Shaky Start

Good morning, my friends. Be honest with me. Does this new version of Photoshop Elements make my images look fat? 

I'm kidding, of course. I've read through the first lesson of my PSE24 class, but I didn't learn much except where to find different tools on the editor. Happily, I figured out if I put it in "Quick" mode, it looks pretty much like what I'm used to. Just don't expect me to do anything fancy. Smitty is bored with the whole thing.

In yesterday's post, I said I might take today off. It seems I'm able to manage editing my pictures, and so here I am. I'm writing fast, though. We're getting our COVID boosters this morning, and then we have a bunch of errands to run. Yesterday I read there may be a flu/COVID vaccine on the horizon. It would be nice to get back to a once-per-year schedule. Hopefully, this will be the last "booster," but I'm just doing what I'm told to do. In that regard, Mike and I are both still "Novids," and avoiding COVID has become personal at this point. 

So that picture of Smitty was his attitude about helping me with yesterday's weeding. I managed to finish off the herb garden. Now there's just the hot tub side of the house left to do. That part of the house is in shade much of the day, and so the weeds haven't had as much chance to take hold there. I expect about two more days of weeding to finish the whole job. It won't happen today, though. See "errands" above.

When the weeding was finished, I took a walk around. Take a look at this Fairy Princess peony. Isn't this amazing?

The Edda clematis continues to thrill me. It has never put out more than two or three flowers. Yesterday, I counted at least nineteen blossoms. I'm so happy about this. It's surprising because we had a cold winter.

Checking on the dahlias, the fourth of four has sprouted now. That was a relief. I was afraid it had died from our neglect in getting it out so late in the season. Now I can sit back and wait for the flowers.

From there, I happened to glance in the direction of the bee garden. Since we don't have a vegetable garden this year (and we won't next year either), the whole vegetable garden is devoted to bee garden for the time being. For the first time ever, I noticed some lupine blooming there. I've sown bags of wildflowers seeds every year for the past five years or so. It seems to be paying off.

Also...whatever this is.

Walking around to the front of the house, the Red Cardinal clematis is beginning to bloom. The flowers weren't quite all the way open yesterday, but I expect they are by now. I'll check in a little while.

Right beside the clematis, I noticed some flowers opening on the purple hydrangea.

As I was heading inside, Miss Sadie suddenly broke down into a spasm of "the adorables." It happens to her occasionally.

It was nearing lunch time by then, and I was hungry. I had some lunch, and then it was time to get after my sewing. Before doing the weeding, I'd finished stitching June's block for "Joy in the Ordinary."

My first task was to add the borders.

And now, these are caught up.

From there, I spent an hour on my "Vintage" art quilt. Since I haven't figured out how to distort this image on PSE24 yet, you get an actual peek of the actual thing. You're just getting a very itty bitty bit of the whole. Any guesses?

When my hour was up, I went to work sewing together June's cat wearing blue pajamas. Since I'd messed up making the last one, Sadie was close at hand keeping an eye on things. She could scarcely believe I'd started this without her.

When she was satisfied I was doing things right, she settled down on her quilt for a nap.

Smitty wasn't so sure. He decided to stand by so he could catch any errors as they happened. Kitties take their kitty quilt block making very seriously.

With his help, we managed to sew together June's cat wearing blue pajamas.

And now, these are caught up too.

It was close to dinner time by then. I was planning to try this recipe for Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl. There was a bit of chopping for this. As a stir-fry dish, chopping ahead of time is advisable. Aside from the chopping, which wasn't too onerous, it was quick and easy to make.

The rice was cooked in a rice cooker, but otherwise, this was a one skillet dinner. Anything that can be cooked in a single skillet is a good camping recipe. And this is also a one-dish meal, so it's extra good for camping. I've given you the link up there, and I can recommend this. At 417 calories per serving, it's easy on the diet too.

Okay, so I have a little bit of time before I need to get ready to go. I'll get to work taking the first stitches on the next Joyful Journey block. Now that my "monthlies" are caught up, I've been mulling over what to do next. Checking back to some old blog posts, I was planning to start quilting the Blackwork Baskets just before we left, and so I'll start working on that when I can get back to my sewing. It probably won't be today. As a reminder, this is the quilt I'm talking about.

Just before leaving on our trip back in February, I draped it over my sewing chair, and there it has been ever since.

I suppose it's getting impatient for its time under my needle. You might recall I was following along with Angela Walters' dot-to-dot panel during this time. I've been thinking about how to use those designs on this quilt.

If there's time for sewing, I'll want to devote at least another hour to my "Vintage" art quilt. If there's time after that, I'll get started on the quilting. Quilting happens in a separate room from my regular sewing room, and so it's a good choice when I'm working on an art quilt. Things tend to get spread all over the sewing room in that process, and so I'll have more room to make a mess if I'm in another room doing quilting as my relief project.

That's all I have for you today. I'll keep up with my daily blogging as long as I can figure out how to edit my pictures. I expect in about a week, I'll be far enough along in the lessons (they post Wednesdays and Fridays) to feel somewhat competent. And then again...I had a big birthday recently. We'll see how well a 70-year-old brain can learn new tricks.