A Well-Rounded Day

This morning I added the borders to the Blooming Sunflower quilt. I have worked on this almost non-stop since I started it, and I was very glad to finish it up this morning.

I'm going to use that same sunflower batik from the border for the back, and if you look in the lower right corner, you can see the fabric I'm going to use for the binding. 

Already, I had preordained that I would do no more sewing today, but I did take the time to trace out the last two embroidery motifs for the Gardener's Journal quilt. Once I have these stitched up, I'll be able to finish the quilt that I've been working on since December of 2012. This one is the "Annual Garden Show",

and this one is Birds in the Trees.

After that I went outside. Our weather has been so beautiful, and I wanted to get outside and enjoy it. I planted the next round of red leaf lettuce. We're supposed to get some rain over the next couple of days, and so it's a good time to plant it. The planter box is covered with plastic wrap to keep the seeds moist. They form their own little terrarium that way. Last year I planted some in August while we were gone for the weekend, and the weather got so hot that the poor things boiled in their own moisture before we got back to check on them. Lesson learned.

Aside from that, Smitty helped me do some weeding. We were out in the hottest part of the day, and while the temperature isn't that high, it was hot in the sun. 

I wanted to show you the petunias in the hanging pots. We used to pay big bucks for these beautiful pre-planted and pre-grown petunia baskets. Then in a frugal moment one year, I decided to plant them myself from little plants. It only takes a few weeks for them to fill the pot and spill over the sides just like the big boys do. These are the ones I have now.

This is how they looked in mid-April. Not a good picture, but you can see that they have grown significantly in a short period of time.

Also, I checked the plum tree and found it positively loaded with plums. It had bloomed during a week of rain, and so I wasn't sure it got pollinated. I'm very excited about this because last year was its first year to bear a good amount of fruit, and so a repeat performance is a really good sign.

The dianthus are filling their pot now.

And the daylilies are heading up. They should probably be blooming by next week.

Looks like our deer neighbors have been dining on them. Hopefully, they'll leave some for us to enjoy. We've discouraged deer from the flowers in the past by having the Stanbro Men mark the territory (if you know what I mean). Maybe I can convince Mike to take a walk on the wild side tonight.

This year I have marigolds. Last year the squirrels ate them down to bloody stumps. It was very discouraging.

You can thank our trusty guard cat for that. We have squirrels in the yard, but none are living up by the house as they have in previous years.

And he's always on duty, let me tell you.

He's keeping a weather eye out for this guy, who is living down by the trailer.

I've seen him chasing them across the yard, and they cannot out run him. It makes Mike very happy since he's had to be judge, jury, and executioner in previous years when the squirrels tried to take over. I'm just as happy that they're keeping their distance now.

So today's dinner was prepared ahead of time. When Mike gets home, I'll just need to stick it in the oven. I made my ascent of Mt. Laundry today, and now I can relax for the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow is a swimming day, and I have to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store. Nevertheless, I think I'll have some time to get started sewing the blocks together for the Good Morning quilt. I'm hoping to gift it to someone in August, and so I want to get it finished off and shipped out to a long arm quilter. 

How did your day go?