Bits and Pieces

Before heading into town yesterday, I spent about an hour stitching on the July block for the Books and Roses quilt. These are pretty quick to stitch up.

When that was finished it was time to get ready and go. Fortunately, our shopping list was short, and so we were home again around lunch time. After the groceries were put away, and we both took short naps, and then I got back to work finishing off this block. It just needed borders. I'd already cut them the day before just to assure myself I had enough fabric to get the job done.

Now it will head into the box with the others. Here are all the blocks I have for this quilt so far.

Next up, I went to work on the last project on my WIPS list, Purrfectly Pieced. I'm working on the 2nd of five sections...this one:

Somehow I had an idea this was all applique, but the background is pieced. It meant quite a bit of cutting, and I'm working with small pieces. It's like making a mini quilt. 

I had it this far when I decided to stop for the day. There are three whole flowers and a partial. They are set overlapping so that a portion of one or two flowers will finish off the incomplete one. I don't have this figured out just yet, but I'm sure the instructions will make it clear.

With all those little bits and pieces spread out, I left rulers covering my work. One must always be ready for helpful assistants who might have other ideas about layout.

Back upstairs, I noticed one of my assistants appears to have tangled with something that has claws. It might have been Sadie, but I'm betting it was a gopher or a squirrel.

Not to worry...it's only a flesh wound. Such a valorous cat doesn't let little things like that ruffle his furs. Besides, even the hunkiest men have scars on their faces. He's hoping others will notice his striking resemblance to Harrison Ford.

Except for grocery shopping, I hadn't been outside all day, and so I took a walk around the garden. The daylilies are blooming now, and they are the current stars of the garden. They're late this year, and so they don't have to share the spotlight with any of the other flowers.

Beside them, the echinacea are beginning to show some color.

In the flower pots out front, the dahlias are making a comeback after the squirrels ate every single flower.

Here's another in the same pot.

The geraniums haven't been as fortunate. Every time a flower appears there, the squirrels eat it. I chose geraniums because the deer won't eat them. Next year, I'll have to be on the lookout for something the squirrels won't eat.

Mike is leaving early this morning to go help a guy who has a wind turbine like ours. Our wind turbines have been less than satisfactory. I can't really explain the ins and outs of it, but Mike is hoping to get ours working again, while the other guy is taking his down and scrapping it. In exchange for using our flatbed trailer to haul stuff to a scrap metal dealer, he's giving us some of the workings of his wind turbine so that Mike can use the parts to repair ours. (The company is out of business.) Hopefully, we can get it up and generating power again. I'll be getting my monthly pedicure at noon. My nail technician is having surgery tomorrow, and so my appointment is a little bit earlier than it might have been. I was able to sneak in at the last minute.

After that, I need to make a second trip to the grocery store to try and find the stuff I couldn't find yesterday. Lately, supply chain problems have meant multiple trips to different stores to try to complete my list each week. I'm not complaining...people are hurting all over the world right now, and so these are minor problems. I only bring it up because there won't be much time for sewing today, if any. I'm hoping I'll have more to show you in tomorrow's post.