Catching Up

Happy Mother's Day, Everybody!

I hope you have something special planned for your day. I'm making dinner tonight...kind of a Happy-Mother's-Day-Happy-May-Birthday-to-you sort of thing. We have three May birthdays in our family. Yesterday, was spent making a cheesecake for tonight's dessert. This morning I'll add the topping and try (yet again) to successfully make some chocolate curls. I've been studying up on YouTube. Also, Mike announced last night that he was making breakfast this morning. He makes an excellent waffle, so that will be a treat.

Yesterday, I shared on Facebook this image of my mother and me dressed in matching dresses for Easter Sunday. My mother loved to sew. She taught me most everything I know about sewing. She liked to make matching dresses for us, and I loved wearing them. She was one of the most loving and generous people I've ever known. She passed away in 1997 shortly before her 75th birthday. I was just 42, and not nearly ready to say good-bye. I still wish I could pick up the phone and chat with her.

As for yesterday, before I got busy with other things, I did the bullion stitches on the "Stitch" sampler. They turned out pretty well. First, a tiny bullion stitch rose:

And then a sort of daisy flower with a buttonhole stitch center and then bullions all around.

And now I've moved my hoop to the bottom of the piece. Just below and between the green leaves at the bottom is another new stitch....something like an "English rose"...can't remember as I'm writing. It's basically many lazy daisy stitches worked in a round, but they'll be stitched over a tiny disk of felt. I don't actually have any felt, and so I'm going to use a piece of white flannel.

So, I'm coming down the home stretch on this one.

Having exhausted myself with the bullion stitches, I went outside, watered the flower pots, and fed the birds. While I was out, I noticed the while azalea is blooming now.

Look how pretty its neighbors across the sidewalk are.

The flowers are beginning to open on this pinky-purply rhododendron.

Also, our little mini rose has buds on it. Generally, we never see these open since the deer eat them before they have a chance. Once in a while though...when it blooms, it's one of the more fragrant roses I've ever seen. It was a gift from a former neighbor for my 50th birthday...which would have been yesterday...except that it was 15 years ago. Oy.

The chive blossoms are beginning to open, and so I expect to be making chive blossom vinegar later in the week.

Later in the afternoon, I was able to get in some serious sewing time and caught up on the Tiny Tuesday blocks. I finished sewing together the Spinning Star from Zana's Ninis.

This one is set diagonally.

Next, I tried twice to make this an inset heart, but couldn't get it done right. The inner point on the heart is what was giving me grief. But, the show must go on, and so I ended up making it applique.

Moving on to May's orange, I did this one from Quilting on the Crescent. She left the naming of this block to us. We were to fill in the blank: Road to _______________________. Hm. I'm calling mine the "Road to the House of Cats Gone Bad."

It's finished in a diagonal setting.

So now I'm caught up...until Tuesday, that is. Only...somehow I ended up one block ahead of everybody else. I have 19 of these, but we're only on Block 18. I'm guessing Smitty and Sadie made one while I wasn't looking.

Speaking of Sadie, want to see a flat cat?

These two were very busy yesterday. I'll just say that any description of what they did would fall under the category of TMI. You can see that we ran the wheels off Smitty. He likes getting up on top of my china cabinet on hot days. It's nice and cool on his tummy furs.

Regarding TMI, we've worked out a strategy to control the flow of critters being brought into the house. Their kitty door opens into the laundry room, which can be shut off from the rest of the house. As an added advantage, the floor of the laundry room is tiled, rather than carpet. Any little murders accidents that happen in there will be easier to clean up. They'll be able to get to their food and water...and yes, their litter box, because they usually come in to do their doody...and we'll be happier knowing we don't have to creep around every corner expecting to find...well, there I go. TMI.

So today's activities include finishing off the cheesecake and one little house-keeping chore. Also, I want to transplant the tomatoes into larger pots. When that's finished, I'll have some more time for sewing. I'm hoping to get well along with the orange blocks for the Charm Stars. Mike is doing our prime rib dinner in his Traeger grill, and so I'm only responsible for the side dishes. Have a lovely day, Everybody!