Sunflowers

I was asked to stitch a Durene Jones sunflower scissor case. The pattern calls for 25ct but I used some 28ct white linen from my stash. The original one I made years ago was on natural-coloured linen. I don't remember what count it was.

The Kloster blocks go very quickly and I finished up all of the cross-stitching last night. Today I did the cutting, wrapped bars, spider stitch in the centre, and the woven bars on the long, open parts on the string of blocks along the left and bottom. Where you see HotFix jewels above, the pattern calls for eyelets. I'm going to use the jewels on his one, too. 

I really like how it looks on the white fabric.

I wanted to make it a bit bigger so initially added a couple of four-sided stitch blocks and the outer backstitching (on the left and bottom). However when I test-folded it, it wasn't aligned properly; the fold was cutting off the butterflies beyond what was supposed to be the fold. I didn't bother to remove the outer backstitching as it will get covered up when I sew on the lining.

Instead, I did the called-for backstitching and extended the backstitching on the right and top by 2 more threads. 

I'm going to use the same fabric that I used on the other one to line it.

I think I have some leftover cording that I can use for the closure. 

I have to get serious about packing for music camp so I won't fully finish this until I get back.

Speaking of sunflowers, I took a few pics in the garden just now.

I grew this one from seed under grow lights in my kitchen. Several more were planted but for one reason or another this seems to be the only surviving one of this species.

Although not being visited now, I did see a bee gathering pollen on it before I went back in the house to get my phone. You can see excess pollen that has dusted the leaf underneath the bloom.

It no longer follows the sun and is permanently east-facing.

This one is now as tall as than I am (165cm). It still follows the sun.

I had to stake the stalk when I first planted it to get it to grow straight as the stem was damaged and bent over. That did the trick within a week or so. Now the stalk is as thick as my thumb.

The cornflowers/bachelor buttons grew from the random Burpee seeds I sprinkled last year. I'm pleased they turned out to be perennials. I have been conscientiously dead-heading them and have been rewarded with continuing blooms and a beautiful contrast from the plentiful gold colours in the garden.

The calendula and cosmos have started blooming. Unfortunately they're below taller plants so I'm not sure how well they'll do without enough sunlight. They were grown from the remainder of the Burpee seeds that I scattered back in June.

The zinnias were also grown from seed. I had hoped for more but will do a better job of growing them from seedlings next spring. They're also very tall and were leftover State Fair zinnia seeds from a couple of years ago. 

Skip used to grow lots of them to attract pollinators. Newly-eclosed monarch butterflies often were attracted to them as nectaring spots in preparation for their long flight down to Mexico. 

From 2017...

Skip used to fill in bare spots in the garden with marigolds which he either grew from seed or bought at the end of June on sale. They are a good companion to grow with tomato plants - possibly repelling critters from damaging the tomatoes. I had such bad luck with tomatoes last year I didn't bother planting them this year. Other than the Burpee seeds, I didn't plant any annuals and have just let the perennials go wild.