Two Finishes for Tuesday

There was no sewing yesterday. Mike and I spent the entire day doing much-needed work in the greenhouse and the yard. My objective was to transplant the tomatoes into their largest pots of the season. Mission accomplished.

My little helper cat allowed himself to be coaxed into the greenhouse a few times. 

He loves being outside with me, but he hates it when I spend all my time in the greenhouse. 

It's fraught with terror...hoses with squirting water and stuff.

He'll only come in for a minute or so, and then he sits on the wall outside where he can see me through the greenhouse door. There, he registers his displeasure long and loudly. Have I ever told you what a whiner he can be?

Also, I planted another round of lettuce.

Tonight I'm making a big salad. We have some CSA lettuce to contend with, but I'm going to add some of our own beautiful lettuce to the mix too.

That whole effort took much longer and much more energy than I anticipated, and so I didn't feel like sewing afterward. Instead, I took a walk around the yard, and then took a nap. The plum tree is loaded with plums. Hopefully, they'll ripen while we're here to enjoy them for a change.

Also, the cherry trees have more cherries than I've ever seen, and they are beginning to ripen. It's anybody's guess whether we'll actually get any of these. Usually the birds and the raccoons beat us to them.

Last night's dinner made short work of the collard greens. We only tasted collard greens for the first time last year, and they are surprisingly delicious with a wonderful chewy texture. For last night's dinner, I made some substitutions to this recipe for Turkey and Spinach Curry. I think the recipe was originally published as an antidote for turkey leftovers. I've made it substituting chicken for the turkey. Last night, I prepared the collards by removing the center rib, then rolling them up like a cigar and cutting them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips. Then I blanched them for 3 minutes and used them in place of the spinach. It was served over basmati rice, and it was really tasty. It's a very easy dish too.

It was a beautiful evening, and so we sat outside, enjoying the freshly mown field. We could see Mt. Adams off in the distance, but my camera couldn't pick it up. I've drawn it into the break in the trees there. You'll have to use your imagination.

This morning, I finished the binding on Yard Art. It ended up at 56 x 64 inches, so a nice lap size.

I started this quilt on November 8, 2012, and so it's very good to finally have it finished. Here's how it looks from the back.

Also, I put the last stitches on the first block for the Wine Country quilt. This one was really fun. I'm trimming the blocks to 8 1/2 inches for now. When I'm ready to make it into a quilt, no doubt I'll add some kind of border around them, but I don't have that nailed down yet. There's plenty of time.

By all rights I should be starting the last block for the Gingerbread Square quilt, but I find myself irresistibly drawn to getting started on hand quilting Mumm's the Word. This morning, I hooped it and took the first few stitches. I'm using a technique called "big stitch quilting". The whole thing will be done using #8 red perle cotton.

Most tutorials suggest using painter's tape to keep your stitches straight. I'm using this "tiger tape". It'll help me stitch straight, but it'll also help me keep my stitches even. I've just taken two stitches there, and I'll get going on it for sure and certain tomorrow morning. Since there are only so many hours in a day, I've decided to slip this into the rotation with my three ongoing embroidery projects. I'll work on it for two weeks, and then move along to the next project. That seems like a fair way to add some hand quilting to the mix while continuing to make progress on the embroidery projects.

Today is a CSA pick up day, and I need to feed the birds and do some watering. I'm hopeful that I'll get back to the Raining Cats and Dogs quilt block. It's the last day of May, and I'm not going to meet my goals for the month. No bonus points for me. Sniff. How are you doing with your goals for May?