Wet Wednesday

Our spring rains returned last night. It's not bad this time of the year. We generally get some nice sunny days interspersed with a few days of drizzle. The sun is supposed to return by Friday. Sue and I are walking that day, and I should have plenty of time to plant the annuals over the weekend before the rain returns again next week.

Yesterday I picked up the annuals:

As of June 1st, we will have been in this house for 12 years. In that time, I've pretty much learned what will grow, what won't, and what will get eaten by squirrels or deer. It makes choosing annuals much easier since I'm kind of sticking with the same things year after year. 

Also, I picked up a cherry tomato and a few herbs. Last year, I planted the cherry tomato in a pot outside the greenhouse. Then I decided it was too far from the kitchen, and so this year, I'm planting it in one of the whiskey barrels on the upper patio. Since we dug up our overgrown sage, I picked up a new little one to replace that. Also, I got some Italian parsley that I'll plant where one of the sage plants was. Parsley is an annual...at least in our part of the world it is. And I got some more dill and some basil since the ones I planted from seeds did not thrive.

The words on my latest embroidery project are all finished now. As I said before, this is a gift, and so I'm not giving you anything other than peaks. Do you hate embroidering words as much as I do? It's kind of weird really...if you're going to hand stitch, what difference does it make what it is? Somehow, I find it absolutely tedious and boring to stitch words. I usually do those first on any design.

These were especially tedious since the font was small and I was using just one strand of floss.

And I sewed together all of the blocks for the We are the World quilt. I'm loving how this is looking.

I've had that floral fabric in my stash for a long time, and I chose it for no particular reason. It seems to be working. Next, I'll make a narrow border with the polka dot, and then make a wider border with the floral. And then the top will be finished.

Already, I think I know how I'm going to quilt it. I really like this pantograph from Urban Elementz:

At first I was thinking I'd just do my own version of it, but then I got the bright idea to purchase the pantograph. I watched this video yesterday that showed me how to do a pantograph at my own sewing machine.

If you can't see the video, click right here. It doesn't seem that difficult. I was thinking of tracing the pantograph out on pattern paper and then quilting through the paper. I wonder if anyone has ever done that. If so, please tell me how it worked for you.

So today I'm doing a little housework, and then I'm going to Zumba. I'm sort of liking Zumba...I guess. I'm still not very comfortable with the footwork, and I'm not even trying to do anything with my hands and arms yet. I think I will enjoy it more when I'm a little more familiar with the steps. For now, I'm doing a lot of clock-watching, which makes for a slow hour. I'm not giving up yet, however. I'm committed to continuing through the next couple of months at least, and then I'll re-evaluate. After that, I need to do some grocery shopping. Before I go to Zumba, I think I'll have some time to work on the borders for my quilt.

What's on your agenda for today?