Facing the Music

Good morning, my friends. Today comes the "find out" part of my recent FAFO actions. (Google it, if you don't know.) It's the day I go to court over my recent speeding ticket. There's no whining or making excuses on my part. I'm just hoping for a reduction in the fine if I throw myself on the mercy of the court. What form do you think this should take? Should I writhe on the ground for a while? Would kicking and screaming be ill-advised? Probably I should wait and read the room before making any rash decisions. But let's chat about something more pleasant for now, shall we?

Yesterday was my day for a monthly pedicure. I returned to a spa I went to several years ago. I always liked the spa. It's part of a local luxury hotel. There was a nail tech I liked, and when she left the spa, I followed her to her new location. After several years, she remarried, and then moved about an hour south of where I live. (The nerve of some people...living their lives, and all that. Sheesh. Did she even consider the inconvenience to me when she made that decision?)  

Her new location was too far for me to consider following her, and so I went with the woman who replaced her at the salon. That was all fine and dandy until she got kicked out of the salon. I know the story, but it isn't worth going into. It all seemed like a big misunderstanding to me. In any case, she's been working out of her home for the past year or so, which has been less than ideal. When I realized I was no longer enjoying the pedicures in the awkwardness of the environment, I decided to return to the spa. It was a good decision. 

And all of that to say that I had time to stitch Tiny Treasure #56 before I left for my pedicure. This one has stem stitch, straight stitch, pistil stitch, and fan leaf stitch.

So, I was home just before lunch time. The bird feeders were empty, and I went to work feeding the birds. From there, I wandered around to see what's up with the flowers. The rose might actually get a chance to bloom. It has about four buds that look like this one.

After the crows pulled up most of the green bean sprouts, Mike erected some fencing around the pots. I posted this picture a few days ago. At the time, I noticed one sprout.

So yesterday I checked to see if it was still there, and it was! Looking at some of the other pots, I spotted three more.

And so it seems we may have thwarted the crows. Also, I checked the bean seed replacements and found several of them sprouted. I'll replant the seeds that were pulled up today. Maybe we'll get some beans this year after all.

Walking on, I continue to be amazed at the Edda clematis. That purple color is so dark and rich.

Turning around and looking across the yard from there, I noticed how much the dahlias have grown. I'm not sure why the two on the left are such laggards, but I'm glad they're living and growing.

 Also...that's our greenhouse. I've posted pictures before, but maybe not from this angle. We saw this Solar Gem greenhouse at our county fair several years back. It seemed a good solution for our short growing season. Without it, we can't grow tomatoes to red ripeness. A couple of years ago, we had problems with squirrels getting inside and causing all kinds of chaos. Mike spent a summer trenching around the outside, burying some fencing, and then folding it over the ground outside. Then, he covered it with river rocks. It was that whole episode that caused us to plant dahlias in the pots. We move the pots into the garage in the winter, and so I don't have to dig them up and replant each year.

And all of that (I'm wordy today) to say that I've noticed the first flower buds forming.

Here's another one over here. They're just about to take their turn as the most watched thing in the garden.

Also on the watch list are the hydrangeas. We won't have to wait long for these.

Oh yes, and the daylilies are about to have their day too.

Back inside, I had lunch and went to work baking a Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake. I made this for the first time last year, and it was added to the list of desserts I must make once per year. It has a streusel topping, and it looks like this when it comes from the oven. The streusel is made with sliced almonds that give it a nice little crunch.

But wait...did I say "topping"? Because this is an upside-down cake, and so it gets inverted onto a serving plate so that the streusel ends up on the bottom. When it's flipped over, it looks like this:

We had that with a dollop of whipped cream last night, and mmm, mmm, mmm. I love this time of year when so much fruit is in season. I linked to the recipe back there, but this is from America's Test Kitchens. You'll probably need a subscription to open the link. If you can't open it, and you want the recipe, just email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

With that finished, I went back to work finishing the quilting on "The Story of My Day." Only the outer border remained. I outlined those little applique flowers, and then did a less dense version of what I'd done for the rest of the quilt.

Then I laid it out on the floor for its photo, and that puppy is ready for binding.

