Nothing But Sewing

It's the best time of the year as far as Smitty is concerned. He gets a sunbath both morning and evening these days. From his morning perch, he can see birds and squirrels, and then he naps and his dreams give him running feet.

While he was taking his sunbath, I did quite a bit of stitching on the June heart.

I love these little bees. They're made using two strands of floss, three-wrap French knots, and then a single stitch over the top for the yellow stripes.

Cute, huh? I doubt I'll finish this today, but tomorrow isn't unrealistic.

It's been a busy week, and I'm kind of stuck in the garden until Mike is home to help me with some heavy lifting and high-hanging. (We still need to hang our yellow jacket traps.) So I gave myself an NBS day. I finished off the second section of the pansy mosaic.

And then I sewed it to the first section. The pansy is beginning to emerge. The quilt top is 20% finished now, which doesn't seem like much given the number of hours I've spent on it.

Sadie did her part by staying out of the way and napping in the bed I've given her on the sewing table. She's such a tiny little thing, she doesn't take up much space.

Knowing that my current slow-stitching piece is nearly finished, I decided to take a break there and make up the next one on my list. This is a small stitch sampler from Crabapple Hill Studios. The coloring is done with colored pencil, although the pattern specified crayon. I prefer the colored pencils.

When I did the "Stitched Inchies," I started getting interested in some of the more difficult embroidery stitches, and this sampler seemed like a good way to get some practice. During my midnight obsession foray into the Crabapple Hill Studios online store, I purchased another sampler as well. For now, I'll stick with this one.

While I was doing that, Smitty decided he wanted an afternoon outdoor adventure. The kitties usually go out in the morning together, and they come in around noon to nap in their clubhouse. At that point, I close the catio door, and their outside roaming is finished for the day. Smitty, however, has decided that he likes a short Manventure in the afternoon when he goes out by himself, exiting from the sliding glass door downstairs. Somehow exiting from the downstairs door adds to the adventure. And this is serious mancat business. No girls allowed.

Since the catio door is closed, I watch him carefully, and he'll come to the upstairs sliding glass door to be let in after about 20 minutes. Yesterday, he came to the door, and when I opened it, he just walked away. This is the signal that I am supposed to try to catch him. I tire of this game a lot sooner than he does. So I bided my time, walking around taking pictures of every blooming thing, until he let me get close enough to snatch him up. I'm not opposed to using his tail as a handle for this purpose, which is downright insulting. In my walkabout, I noticed the yellow tulips are blooming now.

Also, a lot more red ones at the front door. Be sure to pause and admire the beautiful hose in the background of the image below.

Also...kind of surprising...the plum tree is blooming. I've been watching it, and didn't even notice any buds until yesterday. Amazing what a little sunshine will do for things.

From there, I was able to capture Mr. Smitty and put him to work in the sewing room.

There was a little time left in the day and so I started on the third section of the pansy mosaic.

Just for grins, I laid it out next to the neighboring two sections. Just a little more, and the purple pansy will be complete. Seeing the design emerge is what makes these mosaics kind of fun to work on, even if cutting all those little squares is a bit tedious.

Matthew's flight was delayed yesterday. We thought we might be able to meet him at the airport, but with the delay, we just drove his van over and parked it, hiding the key inside the door that opens to reveal the gas cap. He called when he got in last night, and it seems as if he made it home safely. I'll be meeting up with him for lunch and hugs this afternoon. I can't wait to hear more about his trip.

With whatever time is left in the day, I'll get on with my slow-stitching and the pansy mosaic. It should be a pretty easy-going day. Tomorrow morning I'm heading off to the farmer's market with Erik and Mae. It'll be our first visit of the season, and I'm looking forward to that too.