Tiny Sewing

Good morning, my friends. We've had some real rain here overnight. There is actually water puddling on the patio. That will go a long way toward greening up the field. And we future travelers can leave home feeling a little better about the fire danger while we're away. 

My first stop yesterday morning was to check on the Bumble Rumble dahlia, and I'm happy to say it finally opened. It sure took its sweet time. 

It's one of my favorite dahlias. I find myself wishing there were more, although we really only have space for four pots in this area. We could probably squeeze in one more, but Mike set up an automatic drip system for them earlier this summer. It would probably be bad form to add another at this point.

My morning started with a pedicure, and I stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some shiitake mushrooms for last night's dinner. When I got home, Smitty was anxious to get going on our sewing responsibilities. He had serious business rounding up rodents in the yard. Tick Tock.

He inspected the fabrics I'd selected for the mini quilt and found them adequate. Then, he decided he'd done everything he could for me, and so he left to find greener pastures...with mice.

So there were no kitties to help me finish off Tiny House #33. Sometimes it's better to work alone.

When she knew the danger of papurr-piecing had passed, Sadie joined me. She offered to answer the phone if it rang. She's an excellent secretary.

With the tiny house finished, I moved to the other side of my table to work on the mini quilt blocks.

Would it be helpful if I assisted you in randomizing your pieces?

Yikes! We had to put down our ruler shield or risk complete sewing chaos.

Eventually, I convinced her that she could best help by taking a nap in her kitty bed, and she complied.

While she continued not helping, I was able to make six more of the mini blocks. I'll need six more before I can sew it all together. Each one takes about half an hour to make.

For dinner last night, we had a perennial favorite...Creamy Corn Chowder, made with garden corn. That's summer in a bowl right here.

It's a bit of a production. Just FYI, you can skip the whole part of the recipe about making a vegetable broth...or make it if you like. I'm just using store-bought vegetable broth. I've done it both ways, and I can't tell any difference between the two. But that was why I needed to stop in for the shiitake mushrooms yesterday. I forgot that only the stems were used in the broth. The caps were chopped up and added to the soup. It was okay that I had to make a stop because I picked up a fresh loaf of crusty bread to serve on the side.

Okay, so it's a grocery shopping day, although today's list is short. We also need to stop off at the bank. When we get home, I'll be able to get back to my sewing. I'm hoping all the mini quilt blocks will be finished today. If there's time left in the day, I can start sewing together the quilt top. It should go fast once the blocks are finished.

To my Florida friends, I hope y'all came through the hurricane okay. I've checked in with a few of you. So far, everybody is safe. Now I'm watching and worrying about those of you in the Carolinas. Please stay safe, my friends.