Stitching and Weeding

It was another full day yesterday. First, I wanted to finish off the Chinese Zodiac quilt, and so I wasted no time getting to it.

First, I needed to press in the first fold for the binding.

The rest will be folded over again for a finished edge. At the corners, I made a 45° fold.

That allowed me to make a mitered corner when I was ready to stitch it down.

So that there are no loose edges to catch on IV tubing and that sort of thing, I zigzag stitched the mitered corner along with the rest of it. It's very secure.

And now it's finished.

Here's a view of the quilt back.

Now it's laundered and ready for mailing.

After that, I couldn't put off weeding any longer...but I tried real hard. First I visited the greenhouse. There, I found one of the lettuce seeds had germinated. Cool.

Also, three of the sunflowers.

Then, I relocated the sundial to its pedestal and set the time.

I was happy to see that five of the six echinacea plants have come back. The sixth might come back as well, but it was inundated with weeds. Now that I've cleared the way for some sunshine, I'm hopeful it will come back too. If not, I'll probably replant it. They're a little hard to tell from weeds right now, and so I marked each one with a bamboo skewer.

Between buckets, I wandered around taking pictures of every blooming thing. This is the red flowering currant that grows at the edge of our woods. It's an Oregon native, and we're very lucky to have this one growing wild.

The cherry tree is in full bloom now. I'll try to get a shot of the whole tree for you, but I didn't think of it yesterday.

Here's one lonely yellow tulip. It shares a whiskey barrel with the mint.

The Andromeda is beginning to show its red leaves now. In a week or so, this will be stunning. Stay tuned.

The strawberries are getting some flowers. We won't get any ripe strawberries until June...and then, the squirrels will probably eat them before we get a chance.

Also, I noticed the first flowers are opening on the plum tree. It's good that it's blooming now while it's dry and warm. The bees will have a chance to do their work.

And that was pretty much my day. I pulled two more buckets of weeds before calling it quits. The most high-density weedy areas have been pulled now. I'm thinking the rest will be a little less labor-intensive, but there's still plenty to do. I'll take today off. Tomorrow I'll get to work on the next section which will include dead-heading the hydrangeas.

As for the rest of the day, I'm planning to start sewing together the Wine Country quilt. I've been circling the finished blocks for days considering how to set them. I have an idea, and so I'll get started on that in a little while.

Mike called at dinnertime yesterday evening to let me know he was in Abilene, Texas. He expects two more days of driving before he reaches the RV dealership in South Carolina. Yesterday morning, he texted me this image of a giant roadrunner statue at a rest stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico...and you know we both love this sort of thing.

Who can dispute that this is traveling at its best? Things are going well, and he's making good time. I know he's looking forward to picking up the RV and making a more leisurely drive back.