Summer Weather?

Our usual summer weather is hot, dry, sunny, and in the late afternoon, windy.  We can pretty much always depend on this for the whole three months (at least) of summer.  The heat doesn't normally slow down until sometime in September, or even well into October. After all, we do live in the desert, and as they say, "but it's a dry heat."

So it's been really hard to figure out why we have had at least a month of really cloudy, muggy, humid, though still hot, weather.

Now I'm sure that, to those living in the really humid areas, our little bit of moisture would be a welcome change, but we are just a little confused by it.

I kind of like it myself.  It's a different kind of summer and I'm enjoying the change of pace. Actually, today really changed direction and we ended up with some rain with those clouds. A lot of rain!

It really came pouring down for quite awhile and flooded lots of streets.

The only problem was the thunder.  Of course Schultz was scared and wouldn't leave my side.  I put his thunder shirt on, but it still doesn't seem to help him.

Thunder shirt on, tongue hanging out, and right by my side!

Still, it was a nice change, and the weather reports say there will be more of the same tomorrow!

School Days

Yikes, I don't know where the time goes in-between these posts!  It seems like yesterday was when I sent out the last one!  We haven't been too busy here, so maybe that's my excuse, nothing to report.

The grandkids are all getting ready to go back to school.  Well, Kayla and Marissa have already started -  on Monday.  They were a little nervous about the new year, but after the first day was over they reported that they liked their teachers and had a fun first day!

The grandkids in Utah are heading back to school next Monday.  Katie and kindergarten! The youngest one starting school!  I can't wait to hear about her first day.  She has been ready to go for awhile now, all signed up and just waiting.

She might have to take off the clown hat first, though!

And the rest of the silly girls, ready for the school year.

They're all growing up way too fast!

The Cover Up

I've been in a sewing mood lately and have been busy working on another "wonky" quilt.  I finished sewing the top earlier this evening and now I'm ready to make the back and then begin quilting.  Yay! I'll post pictures when I'm done!

I didn't want to start on the backing this evening because I was kinda tired of working on that project. Instead I had another project in mind that I have been thinking about making. I knew it would be quick and easy, so thought it would be just the thing for a temporary change of pace.

When I first got my sewing machine (probably at least 10 -12 years ago), it came with a soft plastic cover, with a pocket to hold the instruction booklet and the detachable cord.  I had intended to eventually replace that cover with something different, I thought maybe even one of those hard plastic sewing cases.  Well I never did get around to it, and after all these years that plastic cover has gotten pretty sad looking.

I've been thinking for awhile that I would like to make a new cover to replace that plastic, however, I had no pattern, just some ideas of what could work to put one together.  So I pulled out my stash of materials and found some I liked, and began to work on my idea.

Sure enough, it didn't take very long, and I thought it came out pretty well.

I added an extra long pocket and sectioned it off so that I can put some extras in if needed.

And here is a view of the back.

It should do a good job of keeping my machine clean and dust-free, don't you think?

And for comparison, here's a picture of the old cover.

About time, wouldn't you say?