A Week of Gluttony

The first week-and-a-half of May is always murder on our diets. I'll admit that I'm probably the biggest part of the problem. I love baking, and I love dessert. With three birthdays and Mother's Day in the mix, what are you going to do? So anyway...back to business. No more overeating. No more sweet stuff, and no more baking (she says, as she feeds her sourdough starter, readying it for baking).

The morning got off to a slow start. I could not get to sleep last night and found myself wide awake well after 2:00 a.m. I usually get to sleep with no problem, and I sleep all night, and I wake up feeling rested. But then there are those nights when I cannot quiet my mind. Last night, I was kind of stuck on the Sweet Land of Liberty quilt. Yesterday, I took it as far as the pattern went. I made four of these:

And then, I made four of these:

And then I sewed them to the center panel. From here, I was on my own.

I laid out some fabrics for the outer border(s), but then, it didn't look as I'd envisioned it. The Retired Resident Engineer came down for a consult, and he didn't like it either. "Too busy," were his words. (In these situations, I really hate it when someone tells me the exact same thing I'm thinking.)

So you might remember I pulled these fabrics as possibilities, and I lay awake last night going over possibilities. I've kind of decided on a stop border of that blue on blue star fabric. I don't have much left from that, and so I can't get too carried away with my usage of it. Then, I think I'll use that stripe in the upper right as the outer border with something else as cornerstones...maybe the blue on blue again, or maybe something else. I had in mind to use the stripes as a binding, but now I think I'll use the same red star fabric. Or maybe I won't do anything like that. Maybe I'll just have to wait and see what I sew. Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.

Okay, so here's something. The whiskey barrel you see below is another of my whatever-grows-can-stay planters. Currently, there's a bloomed out tulip and some of the poppies from Ireland. Last I checked, the poppy had two buds. I expect more will come. When we placed this whiskey barrel here years ago, it got lots of sunlight in the afternoon. Now the trees have grown taller, and it gets only about an hour of sunlight in the early part of the afternoon. I'm wanting to plant more poppies here, but I wanted to move the barrel into a sunnier spot. I tried pushing it on my own, but I couldn't budge it. Then I got Mike to help me and even the two of us couldn't budge it. It probably weighs 300 lbs.

So we had all three of the strapping and macho Stanbro Men here for a short time yesterday. Erik had to come back for his phone left here the night before. Now here's the question: How many men does it take to move a whiskey barrel planter?

The answer is: Three men and a tractor. Together, they were able to tip the barrel up so Mike could get the tractor bucket under it. Then, he just motored it approximately ten feet to its new home.

Now it's located just outside the greenhouse. I can reach it with the greenhouse hose for watering, and I think I'll have better luck growing things there with more sunlight.

I took a little walk around the rest of the yard. I think the dogwood is blooming as much as it's going to bloom. These are terribly slow growers.

Last year, it didn't bloom at all, and this year's display is nothing to cheer about. Still, they're pretty close-up.

Somehow this picture got left out of yesterday's post. These are some of the potted marigolds. They are as big as tennis balls.

Here's a shot of the rhododendron. This is the second one to bloom, and it is now heavy with flowers.

Before we let the kitties out this morning, we applied Advantage to the backs of their necks. Sadie was particularly put-out by this.

I've never been so mortified in my entire life! Being held down and assaulted was both empurrassing and humiliating! I'm never going to speak to you again until I want some more treats. And then...only for the treats. You are on my list of purrsons not to be trusted!

So I'm nearly finished with the third of the "I Believe in Snowmen" blocks, and so I took the time to trace and color the next block for the Pieces of the Past project. What? And this is another project you probably forgot all about. I only was able to finish one block before we took off on our Rainbird trip back in December. I finished the first block way back in October of last year:

So I'm kind of excited to get started on this next block. Quite a few of these blocks are set off center, and so the fold down the middle was to guide me on where to trace it:

I have just a little more stitching to do on the third snowman this morning, and then I'll get started on this little "saucer."

Also today, I'll finish up the top for Sweet Land of Liberty. After that, the Shop Hop quilt will finally get its turn under my quilting needle. It's been hanging over my chair for a couple of weeks, allowing the fold wrinkles to relax out of it. Sadie has been using it for a kitty fort.

I'll quilt it pretty simply...mainly, a lot of straight lines...and so it shouldn't take too long. There is just one housekeeping chore on today's list, and so it's going to be a day mostly spent sewing. Now that the May birthday madness has come to a close, I'm ready for a low-key week. How about you?