That will be my first sewing priority today. But I'm also hoping to make some more progress on the first of two blocks for "Northern Wilderness." I was able to finish sewing the block together yesterday afternoon. 

Then, I added the surrounding pieces to create the background for the "Salmon" block.  If there's time, I'm hoping to get started on the applique today.

It was too late to start on that yesterday, but I took time to trace my next embroidery block. This is Block 6 for "Home is Where My Flock Is."

There are still four days of Tiny Treasures to stitch, but I'll start on this one when those are finished. These are the blocks I have for this project so far.

Okay, so this is an if-I-have-time kind of day. I need to check on the garden to see if it needs hoeing. If it does, I'll do that first. But I want to replant the sprouted bean seeds too. After that, I can get to work squaring up "The Story of My Day" and getting the binding sewn on by machine. I'll work on the hand-stitching over the next couple of days. Also, I want to get a start on the "Salmon" applique. All of this is in keeping with my plan to go to court mid-afternoon. It's going to make it hard to be very productive this afternoon. Any sewing will need to happen this morning.

So with that, I'd better be on my way. There's a Tiny Treasure to stitch, and then I'll get on with my gardening duties. Sewing will take a back seat to everything else today. If I have anything to show you, I'll be back to chat tomorrow morning. If not, look for me on Friday. For sure I'll have something to show you by then.

Summery Day

Good morning, my friends. The Summer Solstice is still a couple of weeks away, but it sure felt like summer yesterday. I took time in the morning to stitch Tiny Treasure #55. This one has stem stitch, stem fill, basketweave stitch, and straight stitch.

From there, I headed outside to check on the flowers. There were just four poppies this year. The poppies are biannuals, but I’ve been getting flowers from them every year. I’m not sure why this year was so skimpy. There was one other, in addition to the three in the image below. It got beaten up by the rain, and its stem was broken. These self-seed, and so I directed its head back into the barrel.
 

And wow. Look at that! This is the Fairy Princess peony. Amazing.

I’ve erected some fencing around the Stargazer lily. These fence cages were already made, and so I couldn’t adjust the size. The bit that’s left outside the cage didn’t have a flower on it originally. Now, it does. So after I took that picture, I worked with it to get that straggler inside the fence too. Now all the flowers are safe.

Heading back inside, I found these two demonstrating what it’s like to dwell in the sublime.

I had some things to do inside, but eventually, I made my way to the quilting. The interior…the part inside the narrow colored border…is all done now.

Here’s a peek at the back.

I left it needle down at one of the border appliques. I have in mind to outline these, and then connect them with something similar to what’s done on the rest of the quilt. Sometimes I have to adjust my expectations and my design after I’ve tried sewing it for a while. They don’t always work the way I think they will.

Heading into the sewing room, this pattern was lying on the table just inside the room.

I decided to pick out the fabrics I’ll use when I get started on it. To the ones below, there will also be a white background fabtic. The gray is some I used to make a Halloween costume for Erik when he was six years old. Let’s see…that would have been 1985. It’s safe to say that has been in my stash for a very long time…longer than I’ve been making quilts.

But I can’t start on that until I make two more blocks for the Northern Wilderness project. I decided to start with the salmon block.

There is very little in the way of instructions for these. I appreciate the lettering and the measurements, but figuring out how to sew it all together can be a bit of a puzzle.

So, these are all the pieces I’ll need to make the quilt block background.

The next step was to lay out the pieces and sew the different units together. These are the units I’ll need:

This first one was pretty easy to figure out.

I made one and then checked my measurements before going any farther. Just right.

Then, I could begin to lay out the pieces.

Just then I had to lay down a protective armor over the block when Sadie showed up and decided it was a perfect spot for grooming herself.

Next, I needed to make this unit.

Figuring out how to orient the triangles is tricky. For my first attempt…well that ain’t right.

So, I took it apart and tried again. There we go.

And then I could sew the whole thing together.

The next step just added some pieces to two sides of the unit above.

Those were pretty easy. Then, I could lay out the whole block.

It was getting close to quitting time by then, and I left it as you see it. I’ll have some time to sew it together today.

