5/21/19

A New Day

Surprisingly, I survived my trip to the dentist yesterday. No problems, and so I'm good for another year. I had a couple of other errands to run before heading for home. When I got there, kitties were chomping at the bit to get outside.


Sadie has been helping me with the poppy watch. She's watching the squirrels. The poppy is still looking about the same as ever, although the interior shows a little more each day.


On the positive side, I noticed two more buds on it yesterday for a total of six. We just need a warm sunny day, and I think it will pop open.

While I was out, I checked the greenhouse and I was happy to find the butter lettuce has germinated.


Also, the sunflowers I replanted last week are almost all sprouted now. There's another tray of these to the left of the frame below, and those are mostly sprouted. The tray to the right are new sunflowers and new plantings, and I don't see any activity there yet.


There wasn't much sewing yesterday because I napped during the afternoon. Any time I leave home, I come back exhausted and badly in need of a nap. Sometimes I power on through, but yesterday I succumbed. Still, I did all the quilting on the red part of the bird, filling it in with feathers. (What else?)


I'm a novice when it comes to feathers, and I haven't tried doing anything particularly fancy yet. For these, I made loops on both sides of the spine, making my way across the quilt and filling in the space.


When I reached the end, I made a loop, and then stitched back along the spine, making random flourishes inside a few of the loops. I liked this because it better defined the spine, but it also gave me a way to make any loops too large or misshapen look a little better. The flourish seemed to hide or disguise any problems I perceived.


After filling in the body of the bird, I made one long feather extending down to the tip of the tail.


Here's how it's looking from the back. It's a little hard to see that light blue thread.


While I was making dinner last night, the kitties were lounging in the afternoon sunshine.

Doesn't this rug match my furs beautifully?


I might have thought Smitty was dead if his eyes hadn't been open.


For dinner last night, I used more of the CSA veggies. This one did away with the remaining green onions and the butter lettuce. The lettuce is sauteed along with the other veggies until it wilts. It's an interesting way to use lettuce. The prosciutto gives it a nice salty taste while I used almost no salt at all in the remainder of the dish.


This is Pasta with Peas, Asparagus, Butter Lettuce, and Prosciutto and you can find the recipe right here. I made just half the recipe, and I used frozen peas instead of fresh. If you're using frozen peas, there's no need to cook them in boiling water. Just add them to the cooked asparagus, and you're good to go.

So that was yesterday. Today, I'll continue on quilting the cardinal. I'm hoping to get well along with it today, although I doubt I'll finish. It's a CSA pick-up day, and there's always a little housework to do, it seems. We're expecting drier and warmer weather this week. Fingers crossed the poppy opens soon.

10 comments:

Julierose said...

Your feathers are looking great; the kitties probably cannot wait for you to finish the bird lol hugs, Julierose

Teresa said...

Your quilting looks marvelous. I have tried feathers, but they look such a mess, I rip it out. I need to do it more often and maybe I can master the look. Most of my machine quilting is done with the auto feed foot and straight lines, or gentle curves. That salad looks delicious!

Brown Family said...

THe salad looks good. I think you do great feathers!

Katie said...

Your feathers look waaaay better than mine! I struggle to remember they share lines and my brain tries to make each one all it's own. Yours look like your brain has mastered that idea nicely! And the kitties are adorable, as always.

Quilting Babcia said...

I'm glad to hear you survived your trip to the dentist without incident, afraid my next visit (to yet another dentist who will hopefully be better than the last one). We had a wonderful dentist in Newberg back in the day. Your feather quilting is looking really nice. They can be quite addictive after awhile can't they?

Sally Trude said...

Molly has been spending a lot of time by the front door calling for Smitty to come let her outside. She's starting to think he's not all that.

mangozz said...

You've always got so much going on that it's fun to read your blog posts each day. I've never been a fan of Prosciutto, but that dish looks really tasty. I used to grow sunflowers, but the birds always got to the seeds before I could. They were fun to grow though because it made me think of Alice In Wonderland. Also, I love the look of feathers but I can't ever imagine quilting them myself...too much like work.

piecefulwendy said...

There are times when I have to talk to Wilbur just to be sure he's still moving, he sleeps so soundly. It is so dark and gloomy here today that seeing that lovely cardinal quilt is just the thing I needed. I like your quilting, it's looking really good. I've printed off the recipe so I can give it a try, after I tackle the grocery store next time. I have coffee with a friend this morning, then hopefully sewing later today.

kc said...

Excellent feathers, and you're right - the flourishes add so very much character. Personally, I didn't see any flaws or eccentric loops, but I did notice the flourishes right away, so that must be what you'd intended.

Bailey often sleeps/poses like that - all stretched out, and so very still, but thankfully, eyes wide open. Clink that dinner dish and she's right up and at my feet!

Looking forward to seeing your poppy in all its glory! We had one in Ruckersville, VA, and it was soooo very pink. A very light pink, but so very saturated, if you know what I mean. A very true pink, and very beautiful. I wished I had been able to carry it down to NC, but they told me it really wouldn't thrive in that new climate, nor would it appreciate being uprooted and transplanted, so I just left it. We're going up that way in a week or so, so maybe we'll just mosey on over to see what's going on at our old place. Or maybe not. Don't guess it's really all that important.

I did find a couple little ramekins, though, so I am all fired up to make carrot cake for two!! I even have them washed up and ready to use, but we are taking off for my granddaughter's 8th grade graduation in the morning. How did time go so fast??

quiltzyx said...

Lovely sprouting lettuce! And COME ON POPPY!! Open up already, geesh!

The feathery feathers look wonderful on the Cardinal. Way to go!

Sadie, your furs make everything else pale in comparison to their beauty. Truly. And Smitty, don't scare Mom playing zombie kitty like that!

I think the photo of your salad looks much tastier than the one that accompanies the recipe. It looks amazing!