You’re gonna get a little de ja vu here… today’s post, just like yesterday’s… is mostly about me NOT accomplishing things!

I did not cross a stitch all weekend.

Saturday is no surprise as we were barely home. But Sunday, during those hours when it was too hot to work outside, I did plan to get some little x’s in.

But first, I needed to clean up the area around my chair. Like many of you, I like to craft (mostly knitting and cross-stitching) while I watch (listen to) TV. That means the area around my chair tends to become a bit of an impromptu creative space … i.e. MESS.

I really needed to clean it up before I did anything else. And in the course of cleaning I decided I really should reorganize my floss box.

I had a pile of new floss that needed to be wound on bobbins.

And while it was a great thing to work on while watching TV (the new episode of the Grand Tour)… it was far more time consuming than I thought it would be. I only got about half that pile wound before it was time to make dinner.

And then of course, after dinner, I was outside rigging up my vegetables.

So… not only did I not accomplish any stitches… I didn’t even finish my reorganization! I really need more hours in a day lately!

Maybe next week you’ll see some progress on that butterfly… but at the rate things are going… don’t hold your breath!

I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record… but I just do not have enough time to do all I want to lately!!!

This weekend was another whirlwind. Saturday, Dave and I were up early and off on a road trip. Dad found me a sweet deal on a rifle I’ve wanted for a while so we were headed to his house to pick it up. Of course, a visit with Mom and Dad is never short so we were gone all day.

That left just Sunday for all the things I wanted to accomplish outside. I even got up early to make sure I had enough time to get it all done. (Which is quite an accomplishment for me – my idea of a perfect morning is rolling out of bed around 10 am)

My first task was to get the trellis lines strung up for my peas and my cucumbers. The first part – drilling holes for the eye screws, went mostly fine. I got screws on the pea box in, and realized I didn’t have enough screws for the cucumber box. No biggie – we could pop out to the hardware store in the next town over as soon as I got the pea strings done.

But as I started stringing, I realized I needed at least one cross beam a little lower on the back of the garden box. I needed wood, as well as eye screws.

So we hopped in the truck and headed out… only to realize, it was Sunday and it was too early… the local hardware store wasn’t open yet. But Home Depot was…. so our trip got a little longer as we continued onto Sarnia (40 minute drive). We got the wood, the screws and a new plant for the garden (because I have a serious plant addiction, and there is no cure).

And by the time that was done, we had to get lunch… so you can guess what time we got home to finally get back to work… so much for my morning!

Dave cut the wood for me, and I got it painted. But being the afternoon, it was now too hot to get much more done outside until the sun moved behind the garage (after dinner).

When it finally did, I was back at it.

It was a bit of a tedious (and tangle-prone) process, but I strung heavy cotton thread through the eyes and around the cross beams on the back of the box.

The peas have been growing like weeds and were in desperate need of the framework. They seem quite happy to have the support now.

And they have plenty of space to climb, because they are probably less than half grown.

The cucumbers don’t need the same support quite yet, as they are still very small.

But it’s there and ready when they are.

Dave said it looked like rigging on a ship… and he’s not entirely wrong! Personally, I can’t wait to see it covered in green leaves and vines!

After finishing that, there was only time to water, and another day was gone. And I still have so much to do… But let’s not dwell on that…

Elsewhere in Edible Alley…

I finally have a carrot sprout!!!! Last week was considerably cooler and wetter and it seemed it was just enough to get this little guy going. I was starting to think one carrot was all I was going to get, but as I was watering , I noticed several more little bit of green. It’s supposed to be hotter this week, but hopefully not too hot for these wee guys and they can really get a foothold.

Sadly, I still have no sprouts in the squash, catnip, or chives. I’ve got another packet of seeds for all of them, and I’m going to reseed this week and keep my fingers crossed (that was one of the things on my Sunday to-do list that didn’t get done)

My strawberries aren’t looking great either…. and I’m thinking I may need to get some new plants. I almost bought some when we were at Home Depot, but changed my mind. I may have to go back for them.

