My self-seeded violas were amazing this year. Last Summer I had two bowl planters that I picked up at Costco in May. They were about 16 inches in diameter and were full of these violas and had a spike of some kind of exotic grass in the middle. They were hardy and hung on until mid-July when the heat killed them off. I moved the planters off the porch and parked them by the rocky foundation in front of the house where the weird little grass kept growing and looking OK where it was. So I left them there.

Come Spring 2022 and lo and behold, little bunches of violas sprouted up in all the rock border and in the grass and in every crack and crevice around the steps and planters!

I think I had the most happy kitchen window sill in town! I am hoping they return next season, I have picked quite a few, dried and pressed them. They will be part of my floating frame project in the future.  I picked them up from their drying mats very carefully and placed them in an acid free envelope. 

 My Dill Pickles are done, well, not to my taste, others like them but they seem too salty or something to me. This is a new recipe. We'll be filing that in the flip top bin. I will venture back to the market this week and return to my traditional recipe. A simple one it is, Oh well. 

Magic little dandelion seeds resting on their journey, must be a group of friends on vacation!

 So now a bit of this and that. While looking specifically for a video on how to narrow the legs in some jeans, I found a few interesting things. I rarely, if ever try on clothes in a shop. Of course, that can be problematic but I chose to keep the items (3 pair actually) and alter them because I like the fabric and the fit otherwise. I still haven't found what I'm looking for but I did find lots of other stuff!

• Fat Quarter Shop, The Jolly Jabber, has lots of "how-to" videos for the quilter, the cross stitcher, and the collector, HERE.
• Love Sew is an online quilt fabric and innovative notions seller. Very early on I got some LED lights from them. I was very pleased and also ordered a wool pressing mat. Now they have just invented a sewing machine lift base to ease your shoulders while stitching. I have used something like this in the past, not fancy like this. Mine was made by my FIL from a simple piece of angled wood. I really did like using it but have not recently. Now, theirs is fancy with a nice finish, pretty bamboo wood, and a lift up panel to store stuff! 
   A link to their site, HERE.
•  A nice review on the basting stitch, by hand and by machine, HERE.
• An ill fitting pair of jeans can be a good reason not to wear them. This video show one alteration that may interest you, altering the waistband, HERE.
• Do you need to enlarge the waistband on the jeans, check out this video, HERE.