4/29/14

Happy Cats and Happy Campers

It has been a glorious day of sunshine today, and we're supposed to have beautiful weather all week, with temperatures up into the 80's. That would be unseasonably warm for April/May, but we're not complaining. The kitties and I thoroughly enjoyed our day. It was supposed to be a swimming day, but after being gone from the house all day yesterday, I really just wanted to stay home.

As I was writing my blog post this morning, Smitty was enjoying the morning sunshine in the window next to me.


When I was finished, we went outside to fill the birdfeeders. I was happy to see my potted annuals have perked up after getting too dry just before I repotted them.


Looks like the sweeper man needs to come by...oh yes, I forgot. We don't have a sweeper man.

I noticed the first blossoms appearing on the strawberries. Of course, we never get to eat any of the strawberries because the deer and the squirrels clean them out before we ever get a chance.


The wisteria is sooooooooo close, but it's not quite there. With this warm weather, it should be in full bloom within the next couple of days.


For now, the clematis is still the star of the garden. I take a picture of it every time I go outside.


What about me??? I thought I was the star of the garden. Here, let me strike a pose so you can re-evaluate.


Or how about if I climb this tree?


Dang! Mom! My tail is following me again. You, Tail! You've followed me around for the last time!


I think I got it.


Is it still there?


Miss Gracie decided to enjoy the garden from her window seat.


Only....maybe she'll come outside and have a little nip.


Mind your manners, Smitty. Don't think for a minute that I won't box your ears.


The kitties accompanied me into the greenhouse where we were pleased to see the red leaf lettuce looking more leafy...


As opposed to this butter lettuce that has done nothing at all. Not a speck of lettuce here, which is very surprising since both were planted at the same time.


I can only think the seeds went bad. They were left out in the greenhouse over the winter. They were enclosed in a ziplock bag, and so they stayed dry. Still, I think they must not have liked the extremes of temperature. I'm going to give them exactly two more days (with the weather so warm). If they still haven't germinated, I'll replant with new seeds.

Their neighbors, the tomatoes, are looking great. I had to move some of their little ties up the stakes today.


My dill is getting taller, but it's still so spindly.


This image below is the dill I purchased. See how it grows in multiple stems from the ground up? It's different from my Dukat dill above which seems to grow up in a single spindly stalk. The marker on the purchased dill says "Fern Leaf Dill", and so maybe I'll look for that variety of seed for next year's crop.


I'm not having any luck with the basil at all. Only one of the seeds I planted has survived, and so I purchased the plant in the image below. And now look at it! I don't know what happened to it. It looked fine on Sunday. Now two of the three stalks have died and the third isn't looking very good either.


So after that, we took a walk around the house to see what else was going on. I noticed that a few of the iris are beginning to head up. These will be the stars of the garden in a few weeks.


And what's this? I think our friend the deer has been dining on my sorrel. 


That is very unusual because they have never bothered the herbs in the culinary herb garden before. In fact, we planted the herbs to replace the rose bushes that they would not leave alone at all. I got very tired of caring for roses only to have the deer eat every single bud before it could open. And here are the telltale deer tracks! Scoundrels!


They've been dining on the raspberries too! Raspberries have thorns! But then, so do roses...so I guess they must have mouths of steel.


So then I went back inside to sew. First, I surveyed my sample quilt from yesterday. It still has some open spaces, so this will make a good practice piece.


And yesterday's class was in a (ahem) fabric store. This fabric caught my eye.


I think it will be very cute with this cat fabric that one of you fabric enablers enticed me to buy.


Cat fabric: it's a gateway drug. I think I'm going to have to figure out a pattern to go with these two fabrics. Too cute.

And then I got to work finishing up the top for the Happy Campers quilt. I ended up trimming the blocks to 8 inches and then putting an inch-wide (when finished) border around them.


And then I added the borders and sashings, and voila! One finished quilt top. It ended up at 29 inches square. 


Of course, it still needs quilting and binding, but that shouldn't take long.

So that's our day. I hope you've had a lovely day too.

14 comments:

SewCalGal said...

Fun to see summer arrive in your garden. Looking good. Love the cats at the movies fabric. Perfect for a project for the Pets on Quilts Show this summer (@ Lilypad Quilting). :)

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I was thinking the same thing - the cats and tickets and Pets on Quilts - perfect!! Love the campers and just swoon over all the greenry/flowers you have - we don't even have trees budding yet.

Sher S. said...

Always love to see Mr. Smitty and Miss Gracie, they are such lovely kitties. Love seeing all that is blooming up in Oregon. Wish I could think of a way to keep the deer out of all of it. Maybe a lightweight wire tent to put over things. Glad you are having sunny warm days. Down in So. Calif. we are having high wind warnings with gusts to 50 mph. My allergies are killing me. I did manage to finish quilt my grand niece's quilt today. Next is cutting and sewing binding. Then off to her. She is 9 yrs old.

quiltzyx said...

Smitty & Gracie are so photogenic!
Thanks for all the pics of the flowers & herbs & such! (Whenever I think about spices & herbs, I always think of my friend Kim's Gram. At the Dr. with Grandpa once, the Dr. was advising her that Grandpa shouldn't have spicy foods. Gram replied, "Oh! I don't use spices, only HERBS!!" :D )

Yay for another fun quilt top finish. Those campers just make me smile every time!

WoolenSails said...

Your gardens are coming along beautifully, I haven't even started any seeds yet. Your yard is the perfect place for the kitties to explore.

Debbie

Brown Family said...

Max sat in an open window all day and watched my husband working in the yard. I have not let him outside, you and may never. Angel and Kirby did very well last year, till Angel decided to climb trees chasing squirrels!

Beautiful flowers. Have you seen the produce, "Deer B Gone"? I hate to use any thing that would run them off completely, but it might be worth it to save the plants.

I have two bindings to sew on tomorrow and then I will be ready to post!

Tami C said...

Things are really starting to look like Spring at your house. Looks so pretty. Sorry the deer at dining at your place. The Happy Camper quilt is really cute! I love the Cats at the movies fabric!

DeAnna said...

Great pics of your plants and kitties. Springtime is such an amazing time of year to witness the renewal of life. We've been blooming nicely here in Georgia for about a month. My Irises are awesome. I've started an indoor garden this year so as not to worry about all the creatures.

Barb H said...

LOVE your camper quilt! And "Kitties at the Movies" will be delightful along with the Admit One fabric. Can't wait to see what you do with those two.

Scrapatches said...

Smitty, it is so nice to see you today! Be a good boy and stay in Ms Gracie's good graces.
Barb ... may your garden grow and the deer find something else to nibble. Fences around your garden, do not keep them out? I have never lived where we had deer munch everything it sight so I have no real advice.
Cute kitty fabric and camper quilt ... :) Pat

lroghair/lparks said...

I have the "Cats at the Movies" fabric too! I've been mulling over what to do with it, so I'm anxious to see what your creative juices come up with! There's another complimentary fabric to it also with popcorn.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

The campers came out so perfect. I love the dark borders a lot, adds accents and dimension.

Lyndsey said...

Love the little camper quilt, it looks great. The cat fabric is very cute. I nearly bought some recently but decided not to as I had already spent quite a lot on fabric. Seeing it again I wish I'd bought it.

Kate said...

Very fun garden shots. Our roses have budded, so I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom soon.

Love the Camper Quilt. It's fun!