Approaching a Finish

Good morning, my friends. How's your Sunday morning going so far? I won all my word games this morning, and so I'm feeling pretty peppy. Don't worry, though. I'll settle down when the hot weather arrives tomorrow. We're expecting several days in the triple digits. I know a lot of you have been dealing with that for most of the summer. We really can't complain. Our weather has been fairly mild so far this summer.

Knowing it was going to get warm in the afternoon, I went to work first thing to finish up my quilting. My machine is located next to a west-facing window, and so it can get warm in that room in the afternoon. I like to have the shade up and the window open when I'm sewing, so an early start was desirable. But no morning can begin without some slow-stitching...not if I want it to be a good day for all concerned. So I stitched up what remained in my hoop.

And don't worry...I went back and stitched the shoulder of the scarecrow when I moved the hoop. You can rest easy knowing that's done.

So then I got after my quilting. It was all finished except for the three blocks you see below. When I had it that far, I ran out of bobbin thread. Of course I did.

And, yes, I was still in my pajamas. Wanna make something of it? I have some sharp scissors here that say it's okay to quilt while still in one's PJ's.

While I waited for the bobbin to wind, I was able to check each block to make sure I hadn't missed anything. When it was all finished, I laid it out for its picture.

Here's a closer look at the quilting. It was a simple dot-to-dot motif. 

Here's how it looks from the back.

I'm pretty happy with how this quilting turned out.

From there, I actually did get dressed, and I went to work making salsa. My yield was 5 pints, all from our own tomato plants. 

I have enough tomatoes harvested for another batch of tomato-jalapeno jam. When I've made that, I'll start canning the rest as plain old tomatoes. Also, I'm expecting to get 60 lbs. from our farmers to use for pasta sauce. Fingers crossed they can get the tomatoes to me before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, it was time to finish off the baby quilt I'm making for their new little sprout. 

Quilt inspector Sadie repurrting for duty, ma'me.

Smitty couldn't take time for this. He was outside taking care of impurrtant cat business.

Sadie did a good job, though. She tested it for snuggleability.

And then she held the ruler while I squared it up.

With so much help, it was a quick job to get the binding sewn on.

Before I left the sewing room, I spent some time tracing the next two blocks for The Story of My Day. These two are "Chat to Friends," and "Find Matching Socks."

It's good to know I have something to stitch when I finish the Fall Harvest piece above. I expect to have it finished in the next day or two. 

For now, though, my slow-stitching will be devoted to finishing the binding on the baby quilt. By day's end, I'd turned the first corner, and I had just a few more inches to turn the second corner. It should be easy enough to finish this today.

After that, I made good on my threat to make some Zucchini-Lemon Sorbet. And I'm telling you, it isn't half bad. If it were yellow instead of green, you might think you were eating lemon sorbet.

If, like me, you're working on finding 1,001 ways to use zucchini, you might give it a try. It polished off two more zucchini, which is reason enough to make it. I've linked to the recipe above the photo. It doesn't give any indication how big the two zucchini should be. I assumed since it didn't specify anything else that two sort of "normal" sized ones would be preferred. Also, I added a tablespoon of limoncello to mine. Sorbets need a little bit of alcohol added so they don't freeze into a solid block of ice. In most cases, vodka is a good choice. With this containing lemon already, I decided limoncello would be nice. So, laugh if you will. Just remember...the same sharp scissors that permit quilting in one's PJ's also permit me to make sorbet from anything I find lying around.

Okay, so today is a garden day. I need to hoe, harvest, and water. If I can get all that done, I'll get to work on my list of WIP's. At the top of the list is the next block for When Quilter's Gather. The next one is called "And a Yard of This one."

Also, I have in mind to make a zucchini coffee cake today. Yes, it's zucchini all day every day for the time being. I'm trying a new recipe for dinner tonight too. It will polish off more zucchini and some of the tomatoes as well. So, it's time to get going on breakfast. As always, there's plenty to keep me busy today. 

Did you see anything of the Perseids last night? In our experience, these celestial events rarely live up to their hype. We looked out, but the sky was still too bright. Going to bed sounded like a better idea. Maybe we'll see something tonight if we can muster the energy.