Purrfect Start

There were Mans here yesterday, and kitties do not like invaders into their purrsonal space. They couldn't even show their faces until the Mans left for lunch. Then, they ventured out purrudently mindful of anything that looked out of place. Despurrate times call for good friends to stick together.

Nothing much happens around here until I get in my morning slow-stitching. Mans, or no mans, I will not be deterred from each morning's mission. Yesterday's was to finish off this section. The three English daisies were already stitched, but I needed to finish off the "scroll work" and the edge of the tablecloth. I'd run out of that yellow floss, but I'm now armed with a fresh skein.

I'm approaching the finish line with this. I'm probably more than three-fourths of the way there.

I'm close enough to finishing that I'll probably make up the next block for the Domestic Affairs quilt today. Goodness knows, I don't want to run out of stitching projects.

When that was finished, I filled the birdfeeders. For the first time this year, the evening grosbeaks have arrived at the feeders. And, while I thought the western tanagers had moved on, I saw another one yesterday.

Also, we have tons of the black-headed grosbeaks. The Pacific Northwest Birders on Facebook have been posting pictures of them as if they are something rare. Once they show up at our feeders, we have lots of them, and all season long. It's easy to become jaded.

Back inside, I noticed a seed had sprouted. This is one of the sunflowers.

Oh, and lookie there! A cucumber!

Oh, and look over there! Another sunflower! I know! This is every bit as exciting as watching grass grow!

Well. What else could I do, but celebrate by baking some cookies? No need to answer...I'm just sayin'. Any excuse to bake cookies is a good excuse. Actually, I made these for Mike and the rest of the family. They're heading out to the gorge to watch a road rally out there. I'm staying home. Camping next to the railroad tracks in Washington isn't my idea of a good time, but they'll have fun. And they'll have cookies. 

Okay, and so finally, I was able to get into the sewing room around mid-afternoon. I needed to piece together the thread spools the cat would be seated upon.

And I needed to top-stitch the applique and add in a few details. I wanted to do the top-stitching before adding the spools.

It took a lot longer than I expected, but I got it done. I used the triple stitch on my sewing machine to stitch the bird's legs.

And the stems on the strawberries. And, duh. I've been cracking wise about strawberries and tomatoes growing on the same vine. Just as I was looking at this picture, I realized the connection. It's that classic tomato pincushion with the attached strawberry! Okay...it all makes sense now. I'm a slow study, in case you hadn't noticed.

And then, I could sew it all together, and Section 1 of five sections is complete.

It was late in the day by then. I found the kitties upstairs basking in the afternoon sunshine. Kitties know exactly what to do when the sun shines.

We have at least a week of sunshine headed our way, starting yesterday afternoon. Today I'm going to make good on my threat to clean-up and weed the herb garden. It's the last of the winterkill. I don't know if I'll get the whole thing done today. It's a big knee and back killing job, and so I might do half today and half tomorrow. We'll see how my body holds up. There will probably be time for some sewing this afternoon. If so, I'll make up the next Domestic Affairs block, and then get a start on my next art quilt for the "Animal Kingdom" prompt. Mike will be gone overnight, and so my time will be my own.