New Day, New Month

June 1st...can summer be far away? Just now I checked. Summer begins on the 21st this year. It can't be soon enough for me. Let's just hope the rain and gloom disappears along with the month of May. 

I'm just sitting here trying to remember what I did yesterday. Well, here's something: I finished the first large panel for Pieces of the Past. Ta-da!

As I've mentioned, that white fairy frost background fabric doesn't photograph well, and so I've messed with the colors and contrast a little so that you can get a look at it. There are a couple of things to notice about this photo. First, if you look at the single line on the extreme left and right of the piece, they are stitched in different colors. The one on the left is the same tan as the shelf bracket. The one on the right is pink like the edge of the tablecloth. Yeah...I stitched in the wrong color, mistaking the shelf for the tablecloth. That was easy enough to fix, and so I fixed that right after I took that picture.

Second, and more concerning, I misread the instructions for trimming it. Without going into great detail, I was supposed to make a freezer paper template to help me with the trimming. I did all that, but then cut at the edge on top instead of on the bottom. It means my piece is vertically off-center by about two inches. It probably won't matter, and I can always stitch a strip of fabric across the top if I need to. Just to be sure, I wrote myself a sticky note in case I forget about this error. I can imagine myself down the road having put it out of my mind, and then wondering why the instructions don't work. The title on the sticky note echoed my sentiments completely. Yes, and I used the wrong "to." I meant to say "too."

So the section of the pattern you see below will be the last of it. There will be plenty of other stitching on other quilts before I get to this.

Here are the rest of the blocks I have for this quilt so far:

We drove into town to pick up the now-repaired Nikon camera after that. We had some lunch while were were out. When we got home, I took a little walk around the garden. I was absolutely thrilled to see that one of the poppies opened. The others should be following close behind. They are such stunning flowers. This one is as big as my hand.

Also, the golden chain tree is blooming now. I stood back and took a picture of the whole thing, but it was hard to see anything with the big fir tree in the background. I'll try again.

The flowers on the purple rhodie out front are opening.

It's darker purple neighbor across the sidewalk is still in tight buds.

The dappled willow tree is doing more of what I expected from it, but it still isn't quite what I was hoping for when we planted it.

Looking more closely, you can see that it's the new growth that tips the ends of the branches...not a flower. Still, from a distance, it appears to be blooming.

The lavender rhodie out front is looking its very best.

I really love this one. When they reach this stage, their blooms start to fade and drop onto the ground. It's putting on its best show right now.

Same goes for the dogwood. 

The peonies are loaded with buds. This is the third year for these, and they seem well-established now. The bushes have grown large.

This one in the middle will be the first to bloom.

I've been checking this one flower every day.

Beside it, the cruel peony...the one that hasn't ever bloomed...has more buds than I've ever seen. The first year, it put out one bud. The second (last year) it put out two. This year it's loaded with buds.

This image shows only about half the plant, but you can see how many buds are present. Fingers crossed they actually open this year.

There are chive blossoms...not enough for vinegar, but I think they'll replenish their numbers by next year.

Smitty enjoyed the afternoon sunshine on his catio.

Until it got too hot, and then he moved into the shade of the table.

It was a nice enough evening that we ate outside. I love sitting outside for dinner on these nice weather days. I'd specifically chosen this dish, which is a Chicken, Apple, and Goat Cheese Salad. When I was working, they served this salad in the Nordstrom Cafe, and I was often going there for lunch. Then, a while back, one of the newspapers published the recipe. You can find it right here. It's a delicious salad with mixed greens, slices of Granny Smith apple, shredded chicken (I use a store-bought rotisserie chicken), crunched up apple chips, and candied nuts (I use the store-bought ones there too.) Then it's topped with goat cheese crumbles and a champagne vinaigrette. So yummy on a nice warm day.

We opened the window, so the kitties could join us. It was too late in the evening for them to be outside. They were keeping an eye on the neighbor's dog who likes to come up into our field to hunt for gophers. She's welcome to them.

Okay, so window washer man is coming today. He rescheduled from last week. I'm hoping he doesn't need to change again because my cell phone is out of commission right now. We used some of the money we earned selling silverware to update our phones. They've been transferring software for the past 24 hours. If you believe what you read on the screen, mine still has five hours to go. In the meantime, I'm phoneless. It's annoying that it takes so long. I'm standing next to the phone on its charger, tapping my foot, and looking at my wrist (where there is no watch), and being extremely impatient. Really...I just want to play with the new one! So, anyway, all of that to say that while he's washing the windows, I'll be outside planting sunflowers and cucumbers. There are some weeds to pull too.

There was no more progress on my Animal Kingdom quilt, but I'm hoping to get back to it today. In the meantime, I've been sorting through the stuff in my sewing room closet, and making some progress there. I'll spend a little more time at that today too.

So...Happy June, my friends! Let's make it a good one.