Bitter Harvest

Good morning, my friends. Oh my...what a dire title to this post. Not to worry, but it's okay if you want to grrrrrrrrrrrrrr a little bit. Before we get to the grrrrrrrring part, though, let's take a look at the slow-stitching. Yesterday morning had me finishing the reindeer on the left side.

Now I've moved my hoop to the right, and this is all that's left. I expect to finish it this morning.

Okay...now for the part that might make you want to grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Please come with me to the garden. At first glance, I was happy to see one of the bean vines has climbed to the top of its pole.

But then, I noticed this.

The leaves are all chewed off. Thankfully, the bean-producing flowers are still there. Only the leaves were munched. We've been thinking raccoons were responsible for this transgression, but this was up too high for it to be raccoons.

But what's this I see? A hoof print!!! We have an 8-foot fence all around the garden. How did a deer get in here?

And deer droppings to boot! WTF?

Okay, well, here's the answer. It's a little hard to see in the image below, but the fencing was pushed in where a deer (or more than one deer) had squeezed under the fencing to gain access to the garden. DEER!!!! (Shakes fist at no one in particular.)

Okay, so we spent a good couple of hours going all around the perimeter of the fence zip-tying the fencing to a cable that also runs around the entire perimeter. We're hoping that will keep them out. (Sigh). If it's not one critter causing trouble, it's another.

While I was doing my zip-tying, I noticed a few newcomers to the bee garden. My phone tells me this is chilopsis.

This is coreopsis

And my phone tells me this is globe candytuft. This little cluster is about the size of a ping pong ball.

And here's the day's harvest. These are the first of the pickling cucumbers. I don't yet have enough to do anything with them, but I believe I will later next week. That one on the left almost got away from me. They're a lot like zucchini in that way. You have to watch them every day or you'll end up with something you could use to club a deer to death. (Would I do that?)

Oh yes, and I was happy to see the first bud on the Firefighter dahlia. The others have been blooming away, but this one has been slow to the party. I was beginning to wonder if we'd see anything from it this year.

When it blooms, it will look like this.

It was time for some lunch. After scooting around the perimeter of the garden on my butt for over an hour, a nap was in order. When I was ready to face the rest of the afternoon, I went to work on the quilting. For this, I'm just doing a kitty paw meander all around. It's hard to see, but there's a kitty paw in the middle of the image below.

Probably I have a little more than a third done. When I reached a point where I'd quilted myself into a corner and was forced to cut threads, I stopped for the day.

Heading into the sewing room, it was time to trace the next block for "Home is Where My Flock Is." This is the 7th of 13 blocks. I'm kind of miffed because I ordered some sepia colored pens recently. When they arrived, their caps and markings all indicated sepia. Does that look like sepia to you? Oh well. It probably doesn't matter.

Finishing the stitching on this block seems like a good candidate for August's

With that ready for stitching, it was time to return to the lemurs. Smitty helped me choose fabrics.

When my hour was up, I kept going for another half hour. I wanted to make a little more progress on the face for the lemur on the left. If you're wondering about that large white piece, it will have several pieces over the top of it, and so I cut it larger than I needed. Some pieces overlap others, and I'm keeping the darkest pieces on top. That means the white is sometimes relegated to background status until the other pieces are added over the top. The lemurs are emerging, but there's still a long way to go on this.

As a reminder, this is the photo I'm working from.

Last night’s dinner wasn’t hard, but it took some time. Since the zucchini wars are gearing up, I’m getting a head start with this new recipe for Zucchini Soup with Dill and Sour Cream. It’s made with 2-1/2 lbs of zucchini and a pound of leeks. Then, it’s the usual kinds of seasonings. The vegetables are sauteed and then boiled in some chicken broth. Later, I added fresh spinach and fresh dill, and then pureed it. Some more zucchini and dill was set aside as a garnish. It was tasty enough. The most important thing about it is that it laid waste to around 10 medium-sized zucchini. 

