I Like Thursday #159

Welcome to my 159th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find things that we like/love during the week.

It is fun to see all the growing things around.  

I love apple blossoms. My poor trees are struggling.  I needed to spray while they were dormant, but once the weather stayed above 40 degrees for a 24 hour period it was too windy.  

My trees had very few blossoms.  

In the field I saw these wild strawberries.  

 

I spied a butterfly, 

I thought this petunia originally looked like a dark purple. 

Maybe it is more of a maroon in the sun.  

While wandering around the property I spied these teeny tiny flowers.  This is called birdeye speedwell, it is a Veronica.

I have an app on my phone called "Picture This"  I will say that it is one of the best plant identifier apps I have used.  One thing which is neat about the app is it will show many photos of the plant, it will give you the scientific names, but it will also share an excerpt of the poem by Andrew Blakemore: 

The speedwell and daisies are blooming together
Their colours entwine in the grass where they grow,
So rich is the land and so verdant the pasture
As a carpet they make with sweet patterns that glow,
Like the blue of the sky and the bright golden sunshine
They rise from the green on this bright summer's day,
Wherever they shine I'll be happy to wander
For I'll never tire of their wondrous display. 

The other plant I saw had these lovely little yellow flowers.  

It is called mock strawberry. 

I spied a chicken basket at the feed store. 

Many years ago at a quilt shop which is no longer in business I saw a basket.  There was a pattern, but I didn't buy it, thinking perhaps in a few weeks I would return to the shop.  Life happened, I sent them an e-mail inquiring the name of the pattern, and filed their response in an e-mail folder.  I wanted to make this basket to use in my bathroom to hold dirty clothes. 

Recently I went through my e-mail folders and found the e-mail and went on a search for the pattern.  

 

Knotty Basket. 

I started acquiring the necessary supplies to make one.  

For a  girl who doesn't have a lot of time to go searching for supplies, I do shop online a lot.  I will say that finding the necessary items has been a trial.  

I have pulled fabrics trying to decide which ones I want to use.  

I am leaning toward using fabrics 2 and 3 from the bottom.

I did get a little sewing in this week. I managed to get 5 of the little blocks done.

block 8

Block 9

Block 10

Block 11

I managed to read/listen to a couple of books this past week.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas---what is Sherlock Holmes was really a young society woman?  Charlotte Holmes does not like the idea that she must marry and bear an unhappy, unfulfilled life.  When announced to her parents that she would rather attend school an agreement is made, but Charlotte discovers that her family had no intentions of allowing it.  The only option would be to "ruin" herself, buy getting herself into a compromising position.  Once done though, the mother of the married man that Charlotte had use is discovered dead, and Charlotte's father and sister are the suspects.  

Legally Blind Luck is the 7th installment of the Braxton Campus Mysteries by James Cudney.  I really enjoy this series, James has created characters that you find yourself invested.  In this book, Kellan and his family are mourning the loss of his uncle, Kellan is now the guardian of this uncle's teenage son, and there is an upcoming exhibition at the college of African art.  Kellan's uncle is suspected of having been in possession of a cursed talisman, which everyone is looking. 

Welcome to Piney Falls by Joann Keder.  Lanie has the perfect life, the best house which she is constantly renovating, a great job with one of the most prestigious office supply company in the world.  Lanie decides to take a creative writing class at the local college and is given an assignment to write about a town that suddenly changes it's name.  When Lanie's home burns to the ground her life is turned upside down, and she is pushed by a friend from the creative writing class to go research the assignment.  Lanie arrives in Piney Falls, Oregon.  A town with a lot of secrets.  

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.