Summer's Here!

It's the best time of the year here in the Pacific Northwest. The rain seems to have let up a little earlier this summer. We usually say that summer doesn't arrive until after the 4th of July, but we've had several very warm days already, and watering the annuals has become a morning ritual.

There was a little time yesterday morning to spend slow-stitching. You might recall I was getting ready to stitch these English Daisies. They turned out so pretty.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, these start with the addition of a little bit of fabric before stitching starts. Here, I've fused a little piece of flannel to the background fabric.

After that, a series of lazy daisy stitches (16 in all) were laid down side by side like the face of a clock. Then a second layer is added over the top, a little shorter petals than the first layer.

When I had those finished, it was time to pack up little Sadie for a trip to the vet. She was not a happy camper, to say the least.

She got a couple of immunizations, deworming, and a clean bill of health. She came to live at the Three Cats Ranch three years ago. She was in poor health, infected with parasites, and phew! Could that little kitty let loose with some smelly farts! Unbelievable! Anyway...she's in good health now, and she's gained three pounds on her little body. She's a tiny little thing, and so she has some pounds to spare. A few hours later, she was back on the catio, sassy as ever.

After that, I could drag my feet no longer, and so I got to work on the June blocks for the Garden Sunshine quilts. First, I needed to make the background blocks.

And then I added the applique pieces.

There isn't much difference between the two. The bee's wings are a little strange. There was a template for embroidery, but nothing for applique. I tried using the embroidery template to make some wings from Angelina fibers. I'm afraid I had the iron too hot, and that really didn't work at all. I think I'll give it another try today with a cooler iron.

Today's mission will be to top-stitch down the pieces, and then these will be finished. After that, I'll make two blocks for the Countdown to Christmas sew-along.

Also yesterday, I washed the snuggle quilts, including the newest Home & Heart quilt. The kitties both put it through its snugglability paces, and no one works harder at this than Smitty.

Just before I sat down to write this post, I checked to see where the kitties were and found them both on the catio. They seem to have given up their boycotting purrtest for the time being.

On a positive note, Coyote Man was out to pre-bait yesterday. I'm not sure how long the pre-baiting phase lasts, but we're hopeful we'll see some trapping action soon.

It's a grocery shopping day for me. I'll try to get that done early since, as one of you pointed out already, it gets busy on Fridays. After that, I'll get back to my sewing. What's on your agenda for this first day of summer?