Making Progress

Good morning, my friends. It was a good day yesterday. Everything on my list was completed. I was tired by the end of the day, and so I didn't get any time in the sewing room. Maybe today I'll be more motivated. After taking a walk on the treadmill yesterday, I took a little walk around outside. Each day I'm checking the water on the little seed pots. I'm happy to announce that there are sprouts in every pot except one.

So who's not doing their part? Well, it's the Sunrich Lemon sunflower...fourth vertical row from the right, second from the top. Curious, I dug around in the pot just a little, and I couldn't find any seeds. I have an idea, I missed that one. There are plenty of seeds left over, and so I gave it two more seeds. Hopefully, I'll see something from that soon.

The lettuce is doing well, although its stems are still a little spindly.

We're seeing plenty of flowers on the slicing tomatoes. Since these are grown in a greenhouse, I touch each flower with a soft make-up brush to help pollinate them.

Outside, I noticed the stargazer lily is developing buds. The slugs have been munching on this. A few days ago, I put out some slug "candy" for them. Hopefully, their slimy palates will prefer that to the flowers.

Oooh...and the blueberries! I'm so excited about these! My fingers are itching to get baking something blueberrily yummy.

The first flowers are opening on the dark purple rhododendron. It's always the last to bloom.

And the Edda clematis is starting to open. I'm excited to see this one too. It bloomed in profusion last year, but we were in Alaska and missed it. I'm expecting to see quite a show from it this year.

Okay, but there's serious quilting to do. Back inside, I went about selecting threads for my project. As always, my quilting fairy godmother, Ila, has given me the exact threads I need. Thank you, Ila. I'll use this King Tut cone on the top.

It's a 40-weight thread.

On the bottom, I'll use this YLI variegated blue. There was a bobbin about 3/4 full of this. The spool is running low, but I still think I'll have enough for this project. If not, it's close enough in color to the top thread, I doubt a change would be noticed.

It's also a 40-weight thread.

Checking the tension, it looks good on top.

The backside looks good too.

Okay, so starting with this churn dash, I did some straight lines and some "petals."

Here's how that looks from the back.

I kept this nine patch pretty simple, with just some terry twists.

Here's how that looks from the back.

Last, the eight-pointed star. Probably I did too much here. It seems a little busy to my eyes, but I'm going to leave it as it is. In my experience, it won't be obvious when viewing the quilt as a whole.

Here's how that looks from the back.

Okay, and so that completed the first row of blocks. I'll do another row today.

Downstairs, I did some more work on the quilt binding. Now I've turned the first two corners, and I'm bearing down on the third. I'm probably a little less than halfway around.

And I was getting tired of sewing by then, so I just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner, I tried this recipe for Chile Crisp Fettuccine Alfredo with Spinach. It was very tasty. I purchased a little jar of chile crisp recently (it was new to me). When the NYTimes posted several recipes that included it this past week, it gave me an opportunity to use some more of it.

It'll be easy enough to do in the RV, which is always appreciated. I've linked to the recipe. Just FYI, chile crisp is spicy, but I used the full amount suggested. The heat was mild, and I'd consider adding more in the future.

Okay, so today will look a lot like yesterday. I want to do my PT exercises, and I'll continue on with the quilting and the binding. I'm dragging my feet a little getting back to the Stair Steps project. Cutting all those little squares is daunting.

I keep remind myself there are just two rows to go. Maybe today I'll be ready to take it on.

So, with that, I'll be on my way. Slow-stitching is next. Mike is on the treadmill, and so I'll have to wait for him to finish before I can claim my time on the exercise equipment. It's a sunny day today, although still on the chilly side. I'm hoping to see more activity from the peonies today. What's blooming in your part of the world?