Catching Up

I haven't blogged in a really long time. It's been pretty much the same things as I always do. We were fishing a lot til the weather turned really hot; John had almost a week off because they were slow at work. He took vacation days and we fished almost every day; mostly at Blackwell, but we tried Deep Quarry Lake too. It was right after a front though, so there wasn't much happening. I finally caught a couple of northern which was pretty exciting, and a smallmouth in the Fox River in Batavia. We are planning on going to Bass Lake as soon as the weather turns cooler again, maybe Sunday. It's been really nasty the last couple of days, in the 90's.
I've been working on various projects, too. I'm about 2/3rd's of the way done with the star scrap mat. I really do like this mat. I will be listing it in my Etsy store in a couple of weeks. I also made a couple of purses, a pair of random patch shorts, and a really cute top that I don't have any pics of yet. The string star quilt has become my take with project since all the squares and triangles are being set in by hand and it's taking a pretty long time. John and I need a bigger quilt NOW, we're fighting over the little one a lot, so I am in the middle of another quilt made from some homespuns I had a lot of recycled fabrics from other things. I'm sashing it with a white cotton sheet from the resale shop and I'm going to back it with a flannel sheet, again from the resale shop. It will be tied rather than quilted.
My garden is doing well, too, although between the rain and then the heat I can't keep up with the weeding. I've had a problem with something eating my beans so I went over to Pioneer Feed in Villa Park to talk to someone over there. I hadn't seen what was eating them, but after I described what was going on the man who was working knew exactly what it was and what to do about it. He recommended some stuff to sprinkle on the leaves. I tried it and it worked for awhile, but the bugs seem to be back again now so i put some more on yesterday. I love Pioneer Feed, those guys always give great advice. We had a salad fro dinner the other night made with fresh lettuce I picked earlier in the day, and I've had some strawberries too. My tomaoteos are big and have blossoms, and so do the cucumbers. The cabbage is forming heads, and the peas are growing nicely too. All the herbs are doing pretty well except the basil and the savory. They aren't dying, but they aren't looking really great either. Anyway, I am getting tomato cages this weekend, and mulch to at least put down between the plants to keep some of the weeds down.