But I hate to close on a down note so…

A few more of my asparagus roots decided to sprout! Aren’t they just the most adorable little spears?!? Even though I won’t get to harvest these for a couple of years, I really am thrilled with how well they did so far.

June is the month when the roses come out.

Though, since the rain came, the weather has been on the cooler side, so even though we’re halfway through June, only two of my roses are blooming fully.

The first, of course, is Chrysler Imperial, which I already showed

She’s still suffering a little from the sawfly larvae, though I sprayed the plant down with insecticidal soap, and it did make a bit of a dent. My cell phone has a hard time capturing her really rich red, so I’m going to have to try with my fancy camera.

The second is Good as Gold.

It’s a beautiful yellow rose that starts out a deep gold/orange and lightens as it blooms. The flowers are smaller and less fragrant than Chrysler Imperial, but they are no less impressive.

This pretty little pink one is New Dawn

It’s a climbing rose I bought last year to climb up the catio fencing. It didn’t get one flower last year, but this year it’s covered in buds and several are opening up into these beautiful pale pink blooms! And it’s only halfway up the fence – it’s only going to get better each year.

Another climbing rose is Eden.

It’s one of the new ones I bought to climb up the arbour out front. It’s still quite short, but it’s got several buds on it. The first bloom is a little bug-eaten in spots, but you can see it’s a beautiful white with delicate rosey edges

And Caroline de Monaco is starting her show too.

She’s a beautiful creamy white – just classic!

There’s still Chicago Peace and Quicksilver – both have buds, but none close to blooming. And… I might have picked up a new one at Walmart Friday night – her name is Prairie Rose, and she’s a beautiful mid-pink. (Now I just have to find a spot for her)

I love all the flowers in my garden, but roses will always be among my most special.

While finishing the Sewcialites top, I was also able to finish all the Leader/Ender blocks for my latest L&E project

That’s 56 eight-inch blocks. That means there are 448 chevrons. But that’s the fun of an L/E project. It doesn’t really feel like you’re making that many.

Now I just have to sew them all together into a top. I’d like to do that this weekend, but it’s hard to say if I’ll have the time. I haven’t make much progress on my porch painting job… and it’s nagging at me. Maybe if it gets too hot out to paint… or it rains…

It may look like Lemmy is taking a moment to stop and smell the flowers… but really..

He was on a bee hunt. It might be hard to see, but that black mass inside the flower is a bumblebee butt!

Lemmy chases anything that moves in the catio, but he absolutely LOVES chasing the bees! Or at least he does for now… one of these days, he’s going to catch one. I don’t think he’ll like it quite so much then.

Despite the fact I still have a million and one things on my yard/porch to-do list, on Sunday, I said screw it all and took a sewing day.

I really wanted to get my Sewcialites top finished!!!

And I’m happy to say I did!

When I finished all the blocks… I wasn’t really in love with the quilt. Despite the fact that I keep doing them, samplter quilts are not my favourite. And I just wasn’t loving the colours. It all just looked like a messy chaos.

But the thin black sashing not only makes the blocks pop, it also brings a sense of order to it all. I like it much better now.

Part of me does wish I’d sewn a band of white around all the blocks so they were floating… but it’s too late now an I can live with it like this.

It’s about 60″ square, and of course, it’s full of fun cat prints.

I’ve got a fun paw print for the back…

… and it couldn’t be more perfect. I have some of the red swirl fabric used in the blocks for binding. And I’ll cut it just as soon as I remember where I put it!!!

This one is tucked away for now. I probably won’t get to quilting it for a while. But that’s fine, I’m happy to have it out of the project box and in the to-quilt pile!

There’s a couple garden things I haven’t shown you yet.

In addition to creating Edible Alley and the perennial beds around it, as well as the new walkway garden out front and the expanded fence garden in the back, I added two other gardens.

The first was up the driveway side of the house.

Between the house and the walkway/driveway, there was a narrow strip of bare dirt. Why they didn’t pour the concrete all the way to the house, I have no idea. I add it with the many other WTF decisions they made with this house. I don’t think they used it as a garden, it doesn’t get much sun. If they did… whatever they planted there was long gone and all it did was grow weeds. Which I had to keep under control.

