Some Sunday Stuff

I finished the anemones on the Cottage Garden project. The stems were done with reverse split stitch the other day so today I got the pink lazy daisies done plus sequins and beads.

I've been putting off the last fiddly larkspur, couching the bouclé silk thread with gold metallic thread. Aside from that I'm happy savouring each little step. The green/blue thread should arrive from the UK this week.

I spent last night and today finishing up the Honeybee piece. 

I cut away a lot of the water soluble stabilizer in preparation for washing the rest away. 

I have it drying now and will press it tomorrow, face down on a thick terry cloth towel, so as to not squish down the stitches too much. Now what shall I do with it? 

It could make a neat cover of a needlebook, front of a small zipper pouch, lid of a 5" embroidery hoop box. I'll get some feedback tomorrow at my stitching group.

I got a bunch of outside jobs done that I've wanted to do for a while. First I took the screens out of the bedroom windows which really needed a good scrubbing. I noticed some mildew on the window frame so I got it all cleaned up - no black mold for us this winter!

While washing the screens outside, and had the soap (blue Dawn) and water handy, I thought I should also give our recycling bins a good scrub. They've all felt a little sticky. So that's done. 

The shrubs beside the garage have needed trimming so I got out the electric hedge trimmer. I cleverly strung an extension cord that would reach them a couple of months ago. Of course, the top plug of the outlet in the garage is 'pooched' so it took a couple of trips, eeling myself between the car and the wall (I was too lazy to back the car out of the garage). Then I had to eel myself back into the garage to get the wheeled caddy to throw all the clippings into it and wheel it back to the compost bin in the back yard. Then eel myself back in there to put the caddy away. 

A little while later I remembered I needed to scrub out the birdbaths and get some fresh water in there. so I got that done.

In spite of how hard it was to motivate myself  to get out there and start the tasks, I feel I got a lot accomplished.

It is SUCH a beautiful day. I spent some time looking around the yard at the tomatoes, beans, and flowers. 

The chocolate Joe Pye weed is spectacular and a favourite among the bees and monarchs. It has grown to over 7' tall so I guess the neighbours are enjoying the view over the top of the fence as well. 

This male monarch nectared on the regular Joe Pye weed for quite a while.

It has been The. Best. Year. for the black-eyed susans. And they've lasted so long!

The purple salvia continues to delight behind the big marigolds and in front of Skip's Roma tomatoes - just starting to ripen. I made some Yard Sauce last week with my first 18 or so Early Girl tomatoes. More to come.

This is the first year I've planted purple salvia in a long time. Their flowers last a long time, too.

One of the peppers has turned red. Unfortunately because I didn't fertilize enough, these plants didn't grow very tall so that pepper is touching the ground and some insect has burrowed into it. Hopefully only the bottom tip was affected. There are several other peppers that I plan to leave until they turn red as well.

And finally, I have a bit of progress to report on the Live on Little project.

There is a lot of filling in that I'm happy to do while stitching socially. I still haven't decided what colour I'll use for the mortar. The called-for colour is too dark for my liking. We shall see.