The Beauty of Blessing, Milkglass, Garden Up Date and It's ONE Downfall

             " Our lives are just two threads in this eternal canvas.

They diverge, converge and interweave with each other,

Then diverge and converge again until the fabric is complete."

Kahlil Gibran

Two beautiful lady's blessed me so much last week!

First I was flabbergasted to find all of this gorgeous hand dyed lace by

Pamela Kellogg sitting by the door with my name on it! 

(via the mailman of course)

I'm still in shock and it is still sitting just like this on my sewing table.

It was ironed so perfectly but I couldn't wait till my camera was charged to unfold each piece and study all the beautiful colorways running through it!

Each piece is truly a work of art!

You absolutely must go to Pam's Blog and Etsy store where you will be delighted with gobs of eye candy!

THEN I was so lucky to win this breathtaking kit from my pal Pat Winter
I never win ANYTHING ~ this was truly my lucky week!

Beautiful fabrics, cigg print, lace, beads, trims and her gorgeous hand dyed silk ribbon!

This was all in a gift bag made from an old story book pages.

See the Dragonfly ~ that was a picture in the book ......

 a matching Dragonfly charm was enclosed with the beads!

These two beautiful woman have put the spring back in my step and ignited my flame of inspiration that was firmly in the OFF position.

Thank you SO much!!!!!

My garden offered some surprises as well!
These beauty's were hiding under my Birdhouse Gourds.

By the way ~ the latest issue of Mary Janes Farm had a great article on Milkglass

so I thought I'd share some of mine with you.

(the pumpkin is from my son's garden)

One day I will share my whole collection but this is the stuff I had handy.....

this is really a sugar bowl from a child's set but makes a perfect vase for

flowers with tiny stems.

One of my favorite pieces ~ a Punch Bowel complete with cups ~ $10.00!

Later I found just the bowl part so I have a spare if one breaks.

The little vase on the right is my favorite shape for a vase even though they don't hold alot of water.

The Salt and Pepper Shakers are like new.

I like using Milk Glass at Christmas time ~ it goes so beautiful with the colors of the season.

These candlestick holder seem to have been made to use upside down as well but I'm not sure.

Do any of you know how they might have been used?

Other gifts from the garden ~ the cornstalks for my fall decor.

I hear you guys laughing ~ what's so wrong with growing 12 cornstalks???

This is a Birdhouse Gourd flower.......

and the Gourd beginning to form.

If these grow nicely ~ I will have a giveaway this fall.

They are just the coolest things in the world!

The Trumpet Vine attracts Hummingbirds ~ they almost fit right inside!

I forgot the name of this but they are common ~

I bet most of you have one.

They grow very tall ~ this one is about about 5 feet.

Notice the rust colored mums already blooming!

The ones in my back yard started blooming the first of July.

Here in my corner of Connecticut ~ our growing season is about 4 weeks ahead of any year previous. We started picking tomatoes the end of June!

The shade garden is mostly a jungle of green except for the hydrangea and variegated grasses. The heat wave really stunted the growth of the impatiens which I rely on for late summer/early fall color.

This week I'll start tucking mums into bare spots to catch the eye and

provide flowers for cutting into the late fall.

Now here is the biggest downfall of my little peaceful domain I call my garden ~

 ~ my destination when I want to think

~ or get a good work out

~  possibly lose a bit of the ole' tire tube .

Look closely between the 2 bunches of tall grass ~

Here ~ I'll give you a close up shot ~

 Friendly's Restarant !

 as in Hot Fudge Sundaes ~ soft serve with fudge dripping down the sides, Orange Fribbles, Banana Splits!

Now don't even mention FishAMajig Sandwich cause I haven't had one in like a million years but that doesn't mean I'm not tempted.

As a matter of fact ~ I don't even like Freindly's all that much BUT

sometimes it just calls my name.

If you don't have a Friendly's in your back yard ~
Give this little recipe a try...........

Caribbean Delight

1 fresh pineapple cut lengthwise
2 medium mango's ~ cut in 1 inch pieces
2 mandarin oranges
2 bananas sliced with juice of one lemon poured over
1 cup fresh strawberries sliced
5 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons curacao
3 cups vanilla ice cream
5 Tablespoons grated coconut

Hollow out pineapple and cut it fruit into cubes.
Combine all fruit in large bowl.
Add sugar and curacao.
Spoon vanilla ice cream into the pineapple shell and top with fruit.
Sprinkle with grated coconut and DIG IN!!!

(from "The Book of Friendship" by Ariel books)