I don’t mind mowing the lawn, but I HATE weed whacking. I do it as little as possible, so anything I can do to lessen the amount I have to weedwhack, the better. So I planted it up!

As I said, it doesn’t get much sun. Maybe an hour or two in the morning. So I’ve got to focus on shade-loving plants.

I love Heuchera, and they come in a great range of colours. They will also get tall spires of little bell-shaped flowers.

To compliment them, I added some Coleus, which also had beautiful coloured leaves.

Some begonias and some violas. There’s a few colours of violas, but those are the only ones blooming at the moment. I also planted a few impatiens, but they aren’t blooming yet either.

Only the Heuchera and Violas will come back next year… and I hope to find some other shade-loving perennials to throw into the mix. And eventually it will become self-sustaining like the other gardens.

The other garden required more dreaded sod removal… made harder by the lack of rain! So it’s a small garden for now.

It’s on the opposite side of the front yard, almost at the property line. Last year, I planted a butterfly bush there. I thought it would be a great place for the new lilac (Tinkerbelle) and the blue Rose of sharon I bought. I filled the areas in between the shrubs with some sage, coneflower, penstamon, and blanket flower (all split from plants in the other gardens.). And on the end, I added a beautiful new rose called Caroline de Monaco. It’s almost ready to bloom and when it does it will be a creamy white.

And I think that’s it for the gardens I’m going to add… this year!

I went through the floss stash and got all the colours picked out for the butterfly…

And that’s as far as I got this weekend. That’s 16 bloody different colours in that wee thing!!!! My brain just wasn’t up to tackling it this weekend. I’m hoping next weekend has a little bit slower pace, and I can settle down and focus on it.

I am very happy to announce that we FINALLY got some rain! It started late yesterday afternoon and went all through the night! It was wonderful to listen to it plink off the awnings!

They say we are supposed to get more tomorrow, and maybe again later in the week. I really hope so!

The other thing that’s making me happy are these!

The Gumball socks are complete! It’s hard not to be happy with socks like these! Just look at all those happy colours!

The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll in “Gumball”. This is the third pair of socks I’ve made in Stroll (fourth if you count the pair I made with Stroll Tweed), and the second I’ve made for myself (the others were made for Mom and Dave). So far, it seems to wear pretty well. And it’s nice and soft. I’m pretty sure it’s the same base as their Felici.

The pattern is nothing fancy – you don’t need it with yarn like this. It’s just a 2-2 rib on the cuff and a plain foot. Lately, it seems to be my favourite kind of sock. As much as I love my lacy pairs, I seem to reach for the plain ones first when it’s time to actually wear them lately.

And now, I’m faced with a decision… cast on something new… or work on Dad’s sweater. If I want it done by his birthday (December), I really should give it some attention.

I haven’t had a chance to get all my garden oraments out yet, but some of the new ones are out among the plants.

I got some large bricks from Home Depot and set my solar fairies up on them.

I put two at each entrance of Edible Alley. And the fifth one.

Is tucked over by Willow Grove. I just love these ladies. They come on at about dusk…

And they stay lit up for the majority of the night.

The giant ants I got at Lens are hanging out on top of the squash ladder.

I don’t know if it’s going to be their permanent place… I come out frequently and they are on the ground. The birds think that ladder is theirs.

And last… Dad came by when I was on vacation so we could go to my shooting range. And he bought me a present!

A windmill for my garden!!! He bought one for his a couple years ago, and I’ve always loved it. The store he got it at got them in stock again, so he picked one up for me.

It’s just over four feet tall and it’s so cute! I put it on the corner of Edible Alley. There’s a Physostegia planted underneath it, and it should grow up nicely around the legs!

And last, I got a little something for the catio…

Dave and I came across this cute wash-stand fountain on our travels a few weeks ago.

And naturally the cats were very intrigued…. but none so much as Lemmy!

I still have to get my mushrooms and other decor out… maybe next weekend!