OMG: A Finished Quilt

Good morning, my friends. I'm writing fast because we're going to plant our vegetable garden today. It's a busy week ahead with appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since I'll be spending the day in the garden today, I should be a pooped pup by Friday. For now, though, let's just enjoy this beautiful sunrise.

 A friend passed away last night. She wasn't a close friend, but she was someone I'd known for a long time. She had a son the same age as my Matthew, and they were fast friends when they were little boys (emphasis on the "fast" part of that). Her final days were tough, and so it's something of a blessing that it's over for her. I'm not a religious person, but I like thinking this pretty sunrise is somehow related to her passing.

I hope y'all had a happy Mother's Day. My day was pretty relaxing. There was almost nothing but slow-stitching going on. Erik made dinner last night...some spatch-cocked chickens he'd marinated and then smoked. They were absolutely delicious. Erik is a very good cook. Mae is as well. She contributed a potato salad, and I added a seven-layer salad. Of course, there was dessert, and it was a very nice way to end the day. They've done a lot of work in their backyard. They've created this little space for relaxing.

It's a very popular spot with their kitty, Cricket. That's a big catnip plant there to her right. Erik tears up the leaves and sprinkles it over her bench so she can roll in it and eat it. 

I started this post a day early because we were expecting a hot day today. We wanted to get out early, but it seems it won't be as hot as we were told. We ran our air conditioner for the first time this season yesterday. It seems early for that kind of heat, but comfort was the order of the day. Even the kitties were appreciative. They didn't venture out for long. People in fur coats do not appurreciate heat. This is pretty much how they spent their days:

My morning was spent on my quilt binding. When I set it aside, I'd turned the third corner.

It seemed like a good idea to take a little walk around. I love this time of year in the garden. There's something new every day. Another azalea is starting to open. This one is at the front corner of the house.

Turning around 180 degrees, the lilac is in full flower. It was very windy, and hard to get a very good picture of anything.

Around the other side of the house, the blueberries are blooming. Maybe we'll get enough blueberries to actually do something with them this year. We've only gotten a handful in previous years. I'm told it takes about five years for blueberries to establish themselves and produce fruit in abundance.

Back inside, I thought I might get some help with my quilt binding, but nothing doing. Sadie was keeping an eye on the birds and the squirrels.

Smitty was resting his weary bones in the chair across the room.

Even without their help, I turned the fourth corner on the quilt binding.

About 40 inches later, I had myself a finished quilt. It ends up at 56 x 56 inches. My pig-loving friend Sue is going to take this one.

Finishing Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs was my goal for May's

and so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

As I've been writing this, I've been trying something new for breakfast. There were several partially used items in the refrigerator, and a few items that will only be partially used. This recipe for a Loaded Baked Frittata came across my email this morning. It used several of those partially used items. I didn't have everything I needed, but I had some good substitutions. So it was baking in the toaster oven, and I had to interrupt myself to take it out. When it came out of the oven, it looked like this:

And now...we've already eaten it. It was very tasty, and it went together fairly quickly. I only made half the recipe, and I used my 8-inch cast iron skillet because it fits in my toaster oven. As for the substitutions, I used diced ham in place of the bacon, and grated cheddar in place of the goat cheese. (The goat cheese sounded a little weird to me, and I didn't have any, so cheddar it is.) Also, I had just a little half & half left over, and I used that instead of the whole milk. It would be fine to use something like 2% milk too. So, I've linked to the recipe back there above the picture. It's from the NYTimes. I actually don't know if you need a subscription to open it. If you can't open it, please email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Okay, so it's time to get going. It's going to be a busy and physically-active day. We needed a good protein-packed breakfast, and now we'll be able to leap tall furrows in a single bound. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just keep both feet on the ground at all times. One can never be too careful.