A Run Around Day

Good morning, my friends. With a drive into town yesterday, I didn't expect to accomplish much. It turned out to be a more productive day than anticipated, and so it was a good day. I expect today will be a good day too...mainly because I'm not going anywhere. 

Of course, no day can be completely successful without some slow stitching. There was just a little bit left to do on this section of my hoop.

This morning, I'll start on the left side of the piece. The right side is finished. Oops...just as I looked at the picture below, I realized, I missed a section on the scarecrow's shoulder. I'll finish him off before I move on.

Before I could do anything else, I needed to water the flower pots, and I spent some time harvesting vegetables. This was yesterday's haul. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've begun aborting the zucchini young. I believe it's the only way I'll defeat them. For sure, some zucchini bread is in our future. I'm seriously considering baking some today. And although I already have shredded five portions for future loaves of bread, I think I might do some more.

There was another handful of green beans to harvest, and a couple of pickling cucumbers. What I was most excited about were the tomatoes. 

I have enough now to make a batch of salsa, and there are still plenty left over with green ones still on the vine. Probably, I'll make some more tomato jam, and then start canning them as plain old tomatoes. There are still 60 lbs. on order from our farmers, but those will all go to pasta sauce.

Okay, so it was time to be on my way. My first stop was at a Joann store to get the embroidery floss for the "Kittens" take-along project. Amazingly, I found all the colors I needed.

Also, I was on the hunt for a farm or vegetable fabric that would make a good baby quilt. It was surprisingly hard to fulfill both requirements: farm/vegetable AND baby. Nothing turned my crank at Joann, and so I headed on down to Boersma's quilt shop. (It's my favorite quilt local shop.) There, I found this barnyard fabric, and that seemed to be the best I was going to do. (I've spent at least a couple of hours shopping online too.) I matched the reddish-pink in the barns with the one on the right. Also, there are little chicks and suns that will match the yellow on the left. I think this will work out just fine.

As a reminder, I'm doing this pattern:

I'll use the barnyard fabric in place of all the white. The pinkish red will be used in place of the teal. And the yellow will be used in place of the gray. I'll use that same barnyard fabric on the back. Cutting begins today.

It was fairly late in the day when I arrived home. Sadie insisted we do some sewing anyway.

She helped me sew the binding on my challenge quilt, and she tested it for snuggleability.

Here's a little peek at the binding.

From there, she offered to help me get a start on the next Tiny House...this one:

If I lie right where you're working, does that help?

What about if I lie over here on the quilts-to-be-quilted pile? 

And I think she nailed it with that suggestion. While she relaxed, I was able to sew the first three sections together. I'm giving the lighthouse a night sky so it can shine its light.

Smitty was no help at all. He spent the afternoon basking in the sunshine.

Okay, so my challenge quilt is ready for hand-sewing the binding, and that will be a finish. I'll probably get it finished up today.

Also on today's agenda, I need to hoe the garden. And I wasn't just kidding about that zucchini bread. It sounds good, doesn't it?

When I came upstairs, I left Sadie on her catio, dreaming of all the things she can kill today.

Breakfast will come first, and then I'll make up a shopping list for tomorrow's grocery shopping pleasure. Grocery shopping: such a gas. Smelly gas, if you must know. Even with all that, I believe there will be plenty of time for sewing this afternoon. I'm excited to get cutting and sewing on the baby quilt.