A Full Day

There was a little of everything on my agenda yesterday. First, I finished off the fifth of the dresses for the Sundress quilt.

After that, I traced out the sixth of nine blocks for the Home and Heart quilt. It's kind of hard to see what's going on here.

The block is called "Peace and Plenty Farm." You'll just have to wait patiently while I stitch it to get a good look. This morning I started down there in the southwest corner.

Also yesterday, I committed to pulling some more weeds. The object of my desire was the culinary herb garden. Of course, I'm never alone when I'm in the garden.

My furry friends are always close at hand. Sadie is so short, she barely rises above the grass. She was trying to scare up a mouse, I think.

Before starting on the herbs, I repotted the tomato starts. They're looking good. A couple of them appeared to need stakes, and so I obliged them. Demanding little buggers.

Also, I transplanted the cherry tomato to its whiskey barrel planter in front of the house. It shares this spot with one lonely tulip (already bloomed out) and a couple of intrusive strawberry plants.

And then I was ready for the hard work of weeding and cleaning up the culinary herb garden. First, I got busy re-establishing the theme.

At one end of this strip of a garden are some wild strawberries. I planted them intentionally, and they make a nice ground cover. Also, they produce tiny little strawberries, and the birds love them.

Nevertheless, they are weeds, technically, and so I've labeled them as such.

Want to see what else is growing in the herb garden? There is both English and French Lavender.

And lots of Chives. These come up at various places in the garden, and I just let them grow wherever they want to. They're lovely as fresh chives, but I use the blossoms to make chive blossom vinegar. You can see that there are some flower buds already.

Also Sage. This is a very robust plant and has to be whacked back every now and again.

Then there's the poor Rosemary. It often dies over the winter, and so I think of it as an annual at our elevation and climate. Nevertheless, this one is doing pretty well right now. It's even blooming, and so I think it will be with us for another season.

This next one is Sorrel. I'm never quite sure what to do with it, but I have used it in soups, and it makes a pretty good pesto.

There are three kinds of thyme. This one is Silver Thyme.

This one is French or Common Thyme. I use this one the most.

There's a tiny little patch of Lemon Thyme. It's leaves are delicate, and I don't use it often...unless the dish features lemons. Then, it's very nice.

Finally, Italian Parsley. I planted this a couple of years ago. It reseeds itself each year, and I have to make sure it doesn't get too carried away and take over the whole garden. Usually I pick a patch and let it grow where it wants to. The rest gets pulled up.

The one herb I neglected to photograph was the oregano. I don't have a lot of use for fresh oregano since I think dried oregano is better, but I still like having it in the garden. The one I'm often missing is tarragon. It always dies back in the winter, and has to be replanted in the spring. It's surprisingly hard to find, but I'll keep looking.

Weeding and cleaning up the herb garden was a job of many hours. There were plenty of weeds, but there was also just a lot of winter kill to clean up. Now it's done for another year.

When I was finished with that, I walked around the house so I could show you every blooming thing. Here's the newest tulip. It grows alone in the same whiskey barrel with the hyacinths.

Around the front of the house is another whiskey barrel with these fellows. I wasn't sure of the color before, but now it's obvious what they will be. I expect they'll be fully open within the next day or two.

Also, the Bleeding Heart is making its comeback. This one blooms almost all summer.

After that, I was pretty tired. I had some lunch and sat for a while. I was highly motivated to get the small quilts sandwiched for quilting. After I'd rested for a while and iced my aching knees, I got to work. Now I've sandwiched "Working for Peanuts." I'd like to get this one finished for this year's Oregon State Fair.

And this one is another one I'd like to get finished for this year's fair. This is the Summer Holiday quilt. You can see the binding strips I've cut for these quilts lying along the left side of the image.

I like the pieced back for the Summer Holiday quilt. I used a couple of orphan blocks, scraps from my stash, and leftover pieces from the quilt top to make it.

Next was this "Welcome Home" mystery quilt I made last summer while following along on Kathleen Tracy's Facebook page. This is not a favorite of mine, and it reminded me why I rarely make mystery quilts. I'm never happy with my choice of fabrics. I still want to finish it, however, but I'm guessing it will end up a kitty quilt.

Oh yes, and this recent finish...the one is "The More the Marinarier."

And this one I made while we were traveling. I call this one "Lucky Charm." I haven't yet cut binding strips for it, but I think I'll use that same green stripe pictured in the image above.

Finally, the Chinese Zodiac. This will be the next one to get quilted. I thought I had a piece of batting that would be just the right size. Alas, it was not big enough. I'll have to piece something together for it.

When I realized I was going to have to piece the batting together, I was suddenly and overwhelmingly exhausted. It was a full day. It seemed completely appropriate to let this one wait until this morning

So, that's where I'll start...after I've had some breakfast, of course. I'll piece together some batting, and then I think I'll get started on the quilting. No weeds for me today. We're expecting good weather all week, and so there's no rush to get back out there. My knees and my back will thank me.