Monday's Movements

Mondays are my most sluggish days. It seems to take me forever to get off the couch. It didn't help that I decided to do a marathon embroidery session. Sometimes it seems the more I do, the more I do, and I just kept stitching and stitching and stitching. Or maybe it was just an excuse to stay on the couch. 

It was a warm morning, and the forecast was for a relatively hot day. I decided to take a walk. Along the way, I photographed every blooming thing, although the wildflowers are beginning to wane. Before even leaving the driveway I noticed this tree. It grows wild along the side of the road, and there is another one growing in our woods. They're growing here and there wherever we go locally. I don't know what it is, but it appears to be a dogwood. The flowers are a little bigger than a dogwood. I couldn't get close enough to any of the flowers to identify it with my Like That Garden app.

A little beyond that were these lower-growing shrubs. The app identified these as Common Elderberries. When they are finished blooming, they will develop clusters of small red berries. The individual berries are about the size of BB's.

I believe this next one is called Evergreen Bugloss. It's hard to tell from the choices I was given, but it grows in wet shady areas, and that fits the bill for around here.

I didn't need the app to identify this one as Scotch Broom. It grows wild everywhere here, and is considered invasive. It's pretty when it blooms, but it is the bane of every allergy sufferer's existence. It doesn't bother me...my allergies won't catch up with me until June when the grasses start to bloom.

This one is easy...American Holly.

This is a kind of wild geranium. We get these growing in the yard. They are weeds to us; fortunately, easy to pull up.

I'm not sure about this one. It is a vine with the little tendrils that it can use to cling to a trellis, but there were so many suggestions on the app, I couldn't decide. My best guess is "Sandmats".

This one was identified as a California Blackberry, although we consider them Oregon Blackberries here.

I walked until I had accumulated 5,000 steps and then turned around. It happened to be at this place where I had a nice view of the valley.

On my walk back, I encountered some friendly horses. They approached the fence looking for a handout. Sometimes I have handouts with me, but on this day, not. Sorry horsies.

The swifts have returned, and they were soaring overhead. It's impossible to get a picture of them in flight, but I caught these guys while they rested on a wire. My advice: Never stand under a perched bird.

When I got home, I dragged my feet a little more. I needed to sandwich this table runner for quilting. Making quilt sandwiches is really the only part of quilting that I truly dislike. I think it's because the batting is such a pain to deal with. Finally, after dragging my feet for several hours, I pulled down my box of batting and found a piece that was exactly the size I needed...no cutting required. The quilting gods must have been smiling on me. 

I'm not particularly fond of this runner, but I always look on these less-than-favored projects as good opportunities for practice. I'll end up with a usable runner when I'm finished to boot. For this one, I want to outline the birds and then do a small stipple around them to make them stand out from the background. I'll also be outlining the branches and flowers. 

First, I tried doing it on my domestic machine and then moved to my mid-arm to see where I had the best control. There are a lot of little nooks and crannies to stitch around. I didn't have a scrap of the bird fabric, and so I used the pansies and watering cans to see how well I could do. As it turns out, my control is pretty much the same on both machines. I'll use the mid-arm for this.

Also, and just for grins, I experimented a little with the oval templates I purchased on Saturday. I don't have anything planned for them with this runner, but one never knows. I could go completely template wild. 

My guild meeting was last night, and it was such a beautiful night, I didn't want to leave home. Mike and I sat out on the patio late into the evening enjoying the mountain view and the sunset. I'll say I have doubts about continuing in the guild. Our membership renewal comes up soon, and I dread going to the meetings. There are things I like, and things I don't like, but the biggest obstacle is that I'm pretty much a homebody. I'd rather stay home than most anything else...except RV travel...I love RV travel. Basically, you're taking your home with you when you go on the road.

This morning I'm getting my monthly pedicure, and then heading to the grocery store. I have a number of errands to run, and so it's one of those run-around days. Hopefully, I'll have some time to do some quilting on my runner. It's going to be another warm day, and I expect we'll be eating dinner outside this evening. It's summer in April, and we are soaking it up.