A Finished Quilt

It was kind of a busy day yesterday. I spent the morning in the garden. As I was taking my walk around, I found these two on squirrel watch in their catio.

My first stop was to check the fruit trees. I've been watching the cherries like a hawk...or a raccoon...or a squirrel. I'm not sure who's responsible for cleaning the tree, whether it's the mammals or the birds. Either way, they are still there. Kind of amazing. We're going to be gone next week, and I've worried about these ripening while we're gone. We could pick them before we leave, but they're still pretty green.

The cherries above are from the Black Tartarian tree. The Bings have not been as productive this year. It would be good if they could hold off until we get back, and I'm starting to think that is what will happen.

The plum tree is looking good. These won't even get close until September. We have a trip planned then too, but hopefully, we can work in a plum harvest somehow.

The apple tree is still working away too. The apples will probably be ready around the same time as the plums.

Checking on the flowers, the last peony buds have looked exactly the same since they first appeared on the plant. When I checked them yesterday, they looked a little more brown. Squeezing the largest of them, it felt squishy and mushy, and so I peeled back the petals to find it brown inside. Yeah...these are dead.

So, I cut them off. Better luck next year. I've been following a peony group on Facebook, and I'm told it isn't unusual for a plant not to flower the first year, and so this isn't completely unexpected.

The clematis is blooming to beat the band. It has about six flowers open now.

There are a couple more over here, and lots more buds.

To its right, the hydrangea is looking good.

It has lots of flowers this year.

To its right, is the deep blue hydrangea. The plant is smaller with just a few flowers.

The bird feeders were empty. When I filled them, the goldfinches arrived within seconds.

Checking in on the vegetable garden, things are moving along. The green beans have all put out tendrils. I helped this one find a pole to climb on. I'm hoping the others will get long enough to attach to the poles before we leave.

The two oldest of the zucchinis are flowering now. You might remember I had to replant one when it was trampled by a deer. It is a little farther behind, but not significantly.

As I mentioned when we planted the garden, we've only planted about one-third of our plot. I broadcast wildflower seeds over the remainder, but mostly, we've gotten weeds. These are kind of pretty, and certainly they are prolific.

These purply ones are kind of pretty. The bees love them.

Also, whatever kind of bug that is.

When I was finished weeding the vegetable garden, Mike let Smitty out for a walk. Smitty seems to be getting with the program of accompanied walks. It kind of weirded him out at first, having one of us shadowing him. Now, he just ignores us in his quest to catch some little snack. He'd already caught a mouse when I took this picture, and he was on the hunt for some squirrel.

After lunch, I got back to work finishing up the Pink Lemonade quilt. Sadie assisted with marking the lines for quilting.

And she gave it the all-important snuggleability test.

This is a donation quilt for Quilts for Kids. They request machine binding, and so it didn't take long to finish off the quilting and then sew on the binding.

Here's how it looks from the back.

Okay, so time is counting down until we leave on our camping trip. Today we'll be grocery shopping, and then I'll need to do some laundry. I'm hoping to fit in a little sewing time today anyway.