There are a few things on today’s agenda. I’m leaving early to get a pedicure, but I’ll be home before lunch time. We finished off the strawberry ice cream last night. Not to worry, though. I’ve been searching for rhubarb for weeks, and I finally found some at Whole Foods last week. Today I’ll make a Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake. I made it last year, and it was so good, I added it to the list of annual seasonal desserts. Aside from that, it’ll be a mostly sewing day.

If you’ve appreciated the grammar, spelling, and punctuation in this post, you can thank Smitty for his careful editing. He worked so hard on this he had to take a morning nap. As for me, I’m going to try to get the day’s Tiny Treasure stitched up before I need to leave. Have a good day, Everybody!

Joyful June

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to June. Today is the 24th anniversary of the founding of the Three Cats Ranch. We moved into our home on June 1, 2002, bringing with us this crew for whom the place is named. If you've been reading a long time, you'll remember George and Gracie. You won't remember Krissy, the tortie bringing up the rear. She was a memorable kitty, and she lived to be 19. She lived with us longer than either of our boys. 

And the best part about June...summer will be here before the month is over. We're expecting some summery weather today and for the remainder of the week. We're looking forward to it.

Okay, so I got a late start yesterday. I'm usually up during the 5:00 a.m. hour. Yesterday, I slept in until 7:00, and I'd already lopped two hours off my day before I even got out of bed. Then, Tiny Treasure #54 took quite a long time to stitch. This one has stem stitch, stem fill, satin stitch, and lazy daisy.

We had a floor to mop, and I had some other things I needed to do: Hoe the garden, fill the bird feeders, pull some weeds. And so it was quite late in the day before I could get to my quilting. 

The quilting is going fine, but it was giving me some trouble yesterday. I had one incident of thread breakage. A few minutes later, I ran out of bobbin thread. While the bobbin was winding, I cleaned and oiled the machine. With all that going on, my enthusiasm for quilting waned pretty quickly.

Nevertheless, I think I can finish off this interior portion today. The section to the right of the red line in the image below is all that's left. I'll do the border separately. It'll be done kind of the same way, but a little less random.

Also, it was getting late in the day, and I wanted to finish this top-stitching. Everything took longer than I thought it would yesterday, and this piece was no exception. It took about an hour to top-stitch the tree alone, but eventually I had it finished.

When I turned around, some bright eyes were watching me.

Here are the two blocks I have for this quilt so far.

So I'll continue on with my quilting today. When I make my way to the sewing room, I'll start working on the next two blocks for the Northern Wilderness project. I'll be doing the salmon block...

And the mountains block.

While I was doing that, Mike was building fencing around our bean pots. Honestly, in at least 20 years of gardens at this place, we've never had so much trouble with the beans. We're hopeful this will discourage the crows from pulling up the seedlings. Just before I sat down here, I checked the new bean seeds I'm sprouting on the window sill. They're wrapped up in wet paper towels, but nothing is happening yet. I expect it will be another couple of days before I can replant. In the meantime, I think one or two were spared from the current crop.

Looking ahead, the two Northern Wilderness blocks will complete the WIP's section of my white board. Next, I'll be moving to something in the "Quilter's Choice" section. "Quilter's Choice" projects are when I let myself take a break from my "meat and potatoes" projects. This one will fall under the heading of "fast finish," indicating a small quilt I can finish with...say...a week's time. 

I've had this pattern in my sewing room for years, and years. Finally, it's time has come. I suppose I was inspired by the Amish Sampler quilt I finished recently. And I could swear this pattern was free when I discovered it. Maybe not. In any case, it can be purchased right here.

Also, I'll be making June's inverted star block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. June's color was simply "pastel." My project isn't going to lend itself well to pastel colors given the white background. I'll probably do something in grays or else a multi-color. I'll have to pick through my scraps and figure out what's available....lavender, maybe. These are the blocks I have so far.

Finally, it's time to choose a project for June's

While it's tempting to choose finishing off "The Story of My Day," I'll do something a little more challenging and have finishing off the "Seasons" quilt as my goal for June. It's next on my list of quilts to quilt, and so it seems the obvious choice. I finished this quilt top way back in December of 2024. Finally, it's time has come.

Okay, and so I'm already short an hour in my day due to my laziness at sleeping in until 6:00 this morning. I know...so, so lazy. It's time for me to get a move on. Enjoy this first day of June, my friends. The weather only gets better from here.