Sneezer of a Day

When the calendar hits June, the grasses start to bloom, and my personal allergy season is in full swing. Every year it happens like this. This morning my eyes are itching and my nose is running, and I've been sneezing since doing my planting outside yesterday. Not to worry...the rain will be back this weekend. Also, Mike is mowing today, and that will help. 

Window washer guy was here yesterday, and so the windows are sparkling clean now. The kitties spent the day in hiding. I took the first stitches on the next block for the Domestic Affairs quilt.

The next stop was to plant the sunflowers along the garage wall in the same bed with the blueberries. You can see them along the left side of the image. A few of them are rather leggy, and so I've staked them using bamboo skewers. Also, I've marked their names on wide popsicle sticks. It's the most durable way I've found to mark them. 

While I was planting, I noticed the blueberries have bloomed. It's only the first year for these, and so I'm not expecting very many blueberries. It's nice to see the flowers, though.

The wild strawberries are blooming too. The strawberries are tiny, but still edible. The birds and squirrels are very fond of them.

Two more poppies opened yesterday. There are lots more coming.

The original one has opened enough to show its center now. They are amazing flowers. They almost don't look real.

The poppies are planted in a whiskey barrel outside the greenhouse. I was on my way into the greenhouse to plant the pickling cucumbers. I used my largest pots and planted two cucumbers to a pot.

Later in the day, Mike fashioned some cages to keep the squirrels out. They're set up for drip irrigation now too. This is the extent of vegetable gardening this year. The cucumbers will ripen early, and so I expect I'll be canning pickles toward the end of July.

Our rose bush is developing buds. No doubt, the deer will be along to dine on them any day now.

Also, the dark purple rhodie is showing off now. When I showed you a picture yesterday, it was still in tight buds. Now some of the flowers are beginning to open. It's amazing what a little warmth and sunshine can do.

Here's another picture of the golden chain tree. It's still kind of scrawny. I believe we planted it around 3-4 years ago, but the deer like to use it to scratch their antlers. The poor thing has been pushed over several times. It's staked and tied up now, so the deer won't be able to knock it down.

While a good part of the day was spent gardening, I did make a little more progress on my animal. Here's your peek:

It's just a little less than halfway done now. I'll keep working on it a little each day.

It's time to set a goal for June's 

It's tempting to name the challenge quilt, but I won't be able to reveal it. Instead, I believe I can finish quilting and binding the Garden Sunshine quilt before the month is over. It's been draped over my sewing chair for weeks so the wrinkles can relax out of it.

Sadie has been using it as a fort when the dreaded Mans come over. There have been way too many Mans around lately.

Here's how the whole quilt looks. It was a block of the month from Quilt Doodle Doodles.

Today I'll spend some more time on my challenge quilt. It's time to do laundry and a little housekeeping. It should be a low-key day. If I'm feeling very energetic, I'll work some more sorting through my sewing room closet. I'm finding all kinds of treasures that were long-ago forgotten. All of that will keep me busy between bouts of sniffling and sneezing.