The recipe is from America’s Test Kitchens, and so you’d need a subscription to be able to open it. If you want the recipe, please don’t hesitate to email me, and I’ll be happy to send it to you. As a side dish, I made this copycat recipe of Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. I’ve made this recipe before, and the biscuits are good. Since I never ate the biscuits at Red Lobster, I can’t say whether it’s a good copycat. Either way, they’re easy to make and they were a good accompaniment to the soup.

There’s one housekeeping chore on the day’s agenda, and I need to water the flowers. Also, I’ll probably make up tonight’s dinner earlier in the day. Making dinner early interrupts my morning, but it’s nice to have everything ready when dinner time comes. There should be plenty of time for sewing today. I doubt I’ll finish quilting the Kittens today. Certainly, tomorrow isn’t out of the question. It’ll have to wait for its binding since things are strewn everywhere in the sewing room because of the lemurs. Never let lemurs run wild in your sewing room. Take it from me. Hopefully, I’ll see them emerge a little more today. When I work on them for a long time, it’s hard to “see” what I’m doing. It helps to take a break and return with fresh eyes.

Okay. It’s just about time for some Sunday oatmeal blueberry pancakes. After breakfast, Ill get on with my day.

Ending July

Good morning, my friends. Can you believe it's the last day of July already? My mind is still back in March, as if we've only just returned home from our winter trip. And now...here we are, halfway through summer. We'll be home all of August, but we have a trip planned for mid-September. As the time gets closer, I’ll say more about where we’re going. Also, we’re still sweating the possibility of a gas shortage. If that happens, the trip is off.

There wasn't much time for sewing yesterday. I had to deal with a basal cell on my shoulder. The doctor's appointment was quick. Once I saw the doctor, I was finished in less than 10 minutes. I'm really liking my new dermatologist. He seems confident and competent, and he's been very personable. Before seeing the doctor, I did a short grocery shopping trip and then dropped off an Amazon return for Mike. Since I didn't get home until after 4:00 p.m., it seemed too late in the day. Also, I was soothing my heavy-traffic-frazzled nerves. Really, I just needed to sit and pulsate for a while.

The day started as it usually does, checking in on the garden. Not much to report there, but I took a better picture of the red and white zinnia.

The bee on this orange zinnia seemed mesmerized by the flower. It sat perfectly still, as if asleep. As always, I was tempted to pet it, but resisted the impulse.

The bird feeders needed filling. On my treks back and forth to the seed bins, I noticed our poor deer-eaten rose had managed to produce another flower. This one was low to the ground, and the deer must not have seen it.

Back inside, I took the first stitches on Block 11 for the Snowmen and Reindeer project. This block is called "Reindeer with Fancy Antlers."

There were a couple of housekeeping chores on my list, and then I was able to quilt another row of Kittens.

These are pretty easy, and the threads are behaving nicely.

Now I've moved to the top row of kittens. I'll finish the blocks today, and then get ready to quilt the sashings and borders. Probably I'll have this ready for binding by Monday, if not sooner.

So with all that going on, I didn't get any time with the Lemurs. I'll have some time to work on this today. Here's where I left it. I'm afraid I chose a too-dark gray for the face, but maybe I'll feel differently when I get farther along. It's not too late to change it.

The garden needs hoeing, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Some of my day will be spent in the kitchen. My supply of Tomato-Jalapeno Jam ran out last week, and so I’m going to make more. I like it with eggs, and especially on a fried egg sandwich. You can think of it as gourmet ketchup. It's one of my favorite condiments. Happily, I can make just a small batch, and it doesn't take very long. For this, I'm using store-bought Roma tomatoes. 

Also, I want to bake some more granola cups. We’re loving those for breakfast. They’re light and filling at the same time. And since it’s Friday, I sometimes like to make us a dessert. I have some homemade apple pie filling in the pantry that needs to get used. I’ll bake us a Dutch Apple Pie for Two. 

