Frantic Friday

The day has kind of gotten away from me today. I started out this morning walking with Sue, and then I ran all over town taking care of this thing and that thing. Since I avoid going into town as much as possible, it seems I end up spending the day running errands when I'm there. But I'm getting ahead of myself because I want to show you the Sunflower table runner.

Yesterday I finished all of the quilting. I had hoped I might get the binding sewn on today, but it looks like it will have to wait until tomorrow. I did a swirly sort of stipple in the turquoise background.

And then I did a sort of stylized flower and some leaves in the borders and sashings. I never know what to put in the borders.

Then I set that aside and went outside because the weather was lovely yesterday afternoon. I noticed that the cherry tomato has its first blossoms. It's the one tomato I allow to grow out of the greenhouse. Cherry tomatoes ripen early and they are prolific.

Then I checked on the other tomatoes in the greenhouse. Yesterday's task was to give them new taller stakes. They're growing like crazy.

If you'll recall, last week I was concerned about the foliage. We've had a problem with leaf curl, and I've been unsuccessful in tracking down whether it is caused by a fungus or an insect. In any case, sulfur dust has been helpful in the past. I had only an inkling of suspicion that it was starting to show itself, but now you can see it clearly on this old foliage, damaged before I dusted it with sulfur dust.

But look at this new foliage...not a trace.

After I took that picture, I dusted it with sulfur dust too, just to be sure.

The lettuce is starting to look more lettuce-like. I think we'll probably start picking leaves off of this in about two more weeks.

My three late-germinating sunflowers are continuing to do well too. I'll be able to plant these outside in a few days. The remaining two never came up. Since I planted three of each seed (and these are the same variety), I'll know which variety it is because it will have only one plant. If I plant it again next year, I'll know to plant more seeds.

The first of the colored iris has opened up. There are more coming, and you can see the white ones blooming away in the background.

Of course, I had my furry friend and protector by my side at all times...except in the greenhouse. He doesn't like the greenhouse. It has a hose that squirts water.

Also yesterday, I got some surprises in the mail. These two bee blocks came from Anita in Canada. It's my month to be hostess, and I've asked my hive mates to make two of these pieced star blocks in red white and blue.

Also in yesterday's mail, I received my swap quilt for Another Little Quilt Swap 9 from Mary Jane in Georgia. Isn't this pretty? It's a perfect size to cover the top of the craft table in Eliza's room, and so I'm using it as a little table topper there.

Then in today's mail, I received to more bee blocks...these from Celeste.

So, thank you, ladies! I can't recall when the mail has been so much fun!

This morning I walked with Sue. We did our usual walk on the Fanno Creek Trail. I'm going to guess we've walked by this tree hundreds, if not thousands, of times. We've never seen it in bloom like this before. Beautiful.

Also in bloom...wild roses.

The Fanno Creek Trail is an in and out hike (rather than a loop). On our way back, we saw these four little ducklings, napping at the edge of the trail. It's hard to tell in this image, but mama duck had both eyes open, keeping an eye on our every move.

Excuse me for just a second. (SQUEE!)

Okay, I'm back. So after our walk, I stopped by Erik's place to drop off a bag of cat food our purrsnickety cats have turned up their noses at. Maybe his cats will be more appreciative. Then I had to drop off a couple of parcels at the post office. Then, because my feet were killing me, I decided to get some new shoes. I knew I needed new shoes, but today I bit the bullet and did it. Then I picked up some white vinegar at the grocery store because I have just a short window of time left to do my chive blossom vinegar. I wasn't going to make any this year, but then I gave my last two bottles to the kids when they were up a few weeks ago. If you want to know how to make chive blossom vinegar, you can get the lowdown right here.

And that brings me to now. I'm in the process of making my Red Hot Cinnamon Apple Cake for two right now, but I'll have to tell you about that tomorrow.

So, phew! That's a lot of stuff to do in a day, and I'm not finished yet. The weekend is starting to look good.