It sounds like a lot, but I think there will still be plenty of time for sewing. I'm looking forward to getting back to the Lemurs. August's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge should be announced by tomorrow, and so I'll need to make another of the Inverted Star blocks. These are the blocks I have so far.

With that, I’ll get on with my day. How’s the summer treating you so far? What's going on in your sewing room today?

Lemme at the Lemurs

Good morning my friends. It was a productive day yesterday. There were about a half dozen simple to-do's on my list, and I had everything done by lunch time. After that, I could get back to my sewing with no interruptions...except to let cats in and out. If you know cats, then you know they are always, always, always on the wrong side of the door.

My first stop was the garden to check the beans. It was the first day I didn't have to redirect any of them. I harvested two more zucchinis and another tomato. The zinnias are putting out more flowers.

In this next photo, the new flowers on the right were in shadow, and so I used fill flash for this photo. It blew out the colors of the flowers on the left. Oh well. You get the idea.

Back inside, I went to work on the final Tiny Treasure. This is Tiny Treasure #72. It has stem stitch, stem fill, backstitch and basket weave stitch.

Now all 72 Tiny Treasures are complete. I know what I'm going to do with these, but they'll have to wait their turn behind a few other projects I want to work on first.

And then I quilted the next row of Kittens.

These go pretty fast.

Last one of the day.

Now I've turned the quilt upside down to keep the bulk on the table, and I'll start with the second row of kittens. Thankfully, this quilting can be done in any direction without having to turn my brain upside down.

From there, I was ready to take the first steps on the Lemurs project. Sadie was my emotional support cat as I started this scary project.

As a reminder, here's my original photograph.

When I'm doing animals, I like to start with the eyes, and it seemed the most logical place to start was with the lemur on the right. I'll work my way from right to left on this project. With the one-hour rule in place, I started a timer for one hour. I went just a few minutes over because I wanted to try to finish the whole face. Here's what I have for my first day's effort.

So far, so good. The biggest challenge with these is going to be finding the proper shades of tans and grays. The lemurs have both colors in their fur, and the gradations are barely visible. For some colors, I'm using just a tiny spot of a larger more colorful piece of fabric. Now that I've started, I feel less apprehensive about it, but no more confident. Hopefully, future efforts will help boost my confidence.

Today is going to be kind of messed up. This afternoon I’ll return to my dermatologist for some more work on a spot he biopsied on my shoulder. It’s a basal cell. Nothing to worry about, but it is bothersome to have to deal with it. That’s probably going to take up most of my afternoon. I need to make a stop at the grocery store afterward. Thankfully, we’ll be having leftovers for dinner. There might be time for some sewing today. Maybe not. For sure, I’ll be taking the first stitches on Block 11 for the Snowmen & Reindeer. 

This was a take-along project for our camping trip, and then I never even touched it.

If there’s other time for sewing, the Kittens quilt is still my top priority. If there’s any more time, I’ll get back to the lemurs. For all they cause me angst, once I’ve started on one of these quilts from a photo, it’s hard to walk away from it.

Okay then…busy day ahead. Time to get going. Stay out of trouble today, okay?

Two Scary Starts

Good morning, my friends. Camping is fun. Getting back to normal is also fun. We had grocery shopping to do yesterday, but we were finished and home before noon. Earlier, I had time to stitch up Tiny Treasure #70. This one has stem stitch, stem fill, lazy daisy, and fishbone stitches.

The garden is looking good. The green beans are getting a once-over every morning as I train them to climb their poles. They’re getting the hang of it, and some are nearly to where the poles come together at the top. There are a few tendrils still too short to reach the pole, but everyone seems to have gotten the idea that they’re not supposed to wrap themselves around the protective fencing.

When I was able to get to my sewing, I did the top-stitching for the Blueberries block. 

Here are the 14 blocks I have for this quilt so far. There are two to go. When it gets my attention next time, I’ll finish the remaining blocks, and then ready it to be sewn into a finished quilt top.

Upstairs at the quilting machine, I turned my attention to setting up “Kittens” for quilting. Starting a new quilting project always makes me a little nervous. I have some ideas about quilting this. Probably I’ll outline the embroidery and then do some sort of simple filler in the background. In the borders and sashings, I have an idea for a specialty motif. So, there’s nothing fancy going on here, but I’m still apprehensive about getting started.

I’m going to continue with the same bobbin already in the machine from my last project.

It’s a 50-weight So Fine thread from Superior Threads. It behaved well on my last project, and so I’ll just keep it going.

For the embroidered blocks, I’ll ust a white thread. I don’t want to distract from the embroidery with another color or anything fancy. Keeping it simple. Plain vanilla.

It’s another 50-weight So Fine thread. 

For the borders and sashings, I wanted a variegated thread that would include the many colors seen in the fabric. The one pictured below did that better than anything else I had available.

It’s another 50-weight Valdani thread. The Valdani threads come in little spool-sized zip-lock bags. (As always, thank you, Ila.)

Okay, and then I threaded the machine, checked my tension, and left it needle-down at the first kitten. There are four rows of three embroidered blocks each. My goal will be to do three blocks each day before moving on to the borders and sashings. If I can stick with that goal, it should be ready for binding in about a week.

Okay, and that took me to the super scary part of my day. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m going to attempt to do an art quilt of some lemurs. This is a photo I took when we saw them at a Madagascar exhibit at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, Florida. And let me just say that the Florida Aquarium is well worth a visit if you ever find yourself near Tampa. It was the aquarium that hooked us on aquariums (aquaria?) in general. When we’re traveling, we’ll never miss a nearby aquarium, and we became scuba divers so that we could see the really big aquarium of our planet.

So I spent some time digging through my stash, looking for appropriate fabrics. While I was at it, I reminded myself that sometimes the wrong side of the fabric is the best choice. I’m not sure yet what to do about that bland background, but I pulled some fabrics I thought had potential. Now the photograph is taped to the table, and there is a piece of plastic sheeting taped over the top. The tape prevents anything from shifting. Today, I’m hoping to trace all the elements and details onto the plastic sheeting creating a pattern for myself. For this I’ll use a fine point Sharpie. It’s the only thing that will write on the plastic without smearing. And there, I gave myself a couple of attagirls for not letting my anxiety get in the way of getting started. 

Here’s the thing: If you’ve been reading for a while, then you know I’ve made several of these art quilts from photographs. For some of them, it took me years to work up the nerve just to get started. (Now that I think of it, this is one of the ones I’ve waited years to start.) And, knock on wood, so far I’ve not attempted any that made me decide to give up. The “Tin Cup” quilt was among the most challenging. When I was able to complete it successfully, it boosted my confidence. Still, each time I try one of these, it is with considerable angst that this could be the one to defeat me. And as I’m writing those words, I’m asking myself, so what? Yeah, really. It’s supposed to be fun. Okay…shaking it off. [Straightens posture.] Thanks, you guys. It always helps when we can have these little chats.

Okay, and so I promised you some kitty news. There was no kitty help in the sewing room, although some loud purring would have gone a long way to calm my nerves. You know how when you’re too warm under the covers, but it’s too cold not to have them, and so you stick one foot out to cool off? (Maybe I’m the only one who does that, but I’m betting you do it too.) So anyway, Sadie, being a black cat, is too hot in the sun. But it’s not warm enough to just choose a shady spot. She does the opposite. She keeps most of her body in the shade, and just puts her paws out to soak up the sun’s rays.

Smitty purrfers the full-face sunbath. 

Okay, so I’m getting a haircut today, which will cut into my afternoon. There might not be that much time for sewing today. If there is, I’ll start with the quilting. Getting my backlog of quilts finished up is my highest priority right now. If there’s time to work on the lemurs, I’ll do that too. It seems doubtful, but not impossible.

Have a good day, Everybody! Try